SLIDEREAD

Education in CambodiaFindings from Cambodia’s experiencein PISA for DevelopmentFOR DEVELOPMENT

AcademicperformanceHealth andwell-beingAttitudestowards schooland ironmentsFamily andcommunitysupportLearningtimeQualityinstruction

This report was developed by Cambodia jointly with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment (OECD), which assisted in the design of the report and provided input, guidance andassistance in its development. The report is published under the responsibility of Cambodia and does notnecessarily represent the official views of the OECD or its Member countries.Please cite this publication as:MoEYS . Education in Cambodia: Findings from Cambodia’s experience in PISA forDevelopment. Phnom Penh: Author.Cover photo: Education Prosperity Framework by Willms used for PISA-D Assessment andAnalytical Framework MoEYS You can copy or print this publication for your own use in documents, presentations, blogs, websites andteaching materials, provided that suitable acknowledgement of MoEYS as source and copyright owner isgiven.

ForewordThe Ministry of Education's purpose is to shape an education system for our country thatdelivers equitable and excellent outcomes for all ofour children and young people. A strongfocus on student leaming and well-being underpins all our policy and the services weprovide.It is to help us achieve our Ministry's purpose that we joined the OECD's Programme forInternational Student Assessment for Development, PISA-D. This programme aims toevaluate education systems worldwidebyassessing the extentto which l5-year-oldstudents, near the end oftheir basic education, have acquired key knowledge and skills thatare essential for full participation in modern societies. Cambodia's participation in PISA-D demonstrates the importance we place on the educational achievement of our childrenand young people.In this report, a tearfl of Ministry of Education officials has collated and analysed theinformation from our participation in PISA-D so that it can be used to benefit the educationsector and, therefore, the children in our education system. This report contributes sounddata, information and analysis for work under0aken to support the Government's existingeducation policies and our education policies, strategies and programmes in the future. Thereport also brings to bear on our education challenges the experiences ofother countries ofsimilar size and economic status, including some from our own region. This opportunityfor intemational comparison and international leaming is an extremely valuable aspect ofour participation in PISA-D.The PISA-D assessment focuses on the core school subjects of reading, mathematics andscience, and does not just ascertain whether students can reproduce knowledge; it alsoexamines how well students can extrapolate from what they have learned and can applythat knowledge in unfamiliar settings, both in and outside of school. This information aboutstudents' capacities in these three domains is combined with background datathat enableus to look at the relationships between student achievement and contextual factors, such asstudents' health and well-being and their socio-economic backgrounds, students' attitudesto school and leaming, the learning environment, quahty of instruction, school resources,learning time, family and community support.The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport intends to respond fully to the findings andin this report and to follow up the suggestions regarding effectiveinterventions that are set out in the report. The effective interventions highlighted in thisreport include actions designed to:messages containedoooooestablish strong foundations for success and improving educational outcomes;improve the allocation of resources in education;improve the school environment;improve the quality of instruction; andstrengthen family and community support for education.Results from PISA-D for Cambodia will be disseminated widely to all stakeholders sincesuccess in education relies on many people and organisations across the communityworking together for the benefit of chjpeople, especiallyCambodia is ready for PISA global education trend.Jhe test and fully respond to aa3toensureDecember ucation, Youth and SportHANG CHUON NARON

EDUCATION IN CAMBODIA : FINDINGS FROM CAMBODIA’S EXPERIENCE IN PISA FOR DEVELOPMENTPrefaceThe purpose of this publication, the first of its kind in Cambodia, is to present the resultsof our country’s participation in the OECD’s Programme for International StudentAssessment for Development (PISA-D). PISA-D is a one-off pilot project that aims tomake the assessment more accessible and relevant to a wider range of countries. The projectis also a contribution to the monitoring of international educational targets related to theEducation SDG, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in as part of theAgenda for Sustainable Development.This report describes the results achieved by our students, the resources invested in oureducation system, and the learning environments in our schools and communities, in waysthat allow for comparisons with other countries participating in PISA-D and some countrieswith similar education contexts. The data and analysis contained in these pages will helpour government and our educators identify the main challenges for education policy inCambodia, and can inform the development of effective strategies and policies to confrontthem.Cambodia is one of nine countries that partnered with the OECD through the “PISA forDevelopment” initiative, whose aim is to make PISA more accessible and relevant tomiddle- and low-income countries like ours. An important enhancement in this initiativeconcerned the PISA assessment instruments themselves, which were re-designed to capturea wider range of performance levels and social contexts, but on the same scales as thoseused in the regular PISA assessment. We have also benefited from the capacitydevelopment that has been built into the PISA for Development project and this will beutilised by us in future cycles of PISA as well as in our own national assessments.Cambodia’s participation in PISA for Development would not have been possible withoutthe strong collaboration between Cambodia’s Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, theOECD and Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE) and the financial supportfrom Secondary Education Improvement Project (SEIP). Our Cambodia PISA-D team hascommitted their time and energy to this work with high professionalism to successfullyproduce such a high quality report.Education Quality Assurance DepartmentMOEYS/EQAD II

