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"Both Thai and Malaysian researchers are planning to study and compare weak and strong points, case studies and problem-solving for small schools in Thailand and Malaysia next year in order to find better ways to improve these schools in both countries," said Waraiporn Waraiporn Sangnapaboworn, director of the OEC's Centre for International Education Development.

The idea was discussed at length at a policy forum with representatives of both countries' education ministries, the second Thailand-Malaysia Joint Educational Research Conference held from November 15-18 in Bangkok.

The findings from the joint research would then be presented at the third joint conference to be held next year.

The participants also agreed to help Thailand improve its Islamic curriculum in the South.

"Islamic educational curriculum in Thailand mostly emphasises teaching Islamic religion, but the Islamic educational curriculum of Malaysia is more modern. Islamic religion is taught as well, but other subjects, including science, English, Chinese, Japanese and the arts are also considered important to educate students.

"The OEC will study the Malaysian curriculum and compare it with ours to see how we should do research in order to find what is suitable for developing Thailand's Islamic educational curriculum and how we should develop our teachers to be able to do research to develop Islamic education. We've already had the information of the Malaysian curriculum, and after studying it in detail we'll discuss further with Malaysian experts to get their recommendations," Waraiporn said.

After the OEC finds proper methods for improving the curriculum, it will propose them to Thai Education Ministry officials, she said.

Malaysia's strong points were the overall quality of teachers, and its development of teachers and school directors to conduct research for effective Islamic education, she said.

The Malaysian delegates were impressed by Thai education's strong points when they visited schools in Bangkok.

They told Waraiporn that Thailand had education for children with special needs, educating these youngsters in agriculture and hospitality as its strong points.

"The joint educational research conference will be organised for the next two years. Next year, it will be held in either Kuala Lumpur or Putrajaya in Malaysia during the third week of October under the concept 'Research-driven Education Reform: the Third Educational Transform and Human Resource Development'. Then the fourth conference will again be held in Thailand."

Thailand and Malaysia are considering whether both countries will jointly host similar conferences and invite other Asean member countries to join, she added.

The deputy director-general of the Malaysian Ministry of Education, Dr Haili Dolhan, leader of the Malaysian side of this year's conference, said it achieved its objectives beyond his expectations.

Dolhan said the participants of both countries appreciated the richness of findings from several research studies. They were able to see the strengths and weaknesses of their education systems and how to solve the problems of educational development in Malaysia and Thailand. Most of the participants gained significant knowledge and experiences, in addition to learning many valuable lessons from each other.

"I believe that both the Thai and Malaysian sides will bring concrete examples from the guidelines and recommendations of the research studies to both our countries, resulting in implementation of effective education reform that will improve education quality through innovation. It is our hope that this bilateral conference will continue to improve gradually year by year," he added.