Thailand’s Second Phase Of Education Reform

[webfact]

Thailand’s Second Phase of Education Reform

In the past 10 years, Thailand began its first phase of education reform when the country promulgated the 1999 National Education Act. Now Thailand has come to its second phase of education reform, which is set as one the present government’s major policies.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva cited human resource development as the most worthwhile investment. He said that the second phase of education reform which started lat year would continue until 2018. it would prepare Thai people to be ready for changes that aim to bring about a better quality of life and create a peaceful society where people respects for one another’s rights and honor human dignity.

The Prime Minister said that during the first decade of education reform, the country had spent a great deal of time and resources on projects and management. It seemed that the quality of learners, which is a major objective of the reform, was overlooked.

So in the second phase, he said, all people involved must focus on improving the quality of learners. As for the poor and the underprivileged, not only a 15-year free education program will be mobilized, they will also be provided with greater educational opportunities. Various funds and mechanisms will be introduced to support the teaching profession.

The Prime Minister stressed that the goal of education reform is to produce able personnel who are virtuous and happy serving as good citizens. In this regard, the reform must strive to build citizens of good quality, with political, economic, and social well-being.

Although the country needs to develop higher skills and knowledge, he said, education must not separate from society as a whole. One of the problems in the past was that some skills developed by young people did not respond to social and economic needs. This led to the unemployment situation and many other problems.

The Prime Minister cited the Sufficiency Economy philosophy, initiated by His Majesty the King, as an important guideline for Thai life. The current political and social conflicts stimulate the need for members of society to create the right social values for young people to live with others in harmony and to respect differences.

Prime Minister Abhisit pointed out that in order to achieve the target of preparing people for changes through education, the Government had announced the promotion of reading habit on the list of national agenda. He also underlined the importance of learning foreign languages for communication and to seek more knowledge, especially through the Internet.

Meanwhile, Education Minister Chinnaworn Boonyakiat said that the second phase of education reform would focus on four areas: the development of the quality of Thai people, the development of teachers, the development of educational institutions, and the development of new education management.

-- NNT 2010-10-29

[ThaiRich]

great ideas. But are worthless. The government can impliment all the programs they want, but until the desire to learn is in the hearts and minds of Thai students it will all be for moot and a waste of money.

[canuck1941]

great ideas. But are worthless. The government can impliment all the programs they want, but until the desire to learn is in the hearts and minds of Thai students it will all be for moot and a waste of money.

The desire in the hearts and minds of Thai students to learn can come only from parents. Kids copy what grown ups do. If you want your kid to learn to read, he has to see you and all those around reading.

But what concerns me is that the primary focus seems to be, at least the way I read it, on social stability, rather than, IMO, preparing the future generation to not merely survive, but to thrive in the Global Village.

[olivier2553]

great ideas. But are worthless. The government can impliment all the programs they want, but until the desire to learn is in the hearts and minds of Thai students it will all be for moot and a waste of money.

The kids need to learn, it is not a matter of desire, the desire exists. It's a matter of feeding this desire with proper material.

[Ozzie21]

Lets hope Thailand can provide its children with good quality education delivered by motivated and dedicated teachers. How much of the Education budget actually goes into schools and how much goes into the administrators pockets? Thats a question I would like to see the PM ask his Minister of Education.

[ricbkk]

great ideas. But are worthless. The government can impliment all the programs they want, but until the desire to learn is in the hearts and minds of Thai students it will all be for moot and a waste of money.

The kids need to learn, it is not a matter of desire, the desire exists. It's a matter of feeding this desire with proper material.

Good and positive answer. To change the minds of todays and future generations will not happen over night and is a problem that covers the globe. However, it appears to me that the Thai government is willing to implement infrastructure which will help nuture those who have the desire to learn and make eduction in various sectors more accessible. This is a definite step in the right direction.

[afarang]

Provide a quality education to Thai children? No chance.Thai teachers are very poorly trained,Many don't understand their subject. Can read from the text book,and not much more.Many are so keen on teaching, they write a lesson on the board and disappear for the rest of that lesson. They set a lot of homework, because they are incompetent to teach it correctly, or to the students understanding in the classroom.Can they do the homework ? Most cannot do it correctly. Why? They go home to find only the grandparents there, ,Who have never BEEN to school to help them.So many parents have left home to find employment. But many of them either never went to school, or finished only Primary 3 level,so would be unable to help ,even if they did live with their children.Very, very sad.

