As a result of these changes students in schools across Thailand are being encouraged to learn more about their ASEAN neighbors. And this is no bad thing, in the past the Thai education system has been accused of being very insular. Now today's students will be growing up as citizens of ASEAN and they will have greater opportunities to travel, to continue their studies in neighbor countries, to work abroad and to do business throughout the regionWith these huge changes on the horizon it's clear that schools and educators have a role to play in helping today's students prepare for life in this new domain.
Language teachers in particulate will play a pivotal role in helping today's students prepare, not least because English has been designated as the official language of the AEC. Therefore a good starting point for schools and educators is helping Thai students catch up with their ASEAN neighbours in terms of English language ability - as I mentioned in last month's blog, Thai students' English language skills have been ranked as the weakest in the region in some reports. So this is clearly one area for improvement. But it's not just language skills, students need a better understanding of their neighbours' countries, cultures, and economies if they are to benefit from the changes ahead.
Therefore don't be surprised, if in the run up to 2015, you find yourself being asked to integrate ASEAN content into your lessons. This is something that both the Government and the MoE have been calling for for sometime but of course these things don't always filter down to teachers in the classroom, especially foreign teachers who are frequently kept in dark on everything but the most pressing matters.