Professional Learning and Work Culture in a Thai University Context: the Case of English as a Foreign Language Lecturers

This study explores the perceptions of a group of EFL lecturers in a Thai University towards professional learning and the types of learning activities they are engaged in. It also investigates the nature of their work culture. The data presented in this study are drawn from a semester-long period of qualitative field study. In essence, the data suggest that participants engaged in several types of learning activities, both inside and outside the workplace. The participants relied more on formal than on informal professional learning activities. The inequality of access to professional learning opportunities for different groups (full-time, part-time, and non-Thai lecturers) was highly noticeable. The part-time lecturers’ constraints to access learning opportunities appeared to result from the institution’s workplace policy. With regard to work culture the data suggest that the lecturers worked and learned together with their colleagues in small sub- group form. The nature of this sub-grouping behaviour has not been identified in the work culture literature to date and was termed ‘workplace-kinship’. The data further expose that participants worked in isolation (individualism) most of the time as part of their adaptive strategy. Given the findings, this study contributes to more understanding of the teacher professional learning situation in a particular Thai Higher Education institution and calls for more awareness of teacher workplace interactions, job embedded professional learning activities, and the equality of teacher professional development opportunities, particularly the visibility of part-time lecturers in the Higher Education system.