building a global citizen in thailand

7/31/2019 Building a Global Citizen in Thailand

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Building a Global Citizen Through World-Class Standard Schools in Thailand

We can get there?

By Phiriyaphong Chaengchenwet

For

Education and Citizenship 2010 Conference

Institute of Education, London

19th 20th November 2010

Disclaimer

The views and opinions presented in this paper are that of the author alone and in

no way representative of the views and opinions of the Ministry of Education of

Thailand, nor the Office of the Basic Education Commissions.

The author accepts full responsibility for this paper.


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Building a Global Citizen Through World-Class Standard Schools in Thailand

We can get there?

Summary

This paper discusses the context for development of WorldClass Standard

School policy in Thailand, as well as explores the details of the policy in regards to

the curriculum development. It shows problem of inconsistency in the

implementation of the policy in actual schools. This paper reflects practitioners

level concern regarding the implementation of this WorldClass Standard School

policy in Thailand. There is a gap between the vision of the policy in the Ministry

level and the implementation of the policy in school level.

Introduction

Education, all experts agree, is a path towards the development of a nation,

and scholars in all fields related to development recognize the role of education.

While school enrollment rate is an essential indicator for a countrys education

system, it only measures in term of the quantity of the education system. The quality

barometer comes in a more abstract form the curriculum, standardize test scores,

college admission rate, etc.

This paper aims to explore the development and implementation of

Thailands latest push towards the development of the quality of education. Since

January 2010, the Ministry of Education has selected 500 primary and secondary

schools in the country to pilot the WorldClass Standard School Policy. The paper


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sets contexts in which the policy was contemplated from both the strategic goals

within the Ministry of Education and the possibility of funding from the Government

Stimulus Package. Also from the changing context of learning in 21st century, this

paper discusses the general consensus among academic regarding the new faces of

learning and how can schools adapt themselves for this changing climate.

This paper, mainly, focuses on the analysis of the particulars of this World

Class Standard School policy in regards to the changing context for learning. Also,

the paper looks into the translation of policy into practice in some schools. It is the

papers main objective to investigate whether this WorldClass Standard School

Policy can be put into practice successfully.

Context for World-Class Standard School Policy

There are many components in which shape the context of this WorldClass

Standard School Policy. From internal factors within Thailand such as the National

Curriculum, the Ministry of Education Strategic Plan, to external factors such as the

changing context of learning from advancing technology, the increasing focus among

policymakers and education experts on quality assurance, all played a role in

shaping this WorldClass Standard School.

National Curriculum Moves towards Standard-Based Curriculum

Among education policy circles, there have been ongoing discussions

regarding quality and standard improvement of education. In several countries,

their curriculum reform often involves standardization or quality assurance in some


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form. Whether it be the Thailand Basic Education Curriculum of 2001, the U.S. No

Child Left Behind education reform, the state of Ohios push for WorldClass

Education system, all in some forms address the issue of education standards.

However, the issue of StandardBased Education in Thailand did not cease

with the 2001 Basic Education Curriculum. After 5 years of the implementation of

the curriculum, many schools especially in the countryside could not keep up

with the standards set forth by the Ministry of Education. Whilst this curriculum set

up national standard for learning, it left the determination regarding the content,

the assessment, and the graduation criteria to each school.

This created a gap for many schools in Thailand in term of reaching the

national standard. There were discrepancies in the content taught to students, the

assessment scheme, and the graduation criteria. In order to close the standard gap,

the Ministry of Education has introduced the 2008 Basic Education Core Curriculum.

This curriculum stands similar to the 2001 curriculum that it remains a standard

based curriculum. This 2008 core curriculum also introduced Grade Level Indicators

for each subject area, as well as core content associated to each indicator. This

marked an improvement in the move towards a standardbased curriculum in

Thailand.

The implementation of the 2008 Basic Education Core Curriculum, with its

national standard, national grade level indicators, national core content, helped

close the gap between schools in many parts of the country. The curriculum served

as a guide to teachers reaching the standard originally set forth in the 2001


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curriculum1. Once the standard gap between goodperforming and poorperforming

schools in Thailand coming to a close due to the National Core Curriculum, the

ministry seeks to find ways to fully exploit the potential of the 2008 core curriculum

in goodperforming schools.

