AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRESCHOOL EDUCATION TEACHERS

IN AN GIANG PROVINCE, VIET NAM

Nguyen Bach Thang, PhD[1]

^(*)Huynh Thanh Tien, PhD[2]

Le Thi Hong Hanh, MA[3]

Tran Thi Huyen, MA[4]

Chau Soryaly, MA[5]

Abstract 

Vietnam has a long history of education, and traditionally the Vietnamese people highly respect learning. However, preschool education in Vietnam started to be concerned in the early 1945 and it has made remarkable progress since the early 2000s. The Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) commits to improving access to preschool education across the country. The MOET has also attempted to enhance the quality of preschool education by revising the curriculum and upskilling its teaching workforce. According to Vietnam Education Law 2019, preschool education teachers are required to obtain a university degree. This paper aims to investigate the development of preschool education teachers in An Giang province located in the Mekong Delta region, Vietnam. The paper utilized a mixed- research method to collect quantitative and qualitative data from the tools of questionnaires, interviews of teachers and educational managers, and provincial document analysis. The research findings showed that the province is in the greater shortage of preschool education teachers in the rural areas than in towns. Its school and class network as well as quantity of preschool units that meet the national standards is below 50%. Also, the province has a lower teacher-pupil ratio in the classroom in comparison with that of the national ratio. The province has not had a clear roadmap to plan for developing the teaching workforce at this educational level. The paper ended with some conclusions and suggested some recommendations for this provincial educational leaders to take into consideration for its future preschool education teacher development in the context of the Vietnamese education being into the broadly and profoundly global integration progress.

Keywords: document analysis, educational managers, mixed-research method, shortage of preschool education teachers, teaching workforce development.

1. Introduction  

A nation’s human resource and particularly its human resources in the educational sector, including its national policy for human resource development in the sector of education. There are various issues of education and training such as goals, program contents, teaching methods, management mechanisms, policy systems, and development of the teaching staff and educational managers that should be addressed. Among of such issues, the development of teaching workforce and educational management team is considered as a crucial element primarily influencing on the quality of education and training.  

Preschool education in Vietnam 

Preschool is a type of early childhood education for children from about age 3 to 5, aiming to prepare children for kindergarten and lifelong learning.   Preschool education is important and beneficial for any child attending nursery school because it gives the child a head start through social interactions. Through cognitive, psychosocial and physical development-based learning a child in preschool will learn about their environment and how to verbally communicate with others. Children who attend Preschool learn how the world around them works through play and communication (Dustmann, C.; Fitzenberger, B.; Machin, S., 2008).  Chapter II – Article 23 in Vietnam Education 2019 documents that Preschool education is the first educational level in the Vietnam national educational system that sets the foundation for the comprehensive development of the Vietnamese people and carries out nurturing, caring and educating children from 03 months to 06 years of age (Vietnam National Assembly (VNA), 2019).

Since 1986 there have been two periods of preschool education reform in Vietnam. First, the Education Law 1998 marked a new move on curriculum and pedagogy of preschool education, which a new preschool – called the Innovative Program 1998, was introduced in 1998 (Phan, 2012). This program was piloted in some kindergartens and then it was implemented throughout the country. The second reform was piloted in 2006 (Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training, Decision about promulgation a pilot project that uses new early childhood education curriculum, 2006) and was carried out nationwide in 2009, namely the Program 2009 (Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training Vietnam, 2009). Recently, the Program 2009 was amended in 2016 and then its updated version 2017 has been implemented since February 15^th, 2017 (Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training, Circular 01/VBBH-BGDĐT dated on 24/01/2017 Issuance on Preschool Education Curriculum, 2017).

According to a report from MOET, the development scale of the preschool education was uneven in the regions in Vietnam; the quality of the preschool education was not stable; its policy system was not synchronized, and the resources to invest into the preschool education was considered to be the lowest in the education sector (Vietnam MOET, Decision 1215/MOET dated 4/4/2013 Promulgating the Action Program to implement the Vietnam Education Development Strategy 2011-2020, 2013). The MOET’s statistic report 2020 documented that there are 5,095,037 children and 336,783 preschool teachers (approximately ratio 15:1) (Vietnam MOET, General Number of Preschool Education in the school year 2019-2020, 2020); however, Joint Circular 06/2015/TTLT-BGDĐT-BNV on the date March 16^th 2015 stipulates that each standardized preschool class should arrange  2.2 teachers maximally [approximately 2 teachers per class] (Vietnam MOET&MHA, 2015). Consequently, there happens to be a serious shortage of preschool teachers. In fact, according to the MOET’s statistic report 2022, there is a shortage of 48,700 preschool teachers, and in the school year 2023 Vietnam’s education sector needs to recruit 27,850 new preschool teachers (Vĩnh Hà, 2022). Currently, the MOET’s statistic report 2023, the whole country lacks 51,300 preschool teachers for public kindergartens.  The lack of preschool education teaching staff leads to pressure on teachers, potential safety risks, and limitations in improving the quality of child care and education. Salaries, wages, and policies of preschool teachers are very low (Đỗ Như, 2023).

