2004 UNESCO/JAPAN Asia Pacific Environmental Education Research Seminar

Environmental Education in Thailand :Policy and Practice
Athapol Anunthavorasakul*

The Development of Environmental Education Curriculum in Thailand
Environmental Education is one of the new born fields in Thai education. It was included in the Thailand NationalCurriculum for the first time in B.E. 2521 (A.D. 1978) in primary and lower secondary school curriculums. Three years later(A.D. 2524, B.E. 1981) it was put in the higher secondary school curriculum.
Environmental Education appeared in the curriculum not as a single subject, but as an integrative part in some coresubjects. In the two secondary school curriculums, Environmental Education was integrated with the content of scienceand social studies. In the primary school curriculum, it was a part of the life experiences which combined science andsocial studies together. The content of Environmental Education included natural system, environmental problems, andenvironmental protection.
In B.E. 2533 (A.D. 1990), when there was a revision of the national curriculum for all levels, the role of Environmental
Education in the curriculums changed as well. In the secondary school level, Environmental Education appeared as oneof the elective subjects in the science and social studies groups. The subjects that are considered a part of Environmental
Education are Environmental Education, Energy and Environment, and Environmental Science. In addition, Environmental
Education was integrated into geography courses in Grade 7-9 and Grade 11.

In the primary school curriculum,Environmental
Education was a part of the life experiences. The content of Environmental Education that appeared in the primaryschool curriculum was as follows: (below)* Instructor and Environmental Educator, Faculty of Education, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand㧙 㧙2004 UNESCO/JAPAN Asia Pacific Environmental Education Research Seminar

The national curriculum was revised again in B.E. 2544 (A.D. 2001) after the Educational Act was passed in B.E.
2542 (A.D. 1999). Content integration was the theme of the instructional practice in this curriculum. In this, the subject
matters are woven into

8 content subjects including Sciences; Mathematics; Social Studies, Religions and Culture;Thai; Foreign languages; Arts, Music, and Traditional dancing; and Health and Physical Education. In this curriculum,
Environmental Education was not included in any particular content subject; it was required to be integrated into all
subjects, especially in Sciences, Social Studies, Religions and Culture, and Health Education.
The integration of Environmental Education into the content subjects is accommodated well in the new curriculum.
Schools are required to use the subjects in the core curriculum as curriculum framework for developing their own schoolcurriculum. With this freedom, the schools can develop subjects related to their local environment, environmental problems,and local wisdom. In creating the school curriculum, the schools have opportunities to build learning networks and develop
the Environmental Education curriculum with local communities. This relationship between schools and community is
consistent with the community-based education approach practiced in several countries around the world.

The Government Policy and Support
The public sectors that play an important role in supporting Environmental Education in Thailand are theDepartment of Environmental Quality Promotion (DEQP), under The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment; andthe Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC, under The Ministry of Education. The Office of the Basic Education
Commission has supported the integration of Environmental Education into the National Curriculum. DEQP has helped
support the connection among schools, institutions, public sectors, local community, and NGOs. Moreover, DEQP has helped
produce visual and audio media and printed materials as well as arrange educational training for teachers in the network.
During B.E. 2540-2544 (A.D. 1997-2001), the Department of Environmental Quality Promotion set the following
policies in regard to Environmental Education in their national plan. The policies targeted schools, educational institutions,public sectors, private sectors, and NGOs. These policies included the following: (DEQP,1997)(1) Administration and management of Environmental Education(2) Building an environmental information network for education(3) Education and training of Environmental Education(4) Developing Environmental Education instruction and activities(5) Non-formal Education in Environmental Education(6) Promoting the roles of mass communication and NGOs in Environmental Education(7) Developing physical environments of local communities(8) Doing research in Environmental Education(9) Producing and collecting Environmental Education materials(10) International collaboration for Environmental Education
The implementation of the policies created many projects that promote Environmental Education in all kindsof educational forums: formal, non-formal, and informal. One successful project that promoted the development ofEnvironmental Education was the establishment of the official Provincial Environment Education Centre (PEEC) inprovincial level. This project is a collaboration between the Department of Environmental Quality Promotion (DEQP) andthe Ministry of Education. The school that is selected to be the PEEC is the coordinating school for all the schools andother public and private sector groups in its province. The DEQP supports the centre with training, materials, and financial
㧙 㧙2004 UNESCO/JAPAN Asia Pacific Environmental Education Research Seminarassistance. The Ministry of Education has a supervisory unit that helps the centre in each province develop the curriculum
for the schools in its network. To date there are 59 PEEC schools in Thailand. (Srisuk,2004)
Starting in B.E. 2545 (A.D.2002), the DEQP began making annual plans instead of four-year plans. At present thedepartment is in the process of making a long-term plan that will match the Thai government's commitment to the UN
Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD).

