Should Vietnamese secondary school students engage more in education for sustainability?

I am trying to remember to what extent did I learn in secondary school is related to sustainability. I could only link it partly to Civic Education, English and Literature. The first one taught me about humanity values, behaviors and key human rights to exercise as a human. On common ground, Civic Education is based on the “Filial Piety” of Confusion ideology which emphasizes the duty of individuals to pay respects to parents, teachers, family, seniors, the authority in society. From my philosophy course at Global Studies and Social Entrepreneurship (GSSE) program, I enjoyed our discussion on the application of this ideology in life and certain limitations, and eventually, the goal is to achieve a harmonized society. English opened my eyes to globalization and the challenges to integrating in society. Literature exposed me to a bit of critical thinking to address social issues, take responsibility, and tackle them on different levels from family, schools to society. However, this kind of discussion is mostly manifested in the essay analyzing social issues and expressing personal concerns on the matter. I never got to get my hands dirty with any practical activities.

When we started grade 6, we had to take an oral test called “Review old lesson” at the beginning of every class. The first time I took it was in the Civic Education class, I raised my hand when my teacher asked if anyone wanted to review it. She told me to come to the board in front of my classmates. It turned out that all questions were about the definition of the concepts in the textbook. Of course, my mind was empty by the time I came to the spotlight. I raised my hand because I thought she asked some questions that I could tell from my understanding. All subjects, since then, continued testing students’ ability to memorize the content — read by the teachers, passively written by the students into our notebook. This oral presentation freaked me out all the time and the high chance is that all “learn-by-heart- knowledge” will be gone by the next several days. Gradually, we tried to learn to pass the test so we would not have to suffer later. The purpose was to get away from the random “cold call” rather than “learning”.

I wish I could learn to analyze different case studies and discuss with friends how to solve the problems or do role-play to be in others’ shoes together. The classes for young kids should be fun and filled with movement and laughter rather than yawnings and the anxiety of being noticed by the teachers. I like teachers who tell stories in class, allow students to volunteer themselves and care about the interests of students. I think a good teacher needs to observe the behaviors and reflection of students to see if they understand the lesson, listen to the needs and personal goals of students to connect to them and understand their personality, use teaching methods that can engage students and stimulate students’ curiosity. A good teacher also needs to find out students’ strengths and weaknesses to design teaching methods and assessments accordingly so students’ potentials can blossom. A good teacher is a good listener, curious learner, storyteller, facilitator and empathetic person.

Recently, I have read many articles about Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Global Citizenship Education (GCED) because I want to teach these topics to secondary school students in the future. ESD and GCED are a key focus in criteria 4.7 under the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 by United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for all countries to attain a sustainable future. Target 4.7 is closely aligned with a lifelong learning framework and touches upon the social, humanistic and moral purposes of education. GCED looks into 3 dimensions of learning including transformative education, knowledge must touch the heart and take actions for positive change, respectively under cognitive, social-emotional, and behavioural domains.

One powerful way to reach this goal is to promote knowledge and skills into the curricula. Specifically, with one thematic indicator, it is regarded as human rights, fundamental freedoms and tolerance among others. A second indicator is that schools must provide HIV/AIDs and sex education in relation to human rights, gender equality, culture on peace and sustainable lifestyles. In 2013, only 8% of 66 countries surveyed by UNESCO combined sustainable development into teacher education. Overall, the primary challenge, for the time being, is to balance local values and global integration and prepare effective professional teacher training to respond to the diverse needs of students (Global Education Monitoring Report, 2016). In particular, countries from the Asia-Pacific region have made slow progress to go beyond purely knowledge-based approaches to ESD and GCED. Some key concepts of ESD and GCED are missing out in the curricula in Asia-Pacific regarding values and behaviors including gender equality, democratic participation, anti-discrimination, environmentally sustainable lifestyles, socially responsible consumption, and global interdependence.

Developed countries like Canada, England and the United States are applying successful pedagogical practices to prepare teachers of civic education to implement global citizenship initiatives and develop curriculum at local and national levels. (Schugurensky, Wolhuter, 2020). UNESCO Bangkok is running projects such as Sustainability Begins with Teachers, Preparing Teachers for Global Citizenship Education and Happy Schools to promote the capacity to deliver ESD in educational institutions in Central Asia and Southeast Asia.

How are these topics incorporated in the educational system in Vietnam, and especially at the secondary school level? I think there are lots of differences between the current time and my past time. Positively, ESD and GCED are being mainstreamed into national education policies and systems in Vietnam since 2017, but still face challenges related to curricula building, teacher training and student assessment. According to UNESCO, conventional classrooms can boost the cognitive dimension of GCED for students, yet essentially, “learners should have actual experiences and opportunities to develop, test, and build their own views, values and attitudes, and to learn how to take actions responsible for the socio-emotional and behavioural dimensions’’.

Comparatively, sustainable development is more familiar to Vietnamese highschool and university students with the support of multiple youth-focused organizations in big cities with the availability of exchange opportunities overseas. I became so much into the Global Citizenship thing since my first year studying at Foreign Trade University which lacked this curriculum in a business university context. After 5 years, I believe young people in my country have been offered more abundant opportunities to try out and be aware of social issues, especially in the era of Information Communication Technology (ICT).

