THE DEVELOPING GUIDELINES FOR PROMOTING DEMOCRACY IN SCHOOLS USING PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY UNDER THE OFFICE OF SECONDARY EDUCATION SERVICE AREA, MAHA SARAKHAM

Abstract

This research endeavor aims to investigate the current state, desired conditions, and imperative requirements for fostering democracy, specifically within the educational context, and to propose a framework for promoting democracy in schools through the utilization of professional learning communities. The study focuses on schools affiliated with the Office of Secondary Education Area, Mahasarakham, and employs a mixed-methods research design comprising two distinct phases. Phase 1 involves an examination of the prevailing conditions, aspirational benchmarks, and indispensable prerequisites for advancing democracy. The sample encompasses school principals, vice principals, and teaching staff from the aforementioned educational institutions, totaling 386 individuals in the 2564 academic year. The research instruments employed consist of survey questionnaires employing proportional scaling, enabling statistical analyses such as mean, standard deviation, and the index of necessary requirements. Phase 2 delves into exploring the guidelines for cultivating democracy within schools, leveraging professional learning communities as a key approach. Data for this phase is obtained from a purposefully selected group of 6 highly qualified participants through in-depth interviews, and content analysis is applied for data interpretation. The research findings can be summarized as follows: 1) The assessment of the current state of democracy promotion in schools reveals that both the curriculum and teaching practices aimed at fostering democratic values, as well as the organization of activities supporting democratic ideals, exhibit a moderate overall level of implementation. Concerning the desired conditions for promoting democracy, all aspects are found to be at the highest level. Furthermore, the analysis of essential requirements for fostering democracy in schools indicates that the curriculum and teaching practices demonstrate a necessity index value of 0.59, surpassing the index value of 0.47 associated with the organization of activities aimed at cultivating democratic principles within educational institutions. 2) Regarding the exploration of guidelines for promoting democracy in schools through professional learning communities, the study identifies 13 guidelines pertaining to the curriculum and teaching practices that foster democratic values, along with 9 guidelines focused on the organization of activities promoting democratic ideals within educational settings. Collectively, these guidelines amount to a comprehensive framework comprising 22 guidelines. The assessment of feasibility and appropriateness of these guidelines reveals a high level of alignment with the research objectives.