1. PROMISING PRACTICES OF MULTI-GRADE TEACHING IN LAO PDR
Dr Mithong Souvanvisay
Director-General
Department of Preschool and
Primary Education
Ministry of Education and Sports

2. Definition of Multigrade Teaching
Multi-grade teaching (MGT) is a teaching pedagogy that all pupils with different grades level, ages and abilities are taught simultaneous in the same classroom.

3. The Need of MGT in Lao PDR
(i). Provide a complete primary educational cycle;
(ii). Expand access in a very dispersed population, with many small settlements and inaccessible areas;
(iii). Make efficient use of the cost to providing schooling;

4. The Need of MGT in Lao PDR (Cont’d)
(iv). Encourage children from different backgrounds to learn together in an inclusive environments;
(v). Improve the effectiveness of educational delivery.

5. EFA and MDG Targets by 2015 Target by 2015 Achievement 2012-3 NER 98%
Repetition 2%
Dropout 2%
Survival 95%
Achievement
NER %
Repetition %
Dropout %
Survival % S

6. Achievement against the targets

7. 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

8. Number of multigrade classrooms from 2007 to 2012
Description
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

9. 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

10. Practices & Strategies in Implementing MGT
1. Multi-grade classroom depends on the experience of the teachers and the number of students;
2. Teaching and learning process: – Teachers prepares their lesson plan on the same or different subjects according to the combined grade level;
– Teachers use the jump – jump approach;
– Teachers can teach all grades on the same subjects; ss

11. Practices & Strategies in Implementing MGT (Cont’d)
3. Leaning environment and facilities
– Existence of subjects corner;
– Existence of fence, play groups, football pitch, etc.
4. Classroom management
Teachers should give tasks to each grade to ensure that all students are engaged during the teaching hours, especially while the teacher is not directly involved with them.

12. Practices & Strategies in Implementing MGT (Cont’d)
5. Curriculum Development
– Both multigrade and monograde teaching use the same National curriculum and textbooks.
– At the same time can use the supplementary textbooks ( Basic Education Girls Project ). i

13. Practices & Strategies in Implementing MGT (Cont’d)
6. Teaching and Learning materials
– The curricula, teaching – learning materials and teaching aid for general education developed by RIES;
– The above materials are also used in multi-grade classroom.

14. Practices & Strategies in Implementing MGT (Cont’d)
7. Oral One to support MGT
Oral Language One is one of teaching methods by using the first language of ethnic children in the classroom to support the teaching of the Lao language and other subjects.

15. Practices & Strategies in Implementing MGT (Cont’d)
8. Learner assessment
In general, the multi-grade students assessment and evaluations are not different from mono-grade – the same rules and regulations of examination are used

16. Promising Practices & Innovation
1. Development of supplementary books and teaching and learning kits
- 21 supplementary books and teachers guides were developed across the four pedagogical areas: multi-grade, Lao as a second language, life skills and mathematics.
- The teaching and learning kits were also produced in parallel with the supplementary textbooks.

17. Promising Practices & Innovation
(cont’d)
2. Pre-service training of ethnic teachers
- 411 students from ethnic communities were trained in TTCs and appointed in their home villages, 87% of them still in teaching service.
- MGT is integrated in TE curricula.
- Three demonstration schools using MGT approach were built in three TTCs.

18. Promising Practices & Innovation
(cont’d)
3. In-service teacher training on MGT
- 260 master trainers were trained to deliver in-service training,
- 4,012 teachers were trained in MGT for effective use of the supplementary materials produced,
- 52 ethnic pedagogical advisors (Pas) were recruited & trained in order to support the multi-grade teachers.

19. Challenges
Most of the multi-grade teachers have not been trained in MGT,
There is not enough technical support from the PAs,
Classroom management need to be improved, (The jump-jump approach),
The new teachers do not have enough experiences in MGT.

20. Way Forward
1. Continue to upgrade incomplete schools to be complete schools through the implementation of MGT;
2. Provide school experiences in MGT for TTC students;
3. Motivate villages education development committee (VEDC) to support school
development;

21. Way Forward (cont’d)
4. Improve teaching skills for teachers and ensure the provision of the teacher’s incentive.
5. Enhance the quality of teaching and learning. This requires further research to improve the quality of instruction,
6. Enhance the better understanding of the importance and necessity of MGT for the educational administrators at different levels.

22. THANK YOU
THANK YOU