Title: JFIT Project: Strengthening Teacher Education to Achieve EFA Review of Pre-Service Teacher Training
1JFIT ProjectStrengthening Teacher Education to
Achieve EFAReview of Pre-Service Teacher
Training
- Lao PDR
- By Yangxia LEE
- Director of CEWED/Lead Research, MOE
2Introduction
- The objective of the study is to
- Review policies related to teachers education
and gender equality, inclusive education,
multilingual education and human rights
education - Review teachers training curricula, materials,
pedagogy and methodology to assess the
gender-responsiveness, inclusiveness, integration
of human rights education, multilingual education
and flexibility to meet diverse needs of
learners and - Identify key capacity gaps and constraints
3Context
- To understand the role and function of basic
education in Lao PDR, it is necessary to
understand - Recent historical development
- Demographic composition and
- Geographical location.
4Recent historical development
- Replacing earlier Kingdoms, Lao PDR became a
French colony in 1893 which continued until the
advent of World War II. - Following the end of WW II, the colonial power
returned while at the same time, a Lao Government
was formed by President Kaisôn, initially
in-exile in 1949, and then in the northern part
of the country in the early 1950s. - The struggle for Lao independence was
inter-twined with the Indo-China war which lasted
until 1975. - During this struggle for independence some ethnic
groups sided with the foreign-supported Royalist
government. - As a result, the process of nation-building under
the Peoples Democratic Republic of Lao to unify
all ethnic groups into one country began
post-1975, only over the last 34 years.
5Demographic composition
According to the 2005 Population Census, the 5.6
million people of Lao PDR are distributed among
49 different ethnic groups. The major population
groups are Lao (55), Khmu (11) and Hmong
(8). The map shows the distribution of ethnic
groups across the country. Lao ethnic people live
mostly on the low-lands and adjacent to the
Mekong River with other ethnic groups living in
mountainous regions. Nation-building means
integrating many ethnic cultures, traditions and
belief systems
6Geographical location
Lao PDR has often been described as a
land-locked country. However, globalisation
has led to new opportunities and Lao PDR is now
conceptualised as a land linked county, with
Thailand needing land access to Vietnam and
China. This situation has opened many
opportunities for trade, not just for enterprises
but for local poor and ethnic villages located
along the main linking roads. Education must
support poor ethnic villages to take advantage of
these new economic opportunities and at the same
time prevent potential social problems.
7Contextual Implications for Teacher Training
- Education clearly has an important role in
establishing cultural identity and
nation-building. - There is an established link between language
and cultural identity. - Education and teacher training in Lao PDR play
key roles.
8Education Policy Review
- The Education Law of 2007 gives expression to a
provision in the Constitution that - "Lao citizens have the right to receive
education... - It also provides to create opportunities and
favorable conditions in education for all people
throughout the country, especially people in
remote areas, ethnic groups, women and
disadvantaged children.
9Education Policy Review (cont.)
- The Children's Law states that
- "All children are equal in all aspects without
discrimination of any kind, in respect of sex,
race, ethnic group, language, belief, religion,
physical state and socio-economic status of their
family". - It expresses a responsibility of the State to
create "child-friendly schools that are popular
for children and attract them to learning". - It contains provisions concerning the education
of children with talent, disadvantaged children,
children with disabilities, and children with
HIV/AIDS (with disclosure of their HIV/AIDS
status being forbidden)
10Education Policy Review (cont.)
- The Women's Law states that conditions should be
created to enable women to complete at least a
primary education, and to receive professional
training, to acquire skills and experience, and
to have employment discipline so that women can
have the same employment opportunities in society
as men"..
11Education Policy Review (cont.)
- The National Socio-Economic Development Plan
identifies the accomplishment of the Education
for All goals as being a key plank of the
Government's education sector strategy. - Lao PDR acceded to the Convention on the Rights
of the Child in 1991, including the right to
education, and the need to make primary education
compulsory and available free to all. - Lao PDR is also a party to the International
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination (since 1974), and to the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (since 1981)
12Education Policy Review (cont.)
- The Education Sector Development Framework
outlines the major policy objectives for the
sector until 2015 - A priority for educational services in the 47
poorest districts. - Introduction of Schools of Quality as the minimum
standard, based on a Human Rights Approach,
including right of survival and safety, right for
protection, right to participate and right for
development. - Gender equity targets at all levels, although
there is no specific identifiable gender equity
strategy. - Reduction of costs barriers to basic education.
- An inclusive focus to ensure services provided
for out-of-school children due to remoteness,
disability, poverty, etc. - Curricula, materials and pedagogy to be gender
responsive and mainstream gender into the
education system.
13Implications of policy analysis
- Provision of educational services in Lao PDR is
for all people, regardless of gender, ethnicity,
disability, poverty or geographical location, - HOWEVER
- Part IV (article 33) of the Education law states
that Lao language and Lao characters are to be
the (only) official language and characters to be
used in all learning institutions. - Teaching Lao language is a means for
nation-building, unifying all citizens as being
Lao. It is also the common trading language and
the communication needed for the poor to enter
the mainstream economy.
