Following the completion of the 9th batch of the Pre-Service Student Teacher Exchange in Southeast Asia (SEA-Teacher Project), the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education through the SEAMEO Secretariat in collaboration with Chiang Rai Rajabhat University hosted the 9th evaluation meeting which aimed to ensure that important lessons learned could be shared with the existing and future participating universities for further improvement.
Dr. Mary Pauline E. Namoca, the Dean of the School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts attended the meeting held at Chiang Rai, Thailand on 21-22 June 2024. More that 68 participating institutions across the Southeast Asia Region joined the activity with the theme “Revitalizing Teacher Education”. The project, which started in 2014, focuses on pre-service student teachers majoring in Mathematics, Science, English, and Pre-school. Now on its 9th year, SEAMEO has expanded the areas to include Elementary Education, Special Needs Education, and Social Studies in order to improve the quality of education in Southeast Asia. SLU joined the project in 2017.
Mainly designed for the 3rd or 4th year of pre-service student teachers, deserving students are given the opportunity to conduct their practicum within Southeast Asian countries. The practicum period is for one month. The students’ roles and responsibilities are assigned weekly during the one month (observation, assist in teaching, creating a lesson plan, teaching and reflection). The host universities will select the schools for the pre-service student teachers and provide mentors to supervise and monitor the students throughout the practicum period. The project is based on a cost-sharing basis.
During the activity, the participants were welcomed by Dr. Nattaphon Santhi, the Assistant President of Chiang Rai Rajabhat University, followed by the Opening Remarks of Datuk Dr. Habibah Abdul Rahim, the Director of the SEAMEO Secretariat. After the overview of the 8th and 9th batches of the project, Dr. Namoca presented SLU’s best practices, lessons learned, and ways forward that can help improve the conduct of the project. She emphasized the need for clear guidelines during the screening process of both inbound and outbound students, the importance of conducting pre-departure orientation to outbound students and ensuring the supervision of students even when outside the country. Suggestions on logistics, monitoring, and financial assistance from SEAMEO were also discussed and the possibility of extending the project to faculty exchange was also highlighted. She ended her discussion by saying that for the project to be successful, it is imperative that partner universities continue to strategize, engage, affiliate, materialize plans, evaluate, and open doors for students in order to provide quality and meaningful student exchange between countries. During the 9th batch, SLU partnered with seven institutions namely Valaya Alongkorn Rajabhat University (Thailand), Universitas Lambung Mangkurat (Indonesia), Halu Oleo University (Indonesia), Dong Thap University (Vietnam), Universitas Sebelas Maret (Indonesia), Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, and Universitas Nusa Cendana (Indonesia).
The meeting was followed by a networking between the attending Universities for the 10th Batch of the SEA-Teacher Project, possible teacher exchanges for AY 2024-2025, and potential research collaborations.
SLU’s initiative in this event proves the its commitment in interconnecting with diverse groups and aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically under Quality Education (SDG 4) and Partnerships for the Goals (SDG 17). (Article and Photos by the School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts)
