At the end of April 2025, almost 100 delegates, representing Viet Nam’s Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), as well as UNICEF, UNESCO, international education/ELT organisations and international education institutions in Viet Nam, participated in a half-day event to explore issues around the future direction of English language teaching, learning and assessment in Viet Nam.
Organised by MOET’s Viet Nam Institute of Educational Sciences (VNIES), with support from British Council Viet Nam, the event was the culmination of a week of events, all convened by Deputy Minister Pham Ngoc Thuong. In the presence of the Deputy Minister and MOET’s steering committee responsible for driving the English as a second language agenda, interested parties from Viet Nam’s ELT community were invited to offer feedback and representations on the draft national proposal entitled “Making English the Second Language in Schools for the 2025–2035 Period, with a Vision to 2045.”
Deputy Minister Thưởng emphasised the importance of this initiative in transforming education in Viet Nam, with English being the most widely selected foreign language in Vietnamese schools, and pivotal in preparing students to become global citizens. The proposed plan aims to transition from traditional grammar and vocabulary-focused instruction and testing to enhancing students’ communication skills, in particular by creating a comprehensive language learning ecosystem that extends beyond the classroom.
Throughout this sequence of three events, MOET invited contributions from international experts, educators, and administrators on various aspects of the proposal and its delivery. British Council Viet Nam took this opportunity to introduce the findings from our recent UK-VN consultancy project and policy dialogue (see link below) with recommendations in a number of areas to support teaching quality, equitable and inclusive student attainment and the sustainable introduction of English as a medium of education in Vietnamese classrooms. British Council also shared examples of recent case studies from collaborations in developing and implementing bilingual agendas in education systems in Spain and Taiwan, as well as developing a national CPD framework for teachers in Armenia.
This event followed the recent Policy dialogue to inform the development of an ELT Master Plan 2026–2035
