New education plan focuses on inspiring students

[webfact]

New education plan focuses on inspiring students
By Chularat Saengpassa
The Nation

 

 

20-year plan maps out reform as results still poor despite budget

 

BANGKOK: -- EDUCATION MINISTER Teerakiat Jareonsettasin has pledged to make upcoming educational reforms relevant to children.

 

“Without relevancy, the reform can’t be successful,” he said yesterday at a press conference on the new national education plan, which is meant to run from 2017 to 2036.

 

Teerakiat said relevancy meant children must feel inspired to study with enthusiasm.

 

He added that children’s sincere efforts to do well in their studies mattered a lot, judging by the fact that Vietnamese students performed relatively well academically even though their country had a limited educational budget.

 

“When I talk to Vietnamese children, I notice that they are eager to learn,” Teerakiat said. “I am convinced that is a reason why Vietnam’s education-budget efficiency is high.”

 

Analyses show Thailand has adequate resources dedicated to education but the budget has not translated into satisfactory results, underlining the need for reforms.

 

The new Constitution, which took effect on April 6, prescribes the establishment of independent committees for reform, including one for education.

 

Teerakiat said yesterday that the Education Ministry would be the first to set up an independent committee.

 

“We will propose the establishment of the independent committee on educational reform to the Cabinet within two weeks,” he said.

 

At the same event, Deputy Prime Minister Air Chief Marshal Prajin Juntong said the new national education plan focused on giving students lifelong learning opportunities, making them happy, increasing their quality of life based on the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy, and bestowing skills for the 21st century.

 

Amid the six strategies in the plan, Prajin said the government would place a strong emphasis on developing human resources as well as research and innovations to improve Thailand’s competitiveness.

 

The new national education plan means children aged between six and 14 years old will be in schools. In the labour market, workers average number of years in education is meant to rise to 12.5 years.

 

However, the new national education plan stipulates 15 years of free education for every citizen.

 

Students with physical disabilities are promised access to proper educational services to develop their potential.

 

 The plan also promises high-speed Internet available at every school across the country.

 

It also seeks to raise educational quality with students expected to demonstrate better academic performance while researchers are expected to have more of their work published in international journals. In addition, at least seven Thai higher-educational institutes are expected to enter the world’s top 200 university ranking.

 

Education Council secretary-general Kamol Rodklai said the 20-year plan would have four phases of implementation, with the first phase running through 2031.

 

“My agency will explain the plan to relevant parties over the next two months,” he said.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30312847

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-04-21

[debate101]

Remove the computer crimes and defamation laws and make state education officials subject to scrutiny by the people they serve. Let locally elected leaders and school boards scrutinize schools and make them responsible for their performance. Until that happens, state propaganda will remain the only thing schools take seriously and teach effectively, it will stay open season on education budgets for scheming administrators with sticky fingers, and impunity will continue to reign for abusive officials.

 

[Somtamnication]

Step 1: Implement the already decades old law that physical abuse by teachers is criminal.

Step 2: Allow students to ask questions without being told that they are studid if they do.

Step 3: Get rid of those ridiculous 80 year old hair cuts forced upon public school students. 

[rkidlad]

The answer isn't important. It's the thirst to know it and the ability to know how to find it out. 

 

All children are curious. It's natural. The worst thing you can say to a child who asks a question is "be quiet" or "just because!". If you don't know the answer to their question, go and find the answer together. We have google now. Children's questions are fascinating. 

 

Thailand goes nuts when one of their own is successful and known outside of Thailand. In a country of 65-70 million, imagine how many more people you could have to be proud of if you educated them properly. But they won't. The rich elite are not sharing and enjoy their omnipotence.

[maewang99]

this is a system that requires fingerprint machines at the schools to see if the teachers show up at all to the campus..... let alone attend classrooms.... where the student teacher ratio is so lousy that it cannot possibly allow ****any**** time at all for student discussions, original work and independent reading.

how can anyone want to learn in such a system?

and the solution.... more nonsense from Bangkok?

the same administrative group that manages it's teaching staff.... using fingerprint machines?

let the folks who pay the tea money decide how the tea money is spent... amoung other things as well. no one could possibly be more concerned about a student's education than the student's community and the student's themselves usually as well. 

