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Non-Formal Education


SpiceMan

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Maybe this?

 

"SICED is the training institute of Office of the Non-Formal Education Commission (ONFEC), Ministry of Education. SICED is responsible for promoting continuing education and informal education and administer all activities through project approach. Under continuing education, it conducts trainings and workshops for NFE personnel and the community people. For informal education, it offers public library services and youth activities. SICED have provided various international training programmes, for example;

 

Literacy training programme

NFE training programme

NFE personnel development programme

Planning and management of literacy and continuing education

NFE management training programme

NFE planning and policy making training programme

Monitoring and Evaluation system training programme

Material development and NFE management training programme

Curriculum development training programme"

 

http://www.nfe.go.th/en/

 

http://www.unescobkk.org/education/appeal/networks/artc/member-institutions/thailand/

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Thanks for the info and links Flash. Are these educational certificates worth anything in Thailand?

 

My wife referred to non-formal education as high school for adults. Her certificate (I have seen the notarized translation) states that it is high school subjects she has studied and passed. She didn't study literacy as she was already literate and reading was her hobby when she could afford books. Now she has an English language reading age of about 13. The problem she faces now (living in England) is getting prospective employers to recognize her other qualifications. Its the name "non-formal" that is spoiling her chances.

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Ah, I know what she means. When I first came to LOS, students were only required to complete the 4th grade! It wasn't as bad as it sounds, since they had to score at least 70% in reading, writing, some arithmetic and a bit of basic health science (e.g. boil your water before drinking it). But most working class parents pulled their children out at the absolute minimum. The reason it was so low was because almost every village had its primary school, but for secondary school the kids would have to go in to the provincial capital, which meant money spent for transportation or even dorms. Later the minimum was extended to the 6th grade and now is the 9th.

 

These adult education classes are great and bring people up to the level they would be if they had actually continued on to secondary schools. In the US there is a GED test (General Education Development or something) that is the equivalent of a high school diploma. The Thai certificate is something like that.

 

It is certainly respected in Thailand, since I once taught a student in his last two years of university who had one. He had just started pratom one when the Japanese invaded in December 1941. He said all schools were immediately closed for the duration of World War II. He became a novice monk when he was 10 and stayed in the robes for 18 years. However, he had studied as much as he could at Mahachulalongkorn University - the Buddhist college in Wat Mahathat. When he left the monkhood, he took the tests and received credit for everything up to the first 2 years of university. He was in his mid 30s when I taught him and was a good student.

 

Top students can also "challege" a few years of education, and I have taught several who only went as far as the 10th year, then passed the tests for the final 2 years. They next studied "cram courses" with private tutors to be able to gain a seat in a government university when they were only 15 years old! (The ones I taught were all girls and really bright students.)

 

I don't know how you could convince folks in the UK that it means something though. Maybe you could tell them it is like the GED tests.

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Flashermac is dead right: it's the equivalent of GCSEs (UK)/US high school diploma. Questions of funding aside, it qualifies the holder to apply for a university place. Happy memories of one ex-Soi 33 bar girl who went to a school in Bangna on Sundays for three years and succeeded in getting the diploma (or whatever it's called) and used it as a bridge to a vocational tertiary qualification - now has her own financially viable non-sponsored business. Another was in the process of applying for university when she died at the age of 32 :-((( Huge boost to self-esteem and village esteem when they received their official certficates. Just a thought, but maybe the British Council in Bangkok could produce some sort of validation letter for OP? http://www.britishcouncil.or.th/en Apologies for lack of paragraphs here - indentation him not working today.

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Is she perhaps a graduate of the vocation education track? Ask her if this is the "por vor chor" or "por vor sor" certificate. Por Vor Chor classes is what someone who had completed M.3 would take, to earn M.6 equivalency. That person could them continue with Por Vor Sor schooling, to obtain the equivalent of a two year (associate's) degree. They can then merge with normal university for another couple of years to earn a four-year degree.

 

For people who work, this schooling is on evenings and weekends. I had a squeeze for awhile from Tilac bar who went to Por Vor Chor every Sunday - eight hours.

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