Many schools around the world turned to distance learning in the wake of the COVID-19 school closures. However, limited accessibility and low levels of commitment in study hours have resulted in a significant learning gap for most students in primary and lower secondary education. For Cambodia, we estimate a lost learning time of 2 to 5 months per student, despite efforts of distance learning.
Cambodia’s Ministry of Education Youth and Sport (MoEYS) nevertheless decided to let students progress to their next level at the start of the new school year in January 2021. To strengthen these students’ learning progression, remedial and accelerated programmes are needed. With a clear structure of assessment, result analysis and follow-up support in the form of needs-based remedial workshops, students will be able to close the learning gap resulting from the COVID-19 school closures.
Teachers are strengthened in establishing a remedial teaching process for mathematics in primary education.
KAPE contracted VVOB to lead on the ‘remedial education’ aspect of the broader UNICEF-funded project. With ‘Remedial Adaptive Learning for Maths (grades 2 to 6)’, VVOB (i) designed an approach to remedial adaptive learning and (ii) developed the necessary tools and structures to implement the approach in primary education.
The approach is built on three pillars:
- Identification of five core competencies per grade to focus on during remedial classes organised one day per week, three weeks per month
- Development of assessment tools and structure for teachers to record students’ progress on core competencies
- Organisation of in-depth workshops by MoEYS on a core competency if assessment shows too many learners do not yet fully master it
At the end of the project…
MoEYS and teachers have at their disposal the following materials for remedial teaching in mathematics in primary education (grades 2 to 6):
- General guidelines, with a focus on autonomous decision-making for teachers
- Five core competences for revision and remedial activities from the curriculum per grade, related to textbook topics and curriculum
- Diagnostic assessment tools per grade for each of the five core competences
- Remedial packages for each core competence with activities to strengthen Math’s learning
- Answer sheets for remedial activities for Grade 5 and 6
- Registration and progression system linked to the diagnostic assessment tools
- Supportive video’s with instructions on the different processes and the use of the tools
