Working in Vietnam with Teachers

I have been working with teachers in Vietnam on modern learning practices.  It has been a great experience, revising all of the principles of learning, assessment practices, student-centred learning, curriculum development, and ways of connecting your school with your community - local, national and global.

It reminds me how lucky we are in New Zealand to have a flexible curriculum framework and a future-oriented system to work within.  Sometimes I think that some New Zealand schools and teachers do not take full advantage of that flexibility.

I wonder how New Zealand teachers would cope with a very prescriptive curriculum and a textbook to adhere to.  On the plus side here in Vietnam, the teachers are very keen to learn and approach new ideas with a positive attitude, even when their context may not allow much movement in some areas at the moment.

I have been reminded constantly about the global changes in education that are happening in many countries.  For example, Andreas Schleicher, head of PISA (which, co-incidentally, is testing much more than just numeracy and literacy these days), in a recent interview (see video below) talked about countries which are moving very quickly into innovation in their education systems.

Andreas cites China as looking at values-based education now as their government realises that industry will not be sufficient in the future to maintain their economy, Brazil as the most improved country, Germany as being the country that is working to reduce the disparity gap, and Japan as having the courage to removed 30% of their curriculum content.

This video is well worth a watch for any educator or person interested in a changing society across the world. More to follow later!!