Key Education Quality Determinants of Thai Secondary Schools in Bangkok

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the key determinants of the quality of education of upper-secondary schools in Bangkok. 149 upper secondary schools and teachers were selected. The dependent variable was education quality, while the examined independent variables were the transformational leadership of the school principal, teacher quality, and school facilities. To evaluate the education quality of the students in the selected schools, the Ordinary National Educational Test (O-NET) and the General Aptitude Test (GAT) scores were employed. Both examinations are organized by The National Institute of Educational Testing Service to measure student academic proficiency: i.e. education quality. The results revealed that among the three independent variables tested, only teacher quality and school facilities had statistically significant impact on education quality, i.e. the O-NET and GAT scores. Teacher quality could explain 50.0 and 71.2 percent of the total variance for the O-NET and GAT scores, respectively. While school facility could predict 42.9 and 27.5 percent of total variance for the O-NET and GAT scores. All the three independent variables, could explain the O-NET and GAT scores up to 61.8 and 75.0 percent, while the rests were caused by other factors which were not included in this study. Moreover, the finding showed that school facility also had significant impact on teacher quality as well. In short, both teacher quality and school facility are considered as the key determinants of education quality for upper secondary schools in Bangkok.