Teaching And Learning Attitudes Readiness And Awareness Of Science Teachers Through Icts Integration In Lao Vocation And Technical Schools Towards Asean Education Reform

Western educators have emphasized the teacher's command of subject matter in the context of interactive, learner-centered teaching that rests on student activities such as problem solving, inquiry, experimentation and use of hands-on activities. In this approach, teachers need not only to be familiar with the principles underlying a topic, but also to be prepared for the variety of ways in which learners can explore these principles. Teaching and learning are conducted in a manner that encourages students' in-depth understanding. To foster students in gaining in-depth understanding of subject knowledge, teachers need to reinforce learning and development not only by using an interactive approach, but also through adapting curricular material and applying alternative assessment techniques. However, in Laos, covering the syllabus for the exams is the mainstay of traditional classroom instruction; in-depth understanding of the syllabus content receives little attention. Teachers who have tried to adapt or apply learner-centered teaching are faced with different challenges and tensions that influence their choices about instruction, curriculum and assessment practices. This research was conducted in Champasak University and Phonxay Secondary School in the Pakse, Champasak province of the Lao People's Democratic Republic. This study used a qualitative approach to exploring a small group of teachers' experiences, ideas, insights and perspectives that helped to draw a detailed sketch of how teachers address challenges to improve their work in classrooms and school-community. The study took place over a 8 month-period from May to December, 2008. The participants were two teacher educators from the Faculty of Education, Champasak University and two teachers from Phonexay Secondary School. This research fills the gap concerning how Lao schools can be improved by reforming teacher education. The results show that to improve teachers' practice inside and outside classrooms, teachers need to continuously improve their professionalism. To promote students' in-depth learning, teachers have used a variety of strategies and techniques. They adapt their traditional ways of teaching with approaches designed to meet the needs of specific situations. They also focus on collaboration and reflection to help each other professionally improve and grow. Keywords: teacher-education reform; reflection; collaboration; pedagogical-reform; institutional-reform; classroom-practice improvement.

"UNESCO has recently published the third volume of its Education on the Move series, a series dedicated to the analysis of key trends in education with the hope of inspiring dialogue among policy makers, educators and other key stakeholders on the challenges of education for tomorrow. The latest publication, entitled Unleashing the Potential: Transforming Technical and Vocational Education and Training is focused entirely on issues related to technical and vocational education and training (TVET). It takes stock of the steadily increasing demands and expectations on TVET systems around the globe and presents recent policy trends in the field of TVET. In their analysis, the authors provide insights into what it takes to unleash the potential of TVET systems around the world. They propose an integrated analytical approach that takes into consideration such factors as economic growth, social equity and issues related to sustainability so that TVET can contribute more effectively to contemporary policy issues such as youth unemployment, gender disparities and climate change. Overall, the book calls for a transformation of TVET systems to enable them to respond to the demands of their contexts. This transformation should enable TVET systems to acquire agility to stay current and responsive to the rapidly changing demands of the twenty-first century."--Publisher's website.

In this book the editors have been able to provide a snapshot of current research being undertaken in the Asia-Pacific region in regards to teacher self-efficacy beliefs. This includes specific focuses on inclusive teaching, professionalism, subject domains, collective efficacy as well as specific contexts of early childhood education and care, primary schools education, special needs schools and teacher education. This allows the reader to begin to develop an understanding about the complexity of teacher self-efficacy as well as the development and relationship between self-efficacy and other theoretical constructs and concepts. The book begins with an overall summary of research in the Asia-Pacific region before moving to a specific focus on research in different countries. All of the chapters also provide hope to the reader about the possibilities of understanding and supporting teachers and schools beliefs to enhance teacher behaviour. Through the implementation of teacher self-efficacy beliefs into educational contexts, teacher education programmes and professional development programmes, there is strong hope that the outcomes of education systems in supporting all students in their learning can be achieved. By allowing teachers to develop their own sources of efficacy and supporting these through all stages of career development, all children can be supported in their own learning.

In Asia, Distance Education (DE) is providing major solutions in the areas of education and training. DE methods that are standard in other parts of the world, however, have yet to demonstrate their full potential in Asia. Covering nine DE projects by 39 researchers from 13 countries, this book analyses the DE scenario in Asia, the successes, the failures and the reasons behind them. This book is a unique collation of the results of studies of educational technologies across an extensive network of Asian countries. It also provides a useful snapshot of DE's development in Asia in the early years of the 21st century. The surveys reported cover different DE contexts, methodologies, and levels of generalisability, and add to the existing scholarship on the subject by providing previously unavailable, firm evidence about DE's prospects in Asia. The contributors give important recommendations that can be translated into practical and political actions to help solve critical socio-economic problems of Asia as well as other parts of the world.

The use of information and communication technology (ICT) in teaching and learning requires not only access to ICT tools but also teachers with the required attitudes, knowledge, and skills. Therefore, besides providing equipment and facilities, it is important to prepare teachers, giving them opportunities to develop their ICT skills and encouraging them to involve themselves in using ICT. In teacher training colleges in general and Thainguyen College of Education (TCE) in particular, student teachers are required to have ICT skills and motivation to use ICT in order to be successful in a technology-based teaching and learning environment. The purposes of this study were to investigate student teachers ICT skills and their attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions in relation to the use of ICT in education. These student teachers were in Year 3 in the Physics Department at TCE in Vietnam. The findings indicated that the ICT skills of these student teachers were low. However, their attitudes and beliefs about the usefulness of ICT in teaching and learning were positive and strong. Further, the findings showed that these student teachers were willing to use ICT in their future teaching.

The Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) aspires to provide a world-class student learning assessment for the region, catering to the needs and context of different countries. The first cycle of this assessment, conducted in 2019 with six participating countries, sought to find out what Grade 5 children know and can do in reading, writing and mathematics. For the first time, global citizenship attitudes, values and behaviours of children were also measured by a large-scale learning assessment at primary education level. [Abstract]