In 1999 the British Council conducted a review of the provision of both pre-service (PRESET) and in-service (INSET) English language teacher education in Vietnam. 

Client, stakeholders, partners

• Ministry of Education and Training
• 20 Provincial Departments of Education and Training

Focus
Developing English Language Teaching in state sector upper secondary schools

The project
In 1999 the British Council conducted a review of the provision of both pre-service (PRESET) and in-service (INSET) English language teacher education in Vietnam. It concluded that the provision for INSET did not meet the needs of teachers.

As a result, a proposal for a project aiming to develop the quality of English language teaching in high schools, and to ensure sustainability by training a cadre of trainers in 10 key provinces, was put to, and accepted by, the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET). The VTTN project has been running in partnership with MoET since 2000. The success of the first phase of the project saw it extended to cover a further 10 provinces from 2004.

Project evaluation findings in 2006 showed that the project had achieved tangible change towards the adoption of communicative English language teaching in these 20 provinces. The overall assessment of progress was very positive. The project is highly valued by its major stakeholders: the MoET, provincial Departments of Education and Training, trainers and teachers. The communicative methodologies that have been presented through the project are considered to be relevant, and the trainer training sessions are universally acclaimed as highly effective. These have been reinforced through annual VTTN conferences and regular ideas-packed newsletters, which have fostered a real sense of community for VTTN participants.

In nine years, the project has reached over 9,000 teachers; in most VTTN provinces, every high school English language teacher has attended the VTTN workshops. Most importantly, the project has trained 120 provincial trainers to a high standard, and these will continue as core trainers into the future for the secondary school system.

What the stakeholders say

• "In the future, we (Ministry of Education and Training) hope that the British Council Vietnam will expand the VTTN project to other cities and provinces ..., and develop this programme into a national project in order that many more teachers of English in Vietnam can benefit from it".
  Prof Tran Van Nhung, Vice Minister of Education and Training
• "Even though the budget of VTTN has been very small, the impact has been high - it's been a low cost high impact project."
  Mr Le Van Canh, Director, Office for International Relations and Cooperation, University for Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University
• "VTTN has produced a real shift to a student-centred approach and integrated skills" 
  Mr Nguyen Cao Phuc, ELT Specialist, Khanh Hoa Department of Education and Training

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