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Looking Back on the 12-year APEC Lesson Study Project:

Thailand Perspective

Dr. Maitree Inprasitha

Khon Kaen University

inprasitha_crme@kku.ac.th

Dr. Narumon Changsri

Khon Kaen University

changsri_crme@kku.ac.th

Dr. Masami Isoda

University of Tsukuba, Japan

isoda@criced.tsukuba.ac.jp

Abstract

In 2005, under the Ministry of Education, Thailand, the Centre for Research in Mathematics

Education (CRME) produced a proposal titled “A Collaborative Study on Innovations for

Teaching and Learning Mathematics in Different Cultures among the APEC Member

Economies” (HRD 03/2005) to APEC Human Resources Development Working Group

(HRDWG) at Pattaya, Thailand, thus setting up international cooperation in education. In this

proposal, the Center for Research on International Cooperation in Educational Development

(CRICED), the University of Tsukuba Japan, jointly focused on the necessity for teaching

innovations through Lesson Study. This paper aims to review the APEC Lesson Study Project

(2005-2018) proposed by Thailand and Japan from Thailand’s perspective. The project from

the Thailand perspective was mainly managed by the Center for Research in Mathematics

Education, Institute for Research and Development in Teaching Profession for ASEAN, Khon

Kaen University.

Keywords: Lesson Study, open approach, APEC, curriculum, learning community

Background for the APEC project in Thailand

The idea for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Lesson Study Project was initiated

when the Ministry of Education, Thailand, launched the initial educational reformation in 1999.

The reformation mainly focused on the learning process as the central issue to be resolved.

As a result, a revised core basic Education Curriculum was introduced by the Thailand Ministry

of Education in response to the educational reformation. The integration of three major

components of content, process/skills, and character were highly emphasized and

considered as the major change in the revised core basic Education Curriculum. Following

this line of reasoning, enhancing educational quality through curriculum implementation

became the issue for seeking teaching innovations. Khon Kaen University as a leading higher

education institution launched a long-term project entitled “The 30 years Khon Kaen University

(2000 to 2030)” to respond to the demand.

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Figure 1:

The 30 years Khon Kaen University project, 2000

2030 (Inprasitha, 2011)

As shown in the above diagram (Figure 1), the 30 years Khon Kaen University (2000 to

2030) project consists of three phases with each phase taking 10 years to complete. The first

phase project (2000-2010) of the project was mainly invested in human resource development

by producing a new generation of graduate students in the mathematics education

programme and at the same time preparing contexts for long-term implementation of

innovation. This is followed by the second phase (2011-2020) which was planned to

strengthen the networking, and the final phase (2021-2030) would be channelled into

spreading the effects by expanding the teaching innovations, not only at the national level but

also at the ASEAN regional level.

The 30 years Khon Kaen University project (2000-2030) was instigated by a progressive

institutional development with the establishment of the Centre for Research in Mathematics

Education (CRME) in 2003, followed by the Khon Kaen University of Excellence in 2004, and

the Research Unit in Mathematics Education as a part of National Center of Excellence in

Mathematics. Meanwhile, a new master’s degree programme in Mathematics Education was

formed as a great platform for research and innovation development.

In 2004, the Open Approach innovation (Nohda, 2000 in English, 1983 in Japanese; Becker

& Shimada, 1997 in English; Shimada, 1977 in Japanese), which was initiated from Shimada’s

related Japanese secondary school mathematics textbooks in the World War II, was adopted

in the new paradigm of the 5-years Mathematics Education Teaching Professional programme

of Faculty of Education, Khon Kaen University. This corresponds to the educational

reformation by introducing innovative teaching professionalism.

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Development of APEC Lesson Study Project

In 2005, under the Ministry of Education, Thailand, the CRME proposed a proposal titled

“A Collaborative Study on Innovations for Teaching and Learning Mathematics in Different

Cultures among the APEC Member Economies” (HRD 03/2005) to APEC HRDWG (Human

Resources Development Working Group) at Pattaya, Thailand, thus setting up international

cooperation in education. In this proposal, the Center for Research on International

Cooperation in Educational Development (CRICED) and the University of Tsukuba, Japan,

jointly focused on the necessity for teaching innovations through Lesson Study. Since the

TIMSS Video Tape Study and other influences such as ‘Before it’s too late’ in the USA (National

Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century, 2000), Japanese

Lesson Study was already a world reform issue for professional development of teachers for

a student centred approach and the establishment of the school for learning community, so

called school-based lesson study. Thus, surveying the Japanese Lesson Study was a major

component of the proposal. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and

Technology (MEXT), Japan, became a co-proposal economy from the 2006 proposal. The

CRME and the CRICED have implemented four series of APEC projects collaboratively as

follows:

1. First Series from 2006 to 2008: Innovative teaching mathematics through lesson study

which includes mathematical thinking as for the theme and innovation of classroom tasks

for the assessment.

2. Second Series from 2009 to 2011: Mathematics textbooks, e-textbooks, and educational

tools.

