This week, the Ministry of Education and Sports (MOES), with the support of the

Australian government through the Basic Education Quality and Access in the Lao PDR

(BEQUAL) program, began writing the script of a new Teacher Development Video

(TDV) designed to help teachers identify students' learning needs and adapt their

teaching to ensure all children can thrive.

The video will complement the new Teacher Support Pack (TSP) 14 "Supporting

Students with Disability in the Classroom". The script writing team brought together

experts from the Research Institute of Educational Sciences (RIES), Teacher Training

Colleges (TTCs), the Department of Teacher Education (DTE), the Inclusive Education Promotion Centre (IEPC) and the Communication team from BEQUAL.

Ms. Manoly Dongvan, Deputy Director of RIES, who opened the workshop said "Every child has the right to education, whatever their abilities. But if teaching is not adapted, children with disabilities may never go to school or may drop out. In Laos, teachers often do not know how to recognise individual learning support needs or how to adapt their teaching. To address this challenge and ensure all children have a chance to learn, the Ministry of Education and Sports of Lao PDR, with support from Australia, developed a new Teacher Support Pack to support students with disabilities. TSP 14 gives simple, practical strategies for ensuring students with hearing, vision, mobility, and learning difficulties are fully engaged in learning. RIES will now lead the development of a video to complement the TSP."

Mr Michael Currie, First Secretary, Australian Embassy said "Many children in Laos

have unidentified learning support needs related to hearing, seeing, moving and

learning, which limits their school participation. Australia is proud to work closely with the Ministry of Education and Sports to give teachers clear, practical tools to recognize students' needs and take steps to help all learners succeed."

Central to TSP 14 is the Child Functioning Module - Teacher Version (CFMTV), a

simple tool that helps teachers identify possible difficulties with attention, communication, memory, mobility, vision or hearing. The new TDV 29 will focus on

observable classroom behaviours that suggest a student may have difficulty in any of

these areas, and guide teachers on how to complete the CFMTV accurately.

Ms. Manoly Dongvan said "The TDV series is designed to help teachers with teaching strategies that answer common challenges they face in the classroom. This is why they are closely linked to the Teacher Support Packs. The videos are filmed in real classrooms, showing concrete examples of how to apply recommended techniques in practice. TSP 14 covers many teaching strategies and could be the basis for several videos. For this phase, we have chosen to start with the first and most important step: how teachers can identify possible disabilities and use the CFM-TV."

The workshop included training for the script writing team on how to ensure best

practice child protection and safeguarding when filming scenes with children, and the

specific additional considerations when video content relates to children with disabilities.

The TDV will use neutral, strengthsbased language and the script will be reviewed by

inclusive education and disability experts before filming. Casting decisions will be

coordinated with parents, Organisations of People with Disability and IEPC.

BEQUAL will distribute TSP 14 and the TDV 29 for the beginning of 2026-2027 school year in 30 target districts and will pilot the tools in 18 schools in Xiangkhouang. The pilot will test how TSP strategies work in practice, identify additional teacher support needs, and indicate which topics should be developed into further classroom demonstration videos. Findings will guide refinements to the Teacher Support Pack and future TDV topics.

Michael Currie concluded "Children with a disability face significant barriers to

accessing quality education in Laos, including misconceptions and discriminatory

attitudes about the causes of disability and the abilities of persons with disabilities.

When teachers make small, evidence-based adjustments to classroom practice,

students with disabilities can successfully learn alongside their peers, and the whole

class benefits from learning in a supportive and inclusive environment. We expect this

video and the TSP to help teachers make those changes with confidence, for the benefit of all students.”

KPL