EDUCATION IN CAMBODIA : FINDINGS FROM CAMBODIA’S EXPERIENCE IN PISA FOR DEVELOPMENTAcknowledgementsThis PISA-D national report is a result of collaborative work between the Ministry ofEducation, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) of Cambodia, the Korea Institute for Curriculum andEvaluation (KICE) and the OECD. The report was prepared by Dr. Heng Kreng, a PISA-DNational Consultant and Lead Analyst, jointly with Mr. Chuong Chantha and Mr. Tol Pagnaof the Education Quality Assurance Department (EQAD), Ministry of Education, Youth andSport (MoEYS) of Cambodia, under the supervision of Michael Ward, OECD PISA-DProject Coordinator and with a technical assistance from Francesco AVVISATI, GuillaumeBOUSQUET, Nicolas MIRANDA, Kelly MAKOWIECKI and Hélène GUILLOU.Francesco AVVISATI and Guillaume BOUSQUET provided the technical assistance onanalyzing the data and producing tables and figures for the report. Nicolas MIRANDAhelped the team to produce system-level data for analyzing resources invested in educationin Cambodia and in other PISA-D participating countries; Kelly MAKOWIECKI andHélène GUILLOU provided support on the infographics of the report’s cover, executivesummary and chapter overviews. The Learning Bar and Education Testing Service (ETS),as the international contractors, developed and quality-checked contextual questionnairesand cognitive assessment booklets and their data, respectively.This report was greatly indebted to H.E Dr. Academician Hang Chuon Naron, Minister ofMoEYS and to H.E Dr. Academician Nath Bunroeun, Secretary of State of MoEYS, whorelentlessly provided advice and guidance on the implementation of PISA-D for Cambodia.Their full support to Cambodia’s participation in PISA-D made this national report a realityand has marked a significant milestone for Cambodia in the PISA context.Many thanks also go to EQAD leaders and staff, especially to Education Quality AssuranceOffice, for their strong commitment in all the logistical and technical work. Mr. Ung Chinna,Director of EQAD, and Mr. Sar Sarin, Chief of Education Quality Assurance Office, bothwere the key actors in the entire implementation process, including, but not limited to,international meetings, communications and other planning.South Korea through KICE, as a peer learning country for Cambodia in PISA-D, providedboth technical and financial support mainly through in-country capacity building activities.KICE extensively shared with us Korean experiences in the use of PISA results to improvethe Korean education system, which is a key input to the policy section of this report.The World Bank Cambodia, under the Secondary Education Improvement Project (SEIP),provided financial assistance on international and national costs to secure PISA-D can reachthis stage and further, particularly in the use of its results after the official launching forstrengthening education quality in Cambodia.The report also lends credence to all the technical departments of MoEYS, ProvincialOffices of Education (PoEs), school principals of 170 sampled schools and testadministrators who actively and collaboratively supported the PISA-D operation process.They all contributed to Cambodia’s success in the first ever participation in such aprestigious international student assessment led by OECD, bringing Cambodia to a newstandard of student assessment practices.MOEYS/EQAD III

EDUCATION IN CAMBODIA : FINDINGS FROM CAMBODIA’S EXPERIENCE IN PISA FOR DEVELOPMENTTable of ContentsForeword .iPreface . iiAcknowledgements . iiiList of Tables. viiList of Figures . viiList of Abbreviations .ixChapter 1: Cambodia in PISA-D .11.1. Cambodia’s participation in PISA-D .21.2. What is PISA? .41.2.1. The PISA assessment .41.2.2. PISA for Development .51.3. Why Cambodia is participating in PISA-D .71.4. Reporting of results .81.5. The framework for Cambodia’s national report .91.5.1. The analytical framework .91.5.2. Quality, Inclusion and Fairness in education .111.6. Structure of the national report .12References.12Chapter 2: Achievement and attainment outcomes at age 15 in Cambodia.132.1. Enrolment and attainment at age 15: a PISA-D perspective .172.1.1. What proportion of Cambodia’s 15-year-olds does the PISA-D sample represent? .172.1.2. The distribution of PISA-D students across grades .192.1.3. Education attainment at age 15 by gender .202.1.4. Grade repetition in Cambodia .212.2. Student achievement in Cambodia .232.2.1. Performance in reading, mathematics and science .272.2.2. Low performers in reading .302.2.3. Low performers in mathematics.