Cognitive Dissonance and Revised Teacher Qualification Scheme 2017: A Case Study of SWU Education Programs
Keywords:
Cognitive Dissonance, English Language Teaching, Education Program, Teacher EducationAbstract
Teacher education is one of the most essential components in an educational system. However, it seems that effort to equip teachers with knowledge and skills for the Thai teaching profession has been loosened lately. This is applied research which examined cognitive dissonance of English teacher students as well as teachers responsible for the education programs at Srinakharinwirot University (SWU) with regards to the new teacher qualification scheme in Thailand as of 2017 that reduced the former five-year education programs to four. The sampling group comprised 62 students reading the Bachelor of Education Program in English at SWU based on purposive sampling. The research instrument was the cognitive dissonance questionnaire which was validated by three experts. Semi-structured interviews were conducted on three responsible teachers of the program. The findings through descriptive statistics indicated that students demonstrated cognitive dissonance against some aspects of the revised teacher qualification scheme 2017 reporting 45.2% on insecurity about future employment, 30.6% on benefits of their current degree, 74.2% demanding action against the new scheme, 77.4% protection from the new scheme, 51.6% non-necessity of the new scheme and 56.5% unfairness of the new scheme. The interview results by teachers responsible for an education program indicated uncertainty in relation to future employment competitiveness and stability of remaining students of the five-year students.
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