ASSESSMENT OF COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTRES IN VIETNAM REGIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTRES 31/8 – 3/9, Bangkok, Thailand ASSESSMENT OF COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTRES IN VIETNAM CURRENT SITUATION AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS Prepared by MOET Vietnam - Continuing Education Dept (CED) & National Institute of Educational Sciences (VNIES)

Contents 1. Overview of CLCs Development in Vietnam - Establishment - Objectives & Target Groups - Types of Activities - Management & Decentralization - Legal Framework 2. Assessment of CLCs - Needs for assessment - Local efforts - Focus at central level - Future orientations - Issues & Challenges

Overview of CLCs’ Development Establishment & expansion Piloted: 1997-2000  Present: 40/63 provinces/cities with CLCs in every communes of districts

Overview (cont) – No. of learners in CLCs Unit: 1,000 turns of people

Overview (cont.) Objectives: Creating learning opportunities for all  improve quality of life and develop community’s human resources; Meeting learning needs, “learn what is needed”, and lifelong learning for all; Building continuing educational system at grassroots level  all people can have access to learning and can participate in educational activities in the community.

Overview (cont) Target Groups of CLCs: All people in the community More attention to disadvantaged groups: Pre-school children Out-of-school/ street children Women The elderly The disabled Ethnic groups

Overview (cont.) Types of Activities Literacy Post literacy Non-formal Basic Education Technical, Vocational, Income generation Early Childhood Care and Education Equivalency Programme (Primary) Equivalency Programme (Lower/junior secondary) Community dialogue and meeting Others: Law education; Cultural exchanges; sport activities; prevention of social problems; conducting survey on community’s learning needs… Programs to respond to learners’ needs, to update knowledge, and transfer technologies...

Overview (cont.) Management & Decentralization CLC- a community-based establishment: under direct administrative management of commune’s People’s Committee professional direction & guidance: by district’s BoETs

CLC CLCs in the relationship with other organizations MOET Learning Promotion Association Related ministries/ sectors/civil & social organizations /individuals Provincial PC Reporting Reporting Province DoET Supporting & Collaborating District’s PC Reporting Reporting CLC Direct Management Professional direction/ guidance District’s BoET Commune’s PC Consulting to Party’s Committee; local authorities Supporting District’s Continuing Education Centre Lower Secondary School Primary School

Overview (cont.) – Legal Framework for CLC + At national level: Law on Education 2005 Communist Party’s official documents Educational Development Strategy 2001-2010 National Scheme on ‘Building Learning Society for 2001-2010’ + Specific legal docs. for CLCs: MOET’s Regulation No.09 on CLCs – 2008 MOF: Finacial guidance through Circular 96 (2008) MOET’s various official docs. to provide guidelines for implementation (Cir. 40-2010, Of.Letter 913-2011...)

2. Assessment of CLCs Needs for Assessment Rapid expansion vs. limited quality in programs & operation Limitations in quality assurance (only ~ 30% in good operation – general observation, not evidence-based) Lacking reliable data for Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation Local needs & central management purpose Concern of related parties

Assessment (cont.) Local efforts - Localities aim at evaluating CLCs’ effectiveness - Ranking purpose - Seeking good models - Sharing experiences and best practices

Assessment (cont) Local initiatives: Thanh Hoa province’ set of assessment & ranking criteria for their CLCs (2008) – issued by Provincial People’s Committee. Results: 352 CLCs ranked A, 224 B, 59 C – out of total 636 of the province. Thai Binh Province: self-assessment & ranking criteria, best CLCs awarded by BoET Other assessment model proposed by Learning Promotion Association (LPA): 4 groups of criteria (Management & Organization; Infrastructure & Working conditions; Activities; Evaluation of CLC effectiveness)

Assessment (cont) Limitations: fragmented efforts lacking guidance for a unified system for all CLCs CLC’s impacts are only evaluated by CLC and BoET, not by relevant sectors, thus subjective indicators Ranking without specifying success and constraints  insufficient information for planning and adjustments

Example: in some provinces, CLC’s own office building is a criteria Community Learning Center An Hai Tay Ward Office for land tax collection Office for industry and commerce tax collection

Assessment (cont.) Focus at central level Internal need of management bodies (districts, provinces, CED-MOET) External demand (donors, mass organizations, related parties, policy makers...) Necessity of an assessment framework for CLCs: Specific & measurable criteria Contextualized Evidence-based  an initiative by MOET & UNESCO Hanoi Office -2011

Assessment (cont.): Introduction of the study Purpose of Assessment Framework: Diagnostic vs. Ranking Diagnostic: aims at increasing efficiency of CLCs Ranking can be combined, with various categories if still insisted for competition and commendation (i.e.A-D)

Assessment (cont.): Methods Desk review Fact-finding visitations to Provincial and District ,MOET officials, Peoples’ Committees and CLCs in Ho Chi Minh City (South, with many migrants) Dong Thap province (South, with high number of farmers) Hoa Binh, Thai Binh Province (Northern, with high number of ethnic minority groups and the province already developed and piloted criteria assessment and ranking system) Bac Giang (Northern, no assessment criteria developed yet) Consultative workshops with key stakeholders Pilot testing the assessment criteria and procedures in provinces

