Introduction
Music education – the subject of music as provided in institutional systems – in Thailand in the last 20 years has gained a lot of popularity. The number of music students has risen continuously year on year. In 1995, there were approximately 60,000 music students in private music schools and the number increased to one million within 15 years (Chareonsook, Reference CHAREONSOOK2010). The main reason being the change in parents’ attitudes and the belief that music coordinated with and could improve cognitive skills, which was a finding originating from studies in neuroscience (Gardner, Reference GARDNER2006; Thomas, Reference THOMAS2006).
However, music in basic education, a national curriculum that includes music as a fundamental subject, has not grown much due to the fact that it cannot be adjusted and developed to fit the rapid changes in Thai society. Moreover, Thai educators do not emphasise music in basic education (Chareonsook, Reference CHAREONSOOK2010). Nevertheless, these conditions are not unique to Thailand but also exist in other countries. According to research from many parts of the world, music in basic education has been ignored, undeveloped and has become a marginalised subject in the education system, leading to a reduction in time allocated to music education (Detels, Reference DETELS1999; Zastrow & Janc, Reference ZASTROW and JANC2004; Amadio, Truong, & Tschureney, Reference AMADIO, TRUONG and TSCHURENEY2006; Oelkers & Klee, Reference OELKERS, KLEE, Benavot and Braslavsky2006; Abril & Gault, Reference ABRIL and GAULT2008; Pinar et al., Reference PINAR, REYNOLDS, SLATTERY and TAUBMAN2008; Vermillion, Reference VERMILLION2009; Johns & Dimmock, Reference JOHNS and DIMMOCK2010; Laovanich, Reference LAOVANICH2013).
With regard to this problem, the Thai National Cultural Commission has asked the Ministry of Culture, which plays an advisory role in policymaking, to initiate a campaign demanding that all Thai students should be able to play at least one Thai musical instrument within 5 years. In 2017, the Ministry of Culture together with Suan Dusit University’s Suan Dusit Poll surveyed Thai people’s opinions around the country regarding the status of music education in Thailand (Ministry of Culture, 2017). The sample size included 1,310 parents and academics, and 1,888 young learners. The result showed that 88.50% of young learners agreed with the campaign, 8.64% were not sure and 2.86% disagreed, while 92.67% of parents and academics agreed with the campaign, 5.73% were not sure and 1.60% disagreed.
The results showed that there are many problems in music education in Thai institutions, for example, lack of Thai musical instruments, old and broken instruments, lack of music teachers, lack of music classrooms and untrained music teachers. In addition, there was a question asking participants about the prior education of music educators at each institution. The results from 76.06% of young learners surveyed were that their teachers had graduated in Thai music specifically, 13.92% mentioned that their teachers had not graduated in Thai music specifically and 3.74% mentioned that their teachers came from unrelated institutions. Furthermore, the survey included a question asking the young learners what kind of Thai musical instruments they studied: 26.52% studied a rhythmic instrument such as Ching, Ranard-ake, Chab, tom-tom, Ranard-thum or Krab preung, 21.10% studied Thai folk musical instruments and 20.94% studied wind instruments such as different types of Thai flute and Pee.
All of this shows that there is a desire to improve music education in Thailand. However, there are over 30,000 schools with different conditions, capacities, resources, communities and students. There are many problems regarding music education management in both primary and secondary schools, for example, inadequate and low-quality musical instruments, inappropriate places for music teaching and learning, inadequate time devoted to music lessons, etc.
In Thailand, there is no proper research that explores music education resources academically to assist the government in planning and policymaking. So, this paper aims to explore the resources of music education in Thai institutions under the Office of The Basic Education Commission (OBEC) and analyse research on the problems in music education management in Thailand. An exploration of the resources of music education in Thai institutions and analysis of the research regarding music education management provides qualified information necessary for stakeholders in making and developing policies, plans, budgets and successful management.
Research questions
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1. An analysis of research into the problems in music education management in Thailand
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1.1 What problems have occurred in music education management in Thailand?
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2. Music education resources in Thai institutions under the OBEC
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2.1 How many schools are currently under OBEC?
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2.2 How many students are currently under OBEC schools?
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2.3 What qualifications do teachers under OBEC schools hold?
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2.4 How many music teachers are currently under OBEC schools?
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2.5 How many Thai and Western musical instruments do OBEC schools have?
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2.6 What are assistant teacher applicant ratios for Thai music, Western music and music education majors?
