1. Brief CFS Background

1.1 CFS History and Definition in Cambodia » Up

This document has been developed in consultation with key partners and key departments of Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) to map out the future direction of the Child Friendly School Program (CFS) in Cambodia . The CFS program began as a pilot in 2001/2 as a tripartite agreement among UNICEF, MoEYS, and KAPE (Kampuchean Action for Primary Education) to develop a programme model in support of quality improvement of the Cambodian educational system at primary level. This joint venture to promote CFS development models was renewed in 2002/3 and 2003/4-2004/2005. During the last 4 years of program planning and implementation, considerable progress has been made and the program structure, content, and technical approach have evolved to support the initiative at decentralised levels. This document aims to synthesize these experiences gained and to map out the future direction of content, partnerships, and processes for CFS and how this links to MoEYS medium and long term policy documents.

Simultaneously as piloting took place in Cambodia , other countries in the region have pursued similar quality interventions towards increasing quality of primary education systems. Through interactions between actors in Cambodia , including key staff from MoEYS, and regional counterparts and agencies, a synthesis of what a child friendly school constitutes has been derived. During the 2004 review of UNICEF/Sida support to MoEYS, Sida Advisory Team (SAT)⁴⁰ endorsed CFS and the cluster mechanism as strategies to improve quality in Cambodian primary schools.

Sida Advisory Team (SAT) - International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP), Paris, June 2004

A recent regional CFS review summarized and reconfirmed the 5 dimensions of Child Friendly Schools⁴¹. These dimensions are considered relevant and a useful framework for which to analyze and conceptualize quality aspects of education development in Cambodia . This document includes a sixth dimension highlighting the necessary supporting mechanisms that enable the educational system to develop toward more child friendly teaching and learning environments.

1.2 Future Development of CFS in Cambodia » Up

Evaluations and impact assessments⁴² of the Child Friendly School Programme over the last four years indicate that the program can promote innovative practices in primary and lower secondary schools, which lead to improvements in both quality and access. Apart from positive experiences integrating CFS into in-service primary teacher training and primary school performance, development during the last two years has also demonstrated CFS applicability in lower-secondary education and pre-service teacher training. The assessments made include systematic program monitoring reports based on standardized evaluation tools as well as research components within the program that have looked closely at children’s learning using achievement testing methods. These internal assessments will be complemented by a major external evaluation of the program in mid 2005. With substantial experiences gained from the pilot phase, there is now an opportunity to consolidate processes and content for an accelerated geographical expansion over the coming years. This is a strategic option to achieve medium and longer terms education goals outlined by the MoEYS.

1.3 CFS and Linkage to MoEYS Medium and Long Term Policy Priorities » Up

The Child Friendly School framework offers approaches towards improving quality of education in Cambodia . There are a number of unique features of the CFS approach, as adopted in Cambodia , that make CFS an attractive strategy. The program uses the Ministry’s cluster school network as an important implementation tool. Implementing the program in this way builds on previous investments made by donors and government, and strengthens key government policy mechanisms. This enables far reaching support to rural areas more than might otherwise be possible if the program worked with schools individually. In this respect, Local Cluster School Committees (LCSC) help to implement these interventions in a coordinated way to link with children’s rights agenda. The program has further developed impressive synergies with other on-going programs such as World Food Program’s (WFP) School Feeding Program, Research Triangle Institute’s (RTI) Local Life Skills Program, and the Girls’ Lower Secondary School Scholarship Program.

Current planning documents such as the Education Sector Support Program (ESSP) and the Cambodia EFA National Plan place a strong emphasis on promoting access and quality to basic education. Important interventions to promote access in this context include infrastructure development, scholarships, and the abolition of school fees. Efforts to promote quality issues have focused on interventions that increase retention and promotion such as increased provision of textbooks, teacher education, and remedial support for slow learners. There has, however, been an increased interest within the Ministry to expand the scope of quality improvement to move beyond a narrow focus on efficiency issues such as retention and promotion. This refers in particular to increased emphasis of the teaching-learning process.

Although the CFS programme was initiated through UNICEF’s advocacy, the MoEYS is increasingly demonstrating ownership by making references to CFS models in strategic planning documents. Increased government ownership of strategic planning processes and outcomes relating to CFS has led to a significant acceleration in the pace of adoption and change within the program, including expansion to new sites and new sectors, such as secondary education. More effort has also been made to link CFS activities with other national programs such as the Poverty Reduction Strategic Plan where attention was given towards inclusive aspects of education services. The MoEYS is currently developing CFS policies and guidelines to facilitate an expansion of CFS in Cambodia , including formulating a clear definition of elements of a child-friendly school and the content of capacity building interventions that propel school development in this direction. To embrace schools nationwide, a foundational starting point is being agreed upon. This benchmark will constitute suggested activities to be undertaken to improve school performance and be based on the current situation of participating schools and regularly tracked through the use of agreed CFS teacher and school monitoring tools.

2. CFS Programme Development

2.1 Objectives and Indicators » Up

The overall objective for UNICEF’s support to educational development in 6 provinces is to support institutionalisation of access and quality improvement interventions through the emerging CFS framework in Cambodia . This results in supporting the realisation of universal primary education by 2015 as outlined in the Cambodian National EFA Plan and corresponding to the Millennium Development Goals. Current net enrolment rates are approximately 90% in 2003/2004 academic year and the programme targets an increase to at least 96% by 2010. Another major problem of the current education system is the low completion rates in primary school. Subsequently the program objectives include providing support towards increasing the completion rate from 49% in 2003/2004 academic year to at least 75% by 2010. A key strategy to achieve these objectives is to improve quality of primary education delivery which is a main output of promoting Child Friendly Schools in Cambodia .

