Journal of Southeast Asian Education
The Official Journal of SEAMEO

2020 Issue | Volume 2

Education for Inclusive Growth
on 4th Industrial Revolution forSociety 5.0

2020 Issue | Volume 2

Education for Inclusive Growth
on 4th Industrial Revolution forSociety 5.0

Journal of Southeast Asian Education
2020 Issue | Volume 2
154 pages
ISSN 1513-4601
The Journal of Southeast Asian Education is an official Southeast Asian Ministers of Education
Organization (SEAMEO) publication and aimed to publish twice a year.
The main purpose of this international journal is to provide information and analyses to assist inpolicy-making and planning in the countries in the region. It promotes the interchange of ideas on
educational issues and comparative studies, both within the countries of the region and other partsof the world. Each article in the journal was written to enable readers from outside each country toobtain an overview of how education is carried out outside its borders.
The theme of this issue is “Education for Inclusive Growth on 4th Industrial Revolution for Society 5.0.”
It is a product of SEAMEO’s collaboration with the University of Tsukuba. It features official
contributions from nine SEAMEO Regional Centres, namely, SEAMEO INNOTECH, SEAMEORECFON, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Quality Improvement of Teachers and Education Personnel(QITEP) in Mathematics, SEAMEO QITEP in Science, SEAMEO BIOTROP, SEAMEO CED, SEAMEOSEN and SEAMEO CECCEP. Other contributors came from various universities such as the
University of Tsukuba (Japan), Khon Kaen University (Thailand), University of the Philippines
National Institute for Science and Mathematics Education Development (UP NISMED), the Korea
National University of Education, and also Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, andTechnology (MEXT), Japan. The various articles in this journal present frameworks, projects andprogrammes focusing on reform and initiative in teacher education for the digital society in Southeast
Asia and beyond.
The inaugural issue of the Journal of Southeast Asian Education was launched by the SEAMEO
Secretariat in July 2000.
Chair:
Executive Editors:

Assistant Editor:
Cover Design & Typesetting:

Dr. Ethel Agnes P. Valenzuela (SEAMEO Secretariat)
Dr. Wahyudi (SEAMEO Secretariat)
Dr. Masami Isoda (University of Tsukuba)
Dr. Allan L. White (SEAMEO Fellow)
Dr. Orawan Sriboonruang (SEAMEO Secretariat)
Ms. Rhea Christina Rabin (SEAMEO Secretariat)
Ms. Weerawan Theeraroungchaisri (SEAMEO Secretariat)
Dr. Aye Chan Mon (SEAMEO Secretariat)

Editorial Office:

Journal of Southeast Asian Education

Phone:
Fax:
E-mail:Website:SEAMEO Secretariat
920 Sukhumvit Road
Bangkok 10110 Thailand(+662) 3910144(+662) 3812587
secretariat@seameo.org
www.seameo.org

Consulting Editor:
Editors:

Printed in Thailand© SEAMEO 2020
The designations employed and the presentation of the materials throughout the publication do not
imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of SEAMEO concerning the legal statusof any country, territory, city, or area, or of its authorities or frontiers or boundaries.

Contents
Foreword........................................................................................................................... i
Editorial ............................................................................................................................. iii
Regional Partnership for Capacity Building on Global Citizenship and 21st Century Skills:
Towards a Regional Knowledge Sharing Platform
By: Mr. Benito Espena Benoza ......................................................................................... 1
Securing a Healthy and Nutrition-Conscious Young Generation
through the School and Community Education System for Society 5.0
By: Dr. Jesus C. Fernandez .............................................................................................. 11
STEM Learning and Industry 4.0 as a Vehicle for Climate Change Impact Mitigation
By: Dr. Indrawati, Mr. Muhammad Haidar Helmi, and Dr. Elly Herliani .............................. 23
Calculator For Critical Thinking In Mathematics Lesson:
Experience With 4th Grade Students
By: Dr. Surmardyono and Ms. Russasmita Sripadmi......................................................... 31
Channeling Agriculture Innovation Transfer from Universities
and Research Centre to Vocational High Schools: Lesson Learned from Indonesia
By: Dr. Irdika Mansur, Dr. Supriyanto, Mr. Harry Imantho, Mr. Slamet Widodo,
and Mr. Joner Situmorang ................................................................................................ 41
Education for Sustainable Development for Persons with Disabilities (PwD)
By: Ms. Salmah Jopri and Mr. Ahmad Heikhal Amir Hamzah............................................ 55
Developing Human Character through SEAMEO STEM
Planning and Design Learning (PaDL) Framework
By: Mr. Dominador Dizon Mangao, Dr. Suhaidah Tahir and Dr. Mariam Othman.............. 61
The Challenge of ECCE Inclusive Education for Society 5.0 in Southeast Asia
By: Dr. Dwi Priyono ........................................................................................................... 73
Barriers to Inclusive Education: A Critical Analysis of Village Education Development
Committee’s Participation toward the Border School Development Projectof SEAMEO CED in Lao PDR
By: Dr. Niane Sivongxay and Ms. Cheanmaly Phonesavanh ............................................ 79
Educational Cooperation through SEAMEO in Japan
By: Mr. Yoshihide Miwa..………………….…………..………………………………………….89
Inclusive Education and Globalization: Perspective in University of Tsukuba
By: Dr. Nakao Nomura…................................................................................................... 93
Building International Learning Networks for ESD and SDGs:
A Case Study of Collaboration Among High Schools in Japan and ASEAN
By: Mr. Yoshikazu Tatemoto………….…………………………………………………………..99

Digital Competence for Industrial Revolution 4.0:
Implications to Teacher Professionalism
By: Dr. Soledad A. Ulep ……………………………………..…………………………..……….109
AI Teacher Education in Korea
By: Dr. Hee-chan Lew………………………………….…………… ……………………….…..119
Looking Back on the 12-year APEC Lesson Study Project: Thailand Perspective
By: Dr. Maitree Inprasitha, Dr. Narumon Changsri and Dr. Masami Isoda…..….…..….….129
Acknowledgements ………………………………………….…..............................................137

Foreword
Digital technologies have permeated our everyday tasks and interactions in the 21st
century. In turn, the digital innovations are reshaping our society, economy, culture, andlifestyle. They have changed the way we learn, work, and socialise. Their ability to impact
all aspects of our society cannot be overstated. Consequently, we have to reform our
education system so that the learners will be ready to embrace a new world theyencountered. The papers on education for inclusive growth on 4th Industrial Revolution forSociety 5.0 in Southeast Asia and beyond featured in this journal highlight some of thehighly effective collaboration initiatives undertaken by researchers from various universities
such as the University of Tsukuba, University of the Philippines, Korea National University of
Education, and Khon Kaen University of Thailand and exemplary programmes from nine of
the regional centres of SEAMEO to improve lives across the region.
This journal, supported by the University of Tsukuba, presents good practices andexamples of pioneering programmes that seek to provide recommendations and solutions
to issues and challenges that address national, regional, and global educational concerns.
SEAMEO’s motto, “Leading through Learning,” reflects the organisation’s leadership andcommitment to promote quality education, science, and culture in Southeast Asia andbeyond. Through the activities and strategies undertaken by its 26 regional
centres/network, SEAMEO is able to reach out to diverse communities in Southeast Asia tocontribute to the development of human resources (HR) and address challenging issues
such as alleviating poverty, creating a better quality of life, providing educational equity
and quality, enhancing agriculture and natural resources as well as health and nutrition,and promoting the dissemination and exchange of knowledge and learning of indigenous
cultures and traditions.
We hope this journal serves as a source of learning and reference for educational
institutions across Southeast Asia. We are also confident that it will help the general public
better understand the nature of the work of SEAMEO, which will continually expand andgrow as the organisation strides into a new stage of growth in the 21st century, describedin our 10-year strategic vision as “The Golden SEAMEO.”The SEAMEO Secretariat would like to thank the ministers of education, senior officials of
SEAMEO Member Countries, and centre directors for their commitment and unfailingsupport over the years.
We also wish to recognise the excellent cooperation we have received from the Universityof Tsukuba, SEAMEO regional centres, and other partner organisations. All of these efforts
have, in one way or another, contributed to the completion of this journal.

Dr. Ethel Agnes P. Valenzuela
SEAMEO Secretariat Directoriii

Editorial
In 2017, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) jointly
produced a white paper that focused on the impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR)on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The Fourth Industrial Revolution refers to a set of highly disruptive technologies, such as
artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, blockchain and 3D printing, that are transforming social,economic and political systems and putting huge pressure on leaders and policy-makers to
respond. (WEF & ADB, 2017, p.4)
This white paper set out some of the challenges and issues as a result of the Fourth
Industrial Revolution and provided a number of suggestions for the ASEAN body and theindividual member countries to consider. Then the world pandemic COVID-19 added tothese challenges and created a New Normal for educators throughout the region. In
response, SEAMEO member countries have developed a range of policies andprogrammes that cater to their specific individual issues and contexts. As well, theSEAMEO organisation has instituted a number of strategies to provide avenues for the
sharing of expertise and initiatives among these member countries. For example, the twoStrategic Dialogues of Education Ministers (SDEM) organised by SEAMEO produced the
SEAMEO 7 Priorities (First Strategic Dialogue) and the setting of the Bandung action
agenda (Second Strategic Dialogue). These are but two of the many directions that
SEAMEO has produced as it continually encourages, expands, and challenges the various
bodies that make up the SEAMEO organisation to increase the dissemination and sharingof expertise and initiatives among the member countries. This journal is one of the
responses to the SEAMEO challenge.
This issue has a collection of papers from around the region which highlights initiatives andprogrammes such as:
A new model proposed by SEAMEO INNOTECH for generating and sharing knowledge
within the region. This regional knowledge sharing platform would cater to a variety ofeducation actors such as teachers, education managers, and policy makers. It has alreadyformed a network of contributors.
The Sustainable Development Goal 2 Target 2 and SEAMEO Priority Areas 1 and 2, werethe motivation for SEAMEO RECFON’s response via their Early Childhood Care, Nutrition
and Education and Nutrition Goes to School programmes. These programmes aim to help
secure a health and nutrition-conscious young Indonesia generation in order to support thecreation of a Society 5.0.
Sustainable Development Goals and climate change were the motivation for the SEAMEORegional Centre for QITEP in Science to conduct an extensive literature review on STEM asa resource for future planning. STEM learning was proposed to assist in developing
students’ climate literacy and ways to overcome climate change issues.
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The SEAMEO Regional Centre for QITEP in Mathematics shared a research study involving
critical thinking in a primary mathematics lesson using the calculator as a problem-solving
tool. The results contribute to the available literature on the positive ways to use calculatorsin primary school mathematics and to help rectify negative perceptions.
The SEAMEO BIOTROP’s responded to the challenge of revitalising secondary vocational
high school in agriculture through three main programmes that provided a valuable
resource to other institutions and bodies. The programmes focussed on fruit tree
gardening, food security, and the establishment of a teaching factory. The programmes
have the potential to develop a transfer technology hub in agriculture for the surrounding
communities and farmers.
Responding to the challenges of Sustainable Development Goal 4 and their Special
Education Need students, SEAMEO SEN explored the key elements of the technical andvocational education and training programme for their SEN students with the aim ofestablishing connections to employment opportunities.
Responding to the issue and challenges of STEM, SEAMEO RECSAM developed a STEM
Planning and Design Learning framework to assist educators in their lesson planning andclassroom implementation. An important stage was the development of human empathy inthe student learning process.
Motivated by equity challenges in SEAMEO’s Seven Priorities and the UN’s Sustainable
Development Goals, SEAMEO CECCEP promotes inclusive early childhood education andparenting through a research hub that collects and analyses data and disseminates
information and expertise, thus increasing parents, teachers, and governments’
understanding and commitment to gender equality and equity.
Promoting diversity, especially among Lao Village Education Development Committees,
was a challenge for SEAMEO CED. Their efforts through a number of community-based
activities made a contribution to the field of knowledge and involving the improvement of
the teaching and learning environment and the linking of home and school cultures.
Japan has been an active long-term partner of SEAMEO and has made significant
investment in establishing relationships with member countries. This paper presents thehistory of the Japanese government’s cooperation with SEAMEO. Some of the existing
awards are introduced and a discussion of Japan’s plans for further cooperation with
SEAMEO are presented.
Japan’s universities are also part of the relationship with SEAMEO. The University ofTsukuba’s main mission is the creation of knowledge and this paper contributes to the poolof knowledge involving inclusive education and globalisation. It describes several
globalisation and inclusive education activities that have been implemented in theuniversity.
Another part of the University of Tsukuba’s creation and dissemination of knowledge
involves its laboratory school. It holds international symposiums involving other universities
and their laboratory schools in Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines, and it hasestablished an international network through JICA's overseas teacher dispatch programme.

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This paper describes this and other initiatives designed to build a sustainable society for
future world peace.
The University of the Philippines National Institute for Science and Mathematics Education
Development was challenged by the importance of digital competence as a vital 21stcentury skill for teachers and students This paper examines the implications of specificdigital competencies that bear upon the standards of teacher professionalism in thePhilippines.
The Korean National University of Education’s mission of creating and disseminatingknowledge involves the enormous challenges posed by Artificial Intelligence (AI). This
paper discusses AI education and AI-related coding education and presents three AIrelated teacher training programmes the Korea National University of Education has
provided.
Khon Kaen University’s Centre for Research in Mathematics Education, Institute for
Research and Development of the Teaching Profession for ASEAN collaborated with the
University of Tsukuba in promoting Lesson Study. This paper presents a history of the
APEC Lesson Study Project (2005-2018) proposed by Thailand and Japan from Thailand’s
perspective. The paper also highlights further collaboration between the two partners.
It is hoped that this collection of papers will disseminate some of the highly creative andinspiring responses to the challenges of Education for Inclusive Growth in the 4th Industrial
Revolution for the Society 5.0. It is worth reminding readers that the best predictor of future
life, health, wealth, and happiness depends not so much upon school achievement asmuch as the number of years spent in schooling (Levin, Belfield, Muenning, & Rouse,2006). The student population is very diverse and the challenge is to cater for this diversity
in ways that encourage students to stay in learning, to improve their sense of being, theirself-respect, their respect for others and to empower them to achieve their potential.
Dr Wahyudi(SEAMEO Secretariat)

Dr Allan L. White(SEAMEO Fellow)

References
Levin, H., Belfield, C., Muenning, P., & Rouse, C. (2006). The cost and benefit of an
excellent education for all American children. New York: Teachers College.
World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). (2017), ASEAN 4.0:

What does the Fourth Industrial Revolution mean for regional economic integration?
Manila: ADB.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Regional Partnership for Capacity Building on Global
Citizenship and 21st Century Skills: Towards a Regional
Knowledge Sharing Platform
Mr. Benito Espena Benoza
Knowledge Management and Networking Office
SEAMEO Regional Center for Educational Innovation and Technology (INNOTECH)
Commonwealth Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines
bennet@seameo-innotech.org

Abstract
The paper draws from the recommendations made during two Strategic Dialogues of
Education Ministers (SDEM) organised by SEAMEO within the framework of the ADB
SEAMEO College Initiative. The establishment of the SEAMEO 7 Priorities (First Strategic
Dialogue) and the setting of the Bandung action agenda (Second Strategic Dialogue)
prompted a programmatic response from SEAMEO INNOTECH. The programmatic response
focused on developing a new model for generating and sharing knowledge within the region.
The paper outlines the concept and the research undertaken to develop a mechanism forundertaking a knowledge audit and the mechanisms for sharing and exchanging knowledge
and information among institutions in the region. INNOTECH, a SEAMEO regional centre
devoted to educational innovation and technology, has consistently nurtured partnerships
with various institutions in order to facilitate knowledge sharing as well as capacity building
services. The regional knowledge sharing platform caters to a variety of education actors.
Global citizenship education and the development of 21st century skills can be enhanced
and facilitated among teachers, education managers, and even policy makers. Some
specific interventions are outlined and presented as possible starting points for discussion.
Keywords: Knowledge audit, knowledge management, knowledge networks, partnerships

Introduction
Over the five decades of sustained operations in Southeast Asia, the SEAMEO Regional
Centre for Educational Innovation and Technology (SEAMEO INNOTECH) has pursued its
mission of “identifying and helping solve common and unique problems, as well as anticipate
educational development needs in the Region,” as enshrined in its Enabling Instrument. The
Centre serves the educational development needs through three service areas: research anddevelopment of innovative solutions to education development concerns, enhancing thehuman infrastructure in education and disseminating new knowledge and information on
educational innovations.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
The education landscape in Southeast Asia has significantly changed over the past
decades since the Centre’s establishment. INNOTECH was born amidst a region with newly
independent nation states that had to confront a number of development and social issues
and for the education system to meet the demands of society. Southeast Asia is now among
the most economically dynamic regions of the world, with some of the countries among thebest performers in international assessments.
After 50 years, however, the compelling reasons remain for a regional centre dedicated toeducational innovations and the application of technology for teaching, learning, andgovernance of education. Beyond addressing issues in access, the journey for quality is acontinuing enterprise, pursuing an ever-moving goal. The shifting demands on educational
systems in the region to keep pace with the rapidly transforming societies prompts thedevelopment and adoption of solutions on a regional scale.
Yet the compelling reason remains for regional cooperation in order to address education
development needs. In keeping with its mandate of identifying common education
development issues in the region and unique educational needs in each SEAMEO Member
Country, the Centre was tasked to organise the first and second Strategic Dialogues for
Education Ministers (SDEM) in 2014 and 2016, respectively. These Strategic Dialogues wereconvened in collaboration with the SEAMEO Secretariat and with the host Ministries of
Education, the Lao PDR Ministry of Education and Sports for the first SDEM, and the Ministryof Education and Culture of Indonesia for the second SDEM.

The SEAMEO Seven Priorities and the Bandung Platform for Action
The two SDEMs were convened and brought together the education leaders in the region
to collectively reflect on the needs and future collaborative actions within the framework of the
SEAMEO College Initiative, a series of activities organised by SEAMEO with the support of the
Asian Development Bank through the Japan Solidarity Fund.
SDEM 1 yielded the seven priority areas for SEAMEO programmatic action. Building on thestrengths and experiences of the countries in the region, the SEAMEO Seven Priorities helped
form the region’s agenda to support the global Sustainable Development Goals, particularly
SDG Goal 4, focusing on education. The Forum noted the progress made by the SEAMEO
countries in the area of education, training, and human resource development as well as inteaching, learning and the governance of schools and education systems. The region andindividual countries have implemented good and exemplary practices towards achieving theireducational goals and objectives, serving as enablers that contributed to the economic
dynamism of the region.
Aside from identifying priority action areas, the Ministers also called for cooperation among
the countries in the region as an essential and potent resource. The transformation requiredin the region would be strategic, comprehensive, and systematic, while rooted in the values
and traditions of the region. The Ministers further called for focused collaboration andinteractions in the next two decades in the identified priority areas to address the issues andchallenges.
SDEM 2, convened in Bandung, laid down the framework for cooperation in order to makethe SEAMEO Seven Priorities operational. Among others, it called on SEAMEO Members tocollaborate, in bilateral, multiple countries or regional initiatives, by sharing expertise,knowledge and experiences to address a specific education development concern. It further
called on the regional centres of SEAMEO to facilitate these bilateral and multilateral initiatives.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
The Region has much to share in ensuring access and relevance of the programmes to theneeds of the learners; given the diversity of needs, resources and operational contexts, theshared concerns on early childhood education, technical and vocational education andtraining, lifelong learning and keeping the child at the centre of learning interventions. In theprocess of introducing innovations to the curriculum and learning content, strong fundamental
skills such as literacy, numeracy, values as well as social and emotional skills should beenhanced. Public engagement is deemed important to the success of the programmes andreforms. Different modes and types of public engagement present in the Region were
explored, such as strengthening the school community partnership, promoting open andshared information, and other modalities. In engaging the education workers, particularly
teachers, it recognised that not only instilling a sense of professionalism and technicalcompetence was called for, but also in developing the capacity to nurture, understand andinspire future citizens in individual countries.
Taking the Ministers’ call to action, SEAMEO INNOTECH has redoubled efforts at engaging
the various sectors of the region’s education community. The Centre’s knowledge
management framework builds on the call for collaboration and drawing together the region’s
knowledge resources in order to effectively and efficiently respond to the educational needsof the different countries. Further effort was focused on relationship building among nationalorganisations, academic institutions and professional organisations representing the
education workforce. These initiatives were pursued to complement regional initiatives
managed by the SEAMEO Secretariat.

The INNOTECH Knowledge Management Framework
The mandate of SEAMEO INNOTECH is primarily dedicated to identifying common andunique education problems and needs of Southeast Asian countries, and developing
innovative and technology-based solutions to address these needs and problems. Over theyears, the Centre, through its different operational units, has generated several knowledge
products and solutions. These are shared on different platforms operational to both internaland external stakeholders.
Knowledge flow within the Centre is dynamic. The development of the Centre’s knowledge
products and services is an output of synergy among the different offices such as the Learning
Management Office (LMO), the Educational Research and Innovation Office (ERIO), theKnowledge Management and Networking Office (KMNO), the Quality and Systems
Management Office (QSMO), the Administrative Management Office (AMO) and the FinanceManagement Office (FMO); both offices were merged as of July 2020 to form Finance andAdministrative Management Office (FAMO). Each office contributes to the Centre’s knowledge
generation and sharing processes.
As the Centre expands its reach and deepens its experience and engagement on
educational development and innovations in Southeast Asia, it continuously evolves as anorganisation. The changes in the Centre also influences the knowledge flowing in and out ofit, including the development of its knowledge products and resources. In order to keep trackof the different knowledge products and resources of the Centre, a knowledge inventory
survey was conducted in 2011. This initiative was the Centre’s initial attempt to map out its
existing knowledge products and resources.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
Knowledge Management was defined by Edvardsson and Oskarsson (2013, p.3) as:“developing, sharing and applying knowledge within the organisation to gain and sustain acompetitive advantage”. Knowledge is becoming an important asset of organisations with the
emergence of the knowledge economy, hence the importance of managing knowledge
effectively.
Omotayo (2015), noted that managing knowledge has generated considerable interest in
business and management circles due to its influence in the delivery of organisational
strategic results in relation to its bottom line. The management of knowledge is promoted as
an important and necessary factor for organisational survival and maintenance of acompetitive edge. Knowledge and management of knowledge are important for organisational
survival and growth.
Knowledge Management (KM) became a key strategic focus for INNOTECH in 2006. The
aim of KM was to enhance the organisation, integration, sharing, dissemination, and deliveryof knowledge across all levels of the organisation, including its stakeholders. The principal
body for KM is the Knowledge Management and Networking Office (KMNO) which serves as
the principal external relations and extension service of the Centre. It also facilitates the
movement of knowledge products and services from the organisation to its intended users,
bringing together the various areas of focus and solutions developed by the Centre.
The Centre’s framework views KM as two distinct and interconnected paths: (1) Inward
Knowledge Management or Organisational KM where knowledge is being managed to ensure
efficient and prompt delivery of operational processes within the organisation; and (2)Outward Knowledge Management or Knowledge Management for Educational Development
or KM4ED, where the Centre's knowledge outputs are managed for effective use, application,
adoption and adaptation by external stakeholders.

Figure 1. Knowledge Management Framework of SEAMEO INNOTECHThe Centre’s KM model departs from the traditional model whereby we are confined mainly
to generating new knowledge and promoting/disseminating these solutions. Complementing
the knowledge creation function would be the capability to acquire, organise, co-develop andpackage knowledge and information shared by various partners, for application in the different
countries.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2Part of the strategy of building a network of partners within and outside the region is thepotential to make fuller use and apply the knowledge assets to address education concerns
among the partners in the region. From a practical, business development standpoint, a
network of educational institutions in the region, with access to knowledge assets even outside
the region is better positioned to serve the needs of a SEAMEO Member Country. Needs are
better articulated and understood in the operational context of the country, while a broad
range of knowledge assets can be utilised to come up with appropriate knowledge products
and services that address the country’s needs.
Sharing and exchanging knowledge also hews closely to the “Southeast Asian way,” foreach country to gain the benefits from the shared knowledge pool.

Knowledge Audit
The assessment of identified existing processes and practices will help an institution gauge
where its strengths and weaknesses lie vis-à-vis efficient and effective service and productdelivery. A knowledge audit (KA) investigates the organisation’s knowledge assets orresources, where are they lodged, who interacts with them, and how they are accessed. The
following components are examined during an organisational knowledge audit:
•
•
•
•
•

knowledge needs
knowledge assets or resources
knowledge gaps
knowledge flow; andknowledge blockages

A knowledge map is developed as a result of the knowledge audit. The pilot KA conductedat the Centre aimed to capture selected KM practices in order to identify knowledge gaps andto recommend enhancements of the said KM processes. The pilot KA also aimed to document
the KA process and develop guidelines to be adopted by the different offices.
The pilot audits that were conducted took on two different tracks. The KA track on Business
Development Process followed four steps, 1) preparatory phase, 2) brainstorming workshop,
3) validation workshop, and 4) analysis and report writing. On the other hand, the KA track ofResearch and Knowledge Products Dissemination Process is as follows: 1) preparatory
phase, 2) familiarity survey and data gathering, and 3) analysis and report writing.
The audit of the Business Development Process documented existing business practices
at KMNO. These practices were the building blocks in developing the business development
framework. The business development framework documented was validated through centrewide consultations and a workshop.
The Knowledge Audit of the research and knowledge products dissemination process
checked how process owners understood and used the said process. The dissemination
process, compared with that of the business development process, has an existing written
document available to everyone. The KA on dissemination process has a set of targeted
audiences who were the primary respondents of the survey.
The KA pilot was able to elicit the business development needs of KMNO and the Centre.
For marketing to be an effective strategy in expanding and deepening client outreach. The
Centre has an established dissemination process, and for the process to effectively work,
regular orientation or refresher will help reinforce staff understanding and familiarity with theprocess.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
In the context of the regional knowledge network, this is a viable first step towards gaining
a better understanding of the knowledge assets that can be shared with partners.

Five Steps in Conducting a Knowledge Audit
KMNO adopted the following knowledge audit in five (5) main activities: the preparatory
phase, audit briefing, data gathering, audit data analysis, and action planning.

Figure 2. The Knowledge Audit Process

The preparatory step is done to discuss and decide on the objectives and scope of theplanned KM audit. The objectives will be the basis for developing its KA questionnaire or tool.
This will be done by doing an extensive desk review of documents and existing process maps
at the Centre. The KA tool or instruments to be developed in this step should comprise of thefollowing core questions on the process/es to be audited:
•
•
•
•
•
•

What is the process?
How is the process done?
Who is involved in the process?
What does the process try to achieve?
What is my role in the process?
How is the process related to the overall goal of the Centre?

Towards a Regional Knowledge Platform
In keeping with the Centre’s KM framework, significant efforts have been made to develop
a network of institutions throughout the region that would serve as the Centre’s partners andco-developers of solutions to address specific education development needs. Over the past
decades, national education institutions, teacher education and training colleges, theacademe, non-government organisations and other stakeholder groups have developed asignificant body of knowledge in the area of educational innovations. Individual teachers andschool managers have their own success stories that may be shared with others in the region.
The traditional business model whereby a specialised body generates new knowledge andsolutions and diffuses (or disseminates) research and development outputs could be levelled
up by sharing and exchanging documented knowledge and information and setting them topractical use by other organisations in the region. Customizing solutions and setting them inthe context of the users would be further enhanced by institutions working in tandem toaddress a specific issue.
An emerging business model, where partners focus on a problem, work together to searchfor solutions and collaboratively try out and validate them, would mark a more meaningful
engagement among parties.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
Every organised entity has its own knowledge assets. A regional platform would enable
working towards connecting the forms of knowledge that institutions already possess and the
new forms of development, acquisition and spread of knowledge valued by the participating
countries. The evolution of social networks made possible through the Internet also yieldedenhanced opportunities for sharing and synergy among organisations with shared goals andpurposes. It also made building and growing networks of institutions, individuals, and groups
throughout the region possible, moving us closer to being a concert of caring and sharing
societies.
Drawing from experiences in social media and networks, current technology would alsoenable customization of materials and learning experiences. Younger teachers may seek
guidance and advice from more experienced educators, and the collective insights drawn
could guide the future development of professional support programs.
By building platforms for sharing and exchange of knowledge and information, the codified
knowledge assets generated by INNOTECH could be enhanced and enriched by theexperiences and expertise shared by others. Networks among institutions could also bridge
language gaps, enabling a better fit between research-based solutions to the on-groundrealities and operational contexts of the different countries.

A Platform for Concerted Action
In keeping with the recommendations of the Bandung Strategic Dialogue, the regional
knowledge network could serve as a platform for identifying the development needs ofindividual member countries and for putting together possible solutions from a variety ofsources to address these needs.
At present, INNOTECH has formal linkages with several institutions across the region thatprovide knowledge services to the education sector. A list of some of the partners outside thePhilippines, as well as some partner universities, is presented in Annex 1. The Centre hopes
to grow the network of partners to be able to cover a wider and deeper reach within the region.
Such partnerships dovetail with the inter-centre collaboration activities coordinated by the
SEAMEO Secretariat, which allows each centre to complement existing expertise andprograms in the other centres located in other countries.
At present, several online platforms exist for direct education service provision. A platform
for sharing and exchanging knowledge in the area of educational innovation could be a viablefeature in the region’s education ecosystem. Some of the practical applications and services
that a platform may provide are:•Knowledge/Information Sharing and Exchange. Knowledge exchange and sharing
may be considered as the simplest and most common activity for the participatingorganisations. This may be done at the individual level (interactions among teachers,
fellow principals, and similar education workers). Codified knowledge and research
outputs may be collected, synthesized and shared with other users.

•

Professional Development for Education Workers. Learning opportunities for different
classes of education professionals and workers in allied fields could be enhancedwith a deeper understanding of the learning needs and the capability building
services that could be provided. Training interventions may be co-developed, taking
advantage of the expertise, materials and training approaches that fit therequirements. The regional knowledge platform can provide the mechanism forvarious organisations to pool knowledge and resources to be able to provide theappropriate training experience.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2•

Technical Assistance. The regional knowledge platform could serve as a means for
putting together the appropriate technical experts to work on education development
issues within the region. Such technical assistance can promote capability
enhancement in the projects and programmes that would use their expertise as wellas the institutions that make a contribution.

•

Environmental Scanning and Business Development Information. Some of thecountries in the region are eligible for official development assistance anddevelopment support. The knowledge sharing platform can serve as a means forothers to be informed of business opportunities, leveraging on their expertise andexperience.

On the part of SEAMEO INNOTECH, regional initiatives are being pursued to be undertaken
through the knowledge-sharing platform. Some of these undertakings are:•Translation of Knowledge Materials. The Centre’s knowledge products can reachmore users when translated into the appropriate national language. These translation
projects are being undertaken with sister SEAMEO centres and partners. Given morepartners, more translation and co-publishing projects can be done not only withresearch reports and monographs but also learning modules, reference materials andother knowledge products.

•

Review and Updating of Knowledge Products. Some of the learning resources foronline programmes require updating, given the wealth of materials being developed.
Collective work on updating the contents and a consensus recommendation on
appropriate design would be among the first undertakings within the platform
framework.

•

Co-Design and Implementation of Learning Events. Among partner institutions,collaboration in conducting training programmes, both face to face and online would
be expected to evolve into joint programmes and co-badging arrangements.

•

Development of New Knowledge Products. Leveraging on the knowledge of national
institutions on the specific needs of the education workers in the country, the platform
is envisaged to collaboratively design and develop new knowledge products that
directly address the knowledge and information needs of the stakeholders.

The knowledge sharing platform is envisaged to play a significant role in some on-going
initiatives being pursued by the Centre:•

ASEAN eXCELS. The initial course aimed at building the capacity of school heads inSoutheast Asia in understanding the emerging ASEAN Community, for the school
principal to serve as the champion of ASEAN integration in the school community.
The project proposes to train school Heads from the ASEAN Member States using the
SEAMEO INNOTECH-developed international blended learning course entitled:
ASEANeXCELS (Excellence in School Leadership for Southeast Asia: Promoting an
Understanding of the ASEAN Community).
As a regional undertaking, the project proposes to capacitate a core group of online
facilitators to support the online training of school principals throughout the region.
The two-module course comes with a toolkit, Weaving Identities which is a resource
package to support teachers in presenting learning content on ASEAN and thediverse cultures, history, and economic systems in the region. The proposed projectis being designed as a collaborative undertaking of education institutions anduniversities in the region and beyond.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2•

Peace eXCELS and GCED. The online program seeks to develop the capability ofschool principals in promoting peace and respect for diversity in the schoolcommunity. As a regional initiative, championing peace may be complemented withenhanced knowledge on Global Citizenship Education and integrating GCED in thelearning program. The project proposes to enhance the current content of PeaceeXCELS and incorporate elements of GCED in the modules. The activity will build on
an informal network of GCED practitioners set up in 2015 and currently interacting
through WhatsApp, allowing diverse viewpoints on GCED application as practiced insome countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia Pacific.

The foregoing projects focus on developing a better understanding of the Southeast Asian
Community and the need to develop global citizenship. The learning resources to be
developed build on the capacity development of school heads and lead teachers to provide
support for teachers in the classroom. These programs support the SEAMEO Priority on
adopting a 21st Century Curriculum, addressing the needed knowledge and skills toeffectively respond to the changing global context and promoting ASEAN integration in thelearning community, with teachers imbued with ASEAN ideals.

The Road Ahead
The first 50 years for SEAMEO INNOTECH focused on the development of solutions for
improving teaching, learning and management of education in the region when it has
pioneered innovative learning systems and promoting access to quality learning in the context
of resource limitations. The next decade offers an opportunity to leverage the region’s
knowledge assets and meaningful engagement with various education actors andstakeholders.
The current environment provides a window for speeded up responses to education
challenges, closer and meaningful engagement, and even greater relevance for the Centre’s
services and products to the region’s education community. Meaningful involvement of the
key stakeholders in developing and making improvements to their practices are but some ofthe dividends in riding the waves in building a regional knowledge platform.

