Globally, access to higher education has increased, but inequalities by socio-economic background remain. This article explores the relationship between early schooling opportunities (and learning) and progression into higher education in four low and middle-income countries. We analyse data from the Young Lives longitudinal study, following…

The COVID-19 pandemic and the shutdown of schools created disruptions in Vietnamese education, which has not been evaluated to date. This paper reviews the effect of COVID-19 policies on teaching and learning in higher education in Vietnam. We first contextualize higher education in Vietnam before the COVID-19 pandemic. We then analyze the…

Searching for development paths and suitable educational policies, postcolonial governments often turned to the experiences of other countries and sought to adapt these to their own contexts. Research on such processes has largely neglected the resulting entanglements between postcolonial and European socialist countries, and between different…

The COVID-19 outbreak has had a significant influence on all aspects of society, and it is necessary to comprehend the responses of various stakeholders as well as the challenges that higher education has encountered in the aftermath of the outbreak. This study systematically analyses the measures taken by higher education stakeholders in response…

Vietnam ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2015, signalling a commitment to the basic human rights of citizens with disabilities. Previous research has shown people with disabilities in Vietnam to be marginalised in society, often with limited educational or work opportunity, and with…

Since the onset of COVID-19, governments have launched technology-supported education interventions to ensure children learn. This paper offers a narrative synthesis of emerging evidence on technology-based education to understand the current experiences of learners, teachers and families. Studies find that few students in low- and middle-income…

The United Nations has set forth an ambitious vision for education systems around the globe: cultivating life-long learning from early childhood through an individual's civic and work life. Schools must support children and youth in basic learning--including crucial socio-emotional, literacy, and numeracy competencies--to contribute to sustainable…

There was much euphoria and enthusiasm surrounding the advent of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, but there was little empirical evidence regarding how much would be required of countries to achieve the goals. This article contributes to filling this gap by estimating what Ghana needs in fiscal terms to achieve SDG 4: Quality…

"The Global Framework on Transferable Skills" has been developed to support UNICEF in delivering on the results of its "Strategic Plan 2018-2021" and "Every Child Learns: UNICEF Education Strategy 2019-2030," and provides a shared vision of work on skills development across UNICEF. The Framework guides UNICEF country…

An estimated 274 million primary school children in low and middle income countries are not learning the basic foundational skills necessary to lead productive and healthy lives. The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) is committed to improved and more equitable student outcomes, and has framed this as goal 1 of its strategic plan for…

The approach taken over the past decade to introduce minimum primary school standards in Vietnam is reviewed, with annual school audits that measured both input (quality) and output indicators. It describes a successful, context specific approach in which flexible data systems were used to support the evolution and adoption of a new set of…

Part of the "Studies in Early Transitions" series, this Working Paper draws on interviews and observations carried out as part of "Young Lives", a 15-year longitudinal study of childhood poverty in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam based at the University of Oxford's Department of International Development. This paper focuses…

Most of today's societies are confronted with an increasing necessity to legitimate the organization of their access to higher education. Commonly used as a yardstick to compare societies, the level of access to higher education is often presented as an indicator of the level of development and the capacity to produce knowledge, as well as a…

This report provides information designed to encourage those working in international education to directly confront "language problems" by considering the effectiveness and feasibility of initial education in the mother tongue or local language. It serves as a bridge between applied linguistics and developmental education, exploring…

Vietnam's program for elementary education is described in this study. Chapter One discusses the educational system in terms of its history, the general school system, education management bodies, management of Level I general education schools, training teachers of Level I general education schools, future tasks in teacher training, supervision…