The Education Ministry will use a new one-standard-for-all method to assess the English-language proficiency of students as well as foreign teachers in a bid to raise the quality of English-language teaching and learning and weed out unqualified foreign teachers.
Deputy Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin said the new guideline, called CEFR-T, will be adapted from the Common European Framework of Reference for Language (CEFR).
It is used to assess the language ability of the test-takers with six different levels of performance ranging from A1 for beginners to C2 for those who have mastered the language.
However, CEFR-T will be divided into 10 levels ranging from 1 for beginners to 10 for those who are language experts as it is an adaptation of the original CEFR for English-language teaching specifically in the context of Thailand.
The criteria for each level, including speaking, writing and listening, have been determined. However, the test itself -- which will be designed by the Thailand Professional Qualification Institute -- has not yet been developed.
The institute tasked to design the test is waiting on the Education Ministry to determine the level of proficiency the students will be expected to reach by the time they graduate.
The test, which will first be used among students and teachers to gauge their levels of proficiency, will eventually be accessible to Thais who wish to know their English-language proficiency for professional purposes.
Mr Teerakiat said the CEFR-T will also be used as a criteria to screen foreign English-language teachers.
"Foreign teachers will have to acquire at least level 7 which is equal to the B2 level of CEFR to become a schoolteacher. We need to make sure they are qualified teachers who can really teach, not just some backpackers who want to earn a decent amount of money while staying in Thailand," he said.
Mr Teerakiat explained that level 1 of the CEFR-T will be equal to A1 of CEFR while level 2 will correspond to A1+ and level 3 will equal A2.
The new system will make it easier for teachers and students to determine their levels of qualifications.
An initial target is to help all Prathom 3 and Prathom 6 students achieve level 3 and 4 of CEFR-T respectively within five years.
At these levels, students should be familiar with frequently used expressions and be able to express themselves in English in everyday situations.
"At present, I believe our Prathom 6 students don't even reach level 3," he said. CEFR-T's level 3 reflects a basic command of the language, familiarity with everyday expressions and the ability to make very simple sentences," he said.
The target for Mathayom 3 graduates is to reach level 5, Mr Teerakiat said.
These students should be able to describe experiences, events, dreams and expectations as well as offer their own opinions, Mr Teerakiat added.
Levels 3-5 are considered intermediate levels.
The goal for Mathayom 6 graduates and university students is level 6, he said, adding the level signifies an upper-intermediate mastery of the language.
These students should be able to understand the main ideas of complex texts and produce clear, detailed English writing. They must also be able to spontaneously enter into a conversation, he said.
Mr Teerakiat said his next plan is to allow foreigners to submit their scores in the CEFR-T assessment for a teaching licence recognised by the Teachers' Council of Thailand so they will not have to apply for a waiver to teach without a licence every two years.
At present, the Teachers' Council of Thailand only allow foreigners who do not have a degree in education to teach at the school for a period of two years as a waiver and they can extend their temporary teaching licences for a maximum of two waivers or four years.
After that the teacher must become "fully qualified" to receive a full teacher's licence by enrolling in a course provided by a private institution to obtain a diploma in the teaching profession.