Tài liệu Management innovations for improving the quality of education in ha noi

SOUTHERN LUZONSTATEUNIVERSITY, LUCBAN, QUEZON, PHILIPPINES IN COLLABORATION WITH THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY, SOCIALISTREPUBLIC OF VIETNAM __________________________________________________________________________ MANAGEMENT INNOVATIONS TOWARDS IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF EDUCATION IN HANOI DOCTOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION BY Le Ngoc Quang– Lanos August 2013 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT In order to complete this dissertation, I need helps from many people. Their helps provided the very great contribution to my work. I am deeply indebted to all of them. First of all, I wish to thank Dr. Edwin P. Bernal, my advisor. Without his very useful help and advice I would not be able to finish my work. His very high requirements have encouraged me to try my best. I also want to thank all my professors and staffs of SOUTHERN LUZON STATE UNIVERSITY and THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY for their interesting lectures and help which provided me necessary knowledge to write this dissertation, as well as to work for my future. In order to have a good dissertation with scientific quality and practical significance, I need to collect some information from the principals and teachers of schools in Hanoi City. Without their very useful ideas and information, my dissertation can not be completed. I want to give my sincere thanks to them for their valuable cooperation and kind help. I would like to thank Hanoi Education and Training Department, People’s Committee of Dong Anh District and all commentators who shared me their time, and encouraged me to tmake my dissertation better. I need to express my special thanks from the bottom of my heart to my parents who brought me into the world and brought me up. Also, I am indebted to all members of my family, who kept encouraging and providing me with great favors when I was taking this course. I am grateful to all my classmates and my friends who helped me to collect materials in the preparation of the dissertation. Their assistance helped me to save my limited time to focus in writing. Lastly, I am indebted to many other people. They are writers of useful materials in books, internet, and newspapers. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 5 I. Background of the study ..........................................................................................5 II. Statement of Research Objectives ............................................................................6 III. Statement of the Problem .....................................................................................7 IV. Significance of the Study .....................................................................................8 V. Scope and Limitations of the Study .......................................................................10 VI. Operational Definition of Terms ........................................................................11 CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURES AND STUDIES ............. 13 I. Related Literature ...................................................................................................13 1. The Vietnamese Educational System in a Nutshell ............................................ 14 2. Some Practices in Educational Management in Other Countries ..................... 16 3. Some Local Initiatives Toward Improving Quality of Education in Vietnam .... 21 4. Training standards and post graduate degrees for university lecturers and college lecturers by 2020. .......................................................................................... 23 II. Related Studies .......................................................................................................25 III. Theoretical Framework ......................................................................................29 IV. Conceptual Framework ......................................................................................34 CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ......................................................... 37 I. Locale of the Study ................................................................................................37 II. Research Design .....................................................................................................37 III. Population, Sample and Sampling Technique ...................................................38 IV. Research Instrument...........................................................................................39 V. Data Gathering Procedure ......................................................................................39 VI. Statistical Treatment ..........................................................................................40 CHAPTER IV RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS .......................................................... 41 I. The Human Capital & Material Resources ............................................................41 II. Responsiveness of Selected School Management Inputs ......................................60 CHAPTER V SUMMARYOF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS................................................................................................. 82 III. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS .............................................................................83 Faculty complement. When compared to the students’ enrolment in various grades, the faculty complement does not match the actual requirements for ensuring quality education. Considering that teacher-student ratio is as high as 1:75 particularly in urban centers, there is much to be desired in coping up with the number of school teachers in Vietnam. ............................................................83 IV. CONSLUSION ..................................................................................................87 V. RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................................................................87 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................ 92 APPENDIX ....................................................................................................................... 94 LIST OF TABLES Table 1 General Information on Survey Respondents ....................................................... 42 Table 2. Respondents Classified By Type and Grade of Schools...................................... 