3. Third Series from 2012 to 2014: Emergency Preparedness Education.

4. Fourth Series from 2015 to 2018: Cross-border Education and STEM Education.

Every year, the CRICED managed the planning meeting in Tokyo to promote the theme of

Lesson Study while the CRME managed the report meeting in Khon Kaen. The theme of

Lesson Study, as well as Lesson Study demonstrations which derived from both meetings,

were included in the programmes. These four series of APEC HRDWG projects have

successfully contributed to innovative educational practices in Thailand as well as the APEC

member economies and the non-APEC member economies.

On top of that, the teaching approach for developing mathematical thinking skills has been

promoted to APEC member economies. For example, Japanese primary school textbooks

‘'Study with your friends: Mathematics for Elementary School’ published by Gakko Tosho in

2005 and 2011 written by the teachers of the Elementary School attached to the University of

Tsukuba, which is school textbooks to develop mathematical thinking by using what students

already learned, had been translated into English and used for reference books for the Lesson

Study projects in several economies for learning Japanese Problem Solving Approach to

develop mathematical thinking in the classroom. In addition, these have been adapted into

several languages in APEC economies for teacher education textbooks in Thailand, Mexico,

and Papua New Guinea based on their necessity under their culture in education. Most of

them have been functioning as national textbooks to develop thinking skills. Eventually,

curriculum Standard for Mathematics (SEA-BES, CCRLS, 2017) on ASEAN countries also

included mathematical thinking in their framework (Mangao, et.al, 2017). Further

achievements of the APEC Lesson Study project can be seen such as Isoda and Katagiri

(2012), Inprasitha, et al. (2015), Cabinet of Japan (2017), Isoda and Olfos (2021), and so on.

These became a foundation for the fifth series (2019-2021) of APEC HRDWG, which is

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considered a timely response to the demanding skills in the Digital Era for the 4

Industrial

Revolution.

The Impacts of APEC Lesson Study Project on Thailand’s Educational

Practices

The APEC Lesson Study Project was started in 2006 until to date. In the first stage of the

APEC Project, Lesson Study has been implemented through the internship programme of the

Khon Kaen University and collaborative schools. The Thai edition of the textbooks was

developed with the support of Isoda and the mathematics teachers of Elementary School

attached to the University of Tsukuba, In Thailand, on demand of CRME, they provided several

lectures and lesson study demonstrations to illustrate the content knowledge and the

pedagogical content knowledge which were embedded in the textbooks. The lectures

included the necessary knowledge for teaching multiplication in Isoda &Olfos (2021) and

mathematical thinking in Isoda and Katagiri (2021) for developing children who learn

mathematics by and for themselves.

The textbooks 'Study with your friends: Mathematics for Elementary School’ published by

Gakko Tosho in 2005 were originally developed for the Problem Solving Approach under the

Japanese Curriculum Policy to develop students who learn mathematics by and for

themselves. The CRME needed the adaptation to the Thai Curriculum on the name of Open

Approach as for their method of teaching. Learned Ph.D. Programme students at Khon Kaen

University, as well as the CRME staff, supported the implementation of the Open Approach at

schools by using the textbooks for the Problem Solving Approach. After Khon Kaen

University’s Ph.D. students took the positions for teacher education, the Lesson Study for

Open Approach widely spread to the whole of Thailand based on their experience at their

graduate programme. Because most of the students got their Ph.D. concerning Lesson Study

and the Open Approach, they became specialists to implement these two innovations.

The Whole School Approach was introduced by Inprasitha (2006) after making the

necessary modifications to suit the context of Thailand. The Whole School Approach is a ‘new

teaching approach’ of school-based approach by integrating ‘Open Approach’ in the Lesson

Study process as a method for improving teaching practices.

The exposure of Lesson Study and Open Approach innovations was significantly expanded

to the northeast and across the country in Thailand through the collaboration between CRME,

Khon Kaen University since 2006. Ultimately, this leads to the establishment of the Institute for

Research and Development in Teaching Profession (IRDTP) in ASEAN, Khon Kaen University

in order to enhance and sustain the results of Lesson Study and Open Approach innovative

development up to national and international levels. Currently, the APEC Lesson Study project

has successfully covered schools in 33 provinces located in northeastern, central, south, and

southern border regions of Thailand with the respective 20, 4, 6, and 3 provinces. With the

high commitment from higher education institutions, particularly Khon Kaen University has

made a great success to form strong networking consists of a total of 250 schools from various

regions. As a result, the strong networking with the university experts’ assistance would ease

the problems of teaching and learning process in daily educational practices and teachers’

professional development would be enhanced too.

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Figure 2:

Weekly Cycle of Lesson Study Process

(Inprasitha 2011)

On the current ongoing project at the IRDTP, the following procedures are the policy

for expansion:

1. The dissemination of Lesson Study themes and their process was introduced to

the project schools in various provinces of Thailand. Because of the requirement

of Lesson Study, the creation of a learning community through the Professional

Learning Community (PLC) was formed.

