VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY NGUYEN ANH THU VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS: POLICY AND PRACTICE AT SECONDARY EDUCATION IN HANOI, VIETNAM MASTER’S THESIS VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY NGUYEN ANH THU VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS: POLICY AND PRACTICE AT SECONDARY EDUCATION IN HANOI, VIETNAM MAJOR: GLOBAL LEADERSHIP CODE: 8310210.01QTD RESEARCH SUPERVISORS: Prof. YASUSHI KATSUMA Dr. NGUYEN THI THUY TRANG Hanoi, 2023 STATEMENT OF COMMITMENT With personal honor, I guarantee that this study’s result is my own and it does not violate the Regulation on prevention of plagiarism in academic and scientific research activities at Vietnam Japan University (Issued together with Decision No 700/QĐ-ĐHVN dated 30/9/2021 by the Rector of Vietnam Japan University). This study is submitted in the fulfillment of requirement for the Master’s Degree in Global Leadership.
Signature: Nguyen Anh Thu Date: June - 2023 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express the most appreciation to my supervisors, Prof. Yasushi Katsuma and Dr. Nguyen Thi Thuy Trang. They always gave me valuable comments, suggestions, and important research skills which helped me finish my thesis.
I also would like to give my deep gratitude to Dr. JungHyun Jasmine Ryu for her kindness, enthusiasm and support during my time at VJU. Thanks to the opportunities she gave me, I could learn many methodologies to apply on my research. My sincere and special thanks also go to Mr.
Nguyen Trong Chinh for always encouraging me to continue my studying and commenting on my thesis. I would like to give my thanks to Ms.Van – PA of MGL program for her ongoing supports with documents and preparation for this thesis. I am also grateful to Ms. Le Thu Trang – Project Facilitator of GoodNeighbors International Organization, Prof.
Pham Hong Tung, Dr. Vu Kim Chi, Mrs. Ngo Thi Ngoc Bich, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Phuong Linh for helping me to connect and collect valuable data.
Last but not least, I would like to save my special thanks for my family and friends, who are always very supportive and encourage me through my most difficulties, and all the people who have supported me to conduct the research directly or indirectly. Hanoi, June 2023 Author Nguyen Anh Thu ABSTRACT Children all over the world are impacted by the serious and prevalent issue of school violence. This study focuses on the issue of violence against children in schools, particularly in secondary education in Hanoi, Vietnam. It examines the policies which are being implemented to better inform teachers about school violence prevention and the perception of teachers about school violence and the role of training in school violence prevention.
The academic goal of this research is contributing to the knowledge of the role of "training" and "experience” for teachers in reducing school violence. The policy goal is contributing to SDG 16.2 to “end all forms of violence against children” and SDG 4.a to “provide safe, nonviolent, inclusive, and effective learning environments for all.” After the selection process, total 13 documents were selected for further analysis. Semi-structured interviews based on Knowledge-Attitude-Behavior (KAB) framework were conducted among 14 participants. It includes 10 teachers, 2 school leaders and 2 school counselors.
The narrative research method was then applied to analyze the data. The findings show that there is a lack of specific guidelines on methods designed for teachers to prevent school violence, including school collaborating with external assistance which makes it difficult for teachers to receive the support they need in this area. There are many different ways that teachers perceive and deal with school violence. Both teachers with and without intervention rely on their experiences to deal with situations, while some teachers with intervention additionally value hands-on experience when tackling issues.
Additionally, building a cooperative connection with parents is essential for resolving school violence, and teachers in public schools typically interact with parents more smoothly than some teachers in private schools. Keywords: Violence against children, school violence, school violence prevention policy, Vietnam. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES .i LIST OF FIGURES .ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. iii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.
1 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .1 Violence against children (VAC) .3 Types of school violence .4 Reasons and Impacts of School Violence. 6 Reasons of School Violence. 6 Impacts of School Violence on students. 7 Impacts of School Violence on communities and nations .5 School violence prevention .1 The roles of teachers in school violence prevention .2 Teachers’ knowledge, attitudes, behaviors (KAB) towards school violence prevention .6 Disagreements among Scholars.
9 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY .1 Scope of the study .3 Document analysis method design. 18 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .1 Policies to better inform teachers about school violence prevention .2 The difference in practice among teachers in Hanoi in school violence prevention .3 Opinions from school leaders .3 Limitation and future research. 51 Appendix A: Interview guide in Vietnamese. 51 Appendix B: Interview guide in English.