Types of preschools in Vietnam

Preschools in Vietnam consist of state-run and private nurseries and kindergartens. Nurseries, or crèches, cater to infants aged three months old to toddlers aged three years old. In Vietnam, children aged between three and six enter preschool. Approximately half the preschool system in Vietnam is made up of state-run kindergartens. There are also private kindergartens which use Vietnamese as the medium of instruction and international kindergartens, which can be found in big cities and use English as the medium of instruction. 

Table 1. Vietnam General Data on Preschool Education from 2018-2020

		Year 2018-2019				Year 2019-2020
		Total No.	Division			Total No.	Division
			Public	Private			Public	Private
Types of schools		15,463	12,441	3,022		15,033	12,098	2,935
	Kindergarten	2,124	1,980	144		1,978	1,843	135
	Nursery	13,339	10,461	2,878		13,055	10,255	2,800
Classes		151,017	121,945	29,072		151,984	120,523	31,461
Pupils		4,415,233	3,709,236	705,997		4,314,744	3,573,610	741,134
Of whom	Female	2,110,684	1,777,614	333,070		2,067,134	1,716,859	350,275
	Ethnic minorities	806,967	791,659	15,308		798,348	781,270	17,078
	5-aged pupils	1,211,651	1,064,700	146,951		1,171,627	1,019,240	152,387
	disabled	5,757	5,228	529		5,414	4,914	500
		262,101	205,081	57,020		268,290	214,372	53,918
Of whom	female	261,651	213,207	48,444		267,786	213,925	53,861
	Ethnic minorities	40,369	38,419	1,950		38,669	37,113	1,556
	Staff	194,108	194,108			200,577	200,577
	Achieved qualification standards and above	261,457	204,365	57,092		267,430	213,624	53,806
Average No.	Pupils/class	29.24	30.42	24.28		28.39	29.65	23.56
	Pupils/teacher	16.85	18.09	12.38		16.08	16.67	13.75
	Teacher/class	1.74	1.68	1.96		1.77	1.78	1.71

(Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training, General Statistic Data on Preschool Education, 2021)

An Giang province’s plan for preschool education development 

An Giang provincial People Committee issued Decision No. 219/QD-UBND, dated February 11, 2022 to promulgate the Project “Developing the teaching workforce and educational managers to meet the requirements of implementing the General Education Program in 2018, period 2021-2025, orientating toward 2030 in An Giang province”. Then, An Giang People Committee issued Plan No. 206/KH-UBND, dated April 13, 2022 to perform the Project “the Development of Preschool Education in Phase II 2021-2025, orientating toward 2030” according to Decision No. 1677/QĐ-TTg of the Prime Minister of the Government in An Giang province”.  Following are some achievements in period 2018-2020:

• Scale of school and class network

• The whole province currently has 197 public and private preschools, childcare/daycare centers, kindergartens (179 public schools; 18 private schools); there are 157 children groups; private independent kindergarten classes.
  • Total number of groups and classes: 1,886, of which (children groups: 167, kindergarten classes: 1,719).
  • Rate of mobilizing preschool children to go to class: infants and toddlers are 6.8% of the age population; kindergarten children 72.7% of the age population (of which 5-year-old kindergarten children 99.7%).
  • Preschool children at public preschool units: 49,631/56,450 children (87.9% of the number of children completing their classes).
  • Preschool children at private preschool units: 6,819/56,450 children (12.8% of the number of children competing classes).
  • The percentage of preschool children attending 2 sessions/day and boarding is 79.09% (of which 41.84% are boarding children).

• Development of preschool education teaching workforce

• Total number of management staff, preschool owners, preschool teachers and staff are 4,637 people (including 460 managers; 153 facility owners; 2,970 teachers; 1,054 employees. Qualifications of preschool teachers reaching the degree standardization is 99.0%, of which above the standard is 72.6%. Table 1 below illustrates the figure of An Giang province’s preschool teaching workforce in 2022.

Table 2. An Giang Province’s preschool education teaching workforce in 2022

Professional Title
	Management staff	Preschool units’ owners	Preschool Edu. teachers	Preschool Edu. staff
Number	460	153	2,970	1,054
Total	4,637
Qualified Qualifications: 99% of which are above the standard (qualified qualification) is 72.6% (over college degrees)
Notice: According to Vietnam Education Law 2019, preschool teachers who are 3-year college degree holders are considered to be qualified or reach standardization.

• The ratio of preschool teacher over a group or class is 2,962 teachers/1,886 groups and classes – ratio of 1.57 teachers/group and class (arranged according to the quota of day-boarding classes 2.0; 2 sessions/day 1.5 and 1 session 1.0 teachers /class), the average teacher rate increases by 10-15% each year.
• The professional standard assessment rate of preschool teachers is evaluated with 4 levels (Good – Rather Good – Acceptable – Unaccepted). The level of ‘Good’ and ‘Rather Good’is 97.67% (2,893/2,962), ‘Acceptable’ is 5.98% (177/2,962), and ‘Unacceptable’ is 0.51% (15/2,962).
• 100% of preschool teachers are fully and promptly supported with legally required policies such as salaries, position allowances, preferential policies for teachers working in extremely difficult socioeconomic areas and ethnic minority areas; social insurance, health insurance and working conditions. There are no teachers violating teachers’ ethics.

