Thai education standards 'in free fall'

He was referring to main international tests like the Programme for International Student Assessment and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study during his speech at the seminar on “How the world’s most improved school systems keep getting better” held by the Office of the Education Council (OEC).

 

The seminar emphasised the continuous degradation in education quality as reflected by international tests and world competitiveness rankings.

 

Academics and educators agreed to promote literacy and numeracy among most students in basic education. 

 

A OEC scholar cited the International Institute for Management Development (IMD)’s world competitiveness rankings that showed Thailand’s ranking in education slipping from 43 in 2008 to 47 in 2009 and 2010.

 

Chainarong urged educators from agencies at the seminar to start with improving the basics of literacy and numeracy since the world renowned educational report from McKinsey & Co said that to improve students’ performance level from poor to fair, countries at the poor level had to achieve the basics of literacy and numeracy.

 

“The UK and Ontario of Canada have started improving from the basics of literacy and numeracy and their students’ international scores increased in three to four years,” he said.

 

McKinsey is a trusted adviser and counsellor to many of the world’s most influential businesses and institutions.

 

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“Most Thai students’ scores in basic education schools especially in remote areas are at poor and fair levels. 

 

“They should be improved with the basics first, while schools with students that get scores at good and great levels should be allowed to make their own decisions independently on how to improve their own students’ performance as the report said improvement in such levels should be based on the school’s decision-making,” Chainarong added.

 

Assoc Prof Witayakorn Chiengkul from the Social Innovation College at Rangsit University said the root cause of the country’s ills was the lack of a good education.

 

“If we do not reform education, we will not be able to reform our society and politics that currently create many problems.” 

 

In reforming education, Thailand should be careful using the methods that were successful in other countries. 

 

“Giving only tablets to students won’t make students excellent,” he said.

 

The country should take into account the different political economies, perceptions, behaviour and other factors.

 

For example, Vietnamese students were hardworking and they liked reading, so their performance |in maths and science was satisfactory even though they did not have enough good instructional media.

 

Rung Kaewdang, a former high-ranking educator, encouraged teachers to learn successful teaching techniques from their peers in their province to improve their teaching, which would help improve students’ literacy and numeracy skills.

 

“We should not wait for great education ministers or prime ministers to help address problems in education, but educational people in different positions at different agencies should help improve in their different roles,” he said.

 

The seminar presented the McKinsey report translated into Thai before the academics and educators gave recommendations. 

 

The seminar was aimed at describing the current condition of Thai |education and inspiring the new members of the Education Council and educators in agencies under |the Education Ministry who attended the seminar to seriously push forward appropriate improvement measures.