References
Edvardsson, I. & G. Oskarsson. (2013). Knowledge Management, Competitive Advantage,and Value Creation: A Case Study of Icelandic SMEs. International Journal of
Information
Systems
andSocialChange.
4(2).
59-71.
DOI:
10.4018/jissc.2013040104.
Knowledge Management and Networking Office, SEAMEO INNOTECH. (2018). Knowledge

Audit on Business Development and Research and Knowledge Products
Dissemination at KMNO
Omotayo, O. F. (2015). Knowledge Management as an important tool in Organisational
Management: A Review of Literature.
SEAMEO INNOTECH. (2016). 9th SEAMEO INNOTECH Five Year Development Plan.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
Annex 1. SEAMEO INNOTECH Partners in Southeast Asia•

National Institute of Education, Cambodia•

MOEYS Education Research Council, Cambodia•

Institute for Education Administration Development, Lao PDR•

NIE International Pte Ltd. (NIEI)•

Institut Aminuddin Baki, Malaysia•

National Institute for the Development of Teachers and Other Education Personnel•

Teachers Council, Thailand (KHURUSAPPHA)•

Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology, Thailand•

National Institute for Training of Teachers and Education Professionals, Timor Leste•

Viet Nam Institute of Educational Sciences•

University of Technology and Education-University of Danang•

Korea National University of Education•

Universitas Lambung Mangkurat (UNLAM Indonesia)•

Universitas Pelita Harapan Surabaya, Indonesia•

Universidade National Timor Lorosa’e•

Universitas Hasanuddin (UNHAS Indonesia)•

Universitas Dhyana Purais•

Universitas Muhammadiyah Prof. Dr. Hamka Jakarta, Indonesia- 10 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Securing a Health- and Nutrition-Conscious Young Generation
through the School and Community Education System forSociety 5.0
Dr. Jesus C. Fernandez
SEAMEO Regional Centre for Food and Nutrition (RECFON)
Jalan Salemba Raya 6, Central Jakarta, Indonesia, 10430
jcfernandez@seameo-recfon.org

Abstract
The creation of a Society 5.0 would require quality human resources that are forward-looking,smart, responsible and practice an active and healthy lifestyle. Balanced nutrition contributes
to producing this kind of human resources that are critical in bringing about faster economic
growth and reducing social problems for society members. SEAMEO RECFON promotesbalanced nutrition from early childhood to adolescent-aged school children through its two
flagship programmes, namely: Early Childhood Care, Nutrition and Education (ECCNE) andNutrition Goes to School (NGTS). The NGTS Programme is a school-based multisectoral programme launched in 2016 to build the character and improve students’ learning
outcomes and active participation in school activities by practicing proper nutrition, hygiene
and sanitation. It is being piloted in six districts in East and West Java, and West Kalimantan
provinces in Indonesia involving 55 primary, junior high and vocational schools. The ECCNE
Programme was conceptualised in 2017 as a community-based multisectoral intervention
programme aimed at providing a model of integrated implementation of essential
components of childcare and parenting to ensure optimal psychomotor, cognitive andaffective growth and development of a child. It is being piloted in one district each in East
Java, West Kalimantan and Central Sumatra provinces in Indonesia involving 54 community
early childhood education centres. These programmes are SEAMEO RECFON’s attempts tocontribute to Sustainable Development Goal 2 Target 2 and SEAMEO Priority Areas 1 and 2.
This paper presents the experiences and contributions of SEAMEO RECFON’s ECCNE andNGTS programmes thus far in Indonesia to help secure a health- and nutrition-conscious
young generation to support the creation of a Society 5.0.
Keywords: Adolescent nutrition, early childhood nutrition, school-based nutrition promotion,
Society 5.0

Introduction
Malnutrition is a global and multisectoral concern that affects human capacities tocontribute to national development. The so-called triple burden of malnutrition, (i.e.
underweight, overweight, and nutrient deficiencies) does not discriminate for age,socioeconomic class and gender and could result in different types of illness and mortality.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
These forms of malnutrition can co-exist in the same individuals, within households andcommunities across different countries and regions. Thus in 2015, the UN member statesagreed to “end malnutrition in all its forms” as Target 2 under the Sustainable Development
Goal (SDG) 2 by 2030. SDG 2 focuses on ending hunger, achieving food security, improving
nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture. The UN also declared 2016-2025 as the
Decade of Action on Nutrition to accelerate the implementation of this target globally towards
a healthy and productive population.
Under-five and school-aged children up to adolescence are considered among thesectors of the society that are most vulnerable to malnutrition. Malnourished children are most
likely to experience slow or poor brain development which then affects their performance inschool. In the long run, this may limit their opportunities to find a decent job during adulthoodand thus affect the country’s economic growth.
Southeast Asian countries experience varying forms of malnutrition. The 2018 Global
Nutrition Report indicates that overweightness is prevalent in Brunei Darussalam, anemia in
Singapore, stunting in the Philippines, overweightness and anemia in Thailand, stunting andanemia in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao, Myanmar, Timor-Leste and Vietnam, andoverweightness, anemia and stunting in Malaysia.
In support of the SDGs, the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization(SEAMEO) identified seven priority areas in 2015 wherein the mandates and expertise of its
26 specialist centres could be fully tapped. The seven priorities are (1) Achieving Universal
Early Childhood Care and Education, (2) Addressing Barriers to Inclusion, (3) Promoting
Resilience in the Face of Emergencies, (4) Promoting Technical and Vocational Education
and Training, (5) Revitalising Teacher Education, (6) Promoting Harmonisation in Higher
Education and Research, and (7) Adopting a 21st Century Curriculum.
As one of the specialist centres of SEAMEO, the Regional Centre for Food and Nutrition(RECFON) initiated two flagship programmes under its Second Five-Year Development Plan
(FY 2016/2017-2020/2021) to address the first and the second priority areas, namely: Early
Childhood Care, Nutrition and Education (ECCNE) and Nutrition Goes To School (NGTS),
respectively. These programmes are also the Centre’s modest attempts to contribute toachieving SDG Target 2.2. SEAMEO RECFON believes that promoting proper nutrition among
the young generation could help them secure a better future and allow them to respond to thedemands of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 and conform to the vision of Society 5.0.
The ECCNE and NGTS programmes subscribe to the life-cycle approach to nutrition
development of individuals from early childhood to adolescence. The Centre sees the criticalrole of the school and community education systems in achieving this goal.

General Approach, Framework, Intervention Type and Coverage of
SEAMEO RECFON’s ECCNE and NGTS Flagship Programmes
Approach
SEAMEO RECFON adopts mitigation and prevention approaches for its flagshipprogrammes in combatting malnutrition among the under-five and school-aged children. The
ECCNE Programme focuses on a mitigation approach towards preventing the effects ofmalnutrition among under-five children during the later stage of their life. On the other hand,
the NGTS Programme deals with a prevention approach to avoid newborns from becoming
malnourished by providing nutrition education to adolescent school children who would
eventually become parents.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
Framework
Both programmes operate within the Demand, Supply, Policy, and Information System(DSPIS) framework (Fig.1). The programmes are expected to respond to and/or create thedemand for target stakeholders to choose healthier and nutritious foods that could be madeavailable within and in the immediate vicinity of the school and community learning centres.
The programmes are also expected to ensure that target stakeholders have access to
supplies of safe, affordable, locally available, and nutritious foods as well as clean water andenvironment. SEAMEO RECFON believes that having practical and easy to implement
policies to create an environment conducive to practicing good health and nutrition habits inschools and community learning centres among its stakeholders is critical for the
programmes. The information system is meant to facilitate the creation of a communication
platform for sharing, monitoring, and evaluating programme experiences and lessons learned
for improvement and eventual scaling up.

Figure 1. The DSPIS Framework for NGTS and ECCNE ProgrammesInterventions
The activities of ECCNE and NGTS programmes are a combination of nutrition-sensitive
and nutrition-specific interventions. These interventions are carried out through community
development, capacity building, knowledge management, and research mandates of theCentre.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
Coverage
SEAMEO RECFON is currently piloting the two flagship programmes in Indonesia. The
ECCNE Programme is being piloted in four sites in Indonesia, namely: Malang in Central Java
Province, Sambas in West Kalimantan Province, East Lombok in Nusa Tenggara Province,
and Jambi in Central Sumatra Province. It involves early childhood education (ECE) teachers,
community health workers and mothers for nutritional development of under-five children. The
NGTS Programme is being implemented in six sites, namely: Sambas in West Kalimantan
Province, Klaten in Central Java, Malang in East Java Province, and Bogor, Cimahi andCirebon in West Java Province. It involves school teachers and principals, local educationand health officers, and academic institutions for nutrition literacy of primary, secondary, andvocational school children. The NGTS Programme is expected to end its piloting period inIndonesia in 2021 while the ECCNE Programme in 2022.
Several efforts have been made to initiate the implementation of NGTS and ECCNE
Programmes in other Southeast Asian countries. These countries include Cambodia, Lao
PDR, and Myanmar for ECCNE Programme in 2018 and Timor-Leste for NGTS Programme in
2019. Both programmes have been endorsed by the 11 Ministers of Education of Southeast
Asian countries for scaling up during their 50th annual SEAMEO Council Meeting in July 2019
in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The ECCNE Programme: Ensuring Optimal Growth andDevelopment of Under-Five Children
Early childhood development interventions, especially during the first 1,000 day in the lifeof a newborn, are essential in paving the way for better health and learning capacity,
increased potential for livelihood generation during adulthood, poverty reduction, fewer
inequalities, and more peaceful societies (Lancet Early Childhood Development Series,2016). These interventions could include the promotion of optimal infant and young childfeeding, healthy home care and nutritional support, disease prevention, management ofchildhood illness, and high-quality early childhood care and education (ECCE) programmes.
These, however, present challenges for most national governments in Southeast Asia.
The SEAMEO RECFON’s ECCNE programme is a community-based multisectoralintervention programme aimed at providing a model of integrated implementation of essential
components of childcare and parenting to ensure optimal psychomotor, cognitive andaffective growth and development of a child. It is a collaborative endeavour with two other
SEAMEO Centres, namely: the Regional Centre for Early Childhood Care Education andParenting (CECCEP) and the Regional Centre for Tropical Medicine (TROPMED) Network.
The ECCNE Programme was conceptualised in 2017 but full implementation began in
2018. Its framework has five components that are necessary to achieve an integrated
approach to optimal child growth and development (Figure 2). These are arranged in a formof a house that represents a family, a household, a school, or a community where they could
and should operate. A house is supposed to serve as a nurturing environment for a child’s
growth, development, and security.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Figure 2. ECCNE Programme Framework
Specifically, the program aims to:
1. Formulate strategies, approaches and guidelines for each program component andintegrate them to form a single ECCNE model;
2. Generate evidence of the effectiveness of the strategies and approaches for eachcomponent;
3. Advocate the use of the ECCNE model to relevant stakeholders for adoption;
4. Build the capacity of stakeholder to implement the ECCNE model; and5. Establish mechanisms for the sustainable implementation of the ECCNE model
The ECCNE Programme has a set of activities that are categorized into nutrition-sensitive
and nutrition-specific according to the DSPIS Framework as shown in Table 1.
Table 1. ECCNE Programme Activities.
Classificationin DSPIS
DemandNutrition-Specific

Nutrition-Sensitive

Supply• Generation andimplementation of foodbased recommendations forunder-two years children
from locally available
nutrient-dense food sources• Supplementary feeding

Policy-Information
System-• Learning Module Development• Capacity Building of Early Childhood
Educators, Parents and Community
Health Workers on ECCNE• ECCNE Working Group Formation
and Functioning• ECCNE Working Group Formation
and Functioning• Advocacy to mainstream ECCNE
through partnership with local
governments and academic
institutions in programme sites• ECCNE Working Group Formation
and Functioning• Online Mapping of Early Childhood
Educators’ Competencies on
ECCNE• ECCNE Working Group Formation
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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
In Indonesia, the ECCNE Programme supports the Presidential Regulation No. 60 of 2013
on Integrative Holistic Early Childhood Development as well as the National Strategy on
Accelerating Stunting Prevention 2018-2024. After two years of implementation, the ECCNE
Programme had accomplished the following per activity type:
1. Online mapping of early childhood educators’ competencies in ECCNE
A total of 17,821 early childhood educators in 484 out of 514 districts (94%) acrossall provinces of Indonesia have been surveyed on their ECCNE competencies in
October 2018. Interestingly, 77.3% of these early childhood educators have notreceived any training on nutrition which provided the strong justification for SEAMEORECFON to conduct a series of capacity building activities in the ECCNE programmesites.
2. Capacity building of early childhood educators, community health workers andmothers on ECCNE
a. Training of eight nutritionists and healthcare staff from two districts, 80 cadres and
480 mothers with under-two aged children on stunting prevention in February 2019and March 2019 in Malang City and Sambas District, respectively.
b. Training of 36 early childhood educators from 18 ECE centres in Sambelia andPringabaya Subdistricts, East Lombok District and West Nusa Tenggara Districton ECCNE in disaster-prone areas in February and April 2019.
c. Training of 21 Master Trainers from Sambas, Malang and Tanjung Jabung on
ECCNE under the concept of Holistic-Integrative Early Childhood Education in
September 2019.
d. Training of Trainers on ECCNE under the concept of Holistic-Integrative Early
Childhood Education for 78 early childhood educators from Sambas and Tanjung
Jabung in September 2019.
3. Development of ECCNE learning materials.
a. Two learning modules have been developed and published, namely: ECCNE for
Stunting Prevention in February 2019, and Guidelines for ECCNE in DisasterProne Areas in April 2019b. A series of nine modules on Holistic and Integrative Early Childhood Care
Education have been finalised for printing in February 2020.
4. Establishment of ECCNE Models.
Three ECCNE models have been established, namely:
a. Health Centre-based ECCNE Model for Stunting Prevention in Malang and Sambas
Districts starting in 2018.
b. ECCNE Centre-based ECCNE Model for Stunting Prevention in Malang, Sambas
and Tanjung Jabung Districts starting in 2019.
c. ECCNE Model for Post-Disaster Recovery in East Lombok District starting in 2018.
Another model, Daycare-based ECCNE model, has been recently conceptualised
and is expected to be implemented in 2020 in Jakarta City.
5. Advocacy to Mainstream ECCNE Programme through Partnerships.
SEAMEO RECFON signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2018 with threeacademic institutions, one district government and one civil society group to
implement the ECCNE Programme. These institutions include the University ofBrawijaya and Malang Health Polytechnic Institute in Malang, East Java, Sambas
District Government and Pontianak Health Polytechnic Institute in West Kalimantan,
and the Himpunan Pendidik dan Tenaga Kependidikan Anak Usia Dini (HIMPAUDI ortranslated as Association of Educators and Personal on Early Childhood Education in
English) which is based in Jakarta. SEAMEO RECFON has formulated a policy brief- 16 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
in 2019 on its research on the formulation of local specific food-based
recommendations (FBR) for stunting prevention in ECCNE Programme sites and had
submitted it to the Ministry of Health of Indonesia for consideration. Details of theresearch are discussed under No. 7.
6. ECCNE Working Group Formation and Functioning.
The ECCNE Programme has created its Indonesian Working Group on 9 July 2019whose members come from government education and health agencies, academic
institutions, civil society groups, and research organisations including SEAMEORECFON. The Working Group is expected to carry out a mapping of competencies
of early childhood educators, develop ECCNE learning materials and models, anddocument ECCNE best practices.
7. Formulation of local specific food-based recommendations (FBR) for stunting
prevention in ECCNE Programme sites.
Using linear programming approach through Optifood software, the ECCNE
Programme team developed and tested the optimised local specific food-based
recommendations (FBRs) among 240 under-five age children in two sites (i.e. Malang
and Sambas) as an intervention group for six months in 2019 and compared the resultswith another 240 under-five age children as a control group (Figure 3).

Nutrition education
session by
Nutritionist in
Community HealthCentres (CHC)(1 CHC = 4 Villages)

Monitoring of FBR
implementation by
Cadres twice a month(1x home visit and 1x
during the nutrition
education session)Community
Nutritionist compiles
the monitoring
results from Cadresonce a month

Assistance by Local Academe(POLTEKKES and District Health
Office)Figure 3. Implementation Scheme of Food-based Recommendation Promotion

And Nutrition Education in Two ECCNE Programme Sites for Six Months

The study showed positive benefits in terms of an improved dietary diversity score andnutrient intakes among children in the intervention group. Additionally, the positive andsignificant benefit of Complementary Feeding Recommendation (CFR) in terms of anemia andlinear growth was observed in the Sambas district in West Kalimantan Province where theratio of animal protein from animal source foods (ASF) to plant protein is 3:1 as compared to
Malang where the ratio is 0.9:1.
At the end of six-month promotion of optimized FBRs in Sambas, significant differenceswere found among children under control (C) and intervention (I) groups in terms of stunting
cases (C=33.5%, I=23.9%) and anaemia cases (C=43.5%, I=23.9%).
In 2018-2019, the ECCNE Programme Coordinator and team members have been
providing technical assistance to the Ministries of Health of Cambodia, Lao PDR, andMyanmar in formulating FBRs for under-five age children.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

The NGTS Programme: Developing AWESOME School-Aged Children
The NGTS Programme targets school-aged children because it is in this period wheneating habits are developed and/or acquired either within or outside the household and school
environments that could affect their nutritional status later during adulthood. Thus, it is theopportune time to help improve the dietary behaviours of this group of children. The
programme aims to develop AWESOME (i.e., Active, Well-Nourished, and Smart Of Me)
school children that is expected to be manifested in their school performance both in classand extracurricular activities. An active student means performing any form of physical activity
everyday in a week for at least 30 minutes per day as recommended by the Ministry of Healthof Indonesia (2014). A student is well-nourished if his/her body mass index (BMI) fall in thenormal range as indicated in the growth standards published by WHO (2006).
Being smart is measured through the improvement in the academic performance of thestudents in class. The Programme framework has three components, namely: nutrition
education, policy and management support, and school environment (Figure 4).
The Policy and Management Support component refers to the existing school-related
regulations and those that need to be developed as well as decision-making processes tomake the school environment and curricular activities address the health and nutrition needsof school children. The school environment component refers to the socio-physicalenvironment and the different interactions taking place within the classroom, within the school
campus, and within the immediate vicinity outside the school. The nutrition education
component refers to the integration of nutrition concepts and principles in both the classroom
and extracurricular activities of the students in relation to their school environment and policy
and management support situations. These components are expected to play critical roles
when integrated in both classroom and extracurricular activities of school children to become
AWESOME.

Figure 4. NGTS Program Framework
The NGTS Programme has a set of activities that are categorized into nutrition-sensitive
and nutrition-specific types according to the DSPIS Framework as shown in Table 2.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
Table 2. Nutrition-Specific and Nutrition Sensitive Activities of NGTS ProgrammeClassificationin DSPIS
DemandNutrition-Specific

Nutrition-Sensitive• Generation andimplementation of foodbased
recommendations fromlocally available
nutrient-dense foodsources for adolescentfemale school children• Learning module development• Capacity building of school teachers,
local government education officials on
nutrition education and WASH education• Continuous technical assistance via
social media• Establishment and functioning SchoolBased Nutrition Promotion (SBNP)
Working Groups for Indonesia andSoutheast Asia
• Establishment of School Garden• Establishment of Health School Canteen• Monitoring of Implementation of IFA
Supplementation• Establishment and functioning of
School-Based Nutrition Promotion(SBNP) Working Groups for Indonesia
and Southeast Asia
• Advocacy to mainstream NGTS
Programme in schools in partnershipwith local governments and academic
institutions in programme sites• Establishment and functioning of
School-Based Nutrition Promotion(SBNP) Working Groups for Indonesia
and Southeast Asia
• Mapping of school readiness to
implement NGTS Programme• Establishment of Southeast Asia SchoolBased Nutrition Promotion (SBNP)
Working Group

SupplyPolicy-Information
System-The NGTS Programme supports several national government programmes under the
Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Health of Indonesia such as the Usaha
Kesehatan Sekolah (UKS or School Efforts for Health), the Program Sekolah Sehat (or Healthy
School Programme), the Adiwiyata (or Green School Programme), the Program Gizi Anak
Sekolah (ProGas or School Feeding Programme), etc.
After three years of implementation, the NGTS Programme had accomplished thefollowing:
1. School Readiness Mapping for NGTS Implementation
The Programme sampled 664 schools (i.e. 74% government and 26% private) fromdifferent levels from the major islands of Indonesia in 2017 in relation to their readiness to
implement the NGTS Programme according to the DSPIS framework. The results showedthat around 78% of the schools surveyed were ready to implement an NGTS Programme.
This enabled SEAMEO RECFON to identify and implement NGTS in certain programme sites.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

2. Learning Module Development
From 2017 to 2018, the NGTS Programme developed five learning modules, namely:a. Gizi dan Kesehatan AnaK Usia Sekolah Dasar (Health and Nutrition for Primary SchoolChildren)b. Gizi dan Kesehatan Remaja (Health and Nutrition for Adolescent School Children)c. Panduan Gizi Seimbang untuk Remaja (Balanced Nutrition Guide for Adolescent
School Children)
d. Kantin Sekolah Sehat (Health School Canteen)e. Edukasi Gizi Berbasis Kebun Sekolah (Nutrition Education Based on School Garden)
3. Capacity Building of School Teachers and Piloting of NGTS with Partner-Schools
The NGTS Programme had conducted Training of Trainers (face-to-face mode) for 396
teachers from 114 partner-schools at all levels from six NGTS Programme sites (i.e., Sambas,
Malang, Cirebon, Bogor, Klaten, and Cimahi) on nutrition, hygiene and sanitation education.
It had also trained 993 teachers from 105 schools via an online mode. Both training modes
required the participants to formulate action plans to implement some or a combination of
NGTS activities (i.e., nutrition education, school garden, school canteen, physical activities,
WASH) in their respective schools.
4. Advocacy to Mainstream NGTS Programme through Partnerships
Between 2018 and 2019, SEAMEO RECFON signed a Memorandum of Understanding
with seven Health Polytechnic Institutes and one state university for implementation of NGTS
Programme in Bogor, Cimahi and Cirebon Districts in West Java, Klaten District in Central
Java, Malang City in East Java, and Sambas District in West Kalimantan. Two partner-schools
in Bogor sought to formalise their partnership with SEAMEO RECFON by signing an MOU in
2019.
5. Monitoring the Implementation of Iron Folic Acid (IFA) Supplementation under theAksi Bergizi (Adolescent Nutrition) Project of UNICEF
Since NGTS Programme targets adolescent school children, SEAMEO RECFON has
been selected by UNICEF as its partner-institution to carry out its Aksi Bergizi Project which
includes the monitoring of the implementation of IFA supplementation among secondary
school children.

Impacts Thus Far of SEAMEO RECFON’s NGTS and ECCNE
Flagship Programmes
The ECCNE Programme
1. With the ECCNE Programme experiences in developing learning modules,
a. the Ministry of Education and Culture of Indonesia has endorsed the new set ofnine modules on Holistic and Integrative Early Childhood Care and Educationthat the programme team developed in 2019. The endorsement comes in theforeword from the Directorate General of Early Childhood and Community
Education. The modules are now accessible from SEAMEO RECFON website.
b. the Ministry of Health of Indonesia requested SEAMEO RECFON’s ECCNE
Programme Team to develop three guidelines on stunting prevention forDistrict/City Governments, Community Health Centres (Puskesmas – Pusat
Kesehatan Masyartakat), and Integrated Family Planning and Health Service
Centres (Posyandu – Pos Pelayanan Keluarga Berencana dan Kesehatan
Terpadu). The first drafts are expected to be ready before the end of 2020.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

2. The Ministry of Health of Indonesia has accepted, in principle, the recommendations
contained in the policy brief developed by the ECCNE Programme resulting from theresearch on formulating local specific food-based recommendations for under-five aged
children for stunting prevention in Sambas and Malang sites in 2019.
3. Two other district governments sought to formalise a partnership with SEAMEORECFON to strengthen the implementation of the ECCNE model on stunting prevention. The
Centre already signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the District Government of East
Lombok in Nusa Tenggara Province, and Tanjung Jabung East SubDistrict in Jambi
Province.
4. With the ECCNE Program team expertise and experiences in formulating local
specific food-based recommendations for under-five age children, the Ministry of Health ofIndonesia, through funding support from Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and
the Government of United Kingdom, had requested SEAMEO RECFON to train local
academe of 37 priority districts for stunting prevention on formulating local specific FBRs fortheir respective localities.
5. The Ministry of Religious Affairs of Indonesia and SEAMEO RECFON agreed toallocate slots for teachers of Islamic schools under the Ministry to join the online course on
ECCNE in March and April 2020 for Early Childhood Teachers in implementing the conceptof holistic and integrative early childhood education through parenting session.
NGTS Programme
1. At least 83 schools that have received training on NGTS (face-to-face and online
modes throughout Indonesia) joined SEAMEO RECFON’s NGTS Awards to share their bestpractices in integrating nutrition education concepts and principles in their lesson plans forclassroom and extracurricular activities. Ten best schools were selected as winners of theawards in primary, junior, and senior/vocational school levels.
2. With the progress made by the NGTS Programme in its various sites with partnerschools under the Ministry of Education and Culture of Indonesia, the Universitas
Muhammadiyah and the Muhammadiyah Organization of Indonesia sought the partnershipof SEAMEO RECFON to initiate the same programme to Madrasah or Islamic schools in
Jakarta City by conducting a training for at least 20 school teachers by mid 2020.
3. Some partner-schools have become finalists for the Healthy School Award at
district/city, provincial and national levels. In Cirebon site, two primary schools became
finalists at the district/city level, one junior high school at the provincial level, and one juniorhigh school at the national level in 2019. In Sambas, one junior high school is a finalist at thenational level for 2020.

Some Lessons Learned in Implementing SEAMEO RECFON’s ECCNE
and NGTS Flagship Programmes
SEAMEO RECFON generated the following lessons learned in implementing its flagshipprogrammes on ECCNE and NGTS:
1. Painting the bigger picture of the NGTS and ECCNE Programmes including theirrelevance to global protocols and national policies and programmes is critical to obtain the
buy-in of stakeholders.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
2. Clarifying the specific roles of partners, emphasizing shared ownership of the
programmes, and formalising the partnership help facilitate programme implementation.
3. Support/Endorsement from top provincial/district government officials helps ensure
programme sustainability and wider coverage of implementation.
4. Using existing national government programmes as one entry point which can boost
the relevance and acceptance among partners.
5. Research results provide for better evidence/informed-based decision making fromamong the partners involved thus strengthening their commitments to the programmes.
6. Selection of schools by district education offices and consensus with academic
partner-institutions enhances programme ownership and commitment to implement planned
activities.
7. Encouraging academic and government partners to integrate NGTS and ECCNE
programmes in their regular activities could help reinforce implementation.
8. Sustained and timely technical assistance to school teachers, ECE teachers, andcommunity health workers is critical to ensure the achievement of programme objectives andtargets.
9. Aside from the face-to-face monitoring, the proper use of social media maintains
continuous communication, sharing of experiences, and documentation of progress between
and among partners.
10. Providing proper recognition of efforts by school teachers/EC educators deepens
their personal and school advocacy to promote NGTS and ECCNE activities.

References
Development Initiatives (2018). Global Nutrition Report: Shining a light to spur action on
nutrition. Bristol, UK: Development Initiatives.
Lancet Early Childhood Development Series (2016). Advancing Early Childhood
Development: from Science to Scale Extended Executive Summary (Online)
Available: https://www.thelancet.com/series/ECD2016 (2016, October 4).
Indonesia Ministry of Health Indonesia (2014). Balanced Diet Guidelines. Available:
https://kesmas.kemkes.go.id/perpu/konten/permenkes/pmk-no.-41-ttg-pedomangizi-seimbang. (2016, September 30)
World Health Organization (2006). WHO Child Growth Standards.
www.who.int/childgrowth/standards/en.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

STEM Learning and Industry 4.0 as a Vehicle for Climate
Change Impact Mitigation
Dr. Indrawati
SEAMEO Regional Centre for QITEP in Science
Jalan Diponegoro No.12, Bandung, Jawa Barat, Indonesia
ine_indrawati@yahoo.co.id
Mr. Muhammad Haidar Helmi
SEAMEO Regional Centre for QITEP in Science
Jalan Diponegoro No.12, Bandung, Jawa Barat, Indonesia
haidar.helmi@gmail.com
Dr. Elly Herliani
SEAMEO Regional Centre for QITEP in Science
Jalan Diponegoro No.12, Bandung, Jawa Barat, Indonesia
elly.herliani@gmail.com

Abstract
In the past years, digital technologies, such as cyber-physical systems, artificial intelligence,
big data, augmented and virtual reality, and 3D-printing, have entered the sphere of industrial
production and given rise to the notion of a “fourth industrial revolution” or “Industry 4.0”.
Other than this opportunity, the Global Risk Report stated that there are also threats risking
the development of industry 4.0 in the future. Out of five risks, four are related to climatechange. Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia, which is an archipelago country, isvulnerable to impacts of climate change. This research paper reviews many findings fromvarious resources such as recent reports, published journals, and institutional publications.
It found that STEM learning can facilitate students to develop climate literacy as well as anincrease of 4C skills to develop innovation to overcome climate change issues and fulfil theobjectives in the SDGs.
Keywords:
Climate change, digital transformation, STEM education, sustainable
development

Introduction
Industry 4.0 is the proliferation of cyber-physical systems that introduces the fourth stageof industrialisation. It includes cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things, Cloud
Computing, and Cognitive Computing. Industry 4.0 is commonly referred to as the fourthindustrial revolution (Wang et. al., 2016). Industry 4.0 creates what has been called a “smart
factory”. Over the Internet of Things, cyber-physical systems communicate and cooperatewith each other and with humans in real-time both internally and across organisational services
offered and used by participants of the value chain.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
Although there is a growing body of evidence reporting adoption of the Industry 4.0
paradigm and the attendant technologies and processes, the Global Risk Report stated that
there are also threats risking the development of industry 4.0 in the future. Out of five risks,four are related to climate change (World Economic Forum, 2019). Climate change has
already changed the magnitude and frequency of extreme weather events as it is a key
causative factor in increased heat waves, flooding, droughts, intense tropical cyclones, rising
sea levels, and loss of biodiversity. These hazards increase the vulnerability to disasters andresult in widespread human, material, economic and environmental losses (IPCC, 2012).
The impacts of climate change on people’s livelihoods have been widely documented(IPCC, 2012). It is expected that climate and environmental change will hamper poverty
reduction, or even exacerbate poverty in some or all of its dimensions. Changes in thebiophysical environment, such as droughts, floods, water quantity and quality, and degrading
ecosystems, are expected to affect opportunities for people to generate income. Thesechanges, combined with a deficiency in coping strategies and innovation to adapt to particularclimate change threats, are in turn likely to lead to increased economic and social vulnerabilityof households and communities (Szabo, et al., 2016).
While there is an emerging awareness of the current and potential impacts of climatechange on education provision and learning, it is also clear that education has an importantrole to play in addressing this change. This includes work carried out using various terms anddefinitions, including ‘education for sustainable development’ or ESD (Sterling, 2001).
In 2015, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) identified a series ofseventeen important worldwide goals referred to as the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs). These goals make up a blueprint for the future well-being of the globe oriented aroundthe themes of people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnership (United Nations, 2019). The
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), assign technology an important role in achieving
climate change mitigation and sustainable development (United Nation, 2015). Education is a
crucial part of the SDGs, not only due to its role as a specific goal (Goal 4: Quality Education)
but also because it is essential to the possibility of progress on all goals, including climate andenvironmental-related goals (UNESCO, 2014).
Young people and their teachers and parents need to be helped to obtain environmental
and scientific literacy by inoculating a powerful and sustained implementation of futureoriented science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning focused on theissues of critical importance as those outlined in the UN SDGs against societal and healthproblems such as climate change that can adversely affect their lives (O’Donnell, 2018). STEM
education can be identified as one of the new approaches to be used in the education system,
which also aims for students to be able to solve problems in their daily lives.
Consequently, the question that this paper aims to address: how does STEM learning alongwith digital transformation enhance students’ creativity in mitigating climate change impact?

Methodology
To answer the questions, the authors conducted an extensive literature review. The
literature review underlies the questions that will be adopted by the researchers. It compriseda critical qualitative analysis of one or more themes that have already been published. It is up
to researchers to search, collect, prioritise, read with purpose, look for key issues and themes,
and then describe and criticise them (Klopper et al., 2007).
The review applies a two-tier approach (Figure 1): First, researchers analyse relevantinternational government institution publications to identify trends and current issues in the- 24 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
global community regarding potentials and threats on future development and their policies
and strategies in facing these matters.
In the second part of the analysis, researchers conduct a review of peer-reviewed journal
articles on STEM learning to improve climate literacy and 4C skills in connection with digitaltransformation in industry 4.0 and climate change mitigation. Finally, researchers compare
their findings to identify meaningful conclusions to further inform policymaking as well as
research in the field of STEM learning and climate change mitigation.

Findings and Discussions
Digital Transformation in Industry 4.0
The presence of the Internet of Things nowadays will be felt in every area. In some, suchas energy supply, mobility, and health, smart grids are already formed. In manufacturing,increasingly intelligent products and systems are creating the fourth stage of industrialisation– Industry 4.0 (Kagermann et al., 2013).
Industry 4.0 will involve the technical integration of cyber-physical systems (CPS) in every
aspect especially in manufacturing and logistics, and the use of the internet of things andservices in the processes. This will have implications for value creation, business models,

Objective: Analysis of connection between
publications and journals

Methodology: literature review

Review of institution
publications

Review of journal
articlesDiscussion and Conclusion

Figure 1. Overview of the research approachproduction lines, and work organisation. Industry 4.0 will be able to promote transformations
in various areas of manufacturing and especially throughout the value chain and the way
companies relate to their customers. The development of Industry 4.0 will strengthen the- 25 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2competitive position of many countries, especially the most developed ones, but will also makeit possible to create solutions to many global challenges such as energy efficiency andresource use (Kagermann et al., 2013).
In connection with climate change impact, the authors found that digital transformation in
Industry 4.0 will be able to make progress on environmental issues. It will substantially
increase the efficiency of land, water, and raw materials used as well as energy efficiency andfood production. As stated by Porter and Heppelmann (2014), these relevant advances willcontribute to the improvement of the human condition, especially in health, safety, mobility,and education.

