Thai editorial: Reduced class times face a rigorous test

[webfact]

EDITORIAL
Reduced class times face a rigorous test
The Nation

With most schools left unprepared to fill students' "free" hours, there's danger of yet another fine idea going astray

BANGKOK: - With the military-led government's ethereal ambition to "bring happiness back to the people" faltering on all fronts - other than the welcome elimination of political violence - the Education Ministry has at least put smiles on the faces of elementary students. They began a new semester on Monday with their class times reduced by one hour.

Whether teachers and parents can share in their joy remains to be seen.

The students are now being dismissed from class at 2pm and spending the other hour at creative activities offered elsewhere in the school. To begin with, 4,100 schools across the country have begun offering mandatory but casual "after-school" lessons in music, sports and occupational skills.

Unfortunately, the rest have nothing organised thus far, for lack of staff or space or both, but the ministry has pledged to fill in the missing parts soon. Until then, their students are cut loose with nothing to fill the gap.

The rationale for reduced class time is that many countries have had success with the idea, the "free time" put to good use resulting in improved productivity, enhanced skills and broader ability to learn. Youngsters who are happy when learning do better in tests and in life, it's claimed.

The Office of Basic Education Commission is poised to "baby-sit" teachers through the initial transition period and will evaluate the initiative on a monthly basis, surveying students, parents and teachers.

Gauging its worth will be a challenge: How do you measure an abstract concept like happiness? The students can of course be expected to give a thumbs-up to any form of freedom from the rigours of class study, but teachers are apt to have mixed feelings about the programme.

On one hand, they'll be delighted if their students show academic improvement and learn valuable skills. On the other, they now have more work in preparing and leading the extracurricular activities, a dismaying development given their chronically low level of pay.

Parents' opinions will be even harder to measure, and few were pleased to begin with when the reduced class times were first announced. "That's only happened in Thailand," Education Minister Dapong Ratanasuwan lamented. "The parents are worried about having to fetch their kids from school during their working hours."

Given Thailand's appalling educational infrastructure, conflicting schedules ought to be among the least of the parents' concerns. But, if Dapong wants to prove he's chosen the right course in propagating the philosophy that happy children are better students, he must carefully monitor their activities to ensure the concept stays on track. Once such initiatives head in the wrong direction, they're unlikely to ever reach their intended destination.

There is ample research indicating that fewer classroom hours translate into better academic performance - but that's not going to happen without well-planned curricula. This is just a drop in the ocean compared to the volume of problems facing Thai education left neglected for generations. Students won't be happy if their teachers are miserable, for example, and right now our teachers are overworked and underpaid. Students can't be happy if the subject matter is outdated and irrelevant.

The authorities can't just address one issue and ignore the rest. The reduction of classroom hours should be one component in a thorough revamp of the education system.

In the meantime, if students are to fully benefit from this programme, it will have to be sustained, not shelved when the next education minister takes office. The roller-coaster ride has bred nothing but inconsistency, the saddest aspect of which is that our students have no choice but to ride along.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Reduced-class-times-face-a-rigorous-test-30272196.html


-- The Nation 2015-11-04

[RubbaJohnny]

Thai education and rigour

[EnzoRippo]

I understand why my kid went to school with cards to gamble: he has one hour to kill. At least, he could learn to cheat...

[SABloke]

''Unfortunately, the rest have nothing organised thus far, for lack of staff or space or both..''

Why? They had staff and space until 3:30...what's changed

[Emster23]

Must belong to the "less is more" school of thought. Test? Rigorous? In Thailand?

[upena]

All part of the Thai Government's plan to keep the dumb, dumber.

[whimsy]

I wanted to read some of the studies that say less class time leads to better educational outcomes, I couldn't find any. I did find these 3 studies that suggest the opposite though.

http://www.timeandlearning.org/sites/default/files/resources/caseformorelearningtime.pdf

http://www.twincities.com/ci_23318954/minnesota-requires-fewer-classroom-hours-than-other-states

http://txcc.sedl.org/resources/briefs/number6/

[FangFerang]

The article completely steers away form the official sound byte about these activities, and left out two most people don't like, being (paraphrased) "and include moral indoctrination and a love of the ruling class".

[jerojero]

Rigour, Thai, Education..... Never together in same sentence!

[casualbiker]

''Unfortunately, the rest have nothing organised thus far, for lack of staff or space or both..''

Why? They had staff and space until 3:30...what's changed

Yup its changed. Old style: Teacher has a class of 50 kids teaching Math. New style: 50 kids have option of 20 different things to do! Understand?