𝘽𝙮 𝙎𝙀𝘼𝙈𝙀𝙊 𝙎𝙏𝙀𝙈-𝙀𝘿

17 June 2023 ─ Prof. Tom Corcoran, an advisor of the Strengthening Teacher Education Program (STEP) was invited to speak at International Conference on Education Reform (ICER) 2023, urging how core practices are key elements in elevating Thai education standards.

ICER is a conference hosted by Mahasarakham University to promote the academic and research community (Thailand and international) collaboration and compound educational innovations that tackle education reform. This year 2023, ICER was hosted virtually (from 16 June 2023 to 17 June 2023) with the theme of “Education for Sustainable Development” ─

preparing school executives, educators, and teachers to prompt for future policy in education.

Revolving around the topic of “Reforms in Education,” Prof. Corcoran, who is an expert in educational policymaking, cited two reports from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 2018 and the Consortium of Policy Research and Education (CPRE) 2019, which indicates Thailand lacking behind international standards.

Joined virtually, Prof. Corcoran first pointed the obstruction of why Thai novice teachers are unable to excel. He remarked that this is because of the excessive theoretical coursework and inadequate training of novice teachers before their professional teaching took place.

Extracting some of the success cases in developed countries, Prof. Corcoran found the Core Practices Consortium to be a crucial source of education reform. The Consortium utilizes core practices, which identified fundamental components of teaching that teachers enact to support learning. Core practices include both general and content-specific practices and consist of strategies, routines, and moves that can be unpacked and learned by teachers.

Witnessed by both Thailand and international teachers and policymakers, Prof. Corcoran proposed that the “major solution to education Major in developed countries is practice-based teacher education integrating with the core practices.”

As the event concludes, Prof. Corcoran will continue SEAMEO STEM-ED's work to develop a new generation of capable teachers in the Strengthening Teacher Education Program (STEP).