Guideline for Strengthening Citizenship among Secondary School Students in the Northeastern

Abstract

         This article has two main objectives: 1) to study approaches for fostering citizenship among secondary school students in Northeastern Thailand, and 2) to evaluate these guidelines in terms of utility, feasibility, appropriateness, and accuracy. This research employed a mixed-methods design and was conducted in two phases. Phase 1 explored approaches to strengthening citizenship among secondary school students. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with seven purposively selected participants, including university lecturer, expert in child and youth organization, educational administrators, school administrators, and teacher. The qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis. Phase 2 evaluated the identified approaches based on a four-dimensional standard framework: (1) utility, (2) feasibility, (3) appropriateness, and (4) accuracy. A total of 25 questionnaires were administered to three respondent groups: teachers in the Social Studies, Religion, and Culture subject area; teachers responsible for student development activities; and experts. The quantitative data were analyzed using statistical methods. Findings from Phase 1 produced 14 items for evaluation under the four-dimensional framework, while the Phase 2 results confirmed their overall feasibility and validity. Two key findings emerged: (1) the developed citizenship promotion guidelines comprised five core strategies promoting respect for equality, promoting respect for the rights of others, fostering public-mindedness, advancing civil liberties and freedom, and encouraging responsibility; and (2) the guidelines, evaluated by 10 social studies teachers, 10 teachers of student development activities, and five experts in citizenship education, were rated at the highest quality level. Among the assessed dimensions, utility achieved the highest mean scores, ranging from 4.92 to 4.96. These results indicate that the developed guidelines are both practical and effective in promoting citizenship within educational institutions.