2. Continuing collaboration between CRICED and CRME, IRDTP on professional

development base on Lesson Study and Open Approach, developing textbooks to

enhance thinking skills for the 21

century.

3. The collaborative team, comprised of IRDTP, Khon Kaen University, Teacher

Council of Thailand, National Institute for School Teachers and Staff Development

(NITS) of Japan, and Institute of Professional Development of Teachers, and

Teachers and Educational Personnel, have been working together in preparing

Educational Professional Development Programme. This programme aims to

enhance the capabilities of school administrators and supervisors in promoting

quality of classroom management and leadership thus creating a network for

educational professional development between educational agencies in Thailand

and Japan. Practical training is expected to upgrade the quality of educational

practices through the institutional linking policy. This kind of institutional

collaboration can prepare and develop a better teaching profession for a more

promising future.

4. Collaboration between IRDTP, University of Tsukuba, and SEAMEO to promote the

SEA-Teacher Project to provide opportunity for pre-service student teachers to

have experiences in schools in other countries in Southeast Asia.

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Further Challenges for Lesson Study

Under APEC, the link between the University of Tsukuba under MEXT Japan and Khon

Kaen University under the Ministry of Education of Thailand have conducted collaboratively in

the two respective projects, namely “The Inclusive Mathematics for Sustainability in a Digital

Economy” (InMside I) in 2019 and “Informatics and Data Science Education Reform for Digital,

Inclusive and Sustainable Society” (InMside II) in 2020. It is a challenge for us to conduct the

two respective projects during the COVID-19 pandemic to the era of New Normal. InMiside I

project is managed collaboratively with co-project overseer, Roberto Araya, the University of

Chile on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Chile and InMiside II is collaborated with co-

project overseer, Sofian Azumi bin Tajul Arus, Ministry of Education, Malaysia.

Acknowledgment: This work was partially supported by Khon Kaen University, Thailand.

Inprasitha, Maitree and Isoda, Masami sincerely acknowledge our great academic advisor,

Professor Nohda, Nobuhiko for his philosophy and principle of Open Approach who passed

away on December 3, 2020, 83 years old.

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Mangao, D.D., Ahmad, N. J., & Isoda, M. (2017).

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BES): Common Core Regional Learning Standards (CCRLS) in Mathematics and

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the following individuals and organisations that contributed

to this journal:

• Mr. Benito Espena Benoza, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Educational Innovation

and Technology (INNOTECH)

• Dr. Jesus C. Fernandez, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Food and Nutrition (RECFON)

• Dr. Indrawati, SEAMEO Regional Centre for QITEP in Science

• Dr. Elly Herliani, SEAMEO Regional Centre for QITEP in Science

• Mr. Muhammad Haidar Helmi, SEAMEO Regional Centre for QITEP in Science

• Dr. Sumardyono, SEAMEO Regional Centre for QITEP in Mathematics

• Ms. Russasmita Sri Padmi, SEAMEO Regional Centre for QITEP in Mathematics

• Dr. Irdika Mansur, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Tropical Biology (BIOTROP)

• Dr. Supriyanto, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Tropical Biology (BIOTROP)

• Mr. Harry Imantho, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Tropical Biology (BIOTROP)

• Mr. Slamet Widodo, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Tropical Biology (BIOTROP)

Mr. Joner Situmorang, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Tropical Biology (BIOTROP)

• Ms. Salmah Jopri, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Special Education Needs (SEN)

• Mr. Ahmad Heikhal Amir Hamzah, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Special Education

Needs (SEN)

• Mr. Dominador Dizon Mangao, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Education in Science

and Mathematics (RECSAM)

• Dr. Suhaidah Tahir, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Education in Science and

Mathematics (RECSAM)

• Dr. Mariam Othman, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Education in Science and

Mathematics (RECSAM)

• Dr. Dwi Priyono, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Early Childhood Care Education and

Parenting (CECCEP)

• Dr. Niane Sivongxay, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Community Education

Development (CED)

• Ms. Cheanmaly Phonesavanh, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Community Education

Development (CED)

• Mr. Yoshihide MIWA, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and

Technology (MEXT), Japan

• Dr. Soledad A. Ulep, University of the Philippines National Institute for Science and

Mathematics Education Development (UP NISMED)

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• Dr. Nakao Nomura, University of Tsukuba

• Mr. Yoshikazu Tatemoto, Senior High School at Sakado, University of Tsukuba

• Dr. Hee Chan Lew, Korea National University of Education

• Dr. Maitree Inprasitha, Khon Kaen University

• Dr. Narumon Changsri, Khon Kaen University

• Dr. Masami Isoda, University of Tsukuba

Publishing this journal would not be possible without the leadership of the SEAMEO

Secretariat headed by Dr. Ethel Agnes P. Valenzuela. Special thanks to Allan L. White, PhD

for his contribution in reviewing and editing the articles included in this Journal.