First Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)-in-Thailand-Context Forum organized on 13 June 2007 at Thailand Environment Institute (TEI)

The objectives of the meeting were three-fold:
-to recognize individuals in the ESD-related areas and provide a forum for networking;
-to seek ideas and information exchange among stakeholders; and
-to discuss the rationale for national ESD policy and strategy development.

A draft of the first in the ESD publication series for Thai readers was distributed for review and comments. The revised version will be reproduced and distributed to different groups of audiences including school teachers and community leaders. See the following link for the publication. http://www.accu.or.jp/esd/mt-static/coe/tei/2008/08/first-publication-on-esd-conce.htm

The meeting also offered an opportunity to identify the next steps in the TEI Centre of Excellence (COE) for ESD Project. Twenty-two experts and practitioners in the fields of education, science, environment, business, community development, and research participated in this half-day meeting, including representatives of concerned public agencies (Office of the Education Council, Office of Basic Education Commission, Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology, Department of Environmental Quality and Promotion, Ministry of Science and Technology), academia (Thailand Research Fund, Chulalongkorn University, Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, and Thammasat University), and private sector (SE-Education Public Company Ltd. and the Garden of Fruition Company Ltd.).

The meeting was chaired by TEI’s Board of Executive Directors Chairman, Prof. Dr. Phaichitr Uathavikul. Following self introduction by the participants and brief presentations on ESD and DESD as background information by representatives of UNESCO (Dr. Tinsiri Siribodhi) and TEI (Dr. Ampai Harakunarak), the participants actively discussed issues related to ESD concepts and practices, particularly in the context of Thailand. The following key points emerged from during the meeting relating to the development of national ESD policy and strategies.

1. Sustainable development is a long story. When attempting to achieve sustainability, one cannot ignore the importance of education. In the context of Thailand, when promoting ESD, two crucial points should be taken into consideration. First, at the micro level, how lessons have been learned and taken from a number of community experiences. Secondly, at the macro level, whether and how key administrative challenges have been addressed.

2. An undefined or debatable concept/meaning of sustainable development should not be taken as an obstacle to promote ESD in Thailand. It is difficult to define the term, yet learning takes place, largely from communities, with regards to non-formal and informal education. More important points for consideration include focusing on the types of knowledge that can lead toward SD, development of teaching competency, and empowering people through firsthand learning.

3. Setting clear and attainable national ESD goals and priorities is extremely important. On current settings, this is found to be the biggest challenge to Thailand, where institutional and cultural barriers are conventional. Poor understanding of the missions of the other party, different mind set and attitudes, sometimes conflicts of interest, hamper policy sustainability and agency cooperation. A need for continuity in policy making is particularly noticeable in Thailand’s educational sector. Policy change from one administration to another makes it difficult to implement effective educational programs, not to mention opportunities to take forward and expand on the good practice experiences.

4. A majority of those participating in the forum felt that urgent attention was required to deal with the harmonization of various existing efforts across the educational sector and across borders. In particular, they pointed to further improving and strengthening individual efforts at the micro level as a possible solution when dealing with teaching-learning process-related issues. Attention was also given to the idea of experts to aid in promoting system thinking education and empowering students and the public in a variety of knowledge, skills and values required for living in a sustainable society.

5. Important conclusions drawn from the discussion include:
-The participants chose not to delve into ESD-definition discussions, but rather take an objective approach to ESD-related issues through relevant facts and viewpoints pertaining to the issue.

-CoE’s research and operation should focus on existing experiences and good practices (“success stories”) that objectively determine and explain ESD practices in the country. Examples include the Dawn Project (supported by the Office of Energy Policy and Plan – largely implemented by TEI), the Life Skills Training and Peer Education Experience Project (supported by UNICEF – executed by the Ministry of Education), and some viewpoints from OECD education programs.

-To create a correct and uniform understanding among all the parties concerned, ESD in Thailand context should focus around the “Royal Philosophy of the Sufficiency Economy” as a guideline for determining ESD policy, planning, and implementation at all levels.

-The participants approved TEI’s proposal to establish an ESD experts and practitioners network, with appropriate incentives for members to actively and continuously participate in the future research and communication activities.

To address the findings, TEI is developing a series of communication, as well as knowledge materials, concerning ESD practices focusing on Thailand’s context in order to further promote ESD partner finding and exchange across Sustainable Development (SD) issues and the country.