Key findings from the 2016-17 Young Lives School Survey in Vietnam

Beyond the Basics:
Upper secondary education in Vietnam
Key findings from the 2016-17 Young Lives
school survey
Caine Rolleston (UCL Institute of Education)
Padmini Iyer (University of Oxford)
SEAMEO RETRAC, 28.11.17 Hanoi, 01.12.17

YOUNG LIVES: INTRODUCTION
 Longitudinal survey of children, their
households, schools and communities
running for 15 years from 2002
 12000 children in four countries –
Ethiopia, India (Andhra Pradesh &
Telangana), Peru, Vietnam
 Combines data collection, analysis and
policy engagement
• To improve understanding of the causes
and consequences of childhood poverty
• To improve policies and practice for
children
 Two age cohorts in each country:
• 2000 children born in 2000-01
• 1000 children born in 1994-95

YOUNG LIVES SCHOOL SURVEYS
 Primary school surveys:
implemented in Vietnam (2011-12)
and Ethiopia (2012-13)
 School effectiveness:
• Cognitive tests at beginning and end
of school year
• Background instruments and
psychosocial measures to
contextualise learning progress
 2016-17 school surveys: conducted in
Ethiopia, India and Vietnam

YOUNG LIVES SCHOOL SURVEYS: VIETNAM
Primary school survey (2011-12)
• 3284 Grade 5 pupils
• 56 schools, 92 school sites
• Progress in Maths and Vietnamese in Grade 5

YOUNG LIVES SCHOOL SURVEYS: VIETNAM
Secondary school survey (2016-17)
• 8740 Grade 10 students
• 52 schools, 220 classes
• Progress in Maths and English in Grade 10
• Problem solving and critical thinking skills

YOUNG LIVES VIETNAM SAMPLE
 Pro-poor sample
 Sites purposively selected in 2000 to
reflect country diversity, rural-urban,
livelihoods, ethnicity; roughly equal
numbers of boys and girls
 20 sites (communes) in 5 provinces

2016-17 SCHOOL SURVEY SAMPLE
 14 Young Lives districts
 All upper secondary schools in each
district
 Sampling approach:
• Schools with 1-5 G10 classes: all
classes included
• Schools with >5 G10 classes: 5
classes randomly selected

52 upper secondary schools
220 G10 classes
48 government schools
4 private schools (3 in
Hung Yen, 1 in Da Nang)
Average G10 class size: 40,1 students
44% schools have 1-5 G10
classes

8740 G10 students
Drop-out in Grade 10:
Between 1% (Da Nang) &
12% (Lao Cai)
Kinh: 87,8%
Mông: 4,4%
Dao: 2,8%
Giáy: 1,6%
Girls: 50,2%
Boys: 49,8%

0
20
40
60
80
100
BT1 BT2 DN1 DN2 DN3 HY1 HY2 LC1 LC2 LC3 PY1 PY2 PY3 PY4
Percentageofstudents
Majority Kinh Ethnic minority Missing

-2
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
Wealthindex

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. Who makes the transition to upper
secondary school?
2. Are upper secondary schools in
Vietnam providing a ‘21st century’
education?
3. How are experiences of upper
secondary school affected by ethnic
status?
4. How do learning outcomes among 15
year olds in Vietnam compare to
those in Ethiopia and India?

1. Who makes the transition to Grade 10?

WHO MAKES THE TRANSITION TO GRADE 10?
 The basic education system in Vietnam has achieved both
mass access and high learning outcomes over the past 20
years
 Expanding access to upper secondary education is key to
‘skilling up’ Vietnam’s young people, so that the country
can ‘move up the value chain’ in economic terms (World
Bank 2015)
 Access to upper secondary education has expanded rapidly
in Vietnam, but enrolment among e.g. ethnic minorities is
low

Our analysis –
 Comparison of 1031 Young Lives children in Grade 10 in
2016-17 and 300 Young Lives children eligible for Grade 10
but out of school in the same year
 Probit regression model: probability of being enrolled in
Grade 10 in 2016

GRADE 10 CHILDREN: MORE ADVANTAGED THAN
CHILDREN WHO DO NOT TRANSITION TO GRADE 10

GRADE 10 CHILDREN: HIGHER MATHS ABILITY AT AGE 12
THAN CHILDREN WHO DO NOT TRANSITION TO GRADE 10

PROBABILITY OF BEING ENROLLED IN GRADE 10
VARIABLES
(1)
Grade 10 enrolment
without prior test scores
(2)
Grade 10 enrolment
with prior test scores
Female 0.108*** 0.0938***
(0.0227) (0.0214)
Ethnic minority -0.109** -0.0330
(0.0498) (0.0470)
Main caregiver's education
(6 or more years)
0.176*** 0.137***
(0.0303) (0.0291)
Wealth index, 2013 0.658*** 0.443***
(0.116) (0.109)
Maths score, 2013 - 0.00115***
(0.000132)
Observations 1,298 1,257
Controls included for site-level effects.
Standard errors in parentheses: *** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.1

 Access to upper secondary education in Vietnam is not as
equitable as at earlier stages of education
 In an equitable system in which access is purely
determined by merit, we would not expect wealth or
parents’ education to be significant predictors after
controlling for prior ability
 Ethnic minority status is not a significant predictor after
controlling for prior ability – but lower test scores among
ethnic minority children may reflect disadvantage earlier
in the education system

0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
-60.00 -40.00 -20.00 0.00 20.00 40.00 60.00
SchoolfeesperGrade10student(VND,000s)
School value-added (conditional)
Ben Tre Da Nang Hung Yen Lao Cai Phu Yen
VALUE FOR MONEY?

