Proposed education bill not good enough, says research institute head

[rooster59]

Proposed education bill not good enough, says research institute head

By CHULARAT SAENGPASSA 
THE NATION

 

THAILAND’S National Education Bill continues to lack a clear organising principle for much-awaited education reform, Thailand Development Research Institute’s president Somkiat Tangkitvanich said on Thursday.

 

Speaking at a consultation session on the bill, Somkiat said that while many parts of the draft law apparently embraced Finland’s renowned class-based education approach, it placed an emphasis on “accountability” – the key element in the United States’ (US) educational framework. 

 

“So, I can’t help feeling that the key essence in the bill is not yet clear,” Somkiat said. 

 

The National Education Bill, which features 89 articles, is intended as the key law in upcoming education reform. 

Somkiat emphasised that it was necessary to have a very clear-cut approach to education. 

 

He said the shift away from exams indicates the bill’s drafters are gearing Thailand’s educational sector towards the Finnish model. Yet, budget allocation based on key performance indicators of students, teachers and school executives strongly hint at the US model. 

 

Moreover, Somkiat felt the National Education Bill had not sufficiently addressed IT trends. 

 

He wondered about the broadcast-frequency allocation clause, given that the Internet already covered almost all of Thailand. 

 

Somkiat also suggested that the National Education Bill drafters should reconsider budget allocation among state and private schools. 

 

“In my opinion, the present rate of subsidies for private schools is not yet fair,” he said. 

 

By law, the state has the duty to provide 12 years of free education to Thais. Private schools are also entitled to some subsidies from the government.

 

Parichat Preeyachot, an executive from Preeyachot School in Nakhon Sawan province, said private schools had barely stayed afloat with meagre state-granted subsidies that were calculated according to their number of students. 

 

The difference in per-head subsidies between public and private schools is greater than Bt24,000. 

 

“So, I absolutely agree with Article 55 of the National Education Bill that prescribes remuneration for personnel at both private and state schools,” Parichat said. 

 

Werachai Techajit, an honorary advisor to the National Legislative Assembly’s committee on education, said he hoped the bill would require the Thai Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Thai Industries to compile information and conduct research to determine actual labour needs. Then the Curriculum Development Institute – which will be established in the upcoming education reform – could prepare suitable programme content. 

 

Independent Committee for Education Reform (ICER) chairman Professor Charas Suwanwela revealed that his committee was thinking about giving financial resources directly to schools, instead of via educational service area offices. “We hope efficiency will then improve,” he said. “Central agencies should provide supporting roles only.”

 

Regarding the structure, Somkiat said it would be necessary to rethink the roles of provincial education committees too. These committees sprang from an order given by the National Council for Peace and Order. 

 

According to the ICER, Thailand has spent nearly Bt900 billion on educational affairs each year, or 6.1 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product. 

 

“Remuneration for teachers has been rising in recent years while the number of students has been decreasing,” ICER member Professor Chaiyuth Punyasavatsut said.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30348422

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-06-23

[Samui Bodoh]

24 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

THAILAND’S National Education Bill continues to lack a clear organising principle for much-awaited education reform, Thailand Development Research Institute’s president Somkiat Tangkitvanich said on Thursday.

 

Speaking at a consultation session on the bill, Somkiat said that while many parts of the draft law apparently embraced Finland’s renowned class-based education approach, it placed an emphasis on “accountability” – the key element in the United States’ (US) educational framework. 

 

“So, I can’t help feeling that the key essence in the bill is not yet clear,” Somkiat said. 

 

“So, I can’t help feeling that the key essence in the bill is not yet clear,” Somkiat said. 

 

It is hard to argue with this sentiment.

 

Nowhere in the debate have I ever heard the most important element of education reform; what precisely is occurring in the classroom. Unless and until Thailand's Education system moves to a student-centered methodology where 'how to learn' supersedes 'what you learn', then there is little hope for the future. 

 

If Thailand wants to have a good education system, there are several steps that it can take almost immediately.

 

• Fire most, if not all, of the Bangkok-based Ministry of Education head office. These are the people who created the current, ineffective monstrosity and thus these are the people unable to reform it. Out the door, today.
• As the article notes, either get rid of, or at least severely downgrade, the Provincial Education bodies. It seems that they are simply another layer of unneeded bureaucracy.
• Push decision-making power down as low as it can go; either to the equivalent of a 'municipality' level or down to the Principal of the school level. Global experience dictates that when education decision-making is pushed down, good results occur.
• Implement a reasonable testing regimen. Too much testing means that teachers only 'teach the test' and too little means that it does not provide useful results and/or indicators for future reforms.
• Reform the teacher's training regimen to include new models and methodologies. Further, and equally important, mandate their implementation as 'old-timers' at schools will not allow the introduction of new methods unless forced.
• Empower and provide incentives for the school Principal to improve his/her school. They are the proverbial "executive on the spot" and they need to have the power to solve problems.
• Mandate a HUGE auditing system to try to catch the thieves. The budget for the Ministry of Education is a ripe target for thieves as it is a huge, sprawling entity which covers huge swathes of land. It's unique properties means that a unique, VERY, VERY strong auditing system is required.
• Seek outside help. I know Thailand believes that 'if it wasn't invented here it is no good', but that is mistaken. Seek outsiders to come in and suggest reforms.

 

 I could go on, but...

 

I have said it before and I will say it again; the single greatest threat to Thailand's future is the Thai Ministry of Education.

 

Reform or slowly fade into insignificance.

 

Edited June 23, 2018 by Samui Bodoh
Lack of coffee

[Cadbury]

32 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

The National Education Bill, which features 89 articles, is intended as the key law in upcoming education reform. 

