THE ROLE OF ICT IN CAMBODIA EDUCATION: CHALLENGES AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVES

As modern devices like tablet computers, laptops and PDAs develop more of a presence in school system, it becomes more important for educators, students and parents to understand the role of information technology in education of our society today. New technology is not only a single purpose subject, but it can also be applied to any subject, which enhances the learning experiences and equips students to join an increasingly global workforce. Information Communication Technology is influencing every aspect of human life (Mikre, 2011). They are playing important roles in work places, business, education, and entertainment. Moreover, many people recognize ICTs as catalysts for change; change in working conditions, handling and exchanging information, teaching methods, learning approaches, scientific research, and in accessing information. ICTs are making dynamic changes in society. They are influencing all aspects of life. The influences are felt more and more at schools. Because ICTs provide both students and teachers with more opportunities in adapting learning and teaching to individual needs, society is, forcing schools aptly in response to this technical innovation.

Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport has established the policies for education sector. The three policies of MoEYS are Ensuring Equitable Access to Education Services, Improving the Quality and Efficiency of Education Services, Institutional and Capacity Development for Educational Staff for Decentralization (MoEYS, 2010). ICT policy and strategies has also been developed from 2005 till present. The first ICT policy and strategies had been cooperated with the technical and financial assistance of UNESCO and was formulated and considered as a sensitive challenge of the Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport to reform its delivery services effectively within a new context of globalization (MoEYS, 2005). It was a practical path which has been chosen to get along well with the world trend of implementing the strategies and the national goals of education for all (EFA). Emphasis was also made on the non-formal education, distance education, training of professionals, education quality at upper-secondary education and post-secondary education levels through ICT, which was becoming a relevant life skill required in a knowledge-based society and a critical tool for building partnership between government institutions, concerned national and international organizations, civil society and communities and legal entities within the private sector as well. MoEYS was firmly convinced that this ICT in education policy would certainly contribute to creation of more tools of qualified human resources for Cambodia.

A close look in to role of ICT in education was studied (Hamid Reza Kaffash, Zohreh Abedi Kargiban1, Sodabeh Abedi Kargiban, 2010). The study showed about the approaches and frameworks which are helpful to understand the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the formal education sector, the structured literature review and documentary research techniques, relationships between ICT, curriculum development, pedagogy, and practice in classroom setting, the term ‘ICT’, in curriculum and a framework for the investigation of contemporary understandings of ICT in pedagogical practices.

The Role of ICT in Cambodia Education is very important and has been implemented as in the objective of Sub-program 5.9: Development of ICT usage of MoEYS’s ESP 2009-2013 (MoEYS, 2010). It ensures that the technology used or developed by MOEYS will be appropriate to address the needs to update the ministry’s administration and flexible with its decentralization policy. Another objective is to promote and conduct monitoring on the standardization of information and computers used in the ministry. It’s responding to ESP Strategies and Policies 3: Institutional and Capacity Development for Educational Staff for Decentralization –Improve the use of information technology to update and decentralize administration and inspection systems, which can reach school level. Some Policy actions have to be done with Security, stability and standardization of the updating and integration of MIS such as EMIS, HRMIS and FMIS and the general information system of MOEYS, computer-based school management, standardization and electronic communication with MOEYS at national, sub-national and school levels . Some indicators and targets to be monitored are MOEYS’s central departments, POEs and DOEs are able to communicate with one another through electronic means, and new database for EMIS, HRMIS and FMIS will be linked and considered as secure and stable. Management software properly piloted and addressed the needs of schools in Cambodia, all MOEYS’s departments, POEs, DOEs, schools and HEIs use Open Document Format (ODF) and Portable Document Format (PDF). Performance evaluation will be done for this area as pointed out in the master plan and action plan on Information and Communication Technology.

