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Education in Thailand: Changing times?

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  • Education in Thailand: Changing times?

    Education in Thailand: Changing times?
    Daniel Maxwell
    Oct 17, 2014


    Pic: Daniel Maxwell.
    PISA rankingsTimes Higher Education University Rankings 2014Implementing Change- Student-centered Learning- Corporal Punishment- Hairstyle Regulationsstrict hairstyle regulationsChanging Times?About the author:
    Daniel Maxwell is a writer and educator who has been living and working in Southeast Asia since the late 1990s. An English literature graduate from the University of London, Daniel previously worked with the publishing company EMAP before relocating to Asia. Along with teaching and writing, Daniel is currently working towards a Masters in Educational Leadership with the University of Bath. Found elsewhere: .


    asiancorrespondent.com
    http://thailandchatter.com/showthrea...ll=1#post45112

  • #2
    "Can Prayuth and the junta succeed where others have failed?"

    Adding more Thai "social studies and history" learning at the expense of other subjects will definately change the dismal ranking of Thai schools. In no time they will move from 50th of 64 to 65th.
    Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

    Comment


    • #3
      It seems the Thai education system is hell bent on dumbing down the Thai population so they can control them.

      Comment


      • #4
        It seems to be my daughters learn more with their 1.5 hour day home schooling than learn in the other 6+ hours at regular school, not my judgment but school reports.

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        • #5
          How can you achieve this;

          Without first addressing the issue of having their top university just inside the world 400.

          Talk of student centred learning and continued professional development is worthless unless teaching as a career can be made aspirational.

          It is the same issue with police. You pay peanuts .....

          A good start would be a modern teacher training programme backed up by PGCE and a well remunerated career path for aspiring educators.

          It means it will be difficult for young newly qualified teachers to break down the barriers put in place by the current dinosoars, but anything worthwhile can only be achieved by facing it head on.

          The issues of haircuts and discipline will resolve themselves with the introduction of well trained and highly motivated professional educators. Remove the view of teachers as uniformed civil servants and turn teaching into what it is in developed countries, a respected profession.

          NB I am not nor have I ever been, a teacher of a Tefler.

          Comment


          • #6
            It is the same issue with police. You pay peanuts .....
            Starting teachers are paid 15K/month....I think Yingluck raised that from around 8K.

            A good start would be a modern teacher training programme backed up by PGCE and a well remunerated career path for aspiring educators.
            Thai teachers do have to complete practical training and once hired by the government do enjoy a wide range of benefits.

            The issues of haircuts and discipline will resolve themselves with the introduction of well trained and highly motivated professional educators. Remove the view of teachers as uniformed civil servants and turn teaching into what it is in developed countries, a respected profession.
            What makes you think being a teacher isn't respected? In fact, teachers are very highly respected in Thai society. Most that I've seen are motivated, within the constricts of the conditions they work under.

            After my 11+ years as a teacher here, in my opinion, it's a systemic social failure.

            If you think about Thai culture, it's all about the incredible lack of consequences for any action taken.

            Troops shoot international reporters. No problem. Troops slaughter a group of people hiding in a Wat.... well, **** happens.

            A prime minister lets protesters take over government facilities, depriving the public of the services that are provided within for months...not a problem.

            A policeman gets caught looking the other way over a home casino. What happens? Inactive duty, meaning he doesn't lose his job. He doesn't lose his benefits. He doesn't stop getting promoted. He just doesn't get as much work.

            People wonder why the Thai army has so many generals....it's basically the same thing. Most are on inactive duty, still collecting taxpayer money for doing nothing as opposed to being retired.

            A PhD awardee that runs a government agency gets caught for copying his thesis from a farang. He's stripped of his PhD (after five years) but still runs the government agency.

            That's the upper end.....

            Students are passed from grade to grade regardless of the work they do or don't do. I have students that literally have done nothing in class but yet are passed from year to year.

            I've watched teachers overseeing the copying of work.

            When there's no consequences for what people from the top down to the students, how can a country progress?

            Perhaps if today's students start seeing consequences for their failures and expect to see the same thing from the top, things will change.

            Comment


            • #7
              Too many ifs buts and contradictions in there Topper. Maybe you have been here too long and become inured to all the inherent flaws in the system, many of which you have just described, while maintaining that teachers are respected and do a good job for the most part with a failing system.
              It sometimes takes an outsider to see things you may overlook every day.
              I am not questioning your personal integrity or your teaching skills, but what you have just described is someone who is frustrated because you realise that you can effect very little in the way of meaningful change.
              The system is broken and has been failing for a long time. The current government is unlikely to change that in a positive way. That is why radical, properly funded change is necessary.
              Perhaps my solutions were not radical enough in that I did not address the necessity to change or adapt the inherent cultural failures. The no blame, no failure, loss of face circle jerk will only be re-inforced by current leadership proposals.

