Developing a model of peace education in the undergraduate teacher training process for early childhood education at Rajabhat Universities, Thailand

The conflict and violence of both the unrest in the southernmost provinces which claimed thousands civilians and officials in the last few years and the deep social division among the people throughout the country make peace education as a key tool for solving these problems for Thailand. The role of teacher education has been used for solving these conflicts. This study explores the universities’ policy on peace education in the teacher training process of the early childhood education programmes of Rajabhat Universities as the biggest groups of universities in teacher training across the country. Two main research questions were explored: 1) has peace education been delivered in early childhood education programmes of Rajabhat Universities in Thailand? and 2) if so, how does it differ across universities? The study employed both quantitative and qualitative methods to understand the phenomenon in two Rajabhat Universities. Quantitative methods employed questionnaires to collect data from students of both universities from the first to fifth year (N=100). The data from both universities has been analysed by the Mann Whitney U Rank test (p<0.05). Qualitative methods employed semi-structured interviews to collect data from six chief administrators, ten lecturers in the Early Childhood Education Programmes, and four experts in peace outside the university. Four focus groups composed of five students in each group were used to collect data from the first- and fourth-year students of both universities. Collected documentations relating to curricula were analysed. Thematic analysis was used to analyse qualitative data. The findings presented four key areas: University’s Policies on Peace Education; Teaching, Learning and Curriculum about Peace Study in RUs; Participants’ Ideas about Peace Studies; and Culture, Climate and Peace Studies in the RUs’ Contexts. The findings from quantitative and qualitative methods were integrated into the Peace Education Model of Rajabhat Universities (PEMRU) framework. The findings revealed that the policies of Rajabhat Universities have included peace education in teacher training programmes. However, very few policies have been named directly. Peace education has been integrated into classroom activities and universities’ activities as well as the universities’ regulations. The significant differences across universities were found in that one university had both direct and indirect policies on peace education whilst never officially naming them. The other university had both direct and indirect policies on peace education, which in contrast, were promulgated officially by the University Council. The study also found that the concept of peace in the Thai context was a combination of outer and inner peace; the role of the teachers was emphasised as a method of teaching peace education. Finally, the key concepts emerging from the analyses were developed into the Proposed Model of Peace Education for Rajabhat Universities. This model was composed of the concepts of peace and peace education in the Thai contexts as the centre of the model to work with; the three main components were the dynamic work-units (university’s policy, peace education centre, peace education curriculum); and five influential components surrounding the model as the supporters and conditions to work with (politics and government, religions and cultures, economic and equality, environment and responsibility, and ethnicity and identity). This proposed model is hoped to be a dynamic, rapid and sustainable way to solve conflicts and violence in the country.