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ROTARY SUPPORTS TEACHER TRAINING PROJECT IN CAMBODIA

By Roderick D Fraser, Principal, Ivanhoe Grammar School, Melbourne, Australia

The Ivanhoe Grammar School community in Australia is committed to nurturing and developing a social conscience through community and vocational service.

One of the major ways this commitment is translated into action is through our involvement with the Teacher Training Project in Cambodia – a joint project between four International Baccalaureate Schools (in Sydney, Hong Kong, Phnom Penh and Ivanhoe Grammar School in Victoria) and the Cambodian Ministry of Education. 

The aim is to help create a sustainable, interactive, teacher-training model, which can be used by Teacher Training Colleges throughout Cambodia, thus helping with the quality of education available through the country at all levels.

In 2006, our first year of involvement, two senior Staff from our Primary School, Buckley House, travelled to Cambodia to train student teachers from the Kandal Province Teacher Training College in Phnom Penh. These teachers have worked in three village schools demonstrating interactive teaching strategies and ways of organising for learning.

The teaching project in Cambodia involved modelling innovative skills and strategies from Australian classrooms. This was done in demonstration lessons for Khmer student teachers and mentor teachers. The challenge was to present learning activities that took into account the Khmer culture and the current level of expertise of the Khmer teachers. In order to achieve this, there was a need for thorough planning and preparation of content, activities, teaching aids and resources. This was essential for effective delivery of learning experiences for the schools in Cambodia.

The daily teaching routine involved a morning and afternoon teaching session in one or more of the three village schools. The Australian Buckley House teachers worked with trained Khmer teachers who translated throughout the lessons. The children and teachers quickly adapted to this approach. Part of the day also involved debriefing with the student teachers on the practice of teaching underpinning the classroom activities. This allowed for the Khmer teachers to clarify and question what they had observed. Each demonstration teaching session was three hours.

Returning to Cambodia in subsequent years has enabled Buckley House teachers to witness first hand exciting progress, which included more engaging classroom environments; an improved process for selection of student teachers; and more interactive learning in the classrooms.

The teachers have essentially done this work during their holidays, and whilst they have gained immeasurably from the professional development arising from their participation, the contribution that they have made over the four years is really starting to make a difference in these schools. It is hoped that these schools will become “light houses” for others to follow.

Ivanhoe Grammar School is committed to a range of other initiatives in Cambodia including building houses with the Tabitha Foundation (each year a group of students travel to Cambodia to build between six and eight houses. The students raise A$1,500 per house). Last year they built 15 houses.

This service project also has a link with Angkor Thom High School (the “Friends Forever Project”) and the work that the students have done in teaching English has now mushroomed into a range of Khmer students teaching English in the villages after hours and in the evenings. It is quite a remarkable impact that the School has had in this area.

In addition to the student service project there have been two Alumni service projects also building houses. The Alumni have raised their money essentially by putting on a Cabaret (Cabaret for Cambodia) in which they have raised between A$15,000 - A$25,000 for the building of houses and contributing to the orphanages which they visit during the time of their trip.

In addition there has been a parent trip with Primary aged students which, amongst other things, involved spending time with Primary students in the schools supported by the Teacher Training Program and doing physical work on the classrooms in these schools.

It has been truly inspiring to see how the Cambodian Teacher Training Project has grown in depth and strength. It really has captured the imagination of many of the staff, students, parents and alumni from Ivanhoe Grammar School.

This year, Rotary has become a new stakeholder in this project with both Rotary eClub One of D5450 and the local Ivanhoe-based Rotary Club of Heidelberg of D9790 both committing sponsorship funding. I understand that Rotary shares our School’s commitment to ‘service above self’ in both local communities and international arenas. I am also delighted to see Rotary’s commitment to supporting outreach programs which nurture vocational service in the teaching profession.

There is no doubt in my mind that this Teacher Training Project in Cambodia is directly making a difference to the quality of education being offered in these local schools. It is also influencing how these young Khmer student teachers approach their profession. Hopefully, in some small way all of this will impact on the quality of the lives and future choices of Cambodian children.