The project objective of child friendly school development is to contribute towards reaching the programme objectives by supporting improvements in a range of areas related to increased school performance. The project takes a medium term outlook which spans over five years. Programmatically the identified interventions will be front loaded resulting in major investments for expansion taking place during the first three years of the period. The latter part of support will be provided to maintain the achieved standards as well as to include a series of informative assessments for future policy development.

The project takes a rights based approach to education quality improvement where interventions in all CFS dimensions will be pursued. This approach focuses on identification and action taken by all duty bearers to ensure that the basic educational rights of rights holders are being met. Activities in the different dimensions are interlinked and mutually reinforcing each other to meet the basic needs of the right holders with regard to education services. Due to different standards in different geographical areas, expansion modalities will respond to local variations in the UNICEF supported provinces. Similarly phasing of activities within the dimensions will vary based on previous experiences of quality interventions, geographical viability, availability of qualified human resources, and commitment of stakeholders. The following key indicators and targets will be used to measure progress throughout the duration of the project:

• At least 96% of children aged 6-11 are enrolled in primary school by 2010
• At least 75% of children complete the primary cycle (grade 1-6) by 2010
• At least 70% of primary schools have adopted the CFS approach by 2010

2.2 Key Assumptions » Up

• The CFS package is basic enough to be introduced to previously UNICEF unsupported schools and clusters.
• The CFS package is comprehensive enough to address a multitude of in- and out-of –school factors.
• There exist a critical mass of CFS trained human resources at national and provincial levels to support planned capacity building activities including monitoring and progress reporting.
• MoEYS ownership and commitment to expansion of CFS remains high.
• Other donor and MoEYS resources will be made available for implementation of related activities in other provinces

2.3 Systematic Monitoring Framework for CFS » Up

An external evaluation of CFS in Cambodia is currently being undertaken as a measure to assess progress of the program implemented by UNICEF, MoEYS, and KAPE over the last three years. The findings will be available by July 2005 and is anticipated to provide valuable input towards establishing a monitoring framework for the expansion of CFS in Cambodia .

To ensure systematic monitoring of progress and assessment of impact, the expansion of child friendly school activities includes a further development of previous monitoring practices incorporating recommendations made by the Sida/SAT mission in June 2004⁴³. These recommendations outlined a systematic monitoring and evaluation scheme to monitor progress and assess impact of child friendly school activities in the 6 UNICEF supported provinces. To bring experiences from implementing expansion models and content of capacity building activities at decentralised levels require regular monitoring and documentation of good practices. This will be achieved through simplifying and using the standardised monitoring tools developed for assessing child friendliness at school, community, and cluster levels. All progress monitoring will be guided by baseline data for selected indicators to be measured from 2005/2006 academic year onwards.

Sida Advisory Team (SAT) - International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP), Paris, June 2004

At school and community levels, the monitoring system will use the school self assessment forms to assess involvement of stakeholders and progress with regards to implementation of the CFS package. A more elaborate form for assessing the outcomes of training activities will be used by cluster and district offices of education on a monthly basis. Similarly, the provincial offices of education will monitor progress partly by conducting monitoring activities but mainly through reviewing cluster and district progress reporting on a monthly basis. This includes training of inspectors at provincial level to assist in monitoring and supporting related school development activities. UNICEF provincial based education staff will provide assistance to the provincial counterparts in assessing progress and trouble shouting. Through this systematic monitoring scheme, the provincial offices of education will assess progress and regularly report to the CFS Steering Committee for review, assessment, and provision of recommendations for future development of the program. The committee will also be able collect relevant information on progress by its members conducting monitoring visits and from consulting MoEYS staff appointed to serve in the Mobile Capacity Building Teams as well as proposed externally conducted studies. UNICEF education section will provide technical assistance towards setting up and maintaining the monitoring system both at decentralised levels in the supported provinces as well as in interpretation of findings for the CFS Steering Committee.

Systematic evaluation of impact is proposed to be obtained through external support partly in form of Sida/SAT reviews and partly through studies specifically designed to provide information to program implementers and the CFS Steering Committee. The following areas are proposed for obtaining specific understanding on key results of CFS interventions:

3. Implementation Mechanisms

3.1 CFS Steering Committee and Mobile Capacity Building Teams (MCBTs) » Up

The Steering Committee formed at national level has overall responsibility for CFS program coordination. The MoEYS indicated its commitment towards the CFS program and its importance within their overall EFA strategy by including senior officials from each of the major departments as well as the appointment of representatives from UNICEF, KAPE and Save the Children Norway (SCN). The role of this committee is to provide overall direction to the program in line with current Ministry policies. The committee will promote performance accountability among program implementers, particularly provincial CFS implementation teams. They also have the responsibility to endorse, coordinate and organise reviews of all CFS related activities including related documents, manuals, and guidelines. The committee meets on a quarterly basis to discuss and review progress of implementation and make recommendations for future directions and institutionalise suitable elements in the MoEYS policy development process. The Steering Committee itself has no direct involvement in program implementation. However, selected members of the committee appointed by MoEYS are regularly involved in several aspect of the program at field level in their capacities of trainers and monitors of the two Mobile Capacity Building Teams (MCBTs). These teams have consisted of both KAPE staff and MoEYS officials and they are involved in trainings, conducting cluster needs assessments, and facilitating trouble-shooting sessions at cluster and provincial level as the need arises. Involvement of MoEYS staff in this manner has facilitated the formulation of policies based on field experience and it further assists in keeping all members of the Steering Committee informed about content and progress of the program.