[boblunch]

In my experience I have always found Thai students eager, sometimes desperate to learn as much as they could. But they were frustrated by the university system: too many classes, awkward schedules and degrees, disorganized objectives, unclear goals, and the many mixed signals from their leaders. I'll never forget one student who told me he knows his parents, professors and elders are wrong about the world, but what can he do? I didn't know how to answer.

[rmicheald]

Noble goals, but until you are allowed to fail a Thai student it will never work... That is correct teachers are NOT allowed to fail a student. Also, in every class there are only 5 to 8 students who are wanting to learn. The rest of the lazy slugs let those 5 to 8 do the work and then copy from them.

[asiawatcher]

All good intention but no real plan of execution - a lot of lip service.

[ThaiFelix]

I work for a large private bilingual chain here and have done so for over 6 years. We often tell new teachers that come along that if they are keen to teach children then drop the idea real quick because the system will tear you to bits.

For one we have far too many activities designed only to impress parents and the same, smarter children are taken out of the class for weeks beforehand to practice dancing and singing for it. The school will pay little for teaching resources while fortunes are spent on opening more schools or their surroundings. They expect the teachers to pay for just about everything. You need to buy your own computer and printer to make worksheets etc as the computers provided are always breaking down and the school refuses to pay for ink. The copy room is always late in copying materials because they have no toner.

Out of a 50 minute period I can only teach for approximately 20 minutes because the school demands that everything must be completely coloured in - again to impress the teachers. So the students spend more than half the period mindlessly colouring with tiny worn down pencils because of the tight budget on materials. Students often have to wait their turn for coloured pencils as there is often not enough to go around. If you try to cut down on the size and number of images on the worksheets to get around it the school wont approve them because the images are too few or small. We cannot have any bold print, such as headings etc on worksheets as it uses too much toner.

Much of the students' written work is rubbed out and rewritten by the Thai teachers and assistants so they will look beautiful for the parents. If a student is absent the work must still be completed and when we enquired how can a student catch up they told us if its too much we must do it or pay someone else to do it. The parents are obviously aware their children were absent and that the work is not theirs but we never hear a murmur from the parents.

The school will not dish out any discipline nor allow the teachers as it may upset the parents - the sacred source of income. It is almost impossible to teach due to the noise of passing students playfighting as they pass classrooms. Most show little respect to teachers and you have to get out of their way on walkways and stairs. Some weeks ago there was a fight that resulted in a student being admitted to hospital with head injuries after one of his classmate's older brothers attacked him because of an argument. Afterwards they called the offender to the office and then told him to go back to his classroom unescorted and bring his bag back to the office so they could search it for weapons ???

But at the end of the day they are still putting pressure on us to raise the educational level of the students?? I could go on forever here but wont because I'm told the school's lawyers keep a close eye on such sites.

[colspeed]

Noble goals, but until you are allowed to fail a Thai student it will never work... That is correct teachers are NOT allowed to fail a student. Also, in every class there are only 5 to 8 students who are wanting to learn. The rest of the lazy slugs let those 5 to 8 do the work and then copy from them.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I sincerely hope that you are not a teacher. How dare you say that 90% of students in every class are "lazy slugs"? - Yes, my classes are often 45 - 55 students each. Every student is an individual. Also, I believe, that it is part of a teacher's duty to make students interested in what you are teaching. How can they all copy? My students don't. Do you just do multiple choice all the time?

If you are not a teacher, where do you get your information from?

Everybody has a go at the Thai teachers. If you are a typical "native English teacher", I agree that there is no way of reforming the education system.

[colspeed]

I work for a large private bilingual chain here and have done so for over 6 years. We often tell new teachers that come along that if they are keen to teach children then drop the idea real quick because the system will tear you to bits.

