Exploring perceptions and factors relating to the participation in adult education of poor women in an giang province vietnam

KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences
Department of Educational Sciences

EXPLORING PERCEPTIONS AND FACTORS RELATING
TO THE PARTICIPATION IN ADULT EDUCATION OF
POOR WOMEN IN AN GIANG PROVINCE, VIETNAM

Master thesis presented to obtain
the degree of Master of
Educational Studies
By: Le Hai Yen
Promoter: Prof. Dr. Ides Nicaise

2013



KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences
Department of Educational Sciences

EXPLORING PERCEPTIONS AND FACTORS RELATING
TO THE PARTICIPATION IN ADULT EDUCATION OF
POOR WOMEN IN AN GIANG PROVINCE, VIETNAM

Master thesis presented to obtain
the degree of Master of
Educational Studies
By: Le Hai Yen
Promoter: Prof. Dr. Ides Nicaise

2013


First name, FAMILY NAME: Hai Yen, LE
Exploring Perceptions and Factors Relating to the Participation in Adult Education of Poor
Women in An Giang Province, Vietnam
Master’s thesis presented to obtain the degree of Master of Educational Studies
Examination period & year: Third Examination Period – 2012-2013
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ides Nicaise
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Although having excellently achieved the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on poverty
reduction, Vietnam remains as a low-income country with the variable poverty reduction and cases of
relapse into poverty (IMF, 2006). Sharing common characteristics of rural areas of Vietnam, An Giang
Province is affected by a relatively high rate of poverty. Poor people are less likely to participate in
education as their minds are too engaged with struggling to earn for everyday life. UNESCO (2002)
has observed the increasing demand for, and practice of adult education participation in many Asian
countries. Vietnam has also prioritized education and training as important for the nation’s socioeconomic development and directed that a learning society for everybody is constructed. However, the
participation rate is low, especially of the disadvantaged people including the poor and women. Yet, it
is important to invest in women’s education because of their remarkable returns to individual, family,
and society (Riddell, 2004; & UNESCO, 2002). This study has been carried out in an attempt to
provide a better understanding of poor women’s participation in adult learning, in the hope of
contributing to improve poor women’s life and poverty reduction.
METHODOLOGY
Recruited from the population of poor women from 47,979 poor households of An Giang
Province, the study sample was 120 poor women aged 19 to 35 from the three districts Long Xuyen,
Chau Thanh, and Tri Ton of the province. A quantitative questionnaire for the sample women was
used to collect the data, exploring poor women’s personal, socio-economic, family and education
background, their perceptions of barriers, motivations to learning participation, and benefits of female
adult learning. The correlations between the women’s characteristics and initial education, and their

propensities of participation in adult learning were also analyzed.
MAIN FINDINGS
There are specific correlations between (1) the poor women’s personal, family and occupation
conditions, (2) their initial education attainment, and (3) their propensities of learning participation
during the time since they left initial schooling and during the most recent five years, and (4) in the
future. Yet, all the correlations were weak. Situational barriers, compared to institutional and
dispositional ones, are perceived by the poor women as the most influential. Also, they appeared to be
more self-motivated to learn; and job-related motivators which aim to improve their economic life’s
status were found preferred. Benefits of learning are highly appreciated by the poor women.
CONCLUSION
The study has pointed out certain propensities of participation in adult learning of poor women
in An Giang Province, Vietnam, and their perceptions on the barriers, motivators, and benefits of adult
learning, thanks to which implications for improving poor women’s learning could be constructed and
hopefully serve as a source of information for those interested in adult learning participation and that
of poor women in particular.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It was a long distance for me to make it from Vietnam to Belgium. It would be impossible to
materialize my research without endless help, support and encouragement from my professors, friends
and family.
I would like to express my deepest thanks to my thesis promoter, Professor Ides Nicaise. His
dedicated and patient guidance, sharing and comments throughout my research process has
empowered me through the toughest times, from research orientation, literature review, and specially
data analysis with precious recommendations for better achievements. Professor Nicaise’s
understandings, sympathy, and warm encouragement have put my mind at ease and provided me a lot
of space for my research aspiration and capability.
It is my sincere thankfulness to my friend Thao Bui. Her wholehearted efforts helping me with
the data collection, together with her moral attitude throughout the process, were fruited in the valid

