Thailand’s fiercely independent spirit and lack of colonization has benefitted the country in a variety of ways. Perhaps the most tangible and visible effect is the fact that Thailand has been the regional economic powerhouse for sometime. However, next year, the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economy Community (AEC) goes into effect, bringing a European Union style agreement for free movement of qualified workers among the 10 member nations with the lingua franca being English. This impending development for the region has had a rather significant impact on the work that I am asked to do here.
What is ASEAN?
First a bit about ASEAN, of which Thailand was a founding member state. The goals of ASEAN include growing the economies of the region, progressing socially and evolving socioculturally.
In 1967, foreign ministers from the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand met in Bangkok and signed the ASEAN Declaration. One of the motivations for the founding of ASEAN was anti-communist sentiments. However, as as the international climate changed and as the other countries in the region stabilized, that concern lessened and membership increased to include Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar (Burma) and Cambodia.
In 2007, the members signed the ASEAN Charter, which made the association a legal entity. Now, ASEAN’s main focus is promoting peace and stability in the region by introducing the Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty, as well as promoting economic growth of the region.
What is the AEC?
To help reach the goal of economic growth for the region the AEC has grown out of several past initiatives. Starting with the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) scheme, which promoted the free flow of goods across borders of member nations. The CEPT morphed into the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) and was signed in 1992.
This has slowly changed over the last couple decades and in 2007 the focus shifted toward the implementation of the AEC and meeting of the agreed upon standards by 2020. In 2011, the date was moved up to 2015.
The main objectives of the AEC are to create a single market and production base, become a highly competitive economic region, become a region of equitable economic development and to fully integrate the region into the global economy.
The Requirements of the AEC
One of the standards agreed upon in the AEC Blueprint is that English will be the working language for the community. However, Thailand’s scores on English proficiency have consistently rated at the bottom of all the ASEAN nations. Which explains why any native English speaker, or even someone who speaks English, is asked to be an English teacher and to help with “conversational English.”
In addition to this, the curriculum here is very insular, with little to no learning on other countries. The “ASEAN Way” calls for mutual respect of the national identity of the nations, as so there is also a big push for student to memorize trivia facts about the ASEAN nations, such as national dishes, currency and traditional clothing.
Effects of the AEC in the Region
One might think that with the date being moved up by 5 years, that other nations would be scrambling as well. But when I spoke with people who visited the Philippines or a Peace Corps Volunteer from Indonesia, they told stories of confusion on the topic.
My friend who visited the Philippines said a man there was excited for ASEAN because it would finally allow them to compete economically with China. Which allowed me some insight: Thailand has always been on top economically in the region and have not had the need to do much to innovate to stay there.
This new agreement will put these 10 nations on equal footing and allow them to work together, which elevates many of them, but in some sense drags Thailand down a bit, which needles at their sense of pride and the institutional xenophobia.
Effects of the AEC in Thailand
So in the last couple of years, there have been the introduction of a number of different initiatives to try to improve the English instruction and overall education of Thailand. One example is the introduction of the One Tablet Per Student scheme, which was cancelled last month in favor of making all the classrooms “smart classrooms”. There’s also been the flurry of multi-day trainings and seminars on topics that are over the heads of the participants and take teachers and administrators away from the schools.
I feel the pressure that is put on my co-teacher and the expectations that are set for me, of all the students being able to speak English by the time I leave. There is a lot working against education reforms here, including a rotating and unstable government, but there are teachers and people on the ground in the communities that understand the benefits of the AEC and what it might take to reap those benefits.