Published on January 17, 2005

Conferences will highlight the challenges and opportunities of better language training

This coming week is an important one.

No, we aren’t expecting any other natural disasters, and no, it isn’t time yet for the general election. Rather, during the coming week, hundreds of professionals from the world of English-language instruction and general education, hailing from several countries around the world, will descend on Bangkok to share their expertise and knowledge with their colleagues here. The information and ideas that will be circulating as a result will be of great benefit to teachers, educators, policy-makers, students, corporate executives and any other individuals out there seeking to better themselves.

Two major events relating to education are scheduled to take place about at the same time, and neither should be missed. The first is the 25th-anniversary international conference of Thailand Tesol, an education network of teachers of English.

On the theme “Surfing the Waves of Change in English-Language Teaching”, experts from around the world will be discussing topics intended to equip teachers with the latest developments in English-teaching. Among the many topics to be addressed are technology, methodology and leadership skills.

The second big event set to take place this week is a conference organised by the British Council entitled “Learning for Life in a Competitive World”. This event will seek to shed light on the crucial issues of whether or not Thailand is prepared to address the challenges of formal and lifelong learning in an increasingly competitive world and how individuals can improve themselves in a world that is slowly coming to terms with the cultural and social upheaval inherent in the process of globalisation.

To this end, various educational and teaching models will be presented, including how best to use new media and technologies in the service of education.

Both of these events will address some of the key discussions and debates taking place in pedagogical circles around the world. At the same time they will serve as a measure of how far we have come in our own quest to better the younger generation of teachers and students in their use of English and in their overall pursuit of general education.

Our official efforts in these areas have received support in the form of a mushrooming number of private schools and tutorial services and in other, less formal life-long learning facilities around the country.

What is unfortunate is that despite all of this apparent activity the general state of English-language education and general education at a national level leaves much to be desired. The much-needed reform of Thailand’s education system is proceeding at a snail’s pace, which is baffling given the relative dynamism of other sectors in the country.

Too few of the 300,000 estimated English-teachers nationwide, including 80,000 in state schools, have the language skills themselves to teach today’s students, and the education system has not gone far enough towards eliminating their deficiencies by providing fast-track training.

It should be obvious that without better trained teachers in methodology, leadership and in the actual English language we cannot expect our students to ever have access to quality education, in English or anything.

The themes that will dominate the coming week will create the perfect atmosphere for another big event set to take place: The Nation and Nation Junior will this week launch their annual English-language essay contest for high-school students nationwide, with support from the government of Ireland. The winning essayist will receive a trip to Ireland.

Everyone can play a part in promoting the importance of education. Next month Thais will go to the polls in a general election, and many of them will be watching to see if there is a new minister of education. They will also be anxious to see whether education reform can be pushed forward at a faster pace. In the various polls conducted by the party of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, little attention has been paid to education relative to economics and the business of making a living. What the ruling party fails to realise is that we don’t always want the government to treat voters as consumers by pandering to their more immediate needs.

Rather one of the government’s important tasks is to help a country’s citizens to better themselves, regardless of how much political popularity that government may enjoy.

If he cannot make education a priority in his expected second term and hasten reform, the best thing Thaksin can do is liberalise the education sector. This would save the education system from being held hostage by the state’s lack of progressiveness and dynamism. This week’s conferences in Bangkok may just prepare us all for that.

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