For one we have far too many activities designed only to impress parents and the same, smarter children are taken out of the class for weeks beforehand to practice dancing and singing for it. The school will pay little for teaching resources while fortunes are spent on opening more schools or their surroundings. They expect the teachers to pay for just about everything. You need to buy your own computer and printer to make worksheets etc as the computers provided are always breaking down and the school refuses to pay for ink. The copy room is always late in copying materials because they have no toner.

Out of a 50 minute period I can only teach for approximately 20 minutes because the school demands that everything must be completely coloured in - again to impress the teachers. So the students spend more than half the period mindlessly colouring with tiny worn down pencils because of the tight budget on materials. Students often have to wait their turn for coloured pencils as there is often not enough to go around. If you try to cut down on the size and number of images on the worksheets to get around it the school wont approve them because the images are too few or small. We cannot have any bold print, such as headings etc on worksheets as it uses too much toner.

Much of the students' written work is rubbed out and rewritten by the Thai teachers and assistants so they will look beautiful for the parents. If a student is absent the work must still be completed and when we enquired how can a student catch up they told us if its too much we must do it or pay someone else to do it. The parents are obviously aware their children were absent and that the work is not theirs but we never hear a murmur from the parents.

The school will not dish out any discipline nor allow the teachers as it may upset the parents - the sacred source of income. It is almost impossible to teach due to the noise of passing students playfighting as they pass classrooms. Most show little respect to teachers and you have to get out of their way on walkways and stairs. Some weeks ago there was a fight that resulted in a student being admitted to hospital with head injuries after one of his classmate's older brothers attacked him because of an argument. Afterwards they called the offender to the office and then told him to go back to his classroom unescorted and bring his bag back to the office so they could search it for weapons ???

But at the end of the day they are still putting pressure on us to raise the educational level of the students?? I could go on forever here but wont because I'm told the school's lawyers keep a close eye on such sites.

Why are you still there after 6 years?

[nong38]

Lets give the PM a bit of support here, things are not right and need to change, has to starts somewhere with words it will not happen tomorrow but wherever we can help we should, advice, physical or comment and lets be positive, then point out where the negatives are. Lets encourage the kids to get on. I am in Nakhon Sawan and I make a point of kids that speak english to come and speak to me, gain confidence, learn a little a day more.

[ThaiFelix]

I work for a large private bilingual chain here and have done so for over 6 years. We often tell new teachers that come along that if they are keen to teach children then drop the idea real quick because the system will tear you to bits.

For one we have far too many activities designed only to impress parents and the same, smarter children are taken out of the class for weeks beforehand to practice dancing and singing for it. The school will pay little for teaching resources while fortunes are spent on opening more schools or their surroundings. They expect the teachers to pay for just about everything. You need to buy your own computer and printer to make worksheets etc as the computers provided are always breaking down and the school refuses to pay for ink. The copy room is always late in copying materials because they have no toner.

Out of a 50 minute period I can only teach for approximately 20 minutes because the school demands that everything must be completely coloured in - again to impress the teachers. So the students spend more than half the period mindlessly colouring with tiny worn down pencils because of the tight budget on materials. Students often have to wait their turn for coloured pencils as there is often not enough to go around. If you try to cut down on the size and number of images on the worksheets to get around it the school wont approve them because the images are too few or small. We cannot have any bold print, such as headings etc on worksheets as it uses too much toner.

Much of the students' written work is rubbed out and rewritten by the Thai teachers and assistants so they will look beautiful for the parents. If a student is absent the work must still be completed and when we enquired how can a student catch up they told us if its too much we must do it or pay someone else to do it. The parents are obviously aware their children were absent and that the work is not theirs but we never hear a murmur from the parents.

The school will not dish out any discipline nor allow the teachers as it may upset the parents - the sacred source of income. It is almost impossible to teach due to the noise of passing students playfighting as they pass classrooms. Most show little respect to teachers and you have to get out of their way on walkways and stairs. Some weeks ago there was a fight that resulted in a student being admitted to hospital with head injuries after one of his classmate's older brothers attacked him because of an argument. Afterwards they called the offender to the office and then told him to go back to his classroom unescorted and bring his bag back to the office so they could search it for weapons ???

