PRELIMINARY STUDY ON ADMINISTRATIVE MODEL OF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY TO DEVELOP THAI LANGUAGE TEACHING CAPACITY OF PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN THREE SOUTHERN BORDER PROVINCES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20319/pijss.2017.s31.698711Keywords:
Professional Learning Community, Thai Language, Teaching Capacity, Southern Border ProvinceAbstract
The three southern border provinces of Thailand are unique with their own language and cultural identity. Most students speak Thai as a second language. Such conditions, educators put their effort seeking appropriate methods of teaching Thai language to the context of those areas. This research aims to develop the administrative model of professional learning communities to improve teaching skills of elementary school teachers in the three southern border provinces. The study was guided by two main questions: (1) what are the components of the PLC administrative model?; and (2) how should the model be developed in improving Thai teachers’ teaching ability? A mixed-methods approach was employed, which consists of document analyses to identify the elements of the PLC administrative model, and then to synthesize the preliminary model. After that the researcher examined the suitability and feasibility of the model by using in-depth interviews with 17 key informants; focus group with 20 experts; and questionnaires with 705 school administrators and Thai language teachers from elementary schools in those three southern border provinces. Research data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and content analysis. The preliminary results revealed that the PLC administrative model for the development of Thai language teachers’ teaching skills in those areas should comprise four main stages: (1) planning for establishing the objectives of a collaborative team and guidelines for action; (2) implementing the action plan into classroom practices along with teachers’ shared learning and experiences, (3) investigating the performances of teachers by using methods of supervision, monitoring, and evaluation, and 4) rectifying all practices to improve the model for the sustainable development of Thai language teachers in the three southern border provinces. The results suggest that each stage of the effective model should be interrelated to the PLC principle. For better conclusion, the model is further experimented within two participative schools.
References
Barber, M. (2007). How the world’s best-performing school systems come out on top. Mckinsey & company. Retrieved from http://www.smhccpre.org/wp content/uploads/ 072.pdf.
Boyd, V. (1992). School context. Bridge or barrier to change? Austin, TX: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory.
Darling-Hammond, L. (1998). Teacher Learning That Supports Student Learning. Educational Researcher, 27(1), 5-15.
Deming, W.E. (1986). Out of the Crisis. Cambridge, Mass: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
DuFour, et al., (2006). What is a “professional learning community?” Educational Leadership, 61(8), 6-11.
DuFour, R. & Eaker. R, (1998). Professional learning communities at work: Best practices for enhancing student achievement. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press. . DuFour, R. (2004). What is a “Professional Learning Community”? Educational Leadership, 61(8), 6.
Englert & Rent. (1995). Creating collaborative cultures for educational change. Remedial and Special Education, 16, 325-336. . Fullan, M. (2005) Leadership and sustainability: System thinkers in action. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Ltd. . Hollins, et al., (2004). Promoting a self-sustaining learning community: Investigating an internal model for teacher development. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 17(2), 247-264. . Hord, S. M. (2007). What is a PLC? SEDL Letter, 19(1), 3-5. .Hord, S. M. (1997). Professional learning communities: Communities of continuous inquiry and improvement. Austin, Texas: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory. Kanold, T.D. (2011).How to coach leadership in a PLC. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.
Lewis, G & Smith, H. (1994). Total quality in higher education. Florida: St. Louis Press.
Louis, K.S. & Kruse, S.D. (1995). Professional and community: Perspectives on reforming urban schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. . Ministry of Education (MOE). (2010). MOE to enhance learning of 21st century competencies and strengthen art, music and physical education. Retrieved from http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/ press/2010/03/moe-to-enhance-learning-of-21s.php.
Newmann, F. M. & Wehlage, G. G. (1995). Successful school restructuring: A report to the public and educator. Madison, WI: Center on Organization and Restructuring of Schools, Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin.
Office of Basic Education Commission, Ministry of Education. (2013). The results of reading and analytical thinking assessment (in Thai). Bangkok, Thailand: Kuruspa Ladpao.
Panich, V. (2012). Ways of learning for students in the 21st century (in Thai). Bangkok, Thailand: Tathata Publication Co., Ltd.
Sallis, E. (1993). Total Quality Management in Education. London: Kogan Page Limited.
Senge, P. (1990). The fifth discipline the art and practice of the learning organization. New York: Currency Doubleday.
Supovitz, J. A. (2002). Developing communities of instructional practice. Teachers College Record.
Trilling, B. & Fadel, C. (2009). 21st century skills: Learning for life in our times. San Fracisco: JosseyBass.
.Waters, T. & Cameron, G. (2005). The balanced leadership framework: Connecting vision with action. Denver, Colorado: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning. Wenger, E. C. & Snyder, W. M. (2000). Communities of practice: The organizational factor. Harvard Business Review, 139-145. . Whitford, B. L. & Fisher, H. (2003). Lucent learning communities in Albuquerque. National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools and Teaching. Teachers College and the University of Southern Maine.
Wood, J. C. & Wood, J. M. (2002). Henri Fayol: Critical evaluations in business and management. New York, NY: Routledge.
Yendol-Silva, D. (2003). In search of the perfect storm: Understanding how learning communities create power within an era of intense accountability.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2017 Sutiporn Khanom, Ratana Daungkaew, Sungworn Ngudgratoke, Wanna Numun
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
