Although manpower and educational planning have been used in some developing countries for a considerable time to ensure an adequate supply of qualified manpower for the economy, the problem of manpower shortages still persists. An analysis of the reasons underlying the presumed failure of planning processes to ensure adequate supplies of qualified manpower for individual sectors of the economy forms the basis of this study. The issue was examined through an examination of the case of one specific sector of Thailand's economy: the tourism industry. In particular, the study sought to ascertain whether the shortages are the result of problems with the national manpower and educational planning models or whether they reflect issues intrinsic to individual economic sectors. The study draws on the literature in three areas: manpower planning, the relationship between manpower and educational planning, and employment and manpower development planning in the tourism industry. To explore possible explanations for the persistence of manpower shortages in the Thai tourism industry, two kinds of data were used: documentary and interview data. The interviews were conducted with three groups of key informants: employers in the tourist business, providers of tourism education and training, and senior government officials who are involved in manpower and educational planning. A total of 85 people in four tourist centres in Thailand were interviewed. The analysis of the data confirms that there is a mismatch between manpower demand and supply in the Thai tourism industry with demand significantly surpassing supply. The study concluded that there are limitations in the manpower and educational planning models, and that there is a lack of some of the conditions required for their optimal functioning, but that the mismatch between supply and demand in the Thai tourism industry is more fully explained by features intrinsic to the industry itself. A Abstract balance between manpower demand and supply in any sectors would be improved by having manpower planning at the macro level well meshed with educational planning, and by developing linkages between two levels of planning: the national and industry level. More importantly, however, within the industry itself, those involved have to take a planning stance by diagnosing the way their own sector operates and collaborating to rectify the problems they find. This study has implications for policy and improved practice of the planning, production and development of manpower required by the Thai tourism industry. It also has lessons for other sectors of the Thai economy as well as other developing countries. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

This study investigated what constitutes a teaching curriculum for students with autism in inclusive classrooms in Thailand. The researcher employed 3 qualitative methods: semi-structured interviews, document analysis of curricula and lesson plans, and nonparticipant observations. Six schools were selected as the sites. Participants for interview included 6 principals and 24 teachers. The researcher observed one inclusive classroom for each of the 6 selected schools. The study concentrated on 3 questions: (a) What contributes to appropriate instructional curricula to promote teaching of students with autism in inclusive classrooms in Thailand? (b) What teaching strategies improve the achievement and learning skills of students with autism in inclusive classrooms in Thailand? (c) What are the problems of curricula for teaching students with autism in inclusive classroom in Thailand? Key findings for the research questions were as follows: Common features of effective curricula for teaching students with autism in inclusive classrooms include opportunities, health care, specialized curriculum, students' individual needs and abilities, guidelines of teaching, teacher training and supervision, transition plan, parent involvement, tools/classroom environment, and students' class assignments. The teaching strategies include varying the teaching format (large group, small group, and one-on-one), teaching functional communication (giving direction, close-ended questions or open-ended questions), reinforce communication, using demonstration, modeling, and shaping to teach skills, expecting to gather the child's attention, demonstrating nonverbal communication (use gestures with speech), using appropriate language for the child (short sentence structure), providing visual materials (books, computers, or real objects), starting with small intervals of time and reinforcing, using other children as peer models for helping, working to maintain eye contact, asking the child to say the word, pointing to objects with hands and with gestures, including regular exercise (active movement activity), providing time to be alone, and using math activity (to include counting one-to-one, odd and even, and patterns). Moreover, the results revealed that all of interviewees always used applied behavior analysis (ABA), such as discrete trial instruction (DTI), task analysis, and peer tutoring in their classrooms. However, these classrooms never used floor time approach. The problems in teaching students with autism in inclusive classrooms in Thailand include lack of special teachers, lack of knowledge or training for teachers, lack of a good plan and curriculum, lack of supportive services or effective collaboration, lack of budget, and lack of essential information and materials.

