Focus On PISA Test To 'Repair National Image': Thailand

[webfact]

Focus on PISA test to 'repair national image'

Chularat Saengpassa,

Wannapa Khaopa

The Nation

Chainarong Indharameesup

Poor assessments are harming Thai reputation

BANGKOK: -- The Education Ministry - faced for years with steadily dropping scores by top international assessors -plans a project of educational improvement among Thai students in an attempt to upgrade their quality standards.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is more than just a test. Scores in PISA can affect the Kingdom's economic confidence and foreign investors' decisions whether to bring their money here. Now, Thai educators and teachers say, it's time to pay more attention to the assessment and adjust the way they teach for the country's benefit and future.

The ministry and Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology (IPST) will change the way teachers go about their work. Teachers must encourage their students to analyse information, the same way they use analytical thinking when taking the PISA test, according to Office of Basic Education Commission (Obec) deputy secretarygeneral Benjalug Namfa.

She added that questions of PISA tests may be put in students' exercise books so they can learn to analyse these questions. Similarly teachers would pose problems to train students on thinking critically and using problem solving skills.

Thongchai Chewpreecha, adviser to IPST, said 2,000 people would be trained to instruct teachers in different parts of the country on adjusting their teaching styles over the next two years.

"Teachers have to understand PISA tests," Benjalug said, adding that the ministry targeted for Thailand to obtain average PISA scores as high as international average or higher by 2018.

IPST and Obec would meet related educators and administrators across the nation in April and May to make them aware of the impact of PISA and encourage them to make changes. Officials from both agencies would meet with around 12,000 people. The meetings would be held in Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Phitsanulok, Ubon Ratchathani, Khon Kaen, Udon Thani, Nakhon Ratchasima, Rayong, Surat Thani and Somgkhla, Pornpun Waitayangkoon, the IPST director said.

Thai students' average PISA scores were low - lower than international average PISA scores and are likely to drop gradually in the next PISA tests, according Benjalug.

"Low PISA scores reflect the Thai workforce's low capability. This can affect potential assessment and investment in the nation. The scores have been disseminated worldwide and used to rank competitiveness of each country and counted among criteria for investment consideration," she told around 800 school directors, educational service area office directors and educational supervisors at a meeting in Bangkok last week.

Institute for Research and Quality Development Foundation chairman Chainarong Indharameesup told The Nation that PISA classified proficiency levels into six categories, with Level 6 the highest and representing the most difficult questions. More than 50 per cent of Thai students were at Level 1 or below in the PISA 2009 mathematics performance.

"Level 1 means they can only read and remember information, but cannot analyse it. Level 3 means they can create imaginatively, plan and innovate; and in Level 46 they can create plans and search for information to argue with reason and analyse information," he said.

"Students who reach Levels 36 are able to learn necessary skills for the 21st century - software, computer, entertainment, electronics and IT. If we are unable to provide education to equip our students with these skills, Thais will be underdogs to countries that are able to prepare their workforce with these skills."

He added that only students from university demonstration schools and some leading schools could reach Level 3 or higher because the schools had implemented projec tbased teaching in which students found and analysed information before planning to solve problems in their projects.

"Teachers under Obec had been taught by institutes that practised teaching methods for the 20th century - they have taught theory. Students remember information and answers," Chainarong said.

PISA is a triennial worldwide test of the scholastic performance of 15yearold school children, coordinated by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Developed in 1997, the first PISA assessment was carried out in 2000. The tests are administered every three years. Countries other than OECD members have also joined the assessment. Thailand joined it in 2000.

In South East Asia, Indonesia and Singapore have also participated in PISA - Singapore gets higher scores than Thailand but Indonesia's are lower. The next PISA test is scheduled for this year, and two more countries in the region, Vietnam and Malaysia will join.

According to Chainarong, with good or satisfactory PISA scores, Hong Kong and Singapore are seen as being attractive among investors.