14Center for Promotion of Education for
Women-Ethnic-Disabled People
- This Center was established in April 2008 to
promote and advocate for educational
opportunities for women, disadvantaged groups,
ethnic groups and disabled people. - It is developing a sector-wide policy for
inclusive education. - There is also a Gender and Ethnic Groups
Development Plan. - The Director of the CEWED reports directly to a
Vice-Minister of Education. - Currently called the Centre for Promotion of
Education for Women-Ethnic-Disabled People
(CEWED) which is replaced the former Gender and
Ethnic Minority Education Unit (GEMEU), and it is
being proposed to name Inclusive Education
Center
15Methodology for review of curriculum, learning
materials and pedagogy for teacher training
Three research teams collected data during field
trips to three (of eight) teacher training
institutions . Luangnamtha and Saravan serve
predominantly smaller population ethnic groups
while Vientiane province is mostly Lao
ethnicity. Questionnaires and a structured
interview were used to collect data. Curricula
and learning materials were examined and
interviews with pedagogical staff were
conducted. Prior training was provided and a
practice data collection exercise was conducted
at a teacher training institute in the national
capital.
16Analysis of teacher training curricula
- No material on students with physical or mental
disabilities - Very little material on ethnic diversity
- Gender is mentioned a few times but at TTCs
that have received training from the GEMEU/CEWED
these lecturers are able to expand the curriculum
adequately - Human Rights is not specifically included as a
separate element of the curriculum, but its
principles underpin the whole curriculum - The Education Law regulates that only Lao
language is to be used.
17Illustrations from revised TTC Curricula-Principle
of Teaching Primary Education 83 and 112
systems Topic 13 Gender in Classroom
Groups work consists of girls, boys and Hmong
Khmu ethnic students.
18Illustrations from revised TTC Curricula-Principle
of Teaching Primary Education 83 and 112
systems
Topic 4 Teaching Activities Students are
playing rope jumping
Topic 5 Child Centered Students are cleaning
19Analysis of Learning Materials
- Concepts related to inclusive education are not
included in current learning materials - There are no specific materials or resources in
the library that relate to concepts of Human
Rights Education - There are very few mainstream materials that
promote gender equity although - Two TTCs that were involved in a previous
ADB/AusAID funded project do have some materials
and the third TTC had some materials linked to
the gender training provided by GEMEU/CEWED.
20Analysis of Learning Materials (cont.)
- The BEGP/LABEP project (2000 2007) focussed on
education for ethnic groups and women - For example, 480 ethnic people, mostly female,
from remote villages were recruited, trained and
deployed - To support this, special materials in the form of
21 supplementary books were produced for teachers
and teacher-training institutions. These
materials have illustrations and content that
specifically address issues of ethnic diversity
and gender equity.
21Analysis of Learning Materials (cont.)
- MOE has started to revise learning materials to
be more responsive to the need to be more
inclusive and to more explicitly reflect a Human
Rights approach to education and specifically to
teacher training - This revision process has begun with primary
education textbooks. Existing textbooks (for both
schools and teacher-training) reflect a
mono-cultural and male-bias approach. - Two examples of revised illustrations are here
22Illustrations from revised textbooks
Grade 1 Moral Education playing together
23Illustrations from revised textbooks (cont)
Grade 1 Moral Education helping older people
24Analysis of Pedagogical Approach
- Inclusiveness
- Lecturers try to expand the curriculum. For
example, at Luangnamtha TTC, ethnic lecturers and
students wear traditional clothing every Tuesday
and ethnic students can write their own
traditional poems and stories in literature
classes - Ethnic students are encouraged to write
traditional ethnic stories to use in their
teaching - Very limited understanding of IE in the broader
sense. Only one TTC Director, who had attended a
training workshop by the GEMEU understood IE
concepts and - Disabilities is not addressed.
25Analysis of Pedagogical Approach (cont.)
- Gender Equity
- Many lecturers were trained either by LABEP or
the IEC (funded by UNESCO and ADB) - They understand the concepts and
- Incorporate these into their teaching approach
although newer staff have not received training.
26Staff of Teacher Training Institutions by Gender
Institution Total Female Male Percent female
LuangNamtha 49 18 31 63
Bankeun 94 30 64 68
Salavan 77 40 37 48
27Analysis of Pedagogical Approach (cont.)
- Human Rights Education
- There is limited understanding of the concept of
Human Rights Education - Many lecturers approach their work in a manner
consistent with HRE but - Do not understand how this HRE conceptual
framework underpins all of teacher training.
28Analysis of Pedagogical Approach (cont.)
- Multi-Lingual Education
- The Education law of 2007 mandates the use of
only Lao language and characters for education at
all levels - In Luangnamtha TTC, there is no use of ethnic
language to assist explanation even though only
less than 3 of the province population is Lao
ethnic group. (Ethnic students are Lao second
language speakers) - The proportion of ethnic lecturers is very small,
8 in Luangnamtha, 4 in Ban Kheun and 2 in
Saravan.
29Recommendations
- More training on how to mainstream Human Rights,
Gender Equity and Inclusive concepts into teacher
training curriculum, materials and pedagogy - Need to integrate into the national curriculum
more local content to facilitate linkages between
education and real needs of various ethnic groups
to improve relevancy - More information outlining the ethnic diversity
of Lao PDR is needed, not just geographical
distribution but beliefs, traditions etc., shown
clearly through text, photos and illustrations
30Recommendations (cont.)
- To make training practical, more learning
materials that reflect Inclusiveness, Gender
Equity and Human Rights are required, both
textbooks and library materials - Affirmative action policy to recruit more
lecturers from local ethnic groups and also more
females
31Implications for Next 5-year Plan (cont.)
- Broader Government of Lao PDR Priority/
- Strategies
- IE Policy development
- Research/survey
- Ethnic/local Teacher recruitment
- Teaching and Learning materials
- Teaching Aids
- Multigrade teaching
- Urgent implication There is need to conduct a IE
training workshop for SE Curricula Developers
32Thank You