2. Education for the 21st century?

EDUCATION FOR THE 21ST CENTURY?
 Young Lives cognitive tests: designed to assess ‘meaningful
learning’ in:
• Maths
• Functional English
• Problem solving and critical thinking
 ‘Not just about acquisition of knowledge, but being able to
use this knowledge in a variety of situations’ (Mayer 2002)
 21st century skills agenda: schools should ‘equip young
people with skills for future labour market or higher
education opportunities’ (World Bank 2009)

Maths tests:
 Curriculum-linked, covering content
domains relevant to Vietnam
 Assessed three different cognitive
domains: knowledge, application and
reasoning
 Administered at the beginning and
end of Grade 10  measure of
learning progress
 Developed by:
• Dr Phan Thi Luyen (Hanoi Experimental
School)
• Dr Nguyen Ngoc Tu (Hanoi Pedagogical
University)
• Educational Initiatives (India)

LEARNING PROGRESS: MATHS
Wave 1 score Wave 2 score Mean progress
500 527 27***

Girls 504 532 28***
Boys 497 523 26***

Ethnic minority 409 423 14***
Majority Kinh 509 536 27***

LEARNING LEVELS: MATHS
Level1:Low
Level2:Intermediate
Level3:High
Level4:Advanced

Level1:Low
• Knowledge of basic
number concepts,
integers and rational
numbers
• Emerging ability to
apply knowledge of
number concepts,
fractions, basic shapes
and volume to solve
simple problems

Level2:Intermediate
• Knowledge of algebraic and
geometric concepts and facts
• Emerging ability to apply
knowledge of algebra and
geometry to solve simple
problems
• Emerging ability to solve
simple problems in real-world
contexts

Level3:High
• Knowledge and understanding of
complex algebraic and
geometric concepts and facts
• Able to apply this knowledge to
solve single-step problems
• Able to use knowledge of
number concepts, ratios and
area to solve more complex
problems in real-world contexts

Level4:Advanced
• Knowledge of advanced
algebraic and geometric
concepts, facts and procedures
• Able to apply knowledge and
understanding of area,
perimeter, graphs and rational
numbers to go beyond solving
routine problems to encompass
unfamiliar situations, and multi-
step problems in real-world
contexts

0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Boys Girls
Low Intermediate High Advanced

0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Majority Kinh Ethnic minority

English tests:
 English language skills increasingly
desirable for workplace readiness in
Vietnam
 ‘Functional’ English: application of
(reading) skills in real-life contexts
 Administered at the beginning and
end of Grade 10  measure of
learning progress
 Developed by Educational Initiatives
(Bangalore, India)
 Reviewed by Vu Thi Thanh Huong
(Institute of Linguistics, VASS)

LEARNING PROGRESS: ENGLISH
500 509 9***

Girls 518 529 11***
Boys 479 485 6**

Ethnic minority 400 402 2
Majority Kinh 509 518 9***

LEARNING LEVELS: ENGLISH
Level1:Low
Level2:Intermediate
Level3:High
Level4:Advanced

Level1:Low
• Able to identify
simple, familiar
vocabulary
• Emerging ability to
complete simple
sentences correctly

Level2:Intermediate
• Able to construct simple
sentences, including the use
of appropriate grammatical
concepts
• Able to understand
explicitly stated information
from factual passages

Level3:High
• Able to identify the meaning of
unfamiliar words from their use
in a sentence, and to identify
antonyms and synonyms
• Able to understand explicitly
stated information from simple
stories
• Emerging ability to understand
implicit inferences

Level4:Advanced
• Able to construct complex,
multi-clause sentences and to
use appropriate grammatical
concepts
• Able to read and understand a
range of texts, including
complex stories and posters
• Able to understand both
explicitly stated facts and
implicit inferences

0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Boys Girls

0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%

Problem solving and critical thinking
tests:
 Limited evidence in Vietnam on
extent to which young people have
these ‘higher order cognitive skills’
required for 21st century labour
market
 Tests adapted from PISA 2003 and
CWRA+
 Administered at the end of the year
(cross-sectional measure of
performance, not progress)

PROBLEM SOLVING: EXAMPLE ITEM
Each stop you pass through
costs 1000 dong.
The time taken to travel
between stops is 2 minutes.
The time taken to change
from one bus route to
another is 5 minutes.
There is ONE route between Point A and B that is best in terms of both cost & time.
(1) How much will the fare cost for the best route between Points A & B?
(2) What is the journey time for the best route between Points A & B?
Partial credit: 48%
Full credit: 24%
8000 dong
21 minutes

