Advertisement

Educational Research for Policy and Practice

, Volume 17, Issue 3, pp 223–239 | Cite as

Another textbook project? The implementation of Escuela Nueva in Vietnam

  • Hang M. LeEmail author
Original Article
First Online:

Abstract

This qualitative case study examines the implementation of Escuela Nueva, a rural multigrade schooling model, in Vietnam from the perspectives and experiences of local teachers and school administrators. Escuela Nueva first emerged in Colombia in the 1970s as a scalable low-cost educational innovation model that can be disseminated to other under-resourced regions around the world. Indeed, to date, the model has travelled to fourteen countries around the world, impacting the lives of over five million children. On the surface, the implementation of Vietnam Escuela Nueva (VNEN) appears to be a close reproduction of the original model. However, some aspects of VNEN in practice in fact directly contradict the principles and philosophies of the original model. Rather than encouraging more teacher autonomy, child-centered pedagogies, and local adaptation, the implementation of VNEN has reproduced the rigidity, conformity and textbook dependency that have been core features of the traditional Vietnamese education system. This points to the difficulties that can arise when attempts at scaling up educational change across borders come into conflict with local systems of reasoning, which impede the achievement of the intended outcomes.

Keywords

Escuela Nueva Vietnam Folk pedagogy Education reform Policy transfer 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Notes

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the constructive comments provided by Roseann Liu, Shervin Malekzadeh, and the editors and reviewers of this special issue to support this paper through its various iterations. This project was partially funded by Swarthmore College, PA, USA.

