Development of Curriculum Management and Organizing Learning Activities According to the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy for Schools under Kalasin Provincial Administrative Organization

Abstract

This research aimed to: 1) study the present conditions and desirable conditions             of curriculum management and organizing learning activities according to the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy for schools under Kalasin Provincial Administrative Organization; 2) to construct guidelines on curriculum management and organizing learning activities according to the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy for schools under Kalasin Provincial Administrative Organization. The research was divided into 2 phases. Phase 1 was for data collection. It was divided into two parts. Part 1: was the study of the present conditions and desirable conditions of curriculum management and organizing learning activities according to the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy for schools under Kalasin Provincial Administrative Organization. The sample consisted of school personnel in Kalasin Provincial Administrative Organization in the academic year 2017, comprising 14 administrators, 207 teachers, totally 221 people from 12 schools, obtained through cluster random sampling, using the school as the sampling unit. The tools used were a 5-point rating scale questionnaire inquiring about the present conditions and desirable conditions of curriculum management and organizing learning activities according to the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy for schools under Kalasin Provincial Administrative Organization. It had 4 components and 33 indicators; the discrimination (r_XY) ranged from 0.26 to 0.73, and the total reliability was 0.90. Part 2 was the study on the best practices of 3 schools by interviewing the administrators, heads of learning strands and 3 concerned teachers in each school; 9 teachers altogether were purposively sampled. The tool used was a semi-structured interview form with 4 components and 12 items. Phase 2 was the construction of guidelines on curriculum management and organizing learning activities according to the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy for schools under Kalasin Provincial Administrative Organization, using the data from both parts of Phase 1 in the construction. A focus group of 9 certified scholars was held to discuss the suitability of the guidelines. Suggestions were collected to be used in the improvement of the guidelines on curriculum management and organizing learning activities according to the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy for schools under Kalasin Provincial Administrative Organization. The tools used were an observation form for the focus group discussion and a feasibility questionnaire. The statistics employed were the mean and standard deviation.

            The findings are as follows:

        1. The study on the present conditions and desirable conditions of curriculum management and organizing learning activities according to the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy for schools under Kalasin Provincial Administrative Organization, which had 4 components, revealed that all of the 33 indicators passed the criterion (= 4.24-4.60). That is, the present conditions as a whole were at a high level (= 4.35), the desirable conditions as a whole were at a high level (= 4.50), and the study on the best practice of the schools, which had 4 components, revealed that the interviews with the administrators, heads of the learning strands, and concerned teachers, brought about more indicators: from 33 indicators formerly to 50 indicators, which would be further used in the analysis in Phase 2.

         2. The construction of the guidelines on curriculum management and organizing learning activities according to the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy for schools under Kalasin Provincial Administrative Organization made use of the data in Phase 1 and the results of the focus group discussion and assessed the feasibility of the guidelines on curriculum management and organizing learning activities according to the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy for schools under Kalasin Provincial Administrative Organization. The components remained to be 4 but the indicators became 38, all of which passed the criterion (= 4.42-4.58). Therefore, the results of the analysis in Phase 2 were used in constructing an appropriate manual of the guidelines on curriculum management and organizing learning activities according to the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy for schools under Kalasin Provincial Administrative Organization.