Thailand's Education Has Been Deemed By Many As A Failure; Think-Tank Proposes Overhaul

[Marlow999]

Long time lurker here, but I just had to comment on this story. Here we go.

Full disclosure, I am a teacher in Bangkok. I work at a bilingual private school. Education in Thailand is a failure for many reasons. I will try to address a few of them through my experiences here.

1. The students.

I have had the pleasure to teach many wonderful and intelligent students. Sometimes it amazes me how much some of my students have learned while in this moribund system. My best students have always been very motivated to learn. I credit this to parents who actually care and are interested in the education of their children. However, the majority of my students, possibly 80%, just do not care about learning. They are kids. They figure out very early that they really don't have to do anything and they will move up to the next grade. There is no accountability for students who fail or do not try. Of course, they do not fail. That would be a loss of face for the kid and parents.

2. The teachers.

Where to begin? Some teachers are very dedicated and try really hard to teach their students. Others are bone lazy and come to school to hang out, collect a paycheck and say they have a job. I think a big problem is that they come from the broken system. They are just teaching the way they were taught and there has been no innovation or desire to innovate. Due to this, their teaching methods don't improve and the system stays broken. Many teachers will do nothing all day in class and then teach students after school is over. Why? Because they can charge the parents more money for this "tutoring." Teachers can double or triple their salary this way. It's a sham and the parents should be pissed.

3. The administration.

Here is where the biggest faults lie. As I said I work in a private school. The focus is on maximizing profit, not education. It is amazing how much class time is lost due to dance shows, sport days, praying, activities for kids and the list goes on and on. Twice this year we had class times cut from 50 to 40 minutes so the kids could practice for sport day and the end of term show, the former, a tradition all over Thailand and the latter a money maker for the school. This went on for months. We lost so much time. We have had the Ministry of Education come in and do inspections. The routine is that the school fails the first inspection and passes the second inspection. How do we pass? An envelope passes hands. Corruption is present in every facet of Thailand.

4. The Ministry of Education.

The governing body that looks over and decides the curriculum is a political appointment. Most of the time the appointee has no experience in the field of education. Every time there is a change at the ministry, there are new ideas on how to improve education. Schools try to implement these new ideas, find they are ineffective after only giving them a few months and then try something new. The ministry needs to be gutted and new people with a clue installed.

There are so many problems it is really hard to know where to begin fixing all of them. Student accountability would be a good start. If little Somchai were held back and made to learn something that would help. But I know I don't understand Thailand. Sometimes that thought makes me very happy.

This was going very well until I got to the end of your second paragraph. The use of the last word in that paragraph destroyed all your credibility.

[Marlow999]

Long time lurker here, but I just had to comment on this story. Here we go.

Full disclosure, I am a teacher in Bangkok. I work at a bilingual private school. Education in Thailand is a failure for many reasons. I will try to address a few of them through my experiences here.

1. The students.

I have had the pleasure to teach many wonderful and intelligent students. Sometimes it amazes me how much some of my students have learned while in this moribund system. My best students have always been very motivated to learn. I credit this to parents who actually care and are interested in the education of their children. However, the majority of my students, possibly 80%, just do not care about learning. They are kids. They figure out very early that they really don't have to do anything and they will move up to the next grade. There is no accountability for students who fail or do not try. Of course, they do not fail. That would be a loss of face for the kid and parents.

2. The teachers.

Where to begin? Some teachers are very dedicated and try really hard to teach their students. Others are bone lazy and come to school to hang out, collect a paycheck and say they have a job. I think a big problem is that they come from the broken system. They are just teaching the way they were taught and there has been no innovation or desire to innovate. Due to this, their teaching methods don't improve and the system stays broken. Many teachers will do nothing all day in class and then teach students after school is over. Why? Because they can charge the parents more money for this "tutoring." Teachers can double or triple their salary this way. It's a sham and the parents should be pissed.

