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What are the current requirements from the Thai Ministry of Education to get a teachers licence?

last updated 23rd July 2009

This is something of a 64 billion dollar question. Ask five different people and you’ll get five different answers. The general consensus (2009) is that you need BOTH a B.A (in any subject) AND a recognized TEFL certificate. If your B.A is in English (and only English), then you do NOT need to show a TEFL certificate in addition.

 I’m one of the few people who seem to push this point, but a hell of a lot depends on your school’s relationship with the MoE. Some schools have poor relationships with the MoE and need to jump through numerous hoops to get their teachers legal. Other schools have good relationships and find the whole process fairly painless (not that I’d ever use the word painless to describe an aspect of Thai officialdom)

There’s a lot of argument over what exactly constitutes a ‘recognized TEFL certificate’ but in my opinion, if the certificate’s got the word TEFL on it in some shape, size or form, it should get through. Contrary to popular belief and rumor, the MoE do NOT check the validity of degrees and TEFL certificates. They simply don’t have the manpower. The responsibility of checking all certificates falls on the shoulders of the employer (which is how it should be) You do however need to show original copies to the officer at the MoE.

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