3.2 Provincial and District Education Staff (POE and DOE Working Groups) » Up

The Primary Education Department is currently reviewing the roles and responsibilities of provincial and district working groups in support of quality interventions funded by donor agencies and MoEYS funds through the Priority Action Program (PAP). The intention is to provide nationwide official guidelines to these administrative layers. In UNICEF supported provinces, working groups at provincial level have been functioning for several years with increased links to district level working groups during the recent two years. Provincial and district offices of education are the primary implementers of CFS activities and their ability to provide technical support and to monitor progress is essential for the accelerated expansion of coverage in respective province. During the expansion phase, the provincial working group will be responsible for providing training to district working groups and clusters on the processes and content of the CFS package. The provincial working group will also be responsible for reviewing progress and identifying constraints and trouble shooting to remove barriers and suggest course of action. Based on progress reviews, the provincial working group will likewise provide additional support to district offices of education to enable them to become pro-actively engaged in implementing CFS activities.

3.3 Local Cluster School Committees (LCSCs) and School Support Committees (PTAs) » Up

The LSCS is a decision making body with responsibility for planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of activities at cluster and school levels. The LCSC is composed of all primary school directors in the cluster, all cluster technical grade leaders (TGL’s), community representatives from each school in the cluster, the chief of the commune where the school is located and the secretary from the core school. The LCSC provides technical support to annual school planning based on the Logical Framework Analysis (LFA) approach and regularly meets during the academic year to review progress and provide technical support to management of the cluster schools. Based on official MoEYS guidelines, the role of cluster schools is to improve cost effectiveness of technical support to schools, improving pedagogical practices through exchange of ideas and best practices, improve planning, monitoring, and supervision, and to facilitate community development through strengthened relationships with stakeholders by giving access to cluster facilities to support home support for their children’s education. As mentioned, the school support committees (SSC) are represented in the LCSC and encouraged to participate in school development activities. The role of SSCs in pursuing child friendly schools is towards establishing stronger links between the community and schools by providing activities that focus on strengthening interactions revolving around students learning and the local community. The role of the SSC will increasingly be as a key stakeholder in planning and support of school development activities rather than only as a financial contributor to development.

3.4 School Management and Thursday Workshops and Peer Support Networks » Up

Experiences from Cambodia and other countries in the region demonstrate the importance of school directors as key agents of change. School directors play a key role in pursuing quality improvement activities at local level will be responsible for the school self assessment, school management and transparency, and advocate for changes in teaching and learning practices towards child centred and active learning approaches. The school directors will be provided with introduction training on CFS to ensure understanding of processes and content ahead of any new training of teachers in the school.

As a part of the MoEYS strategy to ensure increased number of teaching hours for students, a proposal has been made to convert some of the Thursday’s workshop into normal teaching hours. This would provide, on average, three additional teaching days per month and reduce the Thursday’s workshop to once a month. The CFS program will contribute towards developing content and support mechanisms to ensure that these workshops are being used to discuss and address issues and concerns in relation to implementing CFS activities. Technical Grade Leaders (TGLs) will be continue to be used as facilitators, but content of this peer support network will increasingly focus on issues arising from implementation of CFS related activities. Progress monitoring of these workshops will be conducted to assure that the technical support to demonstrate and provide solutions to problems faced by teachers is adequately addressed.

4. Content of CFS Package » Up

The content of the CFS Package has been developed in consultation with stakeholders and implementers at national and decentralised levels. The aim has been to identify and promote relevant and effective activities based primarily on experiences gained from the last 5 years of various quality improvement initiatives and programmes including UNICEF supported activities. The major thrust of the outlined content relate to advancing the teaching and learning processes with the expectation of increased learning outcomes resulting in increased promotion rates and subsequent reduction in repetition and drop-out rates.

The SAT mission in June 2004⁴⁴ provided comments on the large number of activities carried out by UNICEF and the risk of spreading the support too thinly. Development of the CFS package has taken this into account and strives towards increased consolidation of content and processes for the expansion phase of the program. Experiences gained from the pilot phase have identified core activities addressing access and quality of education based on realities of the majority of the primary schools being assisted. The package was compiled based on the CFS dimensions mentioned above, and targets addressing key issues in the corresponding technical areas. Activities focusing on improvements of teaching and learning processes are for e.g. being reinforced by activities targeting improved school management and increased collaboration with communities in school development activities. Dimension 4.6 relates to capacity building activities targeting key areas of the education system at various levels, including effectively assessing progress towards increased synergies of various access and quality improvement programmes initiated by MoEYS and/or other donors and NGOs in pursuit of CFS.

Sida Advisory Team (SAT) - International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP), Paris, June 2004

4.1 Inclusive of All Children » Up

Regional experiences from implementation of CFS, including Cambodia , highlight the important role of school directors in the area of school performance. To increase school directors’ understanding of the child friendly school activities and enable them to support the implementation of an effective CFS approach, a specific training module is being developed. This module is based on the school director training delivered by MoEYS and reinforces selected management techniques relating to enabling increased stakeholder consultation and involvement in increasing access to education. The training module contains three main topics:

1.Introduction to CFS – visioning and goal setting School Directors training:

This module concentrates on the objective of the CFS programme, the relation between MoEYS policies and guidelines such as EFA, ESP and ESSP and the characteristics of an inclusive school. This introduction to CFS also includes a basic orientation on the 5 dimensions and the accompanying core activities. Implementation guidelines are also an important feature of the training.