This study was a secondary analysis of survey data on participants and nonparticipants in Thai rural education programs. The original data were collected in 1987 by the Office of the National Educational Commission, Office of the Prime Minister, Bangkok Thailand. This study was conducted in order to examine the effect of selected demographic variables on participation and to determine why some rural villagers participate in nonformal educational programs and other villagers do not. The data were collected from a survey of nonformal education in Thai rural areas conducted as part of the evaluation of the Fifth Five-Year Plan. The population consisted of 590 participants in nonformal education programs and 860 nonparticipants. The statistical techniques employed to analyze data were logit analysis, z-test, tables of binomial distribution, and ranking by each of the groups (participants and nonparticipants). The evidence from this study indicates that the average nonformal education participant is an adult between the age of 36 and 50 years, who has completed four or less years of education, and who is married and works in farming (cultivating rice). The findings reveal that participants and nonparticipants in nonformal education programs were significantly different according to their needs for health knowledge, agricultural knowledge, further education, knowledge for living, and vocational knowledge. The reasons associated with participation in nonformal education programs, in this study, were to gain knowledge useful for making a living, for personal interest, to interact with instructors and students, or to make new friends. In this study, the reasons that villagers did not participate in the program were because they lacked time and transportation. While majority of the participants responded that they were satisfied with the nonformal educational courses, four subgroups, adults from age 21 to 35 years, single adults, adults who completed P.5 (grade 5) and above, and farmers, indicated dissatisfaction.

This study deals with the National Defense College of Thailand and its alumni, who are senior military and civil service officers of the government of Thailand. The study examines the proposition that the political attitudes of military and civil service officers in developing countries are likely to be similar and negative. The second proposition examined in this study is that the attitudes of government officials toward the people are likely to be similar and negative. The study also attempts to examine the official attitudes on the basis of cluster. Each of the three clusters consists of seven classes of the National Defense College. It is argued that the political contexts of each cluster were different and that these differences may result in the different attitudes of officials in each cluster. The study found that military and civil service officers in Thailand hold similar attitudes toward politics and that the attitudes are predominantly negative. Official attitudes were similarly negative. Attitudes toward politics vary, depending upon the time in which the officials were in government service. Officers who worked within the environment of the military government are the most distrustful of politics while officials who worked under a more relaxed, more democratic political system are not as distrustful of politics. Attitudes toward the people are not significantly different among officers from different political environments. It was found that the number of alumni of the National Defense College who were able to reach the three highest ministerial positions in the Thai government has declined over the years. These positions are minister, deputy minister, and undersecretary. One cause of this decline is the increasing politicization of the country or the decreasing role, activity, and involvement of the military in politics. The second cause is the relatively stable number oi the members of each class of the National Defense College. As the overall number of government officers of the country has steadily increased over the years, this stable number has put these officials at a disadvantage.

The purpose of this study is to compare and analyze the teaching of history in teachers colleges in the Metropolitan region and other regions in Thailand. Variables examined in this study include the following: salary, teaching experience, degrees held, the number of graduate credit hours in history, the number of graduate credit hours in education, attendance at professional meetings, the number of publications, membership in professional organizations, the number of hours devoted to course preparations, teaching load, and teaching behaviors. The comparison is based on geographical location of the teachers colleges by region. The survey instrument, after intensive review and validation by selected faculty both in Thailand and the United States, was distributed to the 180 history instructors in the teachers colleges in the six major regions of Thailand. The total number of responses was 138, or 76.7 per cent. The statistical procedures used in the analyses of data include frequency and percentage of responses, a chi square test of independence, t test, the Yates* correction for continuity, and Fisher's Exact Probability Test (2-tailed). The data findings from this study indicate that there is a high degree of similarity between the respondents from the Metropolitan region and other regions' history instructors in Thai teachers colleges with respect to the majority of the criteria. Although some significant differences were found, it would be difficult to state that there is a difference between history instructors in the Metropolitan region and other regions groups. Recommendations are made for the history instruction programs in Thailand based on the responses from both groups and the information gathered from a review of the literature.

The purposes of this study were to measure and compare stress levels of academic administrators in public and private universities which are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of University Affairs in Thailand. The administrators surveyed included vice rectors (vice presidents), deans, department chairpersons, and secretary officers from five public and five private universities. The four administrative stress factors studied included role-based stress, task-based stress, conflict-mediating stress, and social-confidence stress.

