Democracy, Philosophical Enquiry, and Citizenship Education in Thailand

Abstract

This chapter discusses and reflects on the findings of a research project entitled Philosophical Enquiry as a Pedagogy for Teaching Critical Thinking and Democratic Citizenship in Higher Education that was carried out in Thailand in the context of a prolonged ideological and political divide. Thai lecturers who teach citizenship-related courses were trained in the Philosophy for Children/Community of Philosophical Enquiry (P4C/CoPE) method and applied it in their classrooms. Both teachers and students found the P4C/CoPE approach useful in enabling the latter to express their views and disagreements civilly, which is an important quality of citizens in democracies. Despite some challenges in adopting this approach in Thai higher education contexts, there is potential for P4C/CoPE to help nurture a critical and democratic citizen.