The Inclusive Promotion System and Grade Repetition: Sociopolitical Context for Teachers' Assessment of Students in Vietnam

• In Event: Education Reforms in Comparative Perspective

Proposal

Inclusion in education has become a global trend. The Sustainable Development Goal 4 aims to "ensure inclusive and equitable quality education," and article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities prescribes that "states parties shall ensure an inclusive education system at all levels." Yet, under the current situation, described as one in the "age of measurement," both institutions and practices in education place importance on numerical figures and projections of students' achievement levels. As international large-scale assessments are used extensively to analyze students' achievement levels, many countries have taken reformative measures within their education systems to quantify student success in measurable ways. However, the lack of local context in the implementation of inclusive education has led to the emergence of numerous critics arguing that inclusive education rarely presents a specific locality in tandem with its achievement.
This study concerns Vietnam's educational systems and sociopolitical context. Vietnam has expanded the universalization of primary education since the 1990s and has further integrated children with disabilities. The Vietnamese government strongly promotes "Hòa Nhập" education, which represents legally defined inclusive education in Vietnam. Hòa Nhập education means "to educate children with disabilities together with those without disabilities in educational institutes" (article 2 of the Law on Persons with Disabilities) under the ideal concept of article 15 of the Education Law. More specifically, Hòa Nhập education is considered a mode to meet learners' needs and abilities, to secure equitable educational rights and qualified education alongside individual interests and abilities, and to respect diversity and difference of learners, combating educational segregation. While this amendment was made in 2019, the Vietnamese government has emphasized educational reform since 2013. Historically, the Vietnamese education system ensures the same school for children with disabilities and those without. Therefore, the same curriculum and academic standards are applied to both parties. As a result of educational reform since 2013, the country's curriculum coherently places importance on quality of students' performance and learners' academic abilities from primary level through secondary level schooling, including special school learning environments.
Against the backdrop of universally inclusive education in Vietnam, questions that come to mind are how do teachers gauge and measure the academic achievements of children with disabilities? How do teachers make decisions that champion the ideals of inclusive education while also innovating their evaluations of all students? How do they justify students repeating grade levels? Based on the questions above, this study explores sociopolitical context where Vietnamese teachers assess students' achievement levels and clarify what frame of mind the teachers possess when regulating their decisions on whether or not to promote students with disabilities.
This study refers to three kinds of data: legal documents, living standard surveys for people with disabilities, and interview data from teachers. First, the study analyzes the process taken to develop and institutionalize educational rights as is recorded in legal documents. It was not until the amendment in 2013 that Hòa Nhập education appeared in education law while disability issues have been dealt with in Vietnamese education since the 1990s. This study, hence, delves into uncharted elements that are embedded in Vietnamese educational rights. Next, referring to 2006 and 2016 living standard surveys for people with disabilities in Vietnam, the study uncovers changes within educational environments for children with disabilities. Lastly, based on the result of field investigations in 2023 and interview data of fifteen teachers and five principals in five schools, the study analyzes how these educators rationalize their frame of mind to assess children with disabilities, especially in the case of students who repeat grade levels multiple times.
The results are as follows: as a legal term, Hòa Nhập education has stemmed from different ideas. While universal human rights was imported to Vietnam in the beginning of the 1990s, educational rights were already embedded with the socialism-based principle that people are regarded as labor. Consequently, the exact same assessment system has been applied to both students with and without disabilities, and this nuance remains hidden even after the concept of universal educational rights was imported. Secondly, statistical data reveals disparity between socioeconomic status of families with children with disabilities. Although more than 90 percent of children with disabilities go to the same schools as those without, there is less tendency for those of higher socioeconomic status to go to the same schools as students without disabilities. Instead, these wealthier families choose to enroll their children in special schools with additional resources for students with disabilities. Finally, according to the results of interviews with teachers and principals, educators are considering children's educational rights and desire to ensure all students' chances of mastering their course work. As described in the aforementioned legal documents, educators regard grade repetition as one of the educational rights for children, including those with disabilities.
In conclusion, the sociopolitical context where teachers conduct assessment for students' achievement levels are as follows: Equal rights in education have roots in socialist principles even though current expressions in legal documentation are based on universal human rights. Well-endowed demographics prefer special schools, avoiding school systems that do not cater to students with disabilities, and teachers attempt to ensure an equitable environment that propels them to conduct assessments for students with disabilities. Based on the course of these developments, the concepts of educational inclusion and equity must be revisited.

Author

• Kengo Shirogane, Biwako Gakuin University