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CHALK TALK
Chaturon needs to focus on the top priorities first
Chularat Saengpassa

BANGKOK: -- During the past three months, Education Minister Chaturon Chaisang has proven that he never runs out of ideas about how to improve the quality of educational services or push for real reform. But wait, can he translate all those ideas into action?

The list runs long. Now, let's look at some of them.

Chaturon wants his ministry to go ahead with curriculum reform, teaching/learning reform, teacher development and evaluation improvement.

He has also demanded that authorities ensure children fare better in international assessments like the Programme for International Student Assessment.

Just as organisations rush to answer to his policies, Chaturon floats more ideas.

Now, he has suggested that the ministry amend its regulations to allow supervisors to assign any teacher to areas where a shortage of staff is reported. He believes the move will ease the problem.

He also plans to open up the teaching occupation to professionals in various fields. He believes a teaching licence should not always be mandatory to conduct classes. Many qualified persons may agree to teach if schools stop demanding that they first produce a teaching licence, his reasoning goes.

Then, after looking at the report on illiteracy, he has called for a review of the policy that bars schools from forcing their students to repeat a grade if they flunk their finals. Faced with the risk of having to take all courses again, students are expected to study harder, he apparently believes. When he was a schoolboy, the repeat-the-class rule was strictly enforced.

Chaturon wants authorities to weigh teachers' promotions more on their students' performance rather than on their production of academic papers.

Those papers, according to many critics, have distracted teachers' attention from class.

As he looks deep into the country's education system, he must have detected so many problems. His analysis suggests that the problems stem partly from the central university admission system (CUAS).

Since this system was fully implemented, universities have been allocating an increasing number of places to applicants from the direct-admission channel. When universities recruit students themselves, they collect fees and arrange test dates as they like, so the admission period can run the whole year, stealing students' attention from class all the time.

Chaturon also thinks that the CUAS has aggravated the inequality in educational opportunity, as students who can afford the test fees have more chances to apply.

He feels that it's now time to review the CUAS and consider alternatives.

The list of his ideas runs much longer than this, so I have decided to include just some examples here.

In my opinion, Chaturon apparently has good intentions in pushing for his policies and floating ideas.

But still, I feel compelled to remind Chaturon that he needs to prioritise his ideas and carefully study all information before pushing for any change.

For example, the regulation that requires supervisors to transfer only those teachers requesting one is there for a reason. It aims to prevent selective transfers. If the rule is changed and teachers feel they are unfairly transferred, many of them may resign. People will also refuse to consider a teaching career and the teacher-shortage problem will definitely worsen.

The policy to allow people without a teaching licence to conduct classes also comes with a risk.

Just like what education experts say, teachers need more than academic or professional knowledge to fulfil their role. They need to understand child psychology, have some teaching skills and most importantly, possess the soul of teachers.

Any change to the CUAS will trigger a big shake-up. It will have an impact on many

students, teachers and educational institutions. So, if the change is really planned, it must be well thought out and carefully planned.

Careful planning is a necessary step otherwise one change here will affect so many other elements in the educational sector. And before Chaturon realises it, more problems may arise.

So, before he introduces his new ideas, I hope he will prioritise his already released policies/ideas. I also hope he will focus first on the top priorities.

If he ensures that implementation delivers intended results, I am confident that the overall educational situation will improve and the next step will be easier.


-- The Nation 2013-09-30

[dcutman]

Does it really matter? This guy is gonna be shuffled along in a few months anyway, for some new genius to give his/her ideas and repeat shuffle. Its a stupid system, the education system sucks and it it stuck in repeat. Thats the way it will continue because that is the way it is designed. Its a third world country with its exports dependent on cheap labor.

Edited September 30, 2013 by dcutman

[clockman]

But down the road to ASEAN, What then?

[dcutman]

But down the road to ASEAN, What then?

Thailand will remain the same, and its labor force. Thailand will always be planning, studying, brainstorming and this or that to try and compete, but with never an outcome, because of greed and corruption, not unlike most of its neighbors.

Then you got Singapore, most likely drooling over this opportunity to dominate this region. But a good bet, ASEAN will never happen, not in 2015 or ever, IMO.