Roadmap for Thai education reform finalized; 9 key points for improving education

[webfact]

Roadmap for education reform finalized; 9 key points for improving education

BANGKOK, 15 August 2014 (NNT) – The Ministry of Education has finalized its roadmap for the reform of the nation's education system, which will be driven by adjustments in nine aspects.

Sutsi Wongsaman, the permanent secretary to the Ministry of Education, said on Thursday that the working committee in charge of the reform has completed the education reform roadmap for years 2015-2021.

The road map calls for an urgent implementation of reforms during 2015 and 2016, a period now dubbed as the first phase in the ministry's road map.

During this phase, curricula of primary and secondary schools will be adjusted to better provide life skills for students and to reduce redundancy and reliance on tutoring schools – changes which will allow students to have more free time to spend with their family.

The curricula of vocational and tertiary education institutes will be revised to better tailor to employers' real demand and to boost the image of the vocational pathway. More research and projects will be encouraged at the tertiary education level.

The roadmap also calls for development of high-performing teachers, promotion of long-distance learning, providing real education to underprivileged children, and the drafting of a master plan for education technologies.

The finished road map will be implemented following approval of the National Council for Peace and Order.


-- NNT 2014-08-15

[Just1Voice]

Step 1. Close all schools and send all teachers back to school for 1 year of "re-education" by trained, expert NON-THAI teachers.

[lostinisaan]

Step 2 Let all Thai English teachers go back to study English. They should at least have a CEFR test result not less than C 1.

Step 3: Allow the students to ask questions.

Step 4: Let them fail, as it will only create more jobs for Thais and foreigners.

Step 5: Immediate dismissal of violent teachers who hit innocent kids.

Step 6.: Immediate dismissal and imprisonment of child molesting teachers. If guilty, the end of their career.

Step 7: Stop paying a lot of money to get your kids into a school, which should be free.

Step 8: Shut down the TCT immediately and replace them by people with a brain.

Step 9: Use the right teaching material written in English, not half in Thai and most with wrong English.

Step 10. Don't think students who can only pass O-Net tests are good English speakers, it's not about the ability in reading. The students should be able to speak in English.

[TallPalm]

Blah, blah, blah. Try implementing some discipline in schools such as report cards / diaries and detentions. Try doing away with the 'no fail' policy of schools and the 3 chances to pass every exam (and if they still fail 'just get them to do some work for a grade). Try implementing a structured nationwide curriculum for all government run schools, including for the foreign English teachers instead of having them 'make it up' each year. Try making education the number 1 prioroty in schools - religious, sport and other activities are a constant interuption with little or no notice from the administrative staff and completely detract from and undermine the importance of real subjects.

[clockman]

Yes, i heard from Thai source. The teacher who nearly cut off the kids ear. Paid half a million baht, but is still employed!

[kaorop]

Just clear up a good percentage of the corruption, so that the money allocated gets to the right places.

Now why do these blowhards never mention that?

[JustAnotherFarang]

1.. Teach them about world history and not just thai history. Let them be proud of Thailand but stop teaching them to be so jingoistic with nationalism.

2. They are born buddhist because their parents are buddhist. Let their parents teach them about buddhism and if they want to know more they can go and learn at the temple.

3. Stop piling their bags with incredible amounts of homework. All they will do is choose one subject to revise and then share that with their friends to copy. Copying is endemic in Thailand and it is why their are so few creative thinkers.

4. They will never be free whilst you cage their minds with conformity. Allow the students to question everything and treat their questions with respect.

5. Outlaw corporal punishment.

JAF

[wolf5370]

Seems their answer is make school concentrate more on vocational subjects "for industry" - so forget actually teaching them better, just teach them brick laying (sorry concrete pouring), telephone wiring and assembling hard drives and be done!

When what it really should be is:

- re-educating the educators;

- centralising testing and randomised independent invigilation during exams;

- set books and curriculum country wide (for non international schools);

- policy of bullying, aggressive teachers and sexual deviance in teachers;

- allowing for native language teacher assistants to have hassle free and costless work permits without need for education degrees (not teachers - but teacher assistant - i.e. to help in class with a registered teacher);

- much more investment in buildings, resources and teaching staff - especially out of town; limit class size to a 35 maximum and 25 desirable;

- regular teacher assessments to ensure standards stay higher;

- better pay for teachers to attract better quality;

- more funding for private schools to keep costs down and standards high (as they reduce the burden on state schools and provide industry leaders);

- better provision (and funding) for home schooling groups.

Just to mention a few things!

[Lupatria]

I miss a vital point: get rid of all corrupt teachers, principals and education officials.

[96tehtarp]

Has anyone seen the 9 points mentioned in the OP?

[scooterboy]

^Nope, not even one....... .......surprise, surprise.

[djhotsox]

Missing the most vital point:

Education begins in the home!

[96tehtarp]

^Nope, not even one....... .......surprise, surprise.

This doesn't give us much to discuss, does it?

[wilcopops]

since when has any military been expert on education?

[wilcopops]

How long has it taken to come up with this plan? Who have they been consulting and what educationalists are involved?

[greenchair]

I see seven points. And wm real education mean.

[otewar]

Everyone has an opinion, no one has a solution.

1) Tablets and mobile devices should be banned in all schools, and reading time compulsory.

2) No school should have more than 25 students in a classroom.

3) Parents need to spend more time teaching their children, and less time blaming teachers.

4) Parents should be educated that their child is not special, and can not have whatever they want.

5) Teachers should realise that they are often wrong

6) Quota research should be dropped, quality research encouraged.

No solutions there either, just my 2 cents worth.

[connda]

Step 2 Let all Thai English teachers go back to study English. They should at least have a CEFR test result not less than C 1.

Step 3: Allow the students to ask questions.

Step 4: Let them fail, as it will only create more jobs for Thais and foreigners.

Step 5: Immediate dismissal of violent teachers who hit innocent kids.

Step 6.: Immediate dismissal and imprisonment of child molesting teachers. If guilty, the end of their career.

Step 7: Stop paying a lot of money to get your kids into a school, which should be free.

Step 8: Shut down the TCT immediately and replace them by people with a brain.

Step 9: Use the right teaching material written in English, not half in Thai and most with wrong English.

Step 10. Don't think students who can only pass O-Net tests are good English speakers, it's not about the ability in reading. The students should be able to speak in English.

Amen!

Edited August 15, 2014 by connda

[Somtamnication]

Out of those 9 steps, 8 of them have to be CORRUPTION. The ninth being the bamboo stick lovers.

[Krataiboy]

Yes, i heard from Thai source. The teacher who nearly cut off the kids ear. Paid half a million baht, but is still employed!

Should be thrown out. On her ear, of course.

[SoilSpoil]

Learning is the direct result of making mistakes and learning from these mistakes.

This all takes effort, motivation and a healthy dose responsibility. It speaks for itself that with the present 'no-fail policies' and corrupt educators there's no hope for the future of Thai education! Make kids fail! It's essential in the learning process!

[Krataiboy]

Missing the most vital point:

Education begins in the home!

Did you miss the bit about giving kids more family time? That sounds a darned good idea, if the experience of my elder daughter (aged 14) is anything to go by.

She is doing a special English Program at a school in Petchaburi, gets up at 5.30 each morning to catch the school bus and doesn't arrive home until six in the evening.

She invariably has a pile of homework to get through, which sometimes causes her to burn the midnight oil when she should be sleeping. I would like to help her with her English, particularly, but I haven't the heart to add to her already heavy workload.

It would be beneficial all round if she could have less homework. Apart from brushing up her English with me, she could see more of family and friends and enjoy a social life which at present she is being denied by the demands of her educational peers.

[Scott]

Missing the most vital point:

Education begins in the home!

Did you miss the bit about giving kids more family time? That sounds a darned good idea, if the experience of my elder daughter (aged 14) is anything to go by.

She is doing a special English Program at a school in Petchaburi, gets up at 5.30 each morning to catch the school bus and doesn't arrive home until six in the evening.

She invariably has a pile of homework to get through, which sometimes causes her to burn the midnight oil when she should be sleeping. I would like to help her with her English, particularly, but I haven't the heart to add to her already heavy workload.

It would be beneficial all round if she could have less homework. Apart from brushing up her English with me, she could see more of family and friends and enjoy a social life which at present she is being denied by the demands of her educational peers.

You don't have to add to her work to help her. When she's doing it, it would be helpful if she read it to you and you helped to correct her as she goes along. It will help reinforce her knowledge by actually using the language and it give her a chance to read and speak. But yes, many students have too much homework and way too much repetitive, non productive homework.

[Scott]

Posts with replies inside the quote have been deleted along with replies.

[Cake Monster]

Really ! It does not matter if there are 9 or 900 reforms to the woefully inadequete Education system to be implimented.

Unless the whole thing is controlled by people who are completely free of corrution, and with the will and drive to genuinely want the changes to be constructive, and effective, then there will be no change at all.

And as for the children spending more free time with their families, well that wont happen either, as most of the parents are too self centered to care whether their children perform well at school or not.

[onlycw]

Oh, they are good at announcements. They certainly talk the talk. At our Foreign Languages Dept., grand schemes have been designed. Coaches for foreign teachers were appointed etc. pp. Stop waffling, start doing. Walk the walk.

Oh, and the MoE has had nothing do do with the abysmal state of affairs?!? The fish stinks from its head. It's time to sweep with new brooms

[djhotsox]

Missing the most vital point:

Education begins in the home!

Did you miss the bit about giving kids more family time? That sounds a darned good idea, if the experience of my elder daughter (aged 14) is anything to go by.

She is doing a special English Program at a school in Petchaburi, gets up at 5.30 each morning to catch the school bus and doesn't arrive home until six in the evening.

She invariably has a pile of homework to get through, which sometimes causes her to burn the midnight oil when she should be sleeping. I would like to help her with her English, particularly, but I haven't the heart to add to her already heavy workload.

It would be beneficial all round if she could have less homework. Apart from brushing up her English with me, she could see more of family and friends and enjoy a social life which at present she is being denied by the demands of her educational peers.

No, I did not miss the bit about giving the kids more family time.

You, however, missed the point I was making with the expression "Education begins in the home"!

It is not simply a matter of "family time". Kicking the ball around with you brother or sister or working on the family farm isn't going to make a kid any smarter.

I am talking about the level of parental involvement in the education of the children at home.

Certainly teachers have a major role to play in educating children, but that does not abrogate the responsibility of parents in their child’s education.

Children who come to school tired from being allowed to stay up all night playing video games will not learn much no matter who is teaching them.

Children who live in unstable home environments in which they spend the majority of their time supervising themselves or being supervised by the television are being preprogrammed for failure in school no matter what curriculum they use.

Children who have no one at home to check their homework, work with them on special projects or quiz them on their spelling words before they go to school cannot be expected to perform at the same level as those who do.

To blame educators for that failure and never mention the need for increased levels of parental involvement at home is to be disingenuous about really solving this problem. Parents are the first, primary and most important educator in a child’s life.

Elected officials cannot force parents to read to their children, nor to emphasize to them the value of paying attention, following directions in school or respecting all adults.

So as I simply put in my previous post....."Education begins in the home."

[benj005]

1. Stop discriminating and shunning special ed children! Give them hope and a good education so they may shine!

[isawasnake]

The Thai way: put out a statement about how you will make reforms, then do nothing. Repeat.