43 Table 3. School Managers’ and Teachers’ Training Standard and Capability to Use Foreign Language and Information Technology (IT) ........................................................ 48 Table 4. Enrolment in Hanoi in School Year 2012-2013 .................................................. 52 Table 5. Students’ Performance in National High School Exit Examinations .................. 53 Table 6. Performance of Hanoi-based Schools in the National University Entrance Examinations...................................................................................................................... 54 Table 7. Distribution of Schools in Hanoi as of School Year 2012-2013 ......................... 56 Table 8. Frequency Distribution of Electronic Instructional Materials as of SY 20122013....................................................................................................................................59 Table 9. Frequency Table on the Degree of Compliance to Assigned Tasks (N=169) .... 61 Table 10. Difficulties Faced by Public Schools in Relation to Financial Sources ............ 66 Table 11. Assessment Ratings by Managers and Teachers on Training Curricula .......... 68 Table 12. Assessment Ratings by Managers and Teachers on Training Curricula Classified by Grade of Schools (%) ................................................................................... 69 Table 13. Proposed Solutions for Developing High-Quality Educational Services in Hanoi .................................................................................................................................. 71 Table 14. Proposed Solutions For Managing Responsive Educational Services (%)....... 73 Table 15. Solutions For Ensuring Equality Between Public And Non-Public Schools.... 74 Table 16. Proposed solutions for improving training quality of foreign languages and informatics in hanoi ........................................................................................................... 79 Table 17. General Solutions for Improving Educational Quality in Hanoi ....................... 80 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Vietnam Education and Training System ........................................................... 15 Figure 2. GMR2005 Framework for Understanding Education Quality ........................... 29 Figure 3. Overview of the Process of Developing Improvement Actions ......................... 31 LIST OF CHARTS Chart 1. Faculty Trend in Hanoi Schools from SY 2000-2001 to SY 2009-2010 ............ 45 Chart 2 Education Centers Meeting MET Standards as of May 20, 2013 ......................... 55 Chart 3. Opinions of Managers About the Inadequacy of Existing Mechanisms for Assigning Tasks to Public Schools .................................................................................... 62 Chart 4. Proposed Solutions For Promoting International Integration In Education In Hanoi (%) ........................................................................................................................... 78 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION I. Background of the study According to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO 9000), the product quality is measured by the degree of conformance to the collection of characteristics of predetermined specifications and standards. The quality of products and services create a trademark, prestige and the existence of an organization in current circumstances. On one hand, the Department of Education Standard School-Ministry of Education and Training 2010 posit that quality education can make progress. The capability of the students to access and gain new knowledge is seen as a step towards advancing in life. Achieving quality education, therefore, must be taken seriously. However, given the limitations, the desired quality of education has not yet been coming as expected. The Hanoi 2020 Vision 2030 approved by the City People's Committee in July 2012 defined quality education and training comprehensively. Accordingly, in 10 years, the education and training sector should have strived and achieved good results in expanding access to opportunities; developed a wide range of school types and forms of learning; implemented innovative education and improved the quality of staff; the education law and the traditional education are enhanced; the solidification program, school modernization investment priority, and the number of schools increased rapidly to national standards; the management of education system has had significant innovations in the direction of increased decentralization, autonomy and social responsibility in performing the assigned tasks, organizational structure, staffing and in financing of public schools; and, the models of private schools and 5 other educational institutions have elements coming from or influenced by best practices from foreign countries which were gradually put into effective operation, and at the same time attracting resources for social investment to education and training for sustainable development. The motto of educational development is “standardization, socialization, modernization and democratization.” Hanoi capital which is the center of politics, science and economy of the country needed to respond aggressively to the aims of this educational development. Therefore, improving the quality of education should become a very urgent concern in order to create a workforce with the necessary knowledge, skills and attitude required at meeting the requirements of socio-economic development in the Hanoi capital. However, the education system is without any pressing issues and concerns. It is still far from responding very effectively and efficiently to the call of times. In particular, the quality of education in Vietnam is still generally wanting. It is in this context that this research project was conducted. II. Statement of Research Objectives With the end-goal of improving the quality of education, this research focused on the following specific objectives: a. To describe the condition of human capital and material resources in Hanoi-based schools in terms of professional qualifications of school managers and faculty, faculty complement, prevalent human resource management practices, school managers’ and teachers’ training standard and capability to use foreign language and information technology, 6 student enrolment, students’ performance evaluation, school distribution in Hanoi, education socialization; and library and other learning facilities. b. To obtain from the research respondents and describe their perception on the responsiveness of the selected school management inputs such as assigned tasks, financial system, and