Welcome to Thailand

The issues impacting education and sustainability in Thailand (May, 2018)

Thailand is a country situated in the heart of Southeast Asia. Thailand has never been colonized by European power but run by a constitutional monarchy. Michael & Trines (2018) assert that Thailand’s educational system has been affected by political instability with more than 18 military coup attempts since 1932. Educational transformation and social change are therefore very difficult as academics are under constant surveillance and threat by the urban upper class, royalty and military. Thailand also has one of the most ageing populations, significant environmental degradation, a severe storage of skilled labour, and has had more than twenty different education ministers over the past seventeen years (Michael & Trines, 2018). Surprisingly, gender disparities in relation to education enrolment are virtually non-existent, but instead, poor rural populations, ethnic minorities and migrant communities have less enrollment and graduation rates than urban, middle-class children (UNESCO, 2017). Michael and Trines (2018) also argue that despite large educational expenditures, the lack of infrastructure and school/teacher autonomy has hindered transformational change.

I have been working in Bangkok as an IB Grade 5 International Teacher for the past 3 years. The majority of my students are privileged Thai and/or Thai/Chinese. My story is focused on how to make connections with our local community to build student capacity for intercultural understanding, mutual respect and empathy. I believe there is a mutual benefit where both parties are empowered to collectively advance our world toward intergenerational equity and to change the overt and systemic marginalization faced by disadvantaged poor and indigenous people.

Key Insights from the Region:

• The impact globalization, political instability and constitutional monarchy has had on educational outcomes of rural, poor and indigenous communities, and the complexity of accessing quality education
• The role individuals, NGOs’ and school partnerships have on transforming education to develop intercultural understanding, mutual respect and empathy for sustainable development and economy

Itinerary:

We will make four stops in Thailand.

1. Analysis of the history of Thai education system
2. Challenges Thai students have in relation to education
3. Examples of Education Transformation in Thailand
4. Indigenous Education in Thailand

Our Journey…

Historically, education in Thailand mostly occurred in Buddhist temples were all young Thai men were expected to be temporarily ordained as Buddhist monks and would learn to read and write, and was mostly for the male elite. In 1992, the Compulsory Primary Education Act was introduced, but access to education and the quality of education has varied significantly across Thailand, where rural schools invariably have fewer resources and less qualified teachers (Kaur, Young & Kirkpatrick, 2016).

With the era of globalisation, the National Education Act (NEA) in 1999 emphasised the need for all students to learn English. Ricento (2006, as cited in Kaur, Young & Kirkpatrick, 2016) contends that education policies have placed the value of learning English, above sustaining indigenous culture and identity, and this bias to western ideology and knowledge, has resulted in indigenous populations abandoning their own customs to increase their economic and social opportunities.

There are many recent government initiatives that aim to address indigenous disadvantage through education. In 2001, the Office of National Education Commission highlighted the need to include indigenous teaching in all curriculums, such as agriculture, manufacturing, handicrafts and traditional medicine (Kaur, Young & Kirkpatrick, 2016). In 2012, the Royal Institute of Thailand drafted a new policy to reiterate Thai as a national language and to promote and maintain the indigenous language, culture and heritage.

Another significant initiative in February, 2017 was the implementation of the Global Education Monitoring Report (GEMR) which brought more than 100 participants from a wide range of educational organisations, businesses, Ministry of Education (MoE), private sector, NGO’s, and UN agencies to collaborate on the crucial role education has on sustainable development (UNESCO, 2017).

UNESCO and PISA Data:

Despite Thailand providing fifteen years compulsory education since 2004, Thailand is not providing equitable outcomes and this disadvantage impacts poor, rural and indigenous children. The UNESCO 2017/2018 Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report highlighted that in Thailand:

• 15% are not completing their lower secondary education, and 62% of these dropouts are girls.
• 50% of students are not taught in the language spoken at home.
• Despite completing lower secondary education, 50% do not have minimum proficiency level in reading or mathematics
• 55% of schools do not have basic sanitation facilities –with 40% not having access to clean drinking water
• 3.9 million adults are unable to read a simple sentence

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) (2016) found that Thai students performed near the bottom of other Asian students and that there are huge disparities between students in well-known schools and students in rural areas (Fredrickson, 2016).

Read more about what the PISA results tell us about educational reform in Thailand.

Schielmann and Schielmann (2004) identified that there is no quality in an education when indigenous student’s education is based on western ideologies, and taught in a language not their own, and both UNESCO’s and PISA’s data supports the connection in low academic student performance in rural, poor communities.

