ABSTRACT
The ASEAN Plus Three region is comprised of dynamic countries that are socially, linguistically and economically diverse. This chapter provides some background for this regional context, and discusses how educational systems in these countries are responding to changing expectations and national goals, with a special emphasis on how teachers are being trained and supported through pre-service programs as they prepare to face these challenges. The chapter discusses the implementation of different theoretical and methodological approaches, how the experiences and education beliefs of teachers affect the implementation of new policies and programs, how professional learning communities can be used as a means to provide teachers support, and challenges associated with implementing policies in the region. Within each section, the authors of the current chapter unify this volume by referring to the relevant and insightful discussion and findings presented in previous chapters. The chapter closes with some recommendations that should not be simply transferred to other contexts, but used to guide the collaborative development of policies and programs in equally complex systems, learning from the experiences of our colleagues in the countries in the ASEAN Plus Three region.