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Methodology
This study employs an exploratory sequential mixed methods design, ‘a design in which the researcher first begins by exploring with qualitative data and analysis and then uses the findings in a second quantitative phase’ (Creswell, Reference CRESWELL2014, p. 226). A qualitative approach is used to examine the research that addresses problems in music education management in Thailand in the last 5–10 years. The results from this section were used in developing a questionnaire in a quantitative phase that aims to explore the current resources of music education in educational institutions under the OBEC.
Population and participants
Regarding the qualitative section, the research studies were drawn using purposive sampling from a pool of research in either Thai or international databases over the past 5–10 years.
The population for the quantitative part was 30,112 schools under the OBEC in the 2018 academic year which included three types of school: Primary Educational Service Area Office (PESAO), Secondary Educational Service Area Office (SESAO) schools and Special Education Bureau (SEB). The participants required to complete the questionnaire were drawn using purposive sampling from a pool of OBEC schools’ directors.
Research instrument
In the qualitative phase that investigates the research related to problems in music education management in Thailand, the instruments used were a documentary analysis form and a content analysis form.
The instrument used to explore the current resources of music education in educational institutions in the quantitative section was a questionnaire which was developed based on the results of investigating the research during the qualitative phase. The questionnaire is provided via the MERM (Music Education Resources Management), an online survey system that the researchers specially developed for this study which allows the participants to fill in the questionnaire conveniently. The topics in the questionnaire covered issues regarding music resources under the OBEC, for instance, number of schools, number of students, teachers’ qualifications, number of teachers and number of Thai and Western musical instruments in each school.
Data collection
Data collection occurred in two phases: qualitative data collection followed by quantitative data collection. In the qualitative phase, the researchers collected theses, dissertations and articles in journals that addressed problems in music education management in Thailand from both Thai and international databases over the past 5–10 years during January 2018. The development of the questionnaire was proceeded in February 2018 by using the findings from the qualitative phase to create items for the questionnaire. The questionnaire was then evaluated for content validity using the index of item-objective congruence developed by Rovinelli and Hambleton (Reference ROVINELLI and HAMBLETON1978). Regarding the quantitative phase, the researchers contacted and asked the OBEC to send letters to all schools that indicated cooperation from the schools’ directors in completing the questionnaire via the MERM during the months of March and August 2018. Also, the researchers provided the participants with a guidebook for using the MERM. The language used in the questionnaire was Thai language for ease of communication.
Data analysis
The data from two phases were analysed separately. The information from the research in the qualitative phase was analysed using content analysis with hand analysis of qualitative data (Creswell, Reference CRESWELL2008), a method for analysing the data by reading through it, marking it and dividing the data into sections by hand. The next analytical process was the coding process (Creswell, Reference CRESWELL2008). This is a process used to categorise the data into categories or segments. The final stage was to interpret the findings regarding problems found in Thailand’s music education management. The researchers went back to all processes in order to check for reliability.
Regarding the quantitative data, the data from this part were gathered and analysed using standard statistical methods such as frequency, percentages and mean.
Statistics
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1. A statistic used to test the quality of instruments
Content validity of the questionnaire was evaluated using the index of item-objective congruence developed by Rovinelli and Hambleton (Reference ROVINELLI and HAMBLETON1978) as follows:
$${\rm{IC}}\; = \;{{\sum {\rm{R}} } \over {\rm{N}}}$$
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IC = the index of item-objective congruence
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∑R = total score of all judges
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N = number of judges
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2. A statistic used for data analysis
The statistical methods used in data analysis include frequency, percentages and mean.
Findings
The findings are separated into two phases: an analysis of research articles on the problems in music education management in Thailand and current music education resources in Thai institutions under the OBEC.
An analysis of research into the problems in music education management in Thailand
From the investigation of music research regarding problems in music education management in Thailand in the past 5–10 years, 45 theses and dissertations from 10 universities were found as presented in Table 1.
Number of Theses and Dissertations Regarding Problems in Music Education Management in Thailand
In addition, there are articles regarding problems in music education management in Thailand in six TCI journals (Thai-Journal Citation Index Centre); Naresuan University Journal, Sripatum Chonburi Journal, Ratchaphruek Journal, Prae-wa Kalasin Journal of Kalasin University, Journal of Language and Culture (Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia, Mahidol University) and Rangsit Music Journal.
From analysis of the research, the problems in music education management in Thailand can be listed by the frequency found as follows:
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1. Lack of experts in the discipline of music, musicians and teachers ranked the highest with 32 pieces of research found. This problem was found from 1999 to 2016, 17 years in total, which has led to many other difficulties. Most school music teachers do not have a significant amount of music in their undergraduate programmes, and consequently, they cannot teach music by following the curriculum provided.