Chainarong said he was pleased to explain the importance of PISA to teachers to encourage them to adjust their teaching and help the country produce a workforce with working skills that would help the nation survive in the 21st century.

-- The Nation 2012-04-09

[Scott]

Oh boy, here we go again. Another test for them to try and master without actually learning.

[KireB]

'Teaching to the test', is exactly what you should not do dear Deputy Secretary. Good scores on an international assessment start with a proper national assessment. And we teachers all know that the exams in this country are flawed and meaningless! Not failing students makes a lot of students lazy and not take any responsibility in learning. And that's the main reason your Education system is in shambles!

[Ijustwannateach]

Oh dear, I guess it's time for the annual re-writing of the curriculum- assuming everyone's actually finished with last year's re-writing.

[otherstuff1957]

This article is no surprise to anyone who has taught Mathematics here. While Thai students are often ok doing basic calculations, they are frequently baffled by word problems - which require them to figure out what the question is asking and then what steps are required to reach the answer - analytical skills, in other words!

[skybluestu]

Critical thinking will be very difficult to implement into Thai schools, the main reason is in this video at around 1min 15secs.

[northernboy]

Critical thinking will be very difficult to implement into Thai schools, the main reason is in this video at around 1min 15secs.

That too could apply to many TV posting as well. As state at the 2:00 mark,

A well done video, maybe many of us should watch and learn from it. Thus truly reading the article and removing our slant from it.

[ROMANOBA]

'MORE THAN 50 PERCENT OF THAI STUDENT WERE BELOW LEVEL 1 AT PISA TEST'

This meeans 50 percent of thai students being TOTALLY unable to analyze,deduct,thinking.

IT'S SCARING.We have to deal with those people every day...

[Sydebolle]

Well, the eloquette society leaders of this country will see what happens to keep all those millions of underlings uneducated. Come 2015 there will be in inflow of better educated, more eager and less lazy and ignorant workers and there is absolutely nothing Thailand can do about it.

To fix these educational shortcomings will take at least one to two generations. Jump the cultural rubbish, implement social values (I mean the real ones) and then, maybe, Thailand will be catching up with the second last ASEAN country in the second half of this century. I will not be around to witness this anymore and I am quite glad about that. Thailand is still medieval and needs a complete make-over!

[pepi2005]

This article is no surprise to anyone who has taught Mathematics here. While Thai students are often ok doing basic calculations, they are frequently baffled by word problems -

why lern Mathemaics?

There is a calculator on everyone's fancy mobile phone / Tablet PC !!

[drdoom6996]

Oh boy, here we go again. Another test for them to try and master without actually learning.

You took the words right out of my mouth.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

Thanks for the pointer to the video, great resource.

Oh boy, here we go again. Another test for them to try and master without actually learning.

'Teaching to the test', is exactly what you should not do dear Deputy Secretary. Good scores on an international assessment start with a proper national assessment. And we teachers all know that the exams in this country are flawed and meaningless! Not failing students makes a lot of students lazy and not take any responsibility in learning. And that's the main reason your Education system is in shambles!

It is my opinion that the mainstream education system here is so fundamentally flawed, so much comes from underlying social/cultural paradigms, that any truly effective solution would require completely scrapping the whole Education Ministry, getting rid of 90% of the local school administrators and maybe 80% of the teachers, and starting over from scratch under a system designed by foreigners and implemented under the control of thousands of foreigners for the first decade or so.

Obviously this won't happen.

Therefore the best the country can hope for realistically is small incremental improvements, which while hopelessly inadequate to the challenges coming down the road for the country over the next few years, are better than nothing.

It is currently impossible for Thai educators to do anything but "teach to the test", so if they at least start teaching to a decent test, then that's an improvement. The PISA test is a good one, and used to objectively compare the outcome of different countries' overall education systems. If the national education system started to re-orient itself toward a target of improving Thailand's currently woeful performance on this benchmark, that could only have positive results compared to now.

