Earning vs Learning: Supporting Myanmar Migrant Education on the Thailand Myanmar Border

This thesis examines a particular case study of a Migrant Learning Centre on the Thailand Myanmar Border. Previous research has identified a variety of access to education challenges faced by Myanmar migrants highlighting that more migrant children continue to be out of education than in education. However, there is not enough research uncovering the deeper causes of these continued challenges and the forces at work that push migrant children to “earn” rather than “learn”.

Myanmar migrant teachers have a privileged window into both the migrant classroom and the migrant community. Through an examination of literature and data from a qualitative case study listening to the voices of Myanmar migrant teachers the following questions were addressed: What are the challenges of Myanmar migrant education? What are the causes of these migrant education challenges? What are the education implications for a Migrant Learning Centre?

Findings from the literature and field research revealed several important challenges interconnected with multiple layers of causes in policy conflicts, cultural assimilation, and discrimination. Many of these factors remain unaddressed by a current focus on Thai language learning. A continued reluctance to give migrant workers in Thailand more than ‘temporary worker’ status and the lack of legal recognition and support for Migrant Learning Centres continues the status quo of poor educational outcomes for Myanmar migrants in Thailand.

Adopting an action research design enabled Myanmar migrant teachers to identify their most significant challenge of teacher training and evaluate three current teacher training programmes on the Thailand Myanmar border. Following research and discussion of various design features, Myanmar migrant teachers created a proposal for a localised teacher training programme in the Marist Asia Foundation Migrant Learning Centre. The research concludes with implications for an education strategy responsive to the needs of Myanmar students and teachers in this migrant context.