But at the end of the day they are still putting pressure on us to raise the educational level of the students?? I could go on forever here but wont because I'm told the school's lawyers keep a close eye on such sites.

Why are you still there after 6 years?

Because I care for the kids, I couldnt just walk away so I do the best I can for them.

[dighambara]

Noble goals, but until you are allowed to fail a Thai student it will never work... That is correct teachers are NOT allowed to fail a student. Also, in every class there are only 5 to 8 students who are wanting to learn. The rest of the lazy slugs let those 5 to 8 do the work and then copy from them.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I sincerely hope that you are not a teacher. How dare you say that 90% of students in every class are "lazy slugs"? - Yes, my classes are often 45 - 55 students each. Every student is an individual. Also, I believe, that it is part of a teacher's duty to make students interested in what you are teaching. How can they all copy? My students don't. Do you just do multiple choice all the time?

If you are not a teacher, where do you get your information from?

Everybody has a go at the Thai teachers. If you are a typical "native English teacher", I agree that there is no way of reforming the education system.

It is cultural from top to bottom. At my Daughter's school the mothers of boys bring in the work and rucksack - organizing for their sons, while the boys riughouse in the hall. The mothers of girls stand back as the girl puts her work on the table and puts away her supplies.

Males in Thai society are not expected to be responsible...

Same for adults - women run the business while their men get drunk. Every job I have ever contracted, that was done by Thai men, had a sloppy result. Chinese men and Thai women do a professional job. Thai men only work while the supervisor is in sight.

[Thai at Heart]

Are there any significant successes from the first mindblowingly underwhelming reform "PART 1"

As for reform the sequel it seems that Abhisit isn't setting his target particularly high.

The Prime Minister stressed that the goal of education reform is to produce able personnel who are virtuous and happy serving as good citizens. In this regard, the reform must strive to build citizens of good quality, with political, economic, and social well-being.

I have seen the latest "new" ratings for my kids from their bilingual school. I had to hide my snide smile when I was reliably informed that my kids score 100% for loving the country and other very worrying 1984 style measurements. As if a 9 and 7 year olds can actively dislike a country? I will wait for them to come home and tell me that Cambodia is the fountain of devil worship.....

I really hoped for more for the kids of Thailand. Let's not shoot to have the education quality of Thailand rated internationally in the top 10 globally. Good and happy citizens......

Why not just give them a joint a day?

[canuck1941]

I'm beginning to think that what needs to be done is to let Thai parents read in Thai newspapers how they are being scammed by language mills. One can always get a sympathetic ear here but that's all. However, and I'm blue-skying here, if some ambitious Thai journalist wanted to do a series of stories, progress would be likely. Or am I too much the optimist?

Also I was distressed to read that in the first ten year step of the education reform, no one thought about the students. And my optimism vanished.

Edited October 29, 2010 by canuck1941

[jayjay0]

Provide a quality education to Thai children? No chance.Thai teachers are very poorly trained,Many don't understand their subject. Can read from the text book,and not much more.Many are so keen on teaching, they write a lesson on the board and disappear for the rest of that lesson. They set a lot of homework, because they are incompetent to teach it correctly, or to the students understanding in the classroom.Can they do the homework ? Most cannot do it correctly. Why? They go home to find only the grandparents there, ,Who have never BEEN to school to help them.So many parents have left home to find employment. But many of them either never went to school, or finished only Primary 3 level,so would be unable to help ,even if they did live with their children.Very, very sad.

Are you proposing that the government do nothing?

Thailand teaching has a long way to go.The only way they can do it is to start. To just throw there hands up in the air and say f---k it is usless is a very negative attitude. The following is a quote from the PMs comments.

["The Prime Minister said that during the first decade of education reform, the country had spent a great deal of time and resources on projects and management. It seemed that the quality of learners, which is a major objective of the reform, was overlooked."]

To admit that they made a mistake goes to show there willingness to correct the problem. It will take years to do it there way and never get done to do it without starting.

I some times wonder if these bashers have such a miserable life the only way they can feel good is to go on a forum give a phony name and bash others. I understand they even have a motto. It is never never never give credit.