54 Appendix C: Overview of the process of issuing the legal policies in Vietnam on school violence. 56 LIST OF TABLES Tables Page Table 3.1: Target population 11 Table 3.2: Analytical framework created by the author 15 Table 3.3: Total number of participants samples 16 Table 3.4: Demographic characteristics of study participants 17 Table 3.5: Framework of forming interview guide created by author 19 Table 4.1: Overview of the content of documents related to school violence prevention for teachers 20 Table 4.2: Overview of the legal policies in Vietnam on school violence prevention for teachers 21 i LIST OF FIGURES Figures Page Figure 2.1 School violence and bullying (White, 2019) 5 ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CRC: Convention on the Rights of the Child MOET: Ministry of Education and Training KAB: Knowledge, attitudes and behaviors VAC: Violence against children SDGs: Sustainable Development Goals SV: School violence SVP: School violence prevention UN: United Nations UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNICEF: United Nations Children’s Fund iii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION A serious and urgent problem that affects children all over the world is school violence. The fact that school violence is a global issue highlights how urgent and significant it is to solve this issue. Protection of children against all types of violence is emphasized in Article 19 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) “States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child.” In the world, almost 150 million children between the ages of 13 and 15 report that they have experienced peer violence in schools (UNICEF, 2018).
While physical violence committed by teachers is unusual globally, there have been alarming reports from some nations where children experience significant levels of physical violence inflicted by their own teachers. “Physical bullying" and "sexual bullying" are the two types of bullying that are most prevalent worldwide, with the exception of Europe and North America. The most typical form of bullying in both Europe and North America is "psychological bullying" (UNESCO, 2019). Vietnam is the first country in Asia, the second in the world to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1990.
Following the country's Doi Moi reforms in the late 1980s, favorable political conditions allowed child-focused International Organizations like UNICEF, Save the Children, ChildFund, Plan, and World Vision to have a significant impact on the creation of Vietnam's first-generation child protection system (Spence, 2021). Vietnam is a country that is strongly committed to the implementation of the SDGs through the issuance of the Vietnam Sustainable Development Strategy in 2004, the Vietnam Sustainable Development Strategy for the period 2011-2020, and the National Action Plan for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It is aimed to fully implement 17 SDGs of the UN which include the requirement to prevent and significantly reduce all forms of violence against children (Goal 16.2 of the 2030 Agenda). 1 In the process of building and completing the legal system, the State of Vietnam has always focused on drafting and improving laws relating to child protection, care and education to prove for its efforts in fulfilling the commitments to the CRC.
The government has implemented laws, regulations, and trainings about violence against children. However, school violence in Viet Nam has sharply increased, has negatively impacted students' physical and emotional health, and has to be stopped before it spirals out of control. A joint investigation by the Ministries of Public Security and Education and Training found that from April of 2011 to April of 2018, there were 18,571 cases of school violence. According to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, 310 cases of violence at schools were listed in the first three months of 2019, with the majority occurring at secondary and high schools.
Not only students, but according to the survey, 251 teachers, approximately 0.77 percent also involve in school violence. Moreover, "institutional drivers of violence," such as inadequate school governance and inefficient child protection procedures, are significant contributors to the ineffectiveness of Vietnam's school violence prevention (Loan et al. School violence also affects the quality of education. According to United Nations Children’s Fund (2021), violence at school, both physical and verbal, from teachers and friends is the main reason why more than 50% of children in Vietnam don't like going to school.
Therefore, further research should be done on the violence in schools in Vietnam. This study examines the policies that Vietnamese Government are implementing to better inform teachers about school violence prevention and the practice of teachers in schools. Specifically, it focuses on the perception of teachers who joined the training (“teachers with intervention”) and teachers who not (“teachers without intervention”) about school violence and the role of training in school violence prevention. The results of the study can be the materials for further studies in school violence prevention investigation.
First, the findings contribute to the knowledge of role of "training" and "experience” for teachers in reducing school violence. Second, the study of school 2 violence in Vietnam can assist studies on other developing countries which share similar situation. It also contributes to the goal of reaching 90% of schools providing fundamental education programs about violence prevention in the Cooperation Framework of Viet Nam and the United Nations for 2022–2026, SDG 16.2 to “end all forms of violence against children” and SDG 4.a to “provide safe, nonviolent, inclusive, and effective learning environments for all.” 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Violence against children (VAC) Violence is any behavior, whether direct or indirect, that causes or is likely to cause physical, sexual, or psychological harm (Social Development Direct, 2016). According to article 19 of the CRC, violence against children (VAC) encompasses “all forms of physical or mental violence, injury and abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse” (UN, 1989).
Violence against children is examined in five different contexts: the home and family, schools and educational settings, care and justice institutions, the workplace, and the community (Pinheiro, 2006). However, violence may be viewed as a normal and acceptable approach to resolve conflict in some cultures (UNICEF, 2022).2 School violence School violence refers to "all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse" (UN, 1989). According to Kernbach-Wighton (2014), any violent behavior that takes place on a school campus is referred to as school violence. It involves verbal and physical abuse, fighting, shooting, etc.
The phrase "school bullying" is typically used to refer to persistent harassment in schools. It can exist within and near schools, be faced by students and be committed by other students, teachers, and school staff (UNESCO, 2020).