Massive Nationwide Scheme To Improve Teaching

[george]

Massive nationwide scheme to improve teaching

BANGKOK: -- In the belief that training sessions offered Thai teachers in the past did not get to the root of their problems or reveal their true needs - a country-wide project has been launched to provide training for teachers facing different challenges and objectives.

Authorities recognise this will be a huge three-year project needing large numbers of teachers and administrators to see it to completion.

Despite the daunting the task of passing on good teaching techniques to so many teachers, 25 universities, led by Chulalongkorn University (CU) have offered to take part in workshop training using their educational expertise and experience.

Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec)'s Bureau of Personnel Administration Development and Legal Affairs director Pitsanu Tulasuk said in the past the bureau had been given only a Bt200 million annual budget to develop 417,000 school teachers nationwide.

"The budget was small and the bureau could not provide training sessions covering every teacher. Each training session would be short too. As a result, training could not help teachers deal with the varied problems they faced or their needs in the different contexts of their schools."

"When a problem was reported from an Obec educational service zone office, Obec designed and organised training for schools in the educational service zone office without understanding the context. Moreover some schools in the same zone had different problems, but their teachers had to attend the same training," Pitsanu said, explaining why the training did not help develop teachers.

In order to find out what teachers need, the problems they face and what their weak points are, more than 450,000 school teachers and executives of educational service zone offices will do professional competency tests, in which the results will reflect their real needs and problems, according to Obec.

The first group to do the tests scheduled in the second week of February will be lower secondary school teachers who teach science and math.

CU's Faculty of Education dean Sirichai Kanjanawasee said 15 per cent of these educational personnel would be selected to participate in workshop training by the 25 universities. "We hope they will be 'master teachers' helping us build up a network and guide other teachers with lower competencies."

"We'll focus on training them with good teaching techniques rather than contents. They will learn best practices from successful schools so they will get new ideas to develop their teaching," said Sirichai, adding he hoped the trained teachers could encourage students to seek knowledge from different sources inside and outside classrooms, knowing how to learn and think analytically and critically.

Sirichai said after training, each would be required to do post-tests to assess the training. In addition, he recommended Obec let other organisations, for instance the Office for National Education Standards and Quality Assessment, do the external assessment.

Teachers chosen to act as master teachers will be considered for awards of higher academic standing or scholarships to study overseas.

Both organisations accepted that running this nation-scale training project would be hard because they had to train several hundreds of thousands of educational personnel before organising training sessions during school long vacations.

"The universities need to start training by March, but I have yet to sign a contract with Obec, which required the new education minister's agreement. The process is slow. If Obec is ready to sign the contract, we can immediately move. We're now designing curriculum for the training, producing instructional media and the training guides," Sirichai said.

However, 70 per cent or Bt966 million out of the total budget for 185 educational service zone offices has already been transferred to the offices, according Obec.

With the limited budget, Sirichai said, the universities could provide five-day training for teachers and nine-day training for school and educational service zone office executives. He wanted to train each of them for 15 days.

Prayoon Boonsit, from Kungcharoenpittayakhom School in Udon Thani, a teacher to be trained, recommended Obec allow teachers activities and to share ideas with other teachers during workshop training, saying "Just listening to trainers without practising is boring, so they will not have a new idea."

Prayoon said training held by several universities near his province was effective and he believed the workshop training by 25 universities under this project would be too.

He recommended training during school vacations because many small primary schools would need to leave their students to join training during school open periods, especially in August and September when educational service zone offices rushed to spend their annual training budget before close of the fiscal year.

-- The Nation 2010-02-08

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[bangon04]

To do this effectively, Thai schools will need to close for staff training courses - at least another 200 days per year - for the next 3 years. This will surely increase the productivity of schools, and in the provinces may greatly ease the agricultural shortfall.

A win-win scenario.

[toasted]

If they try the retrain the old guard, it will be a case of old dogs and new tricks. If they don't, then the younger newly trained teachers could find themselves banging their heads against a brick wall of intransigence if they try to change things.

Major reform is needed, but it's not going to happen overnight. A few days of training will achieve very little, I suspect.

[TheWalkingMan]

"...in the past the bureau had been given only a Bt200 million annual budget to develop 417,000 school teachers nationwide."

200,000,000/417,000 = 480 baht per teacher...

TheWalkingMan

[Fishbucket]

That can mean anything.

With the current Military in charge, Propoganda , Airbrushing, and Brainwashing come to mind.

[astral]

"...in the past the bureau had been given only a Bt200 million annual budget to develop 417,000 school teachers nationwide."

200,000,000/417,000 = 480 baht per teacher...

TheWalkingMan

a huge three-year project needing large numbers of teachers and administrators

You forgot the administrators,

so that further dilutes the money..........

[Bottlerocket]

said Sirichai, adding he hoped the trained teachers could encourage students to seek knowledge from different sources inside and outside classrooms, knowing how to learn and think analytically and critically.

As long as students are afraid to ask their teachers questions for fear of causing a lack of face, they are not going to learn to think analytically and critically. "Repeat after me."