school curricula, in responding to the need of effectively managing the educational system. c. To describe the respondents’ desired improvements for an effective management of educational system towards achieving responsiveness in educational services, equality between public and non-public schools, comprehensive international integration, and improved quality of training in foreign languages and informatics. III. Statement of the Problem This research was conducted to look into some possible management innovations for the purpose of improving the quality of education in Hanoi. Specifically, this research work was designed to answer the following problems: a. What is the condition of human capital and material resources in Hanoibased schools in terms of: - Professional qualifications school managers and faculty; - Faculty complement; - Prevalent human resource management practices; - School managers’ and teachers’ training standard and capability to use fore ign language and information technology; - Student enrolment; - Students’ performance evaluation; 7 - School distribution in Hanoi; - Education socialization; and - Library and other learning facilities. b. How responsive are the selected school management inputs such as assigned tasks, financial system, and school curricula in responding to the need of effe ctively managing the educational system? c. What improvements can be proposed for an effective management of educati onal system towards achieving: - Responsiveness in educational services, - Equality between public and non-public schools, - Comprehensive international integration, and - Improved quality of training in foreign languages and informatics. IV. Significance of the Study This research work will be very significant to the following: a. For the Department of Education and Training Hanoi People's Committee of Hanoi City, People's Committees of districts, Education and Training, this research can be a valuable inputs in formulating their plans and strategies in improving education and training in Hanoi. b. For students and future researchers, this study can provide an array of rich data useful for understanding the status and the problems being faced by the education managers in Hanoi. Further, this can serve as a ready reference towards deeper study of the other issues and the corresponding improvements that the educational system needs to undertake in the future. 8 c. For students, this research is very important as it is hoped that this will result in improvements in school management. The old management system will be replaced by the new ones. The refinements in teaching and in education will allow educational institutions to come closer to the educational mission of the century - learn to know, learn to work, learn to live, and learn to express yourself. The students are expected to be able to acquire knowledge, skilla and attitude to become honest, responsible, empathic, optimistic, active, and creative citizens. d. For the students’ parents, this research will help them to have the most realistic view toward educational quality. As a result, they will be expected to make intelligent choices for their kids’ learning environment. At the same time, they can help create the best educational environment at home. They will be given the opportunity to react positively and co-operate with the schools in educating their children. e. For managers in Hanoi, this research is will be meaningful to them as they will be able to see their weaknesses and expected to institute suitable changes for the education sector. f. For teachers, this research will help them work on changing the content and methods of education. The parents also recommended investing in teaching conditions and educational methods for their children. g. For potential investors in the education sector, including the government, businesses, private companies, etc., this research will serve as a source of good reference especially for those who aspire to create innovative educational environment. For foreign and domestic investors who spend money on non-public schools, they will have good references on the 9 government’s policies and have necessary recommendations and decisions when investing. V. Scope and Limitations of the Study This study covered the primary schools, middle schools, and high schools in both the private and public sectors which are under the jurisdiction of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training. Particularly, the research work delved into the human capital and material resources, responsiveness of the selected school management inputs, and the possible improvements in the management of education system in Hanoi, Vietnam. The data used to analyze the situation in the educational system of Hanoi were taken from available documents from 2003 to 2012, while the primary data were gathered from teachers and school managers from the aforementioned schools. While the respondent-teachers and school managers have countless innovative ideas on how to improve the quality of education in Hanoi, the domestic policy and the political institutions are some concerns beyond the control of the researcher, hence these are considered research limitations. In addition, the economic downturn in Vietnam led to social security problems, hence investment in development programs including infrastructures in educational sector had become limited. Therefore, this may have a serious effect on the respondents’ perception on the quality of education in Hanoi which was not statistically measured. 10 VI. Operational Definition of Terms The following terms were defined on the bases of how they were used in this study: a. Management innovations refer to the creation of policies and mechanisms in management so that the quality of educational services is improved. b. Quality of education refers to the value of conversion. A quality education is an education that effect positive changes on the students coming from the public and private educational institutions offering primary, middle, and high school education under the jurisdiction of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training. c. Responsiveness of school management inputs refers to the expected effect of the assigned tasks, the financial system, and the school curricula on the management of educational institutions in Hanoi. d. Comprehensive international integration refers to the ability of the educational system in Hanoi to enhance the quality of education by bringing the factors contributory to excellent education, i.e., school curricula, management system, and school facilities and physical equipments, are at par with the international standards thereby making the graduates in primary, middle and high schools ready to face the rigors of college education which prepares students to become competitive locally and globally. e. Education socialization refers to the method used to gain essential purposes of education where the government, in all cases, always takes responsibility, and doesn’t entrust to others. According to resolution 05 of 11 the government (18th April, 2005), the government is committed to increasing socialization of the educational, medical, cultural and sports activities. In particular, for the education and training, the government is expected to continue increasing investment budget for the education and training; channel resources of departments, levels, business and social organizations and individuals to develop education and training; innovate on the activities of the public schools and the school fee systems; and enhance the non-public schools. 