3. The administration.

Here is where the biggest faults lie. As I said I work in a private school. The focus is on maximizing profit, not education. It is amazing how much class time is lost due to dance shows, sport days, praying, activities for kids and the list goes on and on. Twice this year we had class times cut from 50 to 40 minutes so the kids could practice for sport day and the end of term show, the former, a tradition all over Thailand and the latter a money maker for the school. This went on for months. We lost so much time. We have had the Ministry of Education come in and do inspections. The routine is that the school fails the first inspection and passes the second inspection. How do we pass? An envelope passes hands. Corruption is present in every facet of Thailand.

4. The Ministry of Education.

The governing body that looks over and decides the curriculum is a political appointment. Most of the time the appointee has no experience in the field of education. Every time there is a change at the ministry, there are new ideas on how to improve education. Schools try to implement these new ideas, find they are ineffective after only giving them a few months and then try something new. The ministry needs to be gutted and new people with a clue installed.

There are so many problems it is really hard to know where to begin fixing all of them. Student accountability would be a good start. If little Somchai were held back and made to learn something that would help. But I know I don't understand Thailand. Sometimes that thought makes me very happy.

!) My best students have always been very motivated to learn - the parents pay for cram schools

2) Others are bone lazy and come to school to hang out - as with most "western teachers" who are only doing it for the money

3) The focus is on maximizing profit, not education. It is amazing how much class time is lost due to dance shows, sport days, praying, activities for kids and the list goes on and on - the best way of learning something is by a "hands on approach" and learning additionally from experience

4)Most of the time the appointee has no experience in the field of education - the same in most counties local "people" are appointed as school governers

5) where did you graduate as a teacher and how come you're missing the "education part"

1. No. My best students are out the door and home by the end of school. Their parents take an interest and help at home.

2. Yes, the money is so fantastic in teaching. You must be teacher too. Let's meet up and compare our BMW's. In it for the money! You must be joking.

3. A hands on approach to shaking your ass on stage dressed and made up like a tart. I guess good training for some kind of future occupation.

4. Really? I doubt that.

5. You must just have an axe to grind with teachers.

Judging from your response to No. 5, ie avoiding the question, you must be another non-qualified teacher over here. I apologise if you have had some formal teacher training.

[NongKhaiKid]

This is called news? I have read the same useless crap for years but nothing happens, nothing changes.

I have been involved in teaching here at various levels including university and to say the system is a failure makes it sound reasonably efficient. They can plan all they want but it still won't work due to endemic corruption where students / parents pay to turn an F grade into a pass or to have a pass grade improved. Look at university finals where diplomas are issued a year later to allow wiggle room as it's always a member of the royal family who presides so all the horse trading has to be out the way.

[Mampara]

They have a "think-tank" ??

Actually its a "re-think tank"

[Bellweather]

Thai People are the Salt of the Earth .....But not too bright when it comes to EDGE U KATION

It must stick in many a Thai craw to have to admit the educational system is worse than useless but the 2015 Asian grouping has been a wake up call as they realise how deficient they are compared to other nations, not the least being in English which will probably be the lingua franca. Many Thais with their fake or bought degrees will be found out when they try to work elsewhere but of course it will be everybody else' fault as they don;t understand Thai " culture ".

[Mampara]

The main problem of course is the fact that the Thai teachers have been told that by the inspectors "if your student fails then you are a bad teacher" No teacher wants to be branded as a "Bad Teacher". Student Nook knows this, so why must he/she bother to learn he is going to pass anyway.if he fails there is going to be a re-test, the test will be held orally in the passage consisting of a few simple questions that really has nothing to do with the subject and will last about 2 minutes and "Bang" he has passed

[fareastguy]

Thai children are taught only what their peers want them to know.. that is to say..

look the other way & don't tread on my toes !!

