Regional Research on ASEAN Integration: Change Management Responses of Selected Southeast Asian Ministries of Education

Since its establishment in 1965, the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) has played a crucial role in promoting regional collaboration and integration. Through its 26 regional centers and seven priority areas (i.e., Early Childhood care and education, Addressing barriers to inclusion, Resiliency in the face of Emergencies, Promoting Technical and Vocational Education, and Training, Revitalizing Teacher Education, Promoting harmonization in higher education and research, and Adopting 21st century curriculum), SEAMEO contributes to enhancing human potential, strengthening ASEAN awareness, supporting access to quality education, mobilizing programs for internationalization of education and supporting other sectoral bodies committed to the improvement of education.

To understand the planned and implemented change strategies of Ministries of Education in Southeast Asia, in response to the demands and challenges of increasing ASEAN integration, the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Regional Center for Educational Innovation and Technology (SEAMEO INNOTECH), spearheaded a regional research on ASEAN integration: Change Management Responses of Selected Southeast Asian Ministries of Education.

This research report highlights the identified changes across the educational system in each participating MOE, as well as the status and nature of their implementation using John Kotter’s Change management framework. Through a case study method and guided by Kotter’s big steps of change management, namely Creating Climate for Change, Engaging and Enabling the Organization, and Implementing and Sus- taining Change, this study documented the programs, reforms, and strategies of participating MOEs namely, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand and derived an overarching change management framework capturing the context of these seven MOEs as they respond to increasing ASEAN integration.

SEAMEO INNOTECH hopes that through this research report, policy makers, school administrators, teachers, development partners, among others, will be updated and inspired by relevant and responsive change strategies of the MOEs that take into account the challenges and demands raised by increasing ASEAN integration without losing sight of their country context.