The will likely find that the current rote memorization methodologies will improve things in a limited way, which will give them validation and encouragement in the short term. Then once those incremental improvements in the test scores stall, perhaps they will start to realize that their fundamental teaching methods must change in order to gain further improvement, and maybe bite the bullet and start to bring in pedagogic advisers from the countries which currently get top results like Finland, Singapore and Shanghai - note the English-speaking countries don't perform that well on the PISA themselves, especially relative to per-capita spending on education, while Shanghai has extraordinarily good value-for-money results.

So I say for once this lip-service "miracle cure" bit of PR has some validity, and if it were actually implemented system-wide has the potention for yes for now incremental changes but in the right direction, and down the road possibly radical transformations.

OT, but large improvements could also be made without waiting for the official system. I would like to see a way for the private sector to more widely tap the time, energy and experience of the under-utilized foreigners.

[Scott]

From the OP:

She added that questions of PISA tests may be put in students' exercise books so they can learn to analyse these questions...

I think they mean, so they can memorize the answers.

"Teachers have to understand PISA tests,"

Teachers have to understand the test, but not the material they are teaching.

I've seen this happen in more than one school where students take endless days of former test questions for the National Exams. No teaching, just learning the answers to previous exams.

The country has a long way to go enable analysis and critical thinking and I am afraid it would have a profound effect on the culture of submission and privilege in the country.

[Scott]

BigJohnnyBKK: some good points, but foreigners will NOT be allowed to be a part of it. They will contaminate the purity of the Thai system (or question its viability). A few privileged students will be taught some little tricks that seem to show some critical thinking and it will appear in the local papers and everyone will ooh and awe and declare the education system on the right track.

[ArtCha]

Finland has been one of the most successful (maybe the most successful) countries in PISA so far.

I've been working as a teacher in junior high school in Finland for five years and I have NEVER heard ANYONE speaking ANYTHING about targeting to PISA tests. We are proud to see the results, but approach the test with a very very big skepticism. Testing of students as a whole has minimum importance in education in Finland.

Hopefully PISA helps in curriculum reform, but using it as goal or instrument in learning and growing as a person...not ok.

[Scott]

Thanks ArtCha for giving some information about Finland. When I was a student, many, many years ago, we had one national test that was given once a year...it didn't seem to mean a lot, but gave some idea where the education system was doing well and where it was failing.

There was no studying for it, no special preparation. We were just told to bring two number 2 lead pencils and an eraser that day.

Unfortunately, the Thai education system doesn't approach things the same way Finland does. It's not about learning....it's about memorizing; it's not about knowing, it's about a score.

[ROMANOBA]

Wonderful video, but if you analyze Thailand thorugh each statement made in this video, you get really scary.Scary because we live in a society based on magical and ritual thinking, with a zero rationality level.

Critical thinking will be very difficult to implement into Thai schools, the main reason is in this video at around 1min 15secs.

That too could apply to many TV posting as well. As state at the 2:00 mark,

A well done video, maybe many of us should watch and learn from it. Thus truly reading the article and removing our slant from it.

[allan michaud]

Oh boy, here we go again. Another test for them to try and master without actually learning.

You took the words right out of my mouth.

Thai govt will tackle the problem of improving the countries PISA score by:

1. Trying to find someone to give a large brown envelope full of money to.

failing that

2. Tell teachers they must improve but offer no advice, training or money to do this.

3. If all else fails blame farangs.

[remobb]

And they can't spell "Pizza" 55555555

[BlackArtemis]

Sadly, it feels like the US system is doing the same. Sat in classes for the last two years hearing all about the new changes. In Pennsylvania the tests are drastically changing, and the whole certification process as well. But in the end, it's all about getting the kids to score well on a test, else it's your job. Not too upset that I decided to return to Thailand rather than teach in the US, at least I know to expect the craziness here.

