RADFORD – An article by Kristan Morrison, an associate professor in the School of Teacher Education, will be published in the June edition of International Education.

Morrison traveled to Bangkok, Thailand, to research the Darunsikkhalai School of Innovative Learning, a school working with the Thai Ministry of Education to pilot an unconventional, student self-directed philosophy of education.  The article is a descriptive case study of the school, detailing its structures and practices as well as exploring the challenges an unconventional school faces in attempting to change conventional educational paradigms.

Morrison says, “This article is concerned with the case of one of the programs in this project – the Darunsikkhalai School for Innovative Learning (DSIL) – and with detailing what it has accomplished and the challenges it faces in attempting to bring about new definitions of learning and teaching in Thailand. I first provide a detailed description of the school and the research procedures and methods used to study it.  After ‘setting the stage’ in these sections, I move on to explore the primary challenges facing this particular school. I conclude with a discussion of how this case illustrates fundamental problems facing the educational community in respect to changing conventional paradigms.”