WASHINGTON, D.C., June 29, 2016 – Vietnam’s education reform efforts got a boost today with a World Bank-funded Enhancing Teacher Education Program, which supports the delivery of continuous professional development to teachers and principals. The Program will enable general education teachers and principals master a new curriculum and pedagogical approaches, and adapt teaching practice to the needs of individual students.
“Vietnam has achieved universal primary education, created better learning conditions in schools, and made considerable progress in expanding the education network,” said Achim Fock, Acting Country Director for the World Bank in Vietnam.“The country is now positioning its education system to provide the population with skills and competencies needed for greater value in tomorrow’s economy. With this program, we are proud to support Vietnam with addressing this next frontier of education development in Vietnam.”
The Program will benefit more than 600,000 general education teachers and principals, which is nearly 80 percent of the total number in the country. Teachers and principals will receive customized and just-in-time training and support through enhanced school-based training and an internet-based distance-learning and support network.
The learning management system will not only facilitate distance learning, but also serve as a portal to a large resource library, a social media platform for teachers and principals, web-based classroom observation, and help desks. The Program also supports the establishment of a training and support needs assessment system that can help adapt services to teacher needs.
The Program will help establish a cadre of more than 28,000 Core Teachers and 4,000 Principal Advisors who will work at the school level and provide customized support and training to school staff. Placing these experts in schools to provide direct support to teachers and principals reflects international best practice. Ethnic minority and female teachers and principals will be encouraged to become Core Teachers and Principal Advisors.
The Program will finance improvements to a select number of leading teacher training universities, which will serve as the stewards of the new continuous professional development system. These universities will train and support Core Teachers and Principals, conduct applied research, and analyze evaluations of teacher needs and the impact of continuous professional development interventions.
The Program is financed with a $95 million credit from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank Group’s concessional lending source for low-income countries.