2.School self assessment, planning and management:

School Self Assessments with stakeholder consultation is the basis for preparing the school’s participation in the cluster based LFA planning process. Use of indicators is discussed in relation to regular progress monitoring of the implemented activities from the core package with emphasis on the number of school aged children in the school’s coverage area that are currently not enrolled in school.

3. Child seeking focus in enrolment campaigns

This activity strives to mobilise stakeholders such as parents, school support committees, commune council members, and district education officials in support of the nationwide enrolment campaigns. Information and methods to better understand and map out the disadvantaged groups is included. Through this component, school directors will be exposed to different approaches and experiences of reaching out-of-school children and how to include them in education.

4.2 Academically Effective and Relevant to Children's Lives » Up

Analysis of current UNICEF/Sida support to primary school development, demonstrate a strong focus on improvement of teaching and learning processes towards more child-centred methodologies. This area of intervention is essential when striving towards increased learning achievement and promotion rates. Studies undertaken during current programme period⁴⁵ also verify that the use of child centred teaching methodologies has positive outcomes in children’s creative and critical thinking skills. The results also indicate that these children learn more in core subject areas. A focus on diverse teaching and learning methods, including group work and student research, further strengthens links between subjects taught and the realities of children’s lives in their local communities. Given the persistent high drop-out rates in grade 1 over the past years, increased focus was given to school readiness activities during 2004. Positive results of learning achievement was observed from the first year’s implementation⁴⁶ and the activity now features as core component to achieve increased learning outcomes of CFS. Training content of the following activities is based on selected parts of previously piloted activities under both the CFS and the cluster school development programmes supported by UNICEF/Sida. The technical support will mainly rely on MoEYS trainers at both central and decentralised levels.

1. Child centred teaching and learning methodologies including classroom management

This module is based on selected activities from the UNICEF/MoEYS Technical Grade Leaders training package and from various piloted CFS activities documented in the CFS service menus developed by UNICEF/MoEYS/KAPE. The content offer teachers a variety of techniques to stimulate increased interactions between students and teachers through promoting active participation in the learning process.

2. Supporting children’s learning through group work and questioning techniques

This module introduces methods to increase interactions between students through the use of various group work techniques. This teaching method also encourages a more problem based approach to learning subject matters and can additionally be used to create learning opportunities with related to real life experiences of the students. The questioning techniques discuss the impact of using different types of questions as a basic tool to support children’s learning process.

3. School readiness methodologies for grade 1 teachers

Analysis of pre-school coverage in Cambodia indicates that the vast majority, especially in rural areas, do not have access to these services. Subsequently these children enter primary school without being adequately prepared for schooling. This module is also based on child-centered methodologies and focuses on pre-literacy and pre-numeracy content. The training activities start with language development through discussion activities followed by questioning techniques related to mathematics and science. The module aims at delivering a more joyful and interesting learning experience for grade 1 students through permitting the children to observe and inquire about the subject without compelling the child to memorize. The use of colored flash cards with large images is a method with low cost teaching aids associated with the training. The focus of the training is to ensure trainers and teachers ability to be creative through understanding the principle behind how children learn.

4. CFS pre-service teacher training course for PTTCs

To increase synergies with in-service teacher training and as a method to scale up quality interventions an in-service teacher training module was developed and implemented since 2003. This module was further improved during following year containing content for both year 1 and 2 at the PTTCs. The pre-service teacher training component has become a regular feature of CFS in several provinces and offers synergies with other on-going in-service teacher training programmes. The module was developed and refined in close collaboration with Teacher Training Department and includes training of both PTTC trainers and students. The PTTC trainers also provide support to primary school teachers in the practice schools where the PTTC students conduct their teaching practice.

4.3 Healthy, Safe, and Protective » Up

This dimension concentrates on nutritional and health activities and their role in fostering a nurturing environment for children. The current efforts by World Food Program include provision of school breakfasts to children in food insecure areas supports which is in line with the thrust of this dimension. Implementation of school feeding activities during the past years has demonstrated the potential of this program also in terms of increasing community participation for other school development activities as communities has an important role in managing the activities at school level.

1. School feeding activities in food insecure areas

In collaboration with World Food Programme, support will be provided to CFS schools to manage and monitor the school feeding activities in selected food insecure areas. The related training activities will be undertaken by World Food Programme and be managed by the provincial office of education. UNICEF/Sida support will be provided to further integrate the related activities in regular progress monitoring undertaken by provincial, district, and cluster officials.

2. Hygiene and health promoting schools

In collaboration with Health section of UNICEF, support will be provided for improvement of health and hygiene practices in schools. Teacher training and information materials on hygiene practices and diarrhoea prevention are included. In collaboration with Health section, awareness raising will be conducted on iodised salt through available materials and training modules on “magic salt” lessons.

3. Water and sanitation facilities

Through resources made available from several different donors, considerable improvements have been made during the past 5 years in UNICEF supported provinces. With the envisaged expansion, an initial assessment indicates the need for further resources to improve related facilities in the 6 supported provinces. Resource mobilisation will be undertaken jointly with Seth Koma section of UNICEF to ensure the availability of adequate facilities in the expanded geographical coverage from 2006-2010.

