| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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Teaching by the Montessori approach was the initiative of Dr. Maria Montessori, an Italian doctor. It is based on observation of students according to the actual situation. It is believed that learning happens by itself. The individual is no longer as dependent on each other because people are encouraged to be curious by nature and the passion in pursuing knowledge. Montessori's teaching was previously initiative for the disabled and abnormal development by adopting teaching for a better result. Montessori's theory is widely accepted around the world. With this method of teaching, students can read, write and calculate in a natural way; like the way they walk and talk. They have chances to work on timing of their personal interests and availability. The aim of Montessori helps the children to learn and work independently.
Children are helped to develop a sense of responsibility and self-control, as well as social skills. The children learn to act as the good members of the group. The children develop emotion and their adjustment to society. They have selective intelligence ability when dealing with complex social context. They can make a selection among various choices. It is seen that the Montessori's instruction allows children to develop their own way of learning with self-control and enhances holistic development.
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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Roi Et Municipality performs its responsibility in improving the quality of life, economy and society to solve problems and meet the needs of the people. It aims to serve a better quality of life to access to public services. The CDC (Child Development Center) was founded in 1998 to provide services to disadvantaged children in the slums to be treated equally in education as the other children of the same age without admission fees. Initially there was no school building. Later, a community health center was used as in the classroom. As of the survey result, there were 32 children with education disadvantage living in the slum community aged 2 years 6 months to 4 years. Roi Et Municipality had established partnerships with parents in the slum community to bring their children to attend the Child Development Center. The children attending the CDC represented 100 percent of all children in the community.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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The action plan of the CDC is in accordance with the needs and problems of children in the community. Participation is involved with administrators, teachers, parents and community. Objectives are targeted at those responsible for supporting the community. Resources assignments to the projects of CDC are involved with all sectors. Criteria for assessment and evaluation of the implementation are to be related to the objectives. As a consequence, all of the results, evaluation, comments, and suggestions are gathered for the program improvement in next year.
Roi Et Municipality adopts Montessori approach as the innovative education management for its CDC in local context. A modified Montessori system was used, which was relatively expensive for maintaining and difficult to buy, some media which unsuitable for local children. It is modified for the local context by using natural instructional materials which are obtainable from the local as learning media. These modified instructional materials are also based on the same Montessori learning objectives.
Using of local materials is not only economic but is also a cultural preservation. Children have a chance to know local wisdom through learning at CDC such as weaving machines and other equipment for use in life. For example, 'Kratib' (bamboo box for sticky rice container), 'Soom' (bell-shaped fish trap made from bamboo stripes weaving )
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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There are three main groups of stakeholders as follows:
1. Students and Teachers: Roi Et Municipality has contributed in making education in CDC successful. Children achieve good progress on all aspects of development. They learn happily and are ready with good foundation to study in a higher level. To the teachers, they developed professional expertise and can teach effectively. They earn the trust from parents. As a result, the success leads to an extension of practice to other centers in the network.
2. Parents and Community: They participate in educational management by assistantship to CDC and by supporting resources such as giving scholarships, participating as a speaker, and being local knowledge providers. Cooperation in the activities is willingly organized. The parents love and cherish this Community Children Development Center.
3. Department of Local Administration and Roi Et Municipality: They are taking parts in supporting fund to build a school building, teaching equipment, allocation of teachers for child care. They also support teaching method of Montessori education for the Child Development Center in Roi Et Municipality area. Teachers are encouraged to receive training and ongoing development. This makes the children in the community to receive educational services and be prepared as appropriate as the age and quality. Fortunately, the Child Development Center, of Roi Et Municipality has been selected as the Excellence Award of Child Development Center of Excellence which becomes prototype of child development center, management. This award was given by the Education Council of Thailand.
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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The cooperation of the community and parents, by using the event created a joint solution. It allows teachers to share ideas and learning activities by using the Montessori education for quality development. The impact on children's learning making them to developed continuously. 100% of preschoolers have received education services. The development is supported appropriately to age and needs of the learners. The instructional media based on Montessori's approach is produced from local materials. By using it, the skills of children become better in life. Even hyperactive children become more disciplined and been practiced on waiting. They tend to be independent and can help themselves on basic tasks. To the parents and relevant person, they are satisfied with their children. After the development assessment for children in all aspects, individual development was seen from the observation and behavior of the children. They can answer interview questions effectively for the assessment.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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Problems are related to the establishment of childcare center and problem in developing the teaching approach of the center.
1) Establishment of the centers. It required space in the slum community to build the center while the community along the canal was quite congested and every house was built on historical and publicly owned land. Homes were difficult to move out. In order to establish the daycare centers, some families needed to sacrifice their space for the establishment of daycare center. All related agencies both Roi Et Municipality and the community had consulted on various occasions to find mutual solution. The Municipality provides substitute areas for households from the area agreed to given their land to establish the center. The conditions under which the rights can be transferred to a family member but it cannot to be sold. Finally, they signed the agreement. Refund of land areas required mutual talk which assisted by other agencies. Both parties had to foresee the benefits to occur together. Many families agreed to move away. Consequently, the establishment of daycare centers had been achieved.
2) Problem with teaching style. The Montessori education that been employed to use in the children development center is an effective teaching model, Montessori's teaching materials are quite limited to obtain and are costly. The council has a limited budget to develop. While expanding the number of children in the community to attend the center was quite slow. Due to limitations, Roi Et Municipality joined forces with consultants with expertise to find a way to justify the use of the media. The materials become cheaper and easier to find in local. They were adapted for use as alternative media for Montessori education. There was finally new teaching model which developed for children preparation and be consistent with the local context. It can be a model to other child care centers to study and adapt from it.
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