How We Work
Systematic approaches for sustainable impact in teacher development
TDSO operates through systematic, evidence-based approaches that prioritise sustainable impact over short-term interventions. Our methodology centres on building professional capacity within Cambodia’s existing education system rather than creating parallel structures.
We work exclusively with practising teachers rather than pre-service training, allowing us to address immediate classroom challenges and provide practical, immediately applicable skills. Our programmes are grounded in research and continuously refined through classroom observation and data collection.
Our operating model consists of three interconnected pillars that enable us to develop expertise, scale impact nationally, and share knowledge internationally.
Centre of Expertise in Siem Reap
Innovation, Development, and Provincial Delivery
Our Siem Reap Centre serves as Cambodia’s hub for teacher professional development. Here we develop, test, and validate pedagogical approaches before scaling them nationally.
Development and Innovation
The Centre operates as a living laboratory where theory meets practice. Our Practice School, with 500 students learning daily in demonstration classrooms, provides authentic settings where we refine teaching methodologies and train educators in real classroom contexts. This integration of research, development, and practice ensures our approaches are grounded in Cambodian classroom realities.
We provide the full range of supporting services required for quality teacher development: curriculum development, training materials creation, research and innovation, and technical support to Teacher Education Institutions across Cambodia. Our team of 50+ professionals delivers foundation and advanced training programmes whilst continuously developing new resources and approaches.
Learn more about the Practice School
Digital Infrastructure
Effective blended learning requires robust digital infrastructure. We have developed two complementary platforms that enable our training model to work across Cambodia’s varied connectivity conditions.
Moodle Learning Platform Our Moodle platform hosts all programme content, enabling the flipped classroom approach that underpins our training methodology. Teachers access preparatory materials, complete quizzes and assignments, submit work for feedback, and track their professional development progress. The platform supports both synchronous and asynchronous learning, allowing teachers to engage with content flexibly around their teaching commitments.
EduBox Document Library EduBox is our web-based document library providing centralised access to training materials, programme resources, and professional development content. Teachers and teacher educators can browse and download curricula, workshop materials, handouts, and reference documents, ensuring consistent access to up-to-date resources across all programmes and locations.
Training Delivery
The Centre functions as Cambodia’s reference point for in-service teacher professional development, combining specialist expertise in Transferable Pedagogical Approaches with practical application in authentic educational settings. From here, we deliver direct training programmes for Siem Reap Province whilst building the capacity of Teacher Education Institutions to deliver independently across the country.
National Network
Systematic Capacity Transfer Across All Provinces
We maintain partnerships with 18 Provincial English Teacher Centres and Regional Teacher Training Colleges across Cambodia, working in close collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and Provincial Departments of Education.
Rather than delivering all training ourselves, we build the capacity of local teacher educators through a systematic three-year handover process. TEI staff begin by observing TDSO facilitators, progress to co-delivering training, and ultimately lead independently with ongoing coaching support. This approach ensures genuine capacity building rather than dependency, preparing institutions to continue high-quality teacher development long after our direct involvement ends.
Our national network allows us to scale impact whilst maintaining quality. Through this distributed model, we currently train 2,000 teachers annually with plans to scale to 10,000. Local teacher educators deliver training in their own provinces using our validated methodologies, supported by ongoing technical assistance from our Siem Reap Centre.
This integration with government systems ensures our work aligns with national education priorities and creates lasting systemic change rather than parallel structures that disappear when external funding ends.
International Programmes
Sharing Cambodian Innovation Regionally
TDSO provides technical assistance to education organisations and governments adapting our CLT→TPA framework for their contexts. This international work validates that methodology developed in Cambodian classrooms transfers effectively across borders, positioning Cambodia as regional leader in teacher development innovation.
Currently, we support teacher training programme development in Laos, where local education partners are adapting TDSO’s CLT and TPA methodology for Lao educational contexts. This work demonstrates our approaches’ transferability whilst maintaining our “Cambodians for Cambodians” principle—we provide technical guidance, not operational delivery.
Our international work takes several forms:
Technical Assistance
Advising education organisations on adapting CLT→TPA methodology for local contexts. We share implementation lessons, provide framework guidance, and support contextualisation whilst ensuring local ownership of adapted programmes.
Capacity Building
Training local teacher educators to deliver adapted programmes independently. We transfer methodology and coaching approaches, ensuring international partners gain capability to sustain programmes without ongoing TDSO involvement.
Research Collaboration
Contributing to global evidence base on teacher development through joint research with international partners. This tests our approaches in diverse settings whilst strengthening academic understanding of what works in teacher professional development.
Knowledge Exchange
Facilitating South-South learning through knowledge exchange between countries facing similar teacher development challenges. Cambodia’s experience provides valuable lessons for other contexts seeking to improve teaching quality systematically.
This international work benefits TDSO’s core Cambodia programmes by testing transferability, refining approaches through diverse application, and demonstrating our methodology’s robustness across cultural and systemic contexts.
We maintain partnerships with organisations seeking to replicate our systematic approaches to teacher professional development, always ensuring local ownership and sustainable capacity rather than dependence on external support.