Education providers will be randomly selected for external quality checks under a law change before the government.
Deputy Prime Minister Yongyuth Yuthawong is proposing an amendment to the National Education Act 1999 to ease the burden of the Office for National Education Standards and Quality Assessment (Onesqa), which conducts the evaluations.
Under the present law, Onesqa is required to conduct external quality assessments of all education institutions every five years.
The change would enable Onesqa to conduct assessments by randomly selecting only some institutions instead of assessing all of them. There are tens of thousands of education providers across the country. "That places too big a burden on Onesqa,'' he said.
He said, however, the number of those tested must be big enough to make the study meaningful. Educational institutions which were not selected for assessment should still be allowed to apply for Onesqa's external assessment to evaluate their academic quality and performance.
Mr Yongyuth said criteria used by Onesqa should also be reduced to a level that would be enough to reflect the standards of students, teachers, their teaching methods and learning development.
"In the past, Onesqa acted like an adult holding a stick. But since the providers were not well prepared, many failed to pass quality assessment. So, Onesqa should change its role, not only in assessing quality standards, but also in helping institutions achieve those goals," he said.
The deputy prime minister was speaking yesterday at a conference on educational quality assurance held by Onesqa in Bangkok.
Education Minister Narong Pipatanasai said the indicators for assessing provider quality should meet world standards but also be suitable for the national context. "Onesqa's evaluation staff must be highly qualified to make sure the assessment process is good enough to win the public's trust," he said.
The fourth round of external assessments should also go on hold, pending a clear policy from the National Reform Council, the minister said.