Below Level 1: Weak or emergent
problem solvers
Level 1: Basic problem solvers
Level 2: Competent problem solvers
PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS
%14.8%
%42.7%
%42.5%

0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Boys Girls
Weak or emergent Basic Competent

0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Weak or emerging Basic Competent

CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS
%25.1%
%35.6%
%39.2%
Level 1: Emergent critical thinkers
Level 2: Basic critical thinkers
Level 3: Competent critical thinkers

0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Male Female
Emergent Basic Competent

0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Emergent Basic Competent

Are students being prepared for a 21st century labour market?
 46% of students in our survey demonstrate ‘meaningful learning’ in
Maths – i.e., they are able to apply their knowledge and
understanding in unfamiliar contexts
 40% of students demonstrate levels of English proficiency that
suggest they would be able to function in a labour market context
 15-36% of students demonstrate competent problem-solving and
critical-thinking skills
 English language skills and ‘higher-order’ cognitive skills among
Vietnamese young people are not yet sufficient for a 21st century
labour market?

3. Ethnic minority experiences of upper secondary school

ETHNIC MINORITY EXPERIENCES
 Ethnic minority students are not additionally disadvantaged by
their ethnic status in terms of accessing upper secondary school
(when controlling for prior ability)
 But they are performing at significantly lower levels than majority
Kinh students in Grade 10
 We therefore examine descriptive statistics from the school survey
to understand the extent to which ethnic minority experiences of
Grade 10 are different from their majority Kinh peers

STUDENTS LIVING AWAY FROM HOME
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
Lives away from home during term time

DROP-OUT DURING GRADE 10
0
5
10
15
20
Dropped out of school

ACADEMIC SUPPORT AT SCHOOL (MATHS)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
BT sites DN sites HY sites LC sites PY sites
Teacher sets
homework 3 or
more times per
week
Teacher
frequently or
always checks
homework
Teacher
frequently or
always provides
comments on
homework

ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES OUTSIDE SCHOOL (MATHS)
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
Numberofhours
Extra classes at school Private tuition outside school
Sample mean - extra classes Sample mean - private tuition

ETHNIC MINORITY EXPERIENCES
 Clear differences between ethnic minority students’
experiences of upper secondary school in Lao Cai and
experiences of majority Kinh majority students in other YL
sites
 But EM students don’t necessarily receive a poor quality
education while Grade 10 – students report high levels of
teacher engagement and support
 ‘Catch-up’ effect in Grade 5 - ethnic minority students making
more progress in one year - not observed in Grade 10
 Suggests that gaps open up between ethnic minority and Kinh
students in lower secondary school?

4. Learning outcomes in Vietnam, India & Ethiopia

CROSS-COUNTRY LEARNING OUTCOMES
 2016-17 Young Lives school surveys were also conducted in
India and Ethiopia
 Using cross-country ‘anchor’ items, the Maths and English
tests were designed to allow international comparisons
between the three countries
 What can we say about learning progress among 15-year-
olds and school effectiveness in the three countries?

0.002.004.006
200 400 600 800
ET 1 IN 1 VN 1
ET 2 IN 2 VN 2
COMPARING LEARNING PROGRESS IN MATHS

COMPARING SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS

CROSS-COUNTRY LEARNING OUTCOMES
 In Maths, students in the Young Lives Vietnam school survey:
• Outperformed almost all students in YL Ethiopia school survey
• Outperformed around half the students in YL India school survey
 Within-country gap in learning outcomes between ethnic
minority and Kinh students is considerable…
 …but by international standards, ethnic minority students in
Vietnam are performing at a reasonable level and attending
fairly effective schools

CONCLUSIONS
Education for the 21st century?
 High performers in Maths – but only
around half the students in our survey
demonstrated the ability to apply their
mathematical skills in unfamiliar
contexts
 Not just ‘rote-learners’ – good
performance on problem solving and
critical thinking tests – but more work to
be done to determine whether teachers
are actively encouraging the
development of these skills
 Fairly low English language (reading)
skills – needs to be addressed if
Vietnamese young people are to
complete in an ASEAN / global labour
market?

CONCLUSIONS
‘Leaving No-one Behind’ in Vietnam?
 The majority have access to good quality
basic education in Vietnam
 Ethnic minority students are not
significantly disadvantaged in terms of
access to post-basic education when
controlling for prior ability – but lower
prior scores reflect disadvantage earlier on
 Need to ensure fair access to upper
secondary education and quality learning
outcomes for ethnic minority students
 This in turn affects transition to higher
levels of education and better labour
market outcomes

Thank you!
Any questions or comments?
Email:
caine.rolleston@qeh.ox.ac.uk
padmini.iyer@qeh.ox.ac.uk
Twitter:
@caine_rolleston
@padmini_iyer

Key findings from the 2016-17 Young Lives School Survey in Vietnam

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