4. Support to school based de-worming twice yearly

Twice yearly de-worming activities have been supported through an inter-ministerial mechanism based at the National Malaria Centre under the authority of Ministry of Health. Provision of medicines and distribution of medicines, including initial training, was provided by several donors in 2003. Activities in this area will focus on strengthening progress monitoring to identify shortcomings and addressing related issues. Support is also planned to include de-worming in the annual data collection of the EMIS centre to enable the MoEYS to improve performance in this area.

4.4 Gender Responsive » Up

Gender responsiveness is central to establishing child friendly school environments. A recent regional review of CFS approaches suggested that gender should not simply be treated as part of an inclusive education theme within a child friendly school model but as a theme in its own. Training modules are developed to ensure that all CFS schools implement specific activities to address gender disparities. The gender mini-menu responds offers several entry points to start discussing and finding solutions to reduce gender imbalances at school level. The specific activity to be implemented will be chosen by local planners in response to an issue identified as a priority by national planners and donors alike. The approach envisaged includes activities that focus on raising awareness through demonstrating positive examples as well as practical activities to reduce drop-out among girls within a single school year.

1. Separate sanitation facilities for girls and boys

Experience from different innovative programs to increase access to schools, demonstrate the importance of toilet blocks being separated for boys and girls

2. Girls' counsellors

The appointment of a Girls’ Counsellor (GC) in every school will support the female students in confidentially approaching a female member of staff to raise various problems. A training programme has been designed to train selected female teachers to become Girls’ Counsellors. The GC will monitor attendance, establish relationships with girls at risk and visits girls' homes with a view to encouraging parents to allow girls to continue their study.

3. Community role models

An important feature of a child friendly and gender sensitive school is sensitizing children towards the experiences of others and developing a sense of empathy as well as respect for others. This activity outlines an approach that CFS facilitators may use to assist teachers in organizing their students to interview people in society who faced particular difficulties and obstacles in their lives and how they managed to overcome these barriers. As outlined below, School Support Committees will also be encouraged to assure gender representation of its members.

4.5 Involvement with Families and Communities » Up

The main aim of activities in this dimension is strengthen the links between the community and the classroom by encouraging parents and community members to better understand what is taught and learnt at school. Activities focus on both encouraging community members to take a more active role in school matters as well as provide training to enable school and cluster directors to embrace parents and communities to participate. A key area of intervention will be the school self assessment, where community members are involved in visioning and goal setting for school and cluster development plans. The parental and community involvement also focus on strengthening school and cluster governance towards becoming more responsive to the communities it serves. It is also expected to increase transparency in financial management, improve communication about and understanding of teaching and learning issues which will encourage greater involvement from the community in school development. The three main interventions are as follows

1. School visits by parents and community members

Schools will be encouraged to organize activities such as open days for parents and community members. This gives opportunities for parents and the community to gain a greater understanding of their children’s educational experience by observing teaching at classrooms and children’s study forms, libraries, talking to teachers on children’s performance, watching sports and/or cultural events performed by the children.

2. Active and gender balanced school support committees

The Parent Teacher Association, also called the School Support Committee, is a formal channel for parents and community members to evaluate and make informed decisions about the effectiveness of the school. It is important to have an equal representation of men and women in the committee as this can function as a role model but also ensures a fair balance in opinions from both groups.

3. Participatory planning at school and cluster level through the LFA approach

This section encourages school and cluster directors to pro-actively seek participation from parents and community members to assist with the planning at school and cluster level. The parental and community involvement will strengthen school and cluster governance to make school management more responsive and responsible to the community it serves. It is also expected to increase transparency in financial management and thus encouraging greater involvement from the community

4.6 Supportive and Enabling Education System » Up

1. Peer support through Thursday’s workshop

2. Annual planning and progress assessment by LCSC

3. Technical support through DOE including regular monitoring and progress review

4. Technical support through POE including regular monitoring and progress review

5. Technical support through MoEYS established mechanisms including regular monitoring and progress review

6. Vision and strategic guidance through MoEYS CFS Steering Committee

5. CFS Cost Assumptions and Budget Requirement 2006-2010 » Up

The annual planning process for CFS will follow the academic years and where the bulk of budget being utilized during mid of the calendar year. The majority of training activities will take place during the summer holiday when schools are closed to ensure that valuable teaching hours for students are not compromised. Similarly the majority of school based supply will be during May to September to be in place at the start of the new academic years. The provincial expansion plans are based on academic years with a finalised expansion strategy for 2005/2006 already in place and financial resources available through the 2005 financial/calendar year.

5.1 Cost Assumptions » Up

• Costs are based on phased expansion as outlined in the 6 provincial expansion plans.

Activity costs are correlated to numbers of classes and schools and aggregated from number of classes and schools as outlined in the provincial expansion plans.

• Expansion plans follow the academic year and correlate to financial year according to following:

2005/2006AY=2005FY, 2006/2007AY=2006FY, 2007/2008AY=2007FY,

2008/2009AY=2008FY, 2009/2010AY=2009FY

• First year’s implementation 2005/2006 is financed through available resources in 2005FY.
• 3 year school support is based on phase in/phase out details outlined in the provincial expansion plans.
• Resource allocation will decline in the 2009 and 2010 financial years.
• Enabling education system includes costs at decentralised levels including:

Technical Grade Leaders Monthly Workshop, monitoring and technical support by LCSC, monitoring and technical support by DOE, monitoring and technical/training support by POE, monitoring and technical support/training by MCBT, monitoring and review by CFS Steering Committee.

