Despite Vietnam's successful campaign to reach universal pre-school education at age 5, many of these children are ‘not ready for learning’ in primary school because they are vulnerable on at least one developmental domain. Among those children, ethnic minority children are most at risk of not being school-ready.
A major barrier to learning and participation of children, especially those from ethnic minority groups, is language. Vietnamese is the only language of instruction. Observations show that at preschool age, children get few speaking opportunities or other opportunities to develop a deep command of the language of instruction. Teachers tend to apply teacher-directed approaches in classes, with limited meaningful and language-rich interactions which are essential for language development.
School leaders and teachers in early childhood education have the competencies to lead and create language-rich learning environments for preschool children in ethnically diverse and disadvantaged districts, contributing to their language development and learning readiness.
- Ministry of Education and Training (MOET)
- 3 Provincial Departments of Education and Training (DOET)
- 48 District Bureaus of Education and Training (BOET)
- 5 academic institutions
The TALK programme centres on strengthening the professional development of teachers and school leaders in early childhood education in ethnically diverse districts.
The programme is built around 3 pillars:
- Strengthening of preschool teachers’ competencies to observe learners’ wellbeing and involvement, to differentiate teaching to support those who need it most, and to lead and create language-rich learning environments (LRLE).
- Strengthening of school leaders’ capacities to establish enabling environments for teachers’ professional development based on their specific needs in their specific context. Building capacities and changing practices of school leaders will only be successful if driven by the provincial and district bureaus of education and training.
- Establishment of an evidence base through research, and dissemination of research results to scale the intervention and guarantee sustainability of the results.
TALK collaborates closely with a group of national experts from key academic institutions in Vietnam to gather empirical data on the LRLE approach throughout the programme.
By the end of the TALK programme:
- School leaders create enabling learning environments for collaborative and reflective learning.
- Preschool teachers apply teaching practices that create language-rich learning environments.
- DOET and BOET staff:
- set up quality capacity development trajectories for teachers to create language-rich learning environments with attention for wellbeing and involvement.
- and provide school leaders with quality CPD activities to create an enabling environment for collaborative and reflective learning, especially for teachers working in satellite classes.
- MOET endorses LRLE learning materials for use at national level.