Roles of NGOs and Collaborated Projects to Strengthen Environmental Education
NGOs have played an important role in developing Environmental Education in Thailand. With their efficientmanagement system, NGOs have built networks for collaboration amongst themselves, both domestically and internationally,
as well as between themselves and government. This has helped many Environmental Education projects succeed.
Examples of some successful projects include:(1) Magic Eyes Chao Phraya Barge Program (1992-present), Thailand Environment and Community Development
Association: TECDA (or Magic Eyes)
This program's primary aim is to provide unique and fulfilling experiential environmental education opportunities tostudents. It uses various activities and techniques to increase awareness and understanding between environment andhuman relationships within the Chao Phraya watershed. The main activities include a barge trip, land-based trip, and schooloutreach trip. Most activities focus on (1) Natural history and ecosystem studies (2) Thai culture and history (3) NaturalResources (4) Environmental awareness & understanding. Each year approximately 9,000 people and over 65 schools andorganizations join this program. Past corporate sponsors of this program include: Caltex , Shell, and BP Oil, Toshiba andThai Plastic Chemical. (Retrieved January 30, 2004, from Magic Eyes Chao Phraya Barge Program Magic Eyes Chao Phraya
Barge Program Web Site: http://www.magiceyesbarge.org)
Apart from the barge program, Magic Eyes has another interesting project named "Dawn Project (Phase 2)" which is a
two-year (2002-2004) national energy conservation project funded by the Office of Energy Policy and Planning and supportedby the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Education. For Phase Two, 125 schools are encouraged to participate inenergy and environmental conservation school activities that reach out to the community. Magic Eyes is responsible fordeveloping a series of seven energy education activity handbooks designed with input from teachers. The handbooks assist
teachers and schools to integrate energy education and energy conservation practices into their curriculum; management
systems in turn provide them the tools to reach out to the community. (The Dawn Project phase 2. Retrieved January
30, 2004, from Thailand Environment and Community Development Association Thailand Environment and Community
Development Association Web Site: http://www.magiceyes.or.th)(2) The River and Stream Investigation Project for Youth : RSPY, Green World Foundation (1999-2002)
With funding provided by the Danish Cooperation for Environment and Development (DANCED) Denmark, this project
aims to enhance environmental education among participating teachers and students with special focus on monitoring thequality of stream water, while coordinating activities with local communities and raising their responsible attitude towards
their communities. In collaboration with 51 schools in the Ping River catchment area in Chiang Mai and Lumphun provinces,the main outputs of the project are (1) Co-ordination of a teacher and student network in the River Ping catchment area;(2) Production of the stream investigation package; (3) Investigation of issues related to local stream health by secondary
school teachers and students; (4) Sharing information among local communities; and (5) Dissemination of information
to the public and interested parties. (RSPY. Retrieved January 28, 2004, from Green World Foundation Web Site : http://www.greenworld.or.th)㧙 㧙

2004 UNESCO/JAPAN Asia Pacific Environmental Education Research Seminar(3) The "Developing EE activities with community forestry participatory case study" project (1992 - 1996)
This project was a collaboration between the Ministry of Education and Regional Community Forestry Training Centerfor Asia and the Pacific (RECOFTC). Its aims were to integrate the content of forestry-community management into school
curriculums. Eight primary and secondary schools in Chieng Rai and Lamphun, 65 teachers, administrators, and researchers
were involved. The main activities were training teachers (focusing on case study methods, using Participatory Rural
Appraisal :PRA) and networking schools, communities, and local GOs (such as supervisory units at the provincial level).
Since the project finished in 1996, school networks, which was the main outcome of the project, are still active and are
expanding to other schools in nearby areas. Forestry conservation is an interesting impact on communities that is occurring(Chuchart, Anunthavorasakul and Trinate, 2003)(4) Strengthening Environmental Education in Thailand Program: SEET project (2001-2004)
SEET is a collaboration project of MOE, DANIDA (Denmark), and five NGOs who actively work with the local
communities and schools in five provinces. These organizations are: Green World Foundation (GWF) in Chieng Mai;
Population and Community Development Association (PDA) in Khon Khaen; Thai Education Foundation (TEF) inChachoengsao; World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Uthai Tani; and Good Governance for Social Development and theEnvironment Institute (GSEI) in Krabi. In each province,

7 primary schools and 2 secondary schools were selected toparticipate in the project, making a total of 45 schools. The targeted groups are all the teachers in the 35 primary schools
anda maximum of 20 teachers from each of the 10 secondary schools.
SEET's main activities are (1) In-service training on EE concepts and methods, targeting MOE central staff as wellas provincial and district supervisors, school administrators (heads) and teachers; (2) Development of an EE-related
database; (3) Development of a system for action research and formative evaluation of EE experiences; (4) Development
and dissemination of resource materials for supervisors, administrators and teachers; (5) National, regional and international
conferences for exchange of experiences in EE; and (6) Development of EE initiatives in individual schools and with otherorganizations and stakeholders. SEET will run until October 9, 2004. (SEET, 1999)
EE Networking for Sustainability: From schools to communities
According to the above policies and practices, the achievement of EE programs in Thailand depends on many keyfactors (see Figure 1).