The 2008 Basic Education Core Curriculum has two different roles to play for

goodperforming and poorperforming schools. Indeed, for poorperforming

schools, this core curriculum helped serve as a guide for teacher in term of what

content should be taught (as can be seen in national core content), and also in terms

of decision on the expected progress students made (as seen in the national grade

level indicator). As the national standard, grade level indicator, and the core content

will be used in the national standardize test, students should have sufficient

knowledge to as required by the curriculum, now that schools know what to teach.

For goodperforming schools, this core curriculum serves as the minimum

requirements for the school curriculum. These goodperforming schools, often

situated in the urban area or in Bangkok, have the capacity of offer to students more

than the basic curriculum, some schools offer English Program where instruction

is conducted in English, some offer ScienceIntensive Program where students

study universitylevel science courses and can transfer credits to selected

universities. This creates a gap in the quality of highperforming schools, and thus it

1 The 2008 curriculum keep the national standards set in the 2001 curriculum

unchanged.


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becomes a need for the Ministry of Education, as the supervisor of these schools, to

find accommodating policies for these goodperforming schools.

Ministry of Education Strategic Plan IB? AP? EP?

In the Ministry of Education Strategic analysis, it sees and recognizes the

potential of goodperforming schools to develop further beyond national standard

to the level of a WorldClass Standard. Especially in the 3rd Strategy, which aims at

developing students quality towards excellence and WorldClass Standard. This

strategy, according to the Ministrys 2009 2012 Strategic Plan, strive for students

excellences by setting a more intense standard, or bringing in an internationally

recognized curriculum like the International Baccalaureate to benchmark with

school curriculum.

The Ministrys 2009 2012 Strategic Plan serves as the first document that

set the needs for schools in Thailand to reach beyond the national standard for

something higher. By mentioning the International Baccalaureate as the sample

international curriculum to be benchmarked, it showed that the ministry recognizes

the I.B. as the model for the WorldClass Standard School Policy. This will mirror in

the actual policy sent to schools.

The plan also discusses the possibilities regarding devolution of school

authorities. SchoolBased Management has been the keyword in education policy

expert circles for many years, with attempts to devolve authorities held by the

central agencies to the school. So that the school administrators whether they are

the principal, or the school supervisory board can make decisions regarding


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curriculum, budget, personnel affairs in a way that best fit each schools different

context.

The Changing Context for Learning Globalization of Learning

In the time of globalization, it changes the ways learning should be

conducted. Schools have changed their roles for many times since the medieval age.

From the school of the church to the school for discipline in the industrial age, the

role of schools changes in corresponding to the prevailing power in the society. In

the medieval age, it was the churches, and the production line in the industrial age.

Today, in the globalized world, we need risktaking entrepreneurs and motivated

and selfreliant citizens.

In this changed context for learning, schools all over the world started to

develop ways to build students who can survive globalization. The need to create a

globally aware learner also plays an integral role in the development of the

particulars of this WorldClass Standard School policy.

World-Class Standard School Policy

It is from the aforementioned contextual situations, as well as the availability

of funding possibilities from the Thai Governments second Stimulus Package (SPII)

that produces and makes funds available for school to move towards WorldClass

Standard Schools. 500 primary and secondary schools, out of over 10,000 schools

under the administration of the Office of Basic Education Commissions, were chosen

to be WorldClass Standard Schools. These schools receive SPII grants, and are


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given a set of guidelines from the ministry on ways to reach the WorldClass

Standard.

Before going further, it is essential that the particulars of this WorldClass

Standard School be mentioned. The Ministry of Education has published series of

documents and make available to all WorldClass Standard Schools. These

documents discuss the visions for WorldClass Standard Schools, as well as

describing the goals and characteristics of such schools.

World-Class Standard School Vision

The shared values of the worldclass policy or its visions are the core and

the ideals of WorldClass Standard Schools. There are 5 values, and they are:

1. Multi-Model Benchmarking: This means that each school have todevelop its own unique identity, by developing the capacities of the

organization and looking at various success stories of other schools

so we can build on their success and form a unique school.

2. Spirit of Enlightenment: Classrooms need to be a place that nourisheslearning. The school shall be a place where students will be

motivated to learn. Teachers need to create the wonder of the

subject and establish the goal of the subject. Most importantly,

teacher must create an environment where the students enjoy

learning.

