Publication: Teaching in Lao PDR
Date
2007
ISSN
Published
2007
Author(s)
Benveniste, Luis
Marshall, Jeffery
Santibañez, Lucrecia
Abstract
Educational attainment and literacy
rates in Lao PDR have improved significantly. Years of
education research have established that, after family
background, teachers are one of the most important
determinants of student outcomes. A good teacher can have a
long lasting impact on what and how much a student learns.
The importance of teachers is even more significant in
developing countries where, on average, parental
socioeconomic status tends to be low and notable resource
constraints abound. In these circumstances, good teaching
becomes all the more critical as parents might not be able
to provide academic help at home or school resources may not
be readily available to enrich the classroom environment To
begin to understand how these challenges manifest themselves
in Lao PDR, this study examines the current status of
teachers in primary and lower secondary schooling as well as
government policies that strive to improve teaching in
particular and education quality more generally. It explores
teacher supply, and demand to identify potential bottlenecks
in the availability of trained personnel. It describes
teachers demographic characteristics and their skills. It
looks at teacher salaries, their level and how this compares
to other countries. It examines classroom conditions,
pupil-teacher ratios, educational expenditures, and other
factors that influence the context of teaching and
opportunities to engage in high quality instructional
practice. Lastly, this report explores teacher performance,
as measured by teacher attendance, teaching practices, and
student assessment outcomes. In addition, the report draws
on a recent body of research that has explored various
aspects of teachers and teaching in Lao PDR. The discussion
focuses on primary and lower secondary school teachers, who
together represent 87 percent of the teacher population in
Lao PDR. Throughout the paper, effort is made to investigate
how teachers and their teaching situation vary by region of
the country (uplands, mountain, and lowlands) and type of
school (urban, rural, and remote). It also explores
variations by gender and ethnicity.
Citation
“Benveniste, Luis; Marshall, Jeffery; Santibañez, Lucrecia. 2007. Teaching in Lao PDR. © Washington, DC: World Bank. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/7e492289-bf8c-547a-bee7-235a06a22c86 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”