 

Edited April 21, 2017 by maewang99

[pentap]

More discipline is required!

Less actives. Thai teachers should be more pro active and less, LOOK AT ME! WHAT EVER I SAY IS CORRECT!

The government should look more closely at corruption within the schools. Thai Teachers and Directors.

[AGareth2]

stop the NO FAIL policy

[kingstonkid]

1 hour ago, Somtamnication said:

Step 1: Implement the already decades old law that physical abuse by teachers is criminal.

Step 2: Allow students to ask questions without being told that they are studid if they do.

Step 3: Get rid of those ridiculous 80 year old hair cuts forced upon public school students. 

Before you can remove corp punishment  you need parents to teach students respect for not only teachers but also themselves.  Students need to learn responsibility and that bad actions are not acceptable.

 

Students have always been able to ask relevant questions.

The issue is that school curriculum must be tied into what is in the onet and not the crap they teach now.

A simpler solution. Is to copy NYC publish the ranking of each school in ONET.  Take away funds from the bottom 10 percent and give the money to the 10 percentile  most improved 

 

[Mousehound]

I take it that some of the above comments are made by people that are not actually teachers as they miss the point.  Improved educational standards will come from better curriculum development and teachers that are instructed properly in classroom management techniques.  It will also improve with the implementation of strategies such as student efficacy and regular self monitoring of improvement.  These are all well established features of a dynamic education system. With a dynamic and well delivered curriculum comes engagement and a decline in off task behaviours. Delivering a dynamic curriculum requires a teacher to think outside the square and have a degree of autonomy in execution.  This in turn is best facilitated by support and encouragement from the top down - this means good leadership is required.  If a school is not performing then look at the leaders in that school.  If the whole structure is underperforming then the structural changes need to go higher.  There are no such thing as bad troops, only bad generals.

[mtls2005]

Twenty-year Plan.

 

Great Leap Forward.

 

Big, centralized, long-term, top-down plans, from those who can only remain in power by keeping the masses dumbed-down, always work so well.

 

The Thai social contract, and the "happiness" the amart wishes to bless on the Phrai, is based on a pyramidical hierarchy. Educating the masses would lead all sorts of "disorder".

 

Next up they'll be talking about judicial reform and treating everyone equally under the law. #fatchance

[nong38]

Not another education plan!

[djayz]

From what I've sern, and heard from my wife, the teachers here are generally quite lousy. Inspire the teachers to do a good job and inspire their students. 

[dinsdale]

1 hour ago, pentap said:

The government should look more closely at corruption within the schools. Thai Teachers and Directors

Think you'll find that the corruption starts way above before it gets to school level.

 

3 hours ago, webfact said:

children must feel inspired

Start failing students. That should inspire them.

[mtls2005]

Start failing students. 

 

Well, if various reports on testing scores are to be believed this is already happening. Annual M3 and M6 testing scores seem to rarely creep over 50%.

 

Keeping students back would overwhelm the system - I think everyone recognizes that - nor is the goal of the education system here to educate students. It's really meant to keep them occupied, and liberally indoctrinate them into the passivity that that keeps the social structure intact. #prostration

[Emster23]

Lots of meaningless buzzwords, tech fixes that makes me think "more skimming possibilities", and of course, more committees to endlessly go in circles. 

Perhaps Confucian ideals of education reflected in Vietnamese culture has something to do with their  "education-budget efficiency", and even the corrupt officials there realize they would spend time better skimming other budgets. 

 Classroom management problems greatly diminish if education is done right, that students see some value in what is being taught, that they are active learners rather than passive empty vessels having useless facts and formulas dropped down their gullets.

 Observe one student showing another how to use some smart phone app. Does teaching student have to threaten or sanction learner? Hardly. Does learner ask questions? You bet, and they get answers, hands on experience.

 It's not rocket science....

[Krataiboy]

EDUCATION MINISTER Teerakiat Jareonsettasin has pledged to make upcoming educational reforms relevant to children.

 

You mean it isn't already? Then what the heck have the educators been wasting all that time and money on?

