FACTORS THAT HINDER AND ENHANCE COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP IN BASIC ENGLISH CURRICULUM DESIGN AND DELIVERY IN VIETNAMESE UNIVERSITY CONTEXTS

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1 FACTORS THAT HINDER AND ENHANCE COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP IN BASIC ENGLISH CURRICULUM DESIGN AND DELIVERY IN VIETNAMESE UNIVERSITY CONTEXTS THUY TRAN, PhD student Faculty of Education, VUW

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3 Term explanation: Basic English curriculum Vietnam s higher education system English is taught nationally as a discipline as a compulsory subject 10% of the credits (14/140) B.A M.A Ph.D Basic English Academic English (ESP) Hoang (2011)

4 Central research question What is the role of leadership in promoting and supporting the effectiveness of the Basic English curriculum design and delivery in Vietnamese universities?

5 Rationale of the study My interest and experience as an EFL teacher. Witnessing some leadership challenges at work Educational leadership in higher education is a crucial issue and has been under-researched in Vietnam. Leadership is necessary to effect change (Astin et al., 2000; Oliver & Hyun, 2010) and therefore it has the potential to impact on the delivery of the Basic English curriculum.

6 Methodology Research design: Mixed methods Research sites: 2 public universities under MOF Participants: - Senior leaders, - EFL teachers, - Company directors - Graduate students (online survey)

7 Data collection Semi-structured interviews with academic leaders: 11 Focus group interviews with EFL teachers: 2 Semi-structured interviews with company directors: 6 Online questionnaire survey with graduate students (102 responses)

8 Data analysis QUALITATIVE DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS - Individual interviews - Focus group interviews Compare or relate Interpretation QUANTITATIVE DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS - Online questionnaire The convergent design adapted from (Creswell and Plato, 2007)

9 FACTORS THAT HINDER COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP Negative factors: Organisational barriers: - The impact of dual leadership (DL)

10 DL and the resulting lack of autonomy MOET MOF Dual leadership University A University B Inefficient Autonomy Due to the fact that the university is under the dual leadership of MOF and MOET, many regimes and policies have been done late (Interview, R1)

11 DL and limitation of power, funding and support Senior leaders lack of power Autonomy has not been real power yet. (Interview, R2) EFL lecturers lack of support to upskill their professional knowledge Attending an Attending an international conference in TESOL is my dream. Sometimes, going to national conferences organised in big cities in Vietnam is also difficult for us because of our university s lack of funding (Mai, UA, FGI)

12 Personnel barriers Lack of highly-qualified academic staff Currently, the higher education sector is terribly short of highly qualified lecturers and leading experts who are key people for the success of the curricula (Interview, VR1).

13 Limitations of staff s professional knowledge, English competence and teaching skills The university s lecturers are not good in terms of their professional knowledge, foreign language proficiency and ability to apply information technology in their teaching. We are trying to mitigate this (Interview, R1).

14 Personal barriers Difficulties in foreign language learning, namely English for male leaders First, my responsive abilities have some First, my responsive abilities have some definite limitations to meet that requirement for quality improvement. Second, the requirements of foreign languages have been imposed while my present foreign language skills need a long time to be fluent. (Interview, VR2)

15 Personal barriers (cont d) Dual responsibilities for female leaders The fact that I am a female leader makes my directions and work arrangement not really aggressive and determined, and sometimes rather complaisant. Being a mother and wife, I have to spend time looking after my family and raising my children; which partially impacts on my role of leadership (Interview, MT1).

16 Negative factors MOET MOF Organisational barriers: Dual leadership University A University B Inefficient Autonomy Personnel barriers Personal barriers Limited professional knowledge Poor teaching skills and English competence Difficulties in English learning for men Dual responsibilities for women

17 Factors that enhance collaborative leadership - Senior leaders trust and highly value academic staff it is very necessary to learn about the former it is very necessary to learn about the former leaders experience and that of my subordinates as well, and I did think how to convince and encourage all staff to mutually implement the political tasks set up by the university. (Interview, R2)

18 Factors that enhance collaborative leadership - SLs work in collaboration with staff and other partners When we carry out updating curricula or designing a curriculum for a new major, we invite not only the university s leaders, scientists, highly experienced lectures but also experts in our training majors who are working in companies, having a lot of practical experience and clearly know about how the university s training products will satisfy the society s demand (Interview, VR2).

19 Factors that enhance collaborative leadership (cont d) - Emphasize the role of collaborative leadership Along with directly participating in designing and composing curriculums of some subjects, I collaborate with the specialists of the faculties and departments. (Interview, VR1)

20 Factors that enhance collaborative leadership (cont d) - EFL teachers Every six months we have a department meeting to amend and supplement the content of the curriculum so it will be appropriate for the training needs of each discipline. I also discuss professional knowledge with other colleagues and the head of the department in case some problems arise during the teaching process (Truc, UA, FGI).

21 Possible recommendations How the negative factors to be overcome The role of leadership in promoting the Basic English curriculum design and delivery