- 500 leaders joined the 1st Cambodia’s Education Policy Forum to discuss key education reforms.
- Teach For Cambodia CEO spoke about enabling factors for teacher development alongside prominent leaders in education.
- Current reforms affirm the importance of teacher development. In this rapidly changing world, we need to rethink the future of the education workforce and teacher development.
The Cambodia Education Policy Forum—organized by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) and Cambodia Development Research Institute (CDRI)—was launched for the first time in early March 2021. Over 500 leaders were at the Forum, representing education policy and research, provincial offices of education, teacher development, school leadership, the nonprofit sector, and development partners. They joined from 25 cities and provinces where they work on a variety of education and community issues.
The theme of the three-day event was Education Reform and Training. While the dialogue was online, prominent speakers and thought leaders came together to discuss teacher training, school management systems, digital education, and post Covid-19 adaptation in learning and teaching.
One of the most important topics for reform is building the capacity of teachers to achieve excellent student outcomes. In contributing to this topic, Teach For Cambodia joined prominent speakers and thought leaders representing higher education and the research and nonprofit sectors to talk about enabling conditions for teacher development. Those panelists included:
- Dr. Sok Soth, Dean at Faculty of Education, Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP)
- His Excellency Dr. Sieng Sovanna, Director at National Institute of Education
- Mr. Ngor Penglong, Director at Teacher Training Department, MoEYS
- Dr. Song Sopheak, Director at CDRI
- Mr. Siv Monirath, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, TFC
Moni affirmed the reform efforts which are currently in action and the new ones underway. He highlighted how TFC plays a role in these efforts by bringing more young leaders into the education sector. He acknowledged that there is so much more work to be done so that all children in Cambodia could have an equitable future. “Teachers directly impact student outcomes, so teacher development is the key here. Yet, we are dealing with an increasingly complex and rapidly changing world. So, we will need to rethink the future of the education workforce and teacher development.” More than ever, we need to come together and incorporate the latest research, training methods, trainers, and student-centered learning into the policy agenda.
Moni believes that we must have a more holistic approach to teacher development, from recruitment, selection, pre-service training to ongoing professional development and support. This should be based on the teacher and student outcomes we want to see in such a complex world. We also need to provide the right level of support given teachers’ motivations and gaps specific to their stage of development, i.e. new versus experienced teachers.
Like many other leaders at the Forum, Teach For Cambodia staff, Fellows and alumni left the Forum feeling engaged, energized, and committed to Cambodia’s recovery and becoming a nation where all children can create a better future for themselves, their families, and their communities.
We would like to formally thank Teach For Cambodia’s Board Member, Dr. Bo Chankoulika, and her team, who were one of the driving forces behind this Forum. To learn more about the Department of Policy, visit dopomoeys.com.
We would also like to thank Dr. Sok Soth and our partners at the Faculty of Education at RUPP for their ongoing efforts to develop teachers and school leaders through the Teacher Upgrading Program (TUP) and the Leadership Upgrading Program (LUP). Follow them at facebook.com/rupp.fed.