Happiness - coming to rescue

Thailand education systems have been subjected to many reforms for many years but the results for the investments and administration so far ...

 

image credit กสศ.

 

UNESCO ชี้ปี ’65 หากรัฐบาลไทยไม่เร่งลงทุนฟื้นฟู การศึกษา...ประเทศจะสูญเสียคนรุ่นนี้ ไปทั้งเจเนอร์เรชั่น https://thaipublica.org/2022/06/eef-unesco/  28 มิถุนายน 2022 
--key message in summary: [Thailand need to] recover [from COVID], reimagine/create resilience, and transform/change.

General public perception of Thailand [free 15 years] education system is of 'financial burden to parents', lower ranking in [international] standard assessment, corrupt administration, and many  teachers in debt.

It is clear that Thailand need to resolve these [and more] issues and leap-frog in performance to join the world peer group. We most likely do not have the luxury of time nor Taxpayers money to spend on [local, investigative] research nor to implement any [tailored import] education system that take years to remachine/adapt mechanisms and components [of education system] to fit new functions and performance specifications.

So what can we do?

Can Thai characters and culture help?

Do happy students learn better?
 
Several other studies suggest that happiness can influence academic success. Furthermore, they reveal that emotions significantly influence students learning strategies, cognitive resources, motivation, and academic achievement.

What Research Says About Happiness & Student Achievement
https://www.futures.edu  › futures-blog › 2020/08/31
31 Aug 2020 — Evidence reveals happy students get better grades. This is not to say that happiness is causing students to get better grades, but those who express greater life satisfaction are more likely to do better in school.

https://theconversation.com/its-true-happier-students-get-higher-grades-41488  July 30, 2015: ..a significant correlation between happiness and academic success. Moreover, we found that relationships are fundamental to students’ happiness.

..“growth mindset,” meaning that a person recognizes that abilities are not fixed, but developed through practice, is associated with academic success. ..Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert defines happiness as frequent positive feelings accompanied by an overall sense that one’s life has meaning... “In school I feel happy. I think I feel this way because I’m surrounded by my friends, and around teachers that are very nice and caring.” ..Friends are what makes me very happy, energetic, and enjoy school.

“If I wanted to predict your happiness, and I could know only one thing about you, I wouldn’t want to know your gender, religion, health, or income. I’d want to know about your social network – about your friends and family and the strength of the bonds with them.”

Happy Students Are Motivated Students
https://www.gse.harvard.edu  › news › happy-students-a...
Happiness is positively correlated with motivation and academic achievement.
Because I'm Happy | Harvard Graduate School of Education
https://www.gse.harvard.edu  › news › because-i’m-happy
26 Mar 2015 — “Students often reported that happiness, or positive feelings like enjoyment or fun, promotes learning.” They cited many reasons., feeling safe, comfortable at school; secured relationships with teachers and peers;...

What is the concept of happiness? https://www.britannica.com/topic/happiness  :
happiness, in psychology, a state of emotional well-being that a person experiences either in a narrow sense, when good things happen in a specific moment, or more broadly, as a positive evaluation of one's life and accomplishments overall—that is, subjective well-being.
Happiness can be distinguished both from negative emotions (such as sadness, fear, and anger) and also from other positive emotions (such as affection, excitement, and interest). This emotion often co-occurs with a specific facial expression: the smile.

[Note: Bangkok's new Chief Administrator appears to be using 'happiness' to revitalize the city. Some other ministers in government are also creating joy amid inflation and COVID. Para-games are also based on empowering happiness.]

What about happiness for Teachers and Parents and Communities?

The research found that teacher happiness affects student performance and the success of the learning process in school (Tadić et al., 2013) the other research has shown that the teacher happiness can be a predictor of student happiness and it affects their learning performance (Duckworth et al., 2009). -- What Makes the Teacher Happy? https://www.scitepress.org  › Papers

Why is it important for teachers to be happy?
How do you appreciate teachers for their performance?
What makes a happy teacher?
How do you motivate teachers to maximize their performance?
What is the joy of a teacher?

To these questions, there are many research studies from parents' points of view, schools' administrators, school environments and respect in the community. Positive outlooks, outdoors activities, good peer relations and student relations are 'important'.

In Thailand, the relationships with central administrators of the Ministry of Education and economic circumstances would have to be included in promoting teachers' happiness and performance.

What about COVID and in-class learning?

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-08-full-occupancy-in-person-sars-cov-in-class-transmission.html  : Is there evidence of in-class transmission of SARS-CoV-2 on a university campus that has mandated vaccination and masking? The answer is no.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-08-texts-face-to-face-college-students-happier.html  : ..new research suggests young people feel happier after socializing with friends in person rather than virtually.

Can we work on this scenario?
 

[Added on 30/8/2565]  ข้อสะท้อนคิดของ ศ. ดร. นพ. สุรศักดิ์ บูรณตรีเวทย์ เรื่องการทำหน้าที่อาจารย์ด้านเวชศาสตร์ชุมชน https://www.gotoknow.org/posts/706165 --worth careful reading. And I'd like to highlight my reflection [comment] on “..นศ ไม่สามารถตอบเรื่องปกครองส่วนภูมิภาค ส่วนท้องถิ่นและหน้าที่เกี่ยวกับสุขภาพได้ ผมจึงโมโหและหลุดปากไปว่า ประเทศชาติเป็นแบบนี้ เพราะ แม้แต่คนที่มีความรู้สูงก็ยังไม่รู้รายละเอียดเกี่ยวกับประเทศตนเอง ตรงนี้ถือเป็นความเลวอย่างมาก ๆ ของผมที่ปล่อยให้อารมณ์ครอบงำ หลังจากนั้นก็เรียนกลุ่มย่อยต่อไป และตอนท้ายก็ให้ feedback กระบวนการกลุ่ม นศ บอกว่าผมเป็น facilitator ที่ดี แต่ทำให้เครียด ผมก็บอกไปว่าผมล้มเหลวที่ผมไม่สามารถทำให้ นศ เรียนรู้ได้อย่างมีความสุข ผมได้เรียนรู้จาก นศ ว่า นศ พยายามเต็มที่แต่ยังไม่ได้ตามที่ผมคาดหวัง ผมถาม นศ ว่าทำไมต้องทำอะไรเพื่อให้อาจารย์ หรือพ่อแม่พอใจด้วย นศ คนหนึ่งตอบมาว่า เพราะ พ่อแม่ อาจารย์มีความหวังดีจึงทำตาม ผมชื่นชมวันนั้นมาก ๆ ถึงแม้ นศ โดนผมถามแต่แรก แต่ตอน feedback ตอนท้าย นศ ยังกล้าที่จะบอกผมตรง ๆ ขอบคุณมาก..” .  Both teacher and learners are learning –that they do not know enough– but must [re]act to satisfy all parties [under the circumstance] and that –there are ‘emotional’ feedback loops between teacher and learners–. Good rapport is a key to achievement in team work [learning is a team work]

I salute ศ. ดร. นพ. สุรศักดิ์ บูรณตรีเวทย์ and thank him for his candid blog.