• Facilities and equipment

Classrooms: The province has 1,915 classrooms/1,886 groups and classes (of which, 1,578/1,915 [82.40%] durable classrooms; 247/1,915 [12.9%] semi-durable classrooms, and 111/1,915 [5.8%] temporary rooms). Most classrooms are considered to ensure one room per class for 5-year-old kindergarteners to study 2 sessions per day. 100% of schools and classrooms have toilets and clean water to meet the needs of caring for, nurturing and educating preschoolers.

• Results of building preschools meeting national standards and universal preschool education for 5-year-old kindergarten pupils

• Develop the quantity and improve the quality of preschools meeting national standards. The whole province currently has 84/179 preschools meeting national standards, accounting for 46.9%.
  • Maintain and improve the quality of universal preschool education for 5-year-old children. Presently, the province has 11/11 district units (including 2 towns and 2 cities) to gain 100% of meeting the universal standards for this aged children group. There are 100% of 5-year-old kindergarten classes attending 2 sessions per day and boarding classes. On average, the rate of mobilizing this age group to school to account for nearly 99% of this age population.

This province’s Department of Education and Training (DOET) stated a general comment that its preschool network is reasonably planned, which basically meets  the needs of preschool children. The province’s educational sector has successfully implemented the goal of universal preschool education for 5-year-old children and improved the quality of care, nurturing and education of children. The team of preschool education managers and teachers meets standards and exceeds standards in terms of professional qualifications, meeting the requirements of nurturing, caring for and educating children.

However, the province has also recognized several limitations and causes. The rate to mobilize children under 3 and 4 aged and boarding children is still low due to the limited conditions of facilities and classrooms. The provincial DOET estimated that the province needs a budget of 7,200 billion VND to construct facilities and teaching equipment (4,430 billion VND for basic construction; 2,740 billion VND for teaching equipment); however, this budget is huge for this poor province; the Central government has not supported yet, and it is hard for the province to mobilize such a huge socialized capital.

The ratio of preschool teachers per group and class has not met the maximum level according to Joint Circular No. 06/2015/TTLT-BGDDT-BNV dated March 16, 2015 of the MOET and the MHA on regulating the list employment position framework and norms for the number of employees working in public preschools. An Giang Province’s DOET stated that the number of payroll assigned to the education sector is a total number for the general education at all 3 educational levels (preschool education- primary education – lower and upper-secondary education); another reason is that the recruitment source of preschool teachers is not guaranteed. On the other hand, when recruiting, many students register to enroll in the same unit (with favorable conditions or close to home), but many other units in need do not have students applying.

Children groups and private preschool units are rapidly growing in number and mainly centered in favorable areas and residential areas. Most of the units take advantage of available housing premises to turn them into places to raise and care for children, so they have still limited playgrounds and also difficulties in staffing. Most of their teachers are working with temporary sign-contracts and work. Additionally, their teaching and supporting teams are not stable and their salaries are low, too. Therefore, it is hard for them to create favorable conditions to attract new, good teachers (An Giang Province People Committee, 2022).

• Literature Review 

Preschool education provides a bridge between the caring and nurturing and learning experience children receives in a preschool and their continuing learning journey when they enter into a school setting later (All About Children, 2023). Pre-primary education quality is the foundation of a child’s journey. Every stage of education that follows relies on its success. However, there have been proven and lifelong benefits of the preschool education stage, more than 175 million children – nearly half of all preschool-age children globally – are not enrolled in the preschool education stage (UNICEF, 2023). So far, there have been several research trends in preschool education that have been reported. They include (1) Mindfulness, (2) Nature-based preschool education, (3) Social emotional learning, (4) Technology-based learning, (5) STEM/STEM education in preschool education, (6) Early language and literacy development, (7) Culturally responsive teaching, practices, and approaches, (8) Child-centered instruction, (9) Developmentally appropriate practice, and (10) Family engagement (Mc Callops, K; Karpyn, A.; Klein, J.; Jelenewicz, S., 2021). However, in the section of the literature review of this research, the research team just focuses on reviewing studies related to the shortage of preschool education teachers and policies and teacher professional development for the teaching force at this educational level.

2.1. The global shortage of preschool education teachers

Preschool education provides the highest return on investment of all education sub-sectors; however, it receives the smallest share of government expenditure compared to primary, secondary and post-secondary education. According to a report from the UNICEF (2023), less than 1% international aid to education currently support preschool education and less than 2% of education budgets are allocated to preschool education in low-income countries.  UNICEF (2023) mentioned that efforts to scale up access to preschool education should not come at the expense of quality. Quality is the sum of many parts, including teachers, families, communities, resources, and curricula. Without adequate safeguards for quality, expansion efforts can intensify education inequities. It is only by investing in quality as education systems grow – not after – that governments can expand access and maintain quality.  9.3 millionnew teachers are needed to achieve universal pre-primary education. Only 50% of pre-primary teachers in low-income countries are trained. Only 5% of pre-primary teachers globally work in low-income countries (UNICEF, 2023).

