Thailand education ranked lower than Vietnam and Cambodia

[buksida]

The Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) is blaming Thailand's poor ranking in terms of education on high costs and relatively low returns.
In a recent report, the World Economic Forum (WEF) ranked Thailand eighth in the 10-member ASEAN grouping in this category, which was even lower than Vietnam and Cambodia.

Obec secretary-general Chinnapat Bhumirat said yesterday that in relation to its gross domestic product, Thailand spent a large amount on education, especially on teachers' salaries.

"So when the quality of education in Thailand is ranked even lower than a country that spends less in terms of its GDP, it is possible that the education is actually poor," he suggested.

Chinnapat said Obec would assign its relevant units to study the WEF ranking in a bid to resolve the problem.

Full Story: The Nation

[ridgeydidge.au]

Training their teachers and paying them properly would be a good starting point-then overhauling the educational administration of schools. Taking a leaf out of the experiences of GB, USA, Aus, NZ, Singapore etc would go a long way towards modelling best practice-it only takes a bit of will and hard work to improve things. There is no excuse for such poor performance.

[certocito]

Need a massive mind-set change to do anything positive. It's difficult to assess and train teachers when the expectation is that nobody fails - result is qualified teachers who don't actually have the tools or ability to teach.

Heard of one Thai teacher who had been teaching english for 26 years and when assessed by a language professor (farang) on behalf of the Ministry of Education was found to be totally inept. However the teacher still received the certificate of competancy after the assessment from the Ministry.. I think ASEAN is going to bite this country right where it hurts..

[oakdale160]

Training their teachers and paying them properly would be a good starting point-then overhauling the educational administration of schools. Taking a leaf out of the experiences of GB, USA, Aus, NZ, Singapore etc would go a long way towards modelling best practice-it only takes a bit of will and hard work to improve things. There is no excuse for such poor performance.

Telling Thailand that they must dump their Thai methods and initiate systems just like those in the west--That is sure to work!
It is interesting that the HI-So families are sending their children to International Schools so that they are totally bilingual--thats all that matters, that Hi-Sos have good English skills-Correct?

[Ropes]

Much like Certocito's experience when I first came to Thailand and went on my first trip to Isaan I was gobsmacked to learn that of the 8 teachers who taught English in the local school only one could speak the English anywhere near fluently and the other seven could hardly speak it at all.
What chance do the pupils have if the teachers cannot even string a sentence together?

[VincentD]

The mindset needs to be changed first.

The esteemed secretary-general seems to be looking at it from a purely statistical point of view, 'what are the markers that gave us this horrible score, lets recalibrate the scoring system' as opposed to the actual root of the problem, a system structured to keep the uneducated uneducated and mired in bureaucracy.

Government schools and the syllabus only pay lip service to the word 'education', after all it's free. At the end of the day you get what you pay for. As for Oakdale's comment re Hisos paying for International schools, tell you what. They are paying for the exclusivity, not really the education. The other thing about exclusivity is who you hobnob with, it's who you know not what you know. There are some schools where if they even suspect a whiff of descendant peasantry, you will be shown the door.

Teachers don't get paid a lot; many have to give extra tuition outside of school hours. Many schools insist this be on the premises and that the school will get a cut (for use of classroom ,facilities, etc). Do it outside at a student's home and you're fired. Catch-22.

Learning materials is a joke. The bureaucrats who dictate the policies in their hallowed halls are so far removed from the actual teaching environs that they could be living on two different planets. The materials are medieval at best and have not kept up with the rest of the world. It ain't broke, why fix it, some may say.

The parents, and to a lesser extent their children, expect little Somchai to sail through, given what they are contributing to the school's coffers. Bad grades are a nono. If said funding dries up, the school owner's new Bee-Em acqusition gets pushed back another term. The teachers are just there as an excuse. Yes, there are some dedicated ones, but they eventually get crushed by the system and move on.

The rant is far from over. But this is why nothing on the whole will ever really change; it will only change at a personal level when a particular Somchai is able to afford the fees for the schools that actually provide a proper education, something that will always be slightly out of reach for the masses.

[ridgeydidge.au]

"Telling Thailand that they must dump their Thai methods and initiate systems just like those in the west--That is sure to work!"
couldn't agree more Oakdale, but if you reread my post it is not what I said...

[PeteC]

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/3 ... ter-grades

Surin says good English is key to gaining better grades
Published: 10 Sep 2013 at 00.00 Newspaper section:

English could hold the key to improving Thai education, which is currently lagging behind that of Thailand's regional neighbours, former Asean secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan said. In response to the latest World Economic Forum (WEF) report on global competitiveness, Mr Surin said "We must pay attention to the content of the WEF's findings."

"Our position is getting worse. We have seen Thailand's scores sliding down the scale in all categories, survey after survey, year after year.........

[oakdale160]

And English speaking retirees who would happily donate there time would risk problems from the Immigration police!

[Dr Mike]

It will be interesting when AEC comes in. Thai will ignore the primacy of English that AEC is committed to , but the free flow of labor (if allowed) will mean that a significant number of S'porians taking key jobs here.
There is some movement among Hi-Sos, as well as the international schools, an increase in the number of Philippina nannies to care for small children, to ensure that they are bilingual.

[StevePIraq]

Lo and behold the world university ranks out today, and where is Thailand, nowhere to be seen

http://www.topuniversities.com/universi ... se+search=

[richard]

Lo and behold the world university ranks out today, and where is Thailand, nowhere to be seen

http://www.topuniversities.com/universi ... se+search=

Who determined the ranking? A 'US of A' mob methinks

[migrant]

Lo and behold the world university ranks out today, and where is Thailand, nowhere to be seen

http://www.topuniversities.com/universi ... se+search=

Who determined the ranking? A 'US of A' mob methinks

If you looked Richard the main office appears to be in London and that's not London, 'US of A'

[StevePIraq]

Given that 6 of the top 20 are British one could be forgiven for thinking it was put together by a British organization.

[cheapercharlie]

Richard, what's the worse thing about vacationing in Thailand?
Is it the uneducated Thais or the asshole Brits?
Ding ding ding !
Times up.
It's the fucking AUSSIES ! (trick question)