INFLUENCE OF ASEAN ON THAI EDUCATION

BY

SUPICHAYA NOBNOM

(Pizza) G.1109

INFLUENCE OF ASEAN ON THAI EDUCATION Supichaya Nobnom (Pizza) G.1109

The Development of Thai Education System influenced from ASEAN

Introduction

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN is the cooperation of ten countries,

including Thailand, working together to strengthen their economy, security, and many other areas.

One of the major changes that Thailand has been challenged with for a long period of time is in

the process towards a better education system. Prior the establishment of ASEAN, education and

schools were not prominent among Thai people. Many students did not attend primary and

secondary schools, though education back then was already made compulsory. In contrary to the

present, people give more attention to higher standard schooling because of the contribution of

essential skills that will enable them to survive in the future. The Thai ministry of education are

also demanding for the Thai education system to reach a higher standard. They have been trying

to launch many projects, comprising of bilingual programs, and teacher training programs. With

the combination of these preparations, Thailand, therefore, has developed a better education

system after becoming one of the members in ASEAN.

More bilingual programs

In regards to ASEAN community, bilingual programs have been more induced into Thai

schools. Different subjects such as mathematics and science are proclaimed to be taught in English,

since it is considered as an official ASEAN language used for communication between the ten

countries. According to the Asian conference on education held in 2013, the ministry of education

has arranged strategies that will lead to the improvement of English proficiency in students. These

strategies are focused on three different goals; to increase the quality of graduates with

international standards, to develop the strengthening to higher educational institution, and to

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promote the role of Thailands higher education in ASEAN community (Dulyadaweesid, 2013).

Within the first strategy, it is set specifically to support the effective English teaching and

assessment from basic education to higher education. The fact that joining ASEAN triggered

Thailand to implement these educational strategies had stimulated English trainings and increase

bilingual programs in the country. Another evidence derived from the United Nations Educational,

Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), endorsed that Thailand has recently started to

apply non-dominant languages as the media of instruction (Education Systems in ASEAN+6

Countries: A Comparative Analysis of Selected Educational Issues, 2014). The process of

legalizing non-dominant languages will allow English language to penetrate through the syllabus,

causing people to be more familiar with international languages. This could prove that Thai

schooling are currently developing due to the integration of English and others non-dominant

languages into school curriculum. Besides raising the readiness of Thai students toward ASEAN,

these preparations are also encouraging students to become extra enthusiastic in using English

language in everyday life. They permit students to have the increase in opportunities to become a

part of world-wide education and jobs. As a result, English has become an influential language in

Thai schools curriculum, which shows how ASEAN has caused the education system to develop.

Higher quality of teachers

Likewise, joining ASEAN community has also strengthened a higher quality of teachers in

Thailand. Many schools are encouraged to implement teacher training programs to improve the

standard of teacher. One of the ASEAN education policies stated to support the teacher

professional, which has been pushing Thailand toward many training programs, such as training

workshops, support advisors and inspectors, and peer consultation in teacher clusters (Education

Systems in ASEAN+6 Countries: A Comparative Analysis of Selected Educational Issues, 2014).

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Referring to Dr. Vibulphol, deputy dean at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Education,

inserting better-teacher training programs into Thai schools will be able to develop the education

system and make it better. This program allows lecturers from teacher-training colleges to visit

different schools and provide advices to university students who were acting as student teachers

in that school and will later become teachers (Saengpassa, 2013). While helping Thai schools to

focus on the quality rather than the quantity of teachers, this program also shows how ASEAN has

stimulated Thailand to adopt training program in order to strengthen the quality of teachers. Based

on another source from SEAMEO Innotech, the Thai ministry of education is using teacher

education policies to develop the teaching standards within the country. These policies are known

as National Education Act and the Council of Teachers Act (Teaching Competency Standards in

Southeast Asian Countries, 2010). They are both responsible for supporting and maintaining the

standards of teacher performance. With the utilization of these teacher-education policies from

ASEAN, it allows teachers to improve their teaching abilities, skills, as well as behaviour. This

will help to elevate the standards of teachers and eventually foster the education system since

teachers play important roles in transferring knowledges to students. Hence, it could be concluded

that ASEAN community played a role in the development of Thai education by implementing

better-teacher training programs and other teacher education policies.

