How Student Mobility Contributes to Realization of Sustainable Development Goals

Internationalisation in Higher Education (HE) is regarded as one driving force toward the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As mentioned by Mr. Vong Chorvy, director of International Relations Office (IRO) at the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP), Cambodia during his interview with me “Why Internationsation Matters”, there is a strong linkage between the two following variables: Internationalisation in HE and the SDGs. In the context of internationalisation in HE, he stresses, more importantly, on the importance of students’ mobility. Students who have done their international exchange usually commit to contribute to community services and improve the society. This aspect of the return effects of student mobility encourages me to seek deeper understanding on more possible and potential opportunities that student mobility can offer to HE and especially the SDGs. Therefore, this paper intends to investigate mainly on the opportunities of student mobility for HE and the SDGs, taking Cambodia as a case study.

While the above main investigation question is set, other sub-focuses are also included to better understand the topic. This paper is organized by first (1) defining what student mobility in this context, (2) issues of student mobility, (3) contribution of student mobility to HE, (4) opportunities of student mobility on SDGs, and (5) discussion and recommendations.


I. Student Mobility

Student mobility is an important agent to drive internationalisation in HE. The European Parliament and Council (2006) regards international student mobility as the  process undertook by individuals or students of learning abroad in formal and non-formal programs with the purpose of acquiring broader knowledge and developing professional skills (Anna, 2014). In the Cambodian context and for this paper’s purpose, student mobility or exchange study program will be limited to the movement of students to attend or participate in degree- programs, non-degree semester study exchange programs, short courses, trainings, cultural exchanges, seminars and other conferences or meeting settings that are done outside of the country.


II. Issues of Student Mobility

While many students and the general believe that student mobility is important for students’ professional development and for the national development at large, the flow of student mobility is very limited in Cambodia. I conducted an informal discussion among university students in their freshmen year, there are a number of challenges that students see to pursue their mobility studies. Those issues include funding, information, assistance, ICT, language skills, culture and environment, confidence and health. I asked them to list three most challenging issues among mentioned issues and the majority agree on funding, information and ICT that require urgent addressing solutions.


III. Opportunities of Student Mobility for HE

Meanwhile, student mobility plays crucial roles in supporting HE. The European Union Support to Higher Education in the ASEAN Region (SHARE), which implements its programs to support HE in ASEAN region, states that student mobility is of utmost importance to further foster “internationalization” and “harmonization” of HE. The European Parliament and Council (2006) also mentions the benefits of student mobility as a tool for European area to create “lifelong learning, promoting employment and reducing poverty, and to help promote active European citizenship.” In addition, the Second ASEAN Mobility Forum in Yangon, Myanmar discussed comprehensively during the ASEAN debate session to produce a student statement regarding the challenges, benefits and recommendations of student mobility in the region. The statement contributed by me as a head of the Cambodia student delegation and other heads of students’ organisations from all ASEAN countries mentions the contributions of student mobility to HE and those include (1) strengthening international credibility, (2) boosting international rankings through increased inbound students, (3) acquiring a more diverse student body, (4) gaining opportunities to improve its International Relations Office (IRO) capability and operations, (5) widening opportunities to increase academic cooperation and partnership with other higher education institutions, and (6) sharing and learning pedagogical methods with and from other institutions. These outcomes presented in the student statement reflect the opportunities of student mobility on HE Cambodia and ASEAN countries.


IV. Opportunities of Student Mobility for SDGs

The discussion on the relations between student mobility and SDGs is usually broad. HE plays an important part in realising the SDGs. Therefore, internationalisation by student mobility in any way effects how the HE contributes to the SDGs. Student mobility contributes to the increase of internationalisation which will further improve the education quality. As mentioned by Mr. Chorvy during his interview with me, student mobility requires partnership with not only HE but also other stakeholders internationally. This means student mobility directly and indirectly drives collaboration among intellectuals, universities as well as ministries and states to work beyond its own border to increase awareness of world issues and foster professional development to respond to issues and improve the world globally. The opportunities of student mobility on individuals are also great regarding their actions toward SDGs. My observation supports the above statement. Students who do their study mobility are greatly aware of social issues and actively engage and partner with all stakeholders, locally and globally, to solve challenges they are facing. As such, there are a number of student associations or NGOs formed by students who take the same or similar programmes. Some student alumni associations in Cambodia include SHARE Alumni Association of Cambodia, Erasmus Association, Fulbright and Undergraduate State Alumni Association of Cambodiato name a few and actively engage with the public to implement their projects to support their various purposes. Their activities support education empowerment, literacy and foreign language trainings, student mobility, poverty reduction, leadership, social-project trainings and volunteerism. In direct or in indirect ways, these actions do make impactful results on the SDGs at large.


V. Discussion and Recommendations

In the context of Cambodia, student mobility is generally viewed positively based on my observation. Students are encouraged to pursue their study in a foreign country as it is believed that it will help them discover the outside world and develop professional skills to respond to social changes. While student mobility is important for students and is demanded, there are a number of challenges students face when they want to study abroad. Funding is a great challenge for Cambodian students. Most students can go on mobility programmes by seeking international funding, for example scholarships provided by foreign countries or non-state actors. While funding for studying abroad is limited internally, information and ICT are also a problem for students. They find it difficult to access to information and to take opportunities because information is not widely spread to those in disadvantaged areas and because they have limited knowledge of using ICT to apply for funding and admission to study abroad.

As this paper argues, student mobility plays an important role in HE and the SDGs at large. The process of student mobility could be improved if the above mentioned issued are co- responsively solved. The contributions of student mobility to internationalisation in HE will further encourage HE to play a greater role in realising the SDGs.

This paper, therefore, provides the following recommendations after the evaluations of the options above. First, local funds should be more available for students who wish to continue their study in other countries. Second, universities should take a greater responsibility to raise awareness among students about the SDGs and support and initiate projects that are helping realising the goals. Furthermore, universities should cooperate with all stakeholders internationally to work on the SDGs through their internationalisation process, for example establishing joint SDGs projects or SDGs courses for international students. Last but not least, students should be more active in actions toward the SDGs’ realisation. The student alumni associations, for example, should take SDGs as one of its main focuses for their projects.

References: 
Anna W. (2014). International Student Mobility: Approaches, Challenges And Suggestions For Further Research. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042814042785 

European Parliament and Council. (2006). Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 on transnational mobility within the Community for education and training purposes: European Quality Charter for Mobility. Retrieved from http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2006:394:0005:0009:EN:PDF

SHARE. SHARE Scholarship. Retrieved from: https://www.share-asean.eu/activities/scholarship/about?_ga=2.97015903.1771495909.1556426536-466012259.1521564110 


Robert J. D. and Paul O. The Role of Education in the Sustainable Development Agenda: Empowering a Learning Society for Sustainability through Quality Education. Retrieved from https://pub.iges.or.jp/pub/role-education-sustainable-development-agenda 

Why Internationalisation Matters

Taking Action at the International Level

SDGs as a Catalyst to Reorient Internationalisation

International attentions and actions have been focusing on education as a mechanism to resolve challenges and to improve lives. With the global agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), education is regarded as a global integrated framework while it plays a significant role for realizing the other SDGs.

“Education serves as a means of implementation (MOI) that cuts across all of the SDGs and will support the overall achievement of the post-2015 development agenda, for which education is recognised as having one of the highest long-term returns on investment of all development goals,” Robert and Paul.
In a narrower context, internationalisation in education is significantly driven by universities. Internationalisation in university is viewed to optimise international opportunities and developments. To further understand internationalisation in university, this paper takes a case study of the Royal University of Phnom Penh, aiming to discuss about (1) the Purposes of university in internationalisation, (2) the Focuses or Policies of internationalisation, (3) the Benefits of internationalisation, and (4) the Relations between internationalisation in the university and the Sustainable Development Goals. The method of this study is an In-depth Interview with the director of the International Relations Office (IRO) of the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP).


I. Purposes of University in Internationalisation

RUPP is a flagship university of Cambodia, having the largest number of students. Not only is it a home for higher education to local students, but also to a number of exchange students. RUPP opens its doors for international mobility, which supports both inbound and outbound activities. Internationalisation is not new for the largest national university. The establishment of the International Relations Office (IRO) allowed to ease the process of internationalisation more than ever. The Director of IRO states that RUPP has clear and direct purposes for the internationalisation of the university. “First of all, we internationalise our institution to improve the quality of education,” said Mr. Vong Chorvy, director of IRO. He continues saying that “in that sense we are committing and assisting our students and staff to move to different places, conferences, and study programmes.” He mentions that the university aims to send students and staff to experience different life in different places and different study programs from different countries. “That is very important and that is what RUPP has been doing to provide the best assistance to our inbound and outbound students,” he said.


II. Focuses or Policies of Internationalisation: Students Mobility, Credit Transfer, Quality Assurance

RUPP regards internationalisation as one of the priorities among others. “The internationalisation in RUPP focuses on student and staff mobility, conference and joint research,” said Mr. Chorvy. RUPP aims to assist students and staff mobility by having MOU with different universities across the world, partnering with various programmes, such as EU-SHARE and Erasmus programmes. In addition, to improve the process of internationalisation in university, RUPP also actively participates in international conferences on student mobility, credit transfer system and quality assurance. The university also welcomes joint research programmes with different institutions.


III. The Benefits of Internationalisation: Students, Teachers and Community

Mr. Chorvy stresses the importance of internationalisation in university: “It helps students and staff being exposed to different study programmes and culture and it is very important that they bring back the knowledge from the world to refine and develop our education and community.” He mentions that “not only does our job [internationalisation] help our university to provide better quality of education, but it also helps students and staff to strengthen their knowledge and skills for future job opportunities and social contribution.” He implies that by having study mobility, students are equipped with better knowledge, social skills and culture understanding and that helps them to find jobs more easily, locally or abroad. At the university level, internationalisation allows the exchange of ideas, knowledge and skills that help university to provide better study programmes to the students. At the community level, internationalisation in university allows students and staff to see the possibility of networking, to initiate social projects, and to support the community.



IV. Relations between University Internationalisation and Sustainable Development Goals

When asked about the relations between internationalisation in university and the SDGs, Mr. Chorvy says there is a strong linkage between the two. “Education plays a vital role in supporting our basic daily life, responding to social and world change,” he explains. “SDGs are global commitments and those goals need global efforts. Internationalisation in university responds to the commitments because by internationalising our institution and boosting the mobility of our students and staff, we are partnering with others to see the problems and collaboratively find responsive solutions to reach our goal,” said Mr. Chorvy. He also mentions that education is important for achieving all of the other goals. If the university can produce quality education, it helps the citizens to respond to the problems effectively and if the university supports the students and staff to mobilise, it promotes students’ motivation, networks and cooperation that will turn into action to achieve all the goals.

Written by Uk Dararath, ACR7 participant from Cambodia

Reference
Robert J. D. and Paul O.  The Role of Education in the Sustainable Development Agenda: Empowering a Learning Society for Sustainability through Quality Education. Retrieved from https://pub.iges.or.jp/pub/role-education-sustainable-development-agenda

Interviewee
Mr. Vong Chorvy, a director of International Relations Office of Royal University of Phnom Penh

Cambodian Students to the Second ASEAN Mobility Forum in Yangon, Myanmar

Cambodian Students to the Second ASEAN Mobility Forum in Yangon, Myanmar

The Second ASEAN Student Mobility Forum was held on 28-29 August 2018 in Yangon, Myanmar, bringing 170 participants, 130 of whom were students. Cambodia sent five SHARE student alumni along with two International Relations Office staff from Royal University of Phnom Penh and one representative from Ministry of Education.

Photo: SHARE

The forum aims to “empower the participating students to positively influence the development of an ASEAN identity in all ASEAN countries, through mobility programmes that enable students to experience life and study in another country.” Plenary and Parallel sessions were run throughout the forum. Some significant plenary sessions included “How a Mobility Opportunity Has Changed Me” and “ASEAN Debate: the case for a mobility driven common higher education” and parallel session on “Why mobility” allowed students to raise their voices regarding specific topic of each session. 


Cambodian student delegation was enthusiastically active in contributing to the forum. The student delegates shared their mobility experiences, including challenges and opportunities that were received from their mobility during the first session of the forum; led the parallel discussion on Why Mobility: What’s in it for me?; and shared the outcomes from the parallel discussion to the forum. More importantly, Cambodian delegation participated in the ASEAN Debate: the case for a mobility driven common higher education to discuss on the Student Joint Statement.

Photo: SHARE

The roles of Cambodian student delegation were noticeably important for the forum. We brought concerns from Cambodian perspectives to be heard by experts and discussed altogether for solutions. We also contributed to the most important document of the forum, which is the Joint Student Statement that is to be submitted to the ASEAN Senior Official Meeting (SOMED) through ASEAN Secretariat. The Student Joint Statement was intensively drafted prior to and discussed during the debate session. The Joint Student Statement draft includes (1) the benefits of mobility in the ASEAN region, (2) the challenges of mobility in the ASEAN region and (3) recommendations. All the concerns in the statement are directed to three levels: (A) Students, (B) Higher Education Institutions and (C) National and Regional Bodies. 


The forum is important for students to raise their voices on matters of higher education and student mobility. To students, it is recommended that they be more active in contributing to higher education and student mobility through obtaining better knowledge and initiating and joining educational activities where their actions and voices can influence or make positive changes on the progress.

Photo: SHARE

Photo: SHARE

Photo: SHARE

Innovations in Education

From Teachers to Institutions on Innovations in Education

I. Introduction 

Picture from LiveMint

Innovations in education have been gotten attentions as the world is getting more advanced and globalized. Changes of societal trends including ways of living and working have pushed new adaptation and reformations on education over traditional teaching methods and learning objectives. Innovations in education have been studied extensively in accordance with the changes and demands of the society. With these regards, this particular study on innovations in education takes two articles for analysis of similar findings of innovations in education. 

1.1 Article Reviews  

The first article taken for this study is the report from European Expert Network on Economic of Education (EENEE). This report on Innovations in education for better skills and higher employability (Falch & Mang, 2015) explores the aspects of relations between innovations in education and the innovative capacity of the economy.  There are four parts of the focuses of the report, including innovation in teaching and learning, teachers on innovations, the roles of education to equip students with skills that respond to the workforce and its changes and governance for innovation and improvements in education. The key arguments in this report include, first, the introduction of the use of computer and e-learning as an innovative teaching method. As found ITC skills do not “universally increase” student achievement.  Second, teachers are one of the most important actors on the innovation in teaching methods. Third, institutions and policies on education, such as teacher train, decentralization of teacher recruitment and internationalization and engagement of education institution and stakeholders, increase innovation in education. 

Another article is on driving innovations in education of European Schoolnet (Durando, 2017). This article focuses on how far European Schoolnet, which is a network of 31 Ministries of Education from across Europe, leading educational innovation at European level, has provided the services in education and where it is going to promote educational innovation. The three main objectives of European Schoolnet are to give concrete confirmation and information in the innovative education, to help support schools and teachers in teacher training, and to introduce a school system that leads to creative teaching and learning styles. This article is structurally and chronologically organized into what had already been achieved throughout 20 years (1997-2017) of cooperation among the ministries within European Schoolnet, and what need to be achieved in the future. The past twenty-year achievements are described in seven stages, including the Creation of Policy Networking, the Initiation of School Network, the Interoperability, Digital Citizenship, Stem Education, Mainstreaming Education, and FCL - EUN Academy. For future actions, there are ten key education areas which focus on Digital citizenship, Skills and employment, Innovative teacher education, Assessment, Whole school change, School networking, Formal, non-formal and informal learning, Education technology, Pilot and demonstration projects, and Large-scale deployment. Likewise based on the ten above-mentioned key education areas, there are four future priorities which are sequentially identified to help students to be more active in modern society, to strengthen teachers’ ability, to provide a new environment for learning, and to increase innovative scale. 

1.2. Study Scope and Objectives

The two above articles are used abundantly for this study. This study focuses primarily on innovations that have been practiced. Therefore, arguments that are found similar in these two articles are taken for comparisons. The compressions provide insightful ways of critical understanding in innovations in education, what agents contribute to the innovations and how the innovations are linked to economic sectors.   

II. Innovations in Education 

2.1. Understanding Innovations 

The relations between education and economic development are generally viewed to have a strong connection. Education plays an important role in human resource development and it is a key sub-sector contributing to socio-economic development of each nation. The purpose of education is to some extent regarded as one of the most important actors in economic development. For instance, higher education in Cambodia provides students with knowledge and skills that help them contribute fully to national development and labor market needs; employment related-skills; and understanding of and positive attitude towards work and a capacity to manage and work effectively and harmoniously with others, according to Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport of Cambodia. 

According to the article we review, the role of education is to generate skills to equip with students who can correspond to the workforce (Falch & Mang, 2015). The article continues to explain that therefore educational sector should respond to the demands for different types of skills changes accordingly. It is suggested that innovations must be there for such responsibility. Innovation in this sense refers to the creation of new and improved products and new methods that make greater efficiency that is for economic growth. Innovation in education is the use of the new technology in education as well as the invention to improve learning, equity and system and to solve a real problem precisely (UNICEF, 2017). The concept and practices of innovation have been widely studied. The importance of innovations includes new emergence of ideas and the implementation of the ideas into practice. Serdyukov (2017) introduces three main phases of innovation which include an idea, its implementation and the outcomes. Innovations in education include many aspects including but not limit to teaching technique, institutional tools, learning process and institutional structure. “Since we live in an age of innovation, a practical education must prepare a man for work that does not yet exist and cannot yet be clearly defined,” said Drucker (cite in Cunningham, 2017). Obviously, through innovations, education can provide many productive paths and opportunities for its followers.  Therefore, innovations play a constructive role in pushing education to reach its effectiveness, for it brings about creativities and possibilities to improve not only learners and educators but also the institutions themselves as well as the society as the whole. Likewise, Koa (n.d), an author and advisor of innovation and organizational transformation, defines the word innovation as a set of abilities that enable the continuous realization of a desired future.  Therefore, innovations are forms of introductions of teaching methods, including the introduction of technologies and internet, and arrangement of curriculum that all of these aim to make best outcomes for teaching and learning that will produce skills for the workforce and for the responses to the changes in the innovative society.  

2.2. Innovations in Practices

2.2.1. Technology as the Innovations in Education

The first similarity which is found in the two above-mentioned picked-up articles is about technology as innovations in education. Through experiments, the first article shows how technologies create the new teaching methods. Being compared to the traditional teaching environment, the existence of computer as well as the internet in the classroom is seen as the most beneficial innovation for teaching and learning development. (The Economist, 2013). Particularly, internet and computer enables teachers and students to share knowledge effectively and efficiently through e-learning. Besides its negative impacts which will be described in the next following part, e-learning seems to be a new potential method in teaching and learning, for it gives opportunity for students to learn by their own pace and for teachers to interact with their pupils more easily. For instance, everyone can participate freely in one popular online course named Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in which students and teachers can communicate with each other. Computer and software also make students and teacher lives more convenient; for example, teachers can prepare and finish student tasks in the adjustable speed without any burdens, and based on Krueger and Rouse (2004) (Falch & Mang, 2015), students in US can improve their computer-based test through one software named “Fast ForWord”. Similarly, using the technology as pedagogical use in strengthening teaching and learning is the central purpose of European Schoolnet in the second article. In 2002, this network of education tends to establish the school networking activities through technological advancement for exchanging knowledge and learning resource. This network offers Future classroom Lab and MOOCs in order to link the technology and pedagogy closely and effectively. Doing this, it believes that every educator can interact and cooperate with one another easily in improving the productive process in education. 

2.2.2. Teachers on Innovations 

Teachers play a crucial role in innovations in classrooms. Teachers initiate new teaching methods and test in the classrooms. The two articles mention how important teachers are to innovate new teaching methods. Teachers are responsible for developing new pedagogical approach to support their teaching and student learning. The report by EENEE (Falch & Mang, 2015) mentions that teachers are responsible for learning environment in class. Teachers can initiate productive innovations inside classroom by coming up with ideas and then make experiment to test to see how it works. Teacher quality contributes to productive innovations as well. It is mentioned that teachers who graduate from a famous university and who get high scores on teacher license examinations, in additions to other factors, are more likely to introduce new innovations. High-quality teachers innovate concepts and test them and get the result to see how such innovations work, whether failure or succeed. “It is plausible that it is high quality teachers who are most judge what will be smart experimenting, and also able to bring the best knowledge and the most relevant evidence from experiences in other schools and other environments into the classroom,” (Falch & Mang, 2015). Innovations in teaching methods are important for productive learning outcome and require teachers to able to innovate.  

2.2.3. Innovations and Stakeholders 

Both articles reveal another important point in common, which is the relation between stakeholders and innovations. According to the report by EENEE, those who are considered as the stakeholders of innovative education are government, employers, and parents. Because of being carefully and endlessly observed by the government in term of quality of performance, each school needs to be alerted all the time about their teacher methods and student learning achievements. This can be a pressure for schools, but it is worthwhile for society and its people since students consequently leave schools with better qualitative skills to contribute to the workforce. Employers are also vital stakeholders for innovative education.  Due to changes the nature of workforce, students should have better skills to works in accordance with the changes. This might be a burden for schools in shaping and equipping their students with well-appreciated innovative tools and capacity. This requires school to innovate new innovations to deal with these requirements. Another necessary agent of stakeholders is parents. Parents contribute much in their children education. According to Jeynes’ surveys (2012) (cited in Falch & Mang, 2015), there is a noticeable positive relationship between students’ performance and parents’ involvements. Parents play a very important role in assisting their children at home. Schools conduct programs that can give advice to parents about how to help their children as well as receive parents. Not much different from the previous article, the second one also expresses that education has many stakeholders such as policy-makers, researchers, schools, teachers, students, industry opportunities. All of these are the causes that push education to produce innovative elements for adapting with every need.

2.2.4. Education and Employability 

Last but not least, the two articles share the same point of view regarding the relation between innovative education and the employability. It is stated in the first article that competition is functioning as the root of innovation, and innovation is catalyze of the economic growth. In education field, it also implies that when schools encounter the challenges, they come up with more efficient drives of innovation. As the result, students will be capable enough to compete with the social barriers and have a better skill which can lead to a well-appreciated employment. Likewise, the second article focuses on the connection between STEM and its related careers, which that is also found in the first article. European Schoolnet aims to promote STEM education in all schools in Europe, which is one of the strategic initiatives because it is believed that this innovative subject can provide students with a variety of careers in society. Occupations within the STEM field are mostly digital skills and paid with the high salary, which can push the economy to thrive dramatically and consequently improve the living standard of citizens. Beside encouraging students to be interested in STEM studies, schools also need to provide a service of sharing the information and guidance on job opportunity, which is considered as the new effective method in strengthening the link between skills and employment.

III. Conclusion

To sum up, innovations in educations are critically important to drive the development. Innovations are needed to adopt to the changes and/or to make changes in society. The two above articles have four major findings in common, including the technology as the innovation in education, the relations between teachers and innovations, the importance of stakeholders and innovative education and the linkage between innovations and employments. 

Having been through these similarities, this study eventually provides the worthwhile knowledge and insightful ways to view on the innovations. Policy-makers schools, teachers, and other stakeholders are among important actors who are responsible for innovations. The study also find out that the purposes of innovations in education are critically important in this contemporary education system. While traditional education remains important, reformation of the traditional way of education and adaptation to new innovations are an utmost importance. Another important aspect of implication is that innovations take time since it involves experiments and results can be either positive or negative. It requires patience for stakeholders to hold in order to make innovations which are useful for productive outcomes. Throughout the study, teachers have an important position making innovations for teaching methods that is to increase learning outcomes and to respond to the workforce. 

Authors: 

Uk Dararath  and Som Kuthea

References
Cunningham, J., (2017). The Wisest Philosopher in Business: Peter Drucker. https://thunderbird.asu.edu/Knowledge-network/the-wisest-philosopher-in-business

Durando, M., (2017). Driving Innovation in Education. How far we have come and where we are going. European Schoolnet, Brussels.  www.eun.org/documents/411753/817341/Driving_Innovation.pdf/ 

Falc, T. and Mang, C., (2015). Innovations in education for better skills and higher employability. www.svt.ntnu.no/iso/Torberg.Falch/Articles/EENEE_AR23.pdf 

Koa, J., (n.d). Education in The Age of Innovation. http://johnkao.com/education-in-the-age-of-innovation/

Serdyukov, P., (2017) "Innovation in education: what works, what doesn’t, and what to do about it?", Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning, https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIT-10-2016-0007 

UNICEF, (2017). Innovation in education. https://www.unicef.org/education/bege_73537.html

Rakhine State Action Plan: Why It Failed to End the Rohingya Issues in Myanmar

Abstract

Myanmar government’s denial of granting Rohingyas citizenship and from allowing them to enjoy full rights as other ethnics in the country has led to many issues between the Rohingya ethnic and Myanmar government and as well as among other ethnics in the Rakhine state. The clashes between two sides have resulted in vast destructions of Rohingya villages along with the death of Rohingya people, military personnel and innocent people and mass migrations of Rohingya people to neighboring countries, especially to Bangladesh. Myanmar governments have responded by taking different actions in order to solve this conflict. Remarkably, “Rakhine State Action Plan” was drafted by Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) government. However, the Rakhine State Action Plan has proven “problematic” and ineffective: problematic because it consisted of “highly problematic” elements and ineffective because the Rohingya issues have been still protracting. This paper investigated why and how this action plan failed to end the issues of Rohingya. The findings aimed to provide insightful ways to understand the causes of the failure of the policy as they would serve as assets of knowledge for academics and policy-makers. The study was conducted in qualitative approach given the intractability of the issue, so as to understand the underlying causes and perspectives of the Myanmar students on the ineffectiveness of the Action Plan. Content analysis and survey were deployed in this study. As found, the Rakhine State Action Plan did not respond to the demands of Rohingyas. The Action Plan itself consisted of problematic elements such as the policy of resettlement that set out the relocation and encampment of the internally displaced Rohingya people to unspecified rural sites in the state with no prospect of returning to their homes and the citizenship verification that required the Rohingya ethnic to register as Bangalis. However, Rohingyas wanted to gain full citizenship as Rohingya ethnic and the ethnicity to be accepted nationwide and to have their rights as other citizens. 

Chapter I: Introduction

1.                  Background

An ethnic group, who identify themselves as Rohingya is a Muslim minority in Myanmar. Historically, Myanmar and Bangladesh were colonized by Britain. During the colonization, Britain implemented a policy to encourage the movement of migrant workers in order to increase the labor needs for rice, cultivation and profits (Abdelkader, 2017). After decolonization, the Myanmar government’s denial of granting Rohingyas citizenship and from allowing them to enjoy full rights as other ethnics have led to many issues between the Rohingya ethnic and Myanmar government and as well as among other ethnics in the Rakhine state.

There have been a number of attacks in Rakhine state that involve Myanmar military and Rohingya insurgents. The clashes between two sides have resulted in vast destructions of Rohingya villages along with the death of Rohingya people and military personnel. Consequently, thousands of them have fled to Bangladesh to escape from the crackdowns. Following these events, there were restrictions on humanitarian aids and the failure of returning displaced people back home.

The government have responded by taking actions in order to solve this conflict. “Rakhine State Action Plan” was drafted by USDP government. However, the Rakhine State Action Plan has proven “problematic” and ineffective: problematic because it consisted of “highly problematic” elements (Asia Report 2014), and ineffective because the Rohingya issue is still protracting. 

2.                Research Question

Why did the Rakhine State Action Plan fail to end the Rohingya issues in Myanmar?

2.1   Sub Research Question

1.      What are included in the Action Plan and why is it problematic?

2.      What are the flaws of the Rakhine State Action Plan that hinder the success of the policy?

3.      What should be amended or further included with the existing Action Plan to bring the conflict to an end?

3.             Significance of Study

The study will contribute to the existing knowledge about Rohingya issues and actions by Myanmar government. It help students, researchers, and the public to understand the events, responses, and government failure to end the conflict. Hence, the study aims to provide insightful ways of seeing the policy of Myanmar government in dealing with the ethnic issues. Moreover, policy recommendations will serve as assets of knowledge for academics and policy-makers.

4.           Research Methodology

4.1 Study design

The research was conducted in qualitative approach given the intractability of the issue, so as to understand the underlying causes and perspectives of the Myanmar students on the ineffectiveness of the Action Plan. Content analysis and survey method were used in this study.

4.2 Data Type and Data Collection

On the account of content analysis, secondary data was used predominantly. Existing literatures including published articles, news, journals, official documents, and reports from credible and reliable sources on the internet were derived from specific sources from both national archives and international institutions and digital libraries such as Irrawaddy news, Rakhine News Agency, Asia report, Human Rights Watch, United Nations, International Crisis Group, Jstor and other research institutions. Therefore, document and internet research were abundantly used as secondary data collection method. In regards to the survey, primary data was drawn from 14 participants, all of whom are Myanmar undergraduate students majoring in social science. In respect to the survey, it was designed to explore the perspectives of the respondents on Rohingya issues the Rakhine State Action Plan and recommendations for government policy.

5.                 Scope and Limitation

This study is limited to the investigation on the Rakhine State Action Plan with the timeframe scoped to the period of USDP administration between 2011 and 2016. This investigation focuses only on two aspects of the Rakhine State Action Plan: Permanent Settlement and Citizenship Assessment. However, given time constraint, only 20 online surveys were sent out. 14 of the 20 population submitted the survey. Although the 14 participants could not represent all Myanmar, their contribution gave this study insightful understanding of Myanmar people think about the given issues.

Chapter II: Literature Review

Since the Rohingya crisis involve human rights violation, many scholars have conducted many studies in regards to the issue. Most of the existing studies provide insightful understanding about the root causes of the conflict and the motives of the government’s citizenship law.

One study precisely explains the roots of the conflict based on the term Rohingya that is subjectively unrecognized by government of the state. This is seen as the wrongdoing of the government who politicizes the issue and mistreats the population of Rohingya. The Amnesty International 2017 report stressed about the segregation issue and suggested the policy recommendation that the international actors shall condemn the act of the government publicly, and provide aid and education to the people in the Rakhine State. (Caged Without A Roof: Apartheid in Myanmar's Rakhine State, 2017). 

David Dapice (2017) from Harvard University has produced a study report about the Rakhine State crisis. His brought two Myanmar focused groups to Indonesia in order to understand about military matter in the similar issue in 2015 and another group to Ache to study about how the bloody ethnic conflict was ended. Later, the focused groups provided several peace resolutions; granting citizenship, residency and mobility in Rakhine, restricting foreign illegal fishing in the coast of Rakhine to help Rakhine fishermen, and finding more foreign aid and extend the health care and education in Rakhine. Dapice also suggested there shall be a new citizenship policy that includes Rohingya in and the representative of Muslims in Rakhine who can speak for their interest with the government. 

Regarding to the 2012 Rakhine State Action Plan, it was believed as the government policy created in response to the domestic and international pressure over the human right abuse act and the discriminatory citizenship policy of the government. President Thein Sien pushed the plan due to three main objectives; maintaining peace and stability in Rakhine State, lessening the concern of the Buddhist nationalist in Rakhine, and responding to the concern of the international donors. Besides, this was a show about the leadership willingness of the government during the ASEAN Regional Forum in Myanmar which secretary of state John Kerry presented as well. 

 

Chapter III: Myanmar Students’ Perspectives on Rohingya Issues

Many Rakhine people share a perspective that “Rakhine State is only for the Rakhine people”.  The Rakhine see Rohingya as Muslim Bengalis as migrants from Bangladesh eyeing for economic opportunities and works in agricultural sector in Myanmar. Moreover, Rakhine worry that Rohingyas control their land and economy, demanding for a separate state (Rakhine Inquiry Commission, 2013). This led to strong inter-communal sentiment against Rohingya. In this section, three aspects of focuses from Myanmar students are elaborated. 

1.                   Perspectives on Rohingya Issues

All of the respondents share similar perceptions toward Rohingya people or Bengali. They believe that Rohingya issues are the issues of ethnic identity, territory, culture, religion, illegal immigration and terrorism. Based on the result of the survey, majority of the respondents shares belief that citizenship official status of ethnic identity, recognition as an ethnic group of Myanmar, Myanmar nationality and civil rights are among what Rohingya people want from Myanmar government. One respondent states that stopping the violation of human rights is what Rohingya want. Moreover, the respondents also shared similar tone on the demand for the territory by the Rohingyas. 

2.                Perspectives on Actions under USDP Government

When asked about actions taken by Myanmar government under USDP administration, not all respondents answered. Granting white card - temporary Resident Card, permitting NGOs to work on the issues, and putting military control over the region are among actions what the respondents saw during USDP government. There are different views among the respondent toward the practical solution to end the conflict by allowing NGOs to work and giving white card to Rohingya people. Others state that separation and recognition of Rohingya people are also not practical in solving this problem.

3.             Perspectives on Government Policy

Therefore, they suggest a number of recommendations to be implemented. Most of the respondents suggest two most important actors to solve the problem: government and international community. Some mention about citizenship granting should be a solution. This is not the only action to be taken however; others following steps are also considered by many of the respondents. These include the stop of using force from both sides, establishment related commissions, provision of fundamental rights to Rohingya people, reconciliation efforts and state security. Moreover, it is also suggested that government and international community should work hand in hand with each other, while at the same time international community should study and understand more about the situations by not just listening to a particular side, especially media. 

Chapter IV: Rakhine State Action Plan

 1.                What Rohingyas Demand

Historically, Rohingya demanded to establish self-administrative area under their control in the northern part of the Rakhine state (Rakhine Inquiry Commission, 2013). After the World War II, Muslim mujahidin rebellion fought for the right of the population to live as full citizens in an autonomous Muslim area in the north of the Rakhine state. The main objectives of Rohingyas leaders was to gain their rights including full citizenship and a legitimate ethnic group of Myanmar. They promoted Rohingya identity to be one of the ethnic group of Myanmar so that they can get full citizenship by birth (International Crisis Group, 2014). For the militants or extremists, they aim to create Muslim autonomous area in the northern Rakhine. Furthermore, they demand human rights, civil rights, repatriation, resettlement, reconstruction and economic restructuring.

The refugee Rohingyas want to return home safely with dignity, freely decide their political status and to pursue economic, social and cultural development without any restriction (Birsel, 2017). They desire for basic rights such as right to participate in the political process, right to education, right to do business freely, freedom of movement and freedom of expression. Therefore, as stateless Rohingyas, being recognized as citizens of a country to enjoy human rights and civil rights in the long term is fundamental for them. 

2.                   Rakhine State Action Plan and Its Problematic Elements

In light of the violent outbreak in 2012, the Rakhine action plan was established under President Thein Sien. Followed by the April 2013 recommendations of Rakhine Investigative Commission, the Rakhine Action Plan was designed to eradicate the problem with 6 core elements including Security, Stability, and Rules of Law; Rehabilitation and Reconstruction; Permanent resettlement; Citizenship assessment of Bengalis; Socio-economic development; and Peaceful coexistence. Respectively, in regards to Security, Stability and Rule of Law, law enforcement was placed under the spotlight to ensure the safety and security of Myanmar. It prevented illegal aliens from entering the country and practice the Myanmar constitution, Refugee law, Humanitarian principle and International Human Right Law in order to monitor civil society organizations. Second, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction emphasized on resettling and providing shelter and basic needs for displaced persons in Myanmar. Furthermore, it added on improving telecommunications facilities for displaced persons as well as coordinating and cooperating with non-profit organizations. Third, the Permanent settlement was being described on conducting the plan and assessment for displaced communities, building road, providing socio-economic support to resettled communities, and providing livelihood equipment for displaced people. Fourth, it emphasized on the Citizenship assessment of Bengalis and the process of how to get that citizenship. It required Rohingyas to register as Bengalis in Rakhine State, and set norm and criteria for citizenship assessment. It further included the addressing of illegal aliens and taking actions against illegal immigration in both present time and future time. Fifth, for the Socio-economic developmental plan, the government planned to improve farm productivity and manage fishery stock and other resources in sustainable ways. Moreover, the government also claimed to develop tourism sector and preserve the environment and culture in Rakhine state. In addition, the government believed that the action plan can expand and promote livelihood actions such as improve education system, health care system, electricity, promote trade and investment, and advance telecommunications and IT network, and also prevent natural disasters. Lastly, regarding Peaceful coexistence, the government would ensure all religious schools and qualification of teachers to meet the standard and rules in Rakhine state. Moreover, it further established the system that would promote peace throughout Myanmar and prevents or reduces sectarian conflict (Rakhine State Action Plan, 2014).

Introduced in 2013, the Rakhine Action Plan was to serve as a blueprint for development and reconstruction after the conflict. However, this particular policy failed to see any light of success given the protracted nature of the conflict and the underlying intention of the government in the Action Plan that worsen the situation. Aforementioned, the failure of the policy has a lot to do with the Action plan itself. Each elements of the Action plan entrenched discriminatory policies and violation of basic rights, both of which turned development and reconstruction to segregation and statelessness (Bookbinder, 2014). One instance is the third section of the plan on “Permanent Resettlement” that set out the relocation and encampment of the internally displaced Rohingya people to unspecified rural sites in the state with no prospect of returning to their homes. This policy constitutes a violation of freedom of movement and other basic rights, in a sense that putting the Rohingyas in permanent resettlement zones in isolated rural camps would further isolate and marginalize the Rohingya and tighten their access to basic needs, thus making more dependent on foreign assistance (Human Right Watch, 2014). Another major problem embeds in the fourth section of the plan on citizenship assessment that built on the discriminatory 1982 Citizenship law, which required the Rohingya to be registered as “Bengalis”, a term heavily rejected by the Rohingyas (Ferrie, 2014). As much as nationalism was used as an important political tool to foster self-determination and keep nation-state cohesive, ethnicism also functioned in similar fashion.  Hence, it was unlikely that the Rohingyas would renounce their claim to Rohingya identity. Consequently, in the action plan, the government stipulated the lawful enforcement for the Rohingyas who refused to give up their ethnic identity or those that were deemed ineligible for citizenship, therefore punishing them under Myanmar laws and procedures such as indefinite detention and deportation (Bookbinder, 2014). In a nutshell, the Rakhine action plan which was drafted in secrecy portrays the actual intention of the government to drive Rohingya population stateless and segregation.   

  

Chapter V: Discussion and Policy Recommendation

The Rakhine Action Plan did not respond to the demands of Rohingyas. The Action Plan itself consisted of problematic elements such as the policy of resettlement of displace Rongyas, the citizenship verification that required Rohingya ethnic to register as Bangalis. As mentioned above, Rohingyas wanted to gain full citizenship as Rohingya ethnic and the ethnicity to be accepted nationwide and to have their rights as other citizens. As found, the reason why the Action Plan failed to address the Rohingya issues was because of its elements contain controversies – resettlement and citizenship verification –  that did not respond to the demands of Rohingya people and therefore it was not favored by them.

Having analyzed the elements of the Rakhine State Action Plan and with the voices of Myanmar people, this section is to propose the following recommendations.

To solve the citizenship issue, with existing policy on the citizen verification, the verification process should be put to further work in order to include the complaint procedure so that the government can hear the concerns of the Rohingya. The verification should distinguish between who deserves citizenship status and who is an economic migrant. In addition, the Rohingya should be given full rights and freedoms regardless of their religion, ethnicity, or citizenship status. The government should review or amend its citizenship law by taking the interests of the Rohingya into consideration while at the same time strengthening law on border control to prevent illegal migrants and extremist groups from entering the country. This will help ensure the security of the local people. Dealing with the rehabilitation and reconstruction issues, the government should create security force to ensure the safety of the returnees from the refugee camp to the place prepared by the government and facilitate the return process. Concerning the issue of violation of rule of law by restriction of movement in the closed camps, the government should conduct independent and impartial investigation and bring the one who violated the law to be held accountable for their action. Regarding the restriction to the socio-economic development, the government should take into account and give priority to the needs of all local communities in Rakhine. Tackling the issue of the unequal economic opportunities and prosperity between the Rakhine and the Rohingya, the government should encourage the companies operating or investing in Rakhine, by giving some incentives such as reducing taxes, to hire more people from Rakhine people. The international community should take more actions by cooperating with the government and providing more aid instead of condemning.

Chapter VI: Conclusion  

In response to the ethnic marginalization and abuse that has been going on for decades, the USDP government initiated an action plan to address the issue. However, it failed to produce any fruitful result. Instead, it took a turn for the worse. To a great extent, the Rakhine action plan, which was drafted in secrecy, was the main problem itself; in a sense that it composed of elements designed to drive the Rohingya people stateless. Therefore, how can the problems be solved when the problem-solving mechanism is the problem. 

 
References:

Abdelkader, E. (2017, October). The conversation. Retrieved from Theconversation.com: https://theconversation.com/the-history-of-the-persecution-of-myanmars-rohingya-84040

Albert, E. (2017, December 7). Council of Foreign Relations . Retrieved from cfr: https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/rohingya-crisis

Birsel.R. (2017, October 7). Rohingya insurgents open to peace but Myanmar ceasefire ending. Retrieved from Reuters World News: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rohingya/rohingya-insurgents-open-to-peace-but-myanmar-ceasefire-ending-idUSKBN1CC05C

Bookbinder, A. (2014, October 3). Rakhine Action Plan a ‘blueprint for segregation and statelessness’. Retrieved from DVB: http://www.dvb.no/news/rakhine-action-plan-a-blueprint-for-segregation-and-statelessness-burma-myanmar/44705

Burma: Government Plan Would Segregate Rohingya, Force Resettlement, Discriminatory Citizenship Creates Dangers. (2014, October 3).  Retrieved from: https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/10/03/burma-government-plan-would-segregate-rohingya

Caged Without A Roof: Apartheid in Myanmar's Rakhine State. (2017). Retrieved from Amnesty International: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/11/myanmar-apartheid-in-rakhine-state/

Rakhine State Action Plan. (2014, October 27). Retrieved from: http://www.maungzarni.net/2014/10/rakhine-action-plan.html?m=1.

Dapice, D. (2017, May). Rakhine State: Dangers and Opportunities. Retrieved from Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation: https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-east-asia/myanmar/myanmar-politics-rakhine-state

European Commission. (2017). The Rohingya crisis. Retrieved from: http://ec.europa.eu/echo/files/aid/countries/factsheets/rohingya_en.pdf

Ferrie, J. (2014, October 3). Rights groups condemn Myanmar's Rohingya plan. Retrieved from 
Reuters: https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-myanmar-rohingya/rights-groups-condemn-myanmars-rohingya-plan-idUKKCN0HS0BT20141003

FIDH and ALTSEAN-Burma. (2016, October 26). Still oppressed: Rohingya policies and restrictions under Myanmar's new government. Retrieved from: https://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/20161025_myanmar_rohingya_br_en-4.pdf.

Gamez, K. R. (2017). EXAMINING THE ASEAN INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS (AICHR): THE CASE STUDY OF THE ROHINGYA CRISIS. Tilburg University, International and European Law.

International Crisis Group. (2014, October 22). Myanmar: The Politics of Rakhine State. Asia Report N°261 Retrieved from: https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-east-asia/myanmar/myanmar-politics-rakhine-state

Mathieson, D. S. (2016, January 6). The Electoral Aftermath in Rakhine State. Retrieved from: https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/01/06/electoral-aftermath-rakhine-state-0.

Open Security (2017). The Rohingya crisis of June 2012: a survivor's testimony. Retrieved from: https://www.opendemocracy.net/opensecurity/hamid-emma-crichton/rohingya-crisis-of-june-2012-survivors-testimony

Rakhine Inquiry Commission. (2013, July 8). Final Report of Inquiry Commission on Sectarian Violence in Rakhine State. Retrieved from: http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs15/Rakhine_Commission_Report-en-red.pdf

Refugees International. (2017, July 11). A Continuing Humanitarian Tragedy: Ongoing Abuses and Oppression against the Rohingya in Myanmar. Retrieved from: https://reliefweb.int/report/myanmar/continuing-humanitarian-tragedy-ongoing-abuses-and-oppression-against-rohingya

Rieffel, L. (2017, September 13). No simple solution to the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2017/09/13/no-simple-solution-to-the-rohingya-crisis-in-myanmar/.




 
APPENDIX

Consent Form

We are a group of students studying at Department of International Studies at Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Currently we are conducting a research on the topic “Valuating of Rakhine State Action Plan”. Specifically we are trying to explore the berries that prevented the Action Plan from solving Rohingya ethnic issue. With this occasion, we are investigating on two levels: the elements of the Action Plan and actual issues to be addressed.  

As latter focuses on the actual issues, it is necessary to hear the local voices. Therefore, we are requesting you to be our voluntary participants for our investigation. Our findings will serve as beneficial knowledge regarding the ethnic conflict and policies dealing with such issue. It is also important for policy-makers to understand better about the issue. 

It is important to note that your identity will be most CONFIDENTIAL and will not be revealed at any cost without your consensus. 

By selecting “NEXT”, you voluntarily agree to be our participant without any internal or external force, and you also agree to provide us with correct answer based on your point of view.
Should you have any inquiries, feel free to contact us. We can be reached via uk.dararath@gmail.com. 



Questionnaire: Valuating of Rakhine State Action Plan

I. Brief Background
₋ Age:
₋ Year of school:
₋ University name:
₋ Email (optional; if you give, we will send our research as soft copy once it is done):

II. Rohingya Issues: We are asking your thoughts. So you do not have to search internet to fill it; just say what you know. You can write in either English or Burmese language.

- Can you briefly talk about the causes of Rohinya issue?
- Based on your opinion, please kindly tell us about what Rohinya people want from Myanmar government?

III. Actions under USDP Government: Just say what you know. You can write in either English or Burmese language.

- Under USDP regime, what did you see from USDP government do to solve the Rohingya issue? Please list down all actions by USDP government that you know (Just say what you know)

Authors:
Uk Dararath
Choun Sotheavuth
Hour Sopheana
Lam Kimchheng
Lim Chhay Heng
Su Myat Wai Hlaing
Sinn Van Dara

The Cambodian English Language Teaching and 21st Century Skills

The Cambodian English Language Teaching and 21st Century Skills

Philosophy, Theory, and Practice

I. Introduction

Picure from AVOS.ORG

English language teaching methods are crucial for learners as well as teachers to achieve effective learning outcomes.  Different approaches have been applied for teaching to different groups of students. As argued, some approaches are more effective than others when they are deployed to some certain learning groups. Direct Method, the Audiolingual Method, Total Physical Response and Communicative Language Teaching are among approaches having been used in English teaching. Communicative Language Teaching emphasized on communication through interaction where personal experience is of importance for the contribution to the classroom learning and where fluency is the main focus for communication (Brown, 2001). 

With this regard, it is important to understand what approaches are used to teach Cambodian students and why those are used. We conducted an observation to explore the approach used by a teacher to teach English to students. 

This case study is to do with primary data which we collected through the observation conducted in a classroom at one private language school. The objectives of this study include, but not limit to, the understanding of the approach used in the English language class, techniques deployed in accordance with the approach, classroom management, and teacher’s philosophy. To achieve these, the classroom observation and two interviews with the teacher – pre- and post-interviews – were the method of this study. The sample of this study was based on network, which means the teacher participant was chosen by our network. To be ethical, consent forms which stated the purposes and activities of this study were sent to the observed school and the teacher participant, which both the observed school and the teacher participant voluntarily agreed to participate in this study.

The study was conducted in three main steps. First, the pre-interview was first done to explore the general information from the teacher participant about the environment of the classroom, number of and diversity of the students, the teacher’s philosophy, the rapport between the teacher and the students and the expected learning outcomes. Second, this study was proceeded to the class observation. One of the teacher participant which took one and a half hour was used for the observation. With privilege, the lesson plan was also handed to us that we were able to observe both the activities in the class and, at the same time, the names of techniques that were being used. Third, the post-interview was conducted to confirm some information including the different classroom environment on the usual classes and the observed class, the reasons why some planned activities were not achieved and the perspectives of the teacher participant of her teaching.

II. Findings and Discussion

 2.1. Classroom and Learning Environment 

Within the class that we observed, there were 22 students in the age range of 12 to 20s and we noticed that those students’ proficiency was similar to one another except a few students who were older and seemed to be slow learners. From the teacher participant’s perspective, that matter was because of their age. Once they were older, they tended to feel inferior of losing face if they made mistakes because they thought the older should be better than the younger.

Most of the time, seats were arranged in U-shape to make teacher walk and notify students’ activities easily, and it sometimes changed to pair or group settings depending on the teaching activities.

Classroom environment was comfortable as the room was clean with good equipment and there was no external noise distracting during teaching time. However, for the learning environment, some students were passive and afraid of answering the questions or participating in class activities, especially sharing idea in the front, which made the class silent sometimes. In that case, the teacher selected the students to answer directly. Because students were hesitate taking part in the tasks given, it wasted the teaching time, and one technique in the lesson plan was cut off due to the time constraint. 

2.2. Teaching Methods

The teacher mostly used the inductive teaching approach as she started the lesson by allowing students to discuss on the topic and discover the language points first before introducing the grammatical rule which is “To Infinitive”.  Also, we agreed that she adopt the Communicative Language Teaching approach as she promote the fluency more than accuracy. During the students’ sharing time regarding their ambition, she did not catch the students’ grammatical mistakes except the mistake on ‘To Infinitive”. Moreover, teacher had the students talk and discuss more with their friends than just sitting and listening to teacher explanation, which provided students more talking time.

2.3. Teacher and Student Rapport 

Throughout the interview and observation, we found out that the relationship between teacher and students was good because teacher played a role as a facilitator in class guiding students to do the activities planned. Most of the time, teacher encouraged students to participant in class activities and gave students freedom to share their ideas; therefore, the techniques used were mostly less-controlled and freer techniques. During the interview, she said that controlling students’ responses would limit or hinder students from being creative.

Comparing between the interview and the observation, it can be seen that what the teacher had mentioned and the actual class had some gaps. First, the activities that the teacher had planned to do within the observed session were not all completed as there was not enough time to cover the last activity.  

2.4. Learning Outcome and Philosophy 

The lesson plan indicates two main objectives to achieve of the class that was observed:(1) Talk about their ambitions with their friends using to + verb + infinitive; and (2) Write sentences about their ambitions using to + verb + infinitive. The class enormously achieved these learning objective because the students could have time to practice speaking and write sentences using To Infinitive form.

Regarding the teacher expected learning outcome which is the ability of students to communicate using English language effectively, the class was actually in accordance with this. This trains students to speak every day and to write for communication. 

The teacher philosophy is also in parallel with the expected learning outcomes.  “My ultimate goal is making students learn and most importantly for them to enjoy the lesson; so that they feel excited and happy coming to school. I want to make them feel that coming to school is what they like doing every day,” said the teacher during the interview. 

2.5 Discussion

Throughout the investigation, it can be assumed that the approach the teacher deployed for her teaching is Communicative Language Teaching Approach. The interaction in the class mainly aimed to achieve students’ speaking improvement. The class consisted of various speaking activities including group and pair discussions and individual speaking times. As we witnessed during the observation and as clearly stated in the lesson plan provided, students’ speaking times occurred throughout the class. Students were encouraged to discuss in the group as well as with their peers. For instance, teacher paired up students to discuss about the differences of the sentences highlighted in the course book. Another evidence is when teacher showed pictures and asked students to discuss and talk about their dream goals they want to achieve. This also links to another evidence showing that the CLT was the approach the teacher used. Personal experience learning is valued through this approach. The teacher applied this as her class activity. Students were encouraged to discuss their life goal, who they wanted to be. The teacher provided some clues to students by showing some pictures of businesspeople, artists, managers and politicians. Students, then, were encouraged to share who they wanted to be and to provide reasons why. This kind of speaking activities aimed not only achieve the speaking fluency but also accuracy. The accuracy was not the main facts of the class, as it is also one of the elements of the CLT approach. The teacher indirectly wanted to introduce students with To Infinitive grammar points. Instead of writing the form of the grammar point on the whiteboard, the teacher allowed students to speak about their life goal which involved the To Infinitive. For instance, students said, I wanted to be a teacher. In this sense, students could be able to use “to be”. 

III. Conclusion and Recommendation

The observation and interview in classroom were conducted in the purposes of understanding the approaches used in Cambodian schools, the teacher’s perspectives and classroom and learning environment. Throughout the investigation, it found out that the class we observed was taught in Communicative Language Teaching approach (CLT) where the teacher adopted communication activity as the main focus, personal experience as the learning process and fluency over accuracy. 

Our observation allowed us to see a few things to be improved as well. Since the class itself consisted of students with different ages, the integration inside classroom was not yet satisfactory. The teacher should understand the needs of all students and find solutions to unify everyone for learning purpose. Second, the classroom was not really active. The teacher should work to promote the sense of volunteerism where students are internally encouraged to speak and share their perspectives toward to topic discussed. 

We are fully aware that there is limitation for this study due to time and resource given; however, this study’s findings are of significant importance for the reflections to new language teachers or new teachers to be. We recommend a further study should take place where the number teacher participants should be increased and where bigger scale of study should be conducted. By studying several teachers and observe different classrooms and schools, the result will provide significant sources to compare which methods of teaching work better with Cambodian students. 

Reference
Brown, H.D. (2001). Teaching by Principles. An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy (2nd). United States of America: Pearon.

Written by Uk Dararath and Nhep Kimleang