[afarang]

Noble goals, but until you are allowed to fail a Thai student it will never work... That is correct teachers are NOT allowed to fail a student. Also, in every class there are only 5 to 8 students who are wanting to learn. The rest of the lazy slugs let those 5 to 8 do the work and then copy from them.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I sincerely hope that you are not a teacher. How dare you say that 90% of students in every class are "lazy slugs"? - Yes, my classes are often 45 - 55 students each. Every student is an individual. Also, I believe, that it is part of a teacher's duty to make students interested in what you are teaching. How can they all copy? My students don't. Do you just do multiple choice all the time?

If you are not a teacher, where do you get your information from?

Everybody has a go at the Thai teachers. If you are a typical "native English teacher", I agree that there is no way of reforming the education system.

I spent 21 years teaching in Thailand, both at govt. unis ,private schools and language centres.You, regrettably did not read my previous post.If you had, you would assuredly agree, about the standards of Thai teachers. You might also understand the sexism that is so prevalent in Thai society. Males consider themselves so superior ,that they do not have to do anything to succeed. I have NEVER set a multiple choice exam ,in my teaching career. That is what stuffed a lot of the boys .They were not prepared for that. Why? Cheating is rife ,here ,in exams.Mainly by the boys. I derived great pleasure in failing many boys ,due to cheating.I had some adult students come to their final exam -drunk, and wondered why they got zero.99 % of boys always came in the bottom 50% of the class. However , if you got a boy who was in the top ten, he would be number 1. Brilliant.I do suggest that you take your blinkers off and cease insisting you are the greatest thing to happen to teaching, in Thailand,since ,shall we say -Sliced Bread.

[jayjay0]

I work for a large private bilingual chain here and have done so for over 6 years. We often tell new teachers that come along that if they are keen to teach children then drop the idea real quick because the system will tear you to bits.

For one we have far too many activities designed only to impress parents and the same, smarter children are taken out of the class for weeks beforehand to practice dancing and singing for it. The school will pay little for teaching resources while fortunes are spent on opening more schools or their surroundings. They expect the teachers to pay for just about everything. You need to buy your own computer and printer to make worksheets etc as the computers provided are always breaking down and the school refuses to pay for ink. The copy room is always late in copying materials because they have no toner.

Out of a 50 minute period I can only teach for approximately 20 minutes because the school demands that everything must be completely coloured in - again to impress the teachers. So the students spend more than half the period mindlessly colouring with tiny worn down pencils because of the tight budget on materials. Students often have to wait their turn for coloured pencils as there is often not enough to go around. If you try to cut down on the size and number of images on the worksheets to get around it the school wont approve them because the images are too few or small. We cannot have any bold print, such as headings etc on worksheets as it uses too much toner.

Much of the students' written work is rubbed out and rewritten by the Thai teachers and assistants so they will look beautiful for the parents. If a student is absent the work must still be completed and when we enquired how can a student catch up they told us if its too much we must do it or pay someone else to do it. The parents are obviously aware their children were absent and that the work is not theirs but we never hear a murmur from the parents.

The school will not dish out any discipline nor allow the teachers as it may upset the parents - the sacred source of income. It is almost impossible to teach due to the noise of passing students playfighting as they pass classrooms. Most show little respect to teachers and you have to get out of their way on walkways and stairs. Some weeks ago there was a fight that resulted in a student being admitted to hospital with head injuries after one of his classmate's older brothers attacked him because of an argument. Afterwards they called the offender to the office and then told him to go back to his classroom unescorted and bring his bag back to the office so they could search it for weapons ???

But at the end of the day they are still putting pressure on us to raise the educational level of the students?? I could go on forever here but wont because I'm told the school's lawyers keep a close eye on such sites.

Why are you still there after 6 years?

Because I care for the kids, I couldnt just walk away so I do the best I can for them.

As I read your article a couple things go through my mind.

1 You are frustrated and at a guess rightly so

2 You do care about the kids and you do see some success or you would not be doing it for 6 years

3 Isn't all those things you point out the things that they are going to work on. No quick fix but a start.

In the mean time do your best there are some who appreciate it and really have hopes for the kids.And the future of Thailand.

