Educational Research, Policy and Practice: National Report on Secondary Education in Lao PDR

Following the adoption of a new education law in 2000, the government of Laos has initiated a series of reforms aimed at realizing the national strategy for human resource development for the year 2020. In implementing government policy, the Statistics and Planning Division and the National Research Institute for Educational Sciences have provided basic statistics to analyze the current situation, develop new curricula and teaching materials, monitor the reform process and undertake action research. The paper outlines the main achievements of the Lao education reform (e.g., quantitative growth of secondary education, curriculum and pedagogical reforms), concerns regarding difficulties in achieving key goals (e.g., low participation in mountainous areas serving ethnic groups), and strategies being adopted within the educational development plan for 2001–2005. Key Words: curriculum, educational goals, education law, educational reform, educational research and policy, ethnic minority, Lao PDR, secondary education, technical and vocational education