Abstract

This research employed a research and development (R&D) design with the objectives of examining the competency needs of teacher education students at Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University and developing a curriculum aimed at enhancing their professional competencies. The study was conducted in two phases. In Phase 1, the actual and desired competency levels of 338 teacher education students were investigated. The findings revealed that all five competency domains—teaching, information technology utilization, research, professional development, and social and interpersonal relations—were at low levels, whereas the desired levels were consistently high. This discrepancy indicated an urgent need for competency enhancement across all domains. Phase 2 involved developing the curriculum based on qualitative data obtained from in-depth interviews with key stakeholders, followed by an evaluation of the curriculum’s validity and appropriateness by nine experts. The results showed that the curriculum attained a high level of accuracy and suitability. Furthermore, a try-out with 30 teacher education students demonstrated that their post-instruction competency scores were significantly higher than their pre-instruction scores. These findings suggest that the developed curriculum is effective in fostering essential professional competencies and can serve as a practical framework for improving teacher education training programs within higher education contexts. Moreover, the results provide important implications for strengthening future teacher preparation in teacher education institutions and offer empirical evidence to inform policy development related to competency-based curriculum design and implementation in higher education.

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