A STUDY OF CURRENT SITUATIONS OF THE DEVELOPMENT STUDENTS’ LIFE SKILLS TO STAY DRUG AND SEXUAL ABUSE FREE: THE CASE STUDY OF THE OPPORTUNITY EXPANSION SCHOOLS, UDON THANI PRIMARY EDUCATIONAL SERVICE AREA

Abstract

The objectives of this research were: 1) to study the current situations of policies, concepts, and principles of  the  students’ life skills development to be free from addictive substances and sexual harassment of students at opportunity expansion schools, Udon Thani Primary Educational Service Area Office, 2) to study participation of the internal and external networks of the educational for developing students’ life skills in the opportunity expansion schools 3) to study problems, obstacles, and suggestions in carrying out work to develop life skills to be free from drug and sexual abuse. The participant of key informants was 16 people, who were working on the Primary Educational Service Area Office and 18 people working in schools, which were obtained through purposive sampling. The instrument used in this study was a semi-structured interview. Data were collected through interviews and analyzed by content analysis.

The results were as follows: 1) the Educational Service Area Offices and schools are currently working together on developing students’ life skills which is accordant with the policy of the Office of the Basic Education Commission. However, there are differences in the detail of the frequency of doing the activities at school and continuity of operations. Also, 2) there are internal and external networks involved in developing students’ life skills depending on the specific needs that the educational institution wishes to develop. In addition, 3) there are some problems and obstacles including the lack of teachers or educational personnel who expertise in developing students' life skills such as psychologists and guidance counselors who have an understanding of the student support system and the follow-up data reporting system, discontinued work and unauthentic data report, lack of techniques to help students. There is also a lack of specific budget to develop students’ life skills and economic problems in the community. More over, the Primary Educational Service Area Office should increase the number of teachers guidance counselors and their develop with knowledge of psychology, including support for media, innovation, and budget for doing continuous activities. As the school, there should be a curriculum, instructional, operational guidelines and encourage teachers to develop knowledge about the  students’ life skills development and support the student care.