[Markaew]

What's that? Teachers are not accountable for their students performances? I beg to differ. Teacher are ALWAYS blamed when students perform poorly on exams - despite such students never handing i homework or coming to school. I would suggest abolishing the ho-fail policy - give the grades the students earn. If they earn a zero then there is a zero on their report. There's nothing more infuriating than having to give a 50 to the lazy sod sleeping in the corner and a 50 to the kid who earned it byworking his/her nads off. Thailand better wake itself up or they face being left in the wake of other AEC nations over the next few years.

And what exactly is a literacy based test? Surely they aren't proposing to abolish testing of content knowledge - which goes against just about every other country on earth; IB, AP, A levels...etc.

That is absolutely true.

In Thailand, it's the sign of a bad teacher if the student does badly. Education is big business here. They will never abolish the no-fail rule or the private schools won't keep their students.

[Emdog]

The idea of pre and post school year test has some merit. In order to get a realistic pre school year score, I would suggest that in order to be allowed in whatever level, students would have to achieve a certain score. This might cut down on scoring low at start of year to "help teacher out".

Multiple choice tests, or multiple guess tests as we called them, are not worth the effort. Better would be at a minimum a "fill in the blanks" test if you want volume. An ape can take a multiple choice test.

It would also help that the goals and objectives of the school year are plainly stated and distributed to the students before the year begins, perhaps even with a copy sent home to parents for signing. Education shouldn't be a guessing game. Might help to even post those in the class rooms to remind all involved why they are there.

Teachers should be paid well enough so they don't feel forced to teach the "real" content after school to supplement their incomes. Fat chance for that one!

Finally, the atmosphere must be changed so that asking semi-intelligent questions is rewarded, not punished by teachers. I have guest taught in some classrooms in Asia and it always bothers me that the students are not actively involved in asking questions. "Hello? Is anyone out there?"

[lookingeast]

Long time lurker here, but I just had to comment on this story. Here we go.

Full disclosure, I am a teacher in Bangkok. I work at a bilingual private school. Education in Thailand is a failure for many reasons. I will try to address a few of them through my experiences here.

1. The students.

I have had the pleasure to teach many wonderful and intelligent students. Sometimes it amazes me how much some of my students have learned while in this moribund system. My best students have always been very motivated to learn. I credit this to parents who actually care and are interested in the education of their children. However, the majority of my students, possibly 80%, just do not care about learning. They are kids. They figure out very early that they really don't have to do anything and they will move up to the next grade. There is no accountability for students who fail or do not try. Of course, they do not fail. That would be a loss of face for the kid and parents.

2. The teachers.

Where to begin? Some teachers are very dedicated and try really hard to teach their students. Others are bone lazy and come to school to hang out, collect a paycheck and say they have a job. I think a big problem is that they come from the broken system. They are just teaching the way they were taught and there has been no innovation or desire to innovate. Due to this, their teaching methods don't improve and the system stays broken. Many teachers will do nothing all day in class and then teach students after school is over. Why? Because they can charge the parents more money for this "tutoring." Teachers can double or triple their salary this way. It's a sham and the parents should be pissed.

3. The administration.

Here is where the biggest faults lie. As I said I work in a private school. The focus is on maximizing profit, not education. It is amazing how much class time is lost due to dance shows, sport days, praying, activities for kids and the list goes on and on. Twice this year we had class times cut from 50 to 40 minutes so the kids could practice for sport day and the end of term show, the former, a tradition all over Thailand and the latter a money maker for the school. This went on for months. We lost so much time. We have had the Ministry of Education come in and do inspections. The routine is that the school fails the first inspection and passes the second inspection. How do we pass? An envelope passes hands. Corruption is present in every facet of Thailand.

4. The Ministry of Education.

The governing body that looks over and decides the curriculum is a political appointment. Most of the time the appointee has no experience in the field of education. Every time there is a change at the ministry, there are new ideas on how to improve education. Schools try to implement these new ideas, find they are ineffective after only giving them a few months and then try something new. The ministry needs to be gutted and new people with a clue installed.

There are so many problems it is really hard to know where to begin fixing all of them. Student accountability would be a good start. If little Somchai were held back and made to learn something that would help. But I know I don't understand Thailand. Sometimes that thought makes me very happy.

