SEA-PLM 2nd Regional Technical Workshop Sustains Momentum for SEA-PLM 2024

Ho Chi Minh City, November 2022 -  The SEA-PLM 2nd Regional Technical Workshop was successfully organized from 14 to 18 November 2022 in La Vela Saigon Hotel. As a follow-up from the 1st Regional Technical Workshop in August, the 2nd regional workshop intensified the advancement of preparations for the Field Trial in 2023. The workshop focused on cognitive items, contextual questionnaire development, translation, and linguistic and quality control.

The Workshop was facilitated by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and cApStAn LQC. The workshop sessions also featured experts from the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE), the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), and the Ministry of Education, Thailand. Further, five-days Workshop was also participated by National teams of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Philippines, Timor Leste, and Viet Nam.

Facilitated by Dr Claire Scoular and Dr Tim Friedman from ACER, the workshop began with discussions on contextual questionnaires and global citizenship. The participants and experts discussed new constructs relevant in the post-pandemic context to be considered in the next set of contextual questionnaires for SEA-PLM 2024. The workshop proceeded with sessions on item review and panelling of Mathematics and Reading items facilitated by Dr Megan Yucel and Ms Jennifer Halliday from ACER. The technical expert, cApStAn LQC, represented by Ms Grace DeLee, led the discussions on translation and linguistic quality control, emphasizing participating countries’ key role in the quality of translation and local adaptation.

Bilateral consultations between the SEA-PLM Secretariat and participating countries took place to provide support and address the specific needs of each participating country. Along with these consultations, the SEA-PLM Secretariat organized learning sessions on approaches and experiences for developing models to disseminate and build the capacities of local educators to generate insights from learning assessments and evaluations in general. Dr Jimin Cho and Dr Insuk Kim (KICE), Dr Esther Sui-Chu Ho (CUHK), Dr Arisara Roengsumran (MOE Thailand), and Dr Kathryn Richardson (ACER) shared their insights. They guided the excellent discussions for this session.

During the session remarks, Co-chairs of the SEA-PLM Secretariat, Dr Ethel Agnes Pascua-Valenzuela, SEAMEO Secretariat Director, and Ms Mitsue Uemura, UNICEF EAPRO Regional Education Advisor, emphasized in their remarks that the SEA-PLM Secretariat will continue to support participating countries with technical and operational assistance as preparation heightens for the SEA-PLM Field Trial scheduled to start in March 2023.