This limited topical life history study aims to gain insights into COVID-19’s impacts on teaching at upper secondary schools through Cambodian teachers’ perceptions of online teaching. It presents teachers’ current challenges and needs as well as future impacts on their teaching practices. Online semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data from 29 subject teachers and their school directors. This study concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic reduced the quality of teaching and learning due to the limited functions of monitoring students rather than limited digital knowledge and skills. The classroom management is still required although the learning is online. The empirical evidence suggests this effect in science disciplines; especially for calculation-related subjects. However, COVID-19 was viewed as providing secondary education with a great deal for implementing the digital revolution of education 4.0 and created some practical issues for policymakers and implementers. Although the findings largely concur with previous literature on online teaching during the pandemic, they also draw context-specific features of the issue.

This study compares private tuition (PT) patterns and perceptions regarding teaching and learning in public schools versus PT classes in urban and rural Cambodia. Using quantitative data from 108 tutors and 165 12th graders, followed by 21 interviews that included principals, we find that urban students are the main drivers of PT; they trust the quality of tutors they are familiar with, while their rural peers view PT as more effective when provided by their teachers. Nonetheless, examination reform may have prompted more students to seek PT with tutors who could provide adequate knowledge and skills, as opposed to their teachers. Furthermore, hurried teaching was perceived as a common response to dealing with inadequate instructional time and the pressures of trying to implement a learner-based approach. This investigation provides new insights into issues relating to teacher professionalism and students' choice of PT in Cambodia.