Preschool education teachers and staff are significant contributors to the quality of preschool education care, development and education. The daily experiences of children in their early years, in particular the quality of care, depends on appropriate qualifications, training, knowledge and skills. Properly trained professional preschool education teachers and staff provide children with experiences that are nurturing, developmentally appropriate and responsive. Yet, while knowledge and skills are important, professionalism, attitudes towards children and the values they hold also affect the quality in their services. Therefore, both educational qualifications and professional commitments are essential to effectively provide warm, positive interactions and high quality learning environments to optimally promote children’s learning and development. The continual upgrade of knowledge and skills for preschool education teachers and staff reflects their professional commitments to improve their capabilities and responsibilities as professional preschool education practitioners. Based on these vital contributions to the preschool education quality from the teachers and staff, in 2017 all ASEAN member States ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) which has 54 articles covering four major categories of child rights, namely, the right to life, the right to protection, the right to development and the right to participation. Specifically, teachers and staff at this educational level are required to meet the following criteria:

• G1: Qualifications: Staff meet the qualifications in compliance with regulatory requirements of the ASEAN Member State.

• G2: Knowledge, skills and attitudes
  • (G2.1) Respect children’s rights, demonstrate knowledge of child development in their planning and implementation of activities, communicate respectfully and effectively with the children, use positive, non-violent approaches to guide children’s behavior.
  • (G2.2) Staff are flexible and innovative in modifying the planned lessons, routines and schedules on encountering unexpected situations and events.
  • (G2.3) Staff encourage and support children’s learning and development through: asking open-ended questions, active listening, responding to their questions, providing opportunities for children to express their feelings and ideas, providing opportunities for active exploration and experimentation.

• G3: Professionalism

• (G3.1) Staff display professionalism in performing their duties and routines: respect all children and adults irrespective of gender, ethnicity, religion, position and socio-economic status, respect cultural and religious sensitivities
  • (G3.2) Staff maintain strict confidentiality on all matters relating to children (except with parents‟ consent), families and colleagues
  • (G3.3) All staff adhere to the guidelines of ethical conduct as staff members of the center
  • (G3.4) Staff regularly upgrade their knowledge and skills.

(ASEAN, 2017)

2.2. Teacher professional development 

Teacher professional development involves a continuing process of reflection, learning and action to further develop teachers’ knowledge and skills, leading to enhanced teaching practices positively impacting on students’ learning (Angus-Cole, 2021). Teacher professional development (PD) aims to improve teachers and their practice by adopting a holistic approach to developing the teacher as a professional practitioner. It is an ongoing process that supports continuous development of practice throughout the whole of a teacher’s career. Teaching practice comprises a range of areas, each of which can be targeted by PD activities. For example, in the TPACK model (Mishra, P., and Koehler, M. J., 2006), there are three overlapping areas that exist – Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge. PD activities could therefore specifically target subject content knowledge or instead focus on subject-specific pedagogical knowledge (the overlapping areas of Pedagogical and Content Kno (Angus-Cole K. , 2021)wledge). Any activity that supports teachers to reflect, learn and then act to improve their practice can be classified as teacher PD. Such PD activities can occur in a face-to-face or online environment and some of their examples can be seen in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1: Micro to macro scale engagement with PD activities [adapted from Angus-Cole (2021, p. 1)]

Some common terms associated with PD activities include:

• Continuing professional development (CPD) reinforces the notion that professionals should always develop their expertise and teaching practice.
•  Teacher (or professional) education emphasizes how engagement in educational experiences leads to learning, advancing a teacher’s knowledge, skills and characteristics and enhancing their practice.
• Training often develops operational features of a role, focusing on accomplishing one specific skill, such as understanding how to teach a syllabus or how to write learning objectives.
• Mentoring and coaching are slightly different from one another. Mentoring focuses on establishing a supportive relationship where a less experienced teacher benefits from the guidance of a more experienced colleague (a ‘critical friend’). Coaching is a technique that provides structured support to encourage a practitioner to review and develop their practice in relation to a specific skill or change in circumstance.
• A professional learning community/network brings practitioners together, enabling the sharing of ideas and experiences, as well as providing mutual support, either online or face to face.
• In action research teachers conduct research into their own practice with the aim of finding out how they might overcome a specific issue or problem associated with their practice.

2.3. Preschool education teacher professional development 

It is likely to state that the preschool teacher professional development is a subordinate concept of teacher professional development and different researchers have different views on its the connotation (Qiu, Y. and Fu. T., 2019). Li (2010) stated that the professional development of preschool teachers is an activity procedure of continuous learning of professional knowledge, acquisition of professional skills and formation of good professional attitude by preschool teachers in order to achieve their professional development goals (Li, 2010) whereas Gu (2013) said that the professional growth of preschool teachers principally referred to the development process of preschool teachers from non-professionals to professionals and continuously improving their own professional quality (Zhang, S.Y. and Gu, R.F., 2013).

