Schools, unis rated poorly in learning

Schools, unis rated poorly in learning

Most educational institutions in seven central provinces pass the country’s external quality assessment, although they score poorly in students’ learning achievement.

The findings were revealed yesterday by the Office for National Education Standards and Quality Assessment which evaluates the quality of schools and universities every five years.

Using an area-based assessment (ABA) method, the outcome is from the third round of evaluation under the ongoing five-year assessment period, covering 2011-2015.

ONESQA director Channarong Pornrungroj said a total of 4,009 educational institutions in the provinces of Kanchanaburi, Phetchaburi, Ayutthaya, Nakhon Nayok, Ratchaburi, Samut Prakan and Saraburi were assessed between 2011 and 2013.

He said the external quality assessment often showed a big picture of school quality but this time the ABA provided a clearer picture of quality in each province.

Indicators used in the assessment varied depending on the types of educational institutions. They included, for example, students’ emotional, spiritual and intellectual development, teacher development, research and career employment.

In the provinces, the ABA was conducted on 1,863 kindergartens. Of the number, 868 were found to have excellent quality standards while 945 were found to be good. A total of 50 failed to pass quality standards, however.

Another 2,038 primary and secondary schools were assessed. Among them, 105 were found to have excellent standards while 1,165 schools have good standards and 768 failed to meet requirements.

Among those which did not pass quality checks, 606 were under the Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec), 26 under the Office of the Private Education Commission (Opec), 21 under Local Administration Organisation and two under the Border Patrol Police.

“Both primary and secondary schools in the seven provinces gain low scores in learning achievement compared to other indicators. Their reading and writing skills and teacher development must be promoted,” said Mr Channarong.

All 36 non-formal educational institutions passed quality standards. However, their scores for learning achievement were low compared to other indicators.

The results also showed that many teachers in the non-formal education sector could not design classroom studies, conform to learning targets and student competencies.

Among 53 vocational institutions, eight of them were rated as excellent, 36 good and six failed.

The remaining three institutions passed quality standards under condition that they would have to be improved.

“Many vocational students are unable to produce academic projects which can be implemented and lack the knowledge and skills necessary to perform a job,” he said.

All 19 universities in the seven provinces passed quality standards.

However, the quality and quantity of research and academic work must be stimulated further.

Twenty-one of all educational institutions repeatedly failed to pass quality standards in the previous 1st and 2nd rounds of external quality assessments.

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