Guidelines for the Development of Learning Activities in Non-Formal Education in Thailand
Silpakorn University
ABSTRACT
Sub-district non-formal education has played a significant role of lifelong learning of Thai people since it was established in 2009 in all sub-districts throughout the country. During the operation process, some problems of learning activities management have occurred. Thus, this paper presents the findings on two main research purposes that aimed to: 1) explore the situation of learning activity management, and 2) find guidelines for the development of learning activity to promote thinking skills of learners of sub-district non-formal education in Thailand. Research areas were eight provinces in the central part of the country where sub-district non-formal education institutions located. The samples and key informants were composed of twelve administrators of sub-district non-formal educational officers, and twenty-two key informants: administrators, teachers, and academics, and representative of communities. An interview and focus group discussion were used to collect the data and analyzed by content analysis. The findings revealed the situation of learning activity management of sub-district non-formal education that each teacher was a principal manager. Teachers used the core curricula designed by the government. Evaluation process was conducted through the exams and work pieces. The problems of learning activity management were found that teacher taught several subjects to different groups and some of them lacked of teaching experiences. Thus, the guidelines for the development of learning activities were including the development teaching abilities for teacher, curricula revision, and the evaluation methods.
KEYWORDS
Learning Activity, Non-Formal Education, Facilitator, Thinking Skill, Thailand