Teaching development 

Professional development for teachers consists of self-directed or directed programs and activities designed to enhance their knowledge, skills, and expertise in their teaching practice. It has many forms, including ongoing classes, periodic seminars or workshops, in-class observations, collaborative learning sessions or support groups.

According to the Learning Policy Institute (2017), effective teacher professional development consists of the following elements (Darling-Hammond,L.; Hyler, M. E.; Garner, M.; Espinoza, D., 2017):

• Focuses on content: Successful teacher professional development concentrates on teaching strategies associated with specific curriculum content that supports teacher learning within their classroom contexts;
• Incorporates active learning utilizing adult learning theory: Teacher learning that offers hands-on experience designing and practicing new teaching strategies and skills, helps teachers overcome challenges in their day-to-day practice;
• Supports collaboration, typically in job-embedded contexts: Active learning — that creates space for teachers to share ideas and collaborate — often takes place in job-embedded contexts that relate new instructional strategies to teachers’ students and classrooms.
• Uses models and modelling of effective practice: Good teacher learning gives access to lesson plans, unit plans, sample student work, observations of peer teachers, and video or written cases of accomplished teaching;
• Provides coaching and expert support: School leaders should provide access to master teachers and experts who share their specialized knowledge, either as one-on-one coaches in the classroom, as facilitators of group workshops, or as remote mentors using technology to communicate with educators;
• Offers opportunities for feedback and reflection: To develop professionally, teachers must have time to think about, receive input on, and make changes to their practice by incorporating feedback; and finally,
• Maintains a sustained duration: an effective teacher development program provides adequate time (over weeks, months, and/or years) to learn, practice, implement, and reflect upon new strategies that facilitate changes in their practice.

(QualtricsXM, 2023)

2.4. Research gaps 

So far there are numerous studies of early childhood education or preschool education. These studies can be classified into themes on mindfulness, nature-based preschool education, social emotional learning, technology-based learning, STEM/STEM education in preschool education, early language and literacy development, culturally responsive teaching, practices, and approaches, child-centered instruction, developmentally appropriate practice, and family engagement that are summarized by Mc Callops, et all. (2021). In Vietnam, there have been an increasing number of studies on preschool education since 2017 when Vietnam MOET issued Circular 01/VBBH-BGDĐT dated on 24/01/2017 on Vietnamese Preschool Education Curriculum (Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training, Circular 01/VBBH-BGDĐT dated on 24/01/2017 Issuance on Preschool Education Curriculum, 2017). Most studies on preschool education sector conducted in Vietnam have been focused on renovating early childhood education pedagogy (Dang, T. P., & Boyd, W. A., 2014), the history of Vietnam early childhood education (Boyd W., Dang T., 2017), the matter of quality in Vietnamese early childhood education studied by Hang (Hang D. T. T., 2019), and a review of the trends of early childhood education in Vietnam (Nguyen, H. T. T., Boyd. W., 2022). However, there have been still a limited number of studies on exploring the development of teaching workforce at preschool education sector and its sustainable development orientation toward 2030. Up to now, it is likely to say that our research team can be one of the first research teams to conduct this type of research in An Giang province, Mekong Delta region – a ‘low-lying area on education’ in Vietnam, and it is our hope to provide an insight on this investigatory research to those who are in interested into this research theme. Base on that, this research set out the following research questions:

(1). What is the current reality of the development of preschool education teaching workforce in An Giang Province?

(2). What will be An Giang province’s sustainable development orientation on the preschool education sector in the period of 2021-2030?

(3). What recommendations can be suggested for this province’s educational leaders to consider planning its preschool education development?

• Research Methodology 

The researchers of this study invited 502 preschool education teachers and 50 educational administrators in An Giang province to participate in the study with the permission from their management agencies (e.g. An Giang Department of Education and Training, District Offices of Education and Training). The participants were provided a detailed explanation of the objectives and content of the study while voluntarily joining the questionnaire survey. As a sensitive issue to work with human participants about sharing personal views on their professional development careers, the research team guaranteed to keep confidentiality about all information as a matter of professional ethics in study. The research team went to each location to work with all participating preschool teachers. Each participant completed the questionnaire within 30 minutes and the research team received the completed questionnaires from each kindergarten in the study. The quantitative data obtained from the sound and valid questionnaires were input and analyzed with the SPSS software 20.

The descriptive data of the preschool teachers’ teaching quality evaluated by their own, their managers and children’s parents were analyzed to find out their relationships, interactions between independent and dependent variables. All analysis and tests were established at a significance level of p < 0.05. Methods of synthesis, analysis and comparison are used to present the main research results.

