The Student Council and the Role of Strengthening Democracy in the School

Abstract

The objectives of this research are to examine the process of democracy promotion in schools by means of student council activities and to propose an approach of student council that suits the context of Thailand. This research is a qualitative research and quantitative approach to collect data. For data collection in Japan were used interview method primarily with school administrator and students from Inagakuen (secondary public school) and Waseda (secondary private school) , for Thailand, expert interviews were conducted before undertaking field research to interview advisors of student council activities and students who take part or used to take part in a student council and those who never take part in a student council in four schools whose student councils have been recognized as best practices in Thailand. Using questionnaires as research tools, a survey sample of 382 respondents, selected by a purposive sampling, were asked to answer questions concerning the implementation of their student councils and democratic values in their own views. Qualitative data analysis utilized document analysis and analytic induction methods. For quantitative research, the calculation of descriptive statistics, including frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation (SD), was conducted using statistical computational tools.

The findings indicated that key elements to a successful democracy in Japan are the well-defined educational goal and the common ground shared by the schools and the central government toward the educational management approach. The concept of learning about democracy through practice is a crucial principle in carrying out student council activities. Student council activities are employed as a means to develop and cultivate a sense of responsibility in a student’s way of life and to underline the concept of active participation. The student councils in Thailand and those in Japan are not much different in terms of their principle, concept and forms. The main factors which determine different results in adopting a student council as a means to promote democracy in the two countries, however, lie on the well-defined educational goal, the firm educational policy, as well as the development of basic skills for teachers.

Quantitative analysis shows that activity in which students can perform by themselves or are free to perform the most is “the distribution of roles and responsibilities within the students” (59.7 percent), the most recognized student council mission is the mission to perform in compliance with the school regulations or any other government regulations as well as to preserve the culture and traditions of moral good. The result of democratic value survey indicated that the average of all aspects of democratic values fall within the stage of "Responding" ( = 2.48, SD = .35). The value aspect of justice and wisdom has the highest average score which falls within the stage of "Recognizing" ( = 2.54, SD = .42). The average scores of current student council members are higher than those of former student council members in all aspects of democratic values. In comparison with the current and former student council members, the students who never take part in a student council have the lowest average score in all aspects of democratic values. The keys to strengthening the democratic process in school using student councils include determining of direction and framework to enable the continuity of student council activities, making student council activities as equally important as other extra-curricular activities, improving the quality of student council activities’ advisors, allocating sufficient funds to support student council activities, providing accurate information about the democratic process, as well as raising awareness among administrators and teachers of the importance of student council activities as a means to drive the democratic participation in schools.