Environmental Learning Management in Response to Thailand's Policy Driving Education Towards the ASEAN Community: Analyzing Policy Implementation

Abstract

This article focused on environmental learning management in a school partnership program between Thailand and Indonesia in response to Thailand’s policy driving education towards the ASEAN Community in terms of building knowledge, understanding, and awareness among youth about global issues and the ASEAN Community. The article analyzed policy implementation in 1) policy design and program planning; 2) school practice and performance; and 3) good practices in promoting knowledge, understanding, and awareness of the value of the environment. Mixed-methods research was done with quantitative data collected via a survey questionnaire distributed to 23 pilot schools, with  21 schools returning it,  Survey data was analyzed by percentage, mean, and standard deviation. Qualitative data was gathered through in-depth interviews with nine macro and micro level policy implementers, along with seven school visits and observations in southern Thailand. This data was analyzed by content analysis and presented in descriptive analysis form.

Results were that 1) the school partnership program between Thailand and Indonesia set an agenda promoting environmental learning as developed by the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO), SEAMEO Regional Open Learning Centre (SEAMOLEC), and United Nations (UN) Habitat to achieve broader content framework in response to global and ASEAN citizenship and twenty-first century adaptation; 2) pilot school environmental learning management indicated better outcomes than other program activities, especially learning about common values and gender sensitivity, and learning Bahasa Indonesia (mean=3.23, 3.05, and 2.55 respectively); and 3) pilot schools exhibited good environmental learning management promotion practice, through outreach for wider cooperation beyond school walls, especially in the civil society sector. Although perceptions of past operations have not been ideal, practitioners proposed revitalizing the program and encouraged continued action in line with central authorities who sought policy investment utilization. The program also adhered to Thailand’s leading promotion and coordination of environmental sustainability in the ASEAN Five Year Work Plan (2021-2025).