Educating for citizenship in a fragile democracy: interrogating civic agenda in Thai higher education

• Main Author: Vachararutai Boontinand
• Other Authors: Mahidol University
• Format: Article
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: Social Sciences
• Online Access: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/79112

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.