[how241]

Sounds like a good plan. I hope it can be implimented.

[otherstuff1957]

This article is no surprise to anyone who has taught Mathematics here. While Thai students are often ok doing basic calculations, they are frequently baffled by word problems -

why lern Mathemaics?

There is a calculator on everyone's fancy mobile phone / Tablet PC !!

Indeed, you can argue that knowing how to add, subtract, divide & multiply are not skills that the next generation (or even this one) really needs. However, the point that I was trying to make is that these kids lack the analytical skills needed to decide when they should divide or when they should multiply. The best calculator ap in the world won't help them with that!

Edited April 9, 2012 by Scott
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[JohnAllan]

Before teachers can teach students to think critically, they themselves are going to have to learn to think critically.

[anterian]

Some of you may know the story of how the Roman army was responsible for the design of NASA's booster rockets, or the related story of cooking the roast turkey.

http://www.astrodigital.org/space/stshorse.html

What has this to do with the OP, well Thais are good copiers but poor innovators, their thinking processes are stuck in the grooves laid down by their ancestors.

[pepi2005]

This article is no surprise to anyone who has taught Mathematics here. While Thai students are often ok doing basic calculations, they are frequently baffled by word problems -

why lern Mathemaics?

There is a calculator on everyone's fancy mobile phone / Tablet PC !!

Indeed, you can argue that knowing how to add, subtract, divide & multiply are not skills that the next generation (or even this one) really needs. However, the point that I was trying to make is that these kids lack the analytical skills needed to decide when they should divide or when they should multiply. The best calculator ap in the world won't help them with that!

sorry, but I have to inform you that you just failed the PISA test in understanding irony. ;-)

(IOW, I fully share your follow-up thoughts. )

cheers, p.

Edited April 9, 2012 by Scott
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[anterian]

This article is no surprise to anyone who has taught Mathematics here. While Thai students are often ok doing basic calculations, they are frequently baffled by word problems -

why lern Mathemaics?

There is a calculator on everyone's fancy mobile phone / Tablet PC !!

Indeed, you can argue that knowing how to add, subtract, divide & multiply are not skills that the next generation (or even this one) really needs. However, the point that I was trying to make is that these kids lack the analytical skills needed to decide when they should divide or when they should multiply. The best calculator ap in the world won't help them with that!

And simple calculators don't use BODMAS

Edited April 9, 2012 by Scott
formatting

[surayu]

Chances are that is more likely for it to complitely fall as it is so bending over already, that can't be straightened up anymore....

[BlackArtemis]

This article is no surprise to anyone who has taught Mathematics here. While Thai students are often ok doing basic calculations, they are frequently baffled by word problems -

why lern Mathemaics?

There is a calculator on everyone's fancy mobile phone / Tablet PC !!

Indeed, you can argue that knowing how to add, subtract, divide & multiply are not skills that the next generation (or even this one) really needs. However, the point that I was trying to make is that these kids lack the analytical skills needed to decide when they should divide or when they should multiply. The best calculator ap in the world won't help them with that!

I have been hired as a math teacher for the prathom level and I looked at all the teaching objectives and realized. "When was the last time I had to multiply and divide fractions? Find the area or a triangle or other no square/rectangular shape? Circumference and radius of a circle?

Personally, I have had way more use for algebra, statistics, and some brief calculus while studying more than anything else.

Edited April 9, 2012 by Scott
formatting

[vijer]

I teach and if a student gets below a passing grade the Thai teachers adjust the score .. we are not allowed to fail a student.

To help the students, they get graded on attendance, politeness, participation and finally for actual tests. So a Thai kid can fail the test but pass because he attended class, was polite and paid attention to the teacher.

[vijer]

Critical thinking will be very difficult to implement into Thai schools, the main reason is in this video at around 1min 15secs.

4:50 succinctly describes why Thai's will never be critical thinkers and why Thailand will never be a very advanced society.