ພາສາລາວ
Since 2015, the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) has been in the process of revising the Lao PDR national primary curriculum that will be implemented gradually beginning with Grade 1 in September 2019.
The new curriculum will be organised thematically. This new organisation is designed to increase integration and opportunities to revise key learning.
Nine subjects will be taught in primary: Lao language, mathematics, science and environment, morals, arts and handicraft, music, physical education, English (starting Grade 3) and social studies (starting Grade 4). The themes in each subject are taught at the same time in each grade, and this will help multigrade teachers with planning and delivery of lessons.
The new textbooks use colour and plenty of visuals, to increase attention and memory retention of the students. Meanwhile, the new teacher guides are more detailed and contain guidance on how to organise each lesson and suggestions for using local knowledge, creating extension activities, working with multi-grade classes or teaching non-Lao first language-speaking students.
A special feature of the new curriculum is the orientation week. During the first week of school, all Grade 1 students will follow a program of activities to help them feel familiar with school life and build their confidence in key routines, behaviours and skills needed in school.
With the objective to improve student learning outcomes, the development of the new curriculum was informed by child learning theory and established principles of effective primary school pedagogic practice. Hence, one of the main changes with the new curriculum will be in the pedagogy approach. The new curriculum promotes active learning.
The students will be engaged in the lessons by doing activities to encourage them to process new information and apply new knowledge learnt. The teachers will be facilitators rather than one-way providers of information. Students will learn by doing meaningful learning activities and by reflecting about what they are doing.
Certainly, when we have new curriculum and instructional materials we want our teachers who are playing a key role in the implementation of curriculum at grass-roots level to be familiarised with both contents and methodology of teaching”, said Associate Professor Dr Khamphay Sisavanh, Vice Minister for Education and Sports at the Primary Curriculum Steering Committee held in May 2018.
Developing a primary curriculum is the first step to improve student learning outcomes. But the second step, the development of good quality teacher training and support is essential to ensure that teachers can successfully implement the curriculum”, added Mr. Andreas Zurbrugg, former Deputy Head of Mission, Australian Embassy. “Australia, European Union and USAID are proud to be partnering with the Research Institute for Educational Sciences and Ministry of Education and Sports to support the development of the new curriculum and its implementation.”
Teacher training and support is essential to ensure that teachers can successfully implement the new curriculum. It is teachers who bring the curriculum to life in the classroom and they are crucial to the success of a curriculum innovation. In-service teacher training modules will be developed based on the revised primary curriculum content and teaching methodology.
The implementation of the new curriculum is a huge task which will need the commitment and support of all stakeholders, from national, provincial, district and school levels. But the new national curriculum and associated teaching and learning resources will make an important contribution to the quality of the learning outcomes of children. It will help more Lao girls and boys of primary school-age achieve functional literacy and numeracy and acquire life skills.