Assessing
Learning Achievement Nationwide
The
1999 National Education Act has introduced
a new system of educational quality assurance
to ensure improvement of educational quality
and standards at all levels. Major tasks to
be accomplished are: (a) setting educational
standards; (b) designing and developing a system
of internal and external evaluation; (c) setting
up the Office of Education Standards and Evaluation;
and (d) conducting external evaluation of
all educational institutions, of which the
first round is scheduled to be completed
by August 2005.
The
Office of Education Standards and Evaluation
(OESE) was established in November 2000 to
develop the criteria and methods of external
provision in order to evaluate the quality
of educational institutions, taking into account
the aims, principles and direction for provision
at each level of education as stipulated in
the Act. Research and development on internal
evaluation at basic education level was conducted
for the preparation of guidebooks and an internal
evaluation model. Guidelines for internal evaluation
of educational institutions have been formulated
as follows:
- All
educational institutions should conduct
internal quality assurance annually.
- The
continuous process of internal quality
assurance of all educational institutions
consists of planning, evaluation and improvement
of their performance. Each institution
is required to: prepare its own education
development plan in line with the objectives
and principles of the National Education
Act, the National Education Standards as
well as the aims/philosophy/charter of
the institution; clearly determine the
time frame of its implementation; continuously
follow-up and evaluate its own performance;
and finally use the evaluation results
to improve and develop the quality of education.
- At
all stages of internal quality assurance,
emphasis should be placed on the co-ordination
and participation of all parties concerned,
i.e. the institution's personnel, the institution
board, the parents, as well as the personnel
of various agencies and organizations in
the communities, educational service areas
and the regions.
- Each
educational institution is required to
complete its internal quality assurance
report before the beginning of the following
academic year, presenting the evaluation
results for educational quality as well
as guidelines or programmes for improvement
and development of educational quality
in the following year. The report must
be submitted to its parent organisation,
the agencies concerned, the OESE and be
made available to the public.
The
educational standards for external evaluation
at the basic education level have been approved
in January 2000. The standards will be used
as a framework for external evaluation and
guidelines for the agencies concerned and all
educational institutions to develop the quality
of education in the same direction.
In 1999, a national quality assessment of education
at upper secondary level (Grade XII) was conducted
by the Department of Curriculum and
Instruction Development in three aspects: (i)
student achievement; (ii) characteristics of
learners; and (iii) standards of schools in terms
of inputs and processes.
The achievement of upper secondary students throughout
the country was rather unfavourable. Among 11
subjects assessed, the highest average score was only 57% in Thai writing. The
other two subjects with average scores higher
than 50% were Thai language and vocational foundation.
These results appeared to be lower
than the actual capabilities of the students
because they did not concentrate on the test
which was not relevant to their graduation. However,
the quality of education should
be improved in all subjects, particularly those
with average scores below 40%, i.e. physics,
chemistry, mathematics and English writing.
Inequalities
in educational quality existed among different
regions in all subjects. The highest average
scores in nearly all subjects were found in Bangkok,
except those of Thai writing and vocational foundation
which were in Education Area 12 (eastern region)
and Education Area 9 (north-eastern region),
respectively. The minimum average scores in mathematics,
chemistry and physics were in Education
Area 9 which was one of the poorest areas of
the country. In Education Area 2 where a large
number of students are Muslims, the minimum average
scores were found in Thai language,
social studies, and physical-biological science.
Learners
were also evaluated in terms of desirable characteristics
by using three forms of evaluation instruments.
The first one dealt with the hygienic habits
of learners: personal hygiene, food and nutrition,
exercise, mental health, environmental hygiene,
drug prevention and accident prevention. The
second was to measure learning to win or lose
and to forgive, to be unselfish, to co-operate
with others, to abide by regulations and rules,
to love and to be united. Thirdly, general characteristics
were evaluated in relation to living together,
self-development and future occupation.
The evaluation results showed that the qualities
of 88.6% and 83% of learners were favourable
in terms of hygienic habits and sporting spirit,
respectively. It was found that the general characteristics
of 54.5% of learners were
fair, with only 39.9% showing good characteristics.
Finally,
in terms of the ability to provide student-centred
learning, only 54.9%
of schools could meet the requirement. Moreover,
less than 50% of schools had teachers with the
ability to search for knowledge, think analytically,
conduct research and
create their own body of knowledge. The situation
was even worse in rural areas. (ONEC, 2001). |
