The cabinet has given the nod to a draft regulation to enhance the quality of early childhood education, according to the Office of the Education Council.
Wattanaporn Ra-ngubtook, its deputy secretary-general, said yesterday the regulation, proposed by the Education Ministry, was approved by the cabinet on Wednesday.
The regulation comes in line with the government's policy to attach importance to child care and early childhood development before kids enter the normal education system, she said.
It would usher in a central standard that would be applied to early childhood care facilities across the country and serve as criteria for appraisals of their quality.
These facilities, she said, would therefore focus on providing proper education to young kids.
The draft concerns facilities that take care of children up to six years old, or before Prathom 1 (Grade 1).
More than 53,000 child care facilities affiliated with the office would have to adopt the practices outlined in the regulation, according to Ms Wattanaporn.
The regulation ensures that the child care facilities' management is conducive to early childhood development, and that teachers and carers develop proper teaching methods.
It also separates the children into two groups; those two years old or younger, and those aged between three and six years old. Ms Wattanaporn said young children in these age brackets are in a significant stage of their development where they need to be closely taken care of.
The regulation is also in line with a 20-year national strategy to improve early childhood development, which started last year.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) has announced it will pivot towards the "HighScope" early childhood education approach for 82 kindergartens across the country.
The approach takes into account "learning-by-doing" concepts. Classes will be managed to accommodate childhood learning, including proper teaching materials and activities. Teachers will develop learning plans, help children complete their assigned tasks and review what they have done. The idea is to usher in active participatory learning for children.
Speaking after a meeting on early childhood education management, Obec secretary-general Boonrak Yodpetch said the ministry currently has a curriculum for early childhood education that serves as a framework for other educational facilities. The curriculum was announced in 2017.
However, early childhood education facilities were found to have applied various learning philosophies or concepts to their teaching approaches. Those methods include HighScope, Montessori, Waldorf, Reggio Emillia and Whole Language.
They agreed at the meeting that each facility should adopt the same approach, and reached the conclusion that the HighScope concept would be the applied method, said Mr Boonrak.
The approach, he said, would first be used on a pilot basis at over 82 main provincial and district kindergartens and then applied to other facilities.
"This move by Obec will be a monumental change," said Mr Boonrak, noting that at least one class at each school must implement the HighScope approach.
"The 82 schools are only the start. Today, Obec still has 26,464 kindergartens that have more than 960,000 children in early childhood stages."
According to Mr Boonrak, two schools have been using the "HighScope" concept since 2011 and could serve as a role model for others.