and reliable data for this study. I would also thank the disadvantaged women whose open-heartedness,
sincerity and willingness to share their plights went beyond our expectations. I also would like to
thank the cadres from grass roots to provincial departments of the People’s Committee of An Giang
Province for bridging us to the right population with painstakingly assistance in our contacts and
interviews with the sample. I could hardly realize my research without their help.
My special gratitude is to Mr. Kenneth Phillips for his careful proofreading and improving my
paper. I deeply thank Professor Diane Smedt, my friends Loi Le, Thanh Nguyen, Hien Truong, Ha
Nguyen for all their moral and practical support and consultancy with my data analysis and
interpretation. I was able to overcome the difficulties of inexperience and un-confidence in statistical
analyses thanks to their patience and devotion to listen and think with me.
Last but not least, I would express my wholehearted gratefulness to my parents, my husband, my
younger sister, and my relatives and friends for their continuous support and encouragement, lifting
me out of depressions of overseas life and study. I can see their happiness and pride of my education
achievements. They are one of the very strong motivations for my education pursuit.
Thank you with all my heart.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND METHODOLOGY ................... 1
1.1 Adult education in developing countries ..................................................................... 1
1.1.1 Lifelong learning and adult education in developing countries ......................... 1
1.1.2 Women and adult education .............................................................................. 2
1.1.3 Factors affecting adults’ education participation ............................................... 3
1.1.4 Context of poverty on adult education participation ......................................... 6
1.2 Methodology ............................................................................................................... 8
1.2.1 Aim of this study ............................................................................................... 8
1.2.2 Description of the research region ................................................................... 10
1.2.3 Research methodology .................................................................................... 11

CHAPTER 2: PROPENSITIES OF PARTICIPATION IN ADULT LEARNING OF
POOR WOMEN ................................................................................................................... 14
2.1 Description of poor women’s present states.............................................................. 14
2.2 Propensities of participation in adult education of poor women .............................. 17
2.3 Observing factors relating to the propensities of participation in adult
education of poor women .......................................................................................... 21
CHAPTER 3: POOR WOMEN’S PERCEPTIONS OF BARRIERS,
MOTIVATORS, AND BENEFITS OF ADULT LEARNING ......................................... 31
3.1 Poor women’s perceptions about barriers to adult learning ...................................... 31
3.2 Poor women’s perceptions of motivations to participate in
adult learning ............................................................................................................. 42
3.3 Poor women’s perceptions of benefits of female adult learning ............................... 46
CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSIONS.......................................................................................... 49
4.1 Empirical findings ..................................................................................................... 49
4.2 Policy implications .................................................................................................... 52
4.3 Theoretical implications ............................................................................................ 54
4.4 Recommendations for future research ....................................................................... 54
4.5 Limitations of the study............................................................................................. 55
REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................... 57
APPENDIX A: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE.................................................................. 60
APPENDIX B: INDICES FOR VARIABLE DESCRIPTION ........................................ 66
APPENDIX C: TABLES AND CROSSTABS OF DATA ANALYSIS ........................... 73
APPENDIX D: FIGURES OF DATA ANALYSIS ........................................................... 87