Assessment (cont.) Efficiency: Internal – External Structure of the proposed assessment framework: 6 Internal Criteria 10 External Criteria Assessment Procedures: 8 steps

Assessment (cont): Internal Criteria SUSTAINABILITY MANAGEMENT LEARNER FINANCE CURRICULUM CLC REPORTING TEACHER/FACILITATOR TEACHING MATERIALS/ AID NETWORKING FACILITIES

Assessment (cont): External Criteria Improving economic situation of community’s members Building a learning society Environmental Sustainability CLC Improving quality of life of community’s members Building a just, democratic, and civilized society Improving people’s awareness and knowledge on legal issues

RATING OF CRITERIA Total of A+B+C+D divided by the total Possible Score which is 92 (23 Specific Indicators X 4) as a Percentage. (T:PS =%) Example: 12 x A(4) = 48, + 6 x B(3) = 18, +4 x C (2) = 8, + 1 x D(1)= 1, Total 75: 75:92= 81.52% Final Assessment based on A = 80-100, B= 60-79, C= 40-59, D= < 40 is A

Assessment (cont) Assessment Procedures: 8 steps 1. BOET develops a detailed plan for Assessments and informs CLCs & Commune People Committee’s; 2. CLC Director prepares annual report; 3. The CLCs Management Board prepares an External Efficiency and Internal Efficiency Assessment; 4. The External Efficiency report from CLCs will be sent to and reviewed by other relevant stakeholders at the commune (line sectors, mass organizations, private business) in a meeting to validate the CLC’s self-assessment. Then Assessments reports (internal and external) will be forwarded to the BOET.

Assessment (cont.) 5. BoET reviews Assessment reports and compiles a final Assessment of the CLC’s External and Internal Efficiency; 6. BoET also provides recommendations to the CLC on improving its efficiency; 7. CLC Management Board acknowledges comments from BOET, develop its next work plan and send to the BOET; 8. Annually, BoET provides DoET & local People’s Committee with a report on CLC. DoET will then send the reports to MOET & Provincial PPC. MoET distributes assessment results to related ministries, mass organizations at central level to improve the policy and support for CLCs.

Consultative workshops on assessment criteria framework Continuing Education Department, MOET Non-formal Education Research Center, VNIES Representatives from Central Learning Promotion Association UNESCO Ha Noi Office

Consultative workshops on assessment criteria Continuing Education Department, MOET Non-formal Education Research Center, VNIES Representatives from DOETs, CLCs Director, CED-BOETs in Thai Binh, Bac Giang, Ha Noi, Thanh Hoa and Hoa Binh provinces UNESCO Ha Noi Office

Consultative workshops on assessment criteria MOET VNIES Representatives from Central Learning Promotion Association Representatives from other relevant stakeholders at national level: Ministry of Home Affairs (personnel matters) Ministry of Finance Ministry of Legal Affairs Border Guard General Command Women’s Union Science and Technology Association UNESCO Ha Noi Office

Consultative workshops on assessment criteria

Field test in Thai Binh, Bac Giang and Ha Noi Individual review of the criteria and then group discussion by key stakeholders and BoET on external evaluation Group discussion on external and internal evaluation by CLC’s management board and facilitators

Field test in Thai Binh, Bac Giang and Ha Noi Sharing feedbacks among all participants and MOET and UNESCO Ha Noi

Final workshop on developing assessment criteria framework

Some feedbacks from piloted CLCs – 8/2011 Criteria well reflect the operation and impacts of CLCs Holistic assessment (internal-external; not self-declared) Assessment procedures and criteria are based on CLC Regulation No.09 of MOET (2008) Some external criteria are abstract --> hard to understand and answer for local people Assessment of external efficiency: challenge to ensuring objectiveness of assessment, due to hierarchy of administrative system in the commune (commune’s leaders are often CLCs’ Directors)

Future Orientations Adopt the assessment approach and framework recommended by UNESCO Ha Noi and revised through field-test and consultative workshops Further development of a comprehensive & user-friendly criteria framework and work-plan for CLC assessment Criteria uniform but also some proportion open enough for flexibility to apply in various settings Collecting more inputs from local levels through piloting --> better localizing assessment tool Combining diagnostic & ranking assessment More attention to quality vs. quantity

Issues and Challenges Different CLC situations, thus uniform system but with certain flexibility to local setting Limited awareness of society, authorities Ownership and participation of community; Capacity of the CLCs managers and teachers/facilitators; Great difficulties in mobilizing resources; Ineffective collaboration and cooperation among related parties Lack of a coordination and reinforcement of existing policies and legal frameworks --> gaps and overlaps;

Issues and Challenges Lack of financial & technical resources to conduct assessment/ quality assurance processes at both local and central levels; Shortage & low quality of learning materials; Locations of CLCs (remote, mountainous or areas with ethnic minority groups) Difficulties of disadvantaged groups

Thank you! 