Additionally, the study also conducted in-depth interviews with 36 principals, 36 teachers and 36 children’s parents from the studied kindergartens. The research group invited these interviewees who did not join the questionnaire survey. The qualitative data from in-depth interviews were categorized into thematic contents related to the research topic, and interpreted according to each criterion and content.

• Findings and Discussions 

4.1. An Giang province’s teaching workforce at preschool education level from 2021 to 2025 and orientation toward 2030

Table 2 and Table 3 below show the number of preschool education teaching workforce in 2022 and the projection number of preschool education teaching workforce in the period of 2021-2025 and its orientation toward 2030. The ratio of preschool education teachers that is qualified (college degree) and over qualified (university and postgraduate degree) in term of qualification standards is very high (99%), in which 72.6% of the teachers are university and postgraduate degree holders. However, the situation of shortage of teachers for this education level is warning. Every year, the province need to recruit hundreds of new teachers for this level but they do not have enough resources to recruit.

Table 2. An Giang Province’s preschool teaching workforce in 2022

Professional Title
	Management staff	Preschool owners	Preschool teachers	Preschool staff
Number	460	153	2,970	1,054
Total No.	4,637
Qualified Qualifications: 99% of which above the standard (qualified qualification) is 72.6% (over college degrees)
Notice: According to Vietnam Education Law 2019, preschool teachers who are 3-year college degree holders are considered to be qualified or reach standardization.

(An Giang Provincial People Committee, 2022)

Table 3. The projecting number of preschool teaching force in An Giang Province

from 2021 to 2025

Academic years	2021-2022	2022-2023	2023-2024	2024-2025	Toward 2030
No. of preschool Edu. teachers	2,526	3,007 (*)	3,151 (*)	3,274 (*)	N/A
Need of additional recruitment	393	239	211	198	N/A
	(*): If the previous year has an enough recruitment number

However, the research team of this study had an interview with the Head of Personnel Office – An Giang Province’ DOET (Department of Education and Training) to understand more about the current teaching workforce of the whole province. The research team got the collected data that the total number of the provincial preschool education teachers and staff in the academic year of 2022-2023 is 2,433 teachers (nursery teachers: 152; kindergarten teachers: 2,281). In figure, the whole province is in need of 159 nursery teachers and 3,200 kindergarten teachers. This means that the province is in the shortage of 926 teachers (7 nursery teachers and 919 kindergarten teachers. Let’s see the figure in Table 4 below.

Table 4. An Giang Province’s preschool teaching workforce in 2022-2023

No. of current preschool Edu. teachers			No. of preschool Edu. teachers in need according to payroll quota			No. of preschool Edu. teachers in shortage
2433			3359			926
Nursery teachers	Kindergarten teachers		Nursery teachers	Kindergarten teachers		Nursery teachers	Kindergarten teachers
152	2,281		159	3,200		7	919

(source from the research team’s interview data May 2023)

• Orientation towards 2030

An Giang province’s educational sector needs to continue to review and arrange the network of schools and classes and by the year 2030, it will strive to reduce 4 additional small schools. 100% of the management and teaching staff at this education level will reach at least the college degree. Also, the province will continue to recruit new teachers to ensure the maximum number of teachers according to Joint Circular No. 06/20215/TTLT-BGDĐT-BNV dated March 16, 2015 regulating the list of job positions framework in public preschools in the annual development plan (An Giang Provincial People Committee, 2022).

In fact, while examining the data in Table 1 and Table 2, we can identify that only in the academic year of 2021-2022, the educational sector of An Giang province is need of over 444 preschool teachers (393 + [2970 – 2526 = 51]). Table 2 indicates that in the period of 2021-2025, the province also will need to recruit around 200 preschool teachers annually. In practice, the number of graduated high school students that is applying to study to become preschool teachers is reducing due to the fact that they know their future salaries are very low.  For instance, a new preschool teacher is paid 3.129 mil VND per month (1.49 mil VND x 2.10) [approximately 128 USD] before 30 June 2023, and she will be paid 3.618 mil VND per month (approximately 150 USD) since 1 July 2023 because the basic salary for Vietnamese officials increases from 1.49 mil VND to 1.8 mil VND (Thuvienphapluat [Law Library], 2023). And in real life, it is very difficult a new teacher to live on such a small amount of money.

4.2. An Giang province’s scale of schools, classes, and kindergarteners in period 2021-2025 and its orientation toward 2030

Table 5 below indicates the scale of schools, classes, kindergarteners in period 2021-2025 and its orientation toward 2030 in An Giang province. From Table 3, it is likely to see that in the academic year of 2020-2021, at this education level, the whole province has 197 preschool units (179 public units, and 18 private units) with a total of 1,754 classes (1,551 public classes, 203 private classes) and 53,159 kindergarteners (approximately 33,3 kindergarteners per class). There were 84 preschool unites that meet the national school standards, accounting for 46.93%.

Table 5. The Scale of schools, classes, kindergarteners in period 2021-2025 and its orientation toward 2030 in An Giang province.

