With the emphasis on "Thailand 4.0" and the concentration on the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), there is much concern that the government's ambitious plans may be frustrated by the inadequacy of sufficiently highly-skilled workforce, especially of technological specialists. There is also concern that the emphasis on the EEC may draw skilled technicians away from other parts of Thailand, resulting in a "three nation" economy: the highly technical EEC, the sophisticated Bangkok business economy, and the rest of Thailand, deprived of technical and business skills and, therefore, also of prosperous economic activity.
The grand design for a high-tech EEC
One solution is for the EEC to develop its own skills. This strategy is being developed by the Ministry of Education, along with the EEC Secretariat, the National Economic and Social Development Board and the Federation of Thai Industries.
The strategy is to upgrade vocational education in the provinces of Chachoengsao, Chonburi and Rayong, enabling local students to qualify and take up the jobs that will become available in those provinces. The plan is to generate 48,500 new graduates from vocational education each year. In addition to quality technological education, there will be emphasis on foreign languages, particularly English, as well as a research and development mentality, even at the vocational education stage. It is appreciated that the present corps of vocational teachers may not be up to these tasks, so upgrading of tutorial skills is also part of the plan.
Obstacles in the path of progress
The plan, like those for "Thailand 4.0" and the EEC, is ambitious, and may not have taken full account of some of the obstacles that may arise. Firstly, the intake of students to the vocational stream presupposes adequate preparatory studies. These have, according to the education authorities' own assessments, fallen far short of requirements. Many students fail to meet the necessary grades. Given the higher prestige of the academic stream, the successful students will head for higher academic education, leaving the "also rans" to flounder in vocational education. This situation draws attention to the second major problem, the lack of prestige of vocational education. This can be corrected: Germany, Scandinavia and Australia have all done so. But Thailand has yet to achieve this desirable attitudinal change. It can be done, but prestige-building for vocational education does not seem to be part of the plan.
The third problem is inevitably the time factor. Rome was not built in a day and nor was Bangkok. The EEC may be based on some years of solid foundations. But most of the infrastructure, such as the much-vaunted high-speed train, will take four or five years to construct. So will the training of a skilled workforce. As far as the human resource side of the grand strategy is concerned, five years from now will be the start of the marathon, not the winning post.
The fourth problem will be the adequacy and training of the teaching force. The existing corps has been largely blamed for the poor quality of vocational education graduates. Don't blame these teachers: they were themselves poorly trained and generally had little background in industry. They are poorly paid, and have had little chance to upgrade their skills by access to further education. But without a fully-upgraded teaching force, how is one to have a throughput of well-qualified vocational students?
Finally, there are continuing concerns about the vocational education curriculum. This is supposed to be in the process of perfection at the Ministry of Education, to emerge in the fourth quarter of 2017. However, the Ministry record in curriculum preparation has left more than a little to be desired. This is especially the case with vocational education. The short-comings have largely been because of a lack of coordination with industry itself.
The only successful vocational education is one that enables a graduate to step out of education into employment the day after graduation. That can only happen if there is close coordination with industry, employers and work-place operators throughout the education period. That includes preparation of courses and finalisation of the overall curriculum. One hopes that the latest vocational curriculum is being written in this style. But if this is the case, it will be the first time that education and industry will be in close cooperation.
Some lesson from comparative experience
If Thailand has shortcomings, then it may be a consolation that many more developed countries are also finding that their vocational education leaves much to be desired. In advanced human resource systems, there is emphasis on student-oriented education, and worker-oriented work. That is the only way that one can create successful education, and also the only way that one can create successful, productive work. All work, whether simple or sophisticated, needs to be fair and decent, with scope for fulfilment and worker development.
There are many aspects of this theme, but in terms of learning and development, some major considerations should be:
Apprenticeship:
The role of apprenticeship in the learning process towards skill mastery is vitally important. In advanced systems, apprenticeship schemes are compulsory, including both work experience and day-release education;
Life-time learning:
Since skills are forever being upgraded, and many jobs become obsolete over time, learning is not a once-off process but a continuous exercise, for which work-places should make provision;
Internship:
For those completing further education, internships are an essential opportunity to gain experience. But they need to be fairly paid, not unpaid. Since many internships are in a capital city, where living costs are higher than up-country, provision needs to be made for intern cost coverage, to avoid disfavouring already less favoured work-force entrants;
Career and work-orientation guidance:
School attendees need guidance and aptitude evaluation to help them choose the jobs for which they are best suited. Such guidance, as well as site visits and further education orientation are now compulsory in some countries. The same practices should be introduced in every country, including Thailand.
As the EEC moves into top gear (apparently without trial runs) it is to be hoped that the new vocational education system will recognise the primacy of the worker over work, along with the essentials of work-life balance. Only then can the full potential of this ambitious strategy be realised, moving Thailand into the ranks of advanced countries, which is the objective of the "Thailand 4.0" strategy.
Christopher F. Bruton is Executive Director of Dataconsult Ltd, chris@dataconsult.co.th. Dataconsult's Thailand Regional Forum provides seminars and extensive documentation to update business on future trends in Thailand and in the Mekong Region.