Exploring the Vietnamese Approach to Education for Sustainable Development

Abstract

This paper first looks at major opportunities and challenges – internal and external – posed by the forces of globalization that are facing Vietnam’s approach to education reforms. Starting with the view that the background of internationalization of education has become more evident, inclining the country to develop an “outward-looking education,” it identifies new EfS pattern and trend which appear emerging in the country by investigating contemporary reforms at upper secondary and beyond levels. With the rising tide of public demand on a qualified and competitive education, Vietnam has made remarkable progress in its socialization of education strategy which preliminary fruitfulness characterized by the proliferation of private educational institutions and a rapid shift away from liberal-arts education toward lucrative career-oriented education. The paper also sheds new light on approach to EfS in developing countries where transformative learning process now tends to target at equipping learners with the new practice-based knowledge and skills to achieve economic prosperity in a globally-competitive epoch. It further makes a significant theoretical contribution to the research field of EfS by proposing the concept of “job-hunting first approach” as the key to understanding contemporary education reforms launched by developing countries such as Vietnam.