Displaying items by tag: SEAPLM

On January 15, 2025, the 13th ASEAN-SEAMEO Secretariats Coordination Meeting took place at the ASEAN Secretariat Office in Jakarta, Indonesia. The gathering served as a significant platform for ASEAN and SEAMEO to discuss advancements in the region’s education agenda and review key initiatives, such as the outcomes of the annual regional meetings in education and related activities. 

The meeting delved into several pivotal topics including updates from both the ASEAN and SEAMEO Secretariats. The discussion featured detailed presentations on the progress of the SEA-PLM programme, the ASEAN-UK SAGE Programme, SEA-DREAM Programme, and the Roadmap for the ASEAN Leaders’ Declaration on Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) in Southeast Asia. The meeting was attended by Ms. Rodora Turalde-Babaran, Director of the ASEAN Secretariat’s Human Development Directorate, Ms Amalia Serrano, Senior Officer Education Youth and Sports Division ASEAN Secretariat, Mr Muhammad Dika Harliadi, Officer at the Education, Youth and Sports Division ASEAN Secretariat, Datuk Dr. Habibah Abdul Rahim, Director of SEAMEO Secretariat, Professor Vina Adriany, Ph.D., Director of SEAMEO CECCEP, Mr John Arnold Siena, Deputy Director for Programme and Development of SEAMEO Secretariat, Mr Emiljohn Santillas, Policy and Planning Specialist, Alejandro Ibanez, SEA-PLM Programme Manager, and Mr Ansgar Shaefer, Head of Programme Developing Research Excellence and Mentorship in Southeast Asia (SEA-DREAM).

The ASEAN-UK SAGE initiative focuses on advancing girls’ education by addressing foundational learning gaps, supporting out-of-school girls, and promoting digital skills, with successful pilot project engagements in Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Timor-Leste. Similarly, the SEA-DREAM Programme, supported by Wellcome Trust and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, aims to enhance health and climate-related research excellence in Southeast Asia through mentorship, regional collaboration, and the development of future research leaders. The meeting also underscored the progress on the Roadmap for the ASEAN Leaders’ Declaration on ECCE, a critical step towards ensuring high-quality early childhood care and education across Southeast Asia, through multi-stakeholder collaboration.

During the session, Mr Alejandro Ibanez provided an overview of the SEA-PLM programme's key achievements and ongoing initiatives. SEA-PLM serves as Southeast Asia’s regional large-scale learning assessment mechanism, aligned with SDG 4.1.1 indicators, to monitor and enhance education quality and equity across SEAMEO Member Countries.

Significant milestones highlighted at the meeting included the successful completion of the SEA-PLM 2024 Main Survey, which involved extensive data collection from students, parents, teachers, and school principals across participating countries. To ensure inclusivity, assessment materials were translated into 11 national languages. Another important advancement was the establishment of the SEA-PLM Technical Experts Network, designed to strengthen quality assurance and regional expertise.

In the upcoming months, SEA-PLM will organize country-level workshops aimed at supporting governments in transforming SEA-PLM data into effective educational policies. Additionally, the highly anticipated results of the SEA-PLM 2024 assessment are scheduled for release in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Looking forward, the SEA-PLM team presented their strategic vision to maximize the programme's impact by translating assessment findings into actionable policy recommendations, enhancing technical capacity-building, and securing long-term programme sustainability through improved governance and resource mobilization.

The meeting emphasized the need for stronger collaboration, leveraging SEAMEO’s reach and ASEAN’s convening power, highlighting complementarities in the delivery of the programmes. The collaboration is particularly needed as Malaysia takes the 2025 ASEAN Chairmanship with a focus on inclusivity and sustainability. Both parties agreed to intensify the partnership, optimizing existing resources at the regional-level from dialogue partners such as the Aus4ASEAN Futures which is a new flagship initiative to advance the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) between ASEAN and Australia and the EU-ASEAN Sustainable Connectivity Package – Higher Education Programme (SCOPE-HE) which represents a significant step forward in EU-ASEAN cooperation in the region.

