2,000 schools flunk quality assurance assessments

More than 2,000 schools have failed to pass quality standards set by the Office for National Education Standards and Quality Assessment (Onesqa), the office's director says.

"There are 2,295 schools nationwide that failed to pass the assessment," Channarong Pornrungroj said on Thursday during a news conference on the results of the first phase of Onesqa's third round of external quality assessments.

The Onesqa's quality assessments of schools across the country is held every five years and the public organisation under the constitution conducted the assessment for a third time this year.

There are 12 key performance indices (KPIs) used to assess the quality of the schools such as students' learning achievements and the role of schools in extending education opportunities for students.

Mr Channarong said his organisation plans to conduct quality assessments for 34,040 schools this year with 7,985 so far having undergone the assessments.

He said of those being evaluated, 7,042 schools belonged to the Office of the Basic Education (Obec), 422 are under the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), 328 under the Local Administrative Organisation (LAO), 191 under the Office of the Private Education Commission (Opec), and two demonstration schools under the Office of the Higher Education Commission (Ohec).

The assessment found 333 schools achieved an excellent standard and 5,357 were of a good standard. But 2,295 schools failed to meet the standard, he said.

He said most of the schools which failed the assessment were small and located in remote areas.

Mr Channarong said the biggest concern was that many schools achieved a low score in students' learning achievements.

"I think it resulted from the shortage of teachers in many schools and teachers themselves do not know how to develop their teaching patterns," he said.

To improve the students' performance, Mr Channarong proposed that correct answers of the Ordinary National Education Test should be given to the students after the exam so that they could learn the right answers.

Apart from the schools' quality assessments, Onesqa has conducted the third-round quality assessments for vocational institutions and universities this year.

Mr Channarong said 179 of 807 vocational institutions have so far undergone the assessments.

Of them, 106 got quality assurance and 53 received quality assurance with certain conditions. Twenty failed to pass the assurance test.

Forty-seven out of 72 universities have been evaluated. The assessments found 45 universities achieved quality assurance while two gained quality assurance with certain conditions.

"The universities should urgently upgrade the improvement of their teachers' knowledge," he said.

According to Ohec's data, there are 56,978 university lecturers countrywide but 38,238 of them (about 67%) had limited academic experience.

"We are worried about this, so more funds should be allocated to these lecturers to conduct more research," he said.

