ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the major opportunities and challenges – internal and external – posed by the forces of globalisation that are facing Vietnam’s approach to education reforms. Starting with the view that the background of internationalisation of education has become more evident, inclining the country to develop an ‘outward-looking education’, it identifies new EfS patterns and trends by investigating contemporary reforms at upper secondary levels and beyond. With the rising tide of public demand for a qualified and competitive education, Vietnam has made remarkable progress in its socialisation of education strategy which is characterised by the proliferation of private educational institutions and a rapid shift away from liberal-arts education towards lucrative career-oriented education. The chapter also sheds new light on approaches to EfS in developing countries where transformative learning processes tends to target equipping learners with new practice-based knowledge and skills to achieve economic prosperity in a globally-competitive epoch. Further, it 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.