It is highly likely the Bill adds up to nothing more than a shuffling of the deckchairs within the hierarchy of the Department's Head Office. Some might be promoted to higher positions dependent on envelope size, some might be ranked differently on the distribution list and a few without friends in high places might even get shafted.

Alas, at the end of the day it can be reasonably assumed that little will change at the grassroots of the classrooms. I hope it does, but in Thailand, outcomes can often be based on hope and crossed fingers.

[Anak Nakal]

No military man understand education!

Get people who know what do.

Now not fair to kids!

 

[George Bowman]

54 minutes ago, Samui Bodoh said:

until Thailand's Education system moves to a student-centered methodology where 'how to learn' supersedes 'what you learn', then there is little hope for the future. 

Many years ago, I was asked by a large Thailand university to help teach school teachers the Western way of learning. I traveled to many provinces for these talks and met tons of elementary and high school teachers. On one trip a driver picked me up in a homemade car and drove from Bangkok to Udon by the back roads. I heard later that he was the president of the university.

 

My lesson was simple. Build a paper airplane using any design that will fly the farthest. The class was divided into small groups and work began.  After the first contest one aspect always stood out. All of these adult students had built the same style of airplane and they all flew about the same distance. When asked why they did not try to build something new, their response was always about the same, ’we only know one way to do it.’

 

They were then sent back to their groups to try and build a paper airplane different from what their original teacher had shown them.  Some of the new designs crashed while others flew a good distance.

 

In reality, I did not care how far their paper airplane flew. I was just trying to get my students to think for themselves. Tough.

[kannot]

what  it  really needs  is  more marching up and down at a younger age, lets say 2yrs  old and upwards, after all they get all the other BS in before that anyway and proceed to ram it down your throat for life.

[PatOngo]

[Lupatria]

Does this implicate the new state of the art learning material provided by the Ministry of Education is worthless?

 

      

[KiwiKiwi]

Proposed education bill not good enough

 

Now there's a surprise...

[jamhar]

12 hours ago, missoura said:

Many years ago, I was asked by a large Thailand university to help teach school teachers the Western way of learning. I traveled to many provinces for these talks and met tons of elementary and high school teachers. On one trip a driver picked me up in a homemade car and drove from Bangkok to Udon by the back roads. I heard later that he was the president of the university.

 

My lesson was simple. Build a paper airplane using any design that will fly the farthest. The class was divided into small groups and work began.  After the first contest one aspect always stood out. All of these adult students had built the same style of airplane and they all flew about the same distance. When asked why they did not try to build something new, their response was always about the same, ’we only know one way to do it.’

 

They were then sent back to their groups to try and build a paper airplane different from what their original teacher had shown them.  Some of the new designs crashed while others flew a good distance.

 

In reality, I did not care how far their paper airplane flew. I was just trying to get my students to think for themselves. Tough.

I teach an electronics class. In the recent pbl type of assignment, the goal was to make an inverter ckt using discrete transistors. They had verbal instructions, several models  and they have been taught how to do assembly. In the finished products, I could see vastly different steps and methodologies used.  So individual creativities cand be fostered. They just need to be forced out of their comfort zones.(to be fair many of the students copied the model exactly, including mistakes from the previous students if there were any.... :/. Not ideal, but the work of the creative ones were very encouraging :).  )

[yellowboat]

On 6/23/2018 at 8:46 AM, rooster59 said:

Moreover, Somkiat felt the National Education Bill had not sufficiently addressed IT trends. 

4.0 is for rich, foreign corporations like Alibaba.  No need to teach kids basic programming skills.  Many interesting IT trends also remain illegal or over controlled  in Thailand.  Kids, learn Python, PHP, C and JavaScript

[DrTuner]

They will never be able to duplicate Finnish school system here. I'm a Finn and I can tell you the success is based on a culture where being stupid is not accepted and hard work is expected. Polar opposite of Thailand.

[kaorop]

On Sat Jun 23 2018 at 9:11 AM, missoura said:

Many years ago, I was asked by a large Thailand university to help teach school teachers the Western way of learning. I traveled to many provinces for these talks and met tons of elementary and high school teachers. On one trip a driver picked me up in a homemade car and drove from Bangkok to Udon by the back roads. I heard later that he was the president of the university.

 

My lesson was simple. Build a paper airplane using any design that will fly the farthest. The class was divided into small groups and work began.  After the first contest one aspect always stood out. All of these adult students had built the same style of airplane and they all flew about the same distance. When asked why they did not try to build something new, their response was always about the same, ’we only know one way to do it.’

 

They were then sent back to their groups to try and build a paper airplane different from what their original teacher had shown them.  Some of the new designs crashed while others flew a good distance.

 

In reality, I did not care how far their paper airplane flew. I was just trying to get my students to think for themselves. Tough.

a few things here that do not add up.

 

a uni president would not be seen dead in a " home made car" unless it was some specialized off road thing.

 

how did you travel so far and not learn that he was the president?

 

ive done the paper plane class and i got 4 or 5 designs.

[George Bowman]

25 minutes ago, kaorop said:

a uni president would not be seen dead in a " home made car" unless it was some specialized off road thing.

 The driver of this vehicle spoke great English and said that he worked for the university and built the car himself. We talked for the entire trip about cars.  It was not fancy, more like a dune buggy with a back seat.  It was an enjoyable trip.

 

The university furnished a van and a different driver for my trip back home. A couple of weeks later I found out who the chauffeur with the homemade car was.

 

 

Edited June 25, 2018 by missoura