Digital Transformation in STEM Learning for Sustainable Development
Research on the use of digital technology and diversity in STEM learning shows that thesetechnologies are effective in developing key skills and better learning for students. Technology
is increasingly accessible, intuitive, reliable, and diverse in its application, and it is becoming
possible for each student to be educated in a way and at a pace that suits his or her abilities,
interests, and needs (Barak, 2014).
In STEM Learning, digital technology can also serve as tools for creating learning
communities (Berenfeld, 2010), for enhancing conceptual understanding, and for promoting
higher-order thinking skills among students (Barak, 2014).
STEM learning also encourages students to participate in the social processes ofsearching, learning, and shaping in order to solve global sustainability issues and to criticallyreflect on their contribution to sustainable developments. STEM knowledge and the processesof science can help students understand global problems and support actions in society andaddress them in a meaningful and knowledge-based way (Pahnke et al., 2019).
Inquiry-Based Science Education (IBSE) and more recently “Inquiry-Based STEM
Education" with digital technology enhancement allows students to explore ‘hands-on’, toexperiment, to ask questions, and to develop responses based on the reasoning in addition
to solving problems, and understanding the phenomena of the real world around them (‘mindson’), just as scientists and engineers do. Exploration and exploration-based and inquiry-basedlearning are paths to knowledge for students, on which they can build up knowledge andskills. (O’Connell, 2014).
Besides conceptual knowledge, an essential part of basic education in the STEM
enhanced with digital technology is the ability to acquire, expand, critically reflect on, andapply knowledge using suitable methods of thinking and acting. This includes the ability towork out fundamental relationships for oneself, to evaluate these relationships, and to makedecisions based on them, and also, to develop skills in using the ICTs (Haus der kleinen
Forscher Foundation, 2016).
From all the above, it can be understood that STEM learning with a focus on Education for
Sustainable Development (ESD) with digital technology enhancement can encouragechanges in knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes to enable a more sustainable and justsociety for all. It aims to empower and equip current and future generations to meet their needs
using recent effective tools and a balanced and integrated approach to sustainable
development.
A STEM Project to Mitigate Climate Change Impact
There has long been a desire to connect academic science to real-life situations (Hurd,
1998), not only to capture the interest of students but to enable those students to apply the- 26 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
knowledge and skills they gain to effectively contribute to society. This is derived from thedefinition of a scientifically literate person as one who can apply their understanding of scienceand the scientific processes to solve problems and address societal issues. However, thistransfer of knowledge and skills to practical situations outside of the context in which it istaught is not always achieved (Hurd, 1998).
Understanding climate change initially required the development of scientific research
programmes that bridged the traditional disciplinary boundaries of atmospheric science,oceanography, hydrology, geology, ecology, and environmental science to conduct
interdisciplinary investigations to which all these fields could contribute. The interdisciplinary
field of Earth system science grew out of this need in the late 1980s and early 1990s(Wainwright, 2009). More generally, an application-oriented perspective of science has led toa growth in collaborations across disciplinary boundaries to produce new fields of intellectual
pursuit (van den Besselaar & Heimeriks, 2001) that are enriched by multiple disciplinary
perspectives and analytical techniques.
A STEM project has been designed to hold students responsible for their own learning,
thus, encouraging students to develop the skills they need for the 21st-century competitive
world, such as technology skills, proficient communication and problem-solving (Bell, 2010).
STEM projects that help solve the climate change issues are sure to generate great interestin students worldwide. Green technology, for example, can provide an excellent way to reduce
electricity use, carbon emission, and save money. Because students are assigned to solve
problems related to climate change and have real-life applications, students must investigate,
record, analyse, and present their findings. In short, the STEM project on climate change
grants students a greater degree of freedom to discuss, test, and create their own solution(Capraro, 2013).
Based on the review, the authors proposed that climate change issues should be included
in STEM projects. STEM projects in the classroom empower students to solve issues related
to climate change through creating innovation by enhancing students with 21st-century skills
such as creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration (4C), also showing themthat they can actively contribute to a better future.

Conclusion
This paper analysed the connection between international government institutions’ policies
to overcome climate change issues through education as a media and digital transformation
in industry 4.0 as a potential enhancement.
Education is vital for climate change adaptation or reducing vulnerability to impacts thatare now inevitable even if emissions targets are met. The role of education is critical in enabling
informed decision-making based on projections of potential impacts, rather than relying on
experience that will come too late.
Technology, specifically digital technology, plays an important role in STEM learning.
Through the use of technology in STEM projects, students can learn about innovation, develop
technological literacy, acquire digital skills, and learn about the effects of technology on theenvironment and sustainability. Students’ use of technology in a self-directed way in STEM
learning makes a great contribution in gaining self-regulated learning skills. Also, theadaptation of technology, may importantly, and significantly improve their creative andinnovative skills. With digital technology utilisation, STEM learning supports the acquisition ofskills for the 21st century.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
STEM learning for Sustainable Development with digital technology utilisation encourages
students to draw on their STEM competence and the process of science as a key basis forreasonable action in the real world. Knowledge, skills, and understanding of science,technology, engineering, and mathematical phenomena are vital to help students understandglobal problems and support actions in society that address these challenges in a meaningful
and knowledge-based way.
To help solve the climate crisis through education, students need to be involved. Climate
Change impact mitigation is an excellent project for STEM learning in the classroom because
students are familiar with climate change through the utilisation of their PCs, laptops, iPads,
smartphones, and all the social media use with those devices as the application of digitaltransformation in Industry 4.0 era.

References
Barak. (2014). Closing the gap between attitudes and perceptions about ICT-enhanced
learning among pre-service STEM teachers. Sci Educ Technol 23, 1–14.
Berenfeld, B. (2010). Leveraging technology for a new science learning paradigm. In

University Leadership: Bringing Technology-Enabled Education to Learners of All
Ages. Cambridge, MA: Learning International Networks Consortium (LINC).

Capraro, R. M. (2013). STEM Project-Based Learning An Integrated Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Approach. Sense Publishers: Sense
Publishers.
Haus der kleinen Forscher Foundation. (2016). Pedagogic Approach of the “Haus der kleinen

Forscher” Foundation. A Guide to Facilitating Learning in Science, Mathematics, andTechnology. www.haus-der-kleinen-forscher.de.

Hurd, P. D. (1998). Scientific literacy: New minds for a changing world. Science Education,
82, 407–416.
IPCC, I. P. (2012). Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate

Change Adaptation. A Special Report of Working Groups I and II of theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. New York: Cambridge University.

Kagermann, H., Wahlster, W., & Helbig, J. (2013). Recommendations for implementing thestrategic initiative INDUSTRIE 4.0. Germany. National Academy of Science andEngineering.
Klopper, R., Lubbe, S., & Rugbeer, H. (2007). The matrix method of literature review.
Alternation 14.1, 262-276.
O’Connell, C. (2014). Inquiry-based science education: Primer to the international AEMASE
conference report. international AEMASE conference. Berlin, Germany: All European
Academies (ALLEA).
O’Donnell, C. (2018). Science Education, Identity, and Civic Engagement: Empowering Youththrough the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Carlevoix, Canada: Diplomatic
Courier.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
Pahnke, J., O’Donnell, C., & Bascopé, M. (2019). Using Science to Do Social Good: STEM
Education for Sustainable Development. International Dialogue on STEM Education.
Berlin.
Porter, M. E., & Heppelmann, J. E. (2014). How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming
Competition. Harvard Business Review, 34.
Sterling, S. (2001). Sustainable Education: Re-visioning Learning and Change. Totnes:
Schumacher Briefing No 6. Green Books.
Szabo, S., Nicholls, R. J., Neumann, B., Renaud, F. G., Matthews, Z., Sebesvari, Z., . Hutton.,&. C. (2016). Making SDGs Work for Climate Change Hotspots. Environment: Scienceand Policy for Sustainable Development 58:6, 24-33.
UNESCO. (2014). Aichi-Nagoya Declaration on Education for Sustainable Development.
UNESCO.
United Nation (2015). Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development. New York, NY, USA: United Nation.
United Nations (2019). New SDG Advocates Sign up for “Peace, Prosperity, People, andPlanet, on the Road to 2030. UN.
Wainwright, J. (2009). Earth-System Science. In D. D. In N. Castree, A companion toenvironmental geography (pp. 145–167). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

The Calculator for Critical Thinking in A Mathematics Lesson:
Experience With 4th Grade Students

Dr. Sumardyono
SEAMEO Regional Centre QITEP in Mathematics
Jalan Kaliurang Km 6 Sambisari, Condong Catur Depok, Sleman, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
sumardyono@kemdikbud.go.id
Ms. Russasmita Sri Padmi
SEAMEO Regional Centre QITEP in Mathematics
Jalan Kaliurang Km 6 Sambisari, Condong Catur Depok, Sleman, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
r.sripadmi@staff.qitepinmath.com

Abstract
There is a perception about calculator use within the school mathematics setting in that it has
no purpose aside as a computing tool and can have a negative impact on the students’mathematics ability, especially in the lower educational stages. In Indonesia, using
calculators in the classroom is frowned upon and it is prohibited in the examination. In thisstudy, we attempted to answer this issue by investigating the impact of calculators on thestudents’ critical thinking. Through design research, we developed mathematics learningmaterials involving calculators for 4th-grade students. The implementation of the learningmaterials was conducted in nine schools in Yogyakarta. The data collected in the form ofvideo recording was then analysed according to the critical thinking framework. This paper
reports the results from the first cycle of this study. The result is expected to contribute to themathematics education literature and help to rectify the negative perception of the use of
calculators in primary school mathematics.
Keywords: Technology, calculator, critical thinking, design research

Introduction
Ever since the calculator reached global use in the 1970s, its use in the school environmenthas been met with endless debate. The overwhelming majority of education practitioners,
parents, and stakeholders fear that continuous use of a calculator will hinder the students’
understanding of basic mathematical procedures and their skills acquisition, especially inlower grades (Banks, 2011). There is also concern that the use of calculators will be
detrimental to their ability to perform mental computation which results in calculator
dependency (Lee, 2006). The calculator is part of technology, yet the all-encompassing termof ICT, which is commonly suggested as a way to make mathematics lessons more innovativeand enjoyable, often excludes calculators (Savelsbergh et al., 2016).

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
The widespread apprehension toward calculators manifests itself in the form of government
policies. Many western countries, such as the United States, actually endorsed calculators
use not only in the daily lesson but also during exams (NCTM, 2000). However, East andSoutheast Asian countries are typically stricter when it comes to using a calculator in school.
In Indonesia, the calculator is banned in national examinations (BNSP, 2020), even though
there are no specific policies on its use in everyday classroom activities.
However, the bad reputation suffered by a calculator regarding its use in primary school is
not supported by research findings. The use of a calculator in tandem with pen-and-paper
exercises has been found to positively affect the students’ problem-solving skills since thecalculator lifts the burden of computation and lets the students focus on their problem-solving
strategies (Stacey & Groves, 1994; Wheatley, 1980). The students who use calculators arealso reported to possess a better attitude toward mathematics compared to those who do notuse calculators (Ellington, 2003; Hembree & Dessart, 1986). Its availability and affordability
are also viewed in a positive light (Kissane & Kemp, 2012).
Considering the positive findings, it seems plausible that the concern toward educationaluse of calculators stands on weak ground. Technology in the classroom, including calculators,
does not have to make traditional pen-and-paper exercise obsolete. With the right strategy,
technology can improve and reinforce it. It is up to the teachers to not see it as something to
avoid and instead embrace it as a challenge.
To encourage teachers to explore the calculator’s use in the classroom, further research
centred on best practice is needed. One of the topics, which has not been mentioned in
calculator research, is critical thinking.
Critical thinking is a very important ability, so important that it is hailed as one of the skills
needed to persist in the 21st century. It is a complex subject encompassing many
characteristics, such as rationality, scepticism, or unbiased analysis. Many definitions exist;
one of them is by Facione (2011), which defines critical thinking as consisting of six corecognitive skills, namely interpretation, analysis, inference, explanation, evaluation, and selfregulation.
This study aims to see whether using a calculator in primary school can stimulate thestudents’ critical thinking. The research question we attempt to answer through this study is

how does the use of a calculator support 4th-grade students' critical thinking in themathematics classroom?

Methodology
This study is part of four-cycle design research aimed to design learning materials
incorporating calculators for primary school mathematics. Design research is an approach
whose purpose is to develop theories about the process of learning and designing the meansthat support that learning (Gravemeijer & Cobb, 2006), which we consider suitable for theaim of this study.
Design research consists of three phases namely design, teaching experiment, andretrospective analysis (Eerde, 2013), as depicted in Figure 1.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Figure 1. Phases of Design Research
Based on the current knowledge (K), which comprises a literature review, curriculum
documents, and school textbook, the researchers design (D) learning activities. This is the
Design phase. In the Teaching Experiment phase, the activities are put into practice inteaching experiments (E). In the Retrospective Analysis phase (R), the researcher reflects on
the result of the teaching experiment, which contributes to new knowledge. The newknowledge then starts a new cycle. This study consists of four cycles; this article presents
the initial analysis from the first cycle.
Designing classroom activities
To refute the stereotype that the calculator merely serves as computing tools, Ruthven(2003) and Kissane (2017) proposed four ways calculators can be used in the classroom thatemphasize its educational purpose, namely:
1. computation implementation or calculation, which is using a calculator to perform
computation otherwise impossible to perform manually,
2. result checking or affirmation, indicating the use of the calculator to confirm prediction orassess estimation,
3. trial improving or exploration, implying using a calculator as a means for students to
explore several possibilities and derive conclusions, and4. structure modeling or representation, which is using a calculator to demonstrate anumerical structure or concept.
Therefore, when designing the activities, we made sure to focus on these four strategies
and to minimise the use of a calculator simply as a computing device. The example of theactivities, which are in the topic of fraction representation (namely representing regular fraction
as a mixed fraction and vice versa), is depicted in Figure 2. There are two parts to thisworksheet; the second part follows the same structure and poses similar questions, but the
problems use different numbers.
The activities are designed for 4th-grade students. According to the Indonesian national
curriculum, the students in 4th grade already possess knowledge of fraction and division as
an arithmetic operation which is introduced in the previous grades. However, the concept offraction introduced in the 3rd grades is a part-whole relationship, therefore prior to the- 33 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2teaching experiment, the teacher introduced the students to the concept of a fraction as
division.
To bridge the students’ prior understanding of regular fractions to the learning objectives
which is a mixed fraction, we start the worksheet with division problems (question 1). The
context introduced is about building solar panels from solar cells, in which the students haveto guess by themselves the mathematics operation needed to solve the problem. This problem
concludes in a division with the remainder, and when represented as a fraction, results in alarger numerator than the denominator. By the end of question 1, the students are conjectured
to already identify the result and the remainder of the division.

Figure 2 Example of calculator-enhanced activities in the topic of fraction representation
In Question 2, the students are asked to solve the problem with a calculator. However, prior
to pressing the buttons, they have to guess first. We predict that the students will guess withthe result and the remainder they counted in Question 1, hence the conjecture is that they will
be surprised upon discovering that the calculator displays fractions. The teacher can connect
this moment to their prior understanding of fractions as division. In Question 3, the students
are asked to press the q then n button, resulting in the regular fraction changing to a mixed
fraction.

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In this part of the problem, the students use calculators for its structure modelling or
representation purpose. By demonstrating how a regular fraction changes into a mixed
fraction and relating it to the result of the division, the students are expected to make aconnection between the result of the division and the components of the mixed fraction.
Through several of these examples, the students then derive a conclusion on what a mixed
fraction is and how to represent a regular fraction as a mixed fraction.
The problem used in this study is contextual and open-ended problems which encourage
critical thinking because it requires students to ask questions, analyse a situation, and decide
the right knowledge to apply to solve problems (Bruning, 2005). Throughout the worksheet,
we incorporate many fill-in exercises to make it more interactive for the students. The students
are also encouraged to use calculators with written exercises, because like their teacher, thestudents are also cautious about using calculators in the classroom.
Research setting
Prior to the research, all the participating teachers were enrolled in a four-day workshop on
utilising calculators for primary mathematics teaching and learning. The purpose of thisworkshop, aside from supporting the teachers with technical knowledge about the calculator,
is to also introduce how it can be used in the educational setting and to circulate the worksheet
and lesson plan. The teachers also installed calculator emulators in their personal computers,
to make it easier in displaying the calculator’s interface to the entire class.
This study was conducted in a primary school in Yogyakarta. Twenty 4th grade students
participated in the first cycle. Most come from middle to lower socio-economic classes andare familiar with calculators, yet their use is prohibited in school. The teacher who normallyteaches the class taught the lesson. During the lesson, the students were split into groups offour.
Data Collection and Analysis
We collected the data in the form of a video recording of the classroom discussion. Threecameras, one static and two moving around the classroom are used to capture the classroom
interaction. Not all interactions were recorded, however, since the decision on what and how
to capture is somewhat influenced by the research question. Therefore, the cameras moved
around the classroom capturing any group that visibly had a productive discussion, whichmeans the video recordings are not a continuous and chronological documentation of thewhole lesson. Instead, it comprises snippets of discussion and group work that potentiallygives meaningful information to answer the research question.
Watch, discuss

Generate hypothesis

Link to video

Analyse, interpret

Develop Code

Apply Code

Figure 3. The cycle of coding and analysis of video data (Jacobs et al., 1999)
To analyse the data, we followed the cyclical process of coding and analysis developed
by Jacobs, Kawanaka, and Stigler (1999) as depicted in Figure 3. First, the team ofresearchers watch and discuss the video to acquire the overall result of the teaching- 35 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2experiment and formulate a hypothesis. Next, the researcher develops a code based on thecritical thinking framework proposed by Facione (2011). Codes are tags or labels used toassign meaning to data collected during the study, to ensure the objectivity and the reliabilityof the qualitative data analysis (DeCuir-Gunby, Marshall, & McCulloch, 2011; Jacobs et al.,1999). Codes are not meant to stay fixed; they will be constantly revised during the data
analysis. While no prior research has used Facione’s framework to develop video data analysis
codes, we argue that the framework is general enough to apply to any population and age
group, including 4th-grade students.
The initial version of the code developed for this study is as follows.
Table 1. Codes for critical thinking
Code Meaning
I1
Interpretation
I2

InferenceA

Analysis

E1
E2
S

Evaluation
Explanation
Self-regulation

Description
Comprehending and expressing the students’ own understandingof the problem
Identifying and securing elements needed to draw a reasonableconclusion, forming conjectures and hypothesis
Identifying the intended and actual inferential relationship in the
problem, either among statements or information; making theconnection
Judging and assessing the information available in the problem
Explaining the results of one’s reasoning
Relating to metacognition, self-consciously monitoring,assessing, and evaluating one’s learning

The following step is applying the code to the video data. The researcher watches the video
and assigning a code to the unit of analysis, namely an instance of the students’ verbal or nonverbal response to the instruction, that is identified throughout the lesson. This instance canbe in the form of the students’ answering the teacher’s question, students discussing with theirpeers, or the written work of the students.
The result is compiled and analysed to investigate to derive a conclusion regarding the
research question. The conclusion is further compared to the video, which starts the cycle allover again. The relevant section is chosen and transcribed to support the conclusion.

Results and Discussion
While research involving video data usually transcribes the video and then analyses thetranscript, due to time constraints, transcribing the whole video was deemed impractical forthis study. Therefore, the code was applied to the video itself, with a timestamp linking thecode to the intended vignettes of the video.
The result suggests that the majority of instances related to critical thinking in the video
recording fall under Interpretation (I1) and Analysis (A). There was minimal evidence ofExplanation (E2) available, as the students had a hard time formulating their thoughts, either
in written or spoken words. On the other hand, no evidence is identified for Evaluation (E1),
Inference (I2), and Self-regulation (S). The evidence is not universally recorded among thestudents; some students responded more actively to the teacher’s instruction and had a moreproductive discussion than others.

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Figure 4. The repeated addition the students did in an attempt to understand the problem
Interpretation was identified the most frequently during question 1; both in the first andsecond parts of the worksheet. The students used different strategies in attempting tounderstand the difficulties faced by Donny. One of the strategies was repeated addition(Figure 4), in which the students add the divisor repeatedly. The student in the above picture
added the divisor two times before stopping and realising what the “difficulty” was. Anotherstrategy that appears was grouping the object, in this case, the solar cell, either by drawing
or by hand (Figure 5).

Figure 5. The student group the objects by hand
While almost all students could arrive at a conclusion that the difficulties faced by Donnyare because there are not enough cells to make whole panels, only a few students could
interpret that division was the mathematics operation needed to solve the problems.
On the other hand, Analysis is identified mostly in Question 3. Initially, the students were
having difficulty identifying the previously unknown mixed fraction, with some students only
mentioning the fraction part. The following excerpt (Fragment 1) depicts a whole-classdiscussion on this question.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
Fragment 1
1 Teacher : … now the number on the screen is 22/9. What number is this?
2 Students: Fraction!
3 Teacher: Now we are going to learn using his calculator. Let’s push the q button –this one – and then n. If we push enter, what do you think we are going toget?
4 Students: [inaudible]
5 Teacher: let’s try, shall we? One, two, three … what do we get?
6 Student A: Four-over-nine?
7 Student B: Four-over-nine!
8 Teacher: Really? Come on, how should we read it?
9 Student C: There is a four … four over …
10 Student D: Two, four-over-nine?
11 Teacher: How should we read it? Two …
12 Student B: … four-over-nine!
13 Teacher: That’s correct, we should read it two four-over-nine. But why two? How
does it connect to your previous calculation? Two four-over-nine, how
come?
14 Student B: The two comes from there [pointing to the board] the division
15 Teacher: This one?
16 Student B: and the four comes from the remainder. And the nine is the divisor
17 Teacher: that is correct!
There is evidence that by connecting the calculator display to the result of divisioncalculated previously, some students are able to conclude that the whole number denotes theresult of the division, while the numerator denotes the remainder.

Conclusion
In this section, we discuss how the design of activities contributes to the findings regarding
cognitive skills related to critical thinking found in the video. According to the results discussed
in the previous section, it was evident that the cognitive skill related to critical thinking that
occurred with the use of a calculator was Analysis. Another cognitive skill that implied criticalthinking emerged too, such as Interpretation, however, it mostly coincided with a noncalculator question.
Some explanations might shed light on this phenomenon. Critical thinking is learnable, evenwith young children. Open-ended problems that do not provide any clues about mathematics
concepts needed to solve them are often cited as beneficial for higher-order thinking skills or
HOTS (Fong, 2000), however associating activities are also suggested strategies to develop
critical thinking of young learners (Rahman, 2014). In Question 2, where the students use thecalculator as a means of representation, the calculator itself supports the students to make aconnection between the result of division and the representation of a mixed fraction. Therefore,
the use of a calculator in primary school can support the students’ critical thinking, specifically
via analysis skills, through its Structure Modelling or Representation purpose.
We suggest future research to venture into other purposes of calculators and othercognitive skills in critical thinking, as well as the connection between the two. The use of
calculator in primary school mathematics is still an interesting idea which is rarely explored;
hence it is still potential for the future researcher. However, we also suggest future researchers
explore other mathematics content.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
Lastly, this study is not without limits. We acknowledge the small sample and the limited
timeframe as the main drawbacks of this study. Future researchers are encouraged to conduct
longer studies with a larger sample.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the teacher and students in SDN Kuwang for participating in thisstudy, as well as SEAMEO QITEP in Mathematics for supporting the study.

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University). https://doi.org/10.15385/tmed.2011.1
Bruning, K. (2005). The role of critical thinking in the online learning environment. International
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from http://itdl.org/journal/may_05/article03.htm
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Facione, P. a. (2011). Critical Thinking : What It Is and Why It Counts. The California Academic
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approaches to the analysis of video data on classroom teaching. International Journalof Educational Research, 31(8), 717–724. https://doi.org/10.1016/S08830355(99)00036-1
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presented at an International Seminar on Addressing Higher Order Thinking: CriticalThinking Issues in Primary Education. Islamic University of Muhammadiyah, Makasar.

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Research in Mathematics Education, 11 (5), 323–334.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Channelling Agriculture Innovation Transfer from Universities
and Research Centre to Vocational High Schools: Lesson
Learned from Indonesia
Dr. Irdika Mansur*, Dr. Supriyanto, Mr. Harry Imantho, Mr. Slamet Widodo and
Mr. Joner Situmorang
SEAMEO Regional Centre for Tropical Biology (BIOTROP)
Jl. Raya Tajur Km 6 Bogor, West Java Indonesia*irdikam@biotrop.org

Abstract
SEAMEO BIOTROP has been assigned by the Ministry of Education and Culture of the
Republic of Indonesia to revitalise secondary vocational high school in agriculture for the last
three years. There were three main programmes, i.e. fruit tree gardening, food security, andthe establishment of a teaching factory. The activities include training, field implementation,and supervision. There were 46 schools that have been selected for the implementation offruit tree gardening, and 80 schools have been involved in the food security and teaching
factory programmes. This has been a successful programme, where the capacity of theheadmasters, teachers, and students have improved. SEAMEO BIOTROP has not onlytransferred innovation developed by the Centre but also involved universities (IPB University)and an agriculture research centre (Orange and Sub-tropical Fruit Research Centre under
the Ministry of Agriculture) in implementing the programme. Most of the partner schools have
implemented the technology introduced by SEAMEO BIOTROP and partner institutions intheir schools and the surrounding farms. The SEAMEO BIOTROP scientists have developed
an application to monitor the progress of the schools and also to sustain long-distanceconsultation. The programmes have shown that secondary vocational high schools inagriculture have the potential to be developed as a transfer technology hub in agriculture for
their surrounding communities and farmers. Skill development in industry 4.0 in the area ofagriculture could also be introduced to selected schools in the future.
Keywords: BIOTROP, fruit garden, Industry 4.0, SEAMEO, Vocational school

Introduction
SEAMEO BIOTROP has succeeded in establishing the School Garden Programme inIndonesia, which was initiated in March 2016 as part of SEAMEO College Research 6: A
Participatory Action Research programme on School and Community-based Food andNutrition Programme for Literacy, Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development beganwith funding support from the Japan Fund for Poverty Alleviation through the AsianDevelopment Bank. The lesson learned from the programme was that technology transfer toschools from a research and development centre like SEAMEO BIOTROP, is more effective
compared to direct transfer to the community. Implementation of the transferred technology
to schools is more sustainable than to the community. If a model is established in a school,- 41 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2operated by students and supervised by skillful teachers, the model could become thelearning object of not only students but also the surrounding community, especially parents ofthe students.
Following the successful implementation of the School Garden Programme, SEAMEO
BIOTROP also launched another programme called the Establishment of School Fruit Garden
for Education, Production, Genetic Conservation, and Entrepreneurship in Agriculture
Vocational School in Indonesia (SMARTS-BE) in February 2018 during its 50th-anniversarycelebration. The SMARTS-BE Programme (also known as Non-Seasonal-Fruit Garden
Programme) was an initiative of the former Secretary-General, Ministry of Education andCulture (MoEC) of Indonesia, Dr Didik Suhardi, who had a deep concern about the low rate offruit consumption by Indonesians and the high amount of imported fruit found easily inIndonesian markets. He instructed SEAMEO BIOTROP to collaborate with schools, especially
the Agricultural Vocational Senior High Schools to establish a non-seasonal-fruit garden in theschools' areas. The programme aimed to support the learning process, to improve theknowledge of students of fruit, and proper fruit tree cultivation in the schools. The selectedschools should have enough land to produce fruits on a commercial scale, to allow students
to manage fruit production commercially (maintaining quality, harvesting, grading, packaging,and marketing). Vocational Senior High Schools in Agriculture joining this programme were
distributed across Indonesia up to sub-district level; therefore, the schools could be
encouraged to conserve and cultivate their local fruit species and varieties. Another objectiveof the programme was also to develop an entrepreneurship atmosphere in the schools(production and selling of fresh fruits, processed products, and high-quality seedlings).
The SEAMEO BIOTROP's SMARTS-BE programme is part of the implementation of theCentre’s programme thrust number two, i.e., Sustainable Management of Intensively Used
Ecosystems/Landscapes, and the commitment of the Centre to implement priority 4 of the
SEAMEO 7 priority areas, i.e., Promoting Technical and Vocational Education and Training(TVET). The Agricultural Vocational Senior High Schools could play a significant role indisseminating knowledge and mature technology on fruits trees cultivation, production, andprocessing to the surrounding communities and farmers. The schools could also become thehubs for technology transfer from SEAMEO BIOTROP (i.e., together with its partner universities
and research centres) to the community. Once established, the school fruit gardens
programme could become a demonstration or reference model for communities to learn bestpractices on fruit gardening at their convenient time guided by students and supervised bywell-trained teachers. In the long run, the programme is expected to increase fruit productionin Indonesia.
Besides the SMARTS-BE programme, SEAMEO BIOTROP has also been assigned by the
Directorate of Technical and Vocational Education to train and supervise Vocational SeniorHigh Schools in Agriculture in Indonesia to support food security and teaching factory
programmes. With this programme, SEAMEO BIOTROP could transfer more expertise to thevocational schools, not only limited to fruit gardening.
This paper presents the transfer technology from SEAMEO BIOTROP, as a research anddevelopment centre, to Vocational Senior High Schools in Agriculture in Indonesia and other
SEAMEO member countries. The paper also presents skill development in industry 4.0 in thearea of agriculture that has been introduced to selected schools, smart agriculture technology
development at SEAMEO BIOTROP that could also be transferred to the vocational schools in
the future.

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Fruit Tree Garden Programme (SMARTS-BE Programme)
Overall planning of the programme has been conducted by SEAMEO BIOTROP's scientist,
supported by experts from IPB University in early 2018, and subsequently, a SMARTS-BE
team was set up. The working area for implementing the programme was divided into six
clustered areas that cover regions across Indonesia, from Sumatera in the West to Papua in
the East. One coordinator was assigned to each cluster area, and they were responsible forpreparing the proposal for activities in their respective regions.
There are several activities conducted in all areas, including 1) selection of target schools
in each cluster; 2) setup coordination with the selected schools; 3) capacity building training
for Head Masters, Teachers, and Student representatives from each school on fruit trees
cultivation and fruit processing; 4) identification of the source of seeds and seedlings; 5)
distribution of seeds and seedlings to schools; 6) planting; and 7) monitoring and evaluation.

Food Security and Teaching Factory Programme
A difference from the SMARTS-BE programme, is the Food Security and Teaching Factory
programmes, where SEAMEO BIOTROP planned and offered training programmes that could
be delivered to Vocational Senior High Schools in Agriculture. The Directorate of Technicaland Vocational Education facilitated the communication between SEAMEO BIOTROP and thevocational schools. Skills that were agreed to be transferred to the vocational school teachers
were tissue culture technique, production and processing of edible mushrooms, hydroponic,
aquaponic, cultivation and processing of lemon, cultivation and extraction of plant essential
oils, processing of essential oil to become various products, and soymilk production.
The mechanism was that vocational schools were free to choose what skills they wanted to
be trained at SEAMEO BIOTROP. After attending the training for several days, the teachers
would return to their respective vocational schools to implement their skills. Later, experts from
SEAMEO BIOTROP visited the vocational schools to supervise and evaluate theimplementation of the technology transfer. The experts helped the teachers to solve theproblems so that the technology could be applied successfully.

Selection of Vocational Schools
SEAMEO BIOTROP has collaborated with the Directorate of Technical and Vocational
Education of MoEC to select priority schools across Indonesia. Of the 36 schools
recommended by the Directorate, only 30 schools were finally selected as target schools in
2018. Six more vocational schools were selected to join the programme in 2019, while
continuously monitoring and supervising the previous group of vocational schools. Those
vocational schools were chosen based on the availability of horticulture teaching activity, landfor cultivation, fruit processing unit, competence teachers, the experience of the schools on
fruit gardening, and school location.
The schools joining the Food Security and Teaching Factory programmes were directly
selected by the Directorate of Technical and Vocational Education. There were 40 schools
selected in 2018 to attend the training at SEAMEO BIOTROP. In 2019 the number was doubled
to 80 vocational schools. The vocational schools came from 27 provinces in Indonesia.

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Training Programme
SEAMEO BIOTROP in collaboration with the Research Centre for Orange and Sub-tropicalFruits (Balitjestro), in Batu-Malang, East Java, Indonesia had successfully conducted a
training course for Head Masters, Teachers, and Students representatives from eachvocational school from 31 July to 3 August 2018. This activity was officially opened by HE Prof.
Dr Muhajir Effendy, MAP the former Minister of Education and Culture of Indonesia, who wasalso the President of the SEAMEO Council from 2017 to 2019. The training was followed bytraining on fruit processing in collaboration with IPB University in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia.
Training programmes on tissue culture technique, production and processing of edible
mushrooms, hydroponic, aquaponic, cultivation and processing of lemon, cultivation andextraction of plant essential oils, processing of essential oil to become various products, andsoy milk production have been conducted at the laboratories and units of SEAMEO BIOTROP.

Field Implementation in Indonesia
Following the completion of soil sampling and analyses obtained from the target schools,a total number of 13,500 fruit tree seedlings from various species and varieties had alreadybeen distributed to those schools and several other vocational schools nearby SEAMEO
BIOTROP. With guidance from their respective SMART-BE area coordinator, teachers who
had participated in the training course started to cultivate the seedlings in their school's yard.
The respective coordinator for each clustered area then conducted supervision, monitoring,and evaluation by actively visiting each school to ensure the schools have planted andmaintained the seedlings correctly. As part of the programme, each school was obliged towrite a manual for planting a specific species of fruit trees in their field. These manuals werethen compiled and documented by SEAMEO BIOTROP's SMART-BE team.
As part of the SMART-BE programme, SEAMEO BIOTROP through its tissue culture
laboratory has studied the mass propagation of wild edible fruits from Indonesian forests,
namely matoa (Pometia pinnata) and tropical chestnut (Castanopsis argentea). These species
have been successfully propagated using the tissue culture technique. The seedlings
produced through tissue culture would be distributed to the schools when ready.
To implement this SMART-BE programme, SEAMEO BIOTROP has received additional
funding from the MoEC on top of its regular funding to run programmes and activities.
Simultaneously, MoEC via the Directorate of Vocational Senior High School has also provided
funding directly to the schools that participated in the programme. With the presence of the
fruit garden as a teaching model and as a teaching factory for fruit processing andentrepreneurship classes, this programme may have significant impacts on improving
teaching programmes in the schools, both for teachers and students to enhance theirknowledge and skills in horticulture; particularly, in subjects related to fruit production andprocessing.
The SMARTS-BE programme potentially could be implemented in other SEAMEO Member
countries facilitated by SEAMEO Secretariat (SEAMES), SEAMEO Centres in the respective
countries, and respective government. SEAMES could assist in promoting the idea to the
Ministry of Education of the SEAMEO Member Countries, while SEAMEO Centres as partners
could facilitate SEAMEO BIOTROP to explore potential collaboration with relevant ministries,
universities, research centres, and private companies to jointly conduct the planning, training
course, implementation, and supervision of the programme.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
To ensure the sustainability of the programme, SEAMEO BIOTROP will allocate a budget
to maintain communication and frequent visits to the participating schools. SEAMEO BIOTROP
would also promote the schools to become a reference school in the province to extend theprogramme to other schools and community, and also to support corporate social
responsibility (CSR) programmes of nearby state and private companies.
Since the beginning, the SMARTS-BE programme has been a bridge of communicationand collaboration among the participating Agricultural Vocational Senior High Schools.
Communication among schools and with the SMARTS-BE team was done using a social mediagroup. Exchange visits and knowledge sharing among schools had also been accelerated
since the establishment of the programme.
Through the corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme, two schools had
successfully established a link to support their SMARTS-BE programme implementation. The
first one is from a state forestry company based in East Java Province, and the second one isfrom a gold mining company based in Papua Province, respectively. With this support, theschools could plant more fruit tree seedlings.
The vocational school teachers attending various training courses at SEAMEO BIOTROP
have implemented their skills. A WhatsApp group was established to facilitate communication
between participants and instructors, and also the SEAMEO BIOTROP Board of Directors.
This communication platform is important to monitor the progress of the implementation oftechnology at schools and to help the teachers should there are any problems.