The 13th ASEAN-SEAMEO Secretariats Coordination Meeting reaffirmed both organizations' commitment to strengthening education collaboration and addressing regional challenges. By advancing foundational learning, research excellence, and early childhood education, ASEAN and SEAMEO continue to drive meaningful progress toward a more inclusive and equitable education landscape in Southeast Asia. The next coordination meeting will be hosted by the SEAMEO Secretariat scheduled in 2026.

Virtual | Anieluz Pastolero: The SEA-PLM 2019 data reveals that children who possess good physical and mental states and have basic knowledge and concern about environmental issues tend to perform better academically than those who do not. 

This was the crux of the discussion during the policy forum webinar on “Child Well-being and Learning in Six Southeast Asia: Insights from the SEA-PLM 2019 evidence” held virtually on 17 March 2023. 

The policy forum webinar discussed the study conducted by UNICEF-Innocenti Global Office of Research and Foresight highlighting bullying as the most prevalent form of violence experienced by children in school, affecting 35% of students from participating countries. The report recommends establishing a zero-tolerance policy towards bullying, offering counselling services, and promoting intercultural activities to create a secure learning environment.

Surprisingly, the introduction of environmental topics has a positive impact on children’s learning outcomes in reading, writing, and mathematics. The report found that children are concerned about various environmental issues such as pollution, water scarcity, energy shortages, and extinction of plants and animals.

Co-author of the report, Ms. Ximena Jativa, acknowledged the multifaceted nature of child well-being. She recommended intersectoral collaboration to ensure social and child protection, investing in basic WASH facilities (Water, Sanitation, Hygiene), reviewing policies on mental and physical well-being, allocating resources, and providing school-based safety nets like meals to ensure the holistic improvement of child well-being for Southeast Asian students.

While the SEA-PLM is primarily a learning assessment for grade 5 students in the region, Mr. Antoine Marivin, SEA-PLM Senior Project Manager, stressed the importance of investigating factors beyond the traditional cognitive proficiency tests that affect a child’s learning achievements.

The SEA-PLM findings highlighted the importance of being aware of the status of children in school and the need to prioritise their well being.

Manila, Philippines | Anieluz Pastolero: The Philippine Senate Committee on Basic Education cited the SEA-PLM 2019 evidence as a crucial resource in shedding light on the prevalence of bullying in schools and its impact on learning outcomes during the public hearing to review the implementation of the Anti-Bullying Act of 2013 on 13 February 2023. 

Led by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, the Committee underscored during the hearing the use of data such as those provided by SEA-PLM 2019 and called for an improvement in reporting mechanisms to encourage students to report bullying incidents. 

The SEA-PLM 2019 data revealed that 63.2% of Grade 5 students in the Philippines experience bullying at least once a month in schools. This figure is consistent with the National Baseline Survey on Violence Against Children conducted by the Council for the Welfare of Children in 2016, which found that 65% of students in the Philippines have experienced bullying. The same level of prevalence is also affirmed by the data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which the Philippines participated in 2018.

The Philippine Senate hearing emphasized the need to address bullying in schools in the country and to prioritize the well-being of students. The data from SEA-PLM 2019 highlights the significance of the issue and the need for effective measures to address it, including improving reporting mechanisms and implementing policies that protect students from bullying and creating a safe school environment.

Project Manager Alejandro Ibanez represented SEA-PLM Secretariat and SEAMEO Secretariat in the said hearing.

From June 10^th until12^th the Cambodian Technical Team organised the training of over 250 Test Administrators and School Coordinators at Battambang University, Battambang. All SEA-PLM participant countries implement a standardized training to those selected to coordinate and administer the tests to students and questionnaires to students, parents, teachers and principals. This is to ensure the same steps and script is applied consistently across all schools.

Learning assessment, described by Director of Education Quality Assurance Department (EQAD) Mr. Ung Chinna as the current "pop-star of education" in Cambodia, is receiving increased emphasis at the policy level, promoting the better use of information generated through assessment to form the basis of education reform across relevant departments and key stakeholders. SEA-PLM plays an important role in this transition. Through providing capacity development to EQAD staff in how to manage large-scale assessments at international standards, the team are able to apply these standards to national and international assessments, and increasingly advocate for the need of assessment from the national to school level.