5.2 Three Year Support Package per School » Up

The three years expansion plan is a part of a five year country programme cycle and intends to commit resources for all participating schools on a 3 year basis. The outline subsequently assumes that support will be provided by a minimum of three years support of CFS development for each participating school. Since some of these schools will be involved in the program from the 2007/2008 academic year, support will be provided for these schools until the 2009/2010 academic year. As the CFS expansion plan envisages a rapid increase in coverage from 2005/2006, a lower level of support is envisaged to maintain the related school development activities is for 2009 and 2010. Cost for equipping classrooms and schools are based on an initial supply package containing classroom supplies estimated at $100 per unit and a annual recurrent supply package estimated at $50 per unit.

5.3 Budget Requirement by Implementation Year » Up

6. Expansion Strategies and Implementation Plans in 6 Provinces » Up

The expansion strategies and implementation plans in UNICEF supported provinces were guided by recommendations made by the SAT review in June 2004. The report explicitly recommended moving away from developing activities and support mechanisms focusing on a limited number of teachers and schools⁴⁷. Rather, the focus would be on developing cost effective and workable models based on whole school approaches including scaling up the programme to increase coverage in the UNICEF supported provinces. The SAT report also suggested that different expansion strategies and methodology could be pursued in different provinces to gain experiences from going to scale.

The expansion strategies outlined below are based on the SAT recommendations and guided by a district survey⁴⁸ which was finalised in March 2005. The survey mapped out availability of human resources and management capacities at cluster, district, and provincial levels in UNICEF supported provinces. Overall findings include a limited number of districts being identified as high potential while the majority of districts being identified as medium or low potential districts. The result of the survey has guided the provincial offices of education in the planning process of scaling up CFS activities within various districts and clusters. The survey was useful to assess where geographically to start expansion but also as a guiding document during the compilation of a CFS package that can be implemented in the majority of the surveyed districts and clusters.

The expansion plan for the 6 provinces is based on different models that incorporate previous experiences of externally supported education interventions in the different provinces especially with focus on functioning of clusters within the province. However, all provinces use the whole school approach and the cluster mechanism for providing technical support towards school improvement. The expansion is guided by firstly increasing the coverage in currently supported districts and clusters and thereafter new geographical areas will be incorporated in a three year expansion phase. The provincial expansion plans are based on academic years with a finalised expansion strategy for 2005/2006 already in place and expansion plans formulated for 2006/2007, 2007/208, and 2008/2009 academic years. The CFS expansion plan is part of the five year country programme cycle but commits resources for all participating schools on a 3 year cycle. The outline assumes support provided for a minimum of three years support of CFS development for each participating school. Since some of these schools will be covered from the 2007/2008 academic year, support will be provided for these schools during three academic years i.e. until the 2009/2010 academic year. As the CFS expansion plan envisages a rapid increase in coverage from 2005/2006, limited support to maintain the related school development activities is envisaged for 2009 and 2010 financial years as outlined in cost assumptions under chapter 5.

Kampong Speu

Current situation:

The POE in Kampong Speu province has been implementing the CFS programme since 2002 in collaboration with and support from UNICEF and KAPE. Currently, the CFS activities in Kampong Speu are implemented in 4 districts, covering 438 classes in 68 schools in 11 clusters.

Since the introduction of the CFS initiative, a wide rang of activities from the service menu have been implemented in the UNICEF supported schools. The POE revised and reformed its working group structure at all levels in order to response to the project implementation in terms of project management, planning and evaluation, technical support, strengthening the supervision and monitoring activities and identifying CFS focal points for better collaboration. Meanwhile, all key members and concerned stakeholders of the POE working group (including TTC trainers), DOE working groups, cluster heads, school directors, TGL’s/core groups and teachers have received specific training on the CFS concept and guidelines. In addition, study visits to other provinces who implement CFS activities have been conducted and creatively applied by the POE Kampong Speu.

Kampong Speu expansion plan:

Expansion strategy:

The CFS programme will gradually expand to 70 percent coverage in the province based on a whole school approach and will build on lessons learned from implementation in the previous years. In 2005-06 the focus will be on expanding the activities to all classes in the currently supported schools. From 2006-2007, 4 new districts will be included. In order to implement the CFS programme in these new target areas, the POE working group has identified planning activities which will be focused on activities in the core areas of the CFS package related to the 6 CFS dimensions. The POE will conduct and facilitate training for DOE staff, TGL’s and teachers each year. The POE will establish DOE WG’s in the new district as well as strengthen the exisiting DOE working groups to ensure the provision of regular technical and managerial support to the clusters and schools. In addition to this, the POE will increase the number of members in the POE working group to be able to support and guide the expansion to new districts.

Kampong Thom

Current situation:

Up to the academic year 2004-05, UNICEF in Kampong Thom province has supported 4 districts out of 8 districts. Twenty clusters have been implementing the CFS programme. Out of 133 schools in the 20 UNICEF supported clusters, there are 69 schools implementing the CFS programme.

To implement the CFS programme in the UNICEF supported clusters, the POE/DOE Working Group mechanism was set up, which consists of 10 important resource people from the POE and DOE’s. The POE Director chairs the CFS Working Group while managing the day- to- day activities of the CFS programme is directly headed by the chief of primary education office. The main tasks of the working group are to provide training, facilitate various technical meetings and monitor and supervise the implementation of CFS activities in the field. The members meet every month to review the supported activities and discuss important issues arising from the actual implementation. At the end of each quarter, a review takes place at provincial level for all CFS implementers at the cluster level to report about achievements and constraints in implementing the activities at the schools.

