Revamp Of Curricula 'part Of Key Changes'

[Lite Beer]

EDUCATION

Revamp of curricula 'part of key changes'

Chularat Saengpassa,

Wannapa Khaopa

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- 'Students need better skills for fast-changing world'

A big move to revamp basic education curricula aimed at boosting students' skills for the 21st century is being accelerated, the head of a committee to revamp curricula said last week.

Prof Pavich Tongroach was appointed last week as chairman of a basic curricula and textbook reform panel. An adviser to the Education Minister, Pavich told The Nation in an exclusive interview that curricula would be upgraded to equip students with necessary skills for the 21st century, and a rapidly changing world.

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Apart from the curricula revamp, he is going to push forward four other strategies, aimed at upgrading the whole education system. They are teacher reform, information and communication technology access, upgrading STEME (science, technology, engineering, mathematics and English) learning and reform of educational agencies.

"After being given a green light to change the curriculum from the minister, we will rush to make change in the (primary and secondary education) curricula. We cannot wait anymore as our education is in crisis. Our curricula are old while the world has changed a lot and gone much more beyond what have been taught in the curricula. They have been used since 2001. Although, they were improved in 2008 - but just a minor change. Most of the curricula content has not been changed," Pavich said.

The interview came after Education Minister Phongthep Thepkanjana officially approved two committees to work on the education revamp last Tuesday.

According to research by Tony Wagner, co-director of the Change Leadership Group at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education, seven 21st century skills are problem-solving and critical thinking, collaboration across networks and leading by influence, agility and adaptability, initiative and entrepreneurship, effective written and oral communication, accessing and analysing information, and curiosity and imagination.

Pavich said Thai students' achievements had declined for years, and they were likely to continue declining in both national and international assessments. The curricula were a major cause of the decline.

"We have problems with the curricula, and it is because of this that the process of turning our children into academically proficient individuals is not as good as in other countries."

"The curricula revamp will help increase students' achievements and enhance their skills for the 21st century."

"The current curricula have not focused clearly on attributes and skills of students in each level. We are going to put them in the new curricula in detail. So, Thailand will know how to produce individuals with necessary skills," Pavich said.

The ministry is going to provide more time to students to learn from more different activities inside and outside class, and decrease formal studying time to suit students in each grade, which means redundant or unnecessary content will be removed from the curricula. Also, it would reduce students' burden on doing too much homework so they can spend more time on doing and learning from activities.

He emphasised that a decrease in studying time must not lessen students' learning. "We have to communicate and implement the new ones carefully otherwise they could end up like previous child-centred approach that was not successful as expected."

He said the new curricula would give more detail to guide teachers how to teach more effectively. He planned to include detail about course description, course syllabus, course content and lesson plans in them. The current ones have only course descriptions and learning purposes.

"The curricula revamp is scheduled to be complete by this year. After that the ministry will proceed to the implementation step," Pavich said.

Textbooks have to be changed as well, so private publishers will be allowed to compete to make changes to textbooks according attributes required for each grade. They would be given more freedom to design and present the textbooks' content in a more creative and interesting way. They could present the content with multimedia.

He said even though publishers come up with standard text drafts, eventually the bureau under the Office of the Basic Education Commission and the Education Ministry would approve only parts that they consider should be used - and would leave out material that they don't consider necessary for students. So, the ministry needed to propose a new process of textbook approval.

Pavich said to upgrade the whole education system, institutions that produce teachers would have to cut the number of graduates but increase their quality. Top quality institutions would be selected to produce high quality graduates under a scholarship project. The ministry is keen to boost information and communication technology access for students in remote areas so they can improve their knowledge through e-learning and searching the Internet.

He would also propose to set up STEME centres in every province where students can learn from doing experiment activities and science experts. This would also decentralise power to local administrative organisations to take care of their students.

-- The Nation 2013-02-11

[Thai at Heart]

Textbooks have to be changed as well, so private publishers will be allowed to compete to make changes to textbooks according attributes required for each grade. They would be given more freedom to design and present the textbooks' content in a more creative and interesting way. They could present the content with multimedia.

He said even though publishers come up with standard text drafts, eventually the bureau under the Office of the Basic Education Commission and the Education Ministry would approve only parts that they consider should be used - and would leave out material that they don't consider necessary for students. So, the ministry needed to propose a new process of textbook approval.

surely teachers should design and write the books??????

[kangeroo]

Well i am not in Thai at the moment but where my brother works at the primary school he tells me that text books wont be part of the corricular soon it will be laptops .