Transfer Technology to Other SEAMEO Member Countries
Technology transfer has also been conducted by SEAMEO BIOTROP to other SEAMEO
member countries, especially Cambodia for hydroponic and edible mushroom production,
and Brunei Darussalam for hydroponic and food processing (soy milk production, mungbean
juice, and ginger sweet). While hydroponics has become a skill to teach at the university(Royal University of Phnom Penh) in Cambodia, in Brunei Darussalam it has generated
entrepreneurship among students and helped the spread of hydroponic practices in the
country.

Smart Monitoring
The SMARTS BE Monitoring System is the applications based spatial technology,
developed and used to monitor and evaluate the SMARTS BE programme with vocational
schools throughout Indonesia as members of the programme. The utilisation of geo-location
information is able to represent objects comprehensively to answer rapid and accurate dataneeds.
The SMARTS BE Monitoring System application was developed in webgis and mobile(android) based platforms. Objectives of the SMARTS BE Monitoring System consist ofbuilding a geodatabase network between schools that are members of the SMARTS BE,
implemented precision agriculture mastermind to improve the competence of educational
staff in perfecting and aligning the curriculum towards the industrial revolution 4.0, andintegration of fruitless agricultural crops with independent learning systems and oriented
towards local fruit resources.

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The architecture of the SMARTS BE Monitoring System consists of three main parts of theapplication, database, and connections between the two applications. Details of thearchitecture of the system is presented in Figure 1.
The next stage of developing the SMARTS BE Monitoring System is an expert system basedon data and information that is collected from all members of the SMARTS BE, so that the
SMARTS BE Monitoring System will become an integrated application and become a onestop system in seasonless fruit development in Indonesia.

Figure 1: The architecture of SMARTS BE Monitoring System

Further Development of Smart Agriculture
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), global demand for primary food(staple foods) will grow by 60% in 2050 as a result of demographic growth and changes in
welfare and income levels (FAO, WFP and IFAD, 2012). This increasing global demand isconfronted with the uncertainty of sufficient food supply mainly due to global climate change
which also correlates with the development/change of biological enemies such as plant pests
and diseases. In response to this problem, there is a need to increase agricultural production,
efficiency in farming inputs, and proper use of technology and agricultural management
systems that are designed towards sustainable agriculture. Hence, the adoption of information
technology and mechanization in agriculture in the form of climate-smart agriculture ismandatory since it allows cultivation activities and agricultural inputs to be adequately
managed following the needs of plants, soil conditions, and the environment. Smartagricultural technology combined with data-based precision agriculture will elevate moreproductive and resilient agriculture (Ryu, Yun, Miao, Ahn, Choi, & Kim, 2015).
Currently, the terms smart agriculture and precision agriculture have been usedinterchangeably (Fiehn, Schiebel, Avila, Miller, & Mickelson, 2018); (Suakanto, Engel,
Hutagalung, & Angela, 2016). Precision agriculture is a combination of strategy, methodology,
and technology for cultivating land with crops. The development and implementation of
precision agriculture technology enable farmers to handle and manage the spatial variability- 46 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2of agricultural land efficiently. It can be achieved by utilisation information and communication
technology, remote sensing, geographic information systems, and navigation systems (GPSapplications) that have developed rapidly to support agricultural activities (Aubert, Schroeder,& Grimaudo, 2012); (Fountas, Wulfsohn, Blackmore, Jacobsen, & Pedersen, 2006). Precision
agriculture includes studies and efforts to manage spatial and temporal variability of land that
can affect crop production (yields). This definition is coherent with the opinion of (Zhang, Shi,
Jia, Seielstad, & Helgason, 2010) that precision agriculture focuses on efforts to regulate theamount and accuracy of input in line with land conditions and the actual needs of plants.
Precision agriculture includes on-farm activities such as land management and crop
cultivation, and off-farm, such as the provision of superior seeds, transportation of products,
and warehousing. Precision agriculture requires that every agricultural activity, both on-farmand off-farm, is carried out correctly, in the right location, on time, in the right amount and theproper method (Gebbers & Adamchuk, 2010).
Precision agriculture is a revolution in the agriculture field that was driven by world foodneeds that continue to rise due to human population growth, improving the welfare and incomeof the people. It is also driven by the scarcity of agricultural land because it competes with theneed for space for housing and human activities, which in turn triggers more studies andefforts to improve the quality of the agricultural system to be more efficient, more profitable
and sustainable (Zhang, Hao, & Sun, 2017). In implementing the precision agriculture system,
it requires systematic monitoring of agricultural activities and efficient techniques so that it canbe done intensively to monitor any changes that occur in crops. Managing agricultural inputs
through sustainable management systems such as using the right size and quantity ofmaterials and tools/facilities, on-time handling, proper location, and methods includes
processing, planting, fertilizing, pest and disease handling and fuel use, will guarantee not
only the sustainability of agricultural activities but also the environment (Mulla, 2013; Gebbers& Adamchuk, 2010; Khanal, Fulton, & Shearer, 2017).
Integration of GIS Technology, Remote Sensing, and Information technology can be used
to monitor agricultural activities in a landscape through spatial-temporal computing models.
With this model, monitoring of the sub-unit scale of field activities can be carried out and canprovide appropriate recommendations at each location depicted on the map/image. With theevolution of remote sensing, many models have been developed and used in agriculture.
Several models have shown their capability to map and monitor the spatial distribution of crop
yields based on spectral information and topographic characteristics, soil characteristics, andmeteorological data (Kersebaum, Lorenz, Reuter, Schwarz, Wegehenkel, & Wendroth, 2005).
Some other monitoring models come up with the ability to map the physiology of vegetation
due to water stress (Moran, Inoue, & Barnes, 1997); (Gago, et al., 2015); (Veysi, Naseri,
Hamzeh, & Bartholomeus, 2017), to map of nitrogen deficiency (Schlemmer, et al., 2013), to
map of potential biomass (Machwitz, et al., 2014); (Bendig, et al., 2015), to map of pest anddisease attacks (Sankaran, Mishra, Ehsani, & Davis, 2010) and to map of weed distribution
within horticultural plants (Usha & Singh, 2013).
Another application of remote sensing in agriculture perspective creates a yield prediction
map by using spectral formulas (Lobell, 2013) which led to further research to integrate thoseabove-mentioned models into a spatially-explicit dynamic model which allows monitoring ofagriculture using remote sensing data.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
Assimilation of remote sensed data into spatially explicit dynamics model for rice yield andfood sufficiency prediction
Real-time information on the status of rice production is one of the important factors in theformulation of strategic decisions by farmers (producers), the private sector, and thegovernment. For instance, timely information and accurate estimation of the distribution anddevelopment phases of rice plants, yield potential, and harvest area are very crucial in the
management of agricultural inputs such as fertilizer and irrigation, supply chain strategies,
including import and export (Mosleh & Hasan, 2014; Sakamoto, Van Nguyen, Ohno, Ishitsuka,& Yokozawa, 2006; Gumma, Nelson, Thenkabail, & Singh, 2011). Besides, spatial planting lag
is influenced by differences in paddy field types, geographical factors, and weather
conditions. Those factors will cause variation in harvesting time and harvested area, which
ultimately determines the dynamics of food supply and food sufficiency in certain districts,
cities and throughout the country (Hartrisari, Imanto, & Suyamto, 2013; Sari, Ismullah, Sulasdi,& Harto, 2010).
The interaction of soil plants and the environment, including weather, is a dynamic process
and may not be explained by simple regression analysis. A study (Hartrisari, Imantho, &Suyamto, 2013) had integrated remote sensed data with spatially-explicit crop dynamics
model to predict harvest time and rice production by regencies in West Java (Figure 1).
Another significant research output by this study was a prospect of food sufficiency per districtas one critical input in determining rice import’s policy and its distribution (Figure 2 and 3).

Figure 2: A framework of integration of remote sensed data into spatially explicit rice
dynamics model for prediction of harvest time and area, yield, and food sufficiency in WestJava (Hartrisari, Imantho, & Suyamto, 2013)- 48 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Figure 3: Daily dynamics simulation of standing crop based on MODIS planting lag for

harvest time and area, yield and food sufficiency in West Java (Hartrisari, Imantho, &Suyamto, 2013)

Macronutrient status retrieval by using Sentinel-2 data for oil palm precision fertilizer dosage
recommendation
Indonesia is the world's largest palm oil producer and exporter. According to the Central
Bureau of Statistics Indonesia (BPS), in 2018, its production reaches 47.6 million tons of Crude
Palm Oil (CPO), or a 12.5% increase compared to last year's production. This increase was
supported by about 12.76 million ha of oil palm plantation (Indonesian Oil Palm Statistics,
2019). The production in the future is predicted to become higher because the demand for asource of fats and oil and biofuel is still growing (Comte, Colin, Whalen, Grünberger, &Caliman, 2012). However, this can lead to a limitation of available land for oil palm plantations.
Fertilizer management and application highly affect oil palm productivity. Good fertilization
management benefited the plantation environment, maintain crop health, and increase yields.
Good fertilization management is also a prerequisite for the sustainability of oil palm (Goh &Teo, 1998). According to Goh & Teo, 1998, one of the steps of effective fertilizer management
is to assess the nutrient requirements for the growth and yield targets and prevent deficiency
to occur. The common method that has been used widely to detect the nutrient in oil palm is
the Kjeldahl method. Although this method is simple, it is time-consuming, destructive, andcostly, especially for large area plantations (Rendana, Rahim, Lihan, Idris, & Rahman, 2015).
Several studies proved that integration of remote sensing and information technology
produced many models such as crop yields monitoring model based on spectral informationand topographic characteristics, soil characteristics, and meteorological data (Kersebaum,
Lorenz, Reuter, Schwarz, Wegehenkel, & Wendroth, 2005), nitrogen deficiency’s prediction
model (Schlemmer, et al., 2013) and model for potential biomass (Machwitz, et al., 2014);(Bendig, et al., 2015). Kaliana, Seminar, Sudradjat, and Rusiawan (2019) had integrated
Sentinel-2A data and nutrient empirical model to retrieve near real-time macronutrient status(Nitrogen, Phosphor, and Kalium) with satisfying results. The determination coefficient ofdeveloped models is 92% for N, 90% for P, and 85% for K. Figures 4 and 5 show the outputof the spatial decision support system for oil palm precision fertilizer dosage recommendation.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Figure 4: Web-based spatial decision support system for oil palm precision fertilizer dosage

recommendation (Kaliana, Seminar, Sudradjat, & Rusiawan, 2019)

Figure 5: Near real-time nutrient status retrieval as another output of a web-based spatial
decision support system for oil palm precision fertilizer dosage recommendation (Kaliana,
Seminar, Sudradjat, & Rusiawan, 2019).

Potential Collaboration with Tsukuba University
SEAMEO BIOTROP could play a significant role as a technology transfer hub fromuniversities and research centres, especially those related to agriculture. Best agricultural
practices and new findings related to agriculture could be transferred from Tsukuba University
to SEAMEO BIOTROP through a collaboration. The technology could then be transferred toschools in Indonesia and other SEAMEO member countries.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Conclusion
Research centres and universities are a source of innovation and new technology.
However, innovation and technology would not be useful for the community until it is
implemented. Research centres and universities are mostly located in the central cities awayfrom the users of the innovation and new technology, the farmers. In the meantime, Vocational
Senior High Schools in Agriculture are mostly located in areas up to sub-district level and arecloser to the farms and the farmers. The students are mostly the children of the farmers living
nearby the vocational schools. Hence, this would be an effective way to transfer technology
to the farmers. Transfer technology from research centres and universities to vocational
schools would enable upgrading agricultural practices to adopt industrial 4.0 what is also
called smart agriculture.

References
Aubert, B. A., Schroeder, A., & Grimaudo, J. (2012). IT as enabler of sustainable farming: An
empirical analysis of farmers' adoption decision of precision agriculture technology.
Decision Support Systems, 510-520.
Bendig, J., Yu, K., Aasen, H., Bolten, A., Bennertz, S., Broscheit, J., et al. (2015). Combining
UAV-based plant height from crop surface models, visible, and near infrared
vegetation indices for biomass monitoring in barley. International Journal of Applied
Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 79–87.
Comte, I., Colin, F., Whalen, J. K., Grünberger, O., & Caliman, J. P. (2012). Agricultural
Practices in Oil Palm Plantations and Their Impact on Hydrological Changes, Nutrient
Fluxes and Water Quality in Indonesia. Advances in Agronomy, 71–124.
FAO, WFP and IFAD. (2012). The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012. Economic growthis necessary but not sufficient to accelerate reduction of hunger. Rome: FAO.
Fiehn, H. B., Schiebel, L., Avila, A. F., Miller, B., & Mickelson, A. R. (2018). Smart Agriculture
System Based on Deep Learning. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference
on Smart Digital Environment (pp. 158-165). Rabat, Morocco: ICSDE'18.
Fountas, S., Wulfsohn, D., Blackmore, B. S., Jacobsen, H. L., & Pedersen, S. M. (2006). A
model of decision-making and information flows for information intensive agriculture.
Agricultural Systems, 192-210.
Gago, J., Douthe, C., Coopman, R. E., Gallego, P. P., Ribas-Carbo, M., Flexas, J., et al.
(2015). UAVs challenge to assess water stress for sustainable agriculture. Agricultural
Water Management, 9–19.
Gebbers, R., & Adamchuk, V. I. (2010). Precision Agriculture and Food Security. Science ,828–831.
Goh, K. J., & Teo, C. B. (1998). Agronomic principles and practices of oil palm cultivation. In
K. J. Goh, S. B. Chiu, & S. Paramananthan, Fertilizer management in oil palm agnomic
principles and fields practices (pp. 241-318). Selangor, Malaysia: Agricultural Crop
Trust (ACT).

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2Goh, K., Teo, C., Chew, P., & Chiuw, S. (1998). Fertilizer management in oil palm agnomic
principles and fields practices.
Gumma, M. K., Nelson, A., Thenkabail, P. S., & Singh, A. N. (2011). Mapping rice areas ofSouth Asia using MODIS multitemporal data. Journal of applied remote sensing, 5 (1).
Hartrisari, H. H., Imantho, H., & Suyamto, D. (2013). Decision Support System on Spatial
Planning for Food Security (1st ed.). Bogor: SEAMEO BIOTROP.
Indonesian Oil Palm Statistics. (2019). Statistik Kelapa Sawit Indonesia 2018. Jakarta: BPS.
Kaliana, I., Seminar, K. B., Sudradjat, & Rusiawan, D. I. (2019). Nutrient content prediction ofleaves in oil palm plantation using Sentinel-2 satellite imagery. International

Symposium on Smart Agriculture for Environmentally and Consumer Friendly Food
Production (pp. 100-107). Taiwan: National Pingtung University of Science andTechnology.

Kersebaum, K. C., Lorenz, K., Reuter, H. I., Schwarz, J., Wegehenkel, M., & Wendroth, O.
(2005). Operational use of agro-meteorological data and GIS to derive site specificnitrogen fertilizer recommendations based on the simulation of soil and crop growth
processes. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, 59–67.
Khanal, S., Fulton, J., & Shearer, S. (2017). An overview of current and potential applicationsof thermal remote sensing in precision agriculture. Computers and Electronics inAgriculture, 22-32.
Lobell, D. B. (2013). The use of satellite data for crop yield gap analysis. Field Crops
Research, 56–64.
Machwitz, M., Giustarini, L., Bossung, C., Frantz, D., Schlerf, M., Lilienthal, H., et al. (2014).
Enhanced biomass prediction by assimilating satellite data into a crop growth model.
Environmental Modelling & Software, 437–453.
Moran, M. S., Inoue, Y., & Barnes, E. M. (1997). Opportunities and limitations for image-based
remote sensing in precision crop management. Remote Sensing of Environment, 319–
346.
Mosleh, M. K., & Hassan, Q. K. (2014). Development of a remote sensing-based “Boro” rice
mapping system. Remote sensing, 6 (3), 1938-1953.
Mulla, D. J. (2013). Twenty five years of remote sensing in precision agriculture: Keyadvances and remaining knowledge gaps. Biosystems Engineering, 358–371.
Rendana, M., Rahim, S. A., Lihan, T., Idris, W. M., & Rahman, Z. A. (2015). A Review of
Methods for Detecting Nutrients Stress of Oil Palm in Malaysia. Journal of Applied
Environmental and Biological Sciences, 5 (6), 60-64.
Ryu, M., Yun, J., Miao, T., Ahn, I.-Y., Choi, S.-C., & Kim, J. (2015). Design and implementationof a connected farm for smart farming system. IEEE Sensors.
Sakamoto, T., Van Nguyen, N., Ohno, H., Ishitsuka, N., & Yokozawa, M. (2006). Spatio–
temporal distribution of rice phenology and cropping systems in the Mekong Delta
with special reference to the seasonal water flow of the Mekong and Bassac rivers.
Remote Sensing of Environment, 100 (1), 1-16.

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Sankaran, S., Mishra, A., Ehsani, R., & Davis, C. (2010). A review of advanced techniques for
detecting plant diseases. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 1–13.
Sari, D. K., Ismullah, I. H., Sulasdi, W. N., & Harto, A. B. (2010). Detecting rice phenology inpaddy fields with complex cropping pattern using time series MODIS data. Journal of
Mathematical and Fundamental Sciences, 42 (2), 91-106.
Schlemmer, M., Gitelson, A., Schepers, J., Ferguson, R., Peng, Y., Shanahan, J., et al. (2013).
Remote estimation of nitrogen and chlorophyll contents in maize at leaf and canopy
levels. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 47–54.
Suakanto, S., Engel, V., Hutagalung, M., & Angela, D. (2016). Sensor networks dataacquisition and task management for decision support of smart farming. International
Conference on Information Technology Systems and Innovation. Badung, Bali: ICITSI.
Usha, K., & Singh, B. (2013). Potential applications of remote sensing in horticulture—Areview. Scientia Horticulturae, 71–83.
Veysi, S., Naseri, A. A., Hamzeh, S., & Bartholomeus, H. (2017). A satellite based crop water
stress index for irrigation scheduling in sugarcane fields. Agricultural Water
Management, 70–86.
Zhang, R., Hao, F., & Sun, X. (2017). The Design of agricultural machinery service
management system based on internet of things. Procedia Computer Science, 53-57.
Zhang, X., Shi, L., Jia, X., Seielstad, G., & Helgason, C. (2010). Zone mapping application for
precision-farming: a decision support tool for variable rate application. Precision
Agriculture, 11, 103-114.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Education for Sustainable Development for Persons with
Disabilities (PwD)
Ms. Salmah Jopri
SEAMEO Regional Centre for Special Educational Needs (SEN), Melaka, Malaysia
salmah.jopri@seameosen.org
Mr. Ahmad Heikhal Amir Hamzah
SEAMEO Regional Centre for Special Educational Needs (SEN), Melaka, Malaysia
heikhal.hamzah@seameosen.org

Abstract
Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is increasingly seen as part of alifelong learning approach to the development of education and training system. This notion
has been reiterated vastly in SDG 8 “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic
growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all”. Special Education Need
(SEN) students or people with disabilities often faced challenges, discrimination, andrejection in seeking employment due to stigmatization and being underestimated in terms ofcapability to learn and acquire occupational skills. This article aims to explore the key
elements of the TVET training programme for SEN students with a feasible connection toemployment opportunities.
Keywords: Inclusive education, special educational needs, Sustainable Development Goals(SDG), TVET

Introduction
An estimated 1 billion people have some kind of disability and, in our lifetime, every one of
us will probably be temporarily or permanently impaired, especially in ageing societies (WHO,2011). This group experiences greater challenges than others in coping with transitions, lower
participation in education and skills development (EC, 2010; Kett, 2012; EADSNE, 2013). The
Incheon Declaration: Education 2030 (2015) also recognises education as essential toguarantee the realisation of other human rights and highlights the importance of inclusion andlifelong learning for all.
Within Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 4, there are specific targets regarding
technical and vocational education and training (TVET). Education and training are alsoessential for the achievement of the other Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 8‘Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive
employment and decent work for all’. Under SDG 8, one target is ‘by 2030 to achieve full andproductive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people
and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value’. Internationally, TVET is- 55 -

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increasingly seen as part of a lifelong learning approach to the development of education andtraining system.

TVET for Special Educational Needs
TVET is steadily rising the ranks of global debates and government priorities for educationand national development agendas (Marope et al., 2015). In the Southeast Asian context,
SEAMEO has placed TVET as a priority agenda (SEAMEO Seven Priority Areas 2015 -2035).
TVET for Special Educational Needs (SEN) students or individuals with disabilities is of major
importance for sustainability and to enable these students to lead independent lives. TVET
does not only prepare a person for work, but it is also a preparation for life. The purpose of
TVET is to provide knowledge and skills required in the world of work and a means to support
one’s economic income. Therefore, it is important to make TVET accessible to all (UNESCO,2013). To realise its potential to impact development, however, TVET systems need sustainedtransformation and revitalisation (UNESCO, 2012).
SEN students or people with disabilities often faced challenges, discrimination, andrejection in seeking employment due to stigmatization and being underestimated in terms ofcapability to learn and acquire occupational skills. Lack of inclusion in education and skills
development initiatives for young people with disabilities foreshadows a lifetime of
employment and marginal employment amongst a population eager to work (Putting
Education to Work, 2012).
A similar situation was reported in schools where most SEN students leaving schools
without being equipped with appropriate technical and vocational skills required for
employment (Wehman et al., 2014). This particular group of students must be given skills thatare appropriate to the local labour market. This would necessitate a change in the education
system by providing skills and knowledge to students with disabilities during schooling years
that can be transitioned to post-school education.
Special Education teachers play an important role in delivering an effective teachingapproach to their students. Often programmes initiated by parties who do not directly engage
with these students faced slow progress and challenges (Vanitha & Ramaa, 2013). The
majority of vocational programmes mobilised in schools are initiatives by teachers based on
their personal experience and understanding. The teaching and learning context for students
with disabilities is very much dictated by the student’s abilities and progress. Their source ofknowledge and skills would have to be delivered by those who are trained to adopt and adapt
to their learning needs.

Key Element - TVET for Special Educational Needs
The aim of this article is to explore the key elements of the TVET training programme for
SEN students with a feasible connection to employment opportunities.
Figure 1 shows the three (3) fundamental elements and how they contribute to achieving
the programme’s overall aim, i.e. providing a successful TVET training programme andtransition to employment for SEN students. The policy level, represented by the outer circle,
may impact upon the factors within the elements. Recommendations for the policy level needto ensure that policies appropriately align the relevant factors so that each element makes the
optimum contribution towards the TVET training programme’s aim.

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School/Institution
Management

Student – centred
ApproachWork Transition
SupportSuccessful
TVET
Training
Programme

Figure 1. Three Fundamental Elements

School/Institution Management
School and institution management needs to develop and instil an inclusive policy, where
differences among students are considered a ‘normal’ part of the educational culture, and tocreate an atmosphere of motivation and commitment. Effective school and institution
management is required to look ahead and be flexible, as well as to change the structure andduration of the TVET training programme to match the students’ needs. This will also include
the offer for professional development opportunities to all teachers and staff, to ensure quality
in education. Effective school and institution management should also able to create a flexible
atmosphere to allow teachers to contribute to the development and implementation ofindividualised and flexible curriculum for students, to match the student’s needs. This will
ensure that support is provided to teachers as well as to the students during the transition
phase into the labour market.
School and institution management also must move away from a traditional ‘top-down’approach and should adopt a multi-disciplinary team approach with clear roles andcooperation with a high level of internal communication (peer coaching, informal discussions,collaborative problem solving, etc.) and external communication with other services.

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Proper planning and focus for knowledge management for maintaining and further
developing teachers’ knowledge and experience must be set in place. This could involve
setting up programmes or activities such as teacher training and re-training programme,
seminars or conferences, sharing session on best practices or any programme that could help
the teachers to be well equipped with adequate knowledge and skills to prepare their students
for employment.

Student-centred Approach
Student-centred approaches concerning planning, goal setting, and curriculum designneed to be used in the TVET training programme learning process, so that the curriculum,
pedagogical methods, learning materials, assessment methods and goals are tailored toindividual needs.
The learning process needs to use a flexible setting or atmosphere which allows for thedevelopment and implementation of a student-centred approach. Students are involved fromthe beginning of the individual planning process and their voices are heard throughout.
The student-centred approach requires a suitable teacher-learner ratio, a suitable support
teacher-student ratio, and flexibility in the TVET training programme to allow progress fromone level to another. This approach will also contribute towards maintaining a good balance
between theoretical subjects and practical training, the focus on student’s capabilities, andthe use of hands-on/practical. The use of individual plans impacts the adaptation of
pedagogical methods and techniques, on supervised practical training in companies, and on
the support of students and employers during the transition phase and beyond to maintainstudent’s employment in companies.
On the outcome side, the student-centred approach contributes to matching between work
opportunities and student’s expectations and also the compatibility between job skills
requirements with the student’s skills. This will also contribute to increasing the student’s
confidence that challenges can be managed and strive for a successful TVET training
programme and transition in the open labour market.

Work Transition Support
To establish connections with local employers and companies, co-operative structures
must be properly outlined for practical training and/or employment after graduation. Providing
follow-up activities to maintain student’s employment in companies require staff and resources
to be permanently available throughout the transition and into work. Supporting students andemployers during the transition phase in the labour market will require staff such as job
coaches, career counsellors or mentors, and resources that are permanently available
throughout the transition into the work period.
Adapted pedagogical methods and techniques at schools and the use of individual plans
are also required. Follow-up activities can build upon connections with local
employers/companies for practical training and job opportunities, the provision of supervised
practical training in companies, and supported employment models that offer a gradualreduction in the intensity of support.

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Follow-up activities also will contribute to the development of social skills and student’s
well-being, the establishment of formalised partnerships, and the re-evaluation of thecorrelation between job skills requirements and the student’s skills.
Positive experiences of a successful work transition programme to the open labour market
also contribute to and reinforce these connections and contribute to the establishment offormalised partnerships, co-operation, and networking opportunities.

Conclusion
The world is moving in a fast-changing environment that requires every individual todevelop their knowledge, skills, and attitudes throughout life with education and TVET. TVET
can play an important role in the development and utilisation of skills and capabilities andlearning pathways, especially for persons with disabilities who are vulnerable to a lack of job
security or jobs/careers for life.
There is a lot of scope for improvement in initial and continuous TVET for people withdisabilities, including in apprenticeships and work-based learning. It is important to achieve
the right balance between the flexibility and the standardisation of programmes andprocedures. While too much flexibility can result in unpredictability and a reduction in thequality of provision, overly rigid standardisation may fail to address SEN student’s needs.
TVET improvements are possible and do occur, with some key success factors being
recognised across countries, and giving evidence that what is good and efficient practice forpeople with disabilities is, will be good practice for all learners (European Agency for Special
Needs and Inclusive Education, 2013). This will require support and commitment from all
relevant stakeholders and parties involved to ensure that TVET fulfils its potential contribution
to Agenda 2030, including SDG 4 and SDG 8, as well as being in line with the fundamental
principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities(UNCRPD).
The goal of TVET education for students with disabilities is to improve their life prospects,
for themselves and future generations, by becoming active members of society. Betterawareness, access, and investment are essential to achieving this goal. With TVET skills,
students with disabilities will be allowed to build their careers, and to develop an interest in
their abilities and skills. They are able to lead a sustainable living by earning independent
financial strength, contribute to society, and ultimately be empowered to live a dignified,
respected, and living independently.

References
European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education (2013). European
Patterns of Successful Practice in Vocational Education and Training – Participationof Learners with SEN/Disabilities in VET. Odense, Denmark: European Agency for
Development in Special Needs Education [Online] Available: https://www.europeanagency.org/sites/default/files/vet report_en.pdf

Marope, P., Chakroun, B. & Holmes, K. (2015). Unleashing the Potential: Transforming
Technical and Vocational Education and Training. Paris: UNESCO [Online]
Available: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002330/233030e.pdf- 59 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
UNESCO (2012). Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2012 - Youth and skills: Putting
education to work. [Online] Available https://reliefweb.int/report/world/education-allglobal-monitoring-report-2012-youth-and-skills-putting-education-work
UNESCO (2012). Shanghai Consensus. Recommendations of the third international
congress on TVET: Transforming TVET: Building Skills for Work and Life. [Online]
Available: http://www.unevoc.unesco.org/fileadmin/up/217683e.pdf
UNESCO (2013). Shanghai Update, Issue No. 1, June 2013. Bonn: UNESCO-UNEVOC.
[Online] Available:
http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/ED/pdf/shanghaiupdateJune
2013.pdf
UNESCO (2015). Incheon Declaration - Education 2030: Towards inclusive and equitable
quality education and lifelong learning for all. Paris: UNESCO [Online] Available:
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002338/233813M.pdf
Vanitha & Ramaa, (2013). Work Readiness Skills among Students with Mild Mental
Retardation.. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Wehman, Chan, Ditchman & Kang (2014). Effect of Supported Employment on Vocational

Rehabilitation Outcomes of Transition-Age Youth with Intellectual andDevelopmental Disabilities: A Case Control Study.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Developing Human Character through SEAMEO STEM
Planning and Design Learning (PaDL) Framework
Mr. Dominador Dizon Mangao
SEAMEO Regional Centre for Education in Science and Mathematics (RECSAM)
Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah, Gelugor, Penang, Malaysia
dominador_mangao@recsam.edu.my
Dr. Suhaidah Tahir
SEAMEO Regional Centre for Education in Science and Mathematics (RECSAM)
Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah, Gelugor, Penang, Malaysia
suhaidah@recsam.edu.my
Dr. Mariam Othman
SEAMEO Regional Centre for Education in Science and Mathematics (RECSAM)
Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah, Gelugor, Penang, Malaysia
mariam@recsam.edu.my

Abstract
RECSAM as the lead SEAMEO Centre pursued the development and publication of Common
Core Regional Learning Standards (CCRLS) in Mathematics and Science in 2017 which
presents standards for what every learner should know, be able to do, and value inmathematics and science and added support to the goal of regional integration for an ASEAN
Community. The CCRLS in Mathematics and Science envisions developing basic humancharacters, creative human capital, and well-qualified citizens for a harmonious ASEAN
society. SEAMEO RECSAM has long recognised and taken cognisance of the impact of
STEM education in the national curriculum of SEAMEO Member Countries. Thus, RECSAM
attempted to develop a model or framework from which STEM educators could refer as theyplan and implement STEM lessons. This paper describes the STEM Planning and Design
Learning (PaDL) framework which highlights the development of human empathy as one of
the important stages in the Design Learning Process for students in addition to other stagesof developing design ideas, prototyping/modelling, and proposing solution.
Keywords: Empathy, human character education, learning standards, STEM, values

Introduction
In this era of an automated world, the majority of countries are adopting Industrial
Revolution (IR) 4.0 with the use of innovations (i.e. Internet of Things, big data, robotics, andArtificial Intelligence) to facilitate human tasks. This new culture sometimes makes people
strictly depend on smart gadgets and applications that seem to turn humans into ‘slaves’ ormerely ‘followers’. Therefore, challenges faced by IR 4.0 should be balanced with Society 5.0
that asserts society should be the centre that “... balances economic advancement with the- 61 -

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resolution of social problems by a system that highly integrates cyberspace and physicalspace” (Cabinet Office, 2020). Society 5.0 originated from Japan as the country’s way forwardin overcoming future challenges created by IR 4.0. Nevertheless, this policy can be applicableto other countries in achieving economic development as well as in solving societal problems.
One of the main concerns with rapid industrial and economic development is the eroding of
the values of human character. One of the solutions is through education and apparently in
STEM-related subjects. The big challenge is in developing a learning framework that would
involve students to develop human character values in learning science and mathematics and
STEM in general.
Human Character Overview“Great learning and superior abilities ... will be of little value and small estimation unlessvirtue, honor, truth, and integrity are added to them.”- Abigail Adams (in Newell, 2013, Introduction, paragraph 5)
The above quote captures the essence and true meaning and value of human character.
Character comes from the Greek kharakter to mean “engraved mark”, “symbol or imprint of
the soul”, and “instrument for marking”. The word later came to be associated with the “sumof qualities that defines a person”. These qualities include a man’s intellect, thoughts, ideas,
motives, intentions, temperament, judgment, behaviour, imagination, perception, emotions,love, and hates. The balance of these components within the soul of each man, and the way
one or another predominates over others, is what makes a character unique and sets apart
one individual from another (Brett & McKay, 2020). Generally, ‘character’ means a distinctive
mark by which one thing is distinguished from others and primarily means the assemblage of
qualities that distinguish one individual from another (Homiak, 2007). Ryan and Bohlin (1999)
define people of good character as individuals who know the good, love the good, and do thegood. A person’s ‘character ‘refers to the disposition and habits that determine the way that aperson normally responds to desires, fears, challenges, opportunities, failures, and success(Pala, 2011).

The Importance of Character Education“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to becompassionate, and to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”- Ralph Waldo Emerson (in Juma, 2020, Introduction, Quote No. 6)
The quote can be said to aptly summarise the true purpose of a life nurtured by humanvalues and character which education for the young should cultivate in our schools.
In the US, the Character Education Partnership (2010) defines character education as theintentional effort to develop in young people core ethical and performance values that are
widely affirmed across all cultures. Character education must include all stakeholders in aschool community and must permeate the school climate and curriculum. Along this line, theCharacter Education Partnership (2010) outlines 11 principles of character education as
follows: (i) the school community promotes core ethical and performance values as thefoundation of good character, (ii) the school defines ‘character” comprehensively to include
thinking, feeling, and doing, (iii) the school uses a comprehensive, intentional, proactive
approach to character development, (iv) the school creates a caring community, (v) the school
provides students with opportunities for moral actions, (vi) the school offers a meaningful andchallenging academic curriculum that respects all learners, develops their character, and- 62 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
helps them to succeed, (vii) the school fosters students’ self-motivation, (viii) the school staff
is an ethical learning community that shares responsibility for character education andadheres to the same core values that guide the students, (ix) the school fosters sharedleadership and long-range support of the character education initiative, (x) the school
engages families and community members as partners in the character-building effort, and(xi) the school regularly assesses its culture and climate, the functioning of its staff ascharacter educators, and the extent to which its students manifest good character.
Likewise, the Character Education Partnership (2010) listed the benefits of quality
character education as follows: (i) helps students to develop important human qualities suchas justice, diligence, compassion, respect, and courage, and to understand why it is important
to live by them; (ii) promotes character development through the exploration of ethical issues
across the curriculum; (iii) teaches how to solve conflicts fairly, creating safer schools that are
freer of intimidation, fear, and violence, and are more conducive to learning; (iv) it not only
cultivates minds, it nurtures hearts; (v) teaches adults and students to understand, engage in,care about, and act on core ethical values such as respect, justice, citizenship, fairness, andresponsibility for self and others in school and as part of a larger community; and (vi) develops
a positive and moral climate by engaging the participation of students, teachers and staff,
parents, and communities.

