ASEAN Studies Teaching in Thai Schools

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to study the conditions of ASEAN studies teaching in Thai primary and secondary schools. The study contains 4 topics which are: 1) ASEAN and Thai education, 2) ASEAN and the Basic Education Core Curriculum B.E. 2551, 3) ASEAN Curriculum Sourcebook, and 4) ASEAN studies subject and Thai schools.  

            ASEAN studies started and expanded at a rapid pace after ASEAN leaders agreed to establish the ASEAN Community. This phenomenon affected Thailand, especially in the aspect of education. The Ministry of Education is the main agency responsible for implementing many policies related to teaching ASEAN studies in primary and secondary schools across the across the country. However, a key problem is that personnel in educational institutions still lack knowledge and understanding about ASEAN and the budget allocated by related agencies is still not enough. 

In addition, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN has written the ASEAN curriculum sourcebook as a guideline for teaching ASEAN studies in schools from various Southeast Asian countries. This sourcebook can be adjusted to suit the context of schools in each country on the topic of teaching ASEAN-related subjects. The content and activities in the book may not be the same as the curriculum or subject categorizations of any one country, but the content and activities have enough flexibility to be adapted for teaching in ASEAN member nations.

Keywords: ASEAN, ASEAN Community, ASEAN Studies