Share your thoughts

Discussion 1 : 14/07/2012 at 11:05 PM
I,m tired of saying upgrade the teachers and reform education .You get what you give .
Discussion 2 : 14/07/2012 at 09:55 PM
Some Things will Never change!!
Discussion 3 : 14/07/2012 at 09:05 PM
Until the No Fail policy is outlawed and schools are run as schools and not as a cash cows and kids are taught analytical and thinking skills and encouraged to ask questions and participate. Teachers are trained to teach modern methods of teaching and parents take more care and attention to improve their kids lives instead of caving in at the smallest shriek or moan AND......... I could go on and on and NOTHING will change. It's the way it is......
Discussion 4 : 14/07/2012 at 08:17 PM
Aussie John (D #1) Is quite correct. However! I think he's talking about the education system in the United States. We're Number One! Thailand is merely following in our footsteps - creating a mass of people with no cognitive skills, making them easy prey for the rich/powerful. As far as persisting in making schools simply and only trade techs to produce workerbees for factories - see paragraph one above. How about tasking the education system with prepping people to be active citizens? I know, that's a radical thought.
Discussion 5 : 14/07/2012 at 07:30 PM
Two weeks ago, I wrote that Thais are generally naive and ignorant. The Red Shirt fans attacked me for that comment. Well, I've travelled to many countries and met many nationalities - I stand by that assessment. Those characteristics are symptoms. This report shows the cause. The cure is a total revamp of the education system AND the Thai mentality to change and education. Sorry to say, that even with a revamp, nothing will change because Thais will resist change and find the easiest way to avoid doing extra work.
Discussion 6 : 14/07/2012 at 07:08 PM
See what are the miracles can iPads help. Oversea graduates, please step out and say something about this education system at home.
Discussion 7 : 14/07/2012 at 04:02 PM
All these comments seem to have forgotten only last week industry was calming a skills shortage.If we are saying that failing schools schools are the ones in the rural areas why encourage them to follow an academic curriculum instead train them skills to enable them to fill these vacant jobs.I know many educated twit with no common scene incapable of replacing a tap washer.We need these young people not jobs need higher education.Some children just need life skills to survive and find a job.Hopefully paying more than 300 bht a day like many of there parents.I do not think a tablet computer is not going to help them find a job.More capable teaching standards suited to the child's needs will.
Discussion 8 : 14/07/2012 at 02:14 PM
As if the 1 billion plus spent on tablets would help the students, why not use that money to update the outdated textbooks and classrooms in order to provide a better education? Its puzzling how the government put a lot of recent things as priority when it does nothing to help solve the root cause of problems.
Discussion 9 : 14/07/2012 at 12:48 PM
Quite simply one of the biggest problems I have seen in primary and secondary education is the overcrowding in classrooms. Students are packed in like eggs in a carton. No matter how good the teacher may be, it is difficult to accomplish very much in such a situation. More money needs to be spent on expanding the existing schools and hiring more teachers. Unfortunately, it is already difficult to find enough qualified teachers as it is.
Discussion 10 : 14/07/2012 at 10:32 AM
@Discussion 1, Nail right on the head. Why would the powers that be strive for a well educated populace? An educated person work never work for peanuts in their factories and businesses that these people own. An educated populace would ask all kinds of intelligent questions that would make a lot of powerful people lose face or more. The entire education system is designed to keep the status-quo.The inspections by the way are a joke. The school where I work at expects the inspectors to come around sometime next week and everyone is in a window dressing frenzy. Everything at the school has to 'look neat' and nothing that has any substance is going to be assessed.
Discussion 11 : 14/07/2012 at 10:11 AM
Not surprised, as the teachers themselves are a product of the Thai education system. The educators in this country should not be embarrassed by these statistics, however the Government ministers past and present should hang their collective heads in shame !
Discussion 12 : 14/07/2012 at 10:06 AM
As long as exam passes and government jobs are routinely bought (and not gained by merit) there can be little chance of improvement in education. Perhaps investing more money in continuing education for teachers may cause improvements but there are too many teachers who should not be teaching (and of course) they tend to end up in small schools. Honest school assessment exercises are very valuable but, in a culture where corruption is an accepted part of daily life, how confidant can we be that anything will change as a result?
Discussion 13 : 14/07/2012 at 10:05 AM
#1: Right on. Corrupt politicians who line their pockets rather than help. I think all that money spent on iPads could have been better used elsewhere? 5555
Discussion 14 : 14/07/2012 at 09:55 AM
Disc 2 ..How can parents step up and demand better education when they too went through the same inadequate system. They themselves are not equipped with the tools let alone the advice to their spoilt little darlings...if they don't pass they up the tea money..this is how its done.
Discussion 15 : 14/07/2012 at 09:43 AM
Disc 1, Renaissance. Congratulations on the common sense factor of your input, you have given the answer to Thailands future in a few words. I hope it is read by the right people.
Discussion 16 : 14/07/2012 at 09:35 AM
This is a proof that centralizing the education system has failed. It's always beyond my imagination how can one person can supervise the entire basic education education. We need decentralization and put education in the hand of the local people. Some thing that probably more difficult to do than having an elected governor. from iPhone application.
Discussion 17 : 14/07/2012 at 07:50 AM
I hope that the Thai people will not become the Ignoramus of ASEAN.
Discussion 18 : 14/07/2012 at 07:48 AM
Thailand formerly had national tests for students to advance through the grades, the first coming after pratom 4. Students had to score at least 70% on such basic skills as reading, writing, simple arithmetic and very basic science. Failure meant repeating pratom 4 until they could. Another test was given before entering secondary school. This tests were ended long ago, and I now hear teachers complain that they see students finishing the required minimum of 9 years without even being able to read or write properly. I have always wondered why the tests were done away with.
Discussion 19 : 14/07/2012 at 06:59 AM
disc.1 you are 100% right with your comments!but you must wait about 12 years and see the results after the first class children get their tablets i think everybody will be number one with high education. so wait 12 years. amazing Thailand or?
Discussion 20 : 14/07/2012 at 06:58 AM
try testing the teachers and administrators, i bet the results would shock you even more than testing the schools as a whole or students. the problems of public schooling and education is so very deep rooted that meaningful reform is almost impossible in this most intractable of institutions. good luck and best wishes as this is the future of our country.
Discussion 21 : 14/07/2012 at 06:43 AM
Unfortunately it will take massive loss of face before Thailand does anything to change its education system. Creative and critical thinking are deliberately left out of the learning process in Thailand so the minority wealthy class can to continue to control their neo feudal fiefdoms.Thailand needs political and social reform. Thais across the country especially Thai children no matter their class deserve more. Stop with the lies and do something about this reality.
Discussion 22 : 14/07/2012 at 06:19 AM
Parents should step up and demand better education for their kids ... and parents should also be aware of their part which is that the children are ready to learn when they get to school and they should help them and check their home works
Discussion 23 : 14/07/2012 at 06:03 AM
I don't think that the education system will improve until education is taken out of the control of politicians as it is not in their personal financial interests to have an educated public, which has developed critical and analytical thinking. It is noticeable that the worst schools are in the rural areas, and probably in the PT's areas of loyalty, but then all political parties are guilty about ignoring education. Perhaps Thailand will just have to wait until some moment in the distant future when the Thais get tired of being ruled by corrupt and self-serving politicians who don't want the population to be educated.

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