Human Values in Mathematics and Science Education
At present, science and mathematics teachers are experiencing huge challenges witheducation reforms, accelerated technological advancement and globalisation which
contributes to the complexities in emphasizing moral values through teaching and learning(Chowdhury, 2016).
In general, perceptions of science and mathematics are considered as cognitive
dimensions and rarely seen integrated with the affective dimension. This “value-free”
perception of the teaching and learning of mathematics and science is quite worrisome. Ifmathematics is treated as a cold hard facts and figures subject, the impact will be on students’impressions on the subject per se. This is again the irony of teachers being role models on
values (Seah, 2008).
Bishop (1999) highlighted that even most mathematics teachers themselves would notconsider that they are teaching any values when they teach mathematics and changing thatperception may be the biggest hurdle to overcome. This situation is also supported by the
research findings of Clarkson et al., (2000) in the Values and Mathematics Project (VAMP).
According to Siahaan (2019), mathematics teachers did not inculcate human character values
during the teaching and learning process but focused on delivering the lesson materials andon problem-solving. Nevertheless, he found that mathematics learning and character learning
were taught in a separate manner. In this case, mathematics is taught directly as a subject
while human character values are instilled indirectly based on the teacher’s treatment ofstudents’ different ability levels. Bishop (1999) emphasized that the values in mathematics
education use the deep affective qualities that education fosters through school mathematics.
He stressed that values appear to survive longer in people’s memories than does conceptualand procedural knowledge, which unless it is regularly used tends to fade. Despite thechallenges stated, Hudha, Ekowati and Husamah (2014) claimed that students’ values can be
developed through learning mathematics and natural sciences because of the subjects’ close
relation to facts and nature.
In science education, Allchin (1998), emphasized that the common characterisation ofscience as value free or value neutral can be misleading. Scientists strongly disvalue fraud,- 63 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2error, and ‘pseudoscience’ but value reliability, testability, accuracy, precision, generality,
simplicity of concepts and heuristic power. He expounds that values intersect with science inthree ways, namely; (i) there are values, particularly epistemic values, which guide scientificresearch itself, (ii) because the scientific enterprise is always embedded in some particular
culture, values enter science through its individual practitioners, whether consciously or not,and (iii) values emerge from science, both as a product and process, and can be redistributed
more broadly in the culture or society.
According to Allchin (1998), to cultivate the teaching of ethics and values, scienceeducation must be viewed as including the process and context of science and not merely its
content. The values which guide scientific inquiry perhaps can best be introduced in aconstructivist setting where the teaching is not centred on specific content but rather on
engaging students in exploring values, ethical reasoning and demonstrating a process fordiscussing them collectively. The students have engaged in the modest scientific activity
themselves like asking them to reflect on their own process, on their standards of proof, or on
the role of multiple investigators for instance of fraud, letting them articulate and illustrate
accepted values, allowing them to question and discuss any scientific claim. An important
goal is for students to learn ethics, and discussion of public values require justification as
much as any scientific argument does. Therefore, lessons need to be designed at a levelappropriate to the students’ ages or educational maturity.

Development of Human Character in the SEAMEO Basic Education
Standards (SEA-BES) Common Core Regional Learning Standards(CCRLS) Frameworks for Mathematics and Science
SEAMEO education priority areas include development and enhancement of 21st century
skills comprising of character education, entrepreneurship education, information andcommunications technology, language and literacy, numeracy, and scientific andtechnological literacy in all learners. Along this line, SEAMEO RECSAM led the project initiative
SEAMEO Basic Education Standards (SEA-BES) which developed the Common Core
Regional Learning Standards (CCRLS) in Mathematics and Science and was successfully
published in 2017. The SEA-BES project is re-aligned into Priority Area #7 “Adopting a 21stCentury Curriculum” which states “to pursue a radical reform through systematic analysis ofknowledge, skills, and values needed to effectively respond to changing global contexts,
particularly to the ever-increasing complexity of the Southeast Asian economic, socio-culturaland political environment, developing teacher imbued with ASEAN ideals in building ASEAN
Community within 20 years” (SEAMEO, 2018).

Mathematical Values, Attitude and Habits of Human Character in CCRLS in Mathematics
The mathematical values, attitudes, and habits for the human character development of theframework for CCRLS in Mathematics together with mathematical thinking and processes, andcontents are shown in Figure 1.

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Figure 1: CCRLS Framework for Mathematics.
The aims of Mathematics in CCRLS are to (a) develop mathematical values, attitudes andhabits of mind for the human character, (b) develop mathematical thinking and enable toproduce appropriate process, and (c) acquire proficiency in mathematics content and apply
mathematics in appropriate situations. Eventually, the aims would lead to the development ofbasic human characters, creative capital, and well-qualified citizens in Southeast Asia for aharmonious society through mathematics (Mangao, Ahmad, & Isoda, 2017).
Ethics, Values and Attitudes in CCRLS in Science
The components of the framework of CCRLS in Science are shown in Table 1 comprisingof ethics, values and attitudes; scientific skills, processes and thinking; and content.

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Table 1. Components of CCRLS Science Framework
Content
•
•
•
•
•
•

Scientific
InquiryLife and the
Living World
Material World
Energy andChangeEarth andSpace
Science,Engineering,andTechnology for
Sustainable
Society

Scientific Skills, Processes andThinking
Science Skills and Process• Questioning• Observing• Classifying• Measuring• Hypothesizing• Predicting• Inferring• Explaining• Communicating• Evaluating• Identifying andcontrolling variables• Formulating and testing
hypothesis• Defining operationally• Interpreting data
• Planning and carrying
investigations
Thinking• critical and creative
thinking• reasoning• problem solving• decision making• applying and creating• generating solutions• safe use of equipment• ICT skills• Collaboration skills

Values and Attitudes• Caring for the living
and non-living
environment• Social awareness• Sustainability• Responsibility• Truth• Interdependence• Integrity• Perseverance• Self-discipline• Self-esteem• Empathy• Appreciation• Trust• Critical reflection• Inventiveness• Tolerance• Uncertainty• Belief and interest• Curiosity• Honesty• Objectivity• Open-mindedness• Respect for evidence

Among the aims of the CCRLS in Science include demonstrate ethical behaviour, scientificattitudes and values when undertaking scientific thinking and processes, and demonstrate
the ability to use the acquired scientific thinking and processes in making an informed
decision, and debating scientific and social-cultural issues.

Empathy in STEM Education
Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines empathy as “the action of understanding, being awareof, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience ofanother of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience
fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner.” By understanding others’ feelings, one
can respond aptly to the situation. This human character value is important in determining thedecisions made based on many aspects of life situations.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
Scientists and engineers are often perceived as lacking interpersonal skills, and these
beliefs can alienate particular students from engaging in or identifying with STEM-related
fields. Cheryan et al. (2013) investigated stereotypes in the science field among US
undergraduates towards computer science and gender differences. They pointed out theperception that computer scientists are technology-oriented, with strong interests inprogramming and electronics (Cheryan et al., 2011b), and little interest in people (Diekman etal., 2010). These undergraduates perceived that computer scientists are less likely to workwith and help others compared to those other careers, such as medicine and law. The
perception that computer science is technology-oriented rather than people-oriented may
cause women to express less interest in the field than men (Diekman et al., 2010). Engaging
students in empathy can make STEM learning more meaningful because students can see
the impact of STEM in their lives and the lives of others. By making STEM content relevant,students will be able to see themselves as potential contributing members of the STEM
community. Taking a more interpersonal and empathy-based approach to STEM learning canalso broaden our visions of what it means to be a “STEM person”. Such work aligns withresearch that emphasizes the need for teachers to make instruction culturally relevant andaccessible to all students (Ladson-Billings, 1995).

Empathy in SEAMEO STEM Planning and Design Learning (PaDL)
Framework
SEAMEO RECSAM and Faculty of Education, Monash University are currently undertaking
the development of curriculum design called the “STEM Planning and Design Learning
Framework to illustrate the workings of STEM as a pedagogical approach. The PaDL
framework is comprised of Design Planning Model for Teachers and Design Learning Process
for Students (Mangao, Kidman, Tan, Gesthuizen, & Mcdonald 2019). The STEM PaDL
Framework was developed from the analysis of 14 commonly used Western planning models
and learning designs combined with the experiences, knowledge and skills, and values of theASEAN educators who attended the workshop. Among the teacher planning models reviewed
and compared were: Teaching with technology; TPACK model; Polya’s problem solving;
Conceptual model for teaching arithmetic problem solving; Team initiated problem solving
slide 5; Conceptual framework of the math problem-solving process; Science and Engineering
practices; Science in Early Childhood Classrooms: Content and Process; The difference
between Science and Engineering; and Writing Lab reports: Overview. For the Design
Learning Process for Students, models reviewed and compared included: NGSS Engineering
Design Process; What is design thinking; Design Cycle; and Getting to grips with Design
Thinking.
Integrating Human Character of Empathy into the Design Learning Process for Students
The Design Learning Process for Students model is a particular pedagogical approach thatwill develop students’ collaborative, problem solving, and 21st Century skills while learningand applying their disciplinary knowledge and skills. Figure 2 shows the four main stages ofthis model, namely, (1) empathising, (2) developing ideas, (3) prototyping/modelling, and (4)proposing a solution.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Figure 2. The Design Learning process for students
The Empathising Stage
The empathy stage is the first stage of developing a human-centred view of problem
solving. This human-centred approach ensures that the design and the proposed solution areanchored in the real-world. Students observe other people, examine their context, and listen
to their needs and requirements. Students become more deeply empathic and understanding.
It will help the students make the right decisions and avoid design failure when solving
problems. A lack of empathy will contribute to design failure. Humans and communities havevarious degrees of willingness to adopt particular solutions to problems, which can act as
potential design constraints. Engaging in empathy encourages students to examine these
constraints from multiple perspectives and to ask questions to refine ideas and solutions tobetter address these constraints.
Empathising to Developing Design Ideas
In this stage, students brainstorm many different ideas, based on the problem, issues andneeds found in the previous stage. Students use their social awareness and ethical use ofknowledge. Students combine their understanding and knowledge in different subjects (i.e.
Mathematics, Science, and Technology) to new thinking about how to solve the problem or
issue. Students think creatively and generate the widest possible range of ideas from which
they can choose. Students use their conscious and unconscious mind, logical thinking,computational thinking, and imagination.
Developing Ideas for Prototyping/Modelling
From the previous stage, students narrow down their options to find the best solution
through testing prototypes or models. In this stage, students design and construct a uniquemodel that solves a real-world problem. The students clearly illustrate what the model could
look like, how it works, or how it could be used. The model could represent the behaviour of asolution, or test the solution in different ways. It is something that students can showcase, learn
about, share, and build from. The modelling process rapidly moves from an initial paper
design towards a working solution, physical 3D model, or prototype, with idea checking along- 68 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
the way. Moving from idea generation to hands-on action and construction requires mental
activity that constructs new knowledge and objects. Students must collaborate in groups anddraw plans, communicate with others to explore alternative ideas, and build new knowledge.
Prototyping/Modelling to Proposing Solution
In this stage, students get feedback, evaluate their prototype or model, consider theconsequences, and come up with the groups ‘solution to solve the problem. Students finalise
their prototype or model into a model that is realistic and as good as possible given the timeframe and resources. They also decide how to present their solution to the audience, toconvince them that their solution is the best possible. Students use words, diagrams, graphs,
and other media to present their solutions to convince others. Students refer back to thecontext or problem to check if their model or prototype is the best solution, then reflect on theentire design process and make improvements.
Iteration and making the process your own
This process can go in many cycles and sometimes teachers have to go back to theprevious stage or even back to the first stage, in order to go forward. This process is only asuggestion and, in the end, teachers have to make the process their own and adapt it to theirstyle and your work. It is about the teacher’s way of thinking and working.

Conclusion
In conclusion, since Education 4.0 is introduced to align with the progress in IR 4.0, now
education has to keep up with achieving Society 5.0. Ideally, there should be a balance oftechnology and saving human values as a human who created the technology naturally would
realise that human values help society and the world work in harmony. Aligning with the rapidchanges in the industry, education should be the frontrunner in making the changes to suitSociety 5.0, in this particular case within the aspects of teaching mathematics and science orin STEM education. Therefore, a comprehensive framework for teaching STEM incorporating
the human character should be developed to assist teachers and educators alike ininculcating the human character such as empathy (in this case) in teaching and learning.
According to Sun (2017), engaging sympathy in students makes STEM lessons moremeaningful because it affects them and their surroundings. Furthermore, producing students
with empathy will create a mature generation with the ability to resolve issues with practicalsolutions for various conditions. Hence, in achieving Society 5.0, this human-centred society
also contributes to the attainment of Sustainable Development Goal #4 Quality Education(SDG#4) established by the United Nations.

References
Allchin, D. (1998). Values in Science and in Science Education. In B.J. Fraser and K.G. Tobin(Eds.). International Handbook of Science Education, 1083-1092.Kulwer Academic
Publishers. Great Britain.
Bishop, A.J. (1999). Mathematics teaching and values education: an intersection in need ofresearch. Zentralblatt fuer Didaktik Mathematik, 31(1), 1-4.

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Brett and MacKay (2020). What is Character? Its 3 True Qualities and How to Develop It. A
Man’s Life, Character, Featured, On Manhood, On Virtue. [Online] Available:
https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/what-is-character-its-3-true-qualities-andhow-to-develop-it/[2020 October 26].
Cabinet Office, Government of Japan. (no date). Society 5.0. [Online] Available:
https://www8.cao.go.jp/cstp/english/society5_0/index.html [2020 January 28].
Character Education Partnership (2010). Eleven Principles of Effective Character Education:
A Framework for School Success. Washington, DC. [Online] Available:
https://coreessentials.org/assets/uploads/content/ce-11-principles.pdf[2020
January 25].
Cheryan, S., Plaut, V.C., Handron, C. and Hudson, L. (2013).The Stereotypical Computer
Scientists: Gendered Media Representations as a Barrier to Inclusions for Women.
Sex Roles. Springer Science + Business Media. New York. DOI 10.1007/s11199-0130296-x.
Cheryan, S., Siy, J. O., Vichayapai, M., Drury, B., and Kim, S. (2011b). Do female and malerole models who embody STEM stereotypes hinder women's anticipated success in
STEM? Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2, 656–664.
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Chowdhury, M. (2016). Emphasizing morals, values, ethics, and character education inscience education and science teaching. The Malaysian Online Journal of
Educational Science, 4 (2), 1-16.
Clarkson, P., Bishop, A.J., FitzSimons, G.E., and Seah, W.T. (2000). Challenges andconstraints in researching values. In J. Bana & A. Chapman (Eds.), Mathematics

education beyond 2000: Proceedings of the twenty-third annual conference of theMathematics Education Research Group of Australasia Incorporated held at
Fremantle, Western Australia, 5-9 July, 2000. (Vol.1, pp.188-195). Perth, Australia.

Diekman, A. B., Brown, E., Johnston, A., and Clark, E. (2010). Seeking congruity between
goals and roles: A new look at why women opt out of STEM careers. Psychological
Science, 21, 1051–1057. DOI:10.1177/0956797610377342.
Homiak, M. (2007). Moral character. In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford: The
Metaphysics Research Laboratory, Center for the Study of Language and Information.
Hudha, A. M., Ekowati, D. W., and Husamah (2014). Character education model inmathematics and natural sciences learning at Muhammadiyah Junior High School.
International Journal of Education, Learning & Development, 2 (4), 33-47.
Juma, N. (2020). 95 Ralph Waldo Emerson quotes on living a great life. Everyday Power.
[Online] Available: https://everydaypower.com/ralph-waldo-emerson-quotes/ [2020November 27].
Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. [Online]
Available:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/00028312032003465 [2020
January 22]
Mangao, D.D., Kidman, G., Tan, H., Gesthuizen, R., and Mcdonald, S. (2019). SEAMEOSTEM Planning and Design Learning (PaDL) Framework. Teaching to Transform: 21st

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Century Skills and Design Thinking in STEM Contexts. Unpublished module- inprogress. SEAMEO RECSAM, Penang, Malaysia.

Mangao, D., Ahmad, N. J., and Isoda, M. (Eds.) (2017). SEAMEO Basic Education Standards(SEA-BES): Common Core Regional Learning Standards (CCRLS) in Mathematics
and Science. SEAMEO RECSAM Penang, Malaysia.

Meriam-Webster Dictionary (n.d.). Empathy. Meriam-Webster Dictionary [Online] Available:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/empathy[2020 October 26].
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https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267824613 [2020 January 23]
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Seah, W. T. (2008). Valuing Values in Mathematics Education. In P. Clarkson and N. Presmeg(Eds.), Critical Issues in Mathematics Education (pp. 239-253). Springer, Boston, MA.
SEAMEO (2018). Action Agenda for the SEAMEO 7 Priority Areas. SEAMEO, Bangkok,
Thailand.
Siahaan, U. M. J. (2019). Teacher’s perspective on values of mathematics. Journal of
Physics: Conference Series, 1157 (4). doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1157/4/042105
Sun, K. L. (2017). The Importance of cultivating empathy in STEM education. Science Scope.
[Online] Available: https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-503273109/the-importance-ofcultivating-empathy-in-stem-education [2017, April-May]- 71 -

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The Challenge of ECCE Inclusive Education for Society 5.0
in Southeast Asia
Dr. Dwi Priyono
SEAMEO Regional Centre for Early Childhood Care Education and Parenting (CECCEP)
Jl Jayagiri No 63 Lembang, Bandung, Indonesia
dwipriyo@seameo-ceccep.org
Educational Administration, School of Postgraduate Studies UHAMKA, Jakarta Indonesia
dwipriyono@uhamka.ac.id

Abstract
Progressions in digital technologies as well as in their uses continuously happen in the realmof Industrial Revolution 4.0 affecting all facets of human’s life, including education. This article
aims to answer the questions on how do we truly include and benefit everyone equally aroundthe world. It answers how does the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization
Regional Centre for Early Childhood Care and Parenting (SEAMEO CECCEP) promote
education systems to drive inclusive growth and prepare us for Society 5.0 in the area of
ECCE and parenting in order to meet the SEAMEO’s Seven Priorities Education Agenda 2035aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). It calls for educational reforms
for well-balanced regional development.
Keywords: Early childhood education, inclusive education, parenting, social inclusion

Introduction
A commitment to improving and sustaining the quality of early childhood care andeducation (ECCE) has reached global prominence as seen in the actions of many internationalorganisations during the past fifteen years (Cochran, 2011). Progress for Children Beyond
Averages: Learning from the MDGs (11th edition), published in June 2015 by UNICEF,
presents the latest data showing that tremendous advances in the lives of the world’s children
which have been driven by the Millennium Development Goals. It is clear, however, thatdevelopment efforts in the past fifteen years have failed to reach millions of the mostdisadvantaged (UNICEF, 2015, p. iii). ECCE plays a significant role in childhood development.
ECCE has consequences for children's development. Children who attend ECCE performbetter in mathematics, literacy, and social skills in the future. ECCE also plays vital andimportant roles in a country’s development. In fact, ECCE has become a global concern as itis reflected in SDG 4: Quality of Education.
The roadmap of SDG Target 4.2 ECCE clearly stated that by 2030, that girls and boys haveaccess to quality early childhood development, care, and pre-primary education so that they
are ready for primary education. The foundation of the roadmap is the commitment of regional- 73 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
leaders. The roadmap started in 2016 by implementing socialisation as Phase 1. In 2020,
Phase 2 is about the implementation of best practices all over the globe. Phase 3 will start in
2025 by disseminating best practices all around the world. The achievement of childdevelopment is then being examined and analysed. By 2030, Phase 4 will evaluate the wholeprocess with the hope that the target is well achieved.

The Importance of ECCEThe research of Nobel Prize-winning Economics Professor James Heckman (2008) of the
University of Chicago on investing in early childhood development (ECD), demonstrated thatthe quality of early childhood development (ECD) heavily influences health, economic andsocial outcomes for individuals and the society at large. In short: investing in ECD produces
enormous economic gains. According to Heckman, ECD has even a higher rate of return per
dollar invested than interventions directed at older children and adults.
Heckman believes that by preventing the achievement gap, improving health outcomes,
boosting earnings, and providing a high rate of economic return will become the benefits ofinvesting in quality early childhood education for disadvantaged children. Thus, prioritising toinvest in ECD sector to have a better generation in the future is a better choice that countries
need to consider.

The Social Inclusion in ECCE Context Within Society 5.0
The target SDGs 4.2 is one of the examples of a definition of inclusion by providing equal
access to boys and girls. It is expected that education will address all children around theglobe. Referring to the report from World Bank, inclusion means the process of improving theterms for individuals and groups to take part in society and the process of improving the ability,
opportunity, and dignity of people, disadvantaged based on their identity, to take part insociety. Within the equity principle, educators do not attempt to treat all children equally, butinstead, they would ensure that every child will receive different support that would enable
them to have equal access and opportunity to ECCEWe need to discuss social equity in ECCE as education is a tool to dismantle all forms ofracism, prejudice, and hegemonic thought and behaviour (Robinson & Díaz, 2006; Earick,
2009; Daniel & Escayg, 2019; Hall, 2019). Furthermore, The United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child states the aim of educators should be to prepare ‘the child for responsible
life in a free society, in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, andfriendship among all peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of indigenous
origin’ (Save the Children 1997, Article 29. 1d, 109).
The nature of Society 5.0 as a “super-smart society” was preceded by the hunter-gatherer
society (Society 1.0), the agricultural society (Society 2.0), the industrialised society (Society3.0), and the information society (Society 4.0). It is a human-centred society that balances
economic advancement with the resolution of social problems by a system that is highly
integrated cyberspace and physical space. It envisions a sustainable, inclusive socioeconomic system, powered by digital technologies such as big data analytics, AI (Artificial
Intelligence), the Internet of Things, and Robotics. The Japanese government in 2016
proposed “Society 5.0” in the 5th Science and Technology Basic Plan in 2016 (a five-year
national strategy formulated by the Council for Science, Technology, and Innovation).

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2Society 5.0 achieves a high degree of convergence between cyberspace (virtual space)and physical space (real space). In the past information society (Society 4.0), people would
access a cloud service (databases) in cyberspace via the Internet and search for, retrieve,
and analyse information or data. In Society 5.0, a huge amount of information from sensors inphysical space is accumulated in cyberspace. In cyberspace, big data are analysed byartificial intelligence (AI), and the analysis results are fed back to humans in physical space invarious forms.
In the past information society, the common practice was to collect information via the
network and have it analysed by humans. In Society 5.0, however, people, things, and systems
are all connected in cyberspace and optimal results obtained by AI exceeding the capabilitiesof humans are fed back to physical space. This process brings new value to industry andsociety in ways not previously possible.
In the information society (Society 4.0), cross-sectional sharing of knowledge andinformation was not enough, and cooperation was difficult. Also, due to various restrictions on
issues such as a decreasing birthrate and aging population, and local depopulation, it wasdifficult to respond adequately. There are platforms businesses, such as Windows, Amazon,
Facebook, Apple, even the huge receipt site like Cookpad. The platform is provided where
information, products, and other services are made available, and due to its network effect, it
can provide services and functions far beyond those that only one company could provide.
Not to mention, the vast growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) which means connecting thingsother than computers and mobile phones to the internet. For the reason that there is a limitation
to what people can do, the task of finding the necessary information from overflowing
information and analysing it was a burden, and the labour and scope of action were restricted
due to age and varying degrees of ability. In society up to now, a priority has generally beenplaced on social, economic, and organisational systems with the result that gaps have arisen
in products and services that individuals receive based on individual abilities and otherreasons.
In contrast, Society 5.0 achieves advanced convergence between cyberspace andphysical space, enabling AI-based on big data and robots to perform or support as an agent
the work and adjustments that humans have done up to now. This frees humans from everyday
cumbersome work and tasks that they are not particularly good at, and through the creationof new value, it enables the provision of only those products and services that are needed by
the people at the time they are needed, thereby optimising the entire social and organisational
system.

The Challenge of ECCE Inclusive Education for Society 5.0 in Southeast
Asia
Some concerns emerged within the idea of Society 5.0, i.e. the ways we live and work, andthe meanings of work are changed drastically. The environment surrounding young children
will also change a great deal. Furthermore, it is important to create a human-centred society.
Young children will be exposed more to virtual experiences with an increased reality.
Moreover, it is important to create a human-centred society, where every single member willlead a happy and affluent life.
Another challenge is the forms of learning that will be transformed in the new society. This
will be in line with the challenges of ECCE teachers in Southeast Asia at present. Firstly, thehigh disparity of ECE services between urban and rural areas and secondly, that most villages
in some countries do not have an ECE Centre, especially those located in underprivileged,- 75 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2outer-front, and outer-most areas. Thirdly, there is an urgent need for quality ECE teachers,
and finally there are insufficient policy and learning frameworks.
Making sure that all children have the equal access to the ECE services is one of theexamples of how a government can address the disparity issues of ECE between urban andrural areas. Urban areas are most likely to have a good facility for children to access. On topof that, the quality of ECE services is another challenge that developing countries need totackle. The quality disparity of ECE services between rural and urban areas is also one
problem that perhaps is a vicious cycle with the quality of ECE teachers. In many developing
countries, it is obvious that ECE teachers are still the underdeveloped human resource.

Roles and Key Functions of SEAMEO CECCEP to Deal with Inclusive
Education
SEAMEO CECCEP as an organisation within Southeast Asian countries has the mandate
to be a centre of excellence in research, capacity building, and advocacy and partnerships
in ECCE and parenting. It also tries to cope with problems of inclusive education, especiallyin ECCE.
SEAMEO CECCEP takes the part of becoming a research-hub that collects and analyses
data and disseminates information and expertise related to ECCE and parenting within the
SEAMEO Member Countries by, first, expanding access to a quality ECCE by implementing
the result of reports of regional documentation of Innovative Financing Mechanisms andPartnerships on ECCE. Thus, SEAMEO CECCEP has undergone several research projects toaddress issues of access and quality of ECCE services. Regional documentation of innovative
financing mechanisms and partnerships for ECCE in Asia Pacific is one of the examples of thestudy that it collaborates with UNESCO Bangkok. Another pilot study that has been conducted
as a collaboration study with UNESCO Paris is a survey study of teachers in pre-primaryeducation.
Second, providing quality ECCE means better teacher performances. UNESCO Bangkok
and SEAMEO has a guide on ECCE Teacher’s Competency Framework (TCF). Making surethat TCF has been implemented in Southeast Asia is one factor that is improving quality of
ECCE teachers. SEAMEO CECCEP tries to reach many stakeholders of ECCE in Southeast
Asia to promote the programme to elevate access and quality of ECCE services in the region.
By signing a memorandum of understanding with partners such as a university, district andany other relevant partners, SEAMEO CECCEP would like to ensure that there will be better
services in the future.
Third, it equips teachers with understanding, knowledge, and practices of inclusive
education through training, courses on inclusive education in partnerships with other SEAMEO
Centre or other organisations. SEAMEO CECCEP has conducted several trainings for ECCE
teachers in the region. Specifically, the Centre has conducted training in Cambodia, Timor
Leste, Vietnam as well as Indonesia to build a good understanding in ECCE teaching andlearning practices. SEAMEO CECCEP in collaboration with university partners has create
many modules for teachers in many relevant fields of ECCE.

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Way Forwards and Suggestion Concerning Inclusive Education Related
to SDGs 4.2
There is an endeavour of improving access and quality of girls’ education throughcommunity-based early childhood education and early-year gender mainstreaming, through:1. Supporting girls to transition from early childhood education to lower primaryeducation;
2. Supporting the creation of a gender-responsive and safe teaching-learning
environment, free of school-related gender-biased violence;
3. Engaging female and male teachers to develop gender-responsive teaching attitudes
and practices and be change agents; and4. Increasing parents, teachers, and governments’ (national and local) understanding
and commitment in realising gender equality and equity as well as implementing gendermainstreaming education in early years.

References
Cochran, M. (2011). International perspectives on early childhood education. Educational
Policy 25: 65-91.
Daniel, Beverly-Jean J. and Escayg, Kerry-Ann. (2019). "But, I don’t believe it’s about race’:
Challenging fallacies of race and racism amongst early childhood educators in
Ontario," Journal of Curriculum, Teaching, Learning and Leadership in Education:
Vol. 4 : Issue. 2 , Article 3.
Earick, Mary E. (2009). Racially Equitable Teaching Beyond the Whiteness of Professional
Development for early Childhood Educators. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.
Hall, Karen I. (2019). Teaching for Equity and Justice: Methods and Best Practices ofEffective Anti-bias Educators. Webster University: ProQuest Dissertations
Publishing.
Heckman, J. J. (2008). Schools, skills and synapses. Bonn: Institute for the Study of Labor.
Ministers’ Meeting on Human Resource Development for Society 5.0. (2018). Human
Resource Development for Society 5.0: Changes to Society, Changes to Learning,
MEXT. http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/activity/detail/pdf2018/20180605_001.pdfc
Robinson, Kerry H. & Díaz, Criss Jones. (2006). Diversity and Difference in Early Childhood
Education: Issues for Theory and Practice.New York: Open University Press,
McGraw-Hill Education.
Save the Children. (1997). Learning From Experience: Participatory Approaches in SCF.
London: Save the Children.
UNICEF. (2015). Progress for Children Beyond Averages: Learning from the MDGs (11thedition). New York: Division of Communication, UNICEF.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Barriers to Inclusive Education:
A Critical Analysis of Implication of Village Education
Development Committee (VEDCs)’s Participation toward theBorder School Development Project
Dr. Niane Sivongxay
SEAMEO Regional Center for Community Education Development (CED)
Ministry of Education and Sports, Dong Dok, Xaythany District,
P O Box 67, Vientiane, Lao PDR
sivongxain@gmail.com
Ms. Cheanmaly Phonesavanh
SEAMEO Regional Center for Community Education Development (CED)
Ministry of Education and Sports, Dong Dok, Xaythany District,
P O Box 67, Vientiane, Lao PDR
phonesavanhc599@gmail.com

Abstract
This research aims to (1) investigate the level of understanding of Village Education
Development Committee (VEDC) of their roles; (2) determine the effectiveness of VEDCs’
participation in their community and school development; and (3) identify the main obstacle
faced by VEDCs and measures taken to overcome the challenges in Border Schools of four
provinces where the school has a Border with Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, or Cambodia.
The qualitative method was used for data collection through a focus group discussion with
28 VEDC members, semi-structured interviews with 16 members of VEDC, and interviews
with 14 participants from various stakeholders at the fieldwork. The findings showed that
VEDCs are playing some roles in most aspects of the School Development Programme(SDP), especially in rural and remote areas. The VEDCs seem to be active in problem
analysis, identifying priority needs and simple strategies to address the needs of thecommunities. However, there are also challenges in ensuring that all members arecommitted to and capacitated for their roles. This study recommends that SEAMEO CED
should work closely with VEDCs and motivate them to be more effective in supporting
student’s enrolment, improving infrastructure, and making various kinds of contributions toschool development.
Keywords: Border school, community development, village education development,
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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Introduction
Education Law of Lao PDR with reference no. 62/16.07.2015. Article 3 of the Education
Law demonstrated that Village Education Development Committee (VEDC) is one
organisation under the umbrella of the Ministry of Education and Sports which has
responsibility for supporting formal and non-formal education learners and encourages all
people could access education. VEDCs members involved a person who is coming from adiverse relevant organisation. To support the decentralisation process, on 3 September
2008, Ref. No. 2300/MOES.DP.08, Ministerial policy made provision for the establishment of
Village Education Development Committees (VEDCs) to help community people, formal,
non-formal, and informal education leaners. Building on existing work on VEDCs supportingin school development, it identifies the opportunities and barriers that VEDCs are facing andreflected in rural Education Development Programme (Lao People’s Democratic Republic,
2015).
The VEDC seeks to promote a better understanding of education development issues inall provinces among planners, policymakers, academics, and researchers. As education
continues to face increasingly complex challenges of education development, theknowledge base required to inform policy choices has become increasingly important. The
VEDC programme was planned to help promote a more effective link between members andapplication of their roles effectively. VEDCs aims to engage the policy process by
supporting scholarly works that would bring multifaceted perspectives on development
issues and provide new knowledge on the impacts and consequences of policy choices. By
providing resources and opportunities, VEDC could be a potent and active partner in the
education development process. To benefit from the opportunities provided by the model of
VEDC, the Government of the Lao PDR needs to seek best practices of VEDC roles, goodoutcomes of communities, and ensure that all poor household, minorities ethnic group could
access basic education at least in pilot areas of SEAMEO CED Border Schools Project.

Research Question, Objectives and Methods
The main research question of this study is: What are the key challenges for VEDC of theircontribution to improving teaching, the learning environment and linking home and school
cultures?
Based on the key research question above, the objectives of this research are to:1) Critically analyse VEDC’s participation in the management of communities,
VEDCs and their contribution towards achieving the Education Quality
Standards (EQS) at the school level;2) Assess the level of diversity within the VEDC representative structure, with aparticular emphasis on the inclusion of women and mariginalised groups
especially in Border Schools Project;
3) Assess the efficiency and sustainability of VEDC capacity-building approaches
currently being implemented in the country; and
4) Generate lessons and provide recommendations to inform and support therevision of existing VEDC guidelines and the design of upcoming programmes
under the Border Schools Project umbrella that will work in the area of schoolcommunity partnerships/ VEDCs and school-based management.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
Methods
Common qualitative methods such as interview, field work and focus group discussion(Denzin & Lincoln, 1994) were used to collect the data through VEDCs’ formal and informal
meetings. A literature review of the VEDC relationship between communities, school
instructors, and education development stakeholders was done to provide a solidbackground for the study. The study also conducted field work that includes three focus
group discussions with 25 VEDC members, semi-structured interviews with 12 members of
the Village Educational Development Committee as well as 14 participants from various
stakeholders at the local, district, and national level. The data of each Province and Village
have been collected with the Department of Tourism and Culture and from the Chief ofVillages in 2019.

SEAMEO CED partnership with VEDCs
SEAMEO CED cooperates with VEDCs to find ways to promote equitable access to
education for the poor and disadvantaged children at the school level through several
programmes, projects, activities, events, etc. Then, encourage, promote, motivate, provide
assistance, and organise various training workshops, meetings with the management levels
and the communities in order to improve the quality of education through the improvement of
the existing curriculum, new textbook writing, printing textbooks, and nationwide distribution,
train teachers and school managers. Furthermore, the education leaders in four provinces
where schools are located in borders with SEAMEO Member Countries acknowledge
themselves that they have a commitment with SEAMEO CED to develop school andcommunities in certain areas following the mission and vision of SEAMEO CED. Currently,
CED plans to collaborate with other SEAMEO Centres for the:•Provision of usable water supply (drinking and washing water): a pipeline frommountains, pneumatic water sources, wells, etc.;•

Electricity connection where possible;•

Provision of teachers and teaching-learning equipment/ materials;•

Provision of training for VEDCs on how to collect data effectively by using thecollecting data programme, and•Provision of training of leadership, management skills and technical how to deal
with community’s people and so on.

