Needs Assessment of Stakeholders for Promoting Intergenerational Learning Program in Thai Context

“Intergenerational learning program” or “IP” has been increasingly important nowadays since it is considered as one of the significant tools in solving some social problems arising from changes in social structure and roles of family members. However, this concept is needed and new to Thai educational stakeholders. The objective of this study is to explore the learning needs of stakeholders for promoting intergenerational learning program in Thailand. It aims to study the awareness and knowledge of the stakeholders towards IP and identify their current program managemental skills when running general learning programs. The qualitative research design was used in this study. The semi-structured in-depth interview is a tool to capture the rich context. The key informants consisted of 3 groups of experienced stakeholders total of 26 people including 1) community educators 2) school principals and teachers and 3) local wisdom and volunteers. Each group was purposively selected from respectful educators in rural and urban areas equally. Thematic content analysis was used to analyze the interview data. Despite the fact that the stakeholders were aware of current situations of intergenerational relationships and had a good attitude towards the meaning and benefits of IP, there were only 65.38% of key informants who viewed that it was needed in the Thai context, and only 45.80% were ready to bring IP to its community. However, about 73.60% of those who showed positive responses to IP would determine the success of the program. Knowledge and understanding about objectives of IP showed needs to improve self-esteem, solve social problems, and promote physical and mental health. Ways of practice IP indicated needs to promote understanding of reciprocal learning between the aging and children, as well as ability to design activities following IP concepts. For program managemental skills, there were 4 skills when considering the problem skills above 30% were needs to improve.