A similar phenomenon was once a problem in England, but according to a British educational innovator, things have changed and the quality of teachers in England is now higher.

"Ten years ago in England, teachers felt very undervalued. The government was very hard on teachers. Teachers were not particularly well paid, and it became a job that you only did if you couldn't get another job," said Andrew Bethell, chief executive and creative director of Education Digital Management. The company runs the successful Teachers TV (TTV) channel in England.

TTV supports the professional development of people working in schools, enabling them to widen their skills, develop their practices and connect with others in the field, through engaging videos, practical resources and an active online community.

Apart from the television channel, the company also has its own website and uses Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.

Bethell spoke to The Nation last week while in Thailand to introduce TTV to Thai policy-makers and deans of education faculties.

He said the issue of teachers' status in Thailand was the same around the world.????????????????????

"That's changing now in England - partly because of the recession: there are fewer jobs. And TTV has played a part in raising the status of teachers," he said. "Now it is regarded as a better job, so university graduates are starting to think about becoming teachers much more than they used to. Thus, England can recruit much more intelligent people to work as teachers."

He said that after learning good practices from TTV and improving their own teaching methods, teachers began to feel that they were a doing good job.

"They feel valued in society and teaching is the only profession in England that has its own TV channel.

"One other thing that I have discovered is that the problem is not necessarily [the amount of] their pay. It helps, but pay is not everything. It is about the self-image of teachers as professionals doing a professional job. This is another aspect where TTV helps," Bethell said.

The Thai Education Ministry is planning to set up its own TTV-style project. It will spend about Bt1.4 billion on the project in its first three years, and expects to be broadcasting by March next year, according to Deputy Education Minister Chaiwuti Bannawat.

Bethell said he hoped the local version of TTV would help to improve the status of Thai teachers, giving their jobs more value as it had in England. It will bring about an important change in Thailand, he said.

Local versions of TTV are also broadcast in the US and in Finland.

He cited some examples of changes wrought by TTV in England after almost five years of broadcasting. Currently, there are 3,500 programmes on the company's website available for people to stream or download.

According to a British government measure, TTV has reached 25 per cent of all the teachers and other people whose work relates to schools in England, Bethell said.

Eighty per cent of teachers who use TTV believe that it helps to make them better teachers and 52 per cent of them believe that because of what they have learned from TTV, their pupils are doing better work.

TTV can also be regarded as good value for its cost. The British government says that over five years it has spent ?90 million (Bt4.8 billion) on TTV, but has received training services for teachers worth ?600 million.

Research says TTV is also saving about one hour and 40 minutes of teachers' time every month.

In the US, 73 per cent of teachers surveyed said they believe TTV could drive better student performance.

"We'll keep trying to make TTV better and reach more teachers. Twenty-five per cent [of teachers and those related to education] is good, but it's not good enough. We have to reach those teachers who are more difficult to reach - like those who have been teaching for many years and think they don't need to improve. We're also improving the quality of downloadable programmes," Bethell said.

He said he would play a part in establishing TTV in Thailand. He will work with the Education Ministry team to get TTV started here, using his long experience and lessons he has learnt - much the same as he did with TTV in the United States.

"The same as in many other countries, Thailand has a big urban population and many rural schools that are quite a long way from the urban population. Reaching teachers in those schools is a big challenge. TTV can be cost-effective in reaching them because the government has limited money. Teachers in rural schools will be able to see what teachers do in successful schools, like demonstration schools.

"Teachers learn much more when they see things, rather than being told, and it makes a big impact on their [teaching] practices," he said.

One aspect in which Bethell has advised Thailand to follow the example of the original English TTV is its pursuit of a "normal" TV-production appearance. Having taken production standards from mainstream TV, the TTV programmes impressed viewers and were immediately successful. He has urged the Education Ministry to follow the same production path.