Meet the New Teacher: Mihaela Marcovici

Meet the New Teacher: Mihaela Marcovici

Mihaela Marcovici is the new Secondary Art Teacher.


Secondary Art Teacher

Mihaela earned her Bachelor’s in Education in Art and Art History at the University George Enescu in her home country of Romania as well as her Masters in Art Education at the University of Art.

“I always knew I wanted to be an art teacher because art is my passion. I’ve been pursuing that since I was young. First, I started teaching in Romania but then I won a competition from the British Council to join a one year teacher exchange programme. This opened my horizons to international teaching. I went to Cambridge and started teaching in a school there. At the end of the year, the students gathered signatures to have me stay so the school gave me a contract. It was there that I met my husband who is a Science teacher here at Bangkok Patana.”

Journey to Bangkok Patana

“We decided to look for international teaching positions as we wanted to grow and develop. First, we worked in Kuala Lumpur at the well—known Alice Smith School. I loved it there, there are similarities in standards in teaching and that was the first time I heard of Bangkok Patana. We had students from Bangkok Patana com for SEASAC competitions and I noticed how good they were, so engaged and friendly. They were very upfront and outgoing. That was my very first impression of Bangkok Patana.”

“After that, I worked at a boarding school in KL and then went to Johor Bahru where I worked as a teacher and then cared more for the pastoral aspects of the boarding school at night. In Switzerland I was head of Boarding but my experience as the “mother” of 70-80 kids made me realise that kids feel differently each day and I adapted my teaching style to the kids.”

“In my subject it doesn’t work if you don’t empathise with the students. When it comes to expressing your feelings through your art you need to show your human side, not just talk about it. I want parents to know I am approachable. If they would like to ask any questions that are art related or about techniques, I am more than happy to share my expertise.”

“After quarantine I learned to appreciate the little things in life that you normally take for granted. When you step foot in the entrance of the school you know you are in a huge campus, but it doesn’t feel built up because it has so many trees and plants, flowers and birds. The nature here is so much a part of the school. When the kids arrived, it was so full of life.”

Adapting to life in Thailand

“When you sign up for an international job in a place like Thailand, where there is something authentic about the culture and the way people are, this is such a blessing. I would like to learn about the culture here and maybe bring some of their traditional arts into my lessons. I would like to be able to make a positive contribution to my department and help it develop.”

“This is the kind of place where you work hard and play hard, so I need to make sure I need to find the right balance between work life and home life as I have two children. Both of my kids are in Primary, one in Year 5 and one in Year 6 and they both love it here. My daughter gave the school a 9.5 out of 10. Overall, this was the best decision we could have made for our family and for our children.”

The information in this post is valid for the date posted above. Our curriculum and policies are dynamic. For up-to-date information, please contact the school directly.