              Comment


              • #8
                The entire culture is rotten to the core, and has been for so long it's viewed as the status quo. It's not just the police or the schools, or the government or the military or the lack of respect for anything or anyone, or the way "face" distorts reality or the debilitating effects of kreng jai, or the inability of anybody to admit mistakes or say sorry, or the absolute lack of meritocracy or the caste system perpetuated by tribal nepotism.

                Its everything. And the most astonishing aspect of all is the absolute inability of tourists or casual observers to see any of it. It all remains shrouded under a thin veneer of very fragile "happiness" and the fantasy that Thailand is paradise -- the Land of Smiles.

                Thai education is in the condition it exists for a very good reason. It's not accidental. Being a third-world backwater has very real advantages to the corrupt power elite. Ask any number of African leaders who live in hideous opulence. How can the monied and educated hiso segment of society lord over the peasants if they all have educations and a Hiluk Vigo?

                A farang's opinion means less than nothing to them.

                Comment


                • #9
                  A farang's opinion means less than nothing to them.
                  That's hardly surprising if the drivel one reads on forums is anything to go by...
                  Originally posted by Ergenburgensmurgen;n186588
                  What are you talking about, I don't post on Teakdoor.


                  https://thailandchatter.com/core/ima...ies/giggle.gif

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    A farangs opinion means nothing to them.
                    Their assumed place as the hub of ASEAN is a rapidly shrinking edifice as are their aspirations to become a developed nation.
                    As they are beginning to witness, the global perception of Thailand is the one thing stopping it from declining into a mirror image of North Korea.
                    Even China has limits on the exclusion of social media and we all know that kind of future technology is probably more powerful than a whole fleet of nuclear powered carriers.
                    Seeing change coming and adapting to it is not likely under a democratically elected government and even less likely under martial law.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by PACKAGE1 View Post
                      It seems the Thai education system is hell bent on dumbing down the Thai population so they can control them.
                      Indeed...

                      A reflection of most all educational systems everywhere.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Charles
                        Maybe you have been here too long and become inured to all the inherent flaws in the system, many of which you have just described, while maintaining that teachers are respected and do a good job for the most part with a failing system.
                        Teachers are well respected here, snip. It's one of those things called facts.
                        I never said teachers do a good job, I said they were motivated. Anyone can look at the statistics and see the effectiveness of teachers here in Thailand.

                        60 hour weeks are usual for them, for relatively low pay, teaching in classrooms with 50+ students. In one week one Thai teacher may teach upwards of 400 students. That means 400 sets of grades, 400 sets of homework to mark, 400 tests to grade, 800 parents to talk to. Then there's the after school activities, visiting students at home, scouts, gate duty, student admin duty (masters of discipline stuff), clubs. They're pretty busy and generally don't have a life.

                        I taught at one of the demonstration schools....in one week I would see 800 students - 20 classes of approximately 40 students, though all I had to do is keep up with their grades, mark their work, create/give/grade tests.

                        Some schools have 60+ students in one classroom.

                        Originally posted by Charles
                        but what you have just described is someone who is frustrated because you realise that you can effect very little in the way of meaningful change.
                        I'm not frustrated at all, now. I was the first few years I was here, but I've come to the realization that I can't change Thai society. At the beginning of the month I had the usual discussion with my boss on whether I was to blanket pass the students who failed and you don't have to guess the answer to that question. No sweat off my balls, if I raised a fuss, she'd just pass the students anyway.

                        Originally posted by Charles
                        The no blame, no failure, loss of face circle jerk will only be re-inforced by current leadership proposals.
                        Exactly....most people look at the lack of education most student receive and blame the education system, rather than look further afield to effect change.

                        Originally posted by Charles
                        That is why radical, properly funded change is necessary.
                        Won't change anything when the students can't fail, know they can't fail and know that there will be no consequences if they fail. In all my years teaching, I've only seen one Thai teacher asked to resign and that was for something so stupendously wrong that I'm surprised the police weren't involved.
                        Last edited by Mid; 10-20-2014, 05:15 PM. Reason: Topper YOU SHOULD know better .

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          most
                          But not all, I was educated in NZ and was quite happy with the education I received, motivated Teachers and lecturers.
                          In universities that compered well amongst others in their peer group.

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