Teaching reform needs more work

The Thai government’s new initiative to introduce the professional learning community (PLC) model to Thai teachers promises a paradigm shift in Thailand’s educational reform. The PLC model originated in the United States as early as the end of 1990s in the private sector, as teamwork and collaboration were proven to increase productivity. It was later adopted in the education sector as educators believed that learning culture in school plays a pivotal role in determining teachers’ success, while at the same time, ensuring better student outcomes.

Teaching has been an isolated job. Teachers used to work on their own, think on their own and prepare classes on their own. Adopting the PLC concept, their job nature becomes different. A PLC creates a community of likeminded professionals who can help each other by commenting on and critiquing each other’s practices and by collaborating to improve their practices in order to solve common problems.

Although there are a variety of ways to apply the PLC model to different topics, the ones that have been most effective focus on the work students do and their learning outcomes. Teachers become aware that it is not the curriculum they cover that matters the most, it is how much their students learn. This approach has a profound impact on teaching and learning because it shifts the focus from teachers to learners.

In the case of Thailand, the Teachers Professional Development Institute (TPDI) has introduced this concept to Thai teachers with an incentive which links promotion to participation in the PLC. Teachers who attend 50 or more hours of PLC meetings for five consecutive years can submit a portfolio to the Ministry of Education reflecting what they have learned and how the changes have impacted student learning to obtain an upgrade of their teaching credentials.

There are different ways to do a PLC. For example, using the Open Classroom approach to engage teachers in a discussion on students’ learning. Teachers set the improvement focus, plan the lesson together and visit each other’s classrooms. After the observations, they reflect on how students are learning about the concepts in order to adjust their lessons for continuous instructional improvement. This allows them to focus their attention on student responses and how they can revise their lessons to best enhance student learning.

For example, Rattanasak Thongpanya, a secondary school science teacher from Wat Lamfahpah School in Samut Prakan, said a common problem found in his classrooms is that students do not engage in class discussion or debate. The conversation is limited to “yes” and “no” and it is very dry.

Together with his colleagues in the PLC, he came up with different strategies to improve students’ class participation.

“We used better questioning techniques such as open-ended questions or lab-based questions. We try our best to motivate students to speak up. Then we used brainstorming techniques to develop good questions and we used different types of incentives to encourage students to participate,” he said.

Another teacher, Kanpicha Juchaona from Bangkratung Wittayakom School in Phitsanulok, reinforced the positive outcome of PLC.

“I am not so creative to come up with different activities. But through the PLC, I have friends from other schools who can help me think of different options to implement effective lessons. The revised lesson plan is so much better than what I can do alone.”

Introducing the PLC model is not just good for teachers, it also helps solve many structural problems in Thai education.

First, the PLC concept shifts the centre of gravity from centralisation to decentralisation. The PLC model allows teachers to discuss topics they are most concerned about and take initiatives to their practice. It is a new way of empowering teachers, one that holds them more accountable to student outcomes and creates opportunities for them to make a difference.

The second benefit is that it reinforces the concept of teamwork, collaboration and shared responsibility. Teachers work in groups to address common problems they face in schools and come up with shared solutions, which they can implement and monitor to determine if they work or need further adjustment. Teachers develop professional learning communities that acquire expertise as many other professional groups such as medical doctors and engineers do.

Third, PLC can help address the problems of small schools in Thailand. In more than 15,000 small schools where some teachers are not strong in both content and pedagogical knowledge, teachers from different schools in the same area can visit each other and provide professional support to improve the quality of instruction in their classrooms.

Last, the PLC model concentrates on learners. The process of upgrading teachers’ credentials often has focused on teachers’ training experiences or on submission of written papers, which are often disconnected with improving student learning. But this new approach requires teachers to prioritise the learning process and outcomes of students and provides evidence of their professional progress through documenting changes in student outcomes.

Although the PLC model holds promise of many positive outcomes, implementing it is not going to be easy as teachers have been working independently for so long. Introducing this new approach interrupts their established routines. Questions such as how often should teachers meet, and how best to implement the PLC approach also needs to be addressed. More studies are needed to determine the kind of conditions that are most conducive for the implementation of the PLC model. Principal training on how to support is required to ensure smooth implementation and organisational support.