The purpose for choosing this study was to compare the perceptions of the role of presidents in teachers colleges in Northeastern Thailand. The study groups included the presidents, the administrative staff, and the teaching faculty within these colleges.

Web-based learning has become an important component of education. Higher education institutions in Thailand have become increasingly aware of the widespread use and effectiveness of web-based learning systems. However, the adoption of such learning systems is growing at a slow pace in Thailand. The purpose of this study was to test the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions have a positive effect on usage intention and adoption of web-based learning systems by instructors, in the Departments of Education at the Rajabhat Universities, Thailand; and to test whether experience of use, age, and gender have moderating effects in the adoption of web-based learning systems there. The research design used in this study was a cross-sectional survey design. Data were collected by means of a self-administered paper questionnaire. The study was conducted among the instructors in the departments of education at the Rajabhat Universities in Thailand. A total of 725 surveys were sent out, 454 questionnaires were returned by the respondents, and 14 were eliminated as outliers; thus, the final data set for the study was 440 samples. The two-step approach of SEM was used to test the model and the study's hypotheses; first, the measurement model was measured to examine the validity and reliability of the data; next, the structural model was measured to test the hypotheses of the study and the fitness of the data to the model. The results of this study revealed several factors that can affect instructors’ adoption of a web-based learning system and which can enhance the web-based learning performance of instructors in the Rajabhat Universities and throughout higher education in Thailand.

The uses of computer technology in the fields of art and graphic design in Thailand were investigated for the purpose of identifying levels of current computer use from 280 responses to a specifically designed questionnaire among: 1) full-time graphic design educators, 2) art and design students, and 3) graphic design directors in professional business positions. The study instrument consisted of a questionnaire developed by the researcher, reviewed by a panel of seven experts selected by the Department of Creative Arts, Chula-longkorn University. The panel verified content-related evidence to ensure the validity of the instrument. Appropriate statistical procedures were implemented to develop responses to questions of interest. Analysis of the data showed that a majority of educators, students, and design professionals supported the use of computer in their professions and/or coursework, and that majorities of the same groups made regular use of computers. Subject to differences in rank ordering of computer usage among population groups, majorities from each group agreed that publications and graphics constituted the area of greatest use. A majority of the population agreed that computers helped to improve efficiency within the studio environment, and there were only slight differences among the three groups in generalized support of the use of computers within art and design curricula. All groups agreed that educational emphasis should be placed at the level of the baccalaureate degree, subject to the possible integration of computer training at all educational levels. Students reflected the highest percentage of use frequency, followed in order by professionals and educators. Each group reflected its own specific concerns in perceptions of major barriers to the use of computers in graphic design fields: Educators noted the lack of budgetary resources to install and maintain computers; students noted the lack of computer availability for hands-on experience; and design professionals perceived a lack of opportunity to attend training courses. Overall, the results of this study indicated that significant differences existed between groups representing academic fields (i.e., educators and students) and graphic design professionals for all criteria measured. / Graduation date: 1994

The housing estates boom was and is a result of the Southeast Asia economic growth after the economic crisis between 1997 and 1998. Housing estates, especially in the suburbs of Bangkok, are designed by considering only aesthetics and costs without considering the negative effects that might occur to the occupants and nature. These negative effects lead to the insufficiency energy crisis.Determining how to reduce the energy used and increase the living quality in the building type is the critical question for architects to answer. Redesigning the housing estate using sustainable design concepts, especially with a focus on the natural ventilation and shading device strategies, can lift up the occupants' living quality because such design can provide cross ventilation through the house and solar shading to reduce the heat gain in the house. Not only would such design improvements make houses more comfortable for inhabitants, they also would reduce the energy use.The methodologies of research start with spatial analyses to define the general character of this type of house, then the redesigning of a selected existing house is used to focus on natural ventilation and shading devices design in order to improve the occupants living quality and to reduce the energy used in the house. It is hoped that this project can be the first step for other architects to understand the logic of natural ventilation and shading control design strategies within the realm of sustainability. / Department of Architecture