The Development requires time

Despite developing better education system, Thai students are still lacking in English

communication skills. The outcome from the changes of education system, however, cannot

clearly be seen in only a short amount of time. Yet the advantages will later display in the future.

As stated in the Ninth ASEAN Education Ministers Meeting (9th ASED), the ASEAN Work Plan

on Education 2016-2020 was adopted to support the education standard. This meeting was held in

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Selangor, Malaysia on 25 may 2016, chaired by the Minister of Education of Malaysia (Joint

Statement of the ninth ASEAN Education Ministers Meeting, 2016). By adopting this plan plus

the efforts from different ASEAN countries, the ministers believe that the education will become

better in the next five years. Since the education work plan has just been implemented in 2016, the

result of English improvement among Thai students will not instantly develop. The ASEAN Work

Plan on Education requires time to modify the students English skills as well as the education

system, therefore Thai students may still lag of English communication skills. Relating to the

evidence above, the ASEAN members had contributed in another workshop to discuss about the

ASEAN Work Plan on Education 2016-2020. Within this workshop, high-position education

administrators from ASEAN and related organisations gathered together to finalized the plan to

improve education system (ASEAN concludes Work Plan on Education 2016-2020, 2016). The

ASEAN Work Plan on education 2016-2020 is concluded to be focused on many areas including

new programmes conducted by many organisations collaborating together related to education,

development of UNESCO and UNICEF, and also strengthen cooperation on education. Because

of the difficultness of implementing the ASEAN Work Plan on Education 2016-2020, the final

draft of this plan has indicated that the outcome of improvement on students English skills takes

time. Subsequently, the ASEAN Work Plan on Education 2016-2020 will be able to improve Thai

students English communication skills in a long term, which will ultimately lead to a better

education system in Thailand.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Thailand has developed a better education system after becoming one of the

members in ASEAN. Documents derived from the Asian conference and the UNESCO shows

different strategies and language policies used to improve the English proficiency among Thai

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students throughout the past few years. The Nation News and the SEAMEO Innotech Regional

Education Program also show that ASEAN is the main factor that pushes Thailand to endorse

many teacher-training programs and policies to enhance the quality of teacher. In addition, the

ASEAN Work Plan on education has displayed the proposals for future education development

though some Thai students may still lack of English skills. The combination of these development

was the benefit Thailand gained from merging with the ASEAN community, which shows how

ASEAN has influenced many improvement toward Thai schools standards. Nevertheless,

Thailand is currently behind other ASEAN countries in term of education system, so it is important

that teachers and students are more motivated in collaborating with the Ministry of Thai education

to accomplish the goal of reaching the highest education rank.

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References

ASEAN concludes Work Plan on Education 2016-2020 (2016). Retrieved February 14, 2017

from http://asean.org/asean-concludes-work-plan-education-2016-2020/

Dulyadaweesid, N. (2013). The Asian Conference on Education 2013. Retrieved January 30,

2017 from http://iafor.org/archives/offprints/ace2013-offprints/ACE2013_0273.pdf

Education Systems in ASEAN+6 Countries: A Comparative Analysis of Selected Educational

Issues (2014). Paris: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and cultural

Organization 7.

Joint Statement of the ninth ASEAN Education Ministers Meeting (2016). Retrieved February 14,

2017 from http://asean.org/storage/2016/05/Joint-Statement-of-9th-ASED_25-May-

2016_ADOPTED.pdf

Saengpassa, C. (2013). Training teachers well: a vital aspect of quality education. Retrieved

February 7, 2017 from

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/opinion/chalk_talk/30211893

Teaching Competency Standards in Southeast Asian Countries (2009). Retrieved February 7,

2017 from

http://www.seameo.org/SEAMEOWeb2/images/stories/Publications/Centers_pub/2012T

eachingCompetencyStandards/TeachingCompetencyStd.pdf