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2004 UNESCO/JAPAN Asia Pacific Environmental Education Research Seminar

The successful EE programs have four elements:(1) Cooperation among schools, NGOs, and local Local Public Sectors
Building a network of schools, NGOs, and local public sectors can significantly result in successful EE programs.
Schools' operational programs alone mostly face unsustainable achievement. On the other hand, schools which link to local
public sectors and NGOs have more chances to develop their programs. Most NGOs implement new ideas and innovations
that help develop an EE program. Local public sectors are influential in supporting or facilitating schools' work withsurrounding communities including other schools nearby.
(2) Community support
In many projects, we found that community links strongly strengthen the EE program, especially in communities whichhave worked together with their schools for a long time. Schools or EE projects that can help community agents understandEE and involve them to participate in developing and operating the projects will have a better chance of sustaining their EE
programs or projects.
(3) Roles and linkages between DEQP and OBEC
As previously stated, the cooperation between DEQP and OBEC to establish the Provincial Environmental Education
Centre (PEEC) is significant. At present, PEEC plays an important role to build an EE network at the provincial level
between schools, their local communities and DEQP. This network is used to communicate information, share experience,
and widely promote EE innovation to the 59 PEEC schools. At the same time, OBEC uses this network to support theeducational reform process that emphasizes Integrated Learning and collaboration within a local community. It can changea teacher's attitude about EE, that "EE program in schools is an extra workload for them", to be more positive. The schoolsthat closely participate with PEEC have more opportunity to create successful EE programs.
(4) Involvement of Teacher Education Institutes and Educational Institutes
At the project operation level, the involvement of teacher education institutes and educational institutes is very
important because of their staff expertise. The staffs in these institutes are expert in the education field. They can help
develop a training curriculum, produce teaching manuals and materials, implement innovation and ideas, and monitor andassist in the development of EE projects. This collaboration certainly strengthens the EE process.
In developing EE in Thailand, some constraints, obstacles, and problems should be considered. These include:(1) Lack of EE central organization
Even though DEQP and OBEC are both government organizations with the responsibility to promote and to support
the development of EE, they are under two different administrative systems. DEQP is under the Ministry of NaturalResources and Environment, and OBEC is under the Ministry of Education. This causes problems.
To build a stronger, more efficient network, it is necessary to have a central organization manage the EE programs.
(2) The continuum of administrators in organizations and schools
For the simple reason that most schools are government organizations, they have continuously faced the problem ofadministrator rotation. Therefore, EE projects face the difficulty of losing knowledgeable people who are in charge. It takestime for the new administrators to learn about the program. This rotation interferes with project development. If departing
administrators or staff can train their replacements, this inefficiency can be lessened.
(3) Lack of learning the experiences from one EE program/project to each otherSome schools participate 2-3 EE project from NGOs, PEEC, and MOE, but they can't link learning experience fromone to each other. For example; school A used to join in the Dawn Project phase 1 and then it involved to RSPY, they have㧙 㧙2004 UNESCO/JAPAN Asia Pacific Environmental Education Research Seminarenough experiences and should play role as a leader in a new project but they still started over with new theme (which theproject focus on) and new approach. There are many workshops in each project, but the impact to some schools is possibly
same level of the achievement.
(4) Confusion about EE practices
One of the most important problems is the misunderstanding about EE instruction that some teachers, administrators,educators, as well as EE project managers have such as; an integration approach, whole schools approach, community-basedlearning, utilizing of learning resource in nature and community, and etc.
(5)Too narrow a focus on formal education
Most EE projects only concentrate on schools or other formal education institutes. The EE network should be
expanded to cover other non-formal and informal education units.
The Challenging Mission
The Challenging Mission for EE in Thailand is "Action without a coordinated center". Even though building an EE
network between the public sectors and NGOs has occurred, it just lightly influence to strengthen EE or to broaden targets
involved in progress of Education for a Sustainable Development.

References
Chuchart Alisara ,Anunthavorasakul Athapol and Trinate Lawan (2003). Lesson Leraned from EE Avtivities in theMinistry of Education: A stusy undertaken within the SEET Project
DEQP : Department of Environmental Quality Promotion> (1997). Environmental Education Mater Plan and Action
Plan (1997-2000). The Ministry of Science Technology and Environment
Sugree Lawan and Homsanit Thepwanee. (1998). Teacher Education for Environmental Development. Faculty ofEducation Chulalongkorn University
The Educational Act 1999. (1999). The Ministry of Education.
Magic Eyes Chao Phraya Barge Program.(2003). Environmental Education Teaching Manual for Chao Phraya
Watershed. Thailand Environmental and community Development Association Strengthening Environmental
Education in Thailand Program (SEET) (2002). Project Summary. The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs,Denmark and The Ministry of Education, Thailand㧙 㧙