Khon Kaen provides our first Doctor of Education
by
Michele Nardelli
When
Thailand’s Ada Raimaturapong began studying at UniSA in 1994 as an
AusAid scholarship winner she had no idea she would leave the
institution as a trailblazer.
A graduate with a Bachelor of Education majoring in English, Raimaturapong was building her career as a teacher of English as a Second Language in Thailand.
After finishing her Graduate Diploma in Education at UniSA, she returned to SA in 1997 to complete her Masters program. In semester two 1999, with a scholarship from the Thai government, she embarked on a Professional Doctorate in Education, a program just established at UniSA to provide teachers with a professionally relevant doctoral qualification.
“I had some very specific ideas I wanted to explore related to how I could improve English language education for engineering communities who are very dependent on English texts throughout their education and careers,” Raimaturapong said.
“A traditional PhD, while interesting and rewarding, was really more about research than the application of new ideas and models in the workplace.”
The program is available full and part-time to meet the needs of working professionals, but Raimaturapong tackled it full-time which meant setting up house in Adelaide and bringing her two teenage children with her.
“It has been a great experience but it took a lot of planning to juggle family and study,” she said.
Raimaturapong’s research project entitled, English for Thai Engineering Communities: Curriculum renewal processes for English for specific purposes, was highly focused. It is something she said will apply immediately in her work in Khon Kaen at the Rajamangala University of Technology Isan, where she lectures in Technical English.
Raimaturapong returned to Adelaide in May to attend her graduation and catch up with lecturers who, after so many years, have become friends.
Those who supervised Raimaturapong’s research, Professor Jill Burton, Jenny Barnett and director of the program, Dr John Walsh, believe she has set an amazing example.
“She is the first graduate in the Doctor of Education program – she is an international student undertaking doctoral studies in a second language and culture which added complexities and challenges. Her achievement is most definitely trailblazing,” Dr Walsh said.