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28/06/2016

In Cambodia, student teachers are required to carry out 14 weeks of teaching practice throughout their 2-year training programme. This teaching practice is one of the lifetime opportunities for student teachers to put their learned theory into practice with school children and prepares them to be well-trained teachers. All student teachers have qualified mentors to guide and supervise them towards achieving their desired objectives.

Mentoring and supervision skills training

The Ministry of Education in collaboration with VVOB Cambodia provided intensive trainings on mentoring and supervision skills to teacher trainers and school teachers in 2015 and early 2016 in order to prepare them to give effective feedback to student teachers during teaching practice. Apart from learning about the assessment tools and communication techniques to give effective feedback to student teachers after observation of a lesson, they also got to know their roles and responsibilities in ensuring the quality of teaching practice.  

Effective mentoring leads to quality result

During the teaching practice period, student teachers observe 2 weeks and do 12 weeks of actual teaching, where they interact with school children under the guidance and supervision of their mentors. The mentors guide student teachers to make sure that they can fulfil their assigned tasks comfortably and effectively. The mentors not only assess student teachers during the teaching practice, but also observe lessons and give feedback to inform the students about their strengths and points for improvement. Rather than just pointing out the weaknesses like in the past, they now use a more interactive approach in their feedback sessions, which makes the relationship between mentors and student teachers smoother.

To ensure sustainability MoEYS and VVOB organised follow-up visits to all 18 Teacher Training Centres in May and June 2016, to provide necessary support and coaching to the mentors in order for them to use correct ways of guiding student teachers.

During the visits, we interviewed directors and teacher trainers of the teacher training colleges. They both confirmed positive changes in mentoring skills as well as in the quality of the teaching practice.  “I observed that most teacher trainers feel more confident in giving feedback to their student teachers after they received trainings on feedback skills” said Mr. Eng Sokha, director of the Teacher Training Centre in Kratie.

Author: Mr Say Samphon, programme coordinator Teaching Practice and PM&E