[noitom]

Emphasis has to be on reading. Students have to adopt a culture of reading. Testing has to test ability to think, structure, and communicate. All the changes to the curriculum in the world mean absolutely nothing if Thai students aren't taught to read, read, read and comprehend. Schoolwork should be designed to "challenge" students to think and structure and apply what they have read. Apply, apply, apply. Not memorize and recite. Read , think, and apply.

Parents will need to change as well. All the changes in the world in school won't matter if the culture of reading and independent thinking isn't evangelized at home. Work ethic needs to driven in, achievement, value of work, productivity, these ideas need to be incorporated in the philosophy behind teaching. Parents need to set an example and read as well. Discussions about literature, science, medicine need to held at home. Students need to see that everyone loves to read and think and discuss. Tall orders for Thais.

[Locationthailand]

At least the problem is on the table. Whether anything will be done about it is the issue. I guess I will just have to keep paying for my kids to be in International School to give them half a chance as nothing will happen quickly in this area.

[dcutman]

Has anybody told Thailand that we have been in the 21st century for 13 years now?

This will go full steam ahead, right up to the next cabinet reshuffle, where the next Minister of Education, will have a even more brilliant idea on how to move Thailand into the 21st century.

[Thai at Heart]

Note the lack of social studies and religion and culture in the other curriculums as part of the core subjects.....

[BrianCR]

Textbooks have to be changed as well, so private publishers will be allowed to compete to make changes to textbooks according attributes required for each grade. They would be given more freedom to design and present the textbooks' content in a more creative and interesting way. They could present the content with multimedia.

He said even though publishers come up with standard text drafts, eventually the bureau under the Office of the Basic Education Commission and the Education Ministry would approve only parts that they consider should be used - and would leave out material that they don't consider necessary for students. So, the ministry needed to propose a new process of textbook approval.

surely teachers should design and write the books??????

From my past experience Thai teaching staff are simply not capable of writing books - when schools put them up to it they simply use plagiarism and even then make many mistakes. The "work" produced is often badly photocopied and unreadable making little sense to the students and teachers who are supposed to be teaching the rubbish!

[OzMick]

As Thais have much lower average incomes than in the other 2 countries, perhaps they could consider a subsidy for texts and uniforms so that poorer families can AFFORD to keep their children in school longer.

[thaicbr]

I have been here 8 years and pretty much every year the same BS.

[Payboy]

Textbooks have to be changed as well, so private publishers will be allowed to compete to make changes to textbooks according attributes required for each grade. They would be given more freedom to design and present the textbooks' content in a more creative and interesting way. They could present the content with multimedia.

Expect Beer Chang or Euro Custard ads in those textbooks then.

Edited February 11, 2013 by Payboy

[arthurboy]

I have been here 8 years and pretty much every year the same BS.

Whole heartedly agree. I have lost count of the number of experts, committees, education ministers etc. who have issued these same meaningless statements in the past.

We need to improve, redesign, overhaul, rethink the Thai education system to give current and future generations and Thailand the opportunity to blah, blah, blah...

Empty rhetoric.

[Thai at Heart]

I have been here 8 years and pretty much every year the same BS.

Whole heartedly agree. I have lost count of the number of experts, committees, education ministers etc. who have issued these same meaningless statements in the past.

We need to improve, redesign, overhaul, rethink the Thai education system to give current and future generations and Thailand the opportunity to blah, blah, blah...

Empty rhetoric.

Of course, it would be just too simple to take someone else's world class curriculum and translate all the text books to Thai and implement it.

[chainarong]

Well this is heartening, the only obstacle , are the thai teachers at grass roots level able to support these changes, i notice the word worldly comes into the program, students to be come more worldly, yeah right. I afraid i have no confidence in Thai programs, plans, high speed trains or hubs, they seem to die of natural death , never to be heard of after next week.

[lungpeter]

as long as you have 35 to 50 students in your class and nobody can fail anyway, you don`t need to change anything

[h90]

That: "An adviser to the Education Minister, Pavich told The Nation in an exclusive interview that curricula would be upgraded to equip students with necessary skills for the 21st century, and a rapidly changing world."

should be enough to fire him. how can someone have necessary skills for 2040?

[Suffinator]

I certainly wouldn't subject my child to the Thai education system and therefore I don't worry about it. The government is not really going to do anything, as you cannot control an educated populace. The sad reality is that those in power will ensure that those not are kept under control through the lack of education while they continue to rape the countries finances and all the while throw them a bone, such as the rice pledging scheme.