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2. Lack of musical instruments and proper rooms and buildings ranked second place with 26 pieces of research found during 19 years from 1999 to 2017. The problems included a lack of many musical instruments, improper rooms and buildings for music learning and practice, as well as inadequate rooms for students.
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3. Problems in the music curriculum were found between 1999 and 2017 in 24 pieces of research. Most schools had a problem in using the curriculum provided because they could not follow it, or the curriculum was not suitable for students in those areas.
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4. Management problems ranked in fourth place with 14 pieces of research found between 2001 and 2017. The school directors did not draw attention to music and had the idea that music is just a leisure activity, not for studying or future careers. Therefore, they have no policy to support music subjects clearly and continuously and provide no training for music teachers.
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5. Lack of budget ranked in fifth place with 12 pieces of research found from 1992 to 2015. Most schools in Thailand lack a budget for music, for example, a budget for buying musical instruments or hiring music teachers and experts. This results in low achievement in music subjects and negative attitudes towards music in students.
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6. Lack of musical activities and different points of view between school directors and music teachers ranked together in sixth place with three pieces of research found for each. Lack of musical activities includes activities either inside or outside school, which thereby bring no motivation to students and no goals for practising. The school directors and music teachers have different notions regarding music learning such as using a curriculum.
All of the problems mentioned above can be summarised in Table 2.
Problems in Music Education Management in Thailand
Current music education resources in Thai institutions under the OBEC
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1. Number of schools under OBEC
The result of this section derives from secondary data of the OBEC’s school list in 2018. The divisions under OBEC include PESAO, SESAO and SEB.
From Table 3, there are 30,112 schools under OBEC in the 2018 academic year in total: 27,655 schools under PESAO division (91.8%), 2,358 schools under SESAO division (7.83%) and 99 schools under SEB division (0.33%). In addition, the schools under PESAO and SESAO divisions can be categorised into four sizes: small, medium, large and extra-large. Meanwhile, there are two sizes under SEB division: small and medium.
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2. Number of students under OBEC schools
The results of this section are derived from secondary data from the OBEC’s school list in 2018 which can be summarised in Figure 1.
From Figure 1, there were 6,781,130 students under OBEC in the 2018 academic year in total: 4,584,602 students under PESAO division (67.6%), 2,149,589 students under SESAO division (31.7%) and 46,939 students under SEB division (0.7%).
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3. OBEC teachers’ qualifications
The results of this section are derived from the schools that registered via the MERM online survey from April to July 2018. There were 3,297 registered schools around the country, which is 10.8% of schools under OBEC: 2,697 schools under PESAO division, 595 schools under SESAO division and 5 schools under SEB division.
The survey found that 68.9% of the teachers under OBEC held music/music education degrees, 22.7% other degrees (not related to music/music education or performing arts) and 8.5% performing arts degrees.
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4. Number of music teachers under OBEC schools
From 3,297 registered schools in the MERM online survey, the number of music teachers can be summarised and categorised by position and school size in Table 4.
From Table 2, there are 8,832 music teachers in total: 6,840 under PESAO schools, 1,986 under SESAO schools and 6 under SEB schools. When categorising by position, it is found that most teachers are government officers (6,260 teachers), followed by 1,492 contract teachers, 351 government employees and 193 special project teachers respectively.
Furthermore, there are 133 local experts hired in total: 119 for PESAO schools and 14 for SESAO schools. Interestingly, most local experts (110 persons) are hired for small-sized PESAO schools, which is 82.7% of total local experts hired.
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5. Number of Thai and Western musical instruments under OBEC schools
Regarding Thai musical instruments, small- and medium-sized schools under the PESAO division tend to lack musical instruments. There are approximately 0–2 instruments per school; for the most part, only Peang-or flute, Ang-kalung and tom-tom are found to be available in those schools. Large-sized PESAO schools also lack some musical instruments; for the most part, Peang-or flute, tom-tom, Sor-ooh and Sor-duang are found to be available in the schools with approximately 4–-8 pieces in each. This condition also occurs with extra-large-sized PESAO schools; for the most part, only Peang-or flute and Ang-kalung are found to be available, approximately 20 pieces per school.
Number and percentage of students by division.
Number and Percentage of School by Division and Size
Number of Teachers by Position and School Size
Small- and medium-sized schools under SESAO division tend to lack Thai musical instruments; many instruments have an availability of less than one piece per school, except Sor-ooh, Sor-duang and Ja-khe which have an availability of 1–2 pieces per school. Large-sized SESAO schools tend to have more musical instruments. The most available instruments in these schools are Sor-ooh, Sor-duang and tom-tom with approximately 3.5–4 pieces. More instruments are found to be available in extra-large-sized SESAO schools than the large-sized schools. Ang-kalung and tom-tom are the most available with approximately nine pieces per school.
