Educators pool ideas for better student grades
Thais,Malays sharing ideas on how to lift national standards
Thai and Malaysian student performances in international tests have lagged far behind those in developed countries at both the top levels of performance and lower than average scores. As a result, best practices of good teaching conducted by teachers in both countries were recently presented to inspire other teachers and agencies to change their teaching to strengthen students' academic performance.
In reading literacy - according to a report of PISA 2009 and PISA 2009+ (the Programme for International Students Assessment) -Thai students averaged scores of 421 and Malaysia 414, while average scores of OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) member countries were at 493.
OECD average scores for science were at 501, while Thai students scored 425 and Malaysians 422. In mathematics, Thailand scored 419 and Malaysia 404, whereas OECD average scores in mathematics stood at 496.
Students in economies with top scores, including Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea and Finland had average scores of more than 500 in reading, science and mathematics.
Thailand has joined PISA 2009 and Malaysia PISA 2009+, which administered the same assessments as their PISA 2009 counterparts, the only difference being that the assessments were administered in 2010.
In a trends in international mathematics and science study (TIMSS) in 2007, Malaysia scored 474 and Thailand 441 on average while TIMSS average scores were 500 and among the top three economies - Taipei got 598, Korea 597 and Singapore 593.
Thailand and Malaysia are now going different ways in an attempt to lift their students' achievements. Searching for best practices in teaching and learning, then sharing the practices to inspire each other for teaching and learning improvement could be a solution to the problem.
Many best practices of Thai and Malaysian teachers about math, science and languages, especially English were presented at the Fourth ThailandMalaysia joint educational research conference.
It was hosted by the Office of the Education Council last week in Chiang Mai under the theme: ResearchDriven Education Reforms: raising the quality of teaching and learning towards international standards, attended by 150 Thai and Malaysian policymakers, practitioners and teachers.
"At the seminar, classroom research or action research is important for schools - and the teachers involved in the meeting could share with each other what are best practices," said Malaysia's educational planning and research division (EPRD) deputy director, Haji Zainal Aalam Hassan.
An action research project by Malaysia called Reflective Practice: teacher learning community among Year One mathematics teachers was a good example of teaching improvement among teacher communities.
The research's presenter, Zulkifili bin Saleh said 14 female teachers from seven schools joined the lesson study which was a form of professional development programme, where teachers collaboratively planned, implemented, made observations and reflected on a lesson.
Lessons were videotaped and discussions held after they watched the lessons. Lesson Study helped them to reflect on their methods. It enabled teachers to understand students' thinking more deeply and plan and conduct their teaching for the better understanding of students, Zulkifili said.
Classroom research projects by Thai researchers about science and math literacy were also presented. They included use of the Japanese abacus to improve fourth grade pupils' mathematical skills, and learning about environment and natural resources of mangrove forests in Samut Songkhram province through junior science projects.
Policy research papers were also presented to offer ideas to representatives from several agencies from both countries.
A Thai researcher, Poomporn Thamsatitdej, presented thoughts from his policy paper called the Role of Educational Mechanism in Driving Creative Economy: a recommendation for Thailand education policy to benefit Thailand's economy.
Poomporn said Thailand's guidelines and measures were unclear on how to achieve a creative economy, particularly on how education should improve students' qualifications so they could help push forward a creative economy.
Poomporn recommended the Education Ministry allow private companies and professional associations develop curricula in different educational fields to produce a workforce for cultural and creative industries. They could suggest activities and topics for students based on real working situations and assess students' educational projects.
He told schoolteachers to create activities that encouraged students to use their imagination, not influenced only by teachers, but getting people outside involved in the activities and judging of their work. Students would feel free to imagine and work creatively, learning from the assessment of outsiders if their creative ideas were practical or possible.
EPRD deputy director, Haji Zainal Aalam Hassan, said: "Perhaps, for the next seminar, both countries can follow through or follow up their policy papers to see if the governments, schools and teachers have taken any action following the recommendations from the policy papers."
"We should improve instructional media so that those in remote areas have an opportunity to learn from excellent teachers like those in Bangkok. And, technology is the answer to this. Thai researchers should conduct more research projects that help discover how to make use of technology to enhance teaching and learning properly so students can learn anytime and anywhere," Anek Permvongseni, secretarygeneral of OEC, urged.