	Year 2020-2021		Projected Year 2024-2025		Projected Year 2029-2030
No. of preschools	197		210		197
	Public	Private	Public	Private	Public	Private
	179	18	174	36	175	22
No. of classes	1,754		1,977		2,104
	1,551	203	1,696	281	1,811	293
% class meeting the national standards	46.93%		N/A		N/A
No. kindergarteners	53,159		57,173		61,094
Ratio of kindergarteners per class	30.3		28.9		29
Notes:	National ratio of kindergarteners per class (16.08: 1) in 2020 (Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training, General Statistic Data on Preschool Education, 2021)

It is projected that by the academic year of 2024-2025, the province will have 210 preschool units (174 public units, 36 private units) with a total of 1,977 classes (1,696 public classes, 281 private classes) and there will be 57,173 kindergarteners (approximately 28.90 kindergarteners per class). In the academic year of 2029-2030, it is projected that the figure of preschool units in the province will be 197 units (175 public units, 22 private units) with a total of 2,104 classes (1,811 public classes, 293 private classes) and the province will have 61,094 kindergarteners (approximately 29 kindergarteners per class) (An Giang Provincial People Committee, 2022).

UNICEF in 2019 recommended that countries progressively aimed for a pupil-teacher ratio of no more than 20 pupils per teacher at the preschool education level. More specifically, UNICEF suggested a reasonable ratio of preschool education teacher over pupils for various ranks of countries in terms of their income levels in 2017. For example, a ratio of teacher per pupils for high income countries is 1: 14; for upper-middle income countries is 1: 17; for lower-middle income countries is 1:20; and low-income countries is 1:34. (United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 2019). In contrasting with this recommended ratio, by the year of 2029-2030, the ratio of teacher per pupils at preschool education level in An Giang province will be for the standard of low-income countries while Vietnam will expect to become a middle-income country. Therefore, in order to enhance the teaching quality of preschool education level, the educational sector of this province should reduce the ratio of teacher per pupils (1:20) in following years. By such doing, the province will more highly strive for developing its preschool education teaching force and network of schools and classes. The province, additionally, will need to mobilize various socializing sources to increase the number of private preschools to reduce the investment burden of the local government.

In addition to a low teacher-pupil ratio, the province’s educational leaders admit that although their local size and network of schools and classes have been carefully arranged, the current number of pupils attending 2 sessions per day has been still low and not yet widespread because of the facility conditions and the number of classrooms have not been enough to be used for 2 sessions per day.

4.3. Satisfaction on remuneration policies for preschool education teachers in An Giang province

Table 6 shows the data on the satisfactory levels on remuneration policies for preschool education teachers in An Giang province. The teachers in the study felt quite satisfied with the remuneration policies that can been from items (d, e, f, g, h) with quite high percentages (32.5%, 38.4%, 51%, 49.2%, and 38.4% respectively). Meanwhile, they expressed their high dissatisfaction [very dissatisfied and dissatisfied] with ‘salary policy’, ‘professional allowances’, and ‘policies attracting teachers to work in difficult areas’ with the percentages of 51.2%, 45.6%, and 39% respectively. As a result, the responsibly educational leaders of this province should consider the three mentioned remuneration policies in this study so that they can keep ‘feet’ teachers to continue to work in difficult socio-economic and ethnic minority areas.

Table 6. Remuneration Policies for preschool education teaching in An Giang province

Remuneration Policies	1 Very dissatisfied	2 Dissatisfied	3 Neither dissatisfied or satisfied	4 Satisfied	5 Very satisfied
No. respondents (508)	Likert scale on the satisfactory level calculated by % of respondents
a. Salary policy	22.1	29.1	29.1	19.7	0
b. Professional allowances	16.5	29.1	37.5	16.7	0.2
c. Policies attracting preschool education teachers working in areas with extremely difficult socio-economic conditions or in ethnic minority areas	14.5	24.5	41.0	19.7	0.2
d. Local authorities creating favorable conditions for preschool education teachers to work	5.0	16.3	46.2	32.5	0
e. Preschool education teachers with eligibility are supported to change workplace according to their expectations	4.2	12.0	45.0	38.4	0.4
f. Competition and reward regimes for preschool education teachers are objectively and scientifically cared according to professional standards	4.4	12.2	32.1	51.0	0.4
g. Fully equipped facilities to meet the requirements of working conditions in preschool education units	1.2	10.2	39.2	49.2	0.2
h. Policies and conditions are ensured to create motivation for teachers to participate in fostering and training activities	2.8	9.8	47.8	39.4	0.2

4.4. Solutions to improve the quality of preschool education teaching workforce

The data in Table 7 indicates that most teachers in the survey expressed their high agreement on solutions to improve the quality of preschool education teaching workforce in An Giang province at current time. The percentage of ‘agree’ and ‘strongly agree’ is nearly 90% while the percentage of ‘strongly disagree’, ‘disagree’, and ‘neither disagree nor agree’ is around 10%. This means all suggested solutions in the survey were approved by the teachers in the survey. Besides, some of them recommended some other ideas to improve the quality of the province’s preschool education teaching workforce. They include reducing teaching hours, reducing work pressure, having democratic rights to raise their voices for suitable policies of financial income rewards and vacations. It is likely to understand that in some preschool education units in the province the issue of democracy and equal rights of teachers and teaching staff is still limited. Therefore, it is advisable that the educational leaders in some localities need to take this issue into consideration and make it better in the future.

