Sue Slater’s Letter from Battambang, Cambodia 2010
Dear Friends
Thank you for your contribution to Teachers Across Borders (TAB), Australia. The 2010 TAB program saw 320 Cambodian teachers and school directors involved in 14 workshops run by 22 Australian and American teachers and school administrators. Participation as a workshop presenter raises the question of what difference do these workshops make and what do the participants and presenters get from the experience? This was our third year running the Leadership Program for School Directors and it is always interesting that on day one everyone starts with a degree of hesitancy but by the last day of the workshop we can sing and dance together.
Sue and Ken’s 2010 Leadership Program for School Directors
Pictured above on day one and below on day eight.
What the representative from the Ministry of Education said about the TAB program. His Excellency Nath Bunreoun, State Secretary for Education attended the closing ceremony and said that TAB workshops :
- continued to provide a great opportunity for teachers and school directors to participate in workshops which supported the Ministry’s vision for universal education to year 9 by 2015 and
- the creation of child friendly schools with a focus on effective group work for effective learning.
What the 2010 participants said:
At the conclusion of each workshop participants were asked to share the three most useful things they learnt. For our thirty five school directors there was universal agreement that:
- the most powerful learning was considering different learning styles,
- working on problem solving using De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats (and other strategies) and
- participating in Learning Walks in schools
What the 2009 participants said:
We interviewed directors who had participated in our 2009 Leadership program and asked them what changes had been put in place in their school as a result of their participation in the program.
Reflection Session: Sue with some Directors from the 2009 program and interpreter Sam Rach.
The Directors stated that:
- the 2009 program was a good experience where they learnt about democratic leadership,
- effective schools and
- team building.
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They remembered the bridge building activity, which demonstrated team building and the benefits of problem solving in a group. They said that after the workshop they trained staff in the ideas that they had explored at the workshop and placed the mission, vision and indicators in the main office for all to see. Students were encouraged to prepare a garden to make the school clean and green. They talked about the importance of not blaming teachers in front of others but giving clear feedback in private. One director told us that the pass rate at his school had improved considerably from 008 to 2009 because more effective teaching was occurring. He attributed this to his teacher’s involvement in the TAB workshops.He wished the workshops were run during the long break in the middle of the year and that all teachers were mandated to attend. |
What others providing professional development for Cambodian school directors said about our program:
We provided our workshop outline to others working with school Directors and we received the following feedback.
“It is great that you are focussing Effective Teaching as we have been focusing on student centred approaches and asking more challenging questions ...... and how that applies to questioning and teaching practice. Really glad you are doing it”
“Reinforcing Learning styles is important and directors can really use more specific examples that they can share with their teachers.”
“Cambodian teacher professional standards- directors have only had a very cursory exposure to them and so anything you can do in this area will be helpful."
"Teacher observation and feedback is a very challenging area for school directors. We have done a lot of work encouraging them to visit classrooms, do formal and informal observations, and give helpful, specific and positive feedback. All you can do in this area will be wonderful”
Essentially the message was that our program dovetailed with the focus of other training providers.
Workshop activities: group work, team building and problem solving to ensure that participants had lots of fun. This focus supports the Cambodian Ministry of Education commitment to developing a more student centred learning approach.
2010 TAB team with Madam Sukerte, head of the Regional Teachers Training Centre.
What do the presenters get from this experience was a question explored at one of our daily debrief sessions.
In this year’s program a number of workshop presenters had returned for either a second or third time. As someone aptly summed it up when you are a multiple returnee it is about “Cambodia calling” as the TAB experience “gets into your blood” with a passion to share knowledge with one’s Cambodian colleagues and to take time to deeply reflect on teaching and learning.
The challenges of working with an interpreter and with participants who are so receptive but have so many constraints to work is challenging but so rewarding.
As workshop presenters we all relish the chance to work with our Australian and American colleagues and to share and learn from each other. In the last three years we have modelled team teaching and visitations to each other’s workshops in order to demonstrate that what the directors and teachers experience and learn is complementary. There is always lots of fun, laughter and activity at the Regional Teacher Training Centre(RTTC) where we run our workshops.
Each year when we return to Battambang we see change:
- Many of the rooms at the RTTC are bright and cheerful with lots of print and visuals to support student learning
- The University of Battambang building is nearly complete and this will provide more places for training and further education
- The Ministry of Education data indicates that number of graduates in higher education has risen from 3, 777 in 1989 to 77,359 in 2008.
Despite many very significant improvements Cambodian teachers and directors continue to face enormous problems.This year teacher salaries were increased but they are still inadequate and teachers need to work additional jobs and hours to support their families.
Your contribution ensures that we can continue to run these workshops and through teachers teaching other teachers, improve the lives for a whole generation of Cambodian children.
Thank you once again.
Sue Slater