A Values-Governed Professional Capital Framework for Exemplary Teachers in Thailand: An Art-Based Narrative Qualitative Study

Developing exemplary teachers requires approaches that move beyond technical competence to encompass professional values, judgment, relational capacity, and well-being. In Asia, and particularly in Thailand, rising workloads, financial pressures, and teacher attrition underscore the need for teacher education that supports both professionalism and teachers’ capacity to sustain effective practice. This interpretivist qualitative study examined how key educational stakeholders define the core values and professional capital associated with exemplary teachers and how these expectations inform professional educator development. Forty-eight purposively selected participants, including educational administrators, practicum supervisors, teacher educators, community members, and secondary and undergraduate learners, participated in intensive group workshops. Data were generated through narrative interviews, art-based prompts, field notes, and artifacts and analyzed using iterative narrative and reflexive thematic analysis. Four empirical themes characterized exemplary teachers: professional knowledge, instructional competencies, professional attitudes and values, and life skills. A cross-theme synthesis further identified priorities for professional educator development, including the integration of professional knowledge with learner understanding, adaptive professional judgment, ethical and relational capacities, and sustained professional functioning. When subsequently interpreted through professional capital theory, these findings informed a values-governed professional capital framework in which values are conceptualized as an ethical and relational orientation shaping the enactment of human, decisional, and social capital. These findings suggest that teacher education should strengthen values-governed judgment, relational competence, and teacher well-being as core components of exemplary teacher development.