About Seatecher Program

Background

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 embarked on a project titled, “Pre Service Student Teacher Exchange in Southeast Asia (SEA-Teacher Project)”.

The Objectives of the Project

The SEA-Teacher project aims to provide opportunity for pre-service student teachers (hereafter “students”) 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:

1. To enable the students to develop their teaching skills and pedagogy.

2. To encourage the students to practise their English skills.

3. To allow the students to gain a broader regional and world view.

Modes for Implementation

The exchange is preferably for the 3rd-4th year students whose majors are in math, science, English and pre-school. The duration is for one month and based on the mechanism of cost sharing basis. Students’ roles and responsibilities are

assigned weekly during the one-month period. Moreover, the Receiving universities will provide mentors to supervise and monitor the students throughout the practicum period. SEA-Teacher project opens for students whose majors are in the area of teaching English, math, science, and preschool. The programme takes place twice a year, usually in January and July. Each batch lasts for one month. English is used in all activities relating to the teaching activities. Students’ roles and responsibilities are assigned weekly during the one-month practicum as indicates below*.

1st week	Orientation and class observation
2nd – 3rd week	Teaching assistant Teaching in classroom
4th week	Teaching in classroom Reflection Best practices and lessons learned

*This structure is applicable since batch 5 (22 Jan-18 Feb 2018)

Student Exchange Process

1. Agreement on Students Exchange

Participating universities sign a letter of agreement under the coordination and facilitation of SEAMEO Secretariat to agree on the cost sharing mechanism and the implementation and evaluation process. The sending universities shall provide support in arranging for the air fare, meals/ pocket money, health, accident, and travel insurance of the participating students. The receiving universities are responsible for accommodation, transportation, selection of a practicum school and preparation of mentor(s) for participating students. After completion of practicum, students’ teaching performance has to be evaluated by mentor(s) using a selfreport guidelines (page ) and evaluation form (appendix 1) provided by SEAMEO Secretariat.

2. Participation in the Project

To become the member of this project officially, the participating universities must follow steps below:

a) Agree with the process in number 1 and sign agreement

b) Complete an application form, which is available online at http://seateacher.seameo.org/seateacher/ (or see in Appendix )

c) Send a complete application form to email: secretariat@seameo.org

3. Decision on the Number of Students

Universities indicate the number of students they want to send and receive. However, the number of students who will be accepted in this program will depend on supply and demand.

4. Announcement of Practicum Locations

SEAMEO Secretariat reserves the right to assign universities for each participating student and will announce to coordinator(s) of all participating universities via e-mail within 2 weeks after deadline of submission of application

form. If any participating universities have any objections, please inform SEAMEO Secretariat 1 week after receiving the information for adjustment. After the adjustment, the decision made by SEAMEO Secretariat is final.

5. Students’ Preparation

Sending universities play significant roles to prepare their students before departure. To ensure success of the project, sending universities have to assist their students to prepare lesson plans and discuss curriculum with partner universities. It is also suggested that sending universities have to arrangean orientation for students concerning the following topics:

- Logistic arrangement: passport and flight ticket

- English language skill

- Health, accident, and travel insurance

- Cultural difference

6. Practicum Period

The duration of the programme is for one month.

7. Monitoring and Evaluation

SEAMEO Secretariat provides an evaluation form (Appendix V) for mentors to evaluate the student’s teaching performance as well as a self-report guidelines (Appendix IV) for students to write on their blog. In addition, students are encouraged to report their activities during the exchange via blog i.e. blogspot, wordpress or other platforms, which will later be publish on the website http://seateacher.seameo.org/seateacher/.