Tremendous post - thanks for pulling it altogether and in an easily-digested format.

[a99az]

Failure! that is the understatement of the year. Lazy teachers, no national curriculum, overcrowded, poorly equipped, dog that together with a policy where every student passes badly set tests. They need to start by ensuring that the teachers undertake proper training and testing. Bring in properly trained specialists who can bring schools into the 21st century, and impose a national curriculum and testing. Forget about tablets for votes, it's bull shit. Kids need good schools, teachers, books, equipment, and real qualifications that have a value outside of Thailand. Don't just talk about it, DO SOMETHING NOW!

[connda]

Failure! that is the understatement of the year. Lazy teachers, no national curriculum, overcrowded, poorly equipped, dog that together with a policy where every student passes badly set tests. They need to start by ensuring that the teachers undertake proper training and testing. Bring in properly trained specialists who can bring schools into the 21st century, and impose a national curriculum and testing. Forget about tablets for votes, it's bull shit. Kids need good schools, teachers, books, equipment, and real qualifications that have a value outside of Thailand. Don't just talk about it, DO SOMETHING NOW!

But they have tablet computers that nobody knows how to use. That's a start, isn't it?

/sarcasm off

[tominbkk]

I've been here 20 years and have seen several 'overhauls' come and go. What never changes is stuffing 50 kids in a room with no aircon. Change that first, then start thinking about education reform.

[wolfmanjack]

Come on guys, its bad to be sure, but not hopeless (unlike my quest to find some good REAL scotch )

The idea on multiple tests (once at start and once at the beginning), is that while teacher may be motivated to "enhance" their class test scores, they will just as likely be motivated to supress the start of year test scores,since its the difference in beginning to end scores that will be a key evaluation parameter for each teacher. The difference in the exit/entry tests will be a good indication of the level of "enhancement" that's occurring between the two teacher.

The process needs a lot of work, but i think the general idea has some legs. Any thoughts?

Why not use the test results at the end of the end of year test instead of having a new beginning of the year test? After all the difference in the kids knowledge before and after the summer break should not be that great

[kurnell]

Thai People are the Salt of the Earth .....But not too bright when it comes to EDGE U KATION

Man don't write things like that. Someone will copy it and use it in a English/Thai text book

[Nickiboy03]

All EDUCATION IS Brainwashing propaganda,the corporate .Govs( world wide) want worker drones to believe not critically think, if you think you are labeled or demonized as a terrorist against the state. The matrix uses the life force of non thinking humans(Believing Humans) to survive because the state cannot produce only extract. Home schooling by Parents aware of of this create socially adjusted children that can actually THINK & make through a thoughtful process wise decisions that benefit mankind.

Education from entity's such as Harvard/Oxford blah blah blah only put you into a box that is more difficult to escape. All anyone with 2 brain cells to rub together just needs to listen to politicians (spew out the crap they say) to realize this worldwide system of education( Dumbing Down) is by design.

[Thaddeus]

All EDUCATION IS Brainwashing propaganda,

That's odd, they taught me Maths, English and the Sciences.

[lizardtongue]

Another load of <deleted> !!! Think Tank eh? Only thinking that will be done is how can I skim some of this budget!

[GazR]

An objective self inspection is a key step in a program of self improvement.

Basically its difficult to continuously improve if you don't know whats wrong.

First realize you have a problem

identify the problems

then get corrective plan on each problem

execute the plan

hold every team member accountable.

This problem is systemic in TL.

problems are diverse.

Start with the low lying fruit

get some confidence in the team and the plan

and move forward.

Thats what i would do

but what do i know,

i'm just an engineer

Sounds like they are at step 1.

lets see if they can get to step 2 and 3.

I'm wishing for luck,

Knock on wood and

Got my fingers crossed!

I may be mistaken, but isn't the above post the first constructive comment on this topic? Pretty sad really.