Students suffer during pandemic as online learning falls short

[snoop1130]

 

Students in Thailand have expressed dissatisfaction about the education situation in the country because of the COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying anti-COVID measures, as schools have adopted online learning in a bid to limit the spread of the virus and protect their students.

 

University students have said that their lives have been affected by the online learning system.

 

Although online learning comes with some benefits, such as both students and teachers would have more time to study and prepare, they explained that their social lives and human interaction have been negatively affected.

 

They urged the authorities to adopt a hybrid approach of learning whereby students can take online and in-class lessons, allowing the students and faculty to make the best out of both worlds.

 

-- © Copyright A24 News Agency 2022-02-21

 

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[Will B Good]

Online learning in the UK has been very ineffective..

 

I imagine it must have been significantly less effective here as it depends very much on proactive parenting.

 

 

[BangkokReady]

14 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

Online learning in the UK has been very ineffective..

 

I imagine it must have been significantly less effective here as it depends very much on proactive parenting.

I believe most students see it as holiday time.  It just isn't really compatible with the Thai approach to education.  Or perhaps it matches the Thai approach to education precisely.  Either way it's bad.

[BangkokReady]

32 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Although online learning comes with some benefits, such as both students and teachers would have more time to study and prepare, they explained that their social lives and human interaction have been negatively affected.

Teachers and students get extra time in bed.  There is no extra studying or preparation.

[Will B Good]

2 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

I believe most students see it as holiday time.  It just isn't really compatible with the Thai approach to education.  Or perhaps it matches the Thai approach to education precisely.  Either way it's bad.

I am still in a WhatsApp group of UK teachers.

 

They were very disheartened by it all......not unusual to have, maybe 2 out of 25 in a class complete any tasks.

[ikke1959]

And not to forget with online learning it is very difficult to copy the work of the best students in the class and you have to think and work for your own... That also gives a lot of stress

[trainman34014]

We have a Lady friend who is a Teacher and she says it's been a complete waste of time as Thai Kids don't want to learn in the classroom let alone online !

[kevc]

25 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

And not to forget with online learning it is very difficult to copy the work of the best students in the class and you have to think and work for your own... That also gives a lot of stress

No the parents don't all.

[nowhereman]

My 2 years of online teaching with Thai students went pretty well. I run statistics and overall success was down for about 6% compared to non Covid years. What is also true is that incompetence of Thai teachers came to the spot light as parents could see who and how is teaching their children. Most of them are no better in the real classroom. Maybe kids were less interested in the beginning but Thai teachers are interested only in money and the next meal. They replaced education with indoctrination a long time ago. Very sad state of affairs. P.S. not all Thai teachers. Good ones are certainly a minority. 

 

Edited February 21, 2022 by nowhereman

[billd766]

My son went back to on site school today. This will be the 3rd week so far this year and next month marks the end of term and the educational year. In 2021 they finished school at the end of March and they only went back in January this year.

 

In 2020 he managed about 6 months on site schooling.

 

In May of this year he is due to go from M5 into M6 and every school child goes up 1 year to allow the kindergarteners to enter P1.

 

Now this year M6 students have to leave and go onto college or uni but how can they as their exams have not been done yet. What in turn will happen to all the college and uni  students who also need to go up or enter the working world?

[richard_smith237]

It depends on the quality of school and how attentive the parents are.

 

From what I have witnessed in the UK: 

Private schools haven’t missed a beat - excellent resources, a majority of online lessons, driven teachers driving the students, parents who are ‘paying for it’ so they demand the best standards continue. 

 

UK Comprehensive school - Poor resources, teachers photocopying textbooks and e-mailing it to students, no checks and measures, those parents who are attentive are at a loss meanwhile many others don’t care a great deal. 

 

The gap is vast - I’ve witnessed it first hand watching my nephews and nieces (some in private some in comprehensive). 

 

In Thailand I can only vouch for the International school system. It started excellently, but parents demanded more ‘online lessons’ which were stepped up...  teachers are online for a significant portion of the day... 30 min lessons... then students do their tasks (8 year olds) then come back to discuss and present...  this happens with 4 lessons a day.  

