student-oriented pedagogy
Traditionally,teachers taught primarily through a teacher-centered approach that relied heavily on lecturing and demanded very little participation from students. Students were simply required to memorize and repeat what their teachers taught. In partnership with TCMD,the Foundation is helping improve the education process by providing teachers with modern pedagogy skills. Through a series of training sessions led by education professionals,teachers,teachers are taught are taught how to shift their previous instruction technique to a learner-centered focus. Students are now active participants in their classes through the encouragement of presentations,sharing their experiences and opinions,and debating ideas introduced by their teachers.
The benefits of the student-oriented instruction have been significant. By better engaging students in the learning process, their understanding of course material is higher and their analytical skills are more developed. Students have also demonstrated more enthusiasm in class,have increased confidence,and have better developed leadership skills. Teachers have also reported that test scores throughout the pilot project schools, as well as the number of students continuing on to university,have improved since the introduction of the student-centered pedagogy.
Quality lesson plans
Although most private Islamic schools in Thailand use a curriculum provided by the Ministry of Education they only receive fraction of their operating budget from the government. Due to financial restrictions, most schools' ability to create standardized lesson plans and their teachers' ability to be engaged with the government curriculum have been limited. The result is an inconsistent quality of instruction
The foundation has helped convene extensive meetings between teachers and administrators from all pilot-project school so they can together identify areasnof concerm, share ideas, and produce clear, step-by-step lesson plans. Their lesson plans are then reviewed together with curriculum design experts to ensure both a high-level of detail and quality
The creation lesson plans has been beneficial for schools in conflict-affected areas of the deep south. Bacause southern schools have a high turnover of employees moving out of the conflict zone, the establishment of solid lesson plans have allowed new teachers to easily continue where previous teachers left off. The benefit for students is a consistency and quality that previously did not exist.