12 CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURES AND STUDIES This chapter presents the related literature and studies reviewed by the researcher from the world wide web, journals and various libraries in the hope of having the study yield better results. The discussion of related literature brings into light what educational management and quality education are all about both in global arena and in Vietnam. On the other hand the review of related studies distinguishes different studies undertaken by a number of research projects on the relevant variables in this research. This chapter also presents the theoretical framework, and the conceptual framework. I. Related Literature It is an undeniable fact that, in general, education is a vital mover of the economy. Needless to say the need to imbibe a culture and mindset of quality education is an undertaking that every nation should strive to embrace, attain and eventually benefit from. To date, however, while, programs and serious initiatives both by the national and the local governments had been undertaken, quality of education in Vietnam is still wanting. This part of the study will present literatures, articles and writings that will tell the story of how education has become what it is today. As in any case, a means to understand something is to understand its beginnings. Initially a history of the origins of Vietnamese educational system is presented. The discussion proceeded by highlighting the practices and experiences from other countries, including the Philippines, from which lessons may be learned. Finally, the current and proposed educational programs of the country are discussed in order to offer readers with some basis for understanding where the Vietnamese education is heading to. 13 1. The Vietnamese Educational System in a Nutshell The pre-school takes care of the raising, caring and educating children from three months to six years of age. The primary education takes a five year duration grade one up to grade five. The average age of students in grade one is six. The secondary education is completed in four-year time from grade six to grade nine. The student finishes primary education at the age of eleven. The high school lasts in three years, from grade ten to grade twelve. Students attending grade ten must have the certificate of graduation from secondary school at the age of fifteen. The vocational education has vocational secondary school and vocational school (primary, secondary, and college). Meanwhile, the professional intermediate may be completed within three to five years of learning for people with secondary school certificate, and within one to two years of learning for people with high school certificate. Career development maybe completed within one year for beginner level, and from one to three years for intermediate and upper levels. The tertiary and post-graduate education trains college level, graduate level, master level, and doctor level. Tertiary education. The college education has a duration of two to three years depending on majors for people with high school or vocational secondary school certificate; from one year and a half to two years for people with vocational school certificate of the same majors. The undergraduate education is completed from four to six years depending on majors for people with high school or vocational school certificate; from two years and a half to four years for people with vocational school certificate of the same major; from one year and a half to two years for people with college certificate of the same major. The master education takes from one to two years for people with 14 undergraduate degrees. The doctor education takes place within four years for people with undergraduate degrees, from two to three years for people with master degrees. In special occasions, the duration of doctor education can be extended depending on the decision of the Education and Training Department. Figure 1. Vietnam Education and Training System (According to educational laws 2005) Post-graduate Doctor Master Tertiary education Undergraduate Diploma Vocational education College Secondary Primary Vocational secondary school General education High school Secondary school Primary school Pre-school Currently, Vietnam have some 3 million university and college students. Nearly 15 m 15 illion students (14,762,961) are in the primary, secondary and high school levels, and near ly 4 million (3,873,445) children are enrolled in the kindergarten level. On the one hand t here are about 84,000 teachers in various universities and colleges. 1,670,000 teachers are in the primary, secondary and high schools. There are about 400 universities and colleges, 15,400 primary schools, 10,600 secondary schools, and 2,350 high schools. Other educational facilities such as kindergartens, regular education, and community learning centers add up to 13,500. 