Case Study 5
Vietnam
The Vietnamese educational system is a case with remarkable performance that is centred on teachers. This case is focused on how accountability can be framed in a developmental way to foster teacher professionalism, instead of performativity.
Vietnam: Accountability for Professional Development and Education Quality
Vietnam has been achieving impressive results regarding school enrolment, completed years of schooling and learning outcomes, and gained international attention after performing exceptionally well in PISA (2012 and 2015). Several policies have created the conditions for such improvement, especially a “double approach” of growing access and improving quality.
This has been achieved mainly through teacher training and a creation of a framework for accountability that involves all school stakeholders and is focused on professional development and quality improvement.
Context and Relevance: Challenges Around Education Quality and Accountability
After becoming independent, many African countries perceived a need to reform their education systems, as the former ones were marked by colonial aspects, seen especially in the curriculum and in teacher training. However, despite recognising the relevance of these reforms, planning and implementing them has proven to be challenging. Part of the challenges involve financing and finding ways to truly bring about change.
At the same time, since the 1990s education has been thought of as a means for “development”, usually focusing on economic development. The “new orthodoxy” that has become internationally adopted, tends to promote a technical view of education and eliminate its social purposes and the critical role teachers play in improving teaching and promoting social change. Namibia is one of the countries to have gone through the process of reforming education after its independence in the recent past, framing education as a way to move on from former authoritarian approaches.
The Approach: Expanding Access and Quality in Public Schools with Financing and Accountability
With consistent public financing, Vietnam has worked to address both quantity and quality. Edu cation has been set as a national priority since the 1990s, which has been matched with a growing financing that was invested in improving facilities and other factors that influence school quality. Despite oscillations, the investment has been consistently high, between approximately 15% (in 2009 and 2018), and approximately 18% (in 2008 and 2012). As a percentage of GDP, it rose from 3.57% in 2000 to 5.6% in 2013, but fell to 4.1% in 2018. 13 Teacher training has improved in the past years, making teaching more professionalised and a socially respected profession. Professionalism is also related to a freedom to choose pedagogical strategies and a strong school-based support from principals and peers, focused on classroom teaching quality.
There was also a development of a national policy that created the framework for an accountability regime that engages all school stakeholders. Evaluations are continuous, including self-evaluations and feedback from peers, superiors and parents. All of this is leveraged to improve teaching planning and quality. School principals have a pivotal role in this system, leading to professional development. Accountability, thus, focuses on processes, participatory practices and professionalism.
Lessons Learned and Limitations
Vietnam has made remarkable advances regarding education access and quality. Accountability is central in this system, with a much deeper and wider meaning than the currently disseminated results-based accountability. It is a form of professional development based on feedback that comes from all school stakeholders and a way for improving education quality, based on classroom-level coaching. It is assumed that processes matter for quality, instead of having a narrow focus on the measurement of outcomes. Quality is closely monitored with participatory practices that are related to a high level of professionalism, seen in the reflexive and creative practice that involves self-evaluation and evaluation from peers and superiors to identify challenges and discuss alternatives.
However, there are limitations and unclear aspects that require further inquiry. Some commentators have argued that Vietnam’s PISA results could be inflated by the exclusion of some students.15 Relatedly, despite financing improvements, parents also contribute considerable amounts to their school through the practice of “socialisation”. The elevated household contribution can harm access and equity, and the commercialisation of education can put at risk the coherence and performance of the system.16 Vietnamese teachers also report limitations in policy implementation, with persistent issues of quality. Nonetheless, the Vietnamese experience points to meaningful approaches to education quality that promote the professionalism of teachers with participatory accountability.
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