One of the Sustainable Development Goals that has the main flag on human development is Goal 4: Quality Education, which concerns the quality of education.
Admin had the opportunity to talk to those who are experienced in this matter, both private sector, government sector and civil society sector, namely Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sompop Manarangsan, President of Panyapiwat Institute of Management, a social education institute in CP ALL group, Asst. Prof. Atthapol Anantaworasakul, Faculty of Education, Chulalongkorn University and Director of Research and Development Center for Sustainable Development Education, and Mr. Patipat Susampao from Open Dream group. All three of them gave interesting perspectives on developing the quality of education in our country.
Accessible but inconsistent quality
Our conversation began with the current educational situation. Asst. Prof. Atthaphon explained that over the past 15 years, Thailand has been successful in having 100% of its children finish primary school or Prathom 6. However, in the nine years of compulsory education or up to lower secondary school, there are still quite a few children dropping out of school. Research has found that as many as 46% of children drop out of high school or Mathayom 6, meaning that only 54% of children complete 12 years of education.
But what is more of a problem than access to education is the uneven quality of education between large and small schools, schools in cities and rural areas. Even Bangkok itself, which seems to be well-prepared, still has this problem. In addition, large schools are concentrated in the cities, which causes resources to be concentrated as well. At the same time, medium-sized and small schools are put at a disadvantage. Most parents therefore have questions about the quality of schools.
Work-based Education creates people who can think and act.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sompop, as a private sector that has risen up to work on education, expressed his opinion that from CP ALL’s perspective, education is the creation of people, which is the key to success in everything. CP ALL therefore places importance on this issue by establishing educational institutions at 2 levels: higher education, namely Panyapiwat Institute of Management (PIM), and vocational education, namely Panyapiwat College of Technology (PAT). He believes that developing people to become Smart People requires equipping them with 3 aspects: skills, wisdom, and morality.
Most importantly, they must be ready to work immediately after graduation, or what is called Ready to work. This is the origin of Panyapiwat’s main idea in education management, called Work-Based Education, using academic principles combined with practice. This is a connection between two things: practical academic knowledge and the ability to apply academic knowledge to create people who can think and do. Panyapiwat also emphasizes working with networks because it believes that creating people requires cooperation. We must mobilize all sectors to help each other, becoming a Networking University.
Learn – Learn to make knowledge stick to the brain.
While Mr. Patipat shared his view that Open Dream is trying to create digital tools to promote effective education, with a working method based on the 4-step learning theory: 1) Tell to do, 2) Teach to do, 3) Learn through doing and see the results by yourself, 4) Learn through networks and make knowledge stick in the brain more. When talking about quality education, Open Dream believes that it must make people learn in the 3rd step, so it finds a way to make knowledge stick in the brain more, especially knowledge that is difficult to teach in the classroom, which should use new tools to help make learning happen in order to see the results.
Network for Collaborating to Develop Quality Education
When asked about the promotion of quality education in each sector, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sompop shared his experience that Panyapiwat Institute of Management has emphasized on developing people to enter the real working world more by emphasizing academics combined with practice. In the past, it was found that the advantages of Panyapiwat students are communication skills and human relationships, which are qualities gained from the Work-based Education system where students have the opportunity to intern in real workplaces. In addition, Panyapiwat also provides educational opportunities to the underprivileged. Most students are from the provinces, and many are the first in their families to have the opportunity to receive a bachelor’s degree. The institute provides scholarships, and during the internship, they will receive an allowance that can be used to send money to help their families. When students graduate, they can work right away. Some who do not want to be employees can return to work at home.
Anywhere work to enhance digital skills for marginalized people
It’s not just large organizations that are driving quality education. Patipat of Open Dream also has a project called Anywhere Work that promotes education in remote and marginal areas because he believes that education can create opportunities for those who have no opportunity or are disadvantaged.
Open Dream has started experimenting with hill tribes in Chiang Mai Province by promoting 2 digital skills to hill tribes who have few opportunities and want to work, so that they have the skills to use digital tools to use in their work. As for the future plan, they will try to expand this project into a business that can help businesses that want to digitally transform.
Education for the future must be in line with 6 key trends
The conversation came to a close with the question of what direction Thai education would take in the future. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sompop clearly stated that future education management must capture a new direction, taking into account 6 important trends:
1) Digitalization under 5G that will lead to many changes.
2) Medicalization Medical development will occur a lot and quickly when 5G comes with modern technology.
3) Climatization In the future, changes in the world’s atmosphere will be an important variable. New environmental trends will increase.
4) Financialization A lot of global financial development has occurred. How will we create people who can read and write financially?
5) Virtualization Virtual society will occur widely, leading to virtual consumption along with
physical consumption. How will we manage this?
6) Urbanization Cities will expand to more provinces. There will be smart cities that use modern technology and are friendly to the environment.
He also emphasized that changes are happening every day. We need to prepare people to be aware of 5 things: technological literacy, financial system literacy, global climate change, medicine, and global geopolitical issues.
Like Mr. Patipat who emphasized that learning should not only take place in the classroom. Some knowledge is suitable for traditional learning, but some knowledge is suitable for decentralization. If the opportunities for both types of learning can be brought closer together, it should make people in the future more secure in terms of skills. And technology will play an important role in better decentralization of learning. Virtualization is also a tool that helps decentralized learning to happen. Those with skills and those who need skills must come together to create new career paths so that people in the future will have more choices in life.
Conclusion
“All for education, Education for all”
Finally, Asst. Prof. Atthaphon emphasized that when we talk about quality education for all, we must not forget that everyone must participate in creating quality education (Quality education for all, All for quality education) by not viewing education as just a matter of schools, because children’s learning does not only depend on formal learning. The roles of parents and communities are therefore very important in creating diverse learning.
When the COVID-19 situation occurred, it was found that if the relationship between parents and schools is good, the participation between schools and homes is good, that school will be able to cope with COVID. This shows that the size of the school is really important because the size of the school affects the size of the parents. And this may be a solution for medium and small schools that can create more parental participation. It is easier to mobilize assistance. For example, some schools allow parents to come and teach about careers or come to the school board to join in various activities. This will be beneficial for parents to understand the school better, have the same vision, and see the goals of child development together with the school.
And finally, the abilities of children in the future must have 3 major things: to be self-learners and lifelong learners (Learner Person), to be able to work as a team (Innovation co-creator), and to be strong citizens (Active Citizen). In the next 2-3 years, the government is working on competency-based curriculum using these 3 things as the basis by designing teaching and learning in schools that give importance to schools with different contexts. It is not necessary to have the same curriculum, but to give importance to education that emphasizes learners’ abilities and children’s readiness as the basis. This is a new challenge that educational institutions must learn together with parents, the business sector, and civil society to create quality education.
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“We Shift…World Change” program
Episode: “Quality Education for the Future of Thai Education”
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