Reimers (2017) identified that education must provide opportunities for students to develop intercultural sensitivity and understanding so that students become active global citizens who will take collective action towards social disparity. For the majority of inner-city students, there is also a huge disconnect between the land, and yet for indigenous people, the spirit and life of land and water is part of their identity and this knowledge can be taught to incorporate sustainable living (Schielmann and Schielmann (2004).

‘Sannob Foundation' was the NGO that connected our school to the Muang Ka school, and has brought students to this school and other rural schools from all over the world, with the goal to not only raise awareness but to preserve indigenous knowledge.

Thailand 4.0 Policy

There are many recent government educational reforms and initiatives that aim to address poverty and indigenous disadvantage through schooling. Thailand 4.0 Policy (2016) pursues sustainability principles that aim to tackle the social disparity, and to become a more inclusive and innovative society. Thailand’s current educational emphasis is on research and development, STEM, 21st Century skills, active learning and technological advancement (Buasuwan, 2018).

Read more: about how Thailand’s 4.0 economic model is reforming education with a focus on 21st Century skills.

Individual change makers - Meet Pearl

Pearl Phaovisaid is an active change maker and asserts that the key aspect to transforming education in Thailand, is to first acknowledge that our current system has forgotten the person it was designed to serve… our students. Pearl’s perspective is clear. That to transform the educational system in Thailand, learning and teaching must be student-focused, and be built upon a clear vision and mission statement that moves our world in the direction where it is sustainable, inclusive and equitable, and unlocks our greatest potential (Ted, 2006).

Organisational agents of change:

'Education for Development Foundation (EDF), is an NGO based in Bangkok that was established in 1987. EDF is an example of an organisation that helps transform the lives of disadvantaged children and communities and gives them the education to provide opportunities to break out of the poverty cycle. In November 2017 I interviewed Ton, a Project Development Officer from EDF. Ton explained some of the key educational transformations in Thailand. For example, when Thailand initiated the"Health Promotion" scheme, EDF designed programs to support rural schools to fulfil the new government policies, such as working with local indigenous members to help them provide students with healthy lunch menus that reflected their indigenous culture, and to help them integrate traditional outdoor knowledge (such as agricultural farming) to increase their wellness and sense of identity.

Read more: Find out more on my blog about EDF.

Learn more about other foundations such as Starfish Country Home School Foundation that provides students and families from ethnic minority backgrounds, as well as the local Thai community near Mae Taeng, a Project Based Learning Approach Curriculum (STEAM) in both Thai and English. Read more here!

Read more: Read this article on ‘Traditional ecological knowledge in Thailand: Mechanisms and contributions to food security’ (2015) that asserts that traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) plays a powerful role in providing food security for rural farmers, and that this traditional knowledge and practice must be preserved to sustain a secure and safe food system.

Despite an increase in government expenditure on education, Thailand continues to struggle in providing quality education for all. Rural, poor and indigenous communities are disadvantaged the most. Transforming education involves individuals, NGO’s, communities and schools developing partnerships to integrate more indigenous knowledge and teaching into classrooms, and build student capacity, compassion and mutual respect for sustainable development.

Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP). (2015, Jul 20). Indigenous Peoples and Food Security [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao9OjRwFOHw

Buasuwan, P. (2018). Rethinking Thai higher education for Thailand 4.0. Asian Education and Development Studies. Retrieved from https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/AEDS-07-2017-0072

Fredrickson, T. (2016). Pisa test rankings put Thai students near bottom of Asia.

Retrieved from https://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/advanced/1154532/pisa-test-rankings-put-thai-students-near-bottom-of-asia

Kaur, A., Young, D., & Kirkpatrick, R. (2016). English Education Policy in Thailand: Why the Poor Results?. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286925009_English_Education_Policy_in_Thailand_Why_the_Poor_Results

Michael, R., & Trines, S. (2018, Feb 6). Education in Thailand. World Education News & Reviews (WENR). Retrieved from https://wenr.wes.org/2018/02/education-in-thailand-2

Schielmann, K., & Schielmann, S. (2004). The Challenge of Indigenous Education: Practice and Perspectives. UNESCO. Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001347/134773e.pdf

Ted. (2016, May 22.). Pearl Phaovisaid: Thai Education is not broken [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5cXxIi8CLY&t=277s

Reimers, F. (2017). Empowering students to improve the world in sixty lessons: Version 1.0. Creative Commons.

UNESCO. (2017, Apr 28). No sustainable development without education: Thai launch of 2016 Global Education Monitoring Report. Retrieved from http://bangkok.unesco.org/content/no-sustainable-development-without-education-thai-launch-2016-global-education-monitoring