Even though the government provides several programmes of training and theterminology is widely recognised, yet VEDCs in the Border Schools Project have few
chances to access it because geographically they are isolated with no roads, no electricity,and so on to permit access. The SEAMEO Secretariat raised the awareness of the barrier toinclusiveness of the borderland people which was led by SEAMEO CED in partnership withother SEAMEO Centres to explore challenges faced by the school, people in the borderareas and identify in SEAMEO Centres and partners the examples of good practices forproviding an inclusive education for marginalised learners.

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What should VEDCs do in the Border Schools Project?
SEAMEO CED has several missions for the VEDC to help and work effectively at the
SEAMEO CED Border Schools Project. VEDCs in larger or multi-ethnic villages are often notavailing themselves of the existing provision to extend beyond seven members. The ‘statusbased’ VEDC structure promotes its authoritative agency but not necessarily its inclusivity orcontinuity. There are also challenges in ensuring that all members are committed to andcapacitated for their roles. Most VEDCs meet fairly regularly, but not on the monthly basis
recommended in official guidance.
The Three-Year Border Schools Project led by CED has never stopped to find partners
who have the same or similar target to help the community and students in rural remoteareas. Currently, SEAMEO CED has developed partnership with the regional centre of DVVInternational and collaborated with SEAMEO INNOTECH to support VEDC and Community
Learning Centre (CLC) members’ roles to effectively be applied in their communities andhelp the community to eradicate poverty as well as disseminate the best result of theirdevelopment performance models to more villages in Border Schools.
Below is the agreement and support to top-down policies for the VEDC Mission of
SEAMEO CED Border Schools Project.

The role of VEDCs is to:▪
▪
▪
▪

Summarise and study data concerning the various problems of teachers, students,
illiterate persons, schools, equipment and learning/teaching materials.
Create village education development plans; based on the ideas and needs of thevillagers.
Set up procedures for the labour involved in the construction and maintenance of theschool and the school environment and monitor construction, repair and maintenancework.
Facilitate the wider community in - school construction, repairs and maintenance allocation and improvement of classrooms and the school environment - looking after
the lives and wellbeing of the teachers. (Seel, I’Anson, & Lomathmanyvong, 2015).

Moreover, VEDC plays a major role in bringing the positive attitudinal change in people
towards education and in mobilising the community and motivating parents/ guardians tosend their children to schools, especially girls and children from disadvantaged groups.
They are also responsible for school construction and maintenance, purchase of materials,
school mapping and micro-planning exercise, preparation of Village Education Plan andschool management as well as teacher performance. The village education committee
performs activities regarding management and maintenance of the schools and isparticularly useful in monitoring and supervision of primary schools (MoES, 2013).

VEDCs’ Support to Equitable Access and Inclusion
In support of equitable access and inclusion, the VEDCs roles are to:▪
▪
▪

Collect data on the total number of households and poor households.
Collect data on school-aged children (and illiterate adults), specific situations, etc.,
disaggregated by gender and ethnicity.
Promote education for children and adults who have never yet studied, or who
dropped out from studying regularly, especially females and members of ethnic
groups.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2▪
▪
▪

Advise on food that is healthy according to the nutritional principles.
Monitor the attendance of children, especially with respect to absenteeism, so as toconsult their parents or guardians in order to find a solution.
Promote the vocational skills of the community and young people by promoting
traditional arts and handicrafts and the establishment of income generation groups.

The wider community should:▪

Collect statistics on school-aged children in the village, assist poor children, send
their children to school regularly, check the number of students with class teachers,
watch out for children not going to school (Seel, I’Anson, & Lomathmanyvong, 2015).

A key function of the VEDC is to support and encourage access to education and to
reduce the dropout of children from school. A central strategy that is stipulated in thecollection of disaggregated data on household membership, which has the potential not only
to increase enrolment but also reduce inequalities related to gender, poverty, remotelocation, or other factors. Frequent interactions with the community including visits tochildren’s homes are also encouraged.

VEDCs’ Support for Teaching/ Quality
Roles of VEDCs to support quality teaching are to:
▪
▪

▪
▪

Create lists of qualified and unqualified teachers, persons able to assist teachers andschool principals, and teachers’ needs.
Take the various issues involved with learning and teaching for consultation with thevillagers, teachers, and students so that they may together seek out solutions
according to actual circumstances and the capacity of the village without having to relyon superior levels.
Organise activities for students to improve and repair the school, to purchase learningand teaching equipment, and to assist teachers when in difficulty.
Set up storytelling and the telling of local fables and legends (potentials/heritage) andthe cultural, material, and psychological ways [of their village] by village elders,teachers, and educated persons of the village families.

Areas for wider community participation for monitoring and assisting teachers in theirteaching:▪
▪
▪

Monitor the punctuality of teachers with respect to their teaching hours, check whether
or not the days off taken by teachers are in accordance with the officially issued
calendar.
For those with knowledge or expertise in a field that is suitable for the subject or lesson
being taught, assist the teachers (especially in the teaching of local curricula).
Assist teachers in the production of teaching equipment and so forth (Seel, I’Anson, &Lomathmanyvong, 2015).

Strategies to Improve Teaching and Learning
The following are the strategies to improve teaching and learning:▪ Encouraging children’s regular attendance,▪ Monitoring teacher attendance,- 83 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2▪
▪
▪
▪

Food and accommodation support for teachers,
Provision of materials for teaching-learning resources,
Extra-curricular activities for children, andEncouraging different contributions from the community to improve the learning
environment.

VEDC has received insufficient investment to effectively fulfil its mandated roles. The
report on Basic Education notes that ‘the effectiveness of VEDCs seems to rest on a range offactors, including the capacity and education levels of its members, as well as thegeographic and cultural cohesiveness of the village. Whilst there is some evidence of the
impact of strengthened VEDCs on community awareness of girls’ education and increased
support to schools and teachers, there continue to be significant challenges in ensuring
regular and meaningful community participation, especially with regards to moredisadvantaged community members. SEAMEO CED planned and tried to fill the gap by
seeking partnerships in domestic, regional and international areas that the Border Schools
Project could access.

SEAMEO CED Border Schools Project: A Brief Review
SEAMEO CED has been working on the SEAMEO Flagship Border Schools Project. The
Border Schools Project is an Inter-Centre Collaboration that has important origins in
Sustainable Development Goal 4 “to achieve equitable and quality education and promote
lifelong learning opportunities for all” as well as SEAMEO priority area number 2 “addressing
barriers to inclusion and access to basic learning opportunities for all learners throughinnovation in education delivery and management.” The project is currently supported byboth the Ministry of Education and Sports in Lao PDR as well as the SEAMEO Secretariat.
The Border Schools Project was initiated by SEAMEO Secretariat and led by SEAMEOCED to address some of the challenges by (1) developing an understanding of thechallenges faced by border schools; and (2) addressing the problems of inequity andaccess to quality education for marginalised communities of SEAMEO Member Countries.
Some of the key focus areas of the Border Schools Project include teaching and school
capacity development, increased community involvement and engagement, and thedevelopment of networks and resources (including partnerships between VEDC and
SEAMEO CED).
In the early year of 2019, SEAMEO CED organised an international workshop forpresenting the issues and challenges that exist in the Border Schools.

Challenges and Opportunity in Border School Development ProjectOver the last two years, SEAMEO CED has been emerging as a research, coordinationand training organisation that demonstrates leadership in community education
development via community-driven research projects connecting education with socioeconomic community priorities. The organisation’s mandate covers both formal, non-formal
and informal education contexts with a significant focus on livelihood development andlifelong learning.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
Many SEAMEO Member Countries share their borderlands yet the quality of education
received in border schools is generally poor and compounded by factors such as
remoteness, poor infrastructure and services, low household and community income, lowhuman capacity and cross-border migration. Significant attention has been paid to actively
improve and enhance the quality of education and health in border communities to achieve
the SDGs. Border regions also represent significant economic and social opportunities interms of commercial agriculture and eco and cultural tourism especially in the Myanmar-Lao
province of Bokeo and Laos-Vietnam province of Houaphan. Investment in education is a
key element to enable border communities to take advantage of these opportunities but also
drive the social and economic development of Lao PDR into the future.
In order to better understand the specific challenges of each community, a pilot study
was conducted during the year 2019 with school teachers, managers and district office staff.
With this they are in better position to understand their main opportunities and constraints
and existing resourcing. Some of the common issues faced by border schools included:teaching and education management capacity (for example, teachers received on average
about 1.2 training opportunities in eight years). Other challenges include multi-gradeteaching, teaching in Lao as a second language and limited knowledge to teach specificsubject areas. Moreover, there is a lack of school infrastructure, cross-border land for tradeand motivation from their society.
Some potential project activities were identified including training activities anddevelopment opportunities in schools to integrate agricultural knowledge into developing theschool, village development committee, and community collaboration. The pilot study also
identified issues specific to primary schools including unique multi-grade teaching
challenges; inappropriate enrolment ages (such as late enrolment ages); smaller student
numbers and competing economic activity. There are also additional issues specific tolower secondary schools including decreasing teacher training opportunities, limited
community engagement and family support for schooling; pressure to earn economic
incomes and the perception that education does not provide economic and job
opportunities. Many of these issues are socio-cultural as much as they are poverty-related.
The findings of the pilot were confirmed by representatives from the border schools
themselves including Ban Dan and Ban Duey Schools in Houaphan Province who
highlighted some of their current opportunities and resources as well as challenges
including limited parental support and the need to develop strategic planning and school
management skills. Houay San and Phadam schools in Bokeo Province had similar
challenges, and Kengkang Primary and Nonsamphanh School in Champasak identified theneed to develop teaching resources and to build teaching skills in specific subjects.
Santhong Lower Secondary School in Vientiane Capital identified the need to develop theircapacity in specific subjects and highlighted the value of working with parents to support
school attendance.
The visit to Samphanna Lower Secondary School Border with Thailand highlighted theimportant role of students, families, and the community in ensuring that schooling is apositive experience. The students demonstrated that many of them face the challenge ofmanaging “double identities”. This mismatch creates significant issues in terms of the
movement of students for economic reasons to support their families. It was also clear that
more work needs to be done in order to develop a better understanding of the aspirations
and motivations of students and families. The project also created a space to match theneeds of Border Schools with existing capacity and skills within SEAMEO Centre’s in orderto develop a way forward via a joint planning session identifying amongst other things areas
for collaboration and where more research is required.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
In order to address some of these issues, a trial of student activities was carried out at
Namsang Secondary School in Santhong District in order to connect agricultural students
from the National University of Laos (NUOL) with some of the current livelihood concerns
identified in Santhong District, Vientiane Capital. A series of activities were carried out from
6-10 May 2019 in conjunction with school students to demonstrate practical agriculturalscience-based activities that had practical value for the community. The main objectives of
the activities were to promote learning and awareness as well as introduce students to clean
agriculture – including compost and animal feed production as well as simple foodprocessing from local plants. In subsequent interviews, many students from Namsang
School reported the value of these practical activities that did not occur often in thecommunity – enabling them to not only build their knowledge and skills but also enjoy new
friendships. A total of 337 students enthusiastically participated in the activities which were
well supported by teachers who commented on how they wished that activities occurred
over a longer time frame and requested annual activities in the future.

Issues in Broder Schools: Case Study Contexts
Findings in Huaphanh Province
In Huaphanh Province, where the School Border with three Provinces of Vietnam islocated in the northern part of Lao PDR and is about 650 Kilometers from Vientiane Capital.
It is an upland province and is covered by forest (76%), mountain (16%) and rice fields(8%). A total 13.44% of households are one of the poorest in Lao PDR. It has one of thehighest rates of multigrade classrooms (62 % in 2015) in Laos.
Viengxay District is located in the Northeast of Huaphan Province and is 28 kilometersfrom the Huaphan Province centre. Viengsay District has 14 village clusters, 104 villages,
5,782 households and 7,070 families with a total population of 32, 647 People. There are five
major ethnic groups (Thaideng 58.85%; Lao 14.76%’; Kamu 14.30%, Hmong 9.30%; Emien
2.35%).
Ban Dan and Ban Duey Primary Schools are located in Viengxay District Huaphan
Province and are rural communities heavily reliant on agricultural production and livestock.
The school has major multigrade classroom issues. For example, grades 1-2-3 study in thesame class and grades 4-5 are in the other class. The school has a temporary building thatwas located in the centre of the village.
The number of challenges of Ban Dan, Ban Deuy are listed as follows: (1) Director lacks
strategic plans and management skills, (2) Teachers lack management and multi gradeteaching skills, (3) Lack of teacher guidelines, students guide books, toys, and equipment tofacilitate teaching and learning, (4) Village Education Development Committee’s inactivity toapply their roles and responsibilities, and (5) Parents’ reliance on only teachers to teach theirkids at school, and lacking motivation and encouragement for their kids to go to school thus,
students’ learning outcomes remain low.
Findings in Bokeo Province
Bokeo Province is located in the Northern Province in the west-east of Laos. It is locatedabout 894 km from Vientiane Capital, with 70% of the total area is mountainous. Bokeo
shares a border with Thailand and Myanmar. The province is generally poor.
Merng district is in the west-east of Bokeo Province has five village clusters with 28
villages, with 15,754 people. There are eight ethnic groups in Merng: Leu 22.10%, Lahoo
44.25%, Ahka 16.94%, Hmong 6.88%, Kmu 2.70%, Ill-mien 2.60%, Lamead 1.9%, andYuan 3.20%.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
The major issues that were faced by the school include: (1) Grade 5 students’ low chance
to reach to Grade 6; (2) low transition rate between grades; (3) high drop-out rate as
students follow their parents to production fields; (4) teachers’ limited teaching skills andlack of knowledge; (5) lack of resources such as library and books; and (6) parents’ inability
to speak the Lao language.
Findings in Vientiane Capital
Vientiane Capital, the capital city of Laos has a total area of 3,920 square kilometres. The
population is about 900,000 and the average density is 200 people per one meter. The
landscape is mostly river plain and there are two main rivers the Mekong and Nam Ngum
which shared the border with Thailand. Vientiane capital consists of nine districts and some
districts are located on shared traditional and international borders with Thailand.
Sangthong district is located in the centre of Vientiane to the northwest which is about 55
kilometers and has 35 villages (with 13 villages along the Lao-Thai border). The populationof Santhong is 30,747 and consists of three ethnic groups which are Lao lom, Kuemmu andHmong. There are seven secondary schools, two lower secondary schools, primary schools,
10 preschools and 10 kindergarten schools.
Schools in this district face some challenges that include: (1) poor learning outcomes ofstudents (2) lack of teaching experiences for some subject teachers; (3) insufficient teachingmaterials; (4) insufficient teachers’ office space; (5) lack of water for gardening; and (6) lackof school infrastructures such as school fences.
Findings in Champasack ProvinceChampasack Province is located in the Southern Part of Laos and it is around 700 km awayfrom Vientiane Capital city. It has a land area of 153,500 ha, and population of 714, 364.
Champasak Province shares a border with Thailand and Cambodia.
Sukuma District is located far from the city of Champasak around 64 kilometers, and has
six groups of education which include 56 villages and the total population is 56,000. There
are three ethnic groups such as: Lao 76.9 %; Suay 22.39 %; Khmer 0.65 %.
Phonthong District is located far from the city of Champasak along the South around two
kilometers, it has nine groups of villages which include 71 villages. The total number of
populations is 99,374 (women 50,745) which include two ethnic groups.
The border schools in both districts have many challenges such as (1) Grade 5 students’
low chance of reaching Lower Secondary Education Level due to parents’ inability tosupport further education; (2) weakness of students in Lao language, mathematics, English
and others; (3) students in low socioeconomic status with parents who do not understandhow education is important for their children; (4) lack of learning and teaching materials; (5)school’s inaccessibility, especially those who live far; and (6) VEDC lack of involvement ineducation development.

Discussion
The findings have demonstrated that to respond to the challenges in the border schools,
VEDC has taken their roles. VEDCs seem to be active in problem analysis, identifying priority
needs, and simple strategies to address the needs of the communities. However, there arealso challenges in ensuring that all members are committed to and capacitated for theirroles. Most VEDCs meet fairly regularly, but not on the monthly basis as recommended in
official guidance.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
Moreover, due to lack of access to training programme for their capacity building, VEDCs
have not yet fully grasped, much less, fulfilled their roles and responsibilities in theircommunities.
In addition to top-down policies, it has received insufficient investment from thegovernment. Additionally, the members of VEDC have focused more on their family businessfor their livelihood.
Furthermore, the study also found that Border School students are often affected byoutside factors that are beyond their control including human trafficking, cross-border illegal
works, and illegal trading. On the other hand, community school infrastructure remains poor,
the school lacks teachers in some subjects, and students lack of encouragement from theirparents and communities. This study recommends that stakeholders should work closelywith VEDCs and motivate them to be more effective in supporting student’s enrolment,
improving infrastructure, and making various kinds of contributions to school development.

Conclusion
Given the role of the SEAMEO CED in running a number of community-based activities including vocational, basic education and literacy pieces of training, developing teachingmaterials, capacity building of school leaders, teachers and curricula on various themes, upskilling of Master trainers, providing adult education training across sectors and providing
monitoring and evaluation from SEAMEO Secretaries - it is well placed to design andimplement a pilot project for ‘Promoting Community-based for Sustainable Development in
Asia and the Pacific’. VEDCs is another partnership to support communities in embedding
quality learning in their pursuit of sustainable development. The implementation process isevaluated and recommendations for improving the Border Schools Project are developed
and provided to SEAMEO member’s countries to be applied in responding to theirborderland countries issues.

References
Denzin, N.K., and Lincoln, Y.S. (Eds.). (1994). Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage.
Lao People’s Democratic Republic. (2015). Education Law (No. 133 of 2015). Retrieved
from https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail?p_isn=100539&p_lang=en
MoES. (2013). Lao VEDC Guideline Book.
Seel, A., I’Anson, A. and Lomathmanyvong, S. (2015). Village Education Development
Committees in Lao PDR: Their functionality and impact. Retrieved from: https://planinternational.org/sites/files/plan/media_wysiwyg/plan-lao-educationvillageeducationdevelopmentcommittees-analysis-eng-mar15.pdf- 88 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Educational Cooperation through SEAMEO in JapanMr. Yoshihide MIWA
Director, Office for International Strategy Planning,
International Affairs Division, Minister’s Secretariat,
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT)
y-miwa@mext.go.jp

Abstract
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) has been
actively collaborating with SEAMEO to support the development of education, science, andculture in the Southeast Asia region since the 1970s. This paper presents the history ofcooperation with SEAMEO by the Japanese government. The MEXT’s educational
cooperation programmes, namely, “SEAMEO-Japan ESD Award” and “Programme of
Dispatching Experts” by the MEXT are introduced and plans for Japan’s further cooperation
with SEAMEO are focused.
Keywords: Education cooperation, SEAMEO-Japan ESD Award, MEXT, Programme of
Dispatching Experts

Introduction
The Japanese government currently provides a broad range of cooperation to Southeast
Asia in the area of education that includes high school and university student exchanges, theinternationalisation of higher education, and educational cooperation through the Japan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA). In this paper, we focus exclusively on cooperation
through SEAMEO.
The Japanese government’s cooperation with SEAMEO began in 1970 with the dispatch ofJapanese experts to SEAMEO by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). Between 1970 and
1997, MOFA cooperated with SEAMEO in various ways, including dispatching Japaneseexperts, supporting the SEAMEO Educational Development Fund, providing aid for thepurchase of equipment, and protecting cultural heritage.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has
participated as an observer in the SEAMEO Governing Board since 1977. Later, in 2011,
MEXT launched two educational cooperation programmes for SEAMEO — the SEAMEOJapan ESD Award (SEAMEO, 2020) and Programme of Dispatching Experts.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
In addition to these Japanese government initiatives, the University of Tsukuba has been
providing educational cooperation, particularly in science and mathematics, since 2009 as anaffiliate member of SEAMEO.

SEAMEO-Japan ESD Award
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) aims to nurture future leaders insustainability by providing the kind of education that encourages people to view global issues
as their own and equips them with the ability to think and act for themselves to tackle thoseissues (UNESCO, 2020).
At the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg in 2002, Japan’s
then Prime Minister KOIZUMI Junichiro proposed the ESD initiative; in the same year, theUnited Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005–2014) was adopted
at the 57th Annual General Assembly held in New York. ESD has been pursued subsequently
by UNESCO within the frameworks of the Global Action Programme on Education for
Sustainable Development (GAP, 2015–2019) and ESD for 2030 (2020–2030).
In 2012, MEXT and SEAMEO started the SEAMEO-Japan ESD Award with the following
objectives:
1. To raise awareness of ESD in schools and communities across Southeast Asia;
2. To promote ESD best practices in schools and communities across Southeast Asia;
3. To share and exchange knowledge and best practices on ESD in schools acrossSoutheast Asia and Japan;
4. To encourage networking among schools and communities which implement ESD
practices in Southeast Asian countries and Japan; and5. To support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the United Nations.
Under this programme, MEXT and SEAMEO set an ESD-related theme each year, and the
SEAMEO Secretariat calls for schools in member countries to submit applications describing
initiatives that match the given theme. The judging committee screens all of the applications
and selects the most impressive three initiatives for the award of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prizes at aceremony held at SEAMEO’s headquarters in Bangkok. The 1st prize is a cash award of USD
1,500, the 2nd prize USD 1,000, and the 3rd prize USD 500. This programme attracted a totalof 617 applications between 2012 and 2019.
The themes of the SEAMEO-Japan ESD Award from 2012 to 2020 are as follow:
・2012: Education for Disaster Risk Reduction・2013: Values Education・2014: Fostering Global Citizenship for Sustainable Future・2015: Safeguarding our Cultural Traditions
・2016: Saving Energy
・2017: Improving Health and Nutrition
・2018: Applying Local Wisdom for Environmental Conservation
・2019: Building Peace in Schools and Communities
・2020: Addressing Plastic Problems for Transforming Communities
Examples of activities provided to the winners are given of the Award winners in 2018 and2019 below.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Figure 1. Theme for 2019: Building Peace in Schools and Communities

1st Prize: South Hill School, Incorporated (Philippines)
Title of the school’s programme: Kindness for PEACEMEXT also invites several teachers and students from schools that win the 1st Prize toJapan for a study tour. Participants in these tours learn about Japan’s education and culture
through visits to MEXT, UNESCO Associated Schools, historical sites, museums, and otherfacilities. Visits to UNESCO Associated Schools are particularly worthwhile for they enable thestudents of both countries to interact. UNESCO Associated Schools are the schools that
support peace and international cooperation to achieve UNESCO’s purpose as shown in its
Constitution. It is this purpose that underpins the promotion of ESD. There are approximately
11,500 UNESCO Associated Schools in 182 countries and territories worldwide, including
1,120 schools in Japan as of November 2019 (UNESCO Associated Schools Network, 2019).

Figure 2. 2018 1st prize winner: Widya Mukti Vocational School (Indonesia)
March 2019 Japan Study Tour and Visit Shimofusa High School (UNESCO Associated
School) in Chiba Prefecture

Programme of Dispatching Experts
In 2011, MEXT launched the Programme of Dispatching Experts under which Japaneseexperts are dispatched to conduct training, symposiums, and other activities based onrequests from SEAMEO Regional Centres. A total of 51 experts were dispatched to 13- 91 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
SEAMEO Centres from 2011 to 2019. Their areas of expertise included mathematics, science,
history, tropical biology, ICT, and special support for students with disabilities.

Figure 3. Workshop on Computational Thinking through Designed-based in Classroom

Context, November 2019 at SEAMEO QITEP in Science

Conclusion
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were unanimously adopted at the UN’s
Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015, are a set of 17 global goals to beachieved by 2030 for creating a sustainable, diverse, and inclusive society that leaves no one
behind.
The Japanese government is working to achieve the SDGs both domestically andinternationally and is pursuing ESD as one of its initiatives (MOFA, 2020). MEXT will continue
to serve as an observer in SEAMEO and help to improve the quality of education in Southeast
Asia by promoting the spread of ESD, training educators, and developing curricula andteaching materials through the SEAMEO-Japan ESD Award and Expert Dispatch Programme.

References
SEAMEO. (2020). 2020 SEAMEO-Japan ESD Award. Retrieved fromhttps://www.seameo.org/Main_programme/213
UNESCO (2020): Education for Sustainable Development. Retrieved fromhttps://en.unesco.org/themes/education-sustainable-development
UNESCO Associated Schools Network. (2019). Retrieved fromhttps://aspnet.unesco.org/en-us
MOFA. (2020). JAPAN SDGs Action Platform. Retrieved fromhttps://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/oda/sdgs/index.html- 92 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Inclusive Education and Globalisation: Perspective in
University of Tsukuba
Dr. Nomura P. Nakao
Director, Division of International Exchange Support, Global Commons
Regional Director for Southeast Asia and Taiwan, Office of Global Initiatives
Associate Professor, Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences
University of Tsukuba, JAPANnomura.nakao.fa@u.tsukuba.ac.jp

Abstract
The University of Tsukuba was established as a core institution for higher education in linewith Tsukuba Science City, which is the largest science city in Japan. The University ofTsukuba is also well known as an institution with a strong background in education. Creationof knowledge is the most important mission in university and inclusive education andglobalisation is essential to provide the opportunity for education and research for more
people and this would lead to sustainable creation of knowledge. Several activities towards
globalisation and inclusive education have been implemented at the University of Tsukuba.
Keywords: Inclusive education, globalisation, sustainable development

Introduction
Globalisation and inclusive education have been widely picked up as important issues formany higher education institutions in Asia (Nomura, 2015; Song, 2016). In Japan, many
universities put ‘creation of knowledge’ as a general mission to be a higher education
institution and activities for education and research are set to be in line with this mission.
Among activities in universities, human resource development is one the most important items
because human resources could be an important form of knowledge as well as an asset tosupport the continuous creation of knowledge in the future.
In Japan, the style for human resource development needs to be reformed due to thedecrease of 18 years old population (Nomura, 2020). Japanese universities are trying very
hard to strengthen globalisation and inclusive education to keep sustainable creation ofknowledge. In this article, activities for globalisation and inclusive education at the Universityof Tsukuba are going to be introduced.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
The University of Tsukuba was opened as the core higher education institution in Tsukuba
Science City, which was established as the largest hub of sciences and technologies in Japan
in 1970. The University of Tsukuba has also nearly 100 years of history as a university focusing
on higher education located in Tokyo and its origin is Tokyo Higher Normal School. Since theUniversity of Tsukuba has strength both in science/technology and education, activities
introduced in this article could serve as a good practice for many higher education institutions
in Southeast Asia.

Academic activities towards nurturing ‘Global Human Resources’
The University of Tsukuba is known as a globally opened university. This can be observedin a high ratio of international students over domestic Japanese students as well as the numberof degree programmes that are taught all in English. The ratio of international students at the
University of Tsukuba reached the highest among that in other public universities in Japan in
2017. Actually, the number of international students has been rapidly increasing since 2010.
One of the epoch-making events for this was a national project called ‘Global 30’ launched by
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan in 2009 (MEXT,
2009). This project was aiming to boost up the number of inbound international students inJapanese universities. Through strict screening by MEXT, 13 universities (seven public andsix private universities) were selected as the proponent for the project as well as the recipientof government subsidy (Table 1).
Table 1. Universities under ‘Global’ 30 Project
National Universities (7)Private Universities (6)Tohoku University

Keio University

University of Tsukuba

Sophia University

University of Tokyo

Meiji University

Nagoya University

Waseda University

Osaka University

Ritsummeikan University

Kyoto University

Doshisha University

Kyushu University
Activities implemented under the Global 30 included overseas student recruitment, careerdevelopment for international students during the study in Japan, opening overseas branch
offices, etc. Among several activities, the action which all 13 universities took was opening
degree programmes that were all taught in English. This is because all 13 universities realisedthat the reason that international students were not selecting Japanese universities was thenecessity to have Japanese language proficiency to study in a degree programme inJapanese universities. At the University of Tsukuba, three bachelor programmes were openedin line with launching the Global 30 project, and three more bachelor programmes targeting
inbound international students have been opened until 2019 (Table 2).

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
Table 2. Bachelor’s Degree Programme offered for Inbound International Students

by University of Tsukuba
Interdisciplinary Programme for Life and Environmental Sciences<Biological Sciences, Agro-Biological Resource Sciences, Geo
Science>
Undergraduate Programme for International and Social Studies<International Studies, Social Studies>
Undergraduate Education Programme for Medical Sciences<Medical Sciences>
Bachelor’s Programme for Global Issues

Japan-Expert Programme<Japanese Language, Agronomist, Health Care. Japanese Art>
Bachelor’s Programme in Interdisciplinary Engineering<Natural Science, Engineering>

It is reported that the Global 30 project was successful in increasing the number of inboundinternational students in Japan. At the University of Tsukuba, the number of inboundinternational students increased from 1,442 (as of 2008) to 2,732 (as of 2017) (Nomura, 2020)as shown in Figure 1.
3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0

Figure 1. Total number of inbound international students in University of Tsukuba- 95 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
At the University of Tsukuba, opening bachelor programmes that are all taught in English
are not only for inbound international students for four-year degree but also for exchange
students from overseas partner universities with an academic agreement.

350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0

Figure 2. Total number of inbound international short-term exchange students in Universityof Tsukuba
Before having a bachelor's degree programme that is all in English, exchange students
from partner universities were mainly students majoring in Japanese language/culture or
students who would like to conduct graduation thesis research with instruction by a hostprofessor at the University of Tsukuba. However, after opening bachelor’s degree
programmes that are all in English, students in various majors were admitted to the Universityof Tsukuba as exchange students (Figure 2).
If we can define inclusiveness in inclusive education as the provision of educational
opportunity across borders, it can be said that degree programmes receiving lots ofinternational students at the University of Tsukuba are contributing to strengthening inclusive
education (University of Tsukuba, 2015).

Educational Programme for Inclusive Education
As can be seen in the origin of the University of Tsukuba as Tokyo Higher Normal School,
the University of Tsukuba has a long history in education as a study field in university. Inclusive
education has also been practiced since its foundation. In this section, programmes forinclusive education are being introduced.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
College of Disable Sciences
As a bachelor’s degree programme with a major in special education, the University ofTsukuba has a College of Disable Sciences (University of Tsukuba, 2020). This college isaiming to develop human resources who can contribute to human life and society by providing
students with opportunities to study disability scientifically, as well as education about specificforms of support for people with disabilities, and the foundations of such support, as well as
the essential features of being human.
Doctoral Programme in Disability Sciences
The University of Tsukuba also provides a degree programme for graduate school level inthe field of disability sciences. Doctoral Programme in Disability Sciences provides
opportunities for facilitating research on various disability-related practical issues such as
researchers and educators with advanced research and education on the disability sciences.
This programme is aiming to nurture professionals with high-level expertise who can perform
and provide research, education, and instruction. Faculty members of this programme arewith a wide range of expertise in the disability sciences from fundamental theory to practice.
Early Completion Doctoral Programme
In Japan, the demand for recurrent education for people in business sectors is increasing(University of Tsukuba, 2020b). Particularly, people handling business projects which need ahigh level of skills or knowledge tend to come back to pursue doctoral degrees to do researchstudies that could bring benefit to their projects. However, challenges for people in thebusiness sector to be admitted into a doctoral programme is time availability to commit todegree study for several years. The University of Tsukuba provides a doctoral degree
programme targeting those people. This doctoral programme is called the ‘Early Completion
Doctoral Programme’ and is provided for applicants with certain achievements (checked in
entrance selection procedures) in academic research. The doctoral degree could becompleted in a minimum of one year (maximum three years). The programme also provides
academic courses to gain capacity in terms of communication skills and global understanding
as a postdoctoral researcher. Fields of study covered by this programme are Pure & Applied
Sciences, System and Information Engineering, Life & Environmental Sciences as well as
Business Sciences.
Degree Programmes taught in English
As mentioned in the introduction, the University of Tsukuba offers several bachelor
programmes targeting mainly international students. At the graduate school level, there are
more programmes that are all taught in English. Since most graduate programmes in Japanare research-oriented (not course work-oriented), study for Master’s or doctoral degree canbe done as long as communication with the research supervisor and thesis committee, andthe thesis can be done in English. There are 20 Master’s programmes and 6 six doctoral
programmes that are all taught in English. In addition to this, there are several double/joint
degree programmes with partner universities abroad (University of Tsukuba, 2020a).
Diversity, Accessibility and Career (DAC) Center
The University of Tsukuba has an organization to facilitate the campus with inclusive
education. This organisation is called Diversity, Accessibility and Career (DAC) Center whose
staff are composed of both administrative and teaching staff (University of Tsukuba, 2020c).
The Head of the Center is an executive director of the university, which is one of the members- 97 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2of the university’s management committee. DAC Center is promoting mutual understanding
about gaps due to gender, generation, nationality, and disabilities. DAC Center provides
comprehensive supports for students/staff/faculties with disabilities, development andorientation of career for students and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender).

Conclusion
As can be seen in a drastic increase in the number of inbound international students,
globalisation at the University of Tsukuba has been progressing with the introduction of several
activities for inclusive education. The increase of people with a different background in culture
and language has brought opportunities to bring more changes to the university campus.
Differently from universities in Japanese metropolitans such as Tokyo or Osaka, most inboundinternational students can be accommodated in on-campus housing or residence hall very
near from university campus. This situation has brought changes to the campus living
environment to be more barrier-free and borderless.

