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ABSTRACT
The virtual destruction of Cambodia's education system in the 1970s continues to impact current education policies and practice. Since the 1990s, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) together with its development partners, has undertaken the tremendous task of rebuilding Cambodia's shattered education system. Many of the policies and programmes that have been developed hinge on well-educated and well-trained teachers. Tracing the development of teacher education in Cambodia since the upheavals of the 1970s to the present, this chapter examines the ministry's pressing concern of developing effective preservice and in-service teacher education programmes. Indeed, to fulfil its Education for All (EFA) commitments and the nation's socio-economic development goals of achieving upper-middle income country status by 2030 rests on educating teachers able to deliver an inclusive and equitable education of quality for all and of developing a skilled and knowledgeable workforce. This desk-based study draws upon a wide range of documents, reports, and studies from the 1970s onwards on Cambodia, including those undertaken by the author. Reflecting on the significance of the findings from these studies this chapter explores both the opportunities and challenges, some of these systemic, to establishing effective teacher education programmes particularly for ongoing professional learning.
Keywords: Cambodia, teacher education, professional development, preservice education
1. Introduction
It is just over fifty years since the beginning of an unprecedented period of unrest and turbulence in Cambodia: civil war (1970-75), the genocidal regime of the Khmer Rouge (KR) (1975-79) that has been described as a watershed for Cambodia (Chandler 2008), a decade's long international isolation (1979-1991), and the continued internecine conflict that only ended with the collapse of the KR in 1999. The consequences of the upheavals of those years continue to seriously impact upon all areas of life in general, and acutely affect the education system as a whole and teacher education specifically.
At the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century sufficient time has elapsed to review developments in the educational space in Cambodia. This chapter traces the development of teacher education in Cambodia since the turmoil of the 1970s to the present. Its focus is the primary education sector, in part because this sector not only forms the foundations of the Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth and...