It is also through the support of major partners such as UNICEF that this growing focus and capacity in using learning assessments to identify gaps and inform educational reform is achieved. UNICEF Cambodia is a vital partner for SEA-PLM in Cambodia, contributing both funding and organisational support to its implementation.

The training, mostly delivered by Technical Team Manager Mr. Sar Sarin, was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, UNICEF Country Office, SEAMEO Secretariat and the Australian Council for Education Research (ACER).

The Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation (SEAMEO) and the United Nations Child Fund (UNICEF), as well as the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), the technical consortium of SEA-PLM have spent many years working with participating countries to develop, trial and improve the technical and logistical procedures and roles needed to successfully implement the large-scale regional assessment.

This being said with SEA-PLM being embedded within national education systems the practicalities of preparing for the assessment differs slightly in each country, depending on its individual education structures and mechanisms.

So what does SEA-PLM actually look like at a country level?

The first regional assessment of the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) entered its final stretch on the 28^th January, with Myanmar being the first country to begin data collection in schools. This large-scale survey will take place in Myanmar, Philippines, Lao PDR, Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia during 2019 according to the different school calendars.

Led through the cooperative tradition among Ministries of Education in the region, SEA-PLM is a project jointly managed by the Southeast Asian Ministers for Education Organisation (SEAMEO) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). With the shared vision of improving and redefining learning outcomes, SEA-PLM provides metrics that are founded within the regional context and inclusive of 21^st Century skills.

The implementation of the first assessment is the culmination of 5 years' worth of research, capacity building, and field trials, all to develop a suitable set of assessment and survey instruments specifically designed for the region. For each of the participating countries, approximately 3500 grade 5 students enrolled in an average of 150 schools are randomly selected to represent their country. The Australian Council of Education Research (ACER) an independent technical operator is used to select schools and students, providing technical support to national teams as they prepare and implement the assessment.

Deputy Director of the Department of Myanmar Examinations Mr. Aung Htike has been working as a SEA-PLM Technical Team Manager since June 2015 and is highly experienced in the management of large-scale learning assessments. Leading a Technical Team made up of 35 members from seven different Departments and Universities across Myanmar, Mr. Aung with his team coordinated the first assessment in 202 schools across the country. To successfully achieve this huge undertaking, Myanmar uses the Six C approach; Commitment, Capacity, Communication, Collaboration, Consistency, and Coordination.

Over a three-week period, 5715 students undertook standardized tests in Myanmar language in reading, mathematics, writing, and global citizenship. One Myanmar teacher shared how she could not sleep the night before the test because she felt so nervous and excited to be chosen to participate. To paint a fuller picture of the factors contributing to learning outcomes the principals, teachers, and parents of selected students also complete background surveys. While all tests and questionnaires are anonymous and not designed to assess the individual performance of students or teachers, it is still a nerve-racking experience to be chosen to represent your country.

An important element of SEA-PLM is to ensure comparability and consistency of the meaning of test items between countries. Questions are similar in all participating countries and have been designed in collaboration with national and international experts, reflecting the disciplinary domains and cognitive processes considered important to have been achieved by students by the end of primary school.

The road to developing comparable and suitable test items and assessment tools have been a long and complex one.  In order to design suitable metrics, surveys and assessment tools were trialed during 2018 in 7 different countries on reduced school samples. In Myanmar, Mr. Aung and his team participated in this process by joining in multiple capacity building workshops and implementing field trial assessments in 35 schools during November 2016. 

Countries have committed considerable human and financial resources to this assessment because they can see that it has something very important to offer them. SEA-PLM will generate key data on each country's context on how students perform in school and what factors are affecting learning outcomes. From these gaps in national education policy and systems can be identified and improved.

What is impressive about SEA-PLM Mr. Aung says is that it both assesses the four different domains and that the items of these four domains are specifically tailored for Southeast Asian students, allowing them to apply their knowledge and learnings in real life situations.