Research and Development of Curriculum for Thai LOTE for the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE)

Part I: Aims of research

• This report aims to assess the state of the Thai language in Australian schools. It is the first report into the Thai language since 1995, when Thai appeared in the 2nd volume of Unlocking Australia’s Language Potential: Profiles of languages in Australia.  Thai was not included when the initial report Unlocking Australia’s Language Potential:  9 Key Languages in Australia was published (Marriott, Neustupný & Spence-Brown, 1994) prior to the implementation of the National Asian Languages and Studies in Australian Schools (NALSAS) strategy.

• This report seeks to focus directly on Thai in Australian schools. The previous report by Peter Jackson in 1995 focused broadly on the Thai language and studies at all levels. In its Foreword the significance of the Thai language was summarized as: “The Thai volume addresses a language that is struggling to maintain a toehold in Australian education but which in regional, geo-political and cultural terms amply justifies its place”. Since this report was written almost 20 years ago the situation in Australia has changed dramatically in relation to the Thai language. The most recent update for this report was the Lowy Institute’s report of 2011 on Thai studies in Australia, which made the controversial claim that: In contrast to some other Asian countries, therefore, Thailand grabs most Australians at an experiential, not an intellectual level. It is a level of interest that is affectionate and anecdotal (in the words of one interlocutor, “bars, beaches and bargains”) rather than couched in a broader framework of strategic, economic or cultural significance to Australia. (Lowy: 20)

1.1 Why Thai language is important?

• A dramatic increase in the Thailand population in Australia in cities such as Melbourne and Sydney.  New “Thai town” in Sydney

• In Australia there are currently 45,636 people with Thai ancestry

• In Victoria, the Thai community has increased 52.6% from 2006 to 2011. There is a strong relationship between Thailand and Australia.

• Thailand is now Australia’s eighth largest trading partner measured by two-way trade.

• Thai language and cultural studies has a long history in Australia and the first Thai student who attended Geelong Grammar was in 1947. 1.2 Export/Import Comparisons Thailand and Australia

1.2 Export/Import Comparisons Thailand and Australia

         It is important to note above that the trade between Thailand and Australia is quite unequal. This may be a reflection of a number of aspects such as Thailand’s economic standing compared with other larger Asian nations. This is particularly obvious in relation to the Australian direct investment.

        Recent trade statistics comparing Australia’s investment with other ASEAN nations and Thailand:

1.3 Australian investment in selected ASEAN countries

(Source: ABS 53520 – International Investment Position, Australia: Supplementary Statistics. 2012, Table 5)

1.4  Summary

           This of the significance of Thailand to Australians as experiential rather than intellectual it was explained by reference to a number of possible reasons. There are at least three possible reasons for this experiential rather than intellectual level of interest:

          (a) Thailand has little or no visibility in the high school curriculum in both teaching materials and instruction. Asian elements in the school curriculum tend to follow Australians’ general interest in the larger Asian countries and cultures, and there are no significant historical episodes (apart from the occasional mention of Japanese POW camps, marches and projects) in which Australia and Thailand significantly intersect. There is thus little essential grounding for an intellectual interest. (Lowy 2011: 20)

And then also

               (b) Thailand suffers from a tendency to group Southeast Asia as an homogeneous whole – and finally that

(c) Thailand may have been too successful in promoting itself as a good holiday destination.

              In summary, there would seem to be a threshold level of public interest in Thailand that is poorly matched by either deeper knowledge or the infrastructure needed to provide that deeper knowledge.

             There is also a strong national interest in maintaining and further developing Australia’s expertise on a pivotal country in Australia’s region, which is likely to experience internal instability for some years.

            The current state of Thai studies in Australia’s universities points to a gradual decline in Thai expertise, even at the traditional centre of Thai studies, the ANU 

Dr Simon Johnson  Australian Asian Associates

Dr Sopha Cole Thai Education Centre of Victoria Inc

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