Tossaporn Sariyant

Pan retired from the Office of Nonformal and Informal Education of the Ministry of Education, Thailand after 37 years of service. She taught part-time at the Chiang Mai University School of Education until October 2016, and is now relaxing and going through old papers, as well as meeting occasionally with her 3 doctoral and 2 master’s advisees from Chiang Mai University.

 

In 2017 she began teaching basic English (after school) for primary school children – see photo.  She also spent time following up on the Hill Areas Education program which she participated in developing and implementing from 1985 to 1988.

 

She writes about a recent entrepreneurial activity:

 

I have developed an income generating hobby at home – baking cakes, pies and cookies to sell at a coffee shop near Chiangmai International Airport, which is owned by a daughter of a friend.. I have to make these goodies every week. It is a joyful hobby because it drives me to find and learn more about new recipes. The most important learning experience for me is how to make a satisfying profit without taking advantage of my consumers. For this purpose, I have find ways to reduce the cost of production while maintaining the quality. For example, I made some baking ingredients myself instead of buying all from the super market.

 

This learning experience may seem "mundane" or "uninteresting" academic stuff for others, but it is a significant life change. I must say it helps to learn to live a good, happier life with less expense. [11-17]

 

She has also been active in participating in regional alternative learning and education conferences. She commented, “Attending the Asia-Pacific regional conferences on women's literacy recently… reminded me of what I once heard in Amherst: ‘if you throw some stones into a crowd of participants in literacy conferences around the world, one will hit a person who has some connection with CIE.’” Indeed, Pan has met up with many fellow CIE graduates, including Joanie Cohen-Mitchell, Toon and Rob Fuderich, Cole and Jenny Genge, Andrew Jilani, and Elias Moning. [2/17]

 

 

Pan wrote to CIE about an interesting action research project she was conducting in 2011:

 

“I have been trying out a life skills learning through income-generating activity. It is an action research I called Patched our life, Patched our world. It involves vocational skills training using scraps of cotton fabric, dumped by cotton product factories around one village, to make patchwork quilts and other patchwork products to sell in handicraft shops in nearby towns.

 

The action research started with asking a group of interested women to explore ways to reduce waste in their village and to create something of value from the waste. The group discoverd that garment factories in their area produce fabric waste that can be made into other useful or saleable products.

 

The quilt that Barbara Gravin Wilbur gave me sparked the idea of skills training for making patchwork products. Many women are able to design and make patchwork products to sell for extra income. However, they need more training in skills such as designing patchwork patterns, color theory, basic math for calculating the cost of materials, labor time and for pricing their products.

 

Thus, the training is a way to help maintain literacy and numeracy skills, together with an awareness of how to create self-reliance and reduce waste problems in their community at the same time. I have a lot of fun doing this little project.” [10/11]

 

 

Email: pan@asflight.org

 

 

Degree: 
Ed.D.
Entrance Year: 
Graduation Year: 
5-year span: 
Status: 
CIE Graduate