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1.1
Table 2.1

Table 2.2

Terms to be understood in the scope of this study
Descriptive data on members of poor women’s families
Correlations among highest initial completion, reading and writing proficiency of poor
women
Table 2.3 Times of taking the defined learning activities
Table 2.4 Lengths of the last course taken (after initial schooling, excluding last five years)
Table 2.5 Learning activities taken by poor women during the most recent five years
Table 2.6 Lengths of the last course taken (during the last five years)
Table 2.7 Number of hours per week of the course (during the last five years)
Table 2.8 Correlations between the duration of the courses and the number of hours per week
Table 2.9 Custom table between poor women’s participation in learning since initial education
(excluding the last five years) and that during the most recent five years
Table 2.10 Correlations between poor women’s personal, socio-economic and family conditions and
their participation in education since initial education (excluding the last five years)
Table 2.11 Correlations between poor women’s occupational conditions and their participation in
education since initial education (excluding the last five years)
Table 2.12 Correlations between poor women’s initial education attainment and their participation in
education since initial education (excluding the last five years)
Table 2.13 Factors correlated to poor women’s participation in education since they left initial
education (excluding the last five years)
Table 2.14 Correlations between poor women’s personal, socio-economic and family conditions and
their participation in education during the most recent five years
Table 2.15 Correlations between poor women’s occupational conditions and their participation in
education during the last five years
Table 2.16 Correlations between poor women’s initial education attainment and their participation in
education during the last five years
Table 2.17 Factors correlated to poor women’s participation in education during the most recent five
years

Table 2.18 Correlations between poor women’s personal, socio-economic and family conditions and
their propensity of participating in education in the future
Table 2.19 Correlations between poor women’s occupational characteristics and their intention of
participating in learning in the future
Table 2.20 Correlations between poor women’s initial education attainment and their intention of
participating in education in the future
Table 2.21 Factors correlated to poor women’s intention to participate in education in the future
Table 2.22 Correlations among poor women’s propensities of past participation in adult learning and
their intention to learn in the future
Table 2.23 Summary of the correlations between the factors and poor women’s participation in adult
learning
Table 3.1 Custom table between the participants/non-participants in adult learning after initial
education and their perceptions of the institutional barriers
Table 3.2 Correlations between poor women’s age and the cost-related barriers
Table 3.3 Correlations between poor women’s age and the life responsibilities
Table 3.4 Custom table between the participants/ non-participants in adult learning after initial
education and their perceptions of the situational barriers
Table 3.5 Custom table between the non-participants/participants in adult learning after initial
education and their perceptions of the dispositional barriers
Crosstabs 2.1 Poor women’s participation in learning and their current employment status
Crosstabs 2.2 Crosstabs between poor women’s previous job and their participation in learning
during the most recent five years
Crosstabs 3.1 Cross-tabulation between poor women’s residential district and their perception of the
barrier of which an educational institution is far from their house

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1

Figure 2.1
Figure 2.2
Figure 2.3
Figure 2.4
Figure 2.5
Figure 2.6
Figure 2.7
Figure 3.1
Figure 3.2
Figure 3.3
Figure 3.4
Figure 3.5
Figure 3.6
Figure 3.7
Figure 3.8
Figure 3.9
Figure 3.10
Figure 3.11
Figure 3.12
Figure 3.13
Figure 3.14

Secondary education enrollment rate by regions in Vietnam in 2010
Monthly average earnings per family member
Poor women’s job categories
Current jobs’ properties of poor women
Poor women’s highest initial education completion
Poor women’s literacy proficiencies
Intention to learn in the future
Desired learning activities to learn in the future if the women have opportunities

Poor women’s overall perceptions of the three groups of barriers
Poor women’s choices for institutional barriers to adult learning
Poor women as non-participants and participants’ perceptions of institutional barriers
Poor women’s choices for situational barriers to adult learning
Poor women as non-participants and participants’ perceptions of situational barriers
Poor women’s choices for dispositional barriers to adult learning
Poor women as non-participants and participants’ perceptions of dispositional barriers
Poor women’s choices for motivational factors to adult learning
Poor women’s selections for the group of goal-oriented motivations to adult
Poor women’s choices for the group of questions clarifying the factors of being selfmotivated to adult learning
Poor women as non-participants and participants’ perceptions of motivational factors to
participate in adult learning
Non-participants and participants’ perceptions of motivational factors to learning in
their own group
Poor women’s choices for benefits of adult learning
Poor women as non-participants and participants’ perceptions of benefits of adult
learning

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ABBREVIATIONS
Abbreviation

Meaning

APPEAL

Asia-Pacific Program of Education for All

ASPBAE

The Asian South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education

CONFINTEA
EFA

International Conference on Adult Education
(UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning)
Education for All

