SEAMEO (The South East Asian Ministers of Education Organization) is a regional intergovernmental organization established in 1965 among governments of Southeast Asian countries to promote regional cooperation in education, science and culture in the region.
In October 2014, the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education through the SEAMEO Council has adopted the SEAMEO Education Agenda or the seven priority areas for SEAMEO to work together to improve quality education in Southeast Asia. “Revitalizing Teacher Education” is one of the priority areas in achieving quality education for the region. In order to fulfill this mandate, the SEAMEO Secretariat has initiated a project titled, “Pre-Service Student Teacher Exchange in Southeast Asia (SEA-Teacher Project)”.
A. Introduction to SEA-Teacher Project
The SEA-Teacher Project aims to provide opportunity for pre-service student teachers from universities in Southeast Asia to have teaching experiences (practicum) in schools in other countries in Southeast Asia. Specifically, the aims of the SEA-Teacher Project are:
-
to enable the student teachers to develop their teaching skills and pedagogy.
-
to encourage the student teachers to practice their English skills.
-
to allow the student teachers to gain a broader regional and world view.
-
to expose future teachers to diverse teaching and learning situations and opportunities, and the value of flexibility.
B. SEA-Teacher Student Exchange Process
To ensure an effective operational process throughout the programme, each participating university is expected to manage steps and outcomes as detailed below. However, the schedule is subject to be adjusted by receiving universities.
Interview Session
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
The purpose of interview session is for the receiving universities to select eligible student teachers. The receiving universities are required to organize interview schedule and decide which online platform to be used for interviewing the potential exchange student teachers. The receiving universities have the right to reject the student teachers who are not qualified.
Student Preparation
​
​
​
Sending universities play significant roles to prepare their student teachers before departure. To ensure success of the project, sending universities have to assist their student teachers to prepare lesson plans and discuss curriculum with partner universities prior to departure and during the exchange period. It is also suggested that sending universities have to arrange a pre-departure orientation for outbound student teachers concerning the following topics: Logistic arrangement: passport and flight ticket, English language skill, International health, accident, and travel insurance, Mental readiness, and Cultural differences.
Practicum Period
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
The duration of the programme is 30 days within 3 months in order to obtain visa exemption.
Monitoring and Evaluation
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
SEAMEO Secretariat provides an evaluation form (Appendix VI) for mentors to evaluate the student’s teaching performance as well as guideline topics for writing blog (Appendix V). Student teachers are encouraged to report their activities during the exchange via blog i.e. blogspot, wordpress or any other platforms, which will later be published on the SEA-Teacher website at https://seateacher.seameo.org/. Student teachers are also required to make a report, assigned by the sending university. The sending universities are strongly encouraged to coordinate with the receiving universities if they wish to carry out the onsite monitoring during the student teachers’ practicum period.