ພາສາລາວ
Curriculum writers revise Semester 1 Year 1 materials based on feedback from teacher-trainers at the trial TTCs
n September 2019, Year 1 teacher trainees in the eight Teacher Training Colleges (TTC) nationwide started their training with a new pre-service curriculum founded on principles of active learning and teaching. This new pre-service curriculum is closely aligned with the new national primary school curriculum, implemented in Gr 1 classes since the beginning of the current school-year. The development and implementation of both curricula is led by the Ministry of Education and Sports of Lao PDR with the support of the Australian Government and the European Union.
This week, the “Pre-service Curriculum Revision Workshop 2” chaired by Ajan Chanthanom Thammachak, Acting Director of Teacher Development Centre and co-chaired by Ms. Phonethida Vongsay, Senior Program Officer (Education), Australian Embassy will bring together more than 50 members of the curriculum development teams from the TTCs, DTE, Teacher Development Center (TDC), the Faculty of Education and the Research Institute of Educational Sciences. The objective of the workshop is to review, revise and finalize the Year 1 Semester 1 curriculum materials based on the feedback from the trial after completing semester 1.
The development process of the new pre-service curriculum has been iterative to allow on-going learning and continuous improvement. Each of the eight TTCs is using the new pre-service curriculum, and the implementation of the materials is closely monitored at two focus TTCs, Pakse and Dongkhamxang. Regular Pre-service curriculum development and revision workshops are scheduled throughout the school-year to improve the materials based on the experiences and learning from the trial.
During this workshop week, the curriculum writing teams will work on the revisions of their subject materials for the 11 subjects taught during Semester 1 of Year 1: Lao Language, Mathematics, Science & Environment, Child Development, ICT, Social Studies, Art & Handicraft, Primary Curriculum, Moral Education, Physical Education, and School Management & Community Development. Revisions will be based on both general and subject specific feedback received from the different teacher-trainers especially at the two focus TTCs. Their feedback will be analyzed and incorporated where relevant in the Semester 1 materials. As several curriculum writers are also teacher-trainers, they will also use their own Semester 1 teaching experience to suggest further improvement. During the workshop, the teams will also design a workplan to ensure the materials are finalized by mid-March.
After submission of the final draft version, the curriculum materials will be presented to a special editing team, consisting of DTE and TDC staff, TTC lecturers and a selection of curriculum writers for quality assurance and editing. Finally, the curriculum will be presented to the National Teacher Education Advisory Board and DTE for approval. When approved, the materials will go through a last process of formatting, layout, printing and finally distribution to the eight TTCs for the new cohort of Year 1 students who will start their training in September 2020.