1. 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)

2. 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

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

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

5. 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.

6. 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

7. 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...

8. 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

9. 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

10. Overview (cont.) – Legal Framework for CLC
+ At national level:
Law on Education 2005
Communist Party’s official documents
Educational Development Strategy
National Scheme on ‘Building Learning Society for ’
+ 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 , Of.Letter )

11. 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

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

13. 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)

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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)

18. 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

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

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

21. 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

22. 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 = , B= 60-79, C= 40-59, D= < 40 is A

23. 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.

24. 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.

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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

28. Consultative workshops on assessment criteria

29. 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

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

31. Final workshop on developing assessment criteria framework

32. 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)

33. 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

34. 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;

35. 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

38. Thank you! 