AEC 2015 cancelled. AEC 2016 don't hold your breath.... ever.

[WhizBang]

Notice how both Singapore and Malasia specifically list English as one of the core goals of Basic Education. Yet Thailand only specifically lists Thai, and, as if an afterthought, 'foreign languages'.

Foreign languages could be Chinese, or Russian. Probably not English though.

Brilliant. Just hot air as usual, I assume.

[tomyummer]

I think the most overlooked of Wagner's seven for Thailand is the 'leading by influence'.

Why would students yearn to learn when there are the most corrupt people running the country at all levels of business, religion (not all, but some), armed forces, police and institutions setting the worst examples? The influence seems to based on the 'earn fast, work little, screw everyone' motto of this country.

Edited February 11, 2013 by tomyummer

[madmitch]

I was quite surprised to read that the curriculum has been in use only since 2001 and not circa 1961 as I had thought.

[culicine]

Well, I'll believe it when I see it. There are plenty of international curricula that can be translated into Thai - try the IB diploma for a start. No need to reinvent the wheel here.

Some might be astonished to learn that calculators are banned in regular government schools. My students use them, of course, as I teach in an EP. But exactly how much mathematics can one do without a calculator? Higher level maths is out of the question. The focus all along has been on calculations, rather than broader problems that require some thought. Same applies in other subjects.

But is they are serious, they need to double the number of schools and halve class sizes. Even the most brilliant teacher can't achieve much with such sizes.

The lack of consequences is also a severe impediment to learning here. If a child works their butt off for a 50% while the lazy sod next to him does nothing and also gets a 50, why bother trying? Just give them the score they got, I say. And when the wealthy and connected get the best jobs regardless of what they know, where is the incentive for the poor to study hard?

[culicine]

That: "An adviser to the Education Minister, Pavich told The Nation in an exclusive interview that curricula would be upgraded to equip students with necessary skills for the 21st century, and a rapidly changing world."

should be enough to fire him. how can someone have necessary skills for 2040?

Especially when noone knows what those required skills will be

[backtonormal]

Note the lack of social studies and religion and culture in the other curriculums as part of the core subjects.....

The subjects you refer to are there for a reason. Its all about manipulating the masses. Another step along the road to dismantling the systems that have kept this country in the dark ages to the financial benefit of a few.

[Ian Curtis]

Textbooks have to be changed as well, so private publishers will be allowed to compete to make changes to textbooks according attributes required for each grade. They would be given more freedom to design and present the textbooks' content in a more creative and interesting way. They could present the content with multimedia.

He said even though publishers come up with standard text drafts, eventually the bureau under the Office of the Basic Education Commission and the Education Ministry would approve only parts that they consider should be used - and would leave out material that they don't consider necessary for students. So, the ministry needed to propose a new process of textbook approval.

surely teachers should design and write the books??????

It's good to hear that somebody is alarmed and consequently realising that the has to be a big big change but;

Just where does he think the teacher's will come from to teach to this new level? Some of you will no doubt be muttering to yourselves, "Here he goes again!" but, as a mathematician and physicist I never saw the need for text books in mathematics - all you need is a curriculum! Naturally this assumes you have a competent mathematics staff. Physics (especially Nuffield Physics) is different and there are plenty of text books on the market in the UK (but written in English!!!). The Thai state schools I have visited don't even have specialised departments; for example, there is no Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, English, . . . . departments. It is just a non-specialist teacher reading from a text book! However, before any further steps are taken, a huge pile of money needs to be spent on Physics and Chemistry labs in all schools. Even an International school where I once taught IB maths and physics was bereft of a physics lab which meant I had to take the pupils to a college of technology twice a week so, one has to wonder, how will the state schools manage and how long will it take to implement?

I think that his biggest concern must be, "Where will I get the teacher's from?

I think a previous quote is correct - it will all come to nothing!

[Soi Sauce]

The blind, uneducated, and totally ignorant, leading the blind, mentally crippled and never to be educated,

C ya back in the stone-age,

BTW; how much does a Masters or Phd cost in Texas?

None of those with those have the skills this is on about.

Perish the thought they'd educate those below them.

[theajarn]

"The ministry is going to provide more time to students to learn from more different activities inside and outside class, and decrease formal studying time to suit students in each grade, which means redundant or unnecessary content will be removed from the curricula. Also, it would reduce students' burden on doing too much homework so they can spend more time on doing and learning from activities."

