Current Educational Priorities and Concerns

In recent years, Thai education has been operated on the basis of the 1992 National Scheme of Education, a long-term plan, and the Eighth National Education Development Plan (1997-2001), a five-year plan. The Eighth National Education Development Plan contains educational objectives and policies, which are consistent with the National Scheme of Education, to be implemented by operational units during the period of the Plan.

It is recognized that people are the key to development. They are both means and ends of development in the sense that they form a production factor in all sectoral development and are also beneficiaries of development. Education is conceived as a lifelong process relating to all people and all sectors of the society, which will enable human beings to develop their quality of life and make a contribution to enhance national socio-economic development capability. Accordingly, the Eighth National Education Development Plan (1997-2001) was formulated with the following objectives:

• to expand an extensive and equal provision of basic education for all people; and to extend basic education to the secondary education level;
• to improve the equality of education and its relevance to the needs of individuals, communities and the nation, and to enable learners to achieve their full potential for self-development;
• to enhance the role of Thai education in strengthening the national potential for self-reliance, and to contribute to national economic stabilization and the role of the country in the global economy.                

Targets for educational development have been organized according to the following major programmes: promotion of Basic Education for All; improvement of education quality; development of the teacher education system and process, and of in-service teacher education; human resource development in the areas of Science and Technology and Social Sciences; research and development; improvement of administration and management; development of higher education; educational resource mobilization; development of an educational information system.

During the past few years, there has been a growing demand for a radical reform in education, seen as indispensable for Thailand to keep up with the pace of change in the world community. There have been strong efforts to push educational reforms by the both public and private sectors–for instance, the Office of the National Education Commission, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of University Affairs and the Commission on Thailand’s Education in the Era of Globalization. The issues of educational reform have become a priority of Thai education in 1997. 

Educational reforms have been initiated by the Office of the National Education Commission (ONEC) since the promulgation of the 1992 National Scheme of Education. An initial reform concerning teacher education and teaching and educational personnel development was followed by the higher education reform and the reform of the teaching and learning system in 1996. The 1992 National Scheme advocated the reform of teacher education, teaching and educational personnel development, with a focus on raising the standard of professionalism of teachers in terms of ethics, as well as academic skills.

The master plan of teacher reform was approved in March 1996 by the Council of Ministers which also authorized the establishment of a special project for implementation of the reform. Accordingly, the Office of the National Education Commission (ONEC) established the Teacher Education Reform Office (TERO) to take responsibility for managing and following-up of the operations in order that the master plan for the teacher education reform can be actually implemented during the period of the Eighth National Education Development Plan (1997-2001). The operational guidelines of the TERO were based on seven components: co-ordination; overall innovation; networking; contracting; experimentation; project-based and technology-oriented functioning. Consequently, the TERO has introduced five innovative programmes starting from 1997: national teacher awards; academic coupons (a special allowance to take part regularly in in-service training); new-generation teacher education (incentives to encourage quality teacher education programmes offered by government institutes, private organizations and NGOs); school rating (rating of educational quality by subjects and results publicized nationwide); school visits by leading Thai professionals. 

The ONEC has also established the Centre for Teaching-Learning Development since 1996 with an aim to introduce educational innovations leading to reform of learning. The Centre is responsible for the development of the teaching-learning process for learners and to develop in learners desirable characteristics according to the objectives of the curricula. The teaching-learning process has to be changed from teacher-centred to child-centred. In 1997, the Centre launched a project in order to improve the quality of the teaching-learning process.

Some of the major problems of Thai higher education include: failure to produce manpower to meet the changing needs of the country and inability to create sufficient new knowledge and technology; shortcomings in academic, personnel and financial management as well as the system of appointing administrative personnel in some institutions; shortage of instructors in higher education institutions due to lack of attractive incentives and the very bureaucratic character of the traditional administrative system; and the future trend of an increasing number of upper secondary school students which will cause an immense expansion of higher education institutions.

Consequently, the ONEC has formulated the principles and strategies for higher education reform which was approved on 27 August 1996 by the Council of Ministers which also authorized the ONEC to prepare the master plan for higher education reform and submit it to the Cabinet for subsequent consideration. This master plan is based on the following principles: 

• Unity amid diversity. Higher education should be organized under the same national policies and standards. It should, at the same time, have diversity in internal organization of each institution with an adequate mechanism for academic transfer and networking. 
• Balance between quality, efficiency and equality. There must be a balance between quality and efficiency in the management of higher education, taking into account  equality of opportunity of people in different areas and status, the equity of education investment and its returns as well as the utilization of resources for the greatest benefit and efficiency.
• System management for elite-mass model. Admission to most public universities is limited based on a selection process, so that Thai higher education provides the elite to be leaders in national development. At the same time, due to greatly increasing demand, Thai higher education is also education for the masses through the provision of higher education in an open system in order to provide more opportunity and reduce the pressure from a large number of students demanding entry.
• Decentralization of administration and management. The administration and management of higher education should be based on freedom and autonomy. The universities should be responsible for their effective administration and management. However, the quality, standard and efficiency of education should be under control.

The reform of the entire education system in Thailand was recommended in the report of the special non-governmental Commission on Thailand’s Education in the Era of Globalization in January 1996. It was felt that successful education reform in Thailand required a new paradigm in which families, religious institutions, business establishments, mass-media enterprises, and non-governmental organizations must be brought into a holistic view of a lifelong educational process. It is an education-for-all and also all-for-education way of thinking.

The new education system can be best characterized as a learning network concept of educational provision. It is a network in which each segment of the society may have its own unique, self-sufficient learning mechanism suitable for each community, yet remaining an integral part of national development perspectives. It is a drastic shift from uniformity and centralization to diversity and self-governance. The reform thus requires two major strategic components: the reform of learning, and the reform of management, both of which are aimed at capitalizing individual and community potentials.

Existing operational approaches are being revised and amended with the view to mitigating or eliminating problems and enhancing the quality of education until educational excellence is achieved in the year 2007. Since December 1995, activities have been conducted in four main areas:

• School reform. Efforts have been stepped up to standardize the quality of education in all levels and types of schools and educational institutions. Educational coverage has been expanded.
• Teacher reform. Training and recruitment of teachers have been reformed urgently and comprehensively both in public and private schools. Educational administrators and personnel have been developed continuously.
• Curriculum reform. Curriculum and teaching-learning processes have been reformed on an urgent basis in order to raise educational quality of all types and levels.
• Administrative reform. Through devolution, educational institutions have been empowered to make administrative decisions and to offer appropriate educational services which are as consistent as possible with the local lifestyle and conditions. Provincial organizations have been strengthened to facilitate devolution while private participation of the family and community have been promoted and supported.

Following the educational reform guidelines, the Ninth Educational, Religious and Cultural Development Plan for 2002-2006 includes the following strategies: 

• enhancing the effectiveness and coverage of educational provision, thus increasing lifelong educational opportunities for all Thai citizens;
• promoting educational quality that realizes the potential of Thai people and strengthens Thai society;
• fostering a learning society where Thai people create and disseminate knowledge;
• promoting the spiritual dimension in daily life through religious practices, morality and values;
• introducing the cultural dimension to development that strengthens the family, community and society, and aims to preserve the national identity;
• transforming a conventional management style into a performance-based one with an emphasis on decentralization, strategic planning and information technology;
• creating and enhancing professionalism in educational, religious and cultural personnel;
• establishing a national quality assurance system; and 
• setting up a mechanism of partnership and resource mobilization for education provision. (Ministry of Education, 2001).