However, a study explored the new roles of technology in education which has increasingly become more than a sole medium as the description in the past was conducted (Musawi, 2011). Basically, the key idea is that technology, with the powers of ICT, in education has now three main roles, namely: a medium/resource, a management, and a delivery. These new roles, when combined, could set the stage for restructuring the education institutions in an innovative way that leaves the current education system in history. Historically, audiovisual movement at the beginning of the twentieth century adopted the use of new innovations of film and audio to reach a diverse audience with an emphasis on educational materials production by faculty to improve their teaching. Learning theory, systems theory, and information theory then merged to form the instructional design approach which, in practice, shifted the evaluation to the learners measuring their achievement according to prescribed learning objectives in observable format within eight domains of learned capabilities and tasks. The new technology roles in education have affected many aspects of the existing structures of “traditional” institutions and it will continue to affect them for years to come.

For implementation of the role, Gafar Almalki and Neville Williams (2012) have showed a set of strategies to improve the usage of information and communication technologies (ICT) in a primary school. The categories of the usage of ICT are ‘supportive ICT use’ and ‘classroom ICT use’. Supportive ICT use refers to the application of ICT for practical, educational support such as school administration, teaching management and administration and preparation of worksheets for student assignment. Most of The ICT research studies explore the conditions that can sustain its integration into schools. It was found some barriers and divided into three categories; teacher factor, school/institution factor and extrinsic factor.

Master Plan for ICT in Education 2009-2013 was an implementation tool for Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport which set the education milestones to be accomplished in the coming year, and the strategies to reach those (MoEYS, 2010). It has been set a high-level implementation plan to integrate the technologies into the heart of education system, to ensure that they will be used in an efficient and sustainable manner. It is not only to the students that the ministry must give ICT skill; it must also ensure that its administration and teaching processes integrate technology whenever it adds value to them in a cost-effective manner, as the best possible solution.

As various forms of ICT (ranging from the Internet and computers to television, radio, video, and mobile telephones) become increasingly accessible and interactive, their role at all levels of education is likely to be all the more significant in making educational outcomes relevant to the labor market, in revolutionizing educational content and delivery, and in fostering “information literacy”. During the last few years, the Ministry has also developed the use of computers to maintain the vast amount of data that is required to manage its operations. Five key areas have been computerized through an Education Management Information System (EMIS), a Human Resources Management Information System (HRMIS), and a Non-Formal Management Information System (NFMIS), a Financial Management Information System (FMIS), and a Higher Education Information Management System (HEMIS). These systems are independent and maintained by their respective departments.

Teaching styles of teachers and educators, both without and with the use of ICT, have been studied by means of a web survey (Ed SMEETS, Hans van GENNIP, Carolien van RENS, 2009). The study showed that, when using ICT, there is more emphasis on knowledge construction, as compared to knowledge transfer. Several variables have been identified that are linked to the teacher educators’ teaching styles, including teacher educators’ views on modeling learning environments and on their students’ abilities at autonomous and cooperative learning, the self-assessment of their competencies in using ICT as a pedagogical aid, subject area, and the encouragement by management to use ICT in education. Therefore, with respect to the use of ICT in the classroom and the way in which ICT is incorporated into various teaching styles, it is interesting to focus on the teaching styles and the use of ICT by teacher educators in pre-service teacher education. In general, teacher educators have quite favorable views about modeling learning environments according to constructivist principles, and are inclined to use ICT for supporting the construction of knowledge by students to a larger extent than for the transfer of knowledge.

The curriculum for Teacher Training Centers has included training on ICT for all teachers since 2003, but a lack of appropriate equipment has made this training possible only in a few centers. A number of schools received donations of computers and training directly from NGOs and development partners during the last decade.

E-Learning opportunities are usually accessed via the internet and facilitated by different types of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) which offer new opportunities for teaching. E-Learning builds on the same principles and opportunities of teaching many individuals at each learner’s own rate compared with teaching to a class of students meeting at the same place at the same time. The study about implementation ICT in education showed that ICT through E-Learning helped or could help people access tertiary education by not necessarily being on the campus of the respective tertiary institutions (Nana Yaw Asabere, Samuel Edusah Enguah, 2012). E-learning can be seen as a solution to the various factors that affect access to tertiary education such as lack of facilities to meet increasing educational demand due to population growth. It can also help workers or working people who want to attain higher education but cannot opt for residential tertiary education for one reason or the other.