In retrospect, Civic Education and other subjects should trigger students to relate themselves to a bigger world where issues of human rights, environmental degradation and inequality have become dramatically threatening. Secondary school students need to acquire a global citizenship mindset and skills as a foundation to create a better world of justice and sustainability. Students will pay attention to social affairs on a constant basis, care about what is happening around them, and think of others with empathy. Once students can attain a growth mindset, they can look further out of the bubble they are in and be inquisitive of how diverse human beings are in different cultural, social and political contexts. My mind was blown away when reading the PGCE curriculum for teacher training of Citizenship subject by Institute of Education, University College London. PGCE is a Postgraduate Certificate in Education that every teacher of the educational system in the UK has to take. Significantly, it trains teachers how to plan students to run Active Citizenship projects. If I could become a teacher of (global) citizenship for the secondary school kids, I would teach them to do community projects exemplified by ones that I have done and will get involved in. It is crucial to see that social issues always exist to deal with by which students can gain a global perspective and explore what they are passionate about. The project-based approach can transform the learning experience as students are required to collect data in the field by interviewing people to understand the issues they face. In fact, immersing in community projects allows me to learn much more than sitting in the school settings, luckily, I am diving in this approach at my current BA program (GSSE). Here are some transformative pedagogical tools, synthesized by UNESCO to prepare GCED teachers: .E.A.C.E., Flipped Classroom, Event-based Learning, Storytelling, Using Threshold Concepts, Bricolage, Facilitation as Transformative Pedagogy, Arts-based Inquiry Pedagogy, Design Thinking and Project-based Learning.

The Art of teaching GCED

In late 2018, The Ministry of Education and Training in Vietnam introduced “Experiential Learning and Career Orientation Activities” into the national curriculum for all 3 levels including primary, secondary and highschool in Vietnam. Efforts have been made to pilot the subject in some key schools, revitalize the textbooks and teacher training. My mom, a role model educator in my highschool, shared the challenges of how to successfully deliver the subject while no teacher has any idea what experiential learning is. The solution that many schools think of is, instead, partner with the external educational organizations specializing to run activities for young people to run that subject for the school. Traditional teachers have their own field of expertise, and the school also does not have enough staff to teach the subject, not even considering whether the teachers are willing to learn and adapt to the change. The problem is that a number of teachers in my highschool and secondary school do not prioritize social science and extracurricular activities due to the conventional belief that only science students can perform important roles in society. Will this discrimination remain a problem in district schools? Before a new subject is created, the first and foremost action to take is to produce competent teachers for that subject, raise awareness of people on the importance of that subject and make parents and students excited about it. I look forward to seeing how the educational system manages to implement this social innovation program.

I have several questions regarding this scenario in Vietnam.

1. How can Vietnam adopt the projects or more practices to improve teachers’ skills as well as nurture students to become global citizens?

2. While teachers’ payment is still a significant issue to attract students to pursue teaching careers, how can the country ensure to have potential educators to support potential learners in the globalized world?

3. What kind of advocacy to change the policy on teachers’ payment in Vietnam?

4. Should ESD and GCED be integrated in all subjects in secondary schools in a more practical way?

5. Do the curriculum developers strategize to educate all existing educators to get them on the same page about the innovation plan? My professor said that if only one subject applies an active learning method, the rest doesn’t, it can’t bring holistic change to students, it might be even worse if teachers of other subjects do not welcome and underestimate the “innovative” initiative.

Imagine if ESD and GCED are applied to teach civic education, English, biology, physics, literature, maths, chemistry, geography, music, art, physical education and extracurricular activities. My world must have been different. My self-esteem must have been valued and my potential could have been recognized earlier. Therefore, I perceive my own past as a motivation to support young kids with better education to feel proud of themselves, cultivate inquisitiveness and nurture a sense of love for all beings. Teaching can foster self-learning in a life-long journey. It encourages teachers to keep learning the latest issues to interact with students and learn from them. Teaching should bring about a great sense of humanity and human connection, afterall.

Please share with me your thoughts on my blog and the discussed topic. I am excited to get more exposure to gain skills and knowledge in this field to get ready for a positive future with students.

Reference:

Global Education Monitoring report (2016). Target 4.7. Sustainable development and global citizenship. Retrieved from: https://gem-report-2016.unesco.org/en/chapter/target-4-7-sustainable-development-and-global-citizenship/

UNESCO Office Bangkok and Regional Bureau for Education in Asia and the Pacific (2018). Preparing teachers for global citizenship education: a template. Retrieved from: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000265452

UNESCO (2018). Paving the road to education: a target-by-target analysis of SDG 4 for Asia and the Pacific.

Schugurensky, Daniel; Wolhuter, Charl (2020). Global Citizenship Education and Teacher Education.

Akkari A., Maleq K. (2020) Rethinking Global Citizenship Education: A Critical Perspective. In: Akkari A., Maleq K. (eds) Global Citizenship Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44617-8_15