ABSTRACT

In light of socio-political dynamics at play in contemporary Thailand, higher education (HE) is becoming an important site for citizenship learning. This article interrogates priorities and practices of civic/citizenship education in Thai universities. Data was collected through in-depth interviews with leadership in five public universities across Thailand. Findings suggest that civic/citizenship education serves various goals. Despite the call for HE to respond to societal crisis, the discursive practices of formal civic/citizenship education in Thai universities function not only to maintain the state ideology by producing responsible citizens but also serve to supply adaptable and voluntary-minded employees for the market. Thai universities also appropriates civic/citizenship learning for their own institutional branding. In the context where democracy is undermined, civic/citizenship education is depoliticised.

摘要

鉴于当代泰国的社会政治动态，高等教育 (HE) 正在成为公民学习的重要场所。本文质疑泰国大学公民/公民教育的优先事项和实践。数据是通过对泰国五所公立大学领导层的深入访谈收集的。调查结果表明，公民/公民教育服务于各种目标。尽管呼吁 HE 应对社会危机，但泰国大学正规公民/公民教育的话语实践不仅通过培养负责任的公民来维持国家意识形态，而且还为市场提供适应性和志愿意识强的员工。泰国大学也将公民/公民学习用于他们自己的机构品牌。