Bridging the Gap Between Education Policy and Practice
Nicole Rodger – Program Manager, ECCD and Education, Plan International Australia
Dr Mary Kimani – Senior Program Manager, ECCD and Education, Plan International Australia
Catherine Johnston – Senior Education Advisor, Save the Children Australia
Heidi Peterson – Cambodia Programs Director, Oaktree
1. Beacon School Initiative
Country: Cambodia
Sector Focus: Secondary school governance
Context and Issue:
• Education quality is generally poor despite substantial aid investment; Cambodia ranks second last in ASEAN countries for education outcomes
• A major issue is poor school governance, corruption and mismanagement
Partnerships: Oaktree, KAPE and Cambodian government
1. Beacon School Initiative
Project aims:
• Long Term Goal: to create educational development models that lead to the emergence of a new generation of Cambodian public schools, which exemplify good governance, high professional standards and high quality learning standards.
• Immediate Objective: to introduce effective governance principles used in the private sector to the public school system by using a public-private partnership management model, that would in turn promote sustainable child friendly learning environments of exceptional quality to the rural and urban poor.
2. Bangladesh Inclusive Education
Country: Bangladesh
Sector Focus: Basic Education Policy Implementation on Inclusive Education
Context: • Inclusive education is a priority for the Bangladesh government with their
Inclusive Education Framework • One of the world’s largest primary education systems, >20 million students
Issue: • Reaching the 6 – 10% highly excluded and marginalised children • More than 50% of out-of-school children have a disability • Schools and teachers lacked practical classroom strategies for inclusion
Partners:• Access and Inclusive Education Cell, DPE; DPOs
2. Bangladesh Inclusive Education
Project Aim:
• Bridging the gap between the Inclusive Education Policy Framework already in existence but absent in practice
• To develop a demonstrative model of inclusive education in Bangladesh through mainstream primary school that could be scaled to a national level by the government
• This would create an opportunity for all children to be included in the mainstream school system
3. Bougainville and Solomon Islands ECD
Country: Solomon Islands
Context: Early childhood in the Solomon Islands and PNG
• Typified by ambitious policy
• Curriculum frameworks and standards designed with best practice in mind but without proper field testing
• Weak implementation planning
• Inadequate resource mobilisation
3. Bougainville & Solomon Islands ECD
Project name: ECCE in ARoB (Bougainville)
Partnerships: Provincial Education Authority, Provincial Department of Community Development, Catholic Education Office
Aim: To support the ARoB in contextualising the national ECCE framework and strengthen the competency of ECCE teachers in delivering child-focused curriculum
Project name: Play to be School Ready (Solomon Islands)
Partnerships: Communities in Western Province, Choiseul, Malaita & Guadalcanal, local ECD providers
Aim: To increase access for children aged 3-5 to quality community- based ECD and make sure they are school ready and going to school on time at the right age