Before leaving Chaing Mai, I had the opportunity to visit Chaing Mai University. I went there looking for their Education Department, but before I could find it I found a Demonstation School on campus that is for students in grades seven to twelve. There I was able to talk to one of the English teachers and learn a lot about the education system here in Thailand.
Here there is the Thai Ministry of Education who create the National Educational Policy. But because the CMU Demonstration School is a part of the University, they have more freedom when it comes to the rules in the National Educational Policy and following them word for word. This school has a very good reputation as being an excellent school and has a connection to the university so many parents hope that because of that connection it will be easier for them to get into Chaing Mai University. Every year there is a large test for the students hoping to attend, and the 200 hundred students that have the best scores are allowed in. About 3,000 take the test to try and get in each year.
I also learned that one of the reasons many of the schools I have seen are similar to education in the states is because many people who are in charge went to America to study and brought it back. According to the teacher I talked to, it doesn't always work well though because the cultures and the way people think are different. Some other issues in the schooling are that there is a lot of reform but it often goes in a circle and the people in charge see that it is not working as well as it could be so make changes and then that doesn't work very well either so they make more changes and then it continues on like that. They are also in offices and not in the schools to see how their changes are affecting the students. One example of a change that was made is that they didn't like the name for a certain class so they decided to change the name which didn't impact the children very much, but the staff had to change a lot of paper work which was a headache.
While I didn't get to observe the classes, I did learn a lot about the education system in Thailand.
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Hi Molly - In your post you allude to the National Education Policy. Were you able to find any of the documentation about what is expected to be taught in Thai schools? Are you able to compare those expectations with American schools? Do you know how policy is set here?
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of skills does the test focus on?
What aspects of the imported American model of schooling weren't working according to the teachers you interviewed? Did they have ideas about specific changes they would like to see?
Hi Molly. I agree there is a lot of value to kids playing outside and interacting with their environment and each other to enhance their growth and learning. It saddens me that only 200 of the 3000 that want to go to the University can. It reminds me of China. Does it seem that they are all learning English along with their othe subjects? Is there art, music and PE built into the day, or is it mostly "academic"? How do the students seem to like school? Do students seem to work on studies when they come home? I think you said that they work pretty hard to contribute to the household. How would you compare their work-ethic to ours? Would you like to teach there? What is it that you think we could learn from them and they from us? Keep searching, observing and engaging in convesation to seek understanding.....
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