References
Ministry of Education Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT). (2009).
“Global 30 Project -Project for Establishing University Network for Internationalization”
https://www.mext.go.jp/component/a_menu/education/detail/__icsFiles/afieldfile/201
7/03/30/1383779_06.pdf
Ministry of Education Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT). (2015). “TopGlobal University Project Japan”. Retrieved from https://tgu.mext.go.jp/en/
Nomura, N. (2020). A New Dimension of Student Mobility between Japan and Southeast Asia
through the AIMS Programme. Higher Education in Southeast Asia and Beyond, 5-9,
Issue 9.
Nomura, N. (2015). Study Abroad Programme with Brazilian Government Scholarship ‘Science
without Boarders’: Globalization through Brazilian Government Scholarship
Programme. Ryugaku Koryu, 58-62, vol.8
Song, J. (2016). Inclusive Education in Japan and Korea – Japanese and Korean Teachers’
Self-efficiency and Attitudes towards Inclusive Education. Journal of Research inSpecial Educational Need, 643-648, Volume 16, Number s1
University of Tsukuba. (2015). Creating a Transborder University for a Brighter Future(Initiatives for Top Global University Project by University of Tsukuba). Retrieved fromhttps://www.tsukuba.ac.jp/en/activity/topglobal.html#start
University of Tsukuba. (2020a). Programmes taught in English by University of Tsukuba.
Retrieved from http://www.global.tsukuba.ac.jp/study
University of Tsukuba. (2020b). Early Completion Doctoral Programme. Retrieved fromhttps://www.souki.tsukuba.ac.jp/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2020/12/leaflet2020.pdf
University of Tsukuba. (2020c). DAC (Diversity, Accessibility Career) center. Retrieved fromhttp://dac.tsukuba.ac.jp/- 98 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Building International Learning Networks for ESD and SDGs:
A Case Study of Collaboration Among High Schools
in Japan and ASEAN
Mr. Yoshikazu Tatemoto
Chief teacher, Senior High School at Sakado, University of Tsukuba
tatemoto.yoshikaz.fm@un.tsukuba.ac.jp

Abstract
This article highlights the importance of building international learning networks for ESD and
SDGs. As the world becomes increasingly globalised, it is important to build a global network
among high schools in order to realise the universal, inclusive and integrated educational
activities raised in the SDGs of the UN. The University of Tsukuba (UT) and its laboratory
school, the Senior High School at Sakado (UTSS), have held international symposiums incooperation with universities and their laboratory schools in Indonesia, Thailand, and thePhilippines, and established an international network through JICA's overseas teacher
dispatch programme. This has led to international collaborative learning among high school
students and the continued holding of international symposiums for high school students.
UTSS became the first school in Japan to accept the SEA-teacher pilot project in 2020, basedon its experience in collaborating with ASEAN countries. The programme has not only been ateaching practice with international experience and networks but has also led to teacher
training at host schools, as well as the promotion of international understanding among highschool students. In order to build a sustainable society and realise world peace in the future,
it is hoped that the acceptance of these types of inter-country training will increase.
Keywords: High schools, ESD, SDGs, collaborative learning, SEA-teacher

Introduction
In Japanese high schools, two major projects on global education are currently being
implemented by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).
The first is the "Super Global High School Project" (SGH), which was launched in FY 2014(https://sgh.b-wwl.jp/en/). The second is the "Support for the establishment of the World Wide
Learning Consortium" (WWL), which has been implemented since FY 2019 (https://bwwl.jp/base_en/). In both projects, each school is required to deepen cooperation with
universities, international organisations, etc., to set specific global social issues such assustainable development goals (SDGs), and to make efforts for learning in problem solving. In
order to realise these goals, it is important for high schools to have opportunities to collaborate
with various stakeholders and to train high school teachers in international education.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
In this context, many high schools in Japan are considering building an international networkwith overseas institutions. A number of cases have been reported in which Japanese and
ASEAN universities have collaborated, wherein teachers and students have visited high schools
in the countries to conduct classes at high schools (Cuong, et al., 2016; Nomura, et al., 2018).
However, there have been few reports of high schools taking the initiative in building
international networks and promoting global education for high school students, or of activities
in which high school students collaborate with each other.
In this paper, I present two examples of building international high school networks, namely:(1) an international network in cooperation with universities; and (2) an international network
created by JICA’s Teacher Dispatch Programme. As examples of the development of theinternational network, this paper shows the development of international collaborative learning,
the holding of international symposiums mainly for high school students, and participation ininternational teacher training programmes such as the acceptance of the SEA-teacher pilot
project. Based on the above, I summarised the importance of building international networks
for ESD and SDG in high schools.

Building an international network through collaboration between
universities and its laboratory schools
UTSS has been designated as SGH and WWL, which foster global education. In particular,
UTSS collaborates with laboratory schools of universities of ASEAN countries in coordination
with UT. In 2008, UT, in cooperation with the Bogor Agricultural University in Indonesia (IPB),
started a collaborative project with MEXT to develop environmental education materials using
bamboo charcoal at Lab school SMA Kornita. Thereafter, the "Laboratory School Teachers
Forum" was held at the Tsukuba International Agriculture ESD Symposium in 2010, which wasattended in by laboratory schoolteachers from four countries (Ardales Jr., 2011; Widodo, 2011;
Techakosit, 2011; Tatemoto, 2011). Guided by international exchange among universities, thelaboratory schools commenced international cooperation agreements via teachers andstudents exchanges; the conduct of international symposiums, mainly composed of high school
students; and the development of international collaborative learning programmes, as shown in
Figure 1.

Figure 1. International Learning Network of High Schools in Japan (UTSS) and ASEAN- 100 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
Table 1 summarises the partnership agreements concluded with each country over the past
five years. UTSS has already been in contact with Kornita for 10 years, with active collaborative
learning in SGH and WWL. In addition, exchanges with the University of the Philippines RuralHigh School (UPRHS) and Kasetsart University Lab School (KULS) have deepened, which
include mutual support for graduation research activities and the acceptance of one-year study
abroad programmes for students. After COVID-19, direct communication was stopped, but wewould like to maintain and develop the network by utilising online learning.
Table 1. The year of making Partnership Agreement and the mobility results of the last five
years (2015 – 2019)
Country

Indonesia

The Philippine

Thailand

SchoolIPB University

University of the Philippines

Kasetsart University

Lab school SMA Kornita

Rural High School

Laboratory School

Year of Making
Agreement

2010

2016

2017

To Japan

5(T), 36(S)

8(T), 21(S)

5(T), 12(S)From Japan

15(T), 41(S)

8(T), 8(S)

9(T), 3(S)

T: The number of teachers, S: The number of students

JICA’s Teacher Dispatch Programme
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has a programme that sends
Japanese to foreign countries as volunteers called Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers or
JOCV. In particular, there is a system in which teachers from public schools, national and public
university affiliates, private schools, etc., can participate in JOCV programme while maintaining
their teacher's status. JOCVs often have opportunities to work at government agencies andschools in the host country, as well as training opportunities. Therefore, they have theopportunity to build an international network. After returning home, they can play a role inpromoting international educational activities in school. I was assigned to a national park
managed by the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry when I participated in the
JOCV programme from 2008 to 2010 (Tatemoto, 2011). Even after returning to Japan,
exchanges with Indonesia continued. In 2012, UTSS had the opportunity to exchange with theForestry High School attached to the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (SMKK) through JICA
experts, and partnerships were deepened. UTSS and SMKK are promoting a programmesimilar to Figure 1. JICA’s Teacher Dispatch Programme has had about 60 to 100 participantsfrom all over Japan every year since its launch in FY 2001 (Figure 2). It has already been
dispatched to about 100 countries, and is expected to play a role in promoting ESD and SDGs
at schools.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Figure 2. Number of teachers that have participated in the JOCV special programme
Excerpt from：https://www.jica.go.jp/volunteer/relevant/school/incumbent/achievement/index.html

Development of International Collaborative learning Programmes byInternational Teachers’ Network
International fieldwork in Indonesia
Following the designation of UTSS as SGH in 2014, UTSS has collaborated with two
Indonesian schools to develop an international collaborative learning programme from theperspective of the ESD and SDGs in a national park area in West Java (Tatemoto & Junko,2020). Participants are selected at each school and a total of 21 students – seven from eachschool – participate every year. More than 100 students have already participated. A total of 21
students from Japan and Indonesia are divided into three teams of seven to work together onforest conservation. The three teams, namely, "Environmental Education", "Ecotourism", and"Community Development", developed forest conservation activities based on the voluntaryideas of high school students from their respective perspectives. The activity examples of eachgroup are shown in Table 2 and Figure 3. Teachers from the three schools hold prior meetings
to discuss the content, and during fieldwork, provide guidance to the participating students.
This experience has also led to teacher training in global education.
Table 2. Examples of collaborative activities between Japanese and Indonesian high school

students
Group
Environment
Education

Community
Development
Eco Tourism

Activities
Development of a simple soil experiment kit using locally available
materials
Performance of an environmental drama on the theme of wildlife
conservation in elementary school
Market research for tourists of local specialties (soap, sambal sauce)
Paper making with non-timber resources using banana leaves
Making of guidebooks in three languages (Japanese, English, Indonesia)
and distribution of PDF version
Making of local promotional video and uploading to the website- 102 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2b) Drama performance at an elementary schoola) Interview about local products to visitors

Figure 3. Collaborative activities between Japanese and Indonesian high school students

High School Students’ International ESD Symposium
UTSS, with support from UT, has held this event since 2012, and held its ninth symposium in
2020. High school students are mostly in charge of the management of the activity, including
the moderation and reception. Since the UN raised the SDGs, these have been incorporated
into the main theme of the symposium (Table 3). Each school presents their SDGs-related
activities and research results orally and via posters (Figure 4). High school students fromSingapore, Canada, Australia, and other countries, including Indonesia, Thailand, and thePhilippines, with which UTSS has concluded partnership agreements, also participate.
Japanese high school students are also participating. Companies and internationalorganisations also participate. These have led to international school exchanges andrelationships with new multi-stakeholder folders.
Table 3. Main theme of International High School ESD Symposium @ Tokyo
Year

Main Theme

2016

SDGs and High School Students – 17 goals to change our world2017

SDGs x High School Students – We Are the Change Makers for 2030.

2018

SDGs x High School Students – What will YOU do to make tomorrow’s world
better?

2019

SDGs x High School Students -Which problems do you think of first?

2020

The great transformation for 2030

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2a) International ESD symposium 2019at UT Tokyo campus

Figure 4.

b) Collaborative presentation among
Japanese and Indonesian high school students

High School Students’ International ESD Symposium in Tokyo

Development of international collaborative learning materials from the perspective of SDGs
With the support of teachers from Thailand and Indonesia, a textbook for international
collaborative learning using the migratory bird “HACHIKUMA” (Pernis ptilorhyncus, English:
Oriental Honey Buzzard) as its flagship species has been created in three languages(Japanese, English, and Indonesian). HACHIKUMA breeds in Japan from July to August, andthen migrates to mainland China and Southeast Asia. Some of them migrate to Borneo and thePhilippines. It is a species related to the four countries that have a partnership agreement, andI thought it was the best species for promoting collaborative learning. The Bogor Agricultural
University is also actively researching the characteristics of its habitat (Syartinilia et.al., 2015).
In order to preserve migratory birds, it is necessary not only to understand the ecology of birds,
but also to comprehensively learn various events related to the conservation of their habitat.
International cooperation is also necessary. At the International High School ESD Symposium
held in November 2019, high school students from four countries discussed ideas for crosscountry collaborative activities to conserve HACHIKUMA. International collaborative learning
related to SDGs will also be made possible through collaboration between high schools inJapan and ASEAN (Table 4 and Figure 5).
Table 4. Seven Topics of International collaborative learning programme using ‘Hachikuma’
Chapter
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

TopicsMigration Route of the Oriental Honey Buzzard
Food of the Oriental Honey Buzzard and the Red List
Birdwatching and Ecotourism
Environmental Education
Ethical Consumption
Corporate Social Responsibility
What can high school student do?

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Figure 5. Idea map created by high school students from the four countries

Challenge for SEA-Teacher Programme Using experience ofcollaboration with high schools in ASEAN
Based on approximately 10 years of collaboration with Indonesia, Thailand, and thePhilippines, UTSS became the first school in Japan to accept students of the SEA-teacher pilot
project, which was implemented in February 2020. A total of six students were accepted, twoeach from the Indonesia University of Education, the Khon Kaen University in Thailand, and theCentral Luzon State University in the Philippines. UTSS has Indonesian and Filipino English
teachers, as well as students from Thailand. These have also contributed to the smooth
acceptance of SEA-teacher students through support in their daily living as well as practicaltraining.
What I would like to propose as a host school is that the SEA-teacher programme would
not only be an educational practical training programme, but also an international experience
for the students of the host school as well as teacher training for the host school. It is also
expected to deepen mutual understanding among the parties concerned and help build aninternational network. When SEA-teacher students work in actual schools, they already haveinternational networks with multiple countries. This is expected to contribute to teachers who
can take concrete action on educational issues that require international cooperation, such as
Education for Sustainable Development: Towards achieving the SDGs (ESD for 2030) from
UNESCO (UNESCO 2020). Although only UTSS has accepted students in Japan, it is expectedthat more Japanese schools will participate in the programme in the future, thereby deepening
cooperation between Japan and ASEAN and developing more collaborative educational
activities.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
Table 5. Outline of SEA-Teacher Pilot Project at UTSS
PeriodNumber of Students
Accepted subjects

6th Feb – 27th Feb, 2020 (21 Days)
6 (Indonesia 2, Thailand 2, The Philippines 2)
Chemistry, Biology, Civics, English, Agriculture, Homeeconomicsa) Lecture on SDGs in the Philippines

Figure 6.

b）Chemistry class by Indonesian students

Classes by SEA-teacher students

Conclusion
Building an international learning network will lead to the development of universal, inclusive
and integrated international programmes as envisioned in the SDGs, and will increase theparticipation of high school students who will lead the next generation in solving global social
challenges. In order to realise concrete international projects in schools, it is important to builda network among teachers across countries. For this purpose, it is important to continue to holdprojects and international symposiums based on international networks, and to developinternational teacher training programmes. This study has showcased cooperation among
Japanese and ASEAN high schools. The joint development of international collaborative
learning on the theme of SDGs, the holding of international symposiums mainly for high school
students, and the SEA-teacher Pilot Programme are good examples of international
cooperation. It is hoped that such networks will spread to countries and regions around theworld. UTSS would like to continue to deepen cooperation with high schools in ASEAN countries
and provide examples of international educational activities at high schools.

References
Ardales Jr., G. Y. (2011). Agriculture and the Environment in Secondary Education in thePhilippines: The University of the Philippines Rural High School Experience. Journalof Developments in Sustainable Agriculture 6(1), 114-126, Japan- 106 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
Cuong, T. Q., Tsuji, K., Ashardianto, S., Komiyama, K., Nomura, J., Baba, S., & Oshima, R.
(2016). Teacher Education Integrated Curriculum Mobility: Perspectives for ASEANCountries. VNU Journal of Science: Education Research, Vol.32, No.4:65-76
Japan International Cooperation Agency “Human Resource Development: Special
Participation System for In-Service Teachers” Last accessed on 18 September 2020
athttps://www.jica.go.jp/volunteer/relevant/school/incumbent/achievement/index.html
Nomura. J, Haga, M., Tani, K; Tsuji, K., Hayashi, H., Yamato, M., Yoneda, C. and Fujita, T.
（2018）. Impact of the TWINCLE Student-Exchange Program on Students fromASEAN Countries. Journal of Science and Mathematics Education in Southeast Asia,
41:221-231
Syartinilia, Makalew Afra D. N., Mulyani, Y. and Higuchi H.（2015）. Landscapecharacteristics derived from satellite-tracking data of wintering habitats used byoriental honey buzzards in Borneo. Landscape Ecological Engineering (11) 61-71.

Techakosit, S. (2011). The Botanical Garden at Kasetsart University Laboratory School Center
for Educational Research and Development. Journal of Developments in Sustainable
Agriculture 6(1), 131-135, Japan
Tatemoto, Y. (2011). Environmental Education at Sakado Senior High School, University ofTsukuba. Journal of Developments in Sustainable Agriculture 6(1), 136-139, Japan
Tatemoto, Y., and Junko, I. (2020). Development and Evaluation of International Collaborative
Learning Program from the Perspective of ESD: From Practice in Cooperation with aJapanese Super Global High School (SGH) and Indonesian High Schools. Journal of
ESD Research Vol3. 50-60
UNESCO. (2020). ESD for 2030: What’s next for Education for Sustainable Development? Last
accessed on 24 September 2020 at https://en.unesco.org/news/esd-2030-whatsnext-education-sustainable-development
University of Tsukuba Education Bureau of the Laboratory Schools. (2020). Outline of Super
Global High School Program. Last accessed on 18 September 2020 at https://sgh.bwwl.jp/en/
University of Tsukuba Education Bureau of the Laboratory Schools. (2020). About Worldwide
Learning Consortium. Last accessed on 18 September 2020 at https://bwwl.jp/base_en/
Widodo, G. (2011). Environmental Education in Secondary School as Character Building
Media for Sustainable Development in Agriculture. Journal of Developments in
Sustainable Agriculture 6(1), 127-130, Japan- 107 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2- 108 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Digital Competence for Industrial Revolution 4.0:
Implications to Teacher Professionalism
Dr. Soledad A. Ulep
University of the Philippines National Institutefor Science and Mathematics Education Development (UP NISMED)
solulep@gmail.com

Abstract
Advancements in digital technologies as well as in their uses continuously happen in therealm of Industrial Revolution 4.0 affecting all facets of man’s life, including education. As
such, digital competence is necessary. It can be viewed in particular, as an important aspectof teacher professionalism. By citing actual examples, this paper examines the implicationsof specific digital competencies that bear upon the standards of teacher professionalism in
the Philippines.
Keywords: Digital competence, digital transformation, Industrial Revolution 4.0, teacher
professionalism

Introduction
Unprecedented advancements in technology have been taking place very rapidly as
evidenced by the advent of Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0) which is characterised among
others by big data, the internet of things, 3D printing, and robotics, all of which are related todigital technologies. Given this reality, digital competence is important. Viewed as “the vital
21st-century skill for teachers and students,” it is “the confident and critical usage of the fullrange of digital technologies for information, communication, and basic problem-solving in all
aspects of life” (School Education Gateway, retrieved on 12 February 2020). Digitaltechnologies are “electronic tools, systems, devices, and resources that generate, store, or
process data. Examples include social media, online games, multimedia, and mobile phones”(State Government of Victoria, Australia, 2019). The five areas of digital competence areinformation and data literacy, communication and collaboration, digital content creation,
safety, and problem solving; and each area has specific digital competencies (School
Education Gateway, retrieved on 12 February 2020). This implies that teachers themselves
must be digitally competent in these areas so that they can effectively facilitate thedevelopment of digital competence in their students.
Underlying the provisions of the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers or PPST(2017) is the principle of continuous improvement and lifelong learning of teachers. And so,in the context of IR 4.0, teachers are expected to upgrade and update their knowledge and- 109 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2skills and exercise values that are necessary for the fast changing times. Content knowledge
and pedagogy, learning environment, diversity of learners, curriculum and planning,assessment and reporting, community linkages and professional linkages, and personal
growth and professional development are PPST’s seven domains which together with theircorresponding strands broadly cover the specific digital competences.
This paper will examine some of the specific digital competencies under four of the areasof digital competence and relate them to pertinent standards stipulated in five of the domainsof PPST for the proficient, highly proficient, and distinguished career stages of teachers. In
the process, it will draw implications to teacher professionalism.

Implications to Teacher Professionalism
Information and data literacy. This competence includes browsing, searching, filtering,evaluating, and managing data, information, and digital content (School Education Gateway,
retrieved on 12 February 2020).
Available on the web is a wealth of data, information, and digital content that teachers canaccess for their professional learning which ultimately can inform their professional practice.
They can efficiently and effectively make their access if they have the skills of browsing,searching, and filtering. A critical mind is necessary to evaluate if the resources that they
access come from credible and reliable sources. Through the reflection of their purposes andcontexts, teachers can determine, use, and manage data, information, research results, ebooks, videos, podcasts, lesson plans, activities, presentations, apps, and the like, that candeepen and broaden their knowledge of content and pedagogical content to enhance theirteaching and assessment practices. Such competence is consistent with the strand
professional reflection and learning to improve practice which is under the domain Personal
Growth and Professional Development in the PPST. It is noteworthy that in using theseresources on the web, giving credit to whom credit is due by acknowledging the source ofideas through citations is a good practice and demonstrates intellectual honesty.
Integrating into a lesson, a video clip taken from the web is an example of a practice thatbuilds upon information and data literacy. Under PPST’s Curriculum and Planning domain,
proficient teachers are expected to “select, develop, organise, and use appropriate teaching
and learning resources, including ICT, to address learning goals.” Appropriateness of theresource should not only be in relation to the attainment of lesson objectives but also in relation
to the learners’ needs, characteristics, and contexts as provided for in the domain Diversity of
Learners of PPST. Still in PPST’s Curriculum and Planning domain, proficient teachers are
expected to “plan, manage, and implement developmentally sequenced teaching andlearning process to meet curriculum requirements and varied teaching contexts.” This implies
that in adopting or adapting resources such as a video clip taken from the web into a lesson,
the teaching sequence should be designed so as to achieve coherence by establishing clear
connections among the ideas presented in the different parts of a lesson as well as ideas
presented across lessons. Hence, it is very important for teachers to process the ideas
presented in the video by finding out if the students correctly and clearly understood what
they have viewed and listened to, what these understandings are, and how these relate totheir current lesson as well as to their previous lessons.
Again, another example of building upon information and data literacy based on theauthor’s class observations is the lesson integration of interactive courseware in elementary
school mathematics in English aimed at developing students’ higher-order thinking skills as
they learn mathematics. In the different lessons in the courseware, students are required tothink of various ways of solving problems, thereby developing their creativity and responding
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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
thereby developing their critical thinking. The courseware development was a collaborative
undertaking of the Department of Science and Technology Science Education Institute(DOST-SEI), UP NISMED, DOST-Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI)
and the Department of Education (DepEd). The resource in which each lesson consists of theactivities, fixing skills, and assessment, can be downloaded from the website of DOST-SEI
and can run on PCs, laptops, tablets, and netbooks. Teachers translate the lessons in grades
1 to 3 since the mother tongue is used to teach mathematics in these grades in different partsof the country.
The digital competencies needed by teachers who use the courseware in their teaching
are aligned with the expectation from highly proficient teachers to “promote effective
strategies in the positive use of ICT to facilitate the teaching and learning process” and to“develop and apply effective teaching strategies to promote critical and creative thinking, as
well as other higher order thinking skills.” These are standards under PPST’s Content
Knowledge and Pedagogy domain. In fact, the results of the tryout of the courseware inclassroom teaching and learning, show that its use has facilitated these processes and may
have contributed to the development of desired thinking skills among students. In particular,
grade 1 classes that used the courseware had significantly higher mean gain scores thanclasses that did not use it. This implies that the lesson activities may have helped improvestudents’ understanding of the mathematics covered in the courseware. For the grades 2 to 6
courseware lessons, most of those tried out, may have helped improve students’
understanding of the mathematics topics they included. This is evidenced by their significantly
higher posttest scores compared with their pretest scores (DOST-SEI & UP NISMED, 2020).
Moreover, as a pedagogical approach, the courseware lessons used teachingmathematics through problem solving. Based on the evaluation of the influence of using thecourseware on teaching and learning, almost all of the teacher-respondents claimed that theapproach trained their students to think critically and helped them to relate mathematics toreal life. In particular, a teacher remarked that with the use of the courseware, her students
have their own ways of solving a problem.

Figure 1. Grade 1 students in

Figure 2. Grade 1 students in San

Tanauan North Central School doing
the task on ordering sets of objects
during the tryout

Agustin Elementary School enjoy
working on the tasks on patterns
during the tryout- 111 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Figure 3. A teacher discussing theanswers to the questions on a grade 1
activity in comparing the number ofobjects in two given sets during thetryoutFigure 4. A teacher observing grade 6

pupils as they work on a task during thetryoutStill, another teacher claimed that with the use of the courseware, her students were trained
to think of what they would do because they have a problem to solve at the start of an activity.
As far as the teachers were concerned, there was one who used the courseware as her sourceof mathematics problems that her students solved in class although she could not make them
use the courseware itself due to lack of computers. In addition, another teacher reported that
she used some of the courseware lessons in class even without her students using thecourseware itself. In effect, she experienced what it meant to teach mathematics throughproblem solving which in turn, provided opportunities for her students to experience what it
meant to learn mathematics through problem solving (DOST-SEI & UP NISMED, 2020).
Another example of building upon information and data literacy based on the author’s
involvement in teacher training programmes is using GeoGebra, a free downloadable
dynamic software from the web, to actively engage students in the mathematics teachinglearning process. For instance, teachers can develop tasks that will require students toindividually or in groups, carry out using GeoGebra, mathematical explorations orinvestigations in algebra, geometry, statistics, and trigonometry, say to see the effect ofchanging a certain quantity on other quantities. In the process, students learn to analyse,
make conjectures, predict, generalise, evaluate, and justify. Later, they can prove theconjectures that they have formed based on the relationships that they have observed among
the quantities. For this kind of student engagement to happen, teachers have to structure thelearning environment so that it will lend itself to students’ active involvement. Such is an
expectation of proficient teachers as stipulated in PPST’s domain Learning Environment.
Specifically, they are to “manage classroom structure to engage learners individually and ingroups, in meaningful exploration, discovery, and hands-on activities within a range ofphysical learning environments.” They are also expected “to maintain supportive learning
environments that nurture and inspire learners to participate, cooperate, and collaborate incontinued learning.” Moreover, they are to “apply a range of successful strategies thatmaintain learning environments that motivate learners to work productively by assuming
responsibility for their own learning.” UP NISMED’s GeoGebra Institute of Metro Manila
contains apps that can support teachers in meeting these expectations.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
Developing lessons that integrate or make use of available resources, say digital content
from the web, can be done in the context of lesson study since this teacher professional
development model fosters collaborative professionalism (Hargreaves and Connors 2018).
For instance, guided by a long-term goal or research theme, teachers, by working
collaboratively, can ensure that the lesson objectives are addressed, the correct teachingsequence is followed, and that there is lesson coherence. They can also ensure that there is
the processing of the digital content in terms of building up students’ understanding of thelesson. During the research lesson implementation, observing how the digital content
contributes to students’ thinking and learning and discussing about such contribution during
the post-lesson reflection are opportunities that lesson study provides. These activities arealigned with the PPST’s domain Curriculum and Planning specifically in the strand professional
collaboration to enrich teaching practice, in which proficient teachers are expected to“participate in collegial discussions that use teacher and learner feedback to enrich teachingpractice.”

Communication and Collaboration: This competence includes interacting, sharing, andcollaborating through digital technologies and netiquette (School Education Gateway,
retrieved on 12 February 2020).
Teachers can interact among themselves, share information and resources, andcollaborate to accomplish certain tasks using digital technologies such as Facebook, Skype,and emails. In PPST’s domain Personal Growth and Professional Development particularly inthe strand professional links with colleagues, it is stipulated that very proficient teachers
should be able to “contribute actively to professional networks within and between schools toimprove knowledge and enhance practice.” UP NISMED’s KaSaMa Teachers’ Online
Community involving science and mathematics teachers and teacher educators as well as UPNISMED academic staff, is an example of an online professional network. UP NISMED has arepository of relevant memoranda from DepEd, learner’s modules, and teacher’s guides
among others, which the community can access. Based on their knowledge and experiences,teachers interact about how to address common problems, for example, those related toteaching science through inquiry. UP NISMED also conducts webinars such as on scienceinquiry, assessment, lesson study, and new topics in the K to 12 science curriculum in whichteachers belonging to the community can ask questions to the resource persons. Members
and resource persons come from the Philippines and abroad. Teachers’ activities such asthese are also consistent with the expectation from highly proficient teachers to “initiate
professional reflections and promote learning opportunities with colleagues to improvepractice” which is under PPST’s Personal Growth and Professional Development domain.
Another example of using digital technologies for communication and collaboration was
the cross-border education cooperation between the Philippines and Malaysia in 2017. The
activity was undertaken in relation to the APEC Lesson Study Project led by the University ofTsukuba in Japan and Khon Kaen University in Thailand. The theme of the lesson study was“imagine hidden variables and relations by asking questions based on information presented
in graphs and appreciate the significance of being able to analyse situations presented ingraphs” (Gonzales, 2018). Communicating through emails and Skype, the lesson study teamsof Malaysia and the Philippines collaboratively developed a lesson on energy which theteacher of each country taught simultaneously in their respective class through videoconferencing using Skype. The lesson consisted of two tasks. The first task involved a graphshowing the total oil supply in terms of indigenous and imported supply, of Malaysia and thePhilippines. The second task involved a graph showing the total energy consumption
considering all sources, of both countries. The graphs were based on the data from the APEC
Energy Database. Both tasks required students to analyse and interpret the information
presented in the graphs by applying their mathematical and statistical knowledge and skill.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2During the lesson implementation, students from each country took turns in asking andresponding to questions of students from the other country resulting in their better
understanding and appreciation of how energy is consumed and conserved in the twocountries as well as how wise use of resources and development of other local sources ofenergy can help sustain development.

Figure 5. Graphs on the primaryenergy supply of the Philippines
and Malaysia from 1994 to 2014
were based on the APEC Energy

Figure 6. Filipino teacher listening to thediscussion of the students (The Malaysianclass can be seen on the right screen.)

Database

The two examples cited show that due to the availability of digital technologies, constraints
in finances, time, and distance are no longer hindrances for teachers, and even their students,
to interact, share, and collaborate. The second example also shows how large amounts ofdata available online can be used to teach students statistical reasoning.
Another competence in communication and collaboration is netiquette (short for internet
etiquette), a code of “good behaviour” on the internet (TechTerms 2017). Correct and proper
online communication should be based on values and traits such as honesty, reliability,
accountability, respect, discreetness, good judgment, keeping confidences, sensitivity,
clarity, and conciseness. As already mentioned, sources of ideas should be duly
acknowledged.

Digital Content Creation: In relation to digital content, this competence includes developing,

integrating, and programming (School Education Gateway, retrieved on 12 February 2020).
The succeeding discussion on Problem Solving will include programming.
As earlier mentioned in information and data literacy, teachers can integrate resources on
the web into their lessons depending on their purpose. Besides this, teachers can develop
digital content such as podcasts, e-books, and programs and also integrate existing digitalcontent to the ones that they are developing. Activities like these are consistent with PPST’s
Curriculum and Planning domain in which proficient teachers are expected to “select,develop, organise and use appropriate teaching and learning resources, including ICT, toaddress learning goals.”- 114 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
An example of podcasts found in UP Diliman’s College of Mass Communication website is
UP NISMED’s Go Teacher Go! radio programme’s episodes aired over UP’s community radio.
School teachers are the programme’s discussants most of the time. They discuss activities,
lessons, or teaching strategies that can enable students to understand better a particular topic
and address students’ common difficulties and misconceptions in science and mathematics.
The author together with a science education specialist of UP NISMED created aninteractive e-book using a d-book on Understanding Earthquakes based on a mathematics
research lesson that used science as a context. They developed the lesson collaboratively
with a group of high school mathematics teachers through lesson study. It is uploaded on thewebsites of the Center for Research on International Cooperation in Educational Development(CRICED) of the University of Tsukuba and UP NISMED.

Problem Solving: This includes the creative use of digital technologies (School Education
Gateway, retrieved on 12 February 2020).

There are real-life problems that may be solved using digital technologies. Following aresome examples. For identifying the route that avoids heavy traffic, drivers use the Waze appon their mobile phones. When abroad, so as to avoid getting lost, a foreigner can use Google
maps on his mobile phone. Instead of wasting time waiting for a taxi to pass by a street, one
can simply stay where he/she is and just book a Grab Taxi and be informed about the taxi
fare, the amount of time that a taxi within the vicinity will fetch him/her, and the amount of timethat the taxi will reach the destination. Then he/she can just go to the pick-up point when thetaxi arrives. To avoid long queues, one can shop online. To avoid rushing, one can do online
flight check-in. To save time in searching for relevant journal articles for research, one only
has to encode the keywords in Google search for a host of choices to come out.
Creative use of computers, digital technology, is problem solving. In making a computer
solve problems, one has to engage in computational thinking. According to Jeanette Wing, acomputer scientist, “computational thinking is the thought processes involved in formulating aproblem and expressing its solution(s) in such a way that a computer – human or machine –can effectively carry it out” (Wing, in Araya et al, 2019). To know what computational thinking
entails, one has to be familiar with its elements which consist of concepts and practices(Grover and Pea, 2017). The concepts include logic and logical thinking, algorithms andalgorithmic thinking, patterns and pattern recognition, abstraction and generalisation,
evaluation, and automation. The practices include problem decomposition, creating
computational artefacts, testing and debugging, iterative refinement (incremental
development), and collaboration and creativity. Mathematics content and mathematicalprocesses which are problem solving, reasoning, connection, communication, andrepresentation involve most of these concepts and practices. Hence, computational thinking
can be developed in mathematics teaching and learning. Engaging in computational thinking
is consistent with the PPST’s Content Knowledge and Pedagogy domain specifically the
expectation from highly proficient teachers to “develop and apply effective teaching strategies
to promote critical and creative thinking, as well as other higher-order thinking skills.”
According to Grover and Pea (2017), programming is an especially useful platform forteaching computational thinking since it brings together several of the elements – bothconcepts and practices – that are central to computational thinking.
On 3 February 2020, the author was one of the observers of the results of the efforts of agroup of teachers in Cavite National Science High School in relation to their Project PRISM(Promoting Robotics Integration in Science and Mathematics). This was their entry in the
DOST-SEI’s InnoBox Project which is a search for the most innovative teaching and learning
resources that can be used in teaching both science and mathematics. In particular, theirproblem was how to show to the students of a grade 7 Science class what velocity and- 115 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
acceleration mean, among others. So the teachers programmed the robots which are in theform of cars to solve the problem. The cars’ casings were produced using the school’s 3D
printer. The outdoor activities involving the robots that the students performed generated dataon time, position, and distance which were used as a basis for determining speed, velocity,
and acceleration that the students later represented visually using graphs. Besides their
excitement in performing the hands-on activity, the connection between the physical meaning
and the visual representation of speed, velocity and acceleration became clear to thestudents. This innovative approach in teaching velocity and acceleration was collaboratively
conceptualised by two Research teachers, one of whom is the Robotics Club adviser, and a
Science teacher.

Figure 7. The robots in the formof cars used in the Project
Promoting Robotics Integration in
Science and Mathematics

Figure 8. A student presenting

the results of their group activity
using graphs- 116 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Figure 9. Students gathering

data generated by the moving
robot

In the school’s Robotics Club where interested students are taught to program robots,
some members have become better programmers than their Club adviser. They also havebeen participating and winning in local and international competitions. Inspired by thisachievement, the local DepEd officials plan to train teachers of other public high schools in
the place on robotics with the teachers in Project PRISM as trainers using the materials thatthey have developed. When this plan is actualised, then based on PPST’s Domain on
Curriculum and Planning, the group of teachers may be considered as distinguished teachers
who “model exemplary skills and lead colleagues in the development and evaluation ofteaching and learning resources, including ICT, for use within and beyond the school.”