The CFS working group is fully functional with knowledge and skills to fulfil their task as resource people for CFS activities. Currently, all members have received various technical training courses which include the TGL package, basic concepts of CFS, classroom management and child-centred learning, cooperative learning, supportive supervision, and school management information systems.

Thus far, the following activities have been implemented in Kampong Thom province: participatory planning at local level in 2004-05 academic year, Thursday technical meetings, study visits, classroom management training, school self-assessment/CFS evaluation, child centred teaching and learning, cooperative learning, School Management Information System (SMIS), supportive supervision, school readiness programme, inclusive education, CFS training for year 2 students at TTC, girl councillors, gender training, school feeding activities, eco-club activities, sanitation education and well construction. In regard to teacher training, 774 teachers in 69 schools have been trained on CFS. These teachers are implementing CFS activities in their classroom. Some other teachers in the UNICEF supported schools who have not been officially trained on CFS also acquired some basic concept from the trained teachers through the Thursday technical meetings. These untrained teachers have therefore already been introduced to CFS teaching techniques and therefore receive priority for further training in the coming year.

Kampong Thom expansion plan:

Expansion strategy:

In AY 2005-06, expansion will take place to 118 schools in 6 districts, which is 28% of all schools in the province. This means that 298 more CFS teachers will have been trained by the end of AY 2004-05. At the end of AY 2005-06, approximately 463 more CFS teachers will be trained. This number makes 50 percent coverage. To ensure 70 percent coverage by AY 2008-09, new clusters, schools and teachers will be gradually included in the programme.

Otdor Meanchey

Current situation:

UNICEF has supported capacity building and cluster school development in Odtar Meanchey Province since 2000. Firstly, from 2000 to 2002 the project covered 2 districts namely Anlung Veng and Trapeang Prasat district. In 2003, UNICEF added one more district to the target area, Chong Kal district. Currently, UNICEF supports 59 schools in 9 clusters in 3 districts while the total number of schools in the province is 134 in 20 clusters in 5 districts. The CFS programme has not yet been formally introduced in Otdar Meanchey but preparation activities are taking place to build the foundation for implementation of the CFS programme in 2005-06.

A POE and DOE working group was set up when UNICEF started its support to the province. The POE working group consists of 11 people and is chaired by the vice -director of the POE. The Working Group has 2 vice chairmen; the chief of primary section and the head of the inspectorate. The other members are technical staff from the POE. The POE established DOE working groups to assist in the implementation of activities in the 3 districts. The main task of the working group is to facilitate trainings, Thursday technical meetings, supervising and monitoring of activities. The Working Groups meet on a monthly basis to discuss implementation of activities, progress and planning. All members have been trained in a variety of topics such as TGL package, Cluster school development, LFA planning, Cluster school management, teacher supervision, School readiness, Library management. Child centred teaching and learning, and teaching aid production. The teachers in the 59 supported schools received training on the TGL package, Child centred teaching and learning methodologies, teaching aid production and school readiness (for grade 1 teachers).

Otdor Meanchey expansion plan:

Expansion strategy:

The introduction of the CFS programme to POE/DOE WG’s and school management will take place in the current academic year to increase the understanding of the context and its objectives, The first implementation of CFS activities is planned for 2005-2006 in 80 classes in 24 schools in 8 clusters. There will not yet be an expansion to other districts as it was decided to first build models of good practise and a supporting network for CFS activities before expanding to new areas. It has to be noted that the general situation in regard to education in Otdar Meanchey is very challenging. There is a high percentage of incomplete schools and schools often lack basic facilities. The province also faces a shortage of trained teachers and therefore contract teachers are being appointed to assist the schools. From this point of view, the whole school expansion approach may be very challenging. Nevertheless, a whole school approach is aimed for as much as the situation allows.

Prey Veng

Current situation:

The support of UNICEF to Prey Veng started in January 2001. The province has a total of 12 districts, 82 cluster and 503 schools and UNICEF supports 3 districts, 21 clusters and 128 schools. Since 2003-2004, additional support has been provided to 6 practice and cooperative schools from the Teacher Training College , which are located in a different district. UNICEF support includes over 25 percent of all schools in the province and this will gradually expand to 70 percent in the coming three years. There is an active POE Working Group (WG) in Prey Veng with 24 members of different departments as well as representatives of the 3 supported districts and the PTTC. All members are appointed for specific tasks and have received training on various CFS modules, evaluation of CFS activities and facilitation of the planning process.

There are also DOE Working Groups established to support the schools with the implementation of CFS activities. The size of the DOE WG’s is based on the number of schools in the districts and all members are trained for this purpose.

There are 1476 teachers in Prey Veng, who currently implement CFS activities. These teachers have received training on the following topics: TGL package, workshop on Child Rights, CFS dimensions, Classroom management, Student portfolios, 7 main ideas for lesson planning, Taxonomy and creative/critical thinking, Study Games, Organisation of Class Team Leaders, evaluation and testing,

Prey Veng expansion plan:

Expansion strategy:

The implementation of CFS activities in the past three years has resulted in a solid foundation for expansion of the programme as there is a critical mass of trained teachers and facilitators to support the expansion process. To gradually expand CFS to at least 70 percent coverage in the province, a whole school approach is adopted. By the end of the academic year 2004-05, the province will have 134 fully Child Friendly Schools with 1476 CFS teachers, which is more than 90 percent of the currently supported districts. In 2005-06, six new districts will be included in the programme. Selection of these districts is based on the district potential survey conducted by KAPE. In 2006-07 and 2007-08, more schools will gradually be included in the programme to be able to reach the target of coverage of at least 70 percent.

