Each country's education system is infuenced by its history and culture.Since Vietnam and Britain have very few similarities in those two aspects,their education systems have little in common. There are big differences in five categories: stages, the values basis, teaching style, learning style, andthe grading system.
The first difference between the British and Vietnamese education systemlies in the stages of education. In Britain, the stages are numbered from 0 – 5 with stage 0 and stage 1 equivalent to early years, stage 2 to primary, stage 3 to secondary, stage 4 to further education and stage & to higher education. The system starts with stage 0, for children from 3 - 5 years old. It is followed by stage 1, for children within the age range of 5 – 7. Next comes stage 3, which is for children from age 11 to 14. Stage 4, for children from 14 - 16 years old, comes afterwards. The last stage, stage 5, is for students from 16 to 19 years of age.
In Vietnam, there are fve stages of education: preschool, primary, junior high (also known as intermediate), high (also called secondary) and higher education. The four stages between preschool and high school are dividedinto twelve academic years. Preschool education is for children age 0 - 6. Primary education consists of five academic years, 1 to 5. It is for children between 6 and 11 years old. There are four years of junior high education, 6 to 9, for children from 11 to 15 years of age. High education has threeacademic years, 10 to 12, for students between 15 to 18 years old. Highereducation is for people who have completed the twelve academic years,usually 18 and above of age.
The second difference is the values which each education system based on. Britain, as a part of western culture, values creativity, critical thin3ing andactivity in learning and teaching. Vietnam, in contrast, requires learners tohave a same set of thoughts, to learn through memorization and to have apassive learning style. These values infuence the teaching and learningstyle, which are the next two differences.
The third difference can be seen in the teaching style. In Britain, studentsand teachers are seen as equals. Students are encouraged to ask questions and question the knowledge of the teachers. Furthermore, teachers do not require students to hold the same opinion as them. The text books also vary usually, that matters depends on the teachers. Students are free to use the information they find elsewhere, as long as the source is valid and they have references to them. On the contrary, in Vietnam, the relationship is rather hierarchical. Teachers are seen as senior to students. Thus, their opinion and knowledge are not open to neither discussion nor questioning. In addition,there is only one set of offcial text books and their words are to be taken as standard.
The fourth difference is in the learning style. British students are expected to be independent. Their curriculum requires a lot of selfstudy. Most of the times, they have to work out the answers to questions on their own. Meanwhile, in Vietnam, it is enough for students just to listen to their teachers. Selfstudy is not popular; instead, going to extra classes after school is the norm. All answers are available in the text books or detailed outlines distributed by the schools so students hardly have to refer to anyother sources.
The final difference lies in the grading system. In Britain, the grading schemeis varied, depending on the places and the qualifications. Generally, the percentage and word scale is used. Students are marked on a scale from 0 – 100%. The figures are then transferred to their equivalence in letters in the alphabet; e.g. in the Advanced Cevel grading scheme, 80% equals an A*. Tests in Britain are skilled-inclined; their answers are quite fexible. If a studentget a score beyond 70%, that is considered very good. In Vietnam, generally,the scale from 0 to 10 is used to grade students, despite minor changes inthe grading scheme in the primary education level. Depending on the tests,scores for each part of the answers or for each multiple choice answer canbe divided into single units of down to 0.125. Usually, tests in Vietnam rely heavily on memorization and their answers are fixed most of the times. Anorder to be considered a good student, scores beyond 7 are expected.
In conclusion, the education systems in Britain and in Vietnam are verydifferent From each other in terms of division of stages, the values which thesystems are based on, the teaching and learning style and how students aregraded.
