A Case Study of Quality Education in Myanmar: Education Leaders' Perspectives

This case study explores Myanmar education leaders’ perceptions and experiences of quality education. Five online semi-structured interviews were conducted with education leaders from a State Administrative Council School, the Ministry of Education-National Unity Government, an International Private School, an Ethnic Education Organisation, and a Non-Governmental Organisation. An analysis of documents and websites was carried out to triangulate the data. Four important themes of quality education were found across cases: (i) a student-centred quality education (ii) different skills and values for different students, (iii) teacher quality and (v) quality education as ideals vs realities. The factors that affect education leaders’ perceptions of quality education were personal experiences, the context of the school, the politics of schooling and the political structure. The most interesting mechanism influencing education leaders’ perception of quality education was the recent Myanmar military coup which inadvertently accelerated a trajectory of quality education that centres on students’ interests, well-being, and federal democratic citizenship by forcing education into less formal structures and spaces. Subsequently, Myanmar formal schooling is put into question as it no longer serves the interests of the people. This study argued that quality education in Myanmar must be developed from the bottom up that considers all aspects of the economic, social, cultural, and political issues if the purpose of education is to achieve social justice, but democracy is a must have precondition to do this.