Research proves that top quality teachers produce quality students
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Two key components for quality education are missing in Thailand.
To date, authorities have not formed policies in accordance with evidence-based research – and there is no solid collaboration among all parties involved.
Despite all the pledges for these two crucial factors, no tangible or sustainable result has been achieved.
At the 2011 Teacher Education Policy in Europe (TEPE) conference, educators from across the world called for "evidence-based policy making". They insisted that research should play a key role in shaping and implementing educational reforms.
At TEPE 2012, researchers said their findings could establish how teachers actually learned and improved their ability. In other words, the findings of a course could be used to design training that would boost the skills of teachers.
Educational experts have pointed out that relevant parties should “focus on the barriers to teacher education improvement” and “identify the proven change levers which facilitate improvement”.
The quality of teachers, no one should forget, is closely related to the quality of students – and the quality of students means a lot to the country’s future.
After attending the TEPE both in 2011 and 2012, I feel obliged to highlight again the need for research-based policy-making. To improve Thailand’s education system as a whole, I insist that Thailand needs serious research efforts for educational-policy making, especially when it comes to policies governing teacher education.
To my disappointment, policy makers at the Education Ministry have never paid any real attention to research findings. Politicians at the helm of the ministry clearly prefer cheap populist ideas, which seem to attract media attention.
Have they ever paused to think about development, improvement, barriers and agents of change for Thai teachers? I am afraid the answer is “no”.
On collaboration, participants at TEPE2012 recommended “a research interactive partnership between universities, schools, centres for non-formal learning, mediators and policy makers, which can be a basis for knowledge creation and sharing”.
Such an approach would strengthen connections between research, practice and policy in teacher education and the development of quality cultures in teacher education.
Therefore, I am now calling on relevant parties to stop working alone. Let’s create a collaborative national agenda for “a quality improvement in teacher education and professional development”.
At the same time, the Education Ministry should focus on promoting collaboration and knowledge sharing between educational researchers, policy makers and practitioners across the countries and the world.
Also, it should seriously consider boosting Thai teachers’ knowledge and pedagogical skills via a Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programme. Teachers, meanwhile, should not stay idle. They should work hard in improving their knowledge, their teaching skills and learning approaches.
Another keynote speaker, Sahlberg shared his experiences from his book “Finnish Lessons: What can the world learn about educational change in Finland”.
He emphasised that “an educated nation cannot be created by force”. He said that we must listen to teachers and students and call for active collaboration.
He insisted that we should not “simply imitate one-by-one from Finnish education”. Each nation must understand profoundly its learning culture because “education requires a different mindset”, according to Sahlberg.
Indeed, he said, “Less is more” and “to rush this process is to ruin it”.
Furthermore, he recommended “improving the teaching force, limiting student testing to a necessary minimum and placing responsibility” by means of ground educational research.
Many Thai educators have visited Finland to learn about its successful education reforms. However I believe the lessons learned couldn’t be applied directly to Thailand, or any individual country, without modification in line with the culture and context first.
In other words, we must find the Thai way to solve the education problem and strengthen all educational initiatives, then integrate them as one! One for all, all for one!
Priyakorn Pusawiro
Learning scientist,
Computer Engineering Department
King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi
