MoEYS Organizes Mentoring Consultative Workshops to Inform New Early Grade Mentoring Package

The Strengthening Teacher Education Programmes in Cambodia (STEPCam) – jointly implemented by MoEYS and UNESCO with the financial support of Global Partnership for Education (GPE) – aims to improve the professional support mentors provide to teachers. Under Component 2, In-Service Training for Early Grade (EG) Teachers, STEPCam is currently working with the Ministry of Education and Youth and Sport (MoEYS) to develop an Early Grade Mentoring Package that will engage Master Mentors and School-Based Mentor to support teachers improve their teaching skills and practice, with a particular focus on Early Grade Mathematics and Khmer Literacy.

The Early Grade Mentoring Package developed by STEPCam team in collaboration with the USAID-funded All Children Reading Initiative (ACR –I ), UNICEF and other relevant stakeholders implementing mentoring in Cambodia is informed by lessons learned from the piloting of different mentoring models in target schools, and a national consultative workshop that was conducted in January 2020.

To further learn from, and incorporate the feedback of teachers and mentors into the package, the MoEYS with support from STEPCam organized a series of consultative workshops across five provinces on Early Grade Mentoring in June. The workshops brought a total of 85 participants, mostly mentors, across Kratie, Stung Treng, Preah Vihear, Siem Reap and Uddar Meanchey. During the workshops, participants reflected on their current roles and responsibilities as a mentor, and best practices and challenges they came across during this experience. Reflections and input from these consultative workshops will also feed into the Early Grade Mentoring package that will be finalized and implemented across five afore-mentioned provinces in the 2020/21 academic year.