Stung Treng

Current situation:

As preparation activities for the implementation of the CFS programme in other UNICEF supported schools in the province are being carried out in the current academic year, the POE and DOE Working Group mechanism was re-organized and POE and DOE staff, teacher trainers, supervisors and cluster directors have been introduced to the CFS concept and programme. The POE deputy director chairs the CFS Working Group and the chief of primary office managing the day to day activities of the CFS programme.

The working group members’ responsibilities are training, facilitating various technical meetings, supervising and monitoring the activities in the field. The members meet every month to review the supported activities, discuss some important issues arising from the actual implementation and plan the next month activities. At the end of each semester, the Chief of the Provincial Working Group invites all CFS implementers at the cluster level to report on the results and lessons learned.

Currently, 50 teachers in 6 schools have been trained on CFS concept and methodologies. Other teachers in the UNICEF supported schools have been introduced to the basics of CFS from the trained teachers through the Thursday technical meetings but more substantial training is needed.

Stung Treng expansion plan:

Expansion strategy:

The experience from implementation of the CFS programme in the 6 schools is that it is effective to create a peer supporting system for teachers to work together to share their understanding and experience of CFS. Technical Grade Leaders who have received specific training will be valuable resource people in the school, playing an important role in initiating new activities and facilitating improved teaching practices. In 2005-06 more than 100 new teachers in the current UNICEF supported areas will be trained on child friendly teaching methodologies. Geographical expansion is planned for 2006-07 onwards by gradually adding new clusters as well as the remaining unsupported district.

Svay Rieng

Current situation:

Svay Rieng province is situated in the south-east of the country, in which most of its borders are next to Vietnam country. It has 7 districts, 35 clusters and 248 schools. Currently, UNICEF is supporting 114 selected schools in all 7 districts in 15 clusters. However, CFS is currently implemented in 48 selected schools with 379 classes, in which 13 schools are fully CFS.

In order to support the implementation of CFS activities at cluster level, working groups have been established at provincial and district level. The POE WG has nine members, who are representatives of the different departments in the office such as inspection, primary and preschool, finance, and non-formal education. All members have the responsibility for certain districts and clusters. At district level, district working groups have been established. The numbers of DOE WG members vary and are based on the number of supported clusters within the districts. In general, 2 DOE WG members are responsible for one cluster and all DOE directors are included in DOE WG’s. Recently, some good TGL’s were included in the DOE WG. Currently, there are 33 members in DOE WG’s.

In Svay Rieng, the POE WG has established a special CFS working group with 12 members from POE WG, DOE WG’s and PTTC. Their role is to support all CFS activities, which include facilitating a meeting, involving in planning processes, monitoring the implementation of CFS activities at schools, training CFS teachers and school directors, providing on-the-job training to teachers during Thursday workshop, and conducting school evaluations when needed.

All of POE WG and DOE WG members received most of the basic training to enable them to support clusters with CFS implementation. Those included TGL package, school director training, maitre formateur, and inspection, which were conducted by MoEYS. Other trainings, such as, CFS concepts, classroom management, cooperative learning, using Taxonomy questions, life skill training using community teachers, girl friendly school & gender related issues, were conducted by KAPE. Some training conducted by UNICEF staff, such as, LFA planning, leadership, observing a lesson & giving feedback, and self-evaluation.

So far, 268 teachers have been trained on CFS and 379 child friendly classes are operating in 48 schools.

Svay Rieng expansion plan:

Expansion strategy:

The expansion plan is based on the district survey and group discussion of the POE WG. The strategy is a whole school approach, but geographical expansion is also considered to be a model for the new areas. This means that every year, apart from the expansion of child friendly classes to the whole school, one school in one new cluster will be selected in districts with potential as identified in the district survey of KAPE.

In school year 2005-06, the expansion will focus on the schools currently supported by UNICEF. It is expected that at the end of year 2005-06, 58 schools out of a total of 143 supported schools will be fully child friendly. This also results in 2 fully child friendly clusters as well as one fully child friendly district. At the same time, 5 new clusters will be selected and one school in each cluster will receive support for CFS activities, totalling 63 schools in 20 supported clusters in all 7 districts.

From 2006-07 onwards, the expansion will focus more on new areas as supporting networks and examples of good practise have been established in all districts.

⁴⁰ Expanded Basic Education Program (EBEP) Review Report for the Period January- December 2003,
⁴¹ Child Friendly Schools in East Asia and the Pacific: “How Friendly Can They Be?”, A. Bernard, UNICEF/UNESCO Regional Office, Bangkok
⁴² Various evaluations and impact assessments undertaken by Kurt Bredenberg, Kampuchean Action for Primary Education, Kampong. Cham
^43,44 Extended Basic Education Program (EBEP) Review Report for the Period January- December 2003,
⁴⁵ The Child Friendly Schools Movement and Impacts on Children’s Learning: Practical Applications in Cambodia, Kurt Bredenberg and Cheat You Heeyit, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, July 2004.
⁴⁶ School Readiness Program Report, Kurt Bredenberg, December 2004.
⁴⁷ Extended Basic Education Program (EBEP) Review Report for the Period January- December 2003, Sida Advisory Team (SAT) - International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP), Paris, June 2004
⁴⁸ Child-Friendly School Expansion Initiative – District Management Survey, KAPE, Jimmy Chan, March 2005