Table 7. Solutions to improve the quality of preschool education teaching workforce

Solutions	1 Strongly disagree	2 Disagree	3 Neither disagree nor agree	4 Agree	5 Strongly agree
	Likert Scale with the percentage of the agreement level
a. To improve teachers’ salary policy	2.6	1.6	6.2	21.3	68.3
b. To develop care for teachers’ life	2.8	1.6	6.4	23.3	65.9
c. To improve working conditions (e.g. classrooms, facilities, communications)	2.8	1.4	3.2	31.1	61.6
d. To upgrade preschool teachers’ professional qualifications	2.8	1.2	2.4	33.9	59.8
e. To improve activities for preschool teacher testing and professional networks	2.6	4.0	3.0	42.8	47.6
f. To well organize preschool teacher professional training activities	2.8	1.2	2.4	37.8	55.8
g. To improve management styles by giving teachers autonomy in making professional decisions	3.0	1.8	3.8	37.1	54.4
h. To create conditions for preschool teachers to join making decisions and building school policies.	2.6	1.6	3.2	37.3	54.4
Other ideas:	The respondents also recommended other solutions that include reducing teaching hours, reducing work pressure, and they should have their rights of democracy to raise suitable policies of financial income rewards and vacations.

• Conclusions and Recommendations 

5.1. Conclusions

The development of teaching workforce for the education sector is very important for a country’s socioeconomic development, and particularly the development of teaching workforce the first level of the education sector – preschool education level is even so crucial. This study aimed to explore the reality of the current preschool education teaching workforce in An Giang province, in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam, seen as a ‘low-lying area of education’ in Vietnam and what the province’s educational sector is preparing for the sustainable development for this education level. This study comes to several conclusions as follows.

Firstly, the issue of the shortage of teachers in the preschool education level is in a warming situation, and it is quite challenging to recruit new teachers from now to the year 2025. Besides, the shortage of teachers in rural areas is more serious than in towns and cities of this province. Moreover, the province has not had a clear roadmap for the development of teaching workforce at this educational level. Secondly, the province’s school and class network for this level is developing in quantity but the ratio of preschool units that meet the national standard is still quite low. The issue of mobilizing various social sources to develop this educational level is still limited; therefore, the ratio of private and public preschool units is very low and it seems that there are no private preschool units in the rural areas. Thirdly, the ratio of teacher per pupils is very low and even below the average teacher-pupil ratio of the country. In the orientation towards to 2030 to reduce this low rate of teacher per pupils will not be also feasible. Fourthly, the study found that the teachers in this study felt dissatisfied with the current remuneration policies related to ‘salary policy’, ‘professional allowances’, and ‘policies attracting teachers to work in difficult areas’. Therefore, the educational leaders need to suggest better policies to attract more qualified teachers to work for the province. Last but not least, the teachers in this research agreed with some solutions for developing the quality of preschool education teachers and added some recommendations for it such as reducing teaching hours and work pressure but improving their democratic rights to raise suitable policies of financial income rewards and vacations.

5.2. Recommendations

The province’s educational sector will need to carry out the following things. Firstly, the province needs to manage and evaluate the team of teachers and educational managers according to legally professional standards for teachers and principals issued by the MOET, and annually continue planning a roadmap to improve the qualification standards for its preschool education teachers according to the Decree No. 71/2020/ND-CP dated June 30 /2020 by the Prime Minister. Secondly, it is advisable to complete planning of school and classroom networks, increase investment in facilities for this educational level. Thirdly, the province should develop and enhance the quality of managers, teachers, and employees at this level. Fourthly, it is recommended that the content, programs for preschool education and the management of this education level are to be innovated. Fifthly, the quality of care, health and nutrition for preschool pupils should be paid better attention. Finally, it is needed to mobilize variously social sources for the development of both public and private preschool education units and specially to build more preschool units in difficult and rural areas of the province.

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Acknowlegement:

This research is funded by Vietnam National University HoChiMinh City (VNU-HCM) under grant number B2023-16-04

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[1] Head of Educational Psychology Department, An Giang University-VNUHCM; email:  nbthang@agu.edu.vn

[2](*) Director of Resources Center for Community Development, An Giang University-VNUHCM; email: httien@agu.edu.vn and httien@vnuhcm.edu.vn; the corresponding Author;   https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3389-9724

[3] Research Expert of Social Sciences and Humanities Research Center, An Giang University-VNUHCM ; lthhanh@agu.edu.vn

[4] Deputy Head of Educational Psychology Department, An Giang University-VNUHCM; tthuyen@agu.edu.vn

[5] Lecturer of Foreign Languages Faculty, An Giang University-VNUHCM and PhD candidate at Education University of Hong Kong; csoryaly@agu.edu.vn