[Krataiboy]

2 hours ago, maewang99 said:

this is a system that requires fingerprint machines at the schools to see if the teachers show up at all to the campus..... let alone attend classrooms.... where the student teacher ratio is so lousy that it cannot possibly allow ****any**** time at all for student discussions, original work and independent reading.

how can anyone want to learn in such a system?

and the solution.... more nonsense from Bangkok?

the same administrative group that manages it's teaching staff.... using fingerprint machines?

let the folks who pay the tea money decide how the tea money is spent... amoung other things as well. no one could possibly be more concerned about a student's education than the student's community and the student's themselves usually as well. 

 

 

this is a system that requires fingerprint machines at the schools to see if the teachers show up at all to the campus.

 

Link, please.

 

[jaltsc]

“Without relevancy, the reform can’t be successful...” 

 

Without dumping the entire Thai education philosophy of meaningless memorization with no attention being paid to critical thinking, there will be no progress. Especially when the present entrenched teaching staff will feel insulted if these methods to which they have devoted their lives are scrapped.  

 

The only way this can possibley work is if new professional standards are established as the baseline for hiring teachers, all the present teachers are fired,  have to reapply for the teaching positions, and will only be hired if they meet these new standards.

 

In other words...This is just another BS campaign to make it looks as though Thailand is addressing the problem of its woefully inadequate education system. 

Edited April 21, 2017 by jaltsc

[maewang99]

there's fun at school..... it's very important...

but while learning stuff???? learning??? fun????

so notes the apparently astonished administrator.... trained to think it is not fun..... it 'hurts your head' and does 'brain damage' if you do it too much... and as for reading books.... well.....

 

"they all read from the same book"...ha hahaha!!!
"learning by watching a video screen is much more fun than using books".... 
copy what someone else wrote in a book....

but learning can be fun???? copying stuff isn't fun.  

it's a bit like a recent PM that asked how can Singapore [ some pension fund there ] possibly have enough money to buy Shinawat shares because they don't have much land to grow food with [ to make money ]??? how can that be?

woaaah!!!! now ****that**** is an excellent school system.

 
 

Edited April 21, 2017 by maewang99

[scorecard]

From the education Minister :

 

"He added that children’s sincere efforts to do well in their studies mattered a lot, judging by the fact that Vietnamese students performed relatively well academically even though their country had a limited educational budget.

 

“When I talk to Vietnamese children, I notice that they are eager to learn,” Teerakiat said. “I am convinced that is a reason why Vietnam’s education-budget efficiency is high.”

 

Well right there IMHO is a bit break through - actually stating a comparison to another country and one which has for decades been seen as quite inferior to Thailand, but more and more Thais are realizing that Vietnam is rising rapidly and some of the credit must go to the fact it has made massive improvements in it's attitudes to education plus resources plus copying many education items, especially methodology, from Singapore.

 

I lecture MBA programs in VN, as already well known Vietnamese people are keen to learn and apply themselves well to learning opportunities.Lecturing there is a pleasure. And add to this the strong desire to learn English, which is rising rapidly with kids eager to try to talk in English.

 

Right now there are discussions with my uni. (requested by a group of high schools) regarding small groups of 20 high school kids occasionally sitting in at MBA classes (English) for say 2 hours, the idea is that they cannot interrupt the class but after the lecture is finished they have 30 minutes alone to ask the professor questions. The proposal is that they also get a copy of the lesson handout lecture notes / PowerPoint slides in English, to take home.

 

I understand that the VN Ed. Minister (I've met him before, quite a young and active guy, holds a Ph.D. in Education, I think from Singapore) quickly gave approval with some sensible guidelines and asked how the ministry could support the idea.

 

I've already indicated I will strongly support this if it gets off the ground.

Edited April 21, 2017 by scorecard

[Happyman58]

3 hours ago, AGareth2 said:

stop the NO FAIL policy

I agree The policy states no kids fail in their education So by doing this what incentives does the kids have to learn .NONE They all know they will pass I have known students who get 1s and 2s on their report card and still go to university Makes a degree here worth nothing and it shows up in the world what the rest of the world thinks of Thai degrees and universities NOTHING

[KIWIBATCH]

2 hours ago, nong38 said:

Not another education plan!

