The Master's Degree of Education in Mentoring is intended to train mentors who will be equipped with the skills they need to counsel teachers in their workplace.
For more information about the philosophy of mentoring, please click here.
Organization of the Program
The Master in Mentoring is an accelerated course in just one year. This unusual provision is due to the fact that this is a very generous scholarship program. It takes existing functionaries out of their normal duties for one year. Our students are required to have 5 years of working experience as teachers to become mentors. Reducing the duration of the program is a necessity to cut down costs, without sacrificing the quality.
Of course, the
students must still complete all the 45 credits that are required for a
master's degree. This is achieved through a full-time course, from Monday to
Friday, in order to pack all the necessary hours.
Syllabus
The curriculum is structured around 4 main streams as follows, plus a practicum and a thesis.
This is a very intensive and complete program. The purpose is to train mentors who are able to advise teachers in most aspects of their professional duties.
|
Subject Code |
Subject Name |
Credit |
Subject Type |
|
|
I. Common Major Subjects:
|
||
|
PEM 101 |
Professional Ethics and Mentoring |
8 |
Common Subjects |
|
EER 101 |
Educational Research |
6 |
Common Subjects |
|
IE 101 |
ICT in Education |
8 |
Common Subjects |
|
MSP 101 |
Teaching Methodology |
7 |
Common Subjects |
|
|
Total |
4 subjects |
|
|
|
II. Thesis
(Master's Degree) |
||
|
|
Master’s Thesis |
6 |
Thesis |
|
|
III.
Practicum |
10 |
Practicum
(2 months and a half) |
|
|
TOTAL |
45 |
|
Ethics and Mentoring
This course is the core subject of the program. It
provides clear explanations on the philosophy, the requirements, and the
procedures of the mentoring program. Putting a strong emphasis on professional
ethics is a response to serious problems observed in Cambodian schools
regarding the practice of “rien ku” and other misdemeanors that undermine
educational reforms in the country. Thus, mentor-trainees get a deeper
understanding of the challenges that the Cambodian school system is facing, as
well as of the reforms the MoEYS is undertaking to solve them.
In a very practical way, the trainees learn how to
interact with various stakeholders in the school. They learn classroom
management procedures to better work with students and create a good learning
climate. They also learn leadership principles to take the initiative with
small groups of colleagues and Professional Learning Communities. And of
course, they learn procedures that are specific to mentoring and that will
allow them to provide constructive feedback to their mentees, in a
non-threatening way. For instance, those procedures include coaching cycles and
active listening.
Educational Research
Research is a necessity to attain the desired
expertise among the future mentors. Indeed, mentors must be able to read and
understand the scientific literature on education to answer any question their
mentees ask. This course trains them to evaluate the quality of the information
they find and develop their critical thinking. Whenever possible, the students
are encouraged to refer to the international literature to supplement the
resources available in Khmer.
Additionally, the mentors are trained to conduct
small-scale action research, so that they can collect primary data, analyze the
challenges they witness in their working place or in the programs they are
involved in, and propose adequate solutions. This deep training will find its
achievement in the writing of a thesis on educational issues.
Teaching Methodology
This course intends to enhance the teaching expertise of the mentors so that they
can become credible counsellors for the teachers they support. There is no
underlying philosophy or philosophical preference apart from the idea of
extending the toolbox of the teachers to any method that is effective. This
course doesn’t try to promote any specific theory of learning in particular,
but to provide a large overview of the practical options teachers can choose
from. This will allow future mentors to understand and evaluate the various
teaching strategies that their mentees try to implement, propose alternative
options when relevant, and adapt their recommendations to the situation.
ICT in Education
This course is intended to prepare the mentors for
the 21st century methods. They will learn the main digital skills that are
necessary to enhance the quality of their teaching, from simple office tools
such as word processing software and spreadsheets to distance and blended
learning. Most aspects of the work of a teacher are covered: proper usage of
digital devices in the classroom, AI in education, student assessment and
homework, various teaching methods and critical thinking. Trainees learn how to
record educational videos and prepare other visual supports for their
lessons. Communication tools
specifically designed for mentoring (Observic) are also a part of this program.
An emphasis is given to guidance and ethics, as
mentors don’t use ICT tools just for themselves, but will have to assist others
in using them. This is not, however, a course of coding and it is not intended
to IT specialists.
Practicum
A mentoring practicum concludes
the academic year. It lasts 2 and a half months and happens at two schools
selected by the NGPRD faculty. During the practicum, the mentor-trainees work
in teams to provide mentoring support to selected teachers that they follow up
for several weeks to ensure the efficacy of their recommendations. The
practicum begins with 2 weeks of virtual mentoring during which they observe
prerecorded lessons and role-play conferences between mentors and mentees. This
procedure ensures a smooth transition between the theoretical course and the
real practice.
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