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Future Forum's junior research fellow, Sahak Vatey Kao, was published in Kiripost on October 30, 2024. Check out the original article HERE, and read it below!
From Monday to Saturday, four hours daily, Cambodian secondary students are required to take classes at their respective schools if enrolled in public educational institutions. They are taught a number of subjects, ranging from Khmer literature, maths, social studies and science, to foreign language, physical health education and sports, as well as local life skills programmes.
The current status quo for these students in secondary education is strongly oriented towards prescriptive learning, which includes a textbook-centric format, fixed learning instructions and standardised lesson plans.
In addition to this, the teaching method is highly teacher-dominant and exam-oriented. Undoubtedly, this type of education centres around a school-based approach rather than exposing students to real-world learning experiences in authentic settings.
Experiential learning has not yet been the government’s top priority as Cambodia is still trying to achieve the United Nations Development goal of providing basic education to all children by 2030. Emphasising improving the quality of secondary education, several programmes were implemented, amongst which is the Secondary Education Improvement Project (SEIP) launched in 2014.
Its main objectives emphasise improving learning outcomes and increasing the completion rates for lower secondary school. The components consist of teacher training programmes, school grants, curriculum and assessment reform, student support programmes and school infrastructure improvements.
As a result, this project enabled 94 out of 100 schools to achieve minimum standards of school effectiveness, supported 52 percent of female students among 453 838, improved learning facilities, enhanced the capacities of school leaders and teachers and extended far beyond the involved schools to 166 and 102 primary and secondary schools respectively.
Notably, the project components were incorporated into the national education policies with a national committee to monitor a successful policy implementation. However, while the Kingdom would certainly benefit from all the educational initiatives, an internship programme that promotes alternative, experiential ways of learning, can be more appealing to students than academic courses, and would have positive long-term impacts on the lives of learners.
The idea of an official internship programme for secondary students might be relatively novel in the Cambodian context but not in other countries. Cambodia should consider lessons learned elsewhere to evaluate how we might present work-based learning opportunities to our own students.
Engaging in internships to fulfil school credits
A longitudinal study in Belgium using data from 1996 to 2009, which was published in 2019, found that students who complete internships in secondary education were about 40 percent less likely to drop out of school, indicating that internship experiences might play a role in decreasing school fatigue, or the feeling of wanting to drop out of school.
The study also found a “highly significant positive effect of internship experience on employment outcomes, even five years after these students leave school”, meaning students who engaged in internships were more likely to be employed with a permanent contract after graduation.
Internships, which expose students to authentic work experience in a different way from more traditional vocational education, are done outside of school but are able to fulfil school credit.
These opportunities allow students to build professional and technical skills, make connections in a field of interest and expand their career choices.
One example of the types of programmes available in Belgium is the High School Students Internship Programme (HSSIP), where students are allowed to spend two weeks in CERN’s world-famous research centre, specifically in the field of particle physics. There, they can get involved in project-based learning and fundamental research supervised by various staff.
In Cambodia’s specific context, where the idea of an internship is designated for undergraduates or graduates, it might be hard to convince parents or employers of the advantages of this initiative.
In this regard, authorities should initially integrate an internship programme as a compulsory credit to complete secondary grade qualification. This cannot succeed without involvement from employers in various fields.
While employers might initially be interested in participating in a programme like this to showcase their commitments to social responsibility, it is still important that workplaces understand that, in the long-term, internship programmes align with their business objectives.
It is noteworthy that internships should be long enough to ensure that students contribute to the overall output, allowing the employer to regain their investment. Moreover, financial incentives, such as tax breaks, should be offered to firms engaging in a certain number of internships for secondary school students to encourage further participation.
A similar financial aid should target students taking the internship themselves as well. Compensation is an appropriate method to honour their contribution and motivate them to actively participate as at their age, they do not have the economic resources to partake in an internship yet. This would also ensure that internship programmes are equitable, and not just undertaken by more privileged students.
Cambodia can further provide even greater access to internships by taking into account means of transportation. Buses or vans should be paid to take students to and from their locations or offer subsidies for public transportation.
However, the required internship can pose a huge problem to students who reside in rural areas where there are limited employment opportunities. To tackle this, elective internship options should be allowed to minimise the additional effort of looking for an internship that is nowhere to be found in such a setting.
In the absence of available internships, students might be asked to immerse themselves in other kinds of learning experiences including volunteering in community events, gaining experience with family-owned businesses or going on field trips to visit natural environments.
Equipping students with the necessary skills
Internships enable students to expand and enrich their classroom learning by applying their lessons in the world outside of school. Vast resources that are normally not available at school could be made accessible to students, including tools, equipment, facilities and expertise.
Higher education may not be the end goal for some students. Given this reality, internships in secondary school might allow for career preparation that aligns with industry demands and give these students opportunities to obtain practical skills, knowledge and contacts in a variety of career fields. Most importantly, students should be carefully matched with workplaces based on their interests and existing knowledge.
Additionally, in order to ensure the successful implementation of internships, it would be prudent to establish and maintain strong linkages between schools and workplaces. For instance, workplaces and schools might coordinate to run seminars to discuss internship opportunities. Schools and internship placements might also collaborate to create workforce performance assessments linked to grades, which would greatly enhance the effectiveness of the internships.
Students who take responsibility for their own learning at school will be more likely to succeed in the workplace because they are not hesitant to take initiative, ask questions or solve problems on their own.
Internships at the secondary level may sound intense and challenging as they involve active participation from various stakeholders, such as educators, employers, communities and third-party organisations, but these experiences will be invaluable for our students in the long-term.
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