References

  1. Anderson-Levitt, K. M. (2003). A world culture of schooling? Local meanings, global schooling (pp. 1–26). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Attfield, I., & Vu, B. T. (2013). A rising tide of primary school standards—The role of data systems in improving equitable access for all to quality education in Vietnam. International Journal of Educational Development, 33, 74–87.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2012.02.003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Auld, E., & Morris, P. (2016). PISA, policy and persuasion: Translating complex conditions into education ‘best practice’. Comparative Education, 52(2), 202–229.  https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2016.1143278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. Ball, S. J., Maguire, M., & Braun, A. (2012). How schools do policy: Policy enactments in secondary schools. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. Bayly, S. (2014). How to forge a creative student-citizen: Achieving the positive in today’s Vietnam. Modern Asian Studies, 48(2014), 493–523.  https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X13000504.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. Bruner, J. S. (1996). The culture of education. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
  7. Clarke, J., Bainton, D., Lendvai, N., & Stubbs, P. (2015). Making policy move: Towards a politics of translation and assemblage. Bristol and Chicago: Policy Press.Google Scholar
  8. Coburn, C. E. (2003). Rethinking scale: Moving beyond numbers to deep and lasting change. Educational Researcher, 32(6), 3–12.  https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X032006003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. Colbert, V., & Arboleda, J. (2016). Bringing a student-centered participatory pedagogy to scale in Colombia. Journal of Educational Change, 17, 385–410.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-016-9283-7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. Dale, R. (2000). Globalization and education: Demonstrating a “common world educational culture” or locating a “globally structured educational agenda”? Educational Theory, 50(4), 427–448.  https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-5446.2000.00427.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. Dang Tu An. (2015). Mo hinh Truong hoc moi Viet Nam: Nhin tu goc do thuc tien va li luan [Vietnam Escuela Nueva model: From practical and theoretical perspectives]. Hanoi, VN: Vietnam Education Publishing House.Google Scholar
  12. Do Quyen. (2015, December 7). Hoc VNEN, nguoi ta lam san moi thu, chi dien vai so la xong [In VNEN, they did everything beforehand, we only need to fill in the blanks]. Giao Duc Viet Nam [Vietnamese Education]. Hanoi, VN.Google Scholar
  13. Duggan, S. (2001). Educational reform in Viet Nam: A process of change or continuity? Comparative Education, 37(2), 193–212.  https://doi.org/10.1080/03050060120043411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. Forero-Pineda, C., Escobar-Rodriguez, D., & Molina, D. (2006). Escuela Nueva’s impact on the peaceful social interaction of children in Colombia. In A. W. Little (Ed.), Education for All and multigrade teaching: Challenges and opportunities (pp. 265–300). Dordrecht: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. Freire, P. (1993). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum.Google Scholar
  16. Ha Ngan. (2015, December 29). Muon VNEN thanh cong thi can phai thay doi mot so tieu chi danh gia [If VNEN is to succeed we must change some assessment criteria]. Giao Duc Viet Nam [Vietnamese Education]. Hanoi, VN. http://giaoduc.net.vn/Giao-duc-24h/Muon-VNEN-thanh-cong-thi-can-thay-doi-mot-so-tieu-chi-danh-gia-post164329.gd. Accessed 25 July 2018.
  17. Hamano, T. (2008). Educational reform and teacher education in Vietnam. Journal of Education for Teaching: International Research and Pedagogy, 34(4), 397–410.  https://doi.org/10.1080/02607470802401693.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. Kamibeppu, T. (2009). Education reform context and process in Vietnam. In Y. Hirosato & Y. Kitamura (Eds.), The political economy of educational reforms in Southeast Asia (pp. 169–189). Netherlands: Springer.Google Scholar
  19. Le, H. M. (2018). The reproduction of ‘best practice’: Following Escuela Nueva to the Philippines and Vietnam. International Journal of Educational Development, 62, 9–16.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2018.02.005.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. Lincicome, M. E. (1995). Introduction: Knowledge and power in modern Japan. Principle, praxis, and the politics of educational reform in Meiji Japan (pp. 1–17). Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.Google Scholar
  21. Little, A. W. (2001). Multigrade teaching: Towards an international research and policy agenda. International Journal of Educational Development, 21, 481–497.  https://doi.org/10.1016/S0738-0593(01)00011-6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. Mogollón, O., & Solano, M. (2011). Active schools: Our convictions for improving the quality of education. Washington, DC: FHI360.Google Scholar
  23. Mundy, K., Green, A., Lingard, B., & Verger, A. (2016). Introduction: The globalization of education policy—Key approaches and debates. In K. Mundy, A. Green, B. Lingard, & A. Verger (Eds.), Handbook of global education policy (pp. 1–20). Malden, MA: Wiley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  24. Nguyen, T. Q. T. (2015). The influence of traditional beliefs on Vietnamese college lecturers’ perceptions of face. Journal of Education for Teaching, 41(2), 203–214.  https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2015.1031542.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. Nguyen, H. T. M., & Hall, C. (2017). Changing views of teachers and teaching in Vietnam. Teaching Education, 28(3), 244–256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. Nguyen, M., Terlouw, C., & Pilot, A. (2012). Cooperative learning in Vietnam and the West-East educational transfer. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 32(2), 137–152.  https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2012.685233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. Pham, H. M. (1998). Vietnam’s education: The current position and future prospects. Hanoi, VN: The Gioi Publishers.Google Scholar
  28. Pond, E. (2014, Spring). Vietnam’s second revolution. World Policy Journal, 107–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  29. Psacharopoulos, G., Rojas, C., & Velez, E. (1993). Achievement evaluation of Colombia’s “Escuela Nueva”: Is multigrade the answer? Comparative Education Review, 37(3), 263–276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  30. Rizvi, F., & Lingard, B. (2010). Globalizing education policy analysis. In F. Rizvi & B. Lingard (Eds.), Globalizing education policy (pp. 44–70). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
  31. Robertson, S. L. (2005). Re-imagining and rescripting the future of education: Global knowledge economy discourses and the challenge to education systems. Comparative Education, 41(2), 151–170.  https://doi.org/10.1080/03050060500150922.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  32. Saito, E., Tsukui, A., & Tanaka, Y. (2008). Problems on primary school-based in-service training in Vietnam: A case study of Bac Giang province. International Journal of Educational Development, 28(1), 89–103.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2007.08.001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  33. Saldaña, J. (2016). The coding manual for qualitative researchers. Los Angeles: SAGE.Google Scholar
  34. Salomon, M., & Vu, K. D. (2007). Doi moi, education and identity formation in contemporary Vietnam. Compare: A Journal of Comparative Education, 37(3), 345–363.  https://doi.org/10.1080/03057920701330222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  35. Samoff, J. (2013). Institutionalizing international influence. In R. F. Arnove, C. A. Torres, & S. Franz (Eds.), Comparative education: The dialectic of the global and the local (4th ed., pp. 55–88). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.Google Scholar
  36. Steiner-Khamsi, G. (2006). In G. Steiner-Khamsi & I. Stolpe (Eds.), Educational import: Local encounters with global forces in Mongolia. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  37. Steiner-Khamsi, G. (2012). Understanding policy borrowing and lending: Building comparative policy studies. In G. Steiner-Khamsi & F. Waldow (Eds.), World yearbook of education 2012: Policy borrowing and lending in education (pp. 3–18). NY: New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  38. Steiner-Khamsi, G. (2013). What is wrong with the “what-went-right” approach in educational policy? European Educational Research Journal, 12(1), 20–33.  https://doi.org/10.2304/eerj.2013.12.1.20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  39. Stromquist, N. P. (1999). Conceptual and empirical issues in educational innovations. In N. P. Stromquist & M. L. Basile (Eds.), Politics of educational innovations in developing countries: An analysis of knowledge and power (pp. 3–20). New York: Falmer Press.Google Scholar
  40. Tabulawa, R. (2003). International aid agencies, learner-centred pedagogy and political democratisation: A critique. Comparative Education, 39(1), 7–26.  https://doi.org/10.1080/03050060302559.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  41. Tikly, L. (2015). What works, for whom, and in what circumstances? Towards a critical realist understanding of learning in international and comparative education. International Journal of Educational Development, 40, 237–249.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2014.11.008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  42. Tran, T. T. (2013). Limitation on the development of skills in higher education in Vietnam. Higher Education, 65(5), 631–644.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-012-9567-7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  43. Tran, L. T., & Marginson, S. (2014). Education for flexibility, practicality and mobility. In L. T. Tran, S. Marginson, H. Do, Q. Do, T. Le, N. Nguyen, et al. (Eds.), Higher education in Vietnam: Flexibility, mobility and practicality in the global knowledge economy (pp. 3–28). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
  44. Tsing, A. L. (2005). Friction: An ethnography of global connection. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
  45. Vavrus, F., & Bartlett, L. (2012). Comparative pedagogies and epistemological diversity: Social and material contexts of teaching in Tanzania. Comparative Education Review, 56(4), 634–658.  https://doi.org/10.1086/667395.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  46. Verger, A., Edwards, D. B., & Altinyelken, H. K. (2014). Learning from all? The World Bank, aid agencies and the construction of hegemony in education for development. Comparative Education, 50(4), 381–399.  https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2014.918713.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  47. Wolf, D. L. (1996). Situated feminist dilemmas in fieldwork. In D. L. Wolf (Ed.), feminist dilemmas in fieldwork (pp. 1–55). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
  48. Woodside, A. (1991). The contributions to rural change of modern Vietnamese village schools. In C. F. Keyes (Ed.), Reshaping local worlds: Formal education and cultural change in rural Southeast Asia (pp. 174–199). New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
  49. World Bank. (2015). Renovation of general education project: Project information document. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.International Education PolicyUniversity of Maryland – College ParkSilver SpringUSA

Personalised recommendations

Cite article

Buy options