For ICT usage in school, Oye, N. D., Z.K. Shallsuku and A.Iahad, N. (2012) showed that there have been significant correlations between the students and the use of ICT in their studies. However difficulties facing ICT usage is highly significant also. This shows that students have negative attitudes towards using ICT in their academic work. This is a foundational problem which cannot be over emphasized. Most of the students have never practice using ICT in their primary and secondary schools.

The use of computers at MoEYS started independently in the departments that could no longer work without them and also in schools which received donations of computers. The Ministry has now entered a new stage during which ICT policy and management are being more clearly defined, thereby standardizing the use of ICT to make it more efficient for both student training and administration. Development partners and the private sector have been asked to work with the Ministry in the framework of this Plan, which already includes the ICT projects of development partners active at this time and which will guide new programs and joint ventures in the future.

One of the major barriers to the use of ICT in Education – the cost of connectivity for education administration as well as for educational purposes – was overcome in 2009 by a private sector donation from Viettel which agreed, at no cost, to permanently connect all administrative offices of the Ministry as well as all public schools, universities, and Teacher Training Centers with access to electricity.

In Conclusion, information and communication technologies (ICT) refers to forms of technology that are used to transmit, store, create, share or exchange information. The broad definition of ICT includes such technologies as: radio, television, video, DVD, telephone (both fixed line and mobile phones), satellite systems, computer and network hardware and software; as well as the equipment and services associated with these technologies, such as videoconferencing and electronic mail. ICT in education means teaching and learning with ICT. The role of ICT in education is very important for apply to all sectors from the top level to base line management. The government should develop ICT policies and guidelines to support all levels of education from primary schools to university. ICT tools should be made more accessible to both academic staff and students. The ministry should launch basic ICT trainings as part of teacher career development, with materials such as ‘technology-supported-pedagogy knowledge’, which is required when they plan to integrate ICT in the classrooms. Trainings for school principals are also required to improve leadership capability and their commitment to successful integration ICT in the school.

THE ROLE OF SCHOOL PRINCIPAL

It has often been observed that the head of the school is a key factor in how effective the school is. But until recently we did not have a clear picture about what this role looks like in action. In this brief paper I will characterize the nature of school improvement in relation to the role of the head, and then raise questions about how we could produce more effective leadership. Newmann, King and Young’s (2000) recent paper provides an important framework for understanding continuous school improvement which focuses on student achievement. They claim, as we do, that the critical factor is school capacity – the collective competency of the school as an entity to bring about effective change. To understand school capacity is to understand the work of successful school heads. There are four core components of capacity according to Newmann et al:

• knowledge, skills and dispositions of individual staff members

• a professional learning community in which staff work collaboratively to set clear goals for student learning, assess how well students are doing, develop action plans to increase student achievement, all the while being engaged in inquiry and problemsolving

• programme coherence: “the extent to which the school’s programmes for student and staff learning are co-ordinated, focused on clear learning goals, and sustained over a period of time” ( 5)

• technical resources – high-quality curriculum, instructional material, assessment instruments, technology, workspace etc

This four-part definition of school capacity is crucial to understanding. It includes human capital, ie the skills of individuals, but concludes that no amount of professional development of individuals will have an impact if certain organisational features are not in place. One organisational feature relates to professional learning communities, which in effect is the ‘social capital’ aspect of capacity. In other words, the skills of individuals can only be realised if the relationships within the schools are continually developing.

