of multi grade Teaching in Lao PDR Mrs Varadune AMARATHITHADA Regional Research Workshop: Promoting Quality Learning Through Enhanced Multi grade Teaching in the Asia Pacific Region 21-23 April, 2014 Report on the status of multi grade Teaching in Lao PDR Prepared by: Mrs Varadune AMARATHITHADA Dr. Phanh CHAMPATHONG

Country Background Land area: 236,800 Km2 6.5 million people 49 ethnics, 6 main language families Adult literacy rate 15-40 yrs old 87 %

EFA and MDG Targets by 2015 Target by 2015 NER 98% Repetition 2% Dropout 2% Survival 95% Achievement 2012-13 NER 96.80% Repetition 9% Dropout 6.30% Survival 73.30% S

Achievement against the targets

What is“small school” and “multi grade school” in Lao PDR? “Small school” can be “Incomplete school” means schools which do not offer full five grade(grade 1, grade 1-2 or grade 1-2-3 or up to grade 4) and number of students less than 50. “Small complete school” offering full five grade but consist of 3-4 classrooms, number of students about 51-120 and have 1 principal. Multigrade school: School using multigrade teaching, a teaching pedagogy that all pupils with different grades level, ages and abilities are taught simultaneously in the same classrooms. It can be either complete or incomplete school.

  2010-2011 No Provinces No. of schools No. of one school Teacher % No. of two school No. of three school teachers teachers 1 Vientiane Capital 489 15 3 20 4 24 5 2 Phongsaly 523 235 45 115 22 78 Luangnamtha 400 112 28 104 26 36 9 Oudomxay 482 87 18 96 Bokeo 256 72   28. 56  22 51  20 6 Luangprabang 738 221  30 118  16 111  15 7 Houaphanh 763 312  41 175  23 130  17 8 Sayabouly 409 16  4  11 53  13 Xiengkhuang 473  37 57  12 33  7 10 Vientiane Province 486 63 49  10 39  8 11 Bolikhamxay 318 48 70 41 12 Khammouane 607 200  33 121 73 13 Savannakhet 1.207 447 169  14 14 Saravane 579 208  36 145  25 75 Sekong 222 44 89  40 Champasack 760 137  18 152 84 17 Attapeu 190 38 76 30 Total: 8.902 2.43  27 1.657 19  1.102 schools are mostly small in remote areas (about 7-10 students in each grade) . Number of 1 to 3 school teachers covering 58.29% of which 1 school teacher counted to 27.29%.

To provide a complete primary educational cycle MOES invests on building small size schools to improve and expand primary educational network to rural areas by using multigrade teaching approach to upgrade incomplete school to offer a complete primary educational cycle from grade one to grade five

No of multi-grade classrooms 7,683 7,977 8,604 9,105 9,368 9,347 Number of multigrade classrooms from 2007 to 2012 Description 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 No of schools 8,830 8,871 8,968 8,902 8,912 8,927 No of classrooms 29,769 30,107 31,648 31,057 31,957 32,745 No of multi-grade classrooms 7,683 7,977 8,604 9,105 9,368 9,347 % multi-grade classroom 25.8 26.5 27 29 28.50

No. of MTG classrooms have been increased from 26. 5% in 2008 to 28 No. of MTG classrooms have been increased from 26.5% in 2008 to 28.5% in 2013

Realizing complete & effective primary education Requires an Education Strategy that: make efficient use of existing educational resources adopts innovative methods adopts practical and low cost pedagogy entered on multigrade teaching to meet the needs of unreached and the marginalized children living in rural, remote, mountainous and less populated areas and helps to accelerate the achievement of universal quality education for all.

Regulatory and Policy Frameworks The Lao Constitution (1991) and the Education Law (2007) recognize: The right of all citizens to education Promotion the principle of compulsory education and the development of education, paying specific attention to ethnic groups, women, the poor and disadvantaged, disabled and especially-talented children.

Regulatory and Policy Framework (cont’) Prime Ministerial Decree No. 138/PM/1996 on Compulsory Education. “all Lao citizens at the age of six year olds should be provided with equitable access to primary education and that all pupils have to be registered for schooling and complete the primary curriculum. These children have to continue study and are not allowed to quit or drop out of school until they are 14 year of age”.

Regulatory and Policy Framework (cont’) Ministerial Directive No. 181/MOE.PPE/10 dated 01 Mar, 2010 was issued to ensure that all children have access to schooling through the use of multi-grade teaching. This Directive also affirms that Provincial Education Services have to upgrade incomplete schools in order to provide the full five grade levels so they become complete schools.  All primary schools receive the unit cost of 100,000 kips/students.

Regulatory and Policy Framework: Incentive Policy(cont’) Prime Ministerial Decree No. 110/PM.01 dated 8 June, 2001 on incentive: providing supplement subsistence allowances for multi grade teachers adding 25 percent on top of their existing basic salary for those who teach two grade classes offering 50 percent increase for those who teach three grades. In accordance with Ministerial Directive No. 940/MOE.DTE dated 25 June, 2001 If teachers work in very remote and hardship areas, they will also still receive an additional supplement subsistence allowance known as the “Special teaching in hardship conditions payment” under Prime Ministerial No. 237/PM.98 dated 21 December, 1998.

Teacher Issues Professional standards for stocks teachers can not meet the target setting in Teacher Education Strategy 2006-2015; Although much of policy is in place for demand based recruitment and deployment to remote & underserved areas, there continues to be stark distortion in teacher supply, resulting in a scarcity in remote schools and oversupply in the towns. Teachers still require support to continue to develop as professionals and improve their understanding of children’s learning, subject knowledge and repertoire of teaching skills/pedagogy

Teacher Recruitment & Deployment Prime Ministerial Decree No. 117 on Teacher Requiring teachers supported by scholarships to sign an agreement to take up their post within the identified institution; PESS and TEIs to implement demand-based selection at the school level for quota positions. Setting student teacher ratio for pre and primary level : 34 students/1teacher; teaching hours: not over 25 hours per week. In fact the student teacher ratio is 26 student/1.

Teacher Recruitment & Deployment (cont’) The process for supplying teachers is from the school level to DESB-PESS – MOES. Quota is given in aligning with the approval budget of National Assembly. To fill the post, applicants need to sit for examination, except the contracted student teachers.

How primary teacher trained for multi grade teaching? Pre service In service Integrated in primary teacher curriculum, in Teaching methodology group (3 credits, 48 hrs) Teaching Practicum: classroom experience (6 credits, 96 hrs), teaching practice (20 credits 320hrs), action research (4 credits, 64 hrs) multi grade classrooms were built and used as demonstration school in 3 TTCs for teaching practice while the other conduct practicum in school network. Integrated in teacher upgrading program and in-service training workshop VEDC training to encourage community participation in education Master teachers were trained to deliver the in-service training PA were recruited and trained to support teachers at school

Curriculum Development Both multigrade and monograde teaching in Lao PDR use the same National curriculum and textbooks. The time table of multigrade teaching is provided by the District Education and Sports Bureau. 20% of curriculum is given for adapting to local context. Schools could use the supplementary textbooks, especially designed for multigrade teaching in addition to the national textbooks.

Teaching and Learning materials The Research Institute for Educational Sciences (RIES) is the key organization to develop curricula, teaching-learning materials and teaching aids for general education. The above developed materials are also used in multigrade schools, but the timetable of teaching-learning is different .

Thanks