Conclusion
IR 4.0 necessitates digital competence in terms of information and data literacy,
communication and collaboration, digital content creation, and problem solving. In order tofacilitate the development of digital competence among students, teachers themselves must
be digitally competent. By meeting the standards set forth in the PPST for the different stagesof their career with the areas of digital competence as context as they relate to the different
domains of PPST, teachers’ digital competence can be developed. These domains areContent Knowledge and Pedagogy, Learning Environments, Diversity of Learners, Curriculum
and Planning, and Personal Growth and Personal Development. Thus, digital competence canbe considered as an integral part of teacher professionalism.
Developing their own digital competence can be embedded in teachers’ regular practices
such as preparing and teaching lessons. Guided by a research theme, teachers’ engagementin lesson study can help them to be digitally competent as they collaborate in designing andimplementing lessons, and reflecting on what they have learned about student thinking andlearning through those lessons.
Problem solving is definitely prevalent in IR 4.0. Being anchored on problem solving,developing computational thinking is necessary for digital competence.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

References
Araya, R., Isoda, M., Gonzalez, O., and Inprasitha, M. (2019). Discussion Paper: A Framework
for Computational Thinking for the Transition to a Super Smart Society. Presented atthe 2019 APEC-Tsukuba International Conference in Tokyo, Japan.
Department of Education – Teacher Education Council (2017). Philippine Professional
Standards for Teachers. Research Center for Teacher Quality.
DOST-SEI & UP NISMED (2020). Summative Evaluation of the Technology Package forStudent Learning and Empowerment, Unpublished Report, Quezon City.
Gonzalez, O. (2018). Presentation on APEC Book on Mathematics Education for Sustainable
Development Goals. APEC-KKU International Symposium 2018, September 8-11,
2018, Khon Kaen University, Thailand.
Grover, S. and Pea, R. (2017). Computational Thinking: A Competency whose Time Has
Come. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322104135
Hargreaves, A. and O’Connor, M.T. (2018). Leading collaborative professionalism. Centre forStrategic Education Series Paper #274.
School Education Gateway. Digital competence: the vital 21st-century skill for teachers andstudents.
Retrievedon
12
February2020
fromhttps//www.schooleducationgateway.eu/en/pub/resources/tutorials/digitalcompetence-the vital-.htm
State Government of Victoria, Australia@2019. Digital Technologies. Retrieved on 12
February 2020 from www.education.vic.gov.au > teachers > teaching resources >digital > Pages- 118 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Teacher Education in Korea
Dr. Hee-chan Lew
Korea National University of Educationhclew@knue.ac.kr

Abstract
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the important concepts in our current society in the 4th
industrial revolution period. It is the core technology in the “virtual physical system” whichconnects machines and humans intelligently. AI is also a hot issue in education. Beyond
academic discussions on how much AI-related education should be taught, curricula andtextbooks are actually being developed to teach AI content in school education. This paper
introduces new challenges on AI education and AI-related coding education initiated by
Korean educational society during the current decade and the new policy to train “AI
teachers” currently proposed by the Korean government. This paper presents three AIrelated teacher training programmes the Korea National University of Education has provided
based on the new challenges of Korean society.
Keywords: AI, teacher education, Industrial Revolution 4.0

Introduction
The 4th Industrial Revolution is a period when the productivity of work is dramatically
improved as the whole process of production, distribution, and consumption of goods orservices become more intelligent by AI systems that interpret data, learn information andutilise learning to solve specific goals and tasks. AI is one of the important key concepts inour society for educated people to develop sustainably the new intellectual society based on
the highly sophisticated technologies like IoT, Virtual Reality, and autonomous driving vehicle
which are the basis of the Fourth Industrial Revolution
AI has two concepts. The first one is AI as a system equipped with various high-techmachines used in the current society like industry, court, hospital, and school. AI is a machine
system to implement a variety of recognition, thinking, and learning activities that have been
performed by only human intelligence. For example, an autonomous driving vehicle is a car
equipped with AI which can recognise or treat quickly various environmental informationcollected through high speed 5G network and make a decision for driving autonomously andsafely. And, in the near future, we could see AI math teachers, who never give up and explain
well to students struggling with math at school. An AI robot helps students study math to theirheart's content. AI has a human attribute to make machines to act like a human being and tomodel human intelligence to solve various problems.
The other is AI as contents to make AI as a system work efficiently. Machine learning anddeep learning are typical examples. They allow machines to analyse and process data and- 119 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

information that humans need. To understand concepts of machine learning and deeplearning students need to know a huge amount of knowledge on mathematics, statistics,
computer languages like Python and R, and problem-solving techniques like Nearest
Neighbours and Naive Bayes. Schools are obliged to teach students gradually andsystematically these knowledge and strategies developed so far. Furthermore, from now on,
schools must educate in advance the advantages and limitations of the new world in which AI
emerges as well as the ethical aspects of the world's members in common, which is absolutely
necessary to create an environment in which machines and humans can coexist andcommunicate well.

Why AI learning in school is important?
Why AI should be learned in school? Many people might claim that it is enough for highlevel experts only to need to know about AI even if we admit that it is very important in oursociety. The reasons why various AI techniques should be taught in schools can be discussed
from the following four perspectives by Kliebard (2004):⚫

Humanistic perspective: AI is a human heritage. It is like the Pythagorean Theorem.
Why all students must learn the Pythagorean Theorem? It is useful in real life, but itneeds to be left to future generations in itself as a beautiful theorem discovered byhumans. Research on AI began in the 1950s by and many kinds of AI skills havebeen developed. Students need to understand the key skills that guide the rapidchange of the modern period. Or at least, students need to learn the previous
concepts to understand the AI skills systematically as early as possible.

⚫

Ordinary life perspective: AI is closely related to our daily lives. AI to help humanactivities already exists next to us. Students need to learn about the benefits andlimitations of AI in our lives and the ethical aspects that arise from the use of AI in
order to better lead their daily lives.

⚫

Developmental perspective: AI is a problem-solving strategy. Students can develop
their own thinking power by exploring the basic AI technique needed in solving
various real-world problems.

⚫

Social developmental perspective: AI is changing the current society as well as willchange our future society. Students have to learn AI technology to speed up thedevelopment of workstations where they will contribute as workers after graduationfrom school. Schools need to provide a proper high level of AI techniques forstudents who will lead our next society which will belong to the 5th industrial
revolution era.

New challenges in education
In the new society, AI as a system equipped with robots are in charge of many things thathuman beings have done so far, and new content like machine learning techniques that havenot been taught or emphasized so far in school is introduced. Education demands newchallenges that are quite different from what we have seen so far. In Korea, AI and AI-related
coding schools have long been popular in the private education market and various high- 120 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2school AI textbook are being developed for public education to absorb this interest for private
education (Lee, Im, Jang, Song, Kong, Park, 2020; Youn, Kim, Nam, Choi, Jung, Kim, 2020).
In addition to teaching students’ new contents like how to understand and utilise well AI
itself as well as the various techniques used in machine learning, schools need to teach theconnection among curricular rather than a lot of fragmentary knowledge and the complex
relationship between AI and human in which technology changes human ways of thinking andliving. For example, the school needs to emphasize new kinds of statistics using big realistic
data rather than fossilized knowledge and calculations for a given table and figure.
Furthermore, as AI technology changes, education should develop soft skills for superintelligent society, such as sociality, sensitivity, empathy, a challenge to adventure, andnetworking, as well as the ability of critical thinking and problem solving related to the use oftechnology.
Prior to conducting AI education, as part of efforts to improve the educational environment,
the Korean government announced the SMART education policy that curriculum, teaching,and learning methodology should become selective, integrative, and custom-madeeducation, which is “self-directed, motivated, adaptive, resource-enriched, and technologyembedded” (Ministry of Education, 2011, 2012, 2015). And, in a similar context, the Korean
government also announced the “software education” policy to secure national
competitiveness in a software-driven society in which software is central to innovation, growth,and value creation by preparing for a future society through software education (Ministry of
Education, 2016).

The new challenge of teacher education
In 2016, the South Korean MOE announced that from 2018, all elementary school preservice teachers at 11 teacher education universities were required to provide “software
education” focusing on coding education with an interdisciplinary approach in order toprepare for mandatory software education in elementary schools which started in 2019
(Ministry of Education, 2016).
Furthermore, in 2019 the South Korean government decided to train the so-called “AIteachers” who are responsible for fostering new human resources to lead the new era of the
fourth industrial revolution. Each year for five years, 1,000 AI teachers will receive master's
degrees through three years of in-service training at the universities of their choice from thesecond semester of 2020. The government will support half of the tuition for in-service teachers
during a three-year master's course. Convergence will be at the heart of educational methods.

The new challenge of Korea National University of Education
As the only comprehensive teacher training institution in Korea, Korea National Universityof Education trains all teachers from kindergarten to high school and provides almost all kindsof job training programmes, and is responsible for the nation’s new principal training and new
senior teacher qualification programmes.
The university is also in charge of active leading roles in new kinds of AI teacher educationand software education for teachers, recently proposed by the South Korean Ministry of
Education. The university has the following innovative programmes in operation: AI Master
Degree programme, Drone Flight Club with Python Coding, Entry Block Coding Course forPre-service Elementary Teachers.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

AI Master Degree programme
KNUE will train about 160 in-service teachers every year from this year. This is one-six ofthe nation's whole quota of 1000. The university will urgently hire two AI professors thissemester and secure facilities and space for the in-service teachers to practice on weekends
and after school and furthermore will receive manpower support from the University of Scienceand Technology, which is one of the top universities in a science area and located near KNUE
campus. And, curriculum development is currently underway with the aim of announcing it by
the end of the year (KNUE, December 2020).
According to the draft version of the curriculum, the curriculum is divided into compulsory,
optional, and independent study. Table 1 shows the curriculum structure and Table 2 shows
the goals of the curriculum subjects. For the compulsory, total of 18 credits including 12
credits of AI programming skills and AI basic knowledge in the first year and six credits of AI
and education and AI Ethics and Education in School in the second year are charged. In the
2nd year, students choose one course in one semester as an elective course. In the 3rd year,
students have to choose Project in Major and Independent Study II in the first semester andIndependent Study III to complete a thesis in the second semester.
The Programme has already started in September 2020, but practical attendance classes
will begin from this winter vacation period in January 2021 because all the students are inservice teachers. Although the final version of the curriculum will appear in December 2020,
the following considerable problems are being raised:
A Characteristic of the Programme: Originally, the program was launched with the goal of
convergence education related to AI. It was not just to introduce engineering knowledge or
programming techniques to school teachers, but to develop a convergent eye to teach theirsubjects through AI. It is pointed out that too many compulsory subjects are provided in termsof AI-related technical courses, making it difficult to achieve the educational goal. The
success of the programme depends on how well an AI-related convergence curriculum canbe designed.
Diversity of Students' Major Background: Because each student has his or her own major
subjects, there is a great deal of difference in students’ mathematical knowledge andprogramming skills, which are very critical in AI education. There should be at least four
tracks students will choose by their own majors: Tracks for elementary teachers, track forhumanity major teachers, tracks for a science major teachers, and track for music and art
major teachers
Budget and Lack of Experience: In order for this programme to succeed, manpower, facility,
and space must be effectively provided in a timely manner. If 160 students enter the school
every year, about 500 students will stay on campus within three years. To do this, a sufficientbudget must be secured. Another obstacle in managing the programme is the lack of priorexperience, both at home and abroad. It is urgent to establish a system in which one country's
operational experience is shared quickly with another country to get feedback from eachother.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Table 1. Curriculum Structure of the AI Convergence Major of KNUE (Draft)

6

Advanced

AI and Education

9 AI IAI II

CommonAdvanced

Selective

Basic

Research

9

2nd sem Seminar in AI
Edu-tech Case Study ofAI-based
Science
Education
 Introduction to
MachineLearning
 AI and Art
Education
 AI and
Mathematics I
 AI andElementary
Education I Analysis andApplication of
Big Data
 Basic Statistics
 AI andComputer
Language I

AI Ethics andEducation in
SchoolAI andCustomized
Instructional
Design Developmen
t of AI-based
Teachinglearning
Materials in
Science
Education
 Applicationof Machine
Learning
 AI and
Mathematics
II AI andElementary
Education II
 AI andComputer
Language II

Individual
Research(IR) I3- 123 -IR II

IR III
ThesisBasic

1st sem

3rd year
1st
2nd
sem
sem

Projects in Major

3

2nd yearAI
Programming II

General

1st year
1st
2nd
sem
sem

AI Programming
I

Compulsory

CategoryPts

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Table 2. Subject title and Objectives of the AI Convergence Major of KNUE (Draft)
Subject Title

Learning Goals
Understanding of the technology, social and educational characteristics ofAI andAI, this course learns the history, characteristics, and effects of AI used in
Education
education
AI Programming This course learns coding and AI concepts using platforms developed forI
an AI education like Teachable Machine, Machine Learning for Kids, Entry
AI Programming This course learns AI-based coding and the process of controlling theIIphysical environment using platforms developed for an AI education
AI andThis course learns how to design customized classes which can be
Customized
conducted by combining cognitive, emotional, and technical
Instructional
characteristics of students through AI data-based learning analysis.
DesignAI Ethics andThis course learns interaction and association between humans and AI
Education inwith an academic approach.
SchoolThis course learns how to implement the basic machine learning algorithm
AI I
using Python and understanding the core techniques of machine learningand deep learning.
This course learns how to understand and implement various algorithms ofmachine learning and deep learning and how to use Arduino or Raspberry
AI II
Pi as teaching tools for the convergence education related to machinelearning

Seminar in AI
Edu-tech

Case Study ofAI-based
Science
Education
Development ofAI-based
Teaching &Learning
Materials in
Science
Education
Introduction to
MachineLearning
Application of
MachineLearning

This course learns AI Edu-tech products that contribute not only to theprivate education market but also to public education, and how to develop
the ability to apply them to design AI-based teaching materials andplatforms.
This course learns how to apply AI to science classes. Based on the preresearch literature that applied AI to the curriculum, it investigates how todevelop teaching and learning materials, and evaluation methods toembody the characteristics of AI-based classes.

Understanding the AI techniques, this course learns how to foster theability to apply them to science education.

This course learns basic machine learning techniques like Nearest
Neighbors and Naive Bayes through R.
This course learns machine learning techniques at a higher level withactual data.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

AI andMathematics
AI and Art
Education
AI and Statistics
Analysis andApplication of
Big Data
AI andElementary
Education I
AI andElementary
Education II
Individual
Research

This course learns the fundamental level of mathematics forunderstanding, implementing, and designing AI models including
calculus, statistics, linear algebra, discrete mathematics
This course learns the aspects of contemporary art using AI and ways to
use AI technology for art education.
This course learns the fundamental level of statistics for understanding,
implementing, and designing AI models
This course learns how to analyse realistic big data in everyday life using
R and Python and learns how to apply various real-world examples.
This course learns AI techniques and AI-based education models that canbe applied to elementary school curriculum education.
This course learns how to design AI-based classes that can be applied toprimary curriculum education.
Individual Research I, II, III

Drone Flight Club with “Python” Coding
The drone is recognised as one of the AI-related technologies driving the fourth industrial
revolution. There were various attempts to secure the capabilities needed in the era of the
fourth industrial revolution by introducing drone control skills such as simple manipulation byradio. But it was difficult to expect educational effects as their competency. KNUE decided tofoster the problem-solving capabilities of its pre-service teachers by providing drone
experience controlled through programming.
As the first step, KNUE made Drone Club for the pre-service teacher to enjoy a Drone flying
experience through coding of Python. However, most of all the first members of the club camefrom the Department of Computer education. It is because many students thought thatlearning Python might not be easy. We expect more students to come from various
departments. It might be possible now because we teach Python in high school under thatcurrent curriculum.
“Entry” Block Coding Courses for Pre-service Elementary Teachers
ENTRY is South Korea's programming language platform developed by the Entry
Education Research Institute. It is a main block-based language used officially in Korea forelementary and junior high school students. (Visit play-entry.org to provide an English version
for learning, creating, and sharing).
The goals for providing ENTRY coding education to elementary school pre-service
teachers are as follows.
Securing the software education leadership capacity of elementary school teachers in
preparation for the mandatory software education of the 2015 revised curriculum⚫

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Reinforcement of the teaching ability of elementary school teachers to foster creative andinterdisciplinary talents of students pursued by the 2015 revision of the curriculum.
⚫

Strengthening the creative and logical thinking power of elementary school teachers by
improving their computing power⚫

Table 3. Curriculum Structure of Coding Course for Pre-service Elementary Teachers
Student Major
Courses for All Elementary
Students
Courses for Elementary
Computer Education Major(High level coding)Courses for Elementary
Subjects Major (High level
coding)Course Title
Elementary Software Education and Computational
Thinking (Basic level coding): Grade 1⚫ Software Education in Elementary Education (Middle
level coding): Grade 2⚫ S/W and Problem Solving: Grade 3⚫ Creative Computing Thinking: grade 3⚫ S/W and Ordinary life: grade 4⚫ Multimedia and S/W: grade 4
Choosing One course with 3 credits during Grade 3 and4 according to their major: Korean Language,
Mathematics, Social Study, Technology, Art, Music, andScience⚫

Conclusion
The 4th industrial revolution is a current industrial change based on a “virtual physicalsystem” that connects machines or robots and human intelligently through a high-speed
network 5G. AI is the core technology in the system. The most important key competencies
for operating the system are to understand AI itself and computational thinking to enablehuman to communicate with a machine. It is a hot issue in the Korean educational community
like in many countries. It is essential for the sustainable development of the 4th industrial
revolution.
AI is posing enormous challenges to the nation's educational society and teacher training
institutions. Korea decided to introduce software education or coding to the national
curriculum from the 5th and 6th grades as compulsory from 2018 and then, launch a software
teacher education and an AI teacher education programme. Many people worry that it might
be a hasty decision made without a curriculum or faculty and facilities, but many others believethat it is an understandable decision because AI teacher education is too urgent to take place
after sufficient preparations are made. No one can predict success, but Korea's new attempt
is believed to be a good touchstone for SEAMEO countries regardless of whether it issuccessful or not.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

References
Kliebard, H. M. (2004). The struggle for the American curriculum: 1893-1958. New York:
Rutledge Falmer.
Korea National University of Education (December 2020). Curriculum Development of AI
Interdisciplinary Major of the Korea National University of Education. Policy Research
Report. Cheong-Ju.
Lee, Y.J., Im, Y.C., Jang, B.C., Song, S. R, Kong, S.H., Park, D.S. (2020). AI and Future Society(For High school). Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Creativity& Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education. Seoul.
Youn, M.S., Kim, M.J., Nam, H.S., Choi, H.S., Jung, Y.W., Kim, E.H. (2020). AI Fundamentals
with Mathematics (for High school). Educational Broadcasting System. Seoul.
Ministry of Education (2011). The Way to the Talent Powers: Action Plan for Smart Education
Promotion Strategy (proposal).
Ministry of Education (2012). Policies for the Advancement of Mathematical Education. Seoul.
Ministry of Education (2015). Mathematics Curriculum. Seoul.
Ministry of Education (2016). Basic Plan for Software Education Activation. Seoul.
Ministry of Education (2019). Basic Plan for AI Teacher Education. Seoul.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2- 128 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Looking Back on the 12-year APEC Lesson Study Project:
Thailand Perspective
Dr. Maitree Inprasitha
Khon Kaen University
inprasitha_crme@kku.ac.th
Dr. Narumon Changsri
Khon Kaen University
changsri_crme@kku.ac.th
Dr. Masami Isoda
University of Tsukuba, Japan
isoda@criced.tsukuba.ac.jp

Abstract
In 2005, under the Ministry of Education, Thailand, the Centre for Research in Mathematics
Education (CRME) produced a proposal titled “A Collaborative Study on Innovations for
Teaching and Learning Mathematics in Different Cultures among the APEC Member
Economies” (HRD 03/2005) to APEC Human Resources Development Working Group(HRDWG) at Pattaya, Thailand, thus setting up international cooperation in education. In this
proposal, the Center for Research on International Cooperation in Educational Development(CRICED), the University of Tsukuba Japan, jointly focused on the necessity for teachinginnovations through Lesson Study. This paper aims to review the APEC Lesson Study Project(2005-2018) proposed by Thailand and Japan from Thailand’s perspective. The project fromthe Thailand perspective was mainly managed by the Center for Research in Mathematics
Education, Institute for Research and Development in Teaching Profession for ASEAN, Khon
Kaen University.
Keywords: Lesson Study, open approach, APEC, curriculum, learning community

Background for the APEC project in Thailand
The idea for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Lesson Study Project was initiatedwhen the Ministry of Education, Thailand, launched the initial educational reformation in 1999.
The reformation mainly focused on the learning process as the central issue to be resolved.
As a result, a revised core basic Education Curriculum was introduced by the Thailand Ministryof Education in response to the educational reformation. The integration of three major
components of content, process/skills, and character were highly emphasized andconsidered as the major change in the revised core basic Education Curriculum. Following
this line of reasoning, enhancing educational quality through curriculum implementation
became the issue for seeking teaching innovations. Khon Kaen University as a leading higher
education institution launched a long-term project entitled “The 30 years Khon Kaen University(2000 to 2030)” to respond to the demand.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Figure 1: The 30 years Khon Kaen University project, 2000-2030 (Inprasitha, 2011)

As shown in the above diagram (Figure 1), the 30 years Khon Kaen University (2000 to2030) project consists of three phases with each phase taking 10 years to complete. The firstphase project (2000-2010) of the project was mainly invested in human resource developmentby producing a new generation of graduate students in the mathematics education
programme and at the same time preparing contexts for long-term implementation of
innovation. This is followed by the second phase (2011-2020) which was planned tostrengthen the networking, and the final phase (2021-2030) would be channelled into
spreading the effects by expanding the teaching innovations, not only at the national level but
also at the ASEAN regional level.
The 30 years Khon Kaen University project (2000-2030) was instigated by a progressive
institutional development with the establishment of the Centre for Research in Mathematics
Education (CRME) in 2003, followed by the Khon Kaen University of Excellence in 2004, andthe Research Unit in Mathematics Education as a part of National Center of Excellence inMathematics. Meanwhile, a new master’s degree programme in Mathematics Education wasformed as a great platform for research and innovation development.
In 2004, the Open Approach innovation (Nohda, 2000 in English, 1983 in Japanese; Becker& Shimada, 1997 in English; Shimada, 1977 in Japanese), which was initiated from Shimada’s
related Japanese secondary school mathematics textbooks in the World War II, was adopted
in the new paradigm of the 5-years Mathematics Education Teaching Professional programmeof Faculty of Education, Khon Kaen University. This corresponds to the educational
reformation by introducing innovative teaching professionalism.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Development of APEC Lesson Study ProjectIn 2005, under the Ministry of Education, Thailand, the CRME proposed a proposal titled“A Collaborative Study on Innovations for Teaching and Learning Mathematics in Different
Cultures among the APEC Member Economies” (HRD 03/2005) to APEC HRDWG (Human
Resources Development Working Group) at Pattaya, Thailand, thus setting up international
cooperation in education. In this proposal, the Center for Research on International
Cooperation in Educational Development (CRICED) and the University of Tsukuba, Japan,
jointly focused on the necessity for teaching innovations through Lesson Study. Since the
TIMSS Video Tape Study and other influences such as ‘Before it’s too late’ in the USA (National
Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century, 2000), Japanese
Lesson Study was already a world reform issue for professional development of teachers fora student centred approach and the establishment of the school for learning community, so
called school-based lesson study. Thus, surveying the Japanese Lesson Study was a major
component of the proposal. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science andTechnology (MEXT), Japan, became a co-proposal economy from the 2006 proposal. The
CRME and the CRICED have implemented four series of APEC projects collaboratively as
follows:
1. First Series from 2006 to 2008: Innovative teaching mathematics through lesson study
which includes mathematical thinking as for the theme and innovation of classroom tasks
for the assessment.
2. Second Series from 2009 to 2011: Mathematics textbooks, e-textbooks, and educational
tools.
3. Third Series from 2012 to 2014: Emergency Preparedness Education.
4. Fourth Series from 2015 to 2018: Cross-border Education and STEM Education.
Every year, the CRICED managed the planning meeting in Tokyo to promote the theme of
Lesson Study while the CRME managed the report meeting in Khon Kaen. The theme of
Lesson Study, as well as Lesson Study demonstrations which derived from both meetings,
were included in the programmes. These four series of APEC HRDWG projects havesuccessfully contributed to innovative educational practices in Thailand as well as the APEC
member economies and the non-APEC member economies.
On top of that, the teaching approach for developing mathematical thinking skills has beenpromoted to APEC member economies. For example, Japanese primary school textbooks‘'Study with your friends: Mathematics for Elementary School’ published by Gakko Tosho in2005 and 2011 written by the teachers of the Elementary School attached to the University ofTsukuba, which is school textbooks to develop mathematical thinking by using what students
already learned, had been translated into English and used for reference books for the Lesson
Study projects in several economies for learning Japanese Problem Solving Approach todevelop mathematical thinking in the classroom. In addition, these have been adapted into
several languages in APEC economies for teacher education textbooks in Thailand, Mexico,and Papua New Guinea based on their necessity under their culture in education. Most ofthem have been functioning as national textbooks to develop thinking skills. Eventually,
curriculum Standard for Mathematics (SEA-BES, CCRLS, 2017) on ASEAN countries also
included mathematical thinking in their framework (Mangao, et.al, 2017).
Furtherachievements of the APEC Lesson Study project can be seen such as Isoda and Katagiri(2012), Inprasitha, et al. (2015), Cabinet of Japan (2017), Isoda and Olfos (2021), and so on.
These became a foundation for the fifth series (2019-2021) of APEC HRDWG, which is- 131 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
considered a timely response to the demanding skills in the Digital Era for the 4th Industrial
Revolution.

The Impacts of APEC Lesson Study Project on Thailand’s Educational
Practices
The APEC Lesson Study Project was started in 2006 until to date. In the first stage of the
APEC Project, Lesson Study has been implemented through the internship programme of theKhon Kaen University and collaborative schools. The Thai edition of the textbooks wasdeveloped with the support of Isoda and the mathematics teachers of Elementary School
attached to the University of Tsukuba, In Thailand, on demand of CRME, they provided several
lectures and lesson study demonstrations to illustrate the content knowledge and thepedagogical content knowledge which were embedded in the textbooks. The lectures
included the necessary knowledge for teaching multiplication in Isoda &Olfos (2021) andmathematical thinking in Isoda and Katagiri (2021) for developing children who learn
mathematics by and for themselves.
The textbooks 'Study with your friends: Mathematics for Elementary School’ published by
Gakko Tosho in 2005 were originally developed for the Problem Solving Approach under theJapanese Curriculum Policy to develop students who learn mathematics by and forthemselves. The CRME needed the adaptation to the Thai Curriculum on the name of OpenApproach as for their method of teaching. Learned Ph.D. Programme students at Khon Kaen
University, as well as the CRME staff, supported the implementation of the Open Approach at
schools by using the textbooks for the Problem Solving Approach. After Khon Kaen
University’s Ph.D. students took the positions for teacher education, the Lesson Study forOpen Approach widely spread to the whole of Thailand based on their experience at theirgraduate programme. Because most of the students got their Ph.D. concerning Lesson Studyand the Open Approach, they became specialists to implement these two innovations.
The Whole School Approach was introduced by Inprasitha (2006) after making thenecessary modifications to suit the context of Thailand. The Whole School Approach is a ‘newteaching approach’ of school-based approach by integrating ‘Open Approach’ in the Lesson
Study process as a method for improving teaching practices.
The exposure of Lesson Study and Open Approach innovations was significantly expanded
to the northeast and across the country in Thailand through the collaboration between CRME,
Khon Kaen University since 2006. Ultimately, this leads to the establishment of the Institute for
Research and Development in Teaching Profession (IRDTP) in ASEAN, Khon Kaen University
in order to enhance and sustain the results of Lesson Study and Open Approach innovative
development up to national and international levels. Currently, the APEC Lesson Study project
has successfully covered schools in 33 provinces located in northeastern, central, south, andsouthern border regions of Thailand with the respective 20, 4, 6, and 3 provinces. With thehigh commitment from higher education institutions, particularly Khon Kaen University has
made a great success to form strong networking consists of a total of 250 schools from various
regions. As a result, the strong networking with the university experts’ assistance would easethe problems of teaching and learning process in daily educational practices and teachers’
professional development would be enhanced too.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Figure 2: Weekly Cycle of Lesson Study Process (Inprasitha 2011)
On the current ongoing project at the IRDTP, the following procedures are the policy
for expansion:
1. The dissemination of Lesson Study themes and their process was introduced tothe project schools in various provinces of Thailand. Because of the requirementof Lesson Study, the creation of a learning community through the Professional
Learning Community (PLC) was formed.
2. Continuing collaboration between CRICED and CRME, IRDTP on professional
development base on Lesson Study and Open Approach, developing textbooks toenhance thinking skills for the 21st century.
3. The collaborative team, comprised of IRDTP, Khon Kaen University, Teacher
Council of Thailand, National Institute for School Teachers and Staff Development(NITS) of Japan, and Institute of Professional Development of Teachers, andTeachers and Educational Personnel, have been working together in preparing
Educational Professional Development Programme. This programme aims toenhance the capabilities of school administrators and supervisors in promoting
quality of classroom management and leadership thus creating a network foreducational professional development between educational agencies in Thailand
and Japan. Practical training is expected to upgrade the quality of educational
practices through the institutional linking policy. This kind of institutional
collaboration can prepare and develop a better teaching profession for a more
promising future.
4. Collaboration between IRDTP, University of Tsukuba, and SEAMEO to promote the
SEA-Teacher Project to provide opportunity for pre-service student teachers tohave experiences in schools in other countries in Southeast Asia.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2

Further Challenges for Lesson Study
Under APEC, the link between the University of Tsukuba under MEXT Japan and Khon
Kaen University under the Ministry of Education of Thailand have conducted collaboratively inthe two respective projects, namely “The Inclusive Mathematics for Sustainability in a Digital
Economy” (InMside I) in 2019 and “Informatics and Data Science Education Reform for Digital,
Inclusive and Sustainable Society” (InMside II) in 2020. It is a challenge for us to conduct thetwo respective projects during the COVID-19 pandemic to the era of New Normal. InMiside I
project is managed collaboratively with co-project overseer, Roberto Araya, the University ofChile on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Chile and InMiside II is collaborated with coproject overseer, Sofian Azumi bin Tajul Arus, Ministry of Education, Malaysia.
Acknowledgment: This work was partially supported by Khon Kaen University, Thailand.
Inprasitha, Maitree and Isoda, Masami sincerely acknowledge our great academic advisor,
Professor Nohda, Nobuhiko for his philosophy and principle of Open Approach who passed
away on December 3, 2020, 83 years old.

References
Becker, J, & Shimada, S. (1997). The Open-Ended Approach, A New Proposal for Teaching
Mathematics. NCTM.
Cabinet of Japan. (2017). Sharing Japanese-Style Education Abroad. We Are Tomodachi.
Autum,
10-11.
Retrieved
on
Dec.
1,
2020
from
https://www.japan.go.jp/letters/ebook63/ html5.html#page=1
Inprasitha, M. (2011). One Feature of Adaptive Lesson study in Thailand: Designing a
Learning Unit. Journal of Science and Mathematics Education in Southeast Asia,
34(1), 47-66.
Inprasitha, M. Isoda, M., Wangiverson, P.& Yeap, B. (2015). Lesson Study: Challenges In
Mathematics Education. Singapore: World Scientific.
Inprasitha, M. (2016). Japanese Lesson Study: How to Transform Education quality in
Thailand. Paper presented at a Workshop on Teaching for Higher-Order Thinking in
Mathematics for Cambodian Teachers -Lesson Study and Open Approach-, National
Institute of Education, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Inprasitha, M. (2017). Open Approach Lesson Study: An Innovation for Teaching
Mathematics to support STEM. Paper presented at the International STEM Education
Conference, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Isoda, M. & Katagiri, S. (2012). Mathematical Thinking: How to develop it in the Classroom.
Singapore: World Scientific.
Isoda, M. & Orfos, R. (2021). Teaching Multiplication with Lesson Study: Ibero-American
theories for International Mathematics Education. Bern: Springer. DOI 10.1007/9783-030-28561-6,
Open
Accessfromhttps://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030285609- 134 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Volume 2
Mangao, D.D., Ahmad, N. J., & Isoda, M. (2017). SEAMEO Basic Education Standards (SEA-

BES): Common Core Regional Learning Standards (CCRLS) in Mathematics andScience. Penang, Malaysia: SEAMEO-RECSAM

Nohda, N. (2000). Teaching by Open-Approach Method in Japanese Mathematics
Classroom. In Proceeding of the 24th Conference of the International Group for thePsychology of Mathematics Education (PME 24). Hiroshima, Japan: Hiroshima
University, 39-54.
National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century. (2000).

Before it's too late: A report to the Nation from the National Commission on
Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century. Washington, DC: U.S.
Department of Education.

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SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Issue 2

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the following individuals and organisations that contributed
to this journal:•

Mr. Benito Espena Benoza, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Educational Innovation
and Technology (INNOTECH)•

Dr. Jesus C. Fernandez, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Food and Nutrition (RECFON)•

Dr. Indrawati, SEAMEO Regional Centre for QITEP in Science•

Dr. Elly Herliani, SEAMEO Regional Centre for QITEP in Science•

Mr. Muhammad Haidar Helmi, SEAMEO Regional Centre for QITEP in Science•

Dr. Sumardyono, SEAMEO Regional Centre for QITEP in Mathematics•

Ms. Russasmita Sri Padmi, SEAMEO Regional Centre for QITEP in Mathematics•

Dr. Irdika Mansur, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Tropical Biology (BIOTROP)•

Dr. Supriyanto, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Tropical Biology (BIOTROP)•

Mr. Harry Imantho, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Tropical Biology (BIOTROP)•

Mr. Slamet Widodo, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Tropical Biology (BIOTROP)
Mr. Joner Situmorang, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Tropical Biology (BIOTROP)•

Ms. Salmah Jopri, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Special Education Needs (SEN)•

Mr. Ahmad Heikhal Amir Hamzah, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Special Education
Needs (SEN)•Mr. Dominador Dizon Mangao, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Education in Scienceand Mathematics (RECSAM)•

Dr. Suhaidah Tahir, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Education in Science andMathematics (RECSAM)•

Dr. Mariam Othman, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Education in Science andMathematics (RECSAM)•

Dr. Dwi Priyono, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Early Childhood Care Education andParenting (CECCEP)•

Dr. Niane Sivongxay, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Community Education
Development (CED)•

Ms. Cheanmaly Phonesavanh, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Community Education
Development (CED)•

Mr. Yoshihide MIWA, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, andTechnology (MEXT), Japan•

Dr. Soledad A. Ulep, University of the Philippines National Institute for Science andMathematics Education Development (UP NISMED)- 137 -

SEAMEO Journal • 2020 • Issue 2•

Dr. Nakao Nomura, University of Tsukuba•

Mr. Yoshikazu Tatemoto, Senior High School at Sakado, University of Tsukuba•

Dr. Hee Chan Lew, Korea National University of Education•

Dr. Maitree Inprasitha, Khon Kaen University•

Dr. Narumon Changsri, Khon Kaen University•

Dr. Masami Isoda, University of Tsukuba

Publishing this journal would not be possible without the leadership of the SEAMEO
Secretariat headed by Dr. Ethel Agnes P. Valenzuela. Special thanks to Allan L. White, PhD
for his contribution in reviewing and editing the articles included in this Journal.
d- 138 -

© 2020
SEAMEO Secretariat
Mom Luang Pin Malakul Centenary Building
920 Sukhumvit Road
Bangkok 10110
Thailand