Tony McAleavy, Tran Thai Ha and Rachael Fitzpatrick Promising practice: government schools in Vietnam PROMISING PRACTICE: GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS IN VIETNAM Promising practice: government schools in Vietnam Education Development Trust Highbridge House, 16–18 Duke Street, Reading, Berkshire RG1 4RU T +44 (0) 118 902 1000 E [email protected] W www.educationdevelopmenttrust.com 1 PROMISING PRACTICE: GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS IN VIETNAM © COPYRIGHT EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT TRUST 2018. THE VIEWS AND OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS PUBLICATION ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHORS AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT THE VIEWS OF EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT TRUST. PHOTOGRAPHY: BARTCO/ISTOCK (P6), CUU STUDIO/SHUTTERSTOCK (P13), TRA NGUYEN ON UNSPLASH (P24), NANOSTOCKK/ISTOCK (P55), BARTCO/ISTOCK (P67), MELBA PHOTO AGENCY/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO (P82), INTERSECTION PHOTOS/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO (P94), MELBA PHOTO AGENCY/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO (P104) ISBN 978-1-909437-96-8 2 PROMISING PRACTICE: GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS IN VIETNAM Contents Welcome to Education Development Trust 4 Chapter 7: Instructional leadership 74 About the Vietnam Institute of 4 Clear expectations 75 Educational Sciences (VNIES) A focus on helping teachers improve their 76 About the authors 5 classroom practice Acknowledgements 5 Confident theorising about pedagogy 80 Acronyms and abbreviations 7 Limited autonomy and close supervision 81 Chapter 1: Introduction – 8 Chapter 8: Parental partnership 88 Why investigate Vietnam’s school system? Reports of high levels of satisfaction 89 Vietnam’s education system 14 There is evidence of effective parental 91 partnership in some schools Chapter 2: Promising practice – 16 Parents are expected to make additional 96 Some distinctive aspects of the contributions to school costs through the Vietnamese school system policy of socialisation Purposeful policy 17 High levels of accountability 20 Chapter 9: Conclusion – 100 Promising practice The quality of teaching and teachers 22 School leadership that focuses on 26 the classroom References 105 Partnership between schools and parents 27 Annex A: Sample for province 106 level fieldwork Annex B: Policies intended to 107 Chapter 3: Methodology 30 'close the gap' Chapter 4: Purposeful policymaking 36 1. Government investment 37 2. The government theory of 40 educational change 3. The ‘delivery system’ for policy 43 implementation 4. The professional and public discourse 44 Chapter 5: A highly accountable system 48 Self-review and internal review by the 50 subject group The accountability role of the school principal 52 Encouraging parental involvement in the 53 process of accountability Regular, challenging external accountability 57 Chapter 6: The quality of teaching 60 Respected but underpaid 61 Better qualified than before 64 Informal professional learning and the work 64 of the ‘subject group’ Teacher accounts of a blend of traditional 66 and more modern pedagogy 3 PROMISING PRACTICE: GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS IN VIETNAM Welcome to Education Development Trust At Education Development Trust, we have been improving education around the world for 50 years. We design and implement improvement programmes for school systems, and provide consultancy services deploying specialists internationally. Our work is informed by our continually refreshed body of research which focuses on the bright spots in education, from education authorities as diverse as those in Vietnam, Kenya, England, New York and Dubai. Bringing about real change that alters the aspects of a national system that, for many reasons, aren’t working so well at the time, requires knowledge and ability to design and implement changes to any of the levers that can impede great educational outcomes. So the ability to affect policy, practices, pedagogy, behaviour, funding, attitudes and more is a prerequisite for a company that can truly claim to transform lives through improving education. As highly informed agents of change operating in low- to high-income countries with their varying internal contexts, we not only design but also show and enable, so when working with us, everyone involved, from policymakers to school leaders and teachers, is able to apply their new knowledge to drive sustainable system reform. Our expert knowledge, programme design and implementation expertise is also deployed in delivering Ofsted-rated outstanding careers services in England, and in owning and managing a family of independent schools. We are a not-for-profit and we are driven by our values of integrity, accountability, excellence and collaboration. About the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences (VNIES) The Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences was established in 1961 to assist the Minister of Education and Training in research on education. VNIES laid a strong foundation for building the Vietnamese education system which aims to be both modern and reflective of national identity. VNIES helps to address issues arising within the education system. Research focuses on educational sciences, educational management, the curriculum, educational policies, development strategies, ethnic minority groups, non-formal education and state management policies in education and training. VNIES also provides Masters and doctoral training in educational sciences. VNIES has nearly 450 employees working within 5 divisions, 10 research centres, 3 experimental institutions and one international school. VNIES also published a journal entitled Vietnam Education Science. The research centre working with Education Development Trust on this project was the Center for Manpower Training Needs Analysis and Forecast (MATNAF). 4 PROMISING PRACTICE: GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS IN VIETNAM About the authors Tony McAleavy is Education Development Trust’s Research and Development Director, with corporate oversight of the educational impact of all Education Development Trust’s activities and the Education Development Trust public domain research programme. Tony has worked extensively on school reform in many countries, particularly in the Middle East. He has an MA in Modern History from St John’s College, University of Oxford. Rachael Fitzpatrick is a Research Officer at Education Development Trust. In her role she has worked on a variety of projects from school improvement in the UK to teacher intrinsic motivation in Rwanda. Rachael’s personal research interests centre on parental engagement in education. She has an MA in Social Research Methods (Social Policy) from Durham University. Dr Thai Ha received her MA in Education at the Vietnam National University in 1995. Since graduating she has worked as a teacher and a senior researcher on educational development at the National Institute for Education Development in Vietnam. She continued her studies on pedagogy in Germany, receiving her PhD from Potsdam University. She has a wide range of publications in Vietnam, including authoring Education Strategy of Rural Areas’ Households in the Socio -Economic Transformation Context. Since 2012 Dr Thai Ha has been the director of the Manpower Training Needs Analysis and Forecast Centre in the Vietnam Institute for Educational Sciences (VNIES). She has also worked as a national part-time consultant for VVOB, the World Bank and UNESCO in Vietnam. Acknowledgments We would like to thank the MATNAF research team at the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences for their hard work and dedication to this collaborative research project. A special thanks is given to Nguyen Van Giang for his ongoing support and commitment. We would also like to thank Dr Anna Riggall, Head of Research at Education Development Trust, who was a key member of the project team. 5 PROMISING PRACTICE: GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS IN VIETNAM Acronyms and abbreviations BOET Bureau of Education and Training DOET Department of Education and Training EFA Education For All ETEP Enhancing Teaching Education Programme FGD Focus Group Discussion GDP Gross domestic product GSO General Statistics Office of Vietnam MOET Ministry of Education and Training OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development PISA Programme for International Student Assessment RISE Research on Improving Systems of Education SREM Support to the Renovation of Education Management UIS UNESCO Institute for Statistics UK United Kingdom UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization USA United States of America VNIES Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences VNEN Viet Nam Escuela Nueva 7 Chapter 1 Introduction – Why investigate Vietnam’s school system? CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION – WHY INVESTIGATE VIETNAM'S SCHOOL SYSTEM? Vietnam’s government schools have attracted a great deal of international attention since the publication in December 2013, of the results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012 student tests. Vietnamese students did well in PISA, particularly in the science test. As we shall see, there are reasons for caution about how to interpret Vietnam’s PISA results; Primary and nevertheless, these results were undoubtedly positive. The PISA results are not the lower secondary only example of good news from Vietnam. Assessments by the Vietnamese Ministry enrolment is now of Education and Training (MOET) of student outcomes and the Oxford University close to universal. Young Lives study have also pointed to promising results. Upper secondary Vietnam has made great gains in enrolment enrolment has Not only are there promising indications relating to academic outcomes in made dramatic Vietnamese government schools, but also the country has made huge strides