In recent years, Thailand has experienced a wave of migration from neighbouring countries, particularly of workers seeking relatively low-paid, low-skilled jobs. This has added a new element to the ethnocultural and linguistic diversity that has always been a feature of Thai society - though one that has often been obscured in official discourse.
Migrant workers and their families face wide-ranging challenges, not least in gaining access to education for their children. However, Thailand still lacks official policies or guidelines regarding the education of these children. Against the backdrop of insecure employment, pressures for social and cultural assimilation are exacerbated by the language barrier. This is manifested vividly in classrooms and schools. With an intensification in nationalism characterising both political discourse and much of popular culture, migrants face considerable pressure to conform to a monolithic vision of ‘Thai-ness’. This context makes the interpretation of multicultural education in Thailand an issue of significant interest and importance.
In this episode, Dr Thithimadee Arphattananon, an associate professor in the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia (RILCA) at Mahidol University, Thailand, talks to Edward Vickers and Gairan Pamei about her research on education in Thailand, specifically in relation to the treatment of cultural diversity. Dr Arphattananon earned her PhD from the School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and she has also worked with Thailand’s Ministry of Education. She has close to two decades of experience working as a scholar and professor of education in Thailand.
Themes covered in this conversation include:
• Multicultural education discourse, its origins and diverse interpretations in different national and cultural contexts
• The unique landscape of multicultural education in Thailand
• The specific educational and cultural challenges encountered by children and families of migrant workers in Thailand
• The politics and practice of language-in-education for children of migrant workers
• A project led by Dr Arpahttananon on multicultural education for 5th and 6th graders in Thailand
Related readings:
Arpahttananon, T. (2021). Education of Migrant Children from Myanmar in Thai Government
Schools. Manusya: Journal of Humanities, 24(3), 409-425.
http://www.manusya.journals.chula.ac.th/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/MNYA_024_03_innerwork-
Arphattananon, T. (2021). Multi-Lingual and Multicultural Education in Globalizing
Southeast Asia. Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies, 14(2), 149-153. https://aseas.univie.ac.at/index.php/aseas/article/view/6570/6600
Arphattananon, T. (2018) Multicultural education in Thailand, Intercultural Education, 29:2, 149-162, DOI: 10.1080/14675986.2018.1430020
Arphattananon, T. (2021) Breaking the Mold of Liberal Multicultural Education in Thailand through Social Studies Lessons, The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 94:2, 53-62, DOI: 10.1080/00098655.2020.1860873