ELLI

European Lifelong Learning Indicators

GSO

General Statistic Office of Vietnam

IMF

International Monetary Fund

MDG

Millennium Development Goal

SES

Socio-Economic Status

UNESCO

United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

UNICEF

United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund
(United Nations Children’s Fund now)

r

Pearson correlation coefficient

R

Spearman’s Rho

p

Significance level

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CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND METHODOLOGY
1.1 Adult education in developing countries
1.1.1

Lifelong learning and adult education in developing countries

In the 2002 report by the UNESCO Institute of Education, the Jomtien Declaration 1990 was

defined as an important milestone, stressing the acquisition of initial basic education for all. It requires
increasing educational opportunities through various approaches, rather than merely schooling or
formal education, and entails corresponding policies to promote its practice. Countries observed in the
report have made considerable progress in promoting adult education when they have prioritized adult
basic education in policies and actions as being important for the countries’ development. Basic
literacy – reading and writing ability – was initially emphasized, which was then extended to a range
of essential knowledge and life skills with increasing numbers of programs and non-formal
educational opportunities for the deprived.
The evolvement of adult education in Asian countries also results from the promotion of
community participation in constructing and developing adult education through the governments’
empowerment of individuals, governmental and non-governmental organizations. Adult education to
ameliorate poverty has also become an important concern to many countries in Asia, in the attempt to
enhance the possibility of employment and income for the poor.
The efforts to provide education have been proved through a variety of programs. Since the
World Education Forum in Dakar in 2000, the Education for All (EFA) movement has been initiated
as “a global commitment to provide quality basic education for all children, youth and adults” with six
specific goals to achieve by 2015 (UNESCO’s official website), to promote equality in adult education
in more than 160 countries. Started in 1987 in Asia, the Asia-Pacific Program of Education for All
(APPEAL), focusing on primary education, literacy promotion, and continuing education, has been
implementing a great number of activities to achieve its goals. The program has succeeded with the
development of community learning centers in twenty Asian countries, which creates and responds
learning needs of disadvantaged groups at grassroots levels of the countries (Oyasu, 2002). The Asian
South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education (ASPBAE), with UNESCO and the International Council for
Adult Education , is also collaborating with other regional organizations and individuals to promote
adult education in the region, seeking for lifelong learning opportunities and quality education for all
(UNESCO, 2002; & ASPBAE’s Overview).
On a national scale, countries operate programs to encourage adult learning and education at
different levels and with various targeted goals. For example, the MOBRAL- an agency of the

Ministry and Culture of Brazil developed the Functional Literacy Programme for adults in the 1970s.
It aimed to decrease the proportion of adult illiteracy of the country from 33.6% to that of developed
countries at 10%, ameliorating poverty, producing economic profit from education, and promoting
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political and social participation (Lovisolo et al., 1985). Similarly, defining education and training as
important strategies, the government of Vietnam has aimed to provide literacy and education for all
people. It sees that the provision of primary education, literacy, and continuing education is connected
and reciprocal with each other in order for people to benefit most from the education network.
Particularly, the country organized a program in two parts – literacy and post-literacy, targeting
illiteracy eradication throughout the country in 1990 (Due Van, N., 1993, as cited in UNESCO, 2002).
However, despite the constant efforts in promoting lifelong learning and adult education
worldwide, the degree of participation in education of adults is still recorded unsatisfactorily.
According to the Global Report on Adult Learning and Education to the sixth International Conference
on Adult Education (CONFINTEA) by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, although
participation in adult education has gain certain progress compared to those in the CONFINTEA V,
the participation rates in most countries generally “remain unacceptably low” (p.62). While the rate of
adults all over the world having incomplete primary education or being unschooled remains over 18%,
this proportion is much higher on regional scales, for example, up to 50% and 53% in Sub-Saharan
Africa and in South and West Asia, respectively.
The divergence in participation rate of adults among countries is affected by the wealth of a
country; that is, richer countries achieve more participation in education. This is confirmed by the
UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (2009) report which showed extremely low rates of adult
literacy in poorer countries. In the case of individual learners as actual participants, the report also
recognized a tendency in which “those who have acquired more education tend to get more and those
who do not, find it difficult to receive