[Scott]

I hope that this is more successful than the last initiative--'child-centered learning'. Never did get anyone to explain what they wanted.

[Xangsamhua]

said Sirichai, adding he hoped the trained teachers could encourage students to seek knowledge from different sources inside and outside classrooms, knowing how to learn and think analytically and critically.

As long as students are afraid to ask their teachers questions for fear of causing a lack of face, they are not going to learn to think analytically and critically. "Repeat after me."

Quite so, but Thai ways are changing, albeit slowly. The division in Thai society is at least in part based on critique of old ways, whether it be rule by an entrenched power elite or lack of accountability for elected representatives and public officials.

Any effort to promote and enable a critical-analytical, but also responsible approach to social mores is to be welcomed. For teachers, this needs to start at the pre-service level, i.e during the teacher's undergraduate study, and maintained through all professional development activities, whether they be external seminars, school-based in-service, staff meetings or just the continuing example of enlightened administrators. A tall order? Possibly, but a goal to be striven for.

One of the benefits of values-based education, such as is found in faith-based schools (Catholic, Evangelical, Muslim, Sikh, etc), is that core ethical values can be referred to as criteria for examination and self-examination of practices at school or personal level. Certain Buddhist values are still articulated as models for Thai people and are not contested by other religious or non-religious folk. At the highest level the 10 Guiding Principles by which the monarch promises to abide set an example for public officials and people in positions of responsibility, including teachers and school administrators. Buddhist precepts regarding truth-telling and honesty can be emphasised for all - teachers and students alike, and the Buddha's teachings about the need to minimise personal ego and submit all teachings to the tests of experience and reasonableness will help to bring teachers and students closer together in a common quest for new learning and insight.

Professional development for teachers begins while they are at university and must continue regularly and frequently during the entire course of their careers. Large showy campaigns may not be cost-beneficial unless they are followed up by thoughtful monitoring of the key teachers who are responsible for cascading the training down to all levels. And, much of the time, practicing teachers do not want to be lectured to by academics (though there is a place for that), but to share ideas and examples of good practice among themselves and teachers from other schools. They need a balance of theory and practice, so that the latter is well-informed, but they tend to regard theory as arid without seeing its fruits in practice.

[rfukata]

That can mean anything.

With the current Military in charge, Propoganda , Airbrushing, and Brainwashing come to mind.

The entire government (civilian & Military) needs total structural revamping.

[junglist]

Shhhh they will hear you and have no clue what your saying. Haa555Hahhh5555Ha55

[bannork]

They need to improve the kids too, namely stop passing every kid regardless of ability.

At my school everybody scores a minimum of 70%, the kids know it, so a large percentage don't care, just turn up and learn nothing.

The word responsibility is not in many kids' vocabulary.

[h90]

"...in the past the bureau had been given only a Bt200 million annual budget to develop 417,000 school teachers nationwide."

200,000,000/417,000 = 480 baht per teacher...

TheWalkingMan

417.000 teacher

Are there enough children to keep 417K teacher busy?

[stepenwolf1958]

Some 2 years or so, I am talking to Thai teachers that MoE should make some reforms. I am glad I saw this plan.

Finally someone said and admitted Thai Educational system is upside down and has to be reformed. Radical way, I am afraid.

Before we analyze the problem here, we should have some more information HOW they are going to make that training?

I’m afraid they will miss to correct some main things in reforms. Problem is very complex and this is just a good wish. That will be extremely hard to make.

Who can give some information about the way they will do it?

[lensta]

They need to improve the kids too, namely stop passing every kid regardless of ability.

At my school everybody scores a minimum of 70%, the kids know it, so a large percentage don't care, just turn up and learn nothing.

The word responsibility is not in many kids' vocabulary.

This is so true and will never change in the private and governments schools. The only schools that will fail students are the international schools

[AsiaCheese]

Why go for each and every individual teacher, why not go top-down within the structure? Teach a headmaster to teach better/properly/whatever, and hand the task of trickling-down to him/her. Stop using "good heart" excuses to let even the laziest bugger pass any examn. Try to get it into some heads that teaching English (by a teacher who actually speaks/writes English halfway properly...) is a pretty valuable asset in this day and age -- not just to interface with "us farangs" in the country, but in general, because Thailand isn't a closed island anymore.

What should go in parallel: slash at least 50% of brain-free soap operas off the daily TV menu (make that 80%), and have the government put a bit of money into licensing broadcasts of type National Geographic et.al. and "somewhat neutral" news broadcasts -- in English. A lot of kids in the Phillipines have -- despite a lack of funds to attend anything but basic school -- a much broader view and better knowledge of the world, because they have lots more imported non-series stuff on TV, and because they (like all kids) stare at the box every free minute they can, and do some learning and widening of world-views in the process. No more of that "ah, Australia, that's in Germany, near America, right"?

Revamp the school system; ask UNESCO (I think that's the relevant UN guys -- dunno) for links, support, ideas...

Edited February 8, 2010 by AsiaCheese