Educational reform: Western ideologies meet Lao traditions
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When the economy was deteriorating in the Lao PDR, the country opened up to global donors and markets. To access financial support there were demands to replace the previous strong centralized governing of education with more decentralised strategies, and to replace teacher-led lessons and rote learning with more student-centred classroom practices.
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The Ministry of Education (MOE) stated: “Teachers must be managers and facilitators of learning. Research has emphasized that students learn by doing and teachers must plan practical student-oriented activities so that learning takes place” (MOE and TDC, 1994: 2). New methods of teaching included discovery methods and drawing on students’ life experiences, and allowed for local adaptation of one fifth of the curriculum to create freedom of space to develop more autonomous teaching and learning.
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In the attempt to reform the education system, measures went beyond policy to include the production and distribution of new teaching and learning materials nationwide: textbooks for every pupil; teacher guides; training teachers about the curriculum; and training over 500 pedagogical advisors for primary and secondary schools.
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The Ministry of Education recognises that there have been difficulties implementing new methods of teaching due to reasons such as lack of capacity among teachers, unsuitable curricula, and lack of materials (MOE, 2009). This paper considers additional obstacles related to contextual factors such as school education traditions, gender and ethnicity.