Yes.... yet another one.... I count 9 'plans/reforms' in the past 18 months brought to a school near you.... I am starting to think that these numpties  have this need to release some blurb on a regular basis just to justify their existence and collect their salaries

[BlindMagician]

Headline: " New education plan focuses on.....Educating people"....Gosh!

 

Big budget, poor results. Root cause? It's the culture. "Ajarn". Face. Smiles versus accountability. Surface versus substance. Memory versus thinking.

 

My Thai friends who have PhDs from high ranking overseas universities (a tiny number of the Thai population) say that the bulk population are too lazy to think, don't know how to think even if they weren't lazy, and if they can think tend to have little impact on anything due to being far from a critical mass....The cultural pressure to conform to the dumbed down majority is very strong.

 

So don't accuse me of Thai bashing.

[realenglish1]

The whole idea of teaching should be to elicit questions from students  This idea that they should learn by jamming down their throats is 

archaic. The Thai system must get away from totalitarian teaching and not only allow critical thinking but encourage it  

 

This is the essence of  creating innovation 

[mtls2005]

Blast from the not too distant past, yes it was already Junta-time...note that the deputy is now head boy

 

Thai Education Minister: Thai education resembles North Korea

 

Mon, 17/11/2014

 

The Education Minister and the North Korean Ambassador to Thailand mutually agreed that the education systems of both countries are rather similar and plan to develop ties by educational exchanges.
 
According to the  Office of the Minister Newsline, Admiral Narong Pipatanasai, the Thai Education Minister, his Deputy Teerakiat Jareonsettasin, and Permanent Secretary Suthasri Wongsamarn met with Mun Song Mo, the Ambassador of the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea on Friday at Government House. 
 
The two agreed that the educational systems of both countries are similar. The similar elements include free 12-year basic education. Moreover, a few students from North Korea come to Thailand to study. 

 

http://prachatai.org/english/node/4495

 

 

 

Edited April 21, 2017 by mtls2005

[LNKDES1]

4 hours ago, Mousehound said:

I take it that some of the above comments are made by people that are not actually teachers as they miss the point.  Improved educational standards will come from better curriculum development and teachers that are instructed properly in classroom management techniques.  It will also improve with the implementation of strategies such as student efficacy and regular self monitoring of improvement.  These are all well established features of a dynamic education system. With a dynamic and well delivered curriculum comes engagement and a decline in off task behaviours. Delivering a dynamic curriculum requires a teacher to think outside the square and have a degree of autonomy in execution.  This in turn is best facilitated by support and encouragement from the top down - this means good leadership is required.  If a school is not performing then look at the leaders in that school.  If the whole structure is underperforming then the structural changes need to go higher.  There are no such thing as bad troops, only bad generals.

Well said Mousehound

[Bluespunk]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

New education plan focuses on inspiring students

What did the others do?

 

You can't teach effectively if you don't engender a desire to learn.

[elgordo38]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

and bestowing skills for the 21st century.

Being good stewards of the environment for starters. Once that is shot all skills will not save you. Also financial guidance is badly needed as well. It seems to be a work hard easy go system here. Maybe show and tell would be better. Crazy glue a baht to the palm of their hand for a month as a constant reminder that money should be kept not squandered. 

[Destiny1990]

Seat children till 13 years in groups facing each other instead of single desk chair.let them work together and communicate 

[sandemara]

M y most ""ïnspiring" impression of the Thai education system remains the recent v/clips of teachers behaving like Godzilla in a classroom full of trapped cowering kindergarten age kids, getting tromped on, hit, screamed at and generally abuseed.  By the time those poor kids, through some miracle, survive until they reach university age, they're still forced into uniforms and 18th century military haircuts (garanteed nit-free class environment). Every natural human tendency towards individualism or independent thinking hammered out of them long ago, they sit in class afraid to ask one question, afraid to say ""Ï don't understand, can you explain further?". Many will go a whole semester without opening their mouth (or mind) once. It's heartbreaking for the nation's future to watch it happening.

 It's probably why a PM imposed on the country by threat of weaponry can claim to be a "democrat" with a democratic heart while his side-kick announced last week that  the military will still run things here for the next 20 years or so. And no-one dares open their mouth to ask a question or make a comment.  They've been trained for years how to.""behave"" - . Your best contribution to the community is to shut up, sit down and do what you're told. End of story, end of future.