Teachers are driven, at the top of their game. Parents also driven to demand the best. 

I can’t fault my Sons School at all - his online learning has been an excellent experience. 

 

--------

 

So, it seems to be the public system which has failed its students, in both Thailand and the UK, perhaps this is where there is a lack of direct accountability. Perhaps the ‘care factor’ is diminished as a direct function of how much the teachers are getting paid etc...  perhaps its because the resources are not there....     At university there is little excuse - how hard can it be to run an online Teams class for all but practicals...

 

Its tough, but I have seen some schools take the approach that this will all be over soon so its not worth changing too much... then 2 years later nothing is still in place. 

 

 

 

[hotchilli]

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Students in Thailand have expressed dissatisfaction about the education situation in the country because of the COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying anti-COVID measures, as schools have adopted online learning in a bid to limit the spread of the virus and protect their students.

Online learning in Thailand has been an absolute failure, except for those at the top of the tree in the best Universities.

Most government schools were ill prepared for such learning, teachers with little online teaching abilities and students unable to have lessons at home due to lack of wifi or computers/printers etc.

[deathstardan]

As a current teacher in Thailand , I can only offer you my opinion regarding my experience at my school.
 

Online teaching for my colleagues and I  has been an absolute disaster. Not because we have not prepared or we are not familiar with our platforms we are using, solely because of the students attitude to learning. I have regular classes of 30 -60 attendees, I am not joking when I say, if I have 4 student who participate, I am lucky. This is the same for my colleagues, Thai and foreign. 

The students log in to the class and they are not heard of again, They refuse to turn their camera on or their audio. Just log in to attend.

We have regular  marking sessions of their work online, where we go through the answers and answer any questions. Nope! 

They don't do it! 

Any tests and quizzes which are only live for an hour, then taken back down again so it's difficult for them to cheat, they don't attend. With no excuse at all as to why not.

Right now, we are preparing for next week's end of semester and school year tests, the big ones. My school has already told me that all students must pass, even though I have never seen them, they have never done any work and if they do the exam or not. 

All I see are excuses as to why they don't want to do anything when I read articles like this. There are many dedicated teachers, Thai and Foreign, trying their best under vary difficult circumstances all over Thailand. 

My eyes have really opened to the attitude to learning here, this past  two years.

 

 

 

 

[JonnyF]

On the bright side, my journey to work is a joy compared to when the schools were open.

 

Seriously though, it's basically 2 years wasted for a lot of these kids. It boggles my mind that I can go to a crowded pub with friends or to a 'bar' in Soi 4, but kids can't go to school. Still, apart from the private schools they are only really being 'educated'  to conform anyway. 

[mikebell]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

to make the best out of both worlds.

Teacher Deathstardan has said it clearly.  Most Thais are inherently lazy; as nobody fails the exams the students see no consequences to their inaction.  My son experienced this 17 years ago & nothing has changed.

[khunpa]

Online school ended up being a blessing for my son. 
 

Revealed how bad his teacher was at his very expensive International School. I was shocked about her incompetence, especially in her way of handling kids. Half of the parents in his class ended up taking their kids out of that school due to her way of teaching and behaving towards the kids.
 

I ended up homeschooling him for 8 months instead, which clearly boosted his skills and confidence. He is now at a new bi-lingual school, very happy and doing great. And it’s even half the price of his old school.

Lessons learnt:
 

1. Expensive does not always mean it’s better when it comes to schools.
 

2. It only takes one bad teacher to make kids feel miserable. 

 

3. Homeschooling can be really effective, if you put the time into it. Main disadvantage is the social aspect. 

4. You never know what is really going on at school. In our case the online classes opened our eyes to that.

[MSMU1993]

100 percent true - for many this has been a lost time period.  Its unfortunate.

[Pouatchee]

Changes nothing really considering  the "no fail policy" in force in Thailand for decades.

[Pouatchee]

1 hour ago, khunpa said:

2. It only takes one bad teacher to make kids feel miserable. 

You can add these to your list.. it is not always about the teacher... and I could add a few more...

 

It only takes a ninompoop headmaster to ruin a good teacher

Or

It only takes a system that passes kids to the next level despite being grossly non-level appropriate from year to year