The other component of organisational capacity is programme coherence. Since complex social systems have a tendency to produce overload and fragmentation in a non-linear evolving fashion, schools are constantly being bombarded by overwhelming and unconnected innovations (Fullan, 1999). In this sense, the most effective schools are not those which take on the sheer most number of innovations, but those which selectively take on, integrate and coordinate innovations into focused programmes. Finally, acquiring technical resources that support individual, collective and programme coherence is vital. All the talk about the key role of the school head boils down to how principals foster school capacity building (in terms of the four components) in the service of student learning. We can take, as cases in point, recent findings in England, Canada and the United States. Day et al’s (2000) study of school leaders in England in 12 schools shows very clearly that these effective heads constantly work at helping individuals develop, continually work at enhancing relationships in the school and between the school and community, and maintain a focus on goal and programme coherence. Similarly, Leithwood et al’s (1999) school leaders in Canada spend their time developing people, building commitment to change, creating the conditions for growth in teachers and relating to outside forces, while continually acquiring and targeting resources. In the same vein, Sebring and Bryk’s research into the Chicago reform shows that school leadership is a determining factor in school success. School heads lead the charge in focusing on instruction, school-wide mobilisation of resources and effort with respect to the long-term emphasis on instruction, and – above all – they ‘attack incoherence’. There are many details within the school capacity work of school heads. Helping to develop individuals covers all the nuances of contending with the emotional vicissitudes of teaching, and dealing with persistently failing teachers. Similarly, working with a variety of teachers in establishing teamwork involves coping with the incredibly difficult matter of resistance to change. It requires great insight and sophistication; to name one aspect, learning how to ‘respect those you wish to silence’ can pay great dividends both technically (improving ideas) and politically (with respect to improving relationships which affect implementation). Achieving programme coherence in the face of multiple disjointed policy demands and expectations demands outstanding leadership, as does the acquisition of technical resources.

IMPLICATIONS

If the above analysis is correct, there are two very powerful implications. The first concerns the preparation of school leaders, and the second involves the conditions under which they work.

PREPARING SCHOOL LEADERS

There is no doubt, as I have said, that effective schools virtually always have strong school leaders. The measure of a strong school leader is one who develops the school’s capacity to engage in reform – a capacity which is stronger at the end of the leader’s term than at the beginning. What is less certain is what proportion of school leaders are that good. I know of no study that can tell us the proportion of school leaders who are effective at enhancing school capacity. If I had to estimate, it would probably be in the two-in-five range. Secondly, I know of no study that has both identified effective school leaders and traced their effectiveness to the preparation he or she received on the way to becoming a head. This, of course, is the mandate of the new National College for School Leadership (as well as the responsibility of schools and LEAs). The task, put explicitly, is to recruit, develop, nurture, support and hold the head accountable. The measure of effectiveness should be a dramatic increase in the proportion of school leaders who can develop greater school capacity -–moving from our hypothetical two in five to four in five.

CONDITIONS OF WORK

The conditions under which heads work greatly affects the quality of people attracted to the role, and their effectiveness once they are in the role. Currently, in most jurisdictions around the world there is a shortage of candidates to take on the position of head. It is not seen as an attractive position. Part of the problem relates to the neglect of leadership over the past 10 years. There was a hiatus during the 1990s, during which time there was a failure to cultivate leadership for the future. In doing this we have lost a generation of leadership training, resulting in shortages at all levels. In addition, the job itself has become increasingly problematic. During the period of the past decade there has been less opportunity to learn on the job. The need, then, is to pay explicit attention to the cultivation of leadership. Just as teaching is a lonely profession, school leadership is more so. There are numerous ways in which the isolation of principals should be overcome. At the most comprehensive level, the job of the school head will become more worthwhile when the overall infrastructure of reporting improves. Put differently, when states align policy and investments, integrating accountability and development, the position of school head will become more pivotable and more productive. For an excellent example of co-ordinated policy at state level, see Barber (2000). On the principalship itself, the opportunity to learn on the job through problem-based conferences, networking and linking to the big picture will make the position exciting and uplifting (see Elmore and Burney, 1999, for one example at school district level). In short, school leadership must be doable and rewarding. It must offer opportunities to learn on the job and to give heads the feeling that they are part and parcel of a larger effort to make a difference in society as a whole. One last caution. As important as the principal is, quality teachers are obviously even more important. Thus, policy development must enhance the status, role and accountability of the teaching profession. First, quality teachers make quality heads. The stronger the pool of good teachers, the stronger that future heads will be as they come from the pool. In numbers, heads will be only as strong as the teaching force is in the first place. Secondly, because schools are organisations and because the principal is the head of the organisation, it falls to him or her to focus on school-wide capacity which is essential to bringing out the best in teachers. Ironically, up to the present everyone acknowledges how crucial school heads are, but there has been little attention paid to making them more effective. This will have to change if we are to “go to scale” in seeing the majority of our schools do well.