Developing Student Support in Self-access Centres

At the beginning of 2004, the Thai Ministry of Education established 80 self-access centres called SEARs (Students English Access Rooms) in secondary schools across the country. These SEARs are designed as a resource for students to help train them in how to learn according to their own learning styles, develop ability for self-directed learning and become independent learners based on their needs, interest and potentiality: in other words, to develop learner autonomy (Office of the Basic Education Commission, 2004). Despite central government funding and careful planning, many teachers and students are uncertain about how to gain the greatest benefits from SEARs. In this chapter, we explore from different perspectives what specific problems teachers and students face in making the best use of SEARs. Our goal is to understand what future support in such limited environments will best help the beneficial development of learner autonomy within SEARs in secondary schools in Thailand.