Equalising opportunity? School quality and home disadvantage in Vietnam
皇冠体育app learning achievement of pupils in Grade 5 and the relationships between home-background, teacher, peer and school factors
Abstract
Levels of basic literacy and numeracy skills among Vietnamese primary school children are high by comparison with other countries of a similar income level, and the country has made impressive gains in primary enrolment in recent years as well as improving the quality of schooling. Nonetheless, there remain substantial gaps in school performance between children from more and less advantaged backgrounds. Part of the justification of free public schooling consists in the equalisation of 鈥榦pportunities to learn鈥� and the mitigation of learning inequalities which result from differences in home-background advantage.
In this paper we examine the learning achievement of pupils in primary Grade 5 and explore the relationships between home-background, teacher, peer and school factors and learning progress in Grade 5, using data from Young Lives.
We find that disadvantaged pupils receive relatively equitable access in relation to indicators of 鈥榝undamental鈥� school quality, a considerable policy success regarding the provision of 鈥榤inimum standards鈥�. However, differences by home advantage are relatively large where more sophisticated 鈥榦pportunities to learn鈥� are considered, such as the number of hours of instruction received, including through 鈥榚xtra classes鈥�, as well as access to learning resources such as computers, internet and non-text books. Analysis of the predictors of attainment suggests that some of these are likely to constitute an important part of the explanation for the persistence of learning inequalities by home background in Vietnam, suggesting that following success in equalising basic inputs, policy attention should turn more directly to boosting wider 鈥榦pportunities to learn鈥� among disadvantaged pupils.
Citation
Rolleston, C.; Krutikova, S. Equalising opportunity? School quality and home disadvantage in Vietnam. Oxford Review of Education (2014) 40 (1) 112-131. [Special issue: School quality counts: evidence from developing countries] [DOI: 10.1080/03054985.2013.875261]