[LingLek]

Noble goals, but until you are allowed to fail a Thai student it will never work... That is correct teachers are NOT allowed to fail a student. Also, in every class there are only 5 to 8 students who are wanting to learn. The rest of the lazy slugs let those 5 to 8 do the work and then copy from them.

And that's different from other countries?

[LingLek]

Noble goals, but until you are allowed to fail a Thai student it will never work... That is correct teachers are NOT allowed to fail a student. Also, in every class there are only 5 to 8 students who are wanting to learn. The rest of the lazy slugs let those 5 to 8 do the work and then copy from them.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I sincerely hope that you are not a teacher. How dare you say that 90% of students in every class are "lazy slugs"? - Yes, my classes are often 45 - 55 students each. Every student is an individual. Also, I believe, that it is part of a teacher's duty to make students interested in what you are teaching. How can they all copy? My students don't. Do you just do multiple choice all the time?

If you are not a teacher, where do you get your information from?

Everybody has a go at the Thai teachers. If you are a typical "native English teacher", I agree that there is no way of reforming the education system.

It is cultural from top to bottom. At my Daughter's school the mothers of boys bring in the work and rucksack - organizing for their sons, while the boys riughouse in the hall. The mothers of girls stand back as the girl puts her work on the table and puts away her supplies.

Males in Thai society are not expected to be responsible...

Same for adults - women run the business while their men get drunk. Every job I have ever contracted, that was done by Thai men, had a sloppy result. Chinese men and Thai women do a professional job. Thai men only work while the supervisor is in sight.

Yes, cultural. Thailand is a rigidly gendered society, with a whole set of rules which only apply to one gender. (Transexuality is symptomatic, with kathoeys, for example, adopting/wearing/copying virtually all the characteristics of extreme femininity.) Women who work better or harder or more effectively than men do so because of gender inequities, rather than innate skills or temperament. They have to, if they want to survive in the market-place, This is an area the government might want to address, and not mystify things so much with agreeable but vague generalities about 'good citizens' or stability and toelrance.

[Charly]

I think the real problem might not be the standard of teachers and the gendered society, but the difficult wring system, which makes it very difficult to learn to read and write. This could be very easy reformed. I am living for 5 years in Thailand, and I try to learn reading and writing in Thai, but is is so difficult for me. I think it is also difficult for Thai kids, to learn it, that they just give up. There are many different letters with the same sound at the beginning of a syllable, but at the end of a syllable they have a different sound. How do children know, where the syllable start and end. I think the writing system was only once reformed and double pronounced consonant were eliminated, because they did not fit onto the typewriter keyboard.

The tonal language makes the Thai writing system so difficult, but there must be experts who think about a reform of the writing system, and who surely have better ideas than I have. But here is my reform idea in 2 steps.

Here is the first step:

1. Insert spaces between syllables
2. Eliminate double pronounced consonants, regardless whether they are high, medium or low class consonants and regardless whether they are located at the beginning or at the end of a syllable. This should reduce the number of letters to almost halve of the currently used letters in the Thai alphabet.
3. The gained space on the keyboards could be used, for 3 signs to mark medium, falling or rising syllables.

After a short learning curve, everyone, who already can read and write, can continue to read and write. The brain capacity in the pupils/students needed for learning to read and write will be reduced by (in my opinion) more than 80%. This brain capacity can be used for learning also important thing, and when reading is suddenly easy, even the boy will be more interested to learn reading.

I am German, and that I am not a native English speaker, you surely have noticed on my bad English. I have raised 2 children in Germany, a girl and a boy. The boy, he is 11 month younger than the girl, learned reading and writing by him, just be watching TV, before he started going to school. That was almost 40 years ago. Beside the main program we could receive 2 regional programs, which both broadcasted as far as I remember, several times per week a television program, which was called “Seamestraße” (Sesame Street). With the current Thai writing system, I think, this would not be possible.

If the first writing system reform is realized, pupils have spare learning capacity, to learn e.g. a second language, maybe English, and with that, they learn roman letters. So 25 years after the introduction of the first Thai Writing Reform, the second step could be realized.

The second step:

1. Romanization of the letters by just using lowercase letters, to make the writing easy