The third episode of the Role Model docuseries features the story of a dedicated teacher trainer from Saravan province.

Australia backs professional development of Lao teachers

The Ministry of Education and Sports and the government of Australia are working to provide teacher development support through a Role Model docuseries.
To make the third episode of the docuseries, television, radio and newspaper teams from the Information Media Centre of the Ministry of Educations and Sports travelled to Saravan province to interview Mr Phothong Phonsongkham about the importance of professional development support for teachers.
Mr Phothong shared his extensive experience in the different aspects of teacher support, from writing training modules to visiting teachers during the school year and giving them advice about ways to tackle the challenges they face when using the new primary school curriculum.
“I think the most exciting change in the new curriculum is the new way of teaching and learning,” said Ajan Phothong. “It is more inclusive, and all children have the chance to participate.”
The revised curriculum introduced in 2019 by the Ministry of Education and Sports with support from Australia through the BEQUAL programme adopts a new pedagogy with a focus on active learning and student-centered methods.
It represents a big change in terms of teaching and learning approaches. Teachers are at the centre of this change and need ongoing support to embrace the new methods.
Ajan Phothong is part of both the Master Trainer and Provincial Trainer teams delivering orientation training on the new curriculum, as well as follow-up monitoring and support throughout the school year.
“Training as well as support during the school year is very important to ensure good teaching, and ultimately good learning outcomes for children,” Ajan Phothong said.
“It is the role of pedagogical advisers to support teachers in using new techniques and help them solve the problems they face.”
Pedagogical advisers, who are also Master and Provincial Trainers, are encouraged to make at least two visits a semester to schools that are not performing well.
The Ministry of Education and Sports, with support from Australia, has developed several tools that pedagogical advisers can use while providing support to teachers as they navigate the curriculum throughout the school year.
“The tools I use the most during my visits are classroom observation, co-lesson planning and teaching,” said Ajan Phothong.
“The classroom observation tools help identify the areas where more support is needed. When I can spot the problems, I can help the teacher to solve them. Then I can help the teacher to plan their lessons and give ideas on how to carry out learning activities in the classroom effectively.”
“WhatsApp groups are very good for follow-up after a school visit and for schools that are very remote and difficult to visit frequently,” Ajan Phothong said.
“Teachers can send their questions to the group, and I can give my advice or recommend watching one of the teacher development videos.”
Ajan Phothong is also part of the in-service Continuing Professional Development material writers’ team established in December 2020. He participates in the development of the Teacher Support Pack modules.
“We have produced eight modules so far,” Ajan Phothong said. “The modules are being used by pedagogical support providers, especially Provincial Trainers, when they visit teachers.”
The Teacher Support Pack is made up of stand-alone training modules on the most common challenges that teachers face, like classroom management or pair and group work.
They include pictures taken in Lao classrooms to help trainers, pedagogical advisers and teachers visualise teaching strategies in a real teaching environment.
“There are eight members in the writing team, coming from different provinces and with different experiences. The most exciting part of the creation of the Teacher Support Pack is the discussions and the diversity of ideas shared among writers,” Ajan Phothong said.
Ajan Phothong is a strong advocate of diversity, gender equality and inclusive education.
“On International Women’s Day this year, I was selected as a Role Model trainer and invited to discuss the training programme with the Minister of Education and the Australian Ambassador.”
“They both congratulated Saravan province for the gender equality in our training team, with 47 percent of the trainers being women.”
“I think diversity in a training team is key. Diversity in terms of gender of course, and also abilities, ethnicity, social backgrounds and experiences, makes the team stronger.”
The Role Model docuseries project is fully supported by the Australian Government through the BEQUAL programme.
The objective is to promote and encourage the replication of best practices to boost successful implementation of the new curriculum and to show good examples of how to make primary teaching and learning more inclusive.
--Source: the BEQUAL programme

(Latest Update October 31, 2022)