Perspectives on informing post-school pathways: a Vietnamese case study

Abstract

In Vietnam, while the importance of vocational education and training (VET) is increasingly recognised in national discourse and policies, its standing continues to be low compared to other educational pathways, such as higher education. There is often a mismatch between the material worth and benefits of VET and decision-making about it by young people and their parents. This decision-making has been shaped by historical influences in Vietnam about the standing of VET and the occupations it serves through the voices and sentiments of privileged others (e.g., government, schools, teachers and parents). Bringing about change in these sentiments requires transforming the views of those who engage with and subscribe to processes in decision-making. In advancing this case, the chapter commences with an overview of the Vietnamese government initiatives in VET embarking on modernisation and industrialisation reform to enhance the country’s standing in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and seeking competitiveness in the process of international economic integration. It then reports on a case study seeking to understand factors shaping young people’s decision-making about post-school pathways and how to redress the low standing of VET. The qualitative study engaged a cohort of schoolteachers, school-aged students and their parents through interviews and an online survey. The findings indicated differences between school students and parents’ perspectives and suggestions about VET as a post-school pathway. These findings suggest that a reliance on the experiences and preferences of immediate family, which is traditionally exercised within community- and family-oriented Confucian culture such as Vietnam, is insufficient for informed, student-focused and impartial advice. Instead, the process of guidance about post-school pathways needs to comprise dialogic interactions with students and experiences to elaborate and advance what occupations they are suited to rather than relying upon their parents’ experiences and perceptions.