Understanding school in rural Cambodia: Portraits of elementary teachers

Abstract

Few educational qualitative studies have been done in Cambodia, a country held hostage by the murderous Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. Still struggling to recover from these atrocities, Cambodia looks to education to aid in its redevelopment. This eth-nographically-informed case study seeks to understand the beliefs and practices of today’s teachers. Four practicing teachers were interviewed and observed to help describe the richness of their classrooms, and their practices in the face of crowded classrooms with few supplies. Interviews uncovered their strong beliefs in education. Alongside this is the teacher propensity to see themselves and their practice through a deficit lens. The article describes forces that impact literacy development, including well-meaning gifts from abroad.