3. Multi-Intelligent: Every student has his/her own special talent, andthat should be fulfilled. Students talents need to be enriched and


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enhanced. This requires teachers to get to know student

individually and there must be a student care and support system

that promote the multiintelligent of diverse students.

4. Global Community & Responsibility: In an increasingly interconnectedworld, knowledge reaches beyond frontiers. Relationship and

fraternities need to go beyond nationalities and our students need

to understand the shared responsibility among the human race.

5. Synergy-Community School: Education cannot be provided nor is it theresponsibility of the school alone. There must be networks of

purpose from friends of the school in the local community to

regional network and cross borders to an international network.

We need these networks that will move together with the school

towards the same goal the students.

Characteristics of World-Class Standard School

From these visions, the ministry has outlined the characteristics of the

WorldClass Standard School policy in 3 areas: students as World Citizen,

instructional qualities as WorldClass Standard, and management as Quality System

Management. The ministry aims to set the characteristics of these schools as the


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scope of development of each school in 3 areas: students, instructions, and

managements.

In terms of students as World Citizen, which is the most important product

of the WorldClass Standard Schools, the ministry sets 5 attributes of World Citizen:

Academic Excellence, Bilingual Communication, Progressive Thinking, Creative

Production, and Global Responsibilities. These attributes are seen as achievable

once the school sets its instructional and management qualities to World Class

Standard. For each attribute, the ministry has set further features for each attribute

as follows:

For Academic Excellence, it focuses on students have higherthanaverage

standardize assessment test scores. In addition, students should have his/her own

distinct specialization and participate in national and international competitions. It

also focuses on high university admittance rate of students.

For Bilingual Communications, it hopes that students of WorldClass

Standard Schools are able to use Thai and English to communicate very well. Also it

promotes the studies of a 3rd language, whether it be French, Chinese, Japanese, etc.

Progressive Thinking, this asks students to produce a project work that can

benefit the general public. Students should be able to create new ideas for the

benefit of themselves and others.


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Creative Production requires students to creatively and critically uses the

available information and technology to produce works and able to exchange ideas

and their work at international level.

Global Responsibility calls for students to be aware of global situations, carry

an international understanding, and have a sense of global citizenship whereas they

value diversity, public goods, environments, and the ideals of democracy.

Students as World Citizen are seen as mainly the product of a WorldClass

Standard School. However, in order to produce students of such ambitious

capacities, schools need to work in two ways: WorldClass Standard instructions

and Quality Systems Management of school administration. Each category has

further attributes and features in their own ways.

As for World-Class Standard Instructions, it further is divided into 3

attributes: Academic Quality, Teacher Quality, and Research and Development.

These are areas of development where the ministry set forth guidelines for

improvements for WorldClass Standard School.

In terms of Academic Quality, it needs schools to offer variety of curriculum

that fit each students capacities and competencies. This includes curriculums such

as the English Program curriculum, the International Baccalaureate curriculum,

Vocational curriculum, Special Program curriculum, etc. It also promotes the

instruction of science and mathematics in English language, as well as adoption of

subjects such as Theory of Knowledge, Extended Essay, Creative Project Work,

and Global Education into the curriculum.


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For Teacher Quality, it asks teachers to be able to communicate with foreign

language, as well as use textbooks and reference in foreign languages in classroom

instructions. It also promotes teachers to use Information and Communication

Technology (I.C.T.) in all process of instruction from teaching to evaluating and

presenting teachers work.

In Research and Development, it promotes and encourages schools to

perform academic development research, and to use the results of the research to

further develop the quality of the school towards worldclass standard.

The last characteristic of the WorldClass Standard School is in its

management system. Quality System Managementfocuses on the development of

other aspects of school indirectly relate to teaching and learning. There are 4

attributes in this characteristic: School Administrator Quality, Management System,

Foundation Support, and Network Support.

Both in term of Qualities of School Administrators and School Management

System, the ministry heavily relies on the quality management scheme set forth by

the Thailand Quality Award. The award can be considered a WorldClass recognition

of an organization management, as the award scheme is directly adapted from the

U.S. Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The Baldrige Education Criteria for

Performance Excellence, in particular, is presented to schools for their quality

management evaluation scheme.