^This. It is where the system fails miserably. The article mentions the eight "core" areas of education -- interesting because Thai students get sh*thammered with an average of TWENTY ONE (yes, 21) subjects a semester, derived from these eight core subjects. Yes, there ARE plenty redundant subjects. Some students study THREE Science subjects (Physics, Biology and Chemistry) at once. Everyone is forced to study TWO subjects in Maths. Sh*t if the kids can't get ONE subject in Maths, what more TWO? Same goes for Science. Just this year some brilliant moron thought of forcing me to teach my M2 students Powerpoint in one computer subject and "presentation techniques" in another. WHY do we need two separately assessed subjects for this? It's because they don't know sh*t about what to teach.

Somehow though, I don't think the Minister is being very sincere with his words. As typical... it's probably just lip service. Though I AM surprised to see that he's mentioned these core problems in the system. I'm sure they know EXACTLY what is taxing the learning process... afterall, they need it for mind control.

Edited February 11, 2013 by theajarn

[theajarn]

I certainly wouldn't subject my child to the Thai education system and therefore I don't worry about it. The government is not really going to do anything, as you cannot control an educated populace. The sad reality is that those in power will ensure that those not are kept under control through the lack of education while they continue to rape the countries finances and all the while throw them a bone, such as the rice pledging scheme.

AEC 2015 cancelled. AEC 2016 don't hold your breath.... ever.

Precisely why I'm leaving this country forever... and taking my family with me (but gotta get the papers in order first).

Let the Thais wallow in their perfect world.

[Thai at Heart]

Textbooks have to be changed as well, so private publishers will be allowed to compete to make changes to textbooks according attributes required for each grade. They would be given more freedom to design and present the textbooks' content in a more creative and interesting way. They could present the content with multimedia.

He said even though publishers come up with standard text drafts, eventually the bureau under the Office of the Basic Education Commission and the Education Ministry would approve only parts that they consider should be used - and would leave out material that they don't consider necessary for students. So, the ministry needed to propose a new process of textbook approval.

surely teachers should design and write the books??????

It's good to hear that somebody is alarmed and consequently realising that the has to be a big big change but;

Just where does he think the teacher's will come from to teach to this new level? Some of you will no doubt be muttering to yourselves, "Here he goes again!" but, as a mathematician and physicist I never saw the need for text books in mathematics - all you need is a curriculum! Naturally this assumes you have a competent mathematics staff. Physics (especially Nuffield Physics) is different and there are plenty of text books on the market in the UK (but written in English!!!). The Thai state schools I have visited don't even have specialised departments; for example, there is no Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, English, . . . . departments. It is just a non-specialist teacher reading from a text book! However, before any further steps are taken, a huge pile of money needs to be spent on Physics and Chemistry labs in all schools. Even an International school where I once taught IB maths and physics was bereft of a physics lab which meant I had to take the pupils to a college of technology twice a week so, one has to wonder, how will the state schools manage and how long will it take to implement?

I think that his biggest concern must be, "Where will I get the teacher's from?

I think a previous quote is correct - it will all come to nothing!

Indeed, if you look at the countries that boomed from nothing to global giants in the last century, korea and japan, they take huge efforts on mathematics and science subjects.

I would guess that on average, it is very weak here just because of facilities. If you want industrial development you need engineers, and they need sciences and mathematics. But general understanding of the sciences for everyone helps massively for everyday understanding of a myriad of things.

Least of ask deductive reasoning.

[hellodolly]

Well this is heartening, the only obstacle , are the thai teachers at grass roots level able to support these changes, i notice the word worldly comes into the program, students to be come more worldly, yeah right. I afraid i have no confidence in Thai programs, plans, high speed trains or hubs, they seem to die of natural death , never to be heard of after next week.

I believe that change must start at the top. The universities are turning out the teachers it is there job to give them the proper tools to educate the youth of Thailand. That is the ones whose family can afford to let them go to school.

Instead of doing there job we get a list of things that have every thing on it except doing there job. I may be wrong here as I didn't follow it that much until recently. But has the Thai government always been that positively responsive to every thing the so called academic gurus in the university spew out. Things like Thailand has the knowledge for water management and dosen't need an input from Holland.

Or the never ending stream of pre planned answers brought out in there custom made to order polls.

[asiamaster]

Has anybody told Thailand that we have been in the 21st century for 13 years now?

This will go full steam ahead, right up to the next cabinet reshuffle, where the next Minister of Education, will have a even more brilliant idea on how to move Thailand into the 21st century.

Perhaps if they work hard on it Thailand will be ready for the 22nd century when the time comes....