Regarding Western musical instruments, small- and medium-sized schools under PESAO division tend to lack musical instruments. There is approximately less than one instrument per school, but melodians tend to be available. In large-sized PESAO schools, the melodian was found to be the most available instrument with 19.6 pieces per school followed by the bell-lyra, trumpet, bass drum and small drum. The availability of musical instruments of extra-large-sized PESAO schools is similar to the large-sized. The melodian was found to be the most available instrument followed by the trumpet, recorder, bass drum and electone.
Small-sized SESAO schools lack many Western instruments. The number of instruments is approximately less than one piece per school. The instruments found to be the most available include the melodian, saxophone, trumpet and bass drum, respectively. Medium-sized SESAO schools also lack many musical instruments. The most available instruments found were the trumpet and saxophone with approximately 4–5 pieces per school. Large-sized SESAO schools have less of a lack of musical instruments. The most instruments available in these schools were found to be the trumpet and saxophone with approximately 6–6.5 pieces per school.
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6. Assistant teacher applicant ratio for Thai music, Western music and music education majors
The ratio of assistant teachers in music education, Thai music, Western music and music majors was calculated from the number of candidates and the positions accepted. The information is derived from the assistant teacher applicant database of OBEC from 2014 to 2017.
From Figure 2, the number of vertical axis presents the ratio of candidates per a position accepted. The position of the ratio of assistant teacher applicants with a major in music education is the highest, followed by Thai music, Western music and music majors. The ratio of these three majors was the highest in round one of 2015 (1/2015) and declined in the following years. In the final year, 2017, the number of assistant teachers with a major in music education was 21.1:1, ranked the highest, followed by Thai music majors at 13.4:1 and Western music majors at 10.2:1, respectively, while there was no position for music majors in this year.
Assistant teacher applicant ratio of Thai music, Western music and music education majors.
Discussion
According to the survey, the number of schools and students is declining continuously when compared to the data over the last 10 years. Also, the qualifications of music teachers under OBEC schools at present do not conform to the needs of schools across the country. This reflects how much schools lack music teachers. Lack of experts in music is the top problem which conforms to Akindeinde (Reference AKINDEINDE2015), Allen (Reference ALLEN2011) and Durkin (Reference DURKIN2015) that teachers are inadequately trained; they are not music experts so they are unable to create appropriate lesson plans and lack teaching techniques (Michelson, Reference MICHELSON1984), lack teaching and learning evaluation skills (Akindeinde, Reference AKINDEINDE2015; Akrofi, Reference AKROFI1982; Junchniewicz, Reference JUNCHNIEWICZ2008) and lack motivation in their teaching (Allen, Reference ALLEN2011; Durkin, Reference DURKIN2015; Leung, Reference LEUNG2002). However, this is in contrast with the number of music teachers at undergraduate level every year. From the research carried by Chuppunnarat, Laovanich, and Laovanich (Reference CHUPPUNNARAT, LAOVANICH and LAOVANICH2018), Thai education does not lack graduates in Thai music, Western music, folk music or music education but lacks positions available in schools. According to this study, there are over a thousand graduates every year, but there are only a few hundred positions available each year, which does not conform to the requirements of schools over the entire country. The researchers suggest that the director of the related ministry must give priority to this problem and find the solutions rapidly. The researchers believe that it is not only the number of music teachers that is inadequate but also the number of teachers in other disciplines.
Regarding the number of teachers under OBEC schools, it can be seen that there are various types of music teacher. The researchers suggest that the Ministry of Culture should manage the data systematically. Moreover, there should be a public announcement and cooperation should be sought from the Provincial Education Office or Education Service Area in providing information for schools efficiently as well as providing proper budgets for management. From our field trip, many schools desired to invite local experts to give advice to their schools but they had no access to the information and could not contact the local experts directly. So, an announcement on a website/social media or a seminar between schools and local experts is needed, which could be hosted by the Provincial Culture Office.