Considering all the characteristics, attributes, and features outlined in the

WorldClass Standard School policy, it should be recognized that this is a very


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extensive guideline on the ways to improve schools towards WorldClass Standard

and create a World Citizen. Next part of the paper will focus on the analysis of the

WorldClass curriculum.

World Class Curriculum Lost in Translation?

While there is no consensus among education expert of what WorldClass

curriculum entails, the recommendation of the ministry of education sent to 500

WorldClass Standard Schools in Thailand in terms of curriculum offers an

interesting picture.

Indeed the ministry of education introduces subjects from the core of the

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme into worldclass schools in

Thailand, but from the implementation handbook give concerns regarding the

misunderstanding of the I.B. diploma program and the roles these core subjects

plays.

The core subjects from the I.B. Diploma Program are Theory of Knowledge,

Extended Essay, and Creative Action Service. These subjects are considered to be

interdisciplinary, help promoting students critical thinking skills, as well as

embedding a sense of service to the community to students.

However, in the handbook published and sent to WorldClass schools, these

subjects were considered to be content that teachers should integrate into actual

teaching. It becomes a concern whether the implementation of these subjects as


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contents integrated in normal classroom instruction can reflect the success of that in

the International Baccalaureate.

Another concern lies in another subject introduced in the curriculum. A

subject called Global Education is recommended to be introduced to schools. The

handbook of global education shows another concern regarding the translation of

WorldClass Standard School policy into practice.

Global Education, from the handbook by the ministry, provides a guideline

that the course is about 8 global topics that are essential to developing a globally

concerned citizen. The 8 topics are: Global Citizenship, Interdependence, Diversity,

Value & Perception, Sustainable Development, Conflict Resolution, Human Rights,

and Social Justice. These topics do not appear in the ministry out of thin air,

however, they bear similar resemblance to the United Kingdoms Global Dimensions

in schools.

The documentation from the Ministry of Education to schools shine lights on

the expectation from the policymakers regarding the vision for global education.

The QCA seeks schools to integrate the 8 global dimension values into their

curriculum. The key to success in infusing such value is that students need to

appreciate a sense of global perspective thinking. For this, it requires students to be

able to see linkage between subjects. Global dimension values needs to be

incorporated to all subjects so that students can see the integration of global

communities.


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It can be seen that the ministry is attempting to benchmark the curriculum

and instruction qualities of schools in Thailand to that of highachieving nations.

One key component of the success of highachieving nations with regards to their

curriculum is that they have a lean curriculum that focus on developing higher order

skills and supported with technology. However, the introduction of 4 more course

content (Theory of Knowledge, Extended Essay, Global Education, Creative Action

Services) into the curriculum without an overhaul of the ways subjects are put

together and formed into a curriculum does not representation the curriculum

leaning process. Rather, it is fattening the curriculum with more and more content.

The recognition by the Thai Ministry of Education that students need to learn

about their global surrounding is a major step towards preparing for 21stCentury

Workforce. However, the misinterpretation in the Ministry and misimplementation

in schools pose a major risk for this WorldClass Standard School policy to be

doomed from the start. Instead of promoting integration and infusion of global

dimension into all subjects, the Ministry urges schools to offer a global education

course and teach students the 8 global dimension values. This create a problem of

personnel shortage whereas schools can not find a teacher who is expert in all fields

enough to show students linkage between science, arts, and social justice, for

example.

This paper reflects practitioners level concern regarding the implementation of this

WorldClass Standard School policy in Thailand. There is a gap between the vision of

the policy in the Ministry level and the implementation of the policy in school level.


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The Ministry needs to fully comprehend the policystarting point, ie. The

International Baccalaureate, and the Britishs Global Dimension, and find ways to

communicate that to schools.


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Bibliography

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Inc. .

Kustulasari, A. (2009). The International Standard School Project in Indonesia: a

Policy Document Analysis. Ohio State University, Graduate School. Ohio: Ohio State

University .

Office of Basic Education Commissions, Ministry of Education. (2010). World-Class

Standard School - Handbook. Bangkok: Agriculture CoOp Publishing.

Schleicher, A. (2009). Benchmarking International Best Practice. Putting the World

into World-Class Education. Washington: Asia Society.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2005). Secondary

Education Reform - Towards a Convergence of Knowledge Acquisition and Skills

Development. France: UNESCO.

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