2. Some Practices in Educational Management in Other Countries William R. Tracey (2003), in The Human Resources Glossary defines Human Resour ces as "the people that staff and operate an organization … as contrasted with the financia l and material resources of an organization. The organizational function that deals with th e people, ..." human resources evolved from personnel management as the field moved be yond paying employees and managing employee benefits. The evolution made verbal the fact that people are an organization's most important resource. People are assets that must be hired, satisfied, developed, and retained. Recent evidence of a substantial link between quality of schooling and individual pro ductivity suggests that, from an economic efficiency perspective, the quality aspects of ed ucation deserve attention. The paper entitled Private and Public Schooling: The Indian Ex perience by Geeta Gandhi Kingdom- of the University of Oxford (2005) presented empiri cal evidences on the relative quality and efficiency of private and government-funded sch ools in urban India, using data from Uttar Pradesh. The results suggested that standardizin g for home background and controlling for sample selectivity greatly reduced the raw ave rage achievement advantage of private school students over public school students, but di d not wipe it out. Private schools' standardized achievement advantage (or better quality) 16 was complemented by their lower unit costs to enable them to be more efficient. The resul ts supported much of the existing international evidence on the relative efficiency of priva te and public schools. Meanwhile, the role of improved schooling, a central part of most development strate gies, has become controversial because expansion of school attainment has not guarantee d improved economic conditions. Eric A. Hanushek and Ludger Woessmann (2008) revie wed the role of education in promoting economic well-being, focusing on the role of educ ational quality. It concluded that there was a strong evidence that the cognitive skills of th e population - rather than mere school attainment - were powerfully related to individual e arnings, to the distribution of income, and to economic growth. New empirical results sho wed the importance of both minimal and high-level skills, the complementarity of skills a nd the quality of economic institutions, and the robustness of the relationship between skil ls and growth. International comparisons incorporating expanded data on cognitive skills reveal much larger skill deficits in developing countries than generally derived from just s chool enrollment and attainment. The magnitude of change needed makes it clear that clo sing the economic gap with industrial countries will require major structural changes in e ducational institutions. The developing countries in Asia need to improve the quality of their education syste ms as many graduates lack the skills needed in today's rapidly changing workplace, accor ding to the Asian Development Bank as reported by the China View. The ADB Vice Presi dent Ursula Schaefer-Preuss said that the shortage of skilled workforce in the Asia-Pacific region, male and even more so female, has been a major bottleneck in economic and socia l development (Yan Liang, (2008). In a report in the Education and Skills: Strategies for Accelerated Development in Asia and the Pacific, it was emphasized that the demand for higher education is booming 17 and is expected to double in five years and triple in 10 years in many of ADB's developing member countries. However, the report cautioned that the targeted expansion will continue to be haphazard because of the many institutions of inferior quality. (Asian Development Bank, 2008). It may be worthy to note that the Philippines has a decentralized public education system that provides free primary and secondary education. Primary education, normally for pupils aging between 7 and 12 years old is compulsory. Its education budget is about 17% of the national budget. The literacy rate in the Philippines is 94.6%. (Human Resour ces Development Working Group Accordingly, the general goals of education in the Philippines are to (1) provide a well-rounded education that will assist each individual in society to attain his or her potential as a human being, and enhance the range and quality of the individuals within the group; (2) help the individual to participate in the basic functions of society and acquire the essential educational foundation for his or her development into a productive and versatile citizen; (3) train the nation's manpower in the middle-level skills required for national development; (4) develop high-level professionals that will provide leadership for the nation, advance knowledge through research, and apply new knowledge for improving the quality of life; (5) respond effectively to changing needs and conditions through system of educational planning. Over the years, the Philippine educational system had continuously placed greater emphasis on English, science, technology, mathematics and staff training for administrators. Vocational education has also been revised to incorporate technological advancements. Strategies for active improvement of education have included curriculum development, improvement of private and public school teacher education prior to their careers as well as during, update of materials and equipment, improving access of 18 disadvantaged students, liberalizing policies for higher education private schools, and strengthening connections between government professional boards for evaluation. The more notable programs aimed at improving education in the Philippines are: (1) The Elementary and Secondary Education Project. The aim of the project has been to meet the sector's requirement for essential physical resources (facilities and equipment), especially in educationally and economically disadvantaged areas; improve the professional competence of teachers and school administrators; expand the population's basic knowledge and the skills of children at risk of dropping out of school as well as illiterate out-of-school youth and adults. As well as further development of Department of Education institutional capacities in planning and management of the education system; (2) Implementing the New Secondary Education Curriculum (1992-93). This project had implemented a mass training for Grade 4 teachers which was complemented with the production and delivery of textbooks and teacher's manuals to fully support the implementation of the new curriculum; (3) National Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) System for Pre-School Education. It refers to the full range of health, nutrition, early education and social services programs that provide for the basic holistic needs of young children from birth to age six (6), to promote their optimum growth and development. It aims to facilitate smooth transition from care and education provided at home to community or school-based setting and to ensure that young children are adequately prepared for the formal learning system both in public and private schools; (4) The School Building Program. This program provides for the construction of classrooms, science laboratories and multi-purpose workshops, and the provision of equipment for instruction for selected elementary and secondary schools within the typhoon belt of the country and in remote or rural areas; (5) Science Teaching Improvement Project. This project aims to develop science equipment through research, 19