A more relevant education ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

The 1999 Education Act has shaken many teachers. It has not only taken them by surprise, it has also increased tension on almost all campuses, and job insecurity is at its highest among Thai educators today. Instead of reassuring the Thais that education is finally going to improve, the Act has scared many teachers. Teacher Pramote Pornsuriya, 37, who learned of the Education Act early last year, says many teachers are worried about their careers because of the rumours of redundancy on their campuses.

"To enhance Thai education, teachers should play an important role. Convince them of their career security, of their importance to national progress and child training," he said in response to a recent Sunday Perspective survey on educational reform in Thailand. "I believe that most teachers want to achieve the best standards. However, various needs prevent many teachers and students from reaching their goals. The most common phrase used is 'short of money'," he said.

FOR DRASTIC CHANGE
As Thailand's economy and national experience change, its educational system grows even less satisfactory. The survey revealed a chorus of voices from various walks of life, from different ages and nationalities, agreeing on at least two concepts. First, that Thai education should change drastically, and second, that Thai education should prepare students more for life in the future. Among the changes that Thais want to see are schools that produce results: students who can think for themselves and express themselves well. Many believe that the learning systems should be overhauled to heighten understanding, practice, and relevance of lessons while minimising the concern for prestige or grades.

Most bewail the lack of free communication inside classrooms and learning by rote. Survey respondents suggest that rote learning stifles self-expression, originality of thought and understanding. Respondents James Moze and student Supawadee Kasikijworakul of Chiang Rai, as well as many others, stress the need to encourage understanding instead of just memorising things. Employee Worawut W, 31, says: "Students must be encouraged to express their ideas in the classroom. They must be able to learn by practice.

"Teacher Maurice Bowra insists on removing anything that stunts the development of "individual and independent thought" by encouraging thinking and the use of logic, while another teacher, Tom Hooper, 28, suggests that "students should be taught to think for themselves and solve problems. "Student Panukorn Thawonsakcharoen, 23, says: "Rote learning must be replaced by student centred learning. The education system must respond to the learner's real needs.

"Many others lament the fact that scores and grades have come at a price, thereby eroding further the bastions of academic excellence-and integrity. Respondents say that a greater emphasis on creativity, understanding, flexibility, and self-expression will surely improve Thai education. For example, Pussaddee Konsuwan, 25, a student, agrees with student Chotima Sittikun, 22, that the emphasis on grades and standardised education limits learning.

"Don't concentrate too much on the score, but focus on what they learn," says Chotima. "This will teach children to be self-confident and proud of themselves. "Pussadee says that the Thai education system should be "more flexible since children have their own interests and gifts." Engineer Lawan Thiendhavorn wants to restructure the education system into one "which can support the children's thinking" and allows for creating rather than memorising.

James Moze calls for "more emphasis on questioning attitudes and problem-solving." They would all be glad to know that these days there are indeed schools that provide an excellent education without rote learning-and even without grades.

BEYOND GRADES
To do away with rote learning and grades, several schools in Bangkok use methods borrowed from the West, such as the Montessori method and the Reggio Emilia approach.

Meanwhile, an Asian school has long been using its own non-graded approach that has proven successful not only academically but also business-wise.

The Harvent School in Lingayen, Pangasinan in the Philippines uses a non-graded approach formulated and tested in an Asian setting. Students there have no homework. This pleases their parents as they have more time to play and relax at home. Teachers are also pleased because they need not prepare lesson plans or test papers. All instructional materials are standardised. Harvent students have neither tests nor final exams. They are promoted to a higher grade as soon as they have mastered the lessons in one grade. Thus advancement is based on ability and achievement, not on grades, age, or academic timetables.

A visit to Harvent reveals classrooms that hum busily without strict supervision. Bored students are free to go out and play and return to complete their lessons whenever they wish. Classes have students of various ages but they all do the same lessons. Not all the teachers are education graduates, as the Philippine's Ministry of Education requires. But without exception, all have been hired because of their excellent English communication skills.

Despite initial birth pangs, this unconventional approach has proven successful. Founder Margarita Hamada, who started the elementary school in her backyard, is proud of her current high school campus in downtown Lingayen. Parents and Harvent graduates have sent letters of gratitude for the way the school provided an education which made it easy to move into American and European schools.

Other Harvent graduates have topped entrance examinations at prestigious schools. Mrs. Hamada now wants to franchise her school and its methodology in Bangkok. She would supply the teachers, materials, and methodology. Her tuition fees are rather high, but she does guarantee results: children who are truly happy with learning and with excellent English skills, both written and spoken.

PRACTICAL EDUCATION
Respondents to the Sunday Perspective survey feel that Thai schools do not focus enough on preparing students for life as adults. In Thailand, culture has shaped most of those in power to defer or (kreng jai) to those in higher positions. "Today's schools and universities are too past- and present-bound," notes world renowned author and futurist Alvin Toffler, who taught one of the first courses devoted entirely to the future at the New School for Social Research in 1966.

Toffler believes that value clarification and future choice-making are skills that students must learn. "Learning for tomorrow includes learning to know one's own mind, to understand one's own values clearly enough to be able to make consistent and effective choices." Perspective survey respondent Janice M Wongsurawat, 53, calls for "more participation in planning and decision-making by teachers" as well as "more student participation in designing and administering student disciplinary regulations.

"Thinking towards a more active approach, Nuchanart Vanichbutr, 24, a graduate student, suggests that "students should alter the ways they learn" and should themselves be more active, responsive and enthusiastic about doing more research. "This can encourage some instructors who teach students in the old ways to be more alert. Don't wait for teachers to change, it's easier to change yourself. This, in turn, could prompt teachers to change themselves, too," she says.

The Thai's kreng jai mindset continues to work in classrooms today. Self-expression, personal creativity, freewheeling discussions and questioning the teacher remain rare. So how much emphasis should education place on the future?" How children or young adults see their future is directly connected with their academic performance and, more important, with their experiential performance-their ability to live, cope and grow in a high-change society," Toffler says.

"The future is a matter for the concern not simply of graduate students, but of the youngest elementary-school children as well, whether enrolled in conventional schools or in experimental centres." One such experimental centre is the School for the Future at the Iloilo National High School in the Philippines. This is the first of its kind in Asia, and the only school in the East that educates teenagers for living in the future.

Principal Riza Amaguin is very proud of the high number of applicants, and prouder of the very few that do get into the state-supported institution. At the School for the Future, which was founded in 1997, high school students focus on examining various futures and how they would live and function in it.

As Perspective survey respondent Burin Kantabutra, 57, puts it: "Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire."