First International Forum on Education Reform: Experiences of Selected Countries

This first international forum on education reform must be considered successful from a number of aspects:

Participation from the Thai Education Sector

The pre-forum publicity generated a participant list of well over 300 educators and other stakeholders from throughout the country, a large number of whom hold high level positions and responsibilities for policies and planning for education. It is noteworthy that these senior officials and advisory personnel participated in a number of sessions over the three days, and did not merely attend the opening and closing sessions. It was also gratifying to note the large number of teachers and administrators, not only from the university level, but from the schools as well. These individuals participated actively in the sessions with a number of questions and comments posed by these hands-on professionals. Members of the business sector also participated in some of the sessions, and their input was very valuable.

The availability of translation into Thai was a very valuable service and ensured that the language barrier was not an obstacle to understanding. This should be a feature of future programs, and should be announced in advance to ensure that those who are hesitant to take part in an international conference will be comfortable in participating.

Preparation for the Forum

The organizing team did a very good job of setting expectations and guidelines for the forum program, and communicating them to the speakers. Letters explaining the objectives, the approach and other matters aided presenters in planning their papers and presentations. They knew what to expect well in advance of the conference, which contributed to the high quality of the information presented and the consistency with the planned program. This is an approach that should be continued and further refined in future programs.

Invited speakers

Speakers and invited resource personnel were well-prepared, and most presented papers of relevance to the theme of the conference. The sessions produced a wealth of information, some primarily background or historical in nature, but a significant amount of useful and relevant points that relate to Thailand's own reform activities.

Many of the speakers in the main sessions were given responsibilities in the small group sessions as well. The involvement of the speakers in the roundtable sessions during the conference was an excellent idea, and enabled these experts to provide valuable input beyond their prepared presentations. This worked very well, and should be a feature of future conferences.

Organization of the Conference

The program was well organized, and given the rather short lead time for an international meeting, pre-conference arrangements seem to have gone smoothly. It was noted that the need to rely on embassies and international organizations for speakers led to delays in confirmation of availability. Perhaps giving deadlines for confirmation to the liaison personnel could help to keep the schedule on track.

In any event, most of the documentation was received in a timely fashion, and enabled the written papers of the panel presenters to be distributed prior to the conference. It was interesting to note that the keynote presentations were not similarly ready for distribution in advance, and in some cases were not distributed at all. Power point handouts for some of the presentations were difficult to acquire, as the number of copies was not always adequate for the participants.

The preliminary meeting of speakers and moderators prior to the forum opening ceremonies was an excellent idea, and went far in ensuring that the program proceedings went as planned. This meeting also served to bring the presenters together to get to know one another. It is unfortunate that few of the moderators were able to attend. If the session could have been attended by all or at least a majority of the moderators and speakers, it would have been possible to get together in the panel groupings of the conference to go over the plans for the session. Even without this session, however, the preliminary meeting was a useful activity.

Organizing several roundtable and small group discussions was an excellent approach to involving participants more actively. However, there were not enough small groups for the number of participants.

The Program Itself

The program addressed issues of reform broadly and from a number of perspectives. The speakers talked about issues that were related to the reforms being implemented in their countries, and the country-by-country approach may have resulted in the identification of too many issues that, of necessity, were treated too broadly and in too little depth. The small group sessions did attempt to focus and provide in-depth treatment on a few themes, but the discussions did not comprehensively include the concrete experiences of a number of countries on that issue.

The keynote presentations did not really differ from the panel presentations, and did not set the focus for the following panels. Normally, a 'keynote' presentation will introduce a theme or emphasis for discussion, and related panels will consider the topic in greater detail.

In a number of sessions, questions were invited only at the end of the period. It would have been better to encourage questions immediately following both keynote and individual panel presentations, to enable greater interaction on the part of the audience. Keeping the formal presentations strictly within the time limit ensures that there is time for participation from the audience. At the same time, it should be made clear that comments from the audience must be kept short to enable input from several voices.

The Social Programs

The pre-conference and evening programs arranged for speakers and selected conference participants were useful in bringing people together, and by the time the conference ended a number of good contacts were made for future communications.

Venue for the Conference

By and large, the venue was well selected, although the facilities were perhaps a bit too crowded for the large number of participants. The room for the Roundtable Sessions was too small for the number of participants interested in joining the discussions. It would have been useful to have additional rooms to break the roundtable sessions into smaller groups.

The sound system in the main hall and the lighting and temperature control in the room where the Roundtable Discussions were held could have been better, but did not create serious problems.

With the large number of participants, either several more food tables should have been set up, or the service should have been provided to the tables. By the last day, however the hotel had got it right.

Follow-up

The interest expressed by several of the foreign resource persons in continuing their association and in establishing closer links with Thailand's reform efforts bodes well for continued dialogue and cooperation of these specialists.

A major objective of the conference, mentioned again and again, was to establish a network for education reform among the countries and organizations represented. The conference participants concurred with this idea. The Office of the National Education Commission offered to host the network. To maintain the momentum, this task should be begun as soon as possible. An important first step in this endeavor would be to develop a database and electronic mailing list of the participants. It would be desirable to establish a Web Site, with a bulletin board and chat room capacity. A report of this Forum, along with the country papers, should be posted on the site. But the site should not be a static location for documents. If it is to be a true network, there must be a rationale for involving busy people on a regular basis. One way to kick off this network would be to set a series of tasks to be accomplished. For example, the Web Site could gather input from the network members on specific aspects of reform, setting a topic for discussion each month and inviting brief responses, references to papers, reports, and other sources of detailed information about that topic. A sample topic might be, 'bringing teachers into the reform process'. Some questions might be listed that could be responded to either briefly or at length, with a time limit set for responses, after which time these responses would be gathered and a short paper prepared on the topic from the findings and the discussions. A second round of input on that topic could be invited after the report was posted on the Web. Input of this type would be relevant to the needs of Thailand, and provide a wealth of specific information and ideas.

Observations

In terms of the value of the briefings to the Thai situation, there was much that was relevant and applicable. While several speakers cautioned that reform is culture and situation specific, and that an approach seen as appropriate for one country may not fit the context of another country, there was still much of importance to compare and contrast. A number of speakers touched upon issues that parallel the Thai priorities, and their input should be considered carefully by policy makers and those implementing reform in Thailand.

In some countries, recent reform efforts have been underway for only a few years; it may be too early to draw conclusions about their success or failure. In other cases, country representatives were able to share the lessons learned, and these are important for the Thai context - particularly the common themes sounded by so many speakers about the need for continuity of political commitment and leadership, the importance of dialogue and consultation among the stakeholders, particularly teachers, and the dangers of attempting changes that are too rapid and too sweeping.

It is clear from several presentations that the central governments play a critical role in originating, driving, and implementing reform, regardless of the trends toward school-based management in most of the countries represented at the conference. It is interesting to note the common experiences of some countries, which have found that the move toward school-based management has had little, if any, impact on the improvement in the quality of education unless other factors, such as the involvement of teachers in implementing the reform components, are accomplished concurrently. This is a sobering thought for those who believe that decentralization of authority alone will produce the quality of education so strongly desired.

Recommendations for future programs of this nature

• The issues have been set out in this forum. Given the importance to Thailand of the success of its education reform efforts, future meetings based on a continuation of this focus are useful and appropriate. A logical next step would be to select one of the sub-topics of this forum, narrow the scope of the topic, and seek in-depth examination of all aspects of it. There are many issues that would be appropriate for further discussion; for example, engaging teachers in the reform efforts, curriculum changes at each level; the mechanisms used in implementing reform; community involvement in education, etc. These issues were mentioned in the presentations of many of the speakers, but only briefly. A full treatment of each topic from many perspectives would provide more in the way of concrete approaches and strategies of implementation that might have relevance to the Thai situation.
• Work should begin as soon as possible to organize the International Network for Education Reform. Many of the participants expressed interest in participating I such a network, and a quick response to this interest will be effective in keeping these individuals involved in the idea. Suggested 'first steps' have been discussed under the section, 'Follow-up', above.
• Set keynote presentations to serve as the thematic topic for discussion during the session or during the day, and arrange panel discussions so that they continue the topic theme in greater depth.
• Increase the number of small discussion groups to encourage participation, and set tasks to be completed by each group during the course of the conference
• On a consistent basis, provide time for audience participation following keynote presentations and each panelist, rather than waiting for the end of session. A general question/answer period can be set at the end of each session, but it is useful to invite audience reactions and questions immediately following the presentation. Two hours is a long time for the audience to sit without being invited to comment, ask questions or otherwise provide input.
• Be certain that speakers keep to the subject they have been asked to prepare, and that they keep within the time limit set. The procedure of supplying clear outlines and guidelines well in advance of the date is a good way to assist speakers in planning their presentations, and should be continued..
• Encourage moderators to review the guidelines with the presenters about the time to be used, and the points they should address. Moderators can ask questions following the presentation aimed at eliciting the points that were not covered.
• To facilitate networking, the names and addresses of participants should be made available upon registration, or at least within the first day of the meeting. This can be done by having computers available at the registration table to add or update the list of participants. A final list should be made part of the proceedings or placed on the Web Site for reference as soon as possible.
• It would be useful to engage the Thai participants as well as those not able to attend the forum in follow-up activities, perhaps by organizing review sessions in various provinces where one or more of the topics could be examined in depth.