Since every student should be able to access to a musical instrument, the number of musical instruments in OBEC schools from this study reveals the fact that many schools lack quality musical instruments. This conforms to the statement of McMinn (Reference MCMINN1980) that management for music materials such as practice rooms, buildings and musical instruments is one of the critical problems in music education. As a matter of fact, the Ministry of Culture’s campaign that encourages Thai students to be able to play at least one Thai musical instrument is a good start because it will bring a significant reformation in the availability of musical instruments in schools all over Thailand. In order to achieve this campaign, the Ministry of Culture should deliberately plan to provide musical instruments to all schools. Notwithstanding, from the researchers’ viewpoint, musical instruments should be organised suitably for the context and the needs of each school. This notion can be confirmed from Suan Dusit’s poll of the Ministry of Culture which surveyed Thai people’s opinions around the country regarding the status of music education in Thailand (Ministry of Culture, 2017) that people mostly agreed to take part in the campaign but needed to follow the individual’s interest and the institute’s capacity. The researchers agree with this point; however, it is quite difficult to properly manage given the diversity of the schools. One possible solution is co-operation between the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education and the Local Administration Organisation in surveying and managing resources by assigning a Local Administration Organisation to be the host.
Disagreement in the perception of school directors and teachers found in this study corresponds to significant research that this situation can lead to other problems such as issues in planning music curricula or developing other aspects of music education (Albert, Reference ALBERT2016; Chang, Reference CHANG1984; Jones, Reference JONES1961; Michel, Reference MICHEL2018; Miralis, Reference MIRALIS2002; Takeshi, Reference TAKESHI1996; Zielke, Reference ZIELKE1996). Lacking musical activities is another problem which conforms to Leung (Reference LEUNG2002) and Zielke (Reference ZIELKE1996) that it would demotivate students and most schools emphasise only musical knowledge in classrooms.
These conditions are not unique to Thailand but also exist in other countries. These problems conform to research from many parts of the world which indicates that they stem from the fact that music in basic education has been ignored, undeveloped and has become a marginalised subject in the education system, leading to a reduction in time allocated to music education (Detels, Reference DETELS1999; Zastrow & Janc, Reference ZASTROW and JANC2004; Amadio, Truong, & Tschureney, Reference AMADIO, TRUONG and TSCHURENEY2006; Oelkers & Klee, Reference OELKERS, KLEE, Benavot and Braslavsky2006; Abril & Gault, Reference ABRIL and GAULT2008; Pinar et al., Reference PINAR, REYNOLDS, SLATTERY and TAUBMAN2008; Vermillion, Reference VERMILLION2009; Johns & Dimmock, Reference JOHNS and DIMMOCK2010; Laovanich, Reference LAOVANICH2013). These problems reveal distinctly that Thailand needs more music teachers, musical instruments, musical activities, budgets and support. In order to solve these problems, integration and reform among stakeholders are necessary.
From this study, another critical obstacle is access to information. Though the researchers developed the MERM online survey in order to collect data more conveniently, it could not collect all the data efficiently. Due to the fact that there are a large number of schools located in different areas, the availability of data access is different and restricted in some areas. Some schools have difficulties in communication and using electronic devices for online surveys and some schools mainly use hard copy documents. As a result, the researchers suggest that the director of each ministry should cooperate in designing tools for collecting fundamental data as well as developing a storage system, screening and investigating the data efficiently. This will benefit each ministry in managing resources successfully.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the results can be summarised as follows:
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1) The problems in music education in Thailand in the past 5–10 years can be divided into seven aspects, namely: (1) lack of experts, (2) lack of music curriculum, (3) lack of musical instruments and proper classrooms, (4) administration systems, (5) lack of budget, (6) lack of music related activities, (7) disagreement in the perception of school directors and teachers.
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2) Under the OBEC, as of 2018 there are 30,112 schools in total with 6,781,130 students. As for music teachers, the majority, 68.9% possess an educational background in music or music education, 22.7% possess other educational backgrounds and 8.5% possess performing arts educational backgrounds. Overall, most of the schools of all sizes tend to lack Thai, Western and Thai folk musical instruments. In addition, 133 local experts in local music have been hired. The ratio of assistant teacher applicants with a major in music education is 21.1:1, ranked the highest, followed by Thai Music Majors at 13.4:1 and Western Music Majors at 10.2:1, respectively.
Suggestions
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1. There should be more recruitment for teaching positions to meet the needs of schools all over the country. Thai education does not lack music graduates but lacks positions available for every school.
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2. Coordination between government and private sectors in supporting music education should be promoted.
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3. There should be budget management in supporting, developing, buying and repairing musical instruments, music rooms and buildings that are suitable for music education as well as establishing music learning centres in each school.
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4. Music or music teacher associations should be established in order to provide academic information and deliver their requirements to related agents.
Acknowledgement
This research was funded by the Ratchadapisek Sompoch Endowment Fund (2018), Chulalongkorn University (761008-03AC) and the Department of Cultural Promotion, Ministry of Culture of Thailand.
