Private Tuition in Cambodia: Evidence from Urban and Rural Upper Secondary Schools

 This study compares private tuition (PT) patterns and perceptions regarding teaching and learning in public schools versus PT classes in urban and rural Cambodia. Using quantitative data from 108 tutors and 165 12th graders, followed by 21 interviews that included principals, we find that urban students are the main drivers of PT; they trust the quality of tutors they are familiar with, while their rural peers view PT as more effective when provided by their teachers. Nonetheless, examination reform may have prompted more students to seek PT with tutors who could provide adequate knowledge and skills, as opposed to their teachers. Furthermore, hurried teaching was perceived as a common response to dealing with inadequate instructional time and the pressures of trying to implement a learner-based approach. This investigation provides new insights into issues relating to teacher professionalism and students’ choice of PT in Cambodia.

For further reading, please follow this link https://ijie.um.edu.my/index.php/JICE/article/view/43940

Cambodian Teachers' Perceptions of Online Teaching: During and Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic

 This limited topical life history study aims to gain insights into COVID-19’s impacts on teaching at upper secondary schools through Cambodian teachers’ perceptions of online teaching. It presents teachers’ current challenges and needs as well as future impacts on their teaching practices. Online semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data from 29 subject teachers and their school directors. This study concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic reduced the quality of teaching and learning due to the limited functions of monitoring students rather than limited digital knowledge and skills. The classroom management is still required although the learning is online. The empirical evidence suggests this effect in science disciplines; especially for calculation-related subjects. However, COVID-19 was viewed as providing secondary education with a great deal for implementing the digital revolution of education 4.0 and created some practical issues for policymakers and implementers. Although the findings largely concur with previous literature on online teaching during the pandemic, they also draw context-specific features of the issue. 

You can read the full article, please refer to the link https://doi.org/10.32865/fire202273291

Revisiting Cambodian Private Tutoring: Insights Into Teachers’ Professional Misconduct

 Cambodia uses a ‘discouragement’ strategy to manage teachers’ engagement in supplying private tutoring (PT). However, previous studies have criticized teachers’ professional misconduct in terms of promoting tutoring classes to ensure supplementary income. Currently, examination reforms alongside economic growth propose a new understanding of professional misconduct. Based on descriptive data from 93 students and in-depth interviews with 24 informants, who were tutees and their parents, tutors and school administrators respectively, this study found uncaring pedagogies to be a primary motivator for tutoring demand. This tended to have an association with the inadequate instructional time given to core examination subjects and implementation of the learner-based approach. Additionally, the examination reform brought positive changes in the teacher’s behavior. Although this study’s findings are largely aligned with previous studies, it still sheds light on new perspectives regarding teachers’ professional misconduct in Cambodia.

Link to the full article: 

https://jice.um.edu.my/index.php/JICE/article/view/29551

What is Education?

 Education is defined differently, and the education implementer sometimes does not even know its goals. Webster defines education as the action or process of educating or teaching. Generally, this definition seems the most common one and it is believed by most of people. Also, the terms 'educate' is further defined as “to develop the knowledge, skill, or character of...” Thus, from these definitions, Yero (2001) assumed that the purpose of education is to develop the knowledge, skill, or character of students. In the common sense, sociologists proposed that education aims to impart knowledge and to create the critical thinkers. What do 'impart knowledge' and 'critical thinker' mean to most people?

Imparting knowledge cannot be interpreted to ensure that students are able to read and write, but to assist the learners to be think beyond the contents they are reading.

References:

Yuro, J. L. (2001). Meaning of Education. retrieved from https://www.stoa.org.uk/topics/education/The%20Meaning%20of%20Education.pdf on April 07, 2017.