Educators pool ideas for better student gradesThais,Malays sharing ideas on how to lift national standardsThai and Malaysian student performances in international tests have lagged far behind those in developed countries at both the top levels of performance and lower than average scores. As a result, best practices of good teaching conducted by teachers in both countries were recently presented to inspire other teachers and agencies to change their teaching to strengthen students' academic performance.In reading literacy - according to a report of PISA 2009 and PISA 2009+ (the Programme for International Students Assessment) -Thai students averaged scores of 421 and Malaysia 414, while average scores of OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) member countries were at 493.OECD average scores for science were at 501, while Thai students scored 425 and Malaysians 422. In mathematics, Thailand scored 419 and Malaysia 404, whereas OECD average scores in mathematics stood at 496.Students in economies with top scores, including Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea and Finland had average scores of more than 500 in reading, science and mathematics.Thailand has joined PISA 2009 and Malaysia PISA 2009+, which administered the same assessments as their PISA 2009 counterparts, the only difference being that the assessments were administered in 2010.In a trends in international mathematics and science study (TIMSS) in 2007, Malaysia scored 474 and Thailand 441 on average while TIMSS average scores were 500 and among the top three economies - Taipei got 598, Korea 597 and Singapore 593.Thailand and Malaysia are now going different ways in an attempt to lift their students' achievements. Searching for best practices in teaching and learning, then sharing the practices to inspire each other for teaching and learning improvement could be a solution to the problem.Many best practices of Thai and Malaysian teachers about math, science and languages, especially English were presented at the Fourth ThailandMalaysia joint educational research conference.It was hosted by the Office of the Education Council last week in Chiang Mai under the theme: ResearchDriven Education Reforms: raising the quality of teaching and learning towards international standards, attended by 150 Thai and Malaysian policymakers, practitioners and teachers."At the seminar, classroom research or action research is important for schools - and the teachers involved in the meeting could share with each other what are best practices," said Malaysia's educational planning and research division (EPRD) deputy director, Haji Zainal Aalam Hassan.An action research project by Malaysia called Reflective Practice: teacher learning community among Year One mathematics teachers was a good example of teaching improvement among teacher communities.The research's presenter, Zulkifili bin Saleh said 14 female teachers from seven schools joined the lesson study which was a form of professional development programme, where teachers collaboratively planned, implemented, made observations and reflected on a lesson.Lessons were videotaped and discussions held after they watched the lessons. Lesson Study helped them to reflect on their methods. It enabled teachers to understand students' thinking more deeply and plan and conduct their teaching for the better understanding of students, Zulkifili said.Classroom research projects by Thai researchers about science and math literacy were also presented. They included use of the Japanese abacus to improve fourth grade pupils' mathematical skills, and learning about environment and natural resources of mangrove forests in Samut Songkhram province through junior science projects.Policy research papers were also presented to offer ideas to representatives from several agencies from both countries.A Thai researcher, Poomporn Thamsatitdej, presented thoughts from his policy paper called the Role of Educational Mechanism in Driving Creative Economy: a recommendation for Thailand education policy to benefit Thailand's economy.Poomporn said Thailand's guidelines and measures were unclear on how to achieve a creative economy, particularly on how education should improve students' qualifications so they could help push forward a creative economy.Poomporn recommended the Education Ministry allow private companies and professional associations develop curricula in different educational fields to produce a workforce for cultural and creative industries. They could suggest activities and topics for students based on real working situations and assess students' educational projects.He told schoolteachers to create activities that encouraged students to use their imagination, not influenced only by teachers, but getting people outside involved in the activities and judging of their work. Students would feel free to imagine and work creatively, learning from the assessment of outsiders if their creative ideas were practical or possible.EPRD deputy director, Haji Zainal Aalam Hassan, said: "Perhaps, for the next seminar, both countries can follow through or follow up their policy papers to see if the governments, schools and teachers have taken any action following the recommendations from the policy papers.""We should improve instructional media so that those in remote areas have an opportunity to learn from excellent teachers like those in Bangkok. And, technology is the answer to this. Thai researchers should conduct more research projects that help discover how to make use of technology to enhance teaching and learning properly so students can learn anytime and anywhere," Anek Permvongseni, secretarygeneral of OEC, urged.
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