As the end of the school semester approaches, MMR has held a planning day to clarify the vision and set future goals for all of our Marist Education Programmes. We were pleased to be able to ask Duncan McLaren, one of our education partners from Australian Catholic University, to facilitate this day for us.
A major point of discussion was the absence of an MMR primary education programme. We run kindergarten and secondary programmes, and now provide the opportunity for some students to undertake tertiary education. Is a primary programme also needed, and is it feasible? Another area of much discussion was the relationship between MMR and local the Thai non-formal education department, and how we might develop this to allow our students to achieve some Thai accreditation for their studies.
After a hard day’s work of brainstorming, evaluating, sharing ideas and daring to dream, the team came up with an action plan for the immediate future of MMR education. A smaller committee will formulate a vision statement using the principles arising out of the day. Although a full primary programme is not within our reach at this stage, a grade one programme will be offered next semester for the current kindergarten students so that we can judge the response from the students and their parents. In addition, plans are underway to work more closely with the non-formal education department.
A day of achievement, and many thanks to Duncan for his great facilitating!