The Emergence of Networked Educational Governance in Thai Local Educational Administration: A Case Study of “Chiang Mai Education Reform Alliance”

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze networked educational governance in Thai local educational administration, with a case study of “Chiang Mai Education Reform Alliance” (CERA), in terms of the process leading up to its establishment, its members, and the projects focused on by the network, in order to provide suggestions for the direction of education reform.

The results of the study are summarized in the following four points. First, CERA can be understood as a solution to the longstanding problem of “fragmented centralism” in Thai public administration. Chiang Mai provincial administrative organization (PAO) took the lead in gathering information on educational issues, and identified the lack of uniformity in the administration system. Second, this recognition of the issues is connected to the network structure of CERA, which attempts to overcome “fragmented centralism”. In the Thai context, the networking of “fragmented” national sector institutions in the province was important. Third, the “Strategic Plan” drafted by CERA can be understood as an attempt to assume all people with “diverse potentials” as learners and to make the guarantee of lifelong learning opportunities the responsibility of all people, based on the consensus on the image of Chiang Mai people to be raised. Fourth, the “10 Baht Fund” project implemented under the plan was used to provide educational support to children and youth in difficult circumstances in accordance with their “actual conditions”. In addition, the achievement of this project was highly evaluated, and Chiang Mai province could be a pilot province of Area Based Education (ABE) Project supported by the Equitable Education Fund. This made the support for children and youth further strengthened through interprofessional-interagency collaboration.

In conclusion, CERA which consists of various organizations and people institutionalized educational governance under the formalized “system” to create learning opportunities that would meet the diverse “needs” of children and youth. On the other hand, the experience of the CERA have highlighted the need for a continuity of public policy in PAO. There is much to be learned from CERA’s experiences for other provinces.

As for future research, it is necessary to conduct research on ABE projects in other provinces. In terms of Chiang Mai Province, research on “Chiang Mai Province Education Innovation Area” as a special educational administration district remains to be conducted.