Must Thai (HS) Students Who Study Abroad Attend Extra Year?

[Hereunto]

My step-daughter inquired at her school whether she could study abroad. She was told that she'd lose a year and must return for a 13th year, with no credit given for the international experience.

From another Thai source who did study abroad in Italy, she no longer qualifies for the better universities and now must attend Open Universities.

In both cases, surely a year abroad most certainly should be equivalent, likely superior, to the last year in the Thai curriculum.

Can anyone share their experiences with the truth or fiction in these situations. If there is anyone that has attempted this battle, what were your results? Any help/ideas would be appreciated.

[zeichen]

The problem is that the school years overlap and if you don't complete a full year it has to be retaken. So a person studying here won't finish until March but the school year abroad usually starts in August.

It happens to quite a few students but most don't mind as their year abroad is usually worth it for them.

[Johnnie99]

I am sure we would all like you to define the 'better universities' in Thailand.

Perhaps a better term would be 'less bad'.

... but yes, any student here who fails to complete a full school year, as proven by their school exam results (ahem). must repeat the year missed to fulfil the requirement of passing the year.

[flyingdoc]

A question of careful planning and dovetailing. Not all Universities abroad begin their year from August !

[zeichen]

"

A question of careful planning and dovetailing. Not all Universities abroad begin their year from August !"

UM, the OP is talking about High school. Not universities.

Don't most English speaking countries start their primary and secondary education in the fall?

[MrBrad]

With the internationally unusual start-date of Thai schools, this presents a problem for hundreds if not thousands of Thai students who want to participate in a study-abroad program.

The Association of SouthEast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has influenced Thai post secondary schools to begin their school years in late August or early September so that students within ASEAN can study in other universities without the overlapping scheduling.

Getting primary and secondary schools to do the same would align the start of the school year in all Thai schools with many of those abroad. Doing so would at least prevent having to retake classes here when the students return to Thailand. Recognizing and applying credit for courses studied abroad would be even better.

I've been trying to sort out this conflict while sponsoring a P6 6th-grade student here; I'd like to have him study abroad for one year at least--maybe two--before graduating from high school here. How to pull it off is a real problem, what with the fossilized system here.

[KhaoNiaw]

Usually the year abroad doesn't count for the Thai high school system and the student will come back a year behind the others. So basically an extra year of high school.

It shouldn't affect university plans though. As long as they've completed the high school system, they can still take the entrance exams.

[DavisH]

ALL of my students who studied for a year overseas, mostly in the US, did not have to do an extra year here. The generally went over in the 10th grade with a few going in their 11th grade. None had to do extra studies in Thailand to qualify for their m6 certificate.

I should add there may be extra catch-up classes in Thai subjects, but not the english ones. They don't repeat the whole year (for EP students at least).

Edited June 24, 2015 by DavisH

[DavisH]

Usually the year abroad doesn't count for the Thai high school system and the student will come back a year behind the others. So basically an extra year of high school.

It shouldn't affect university plans though. As long as they've completed the high school system, they can still take the entrance exams.

All of my students returned and were still in the same class as their class mates. However, this is an EP, and the kids also study in english overseas. the rules may be different for students from Thai programs, bu I don't think so.

[Amras]

"

A question of careful planning and dovetailing. Not all Universities abroad begin their year from August !"

UM, the OP is talking about High school. Not universities.

Don't most English speaking countries start their primary and secondary education in the fall?

Maybe many/most, but not all. Australia for instance begins in Summer (February).

[zeichen]

"Maybe many/most, but not all. Australia for instance begins in Summer (February)."

good to know.

As stated above it also depends on the program. My colleagues daughter studied in France and had to repeat the year as it wasn't considered valid. Another student I knew who went to the UK made arrangements with his school here as they had an exchange program situated.

The real problem that I have with changing the dates of school for ASEAN is the weather. Now students have to study during the hottest time of the year, they also have songkran break 1 week then finals. Really stupid to break up the term so you have a holiday right before finals. Imagine if they changed primary schools and you had to be in a classroom with 50 kids with 2 fans blowing during the hot dry season. That would be awful.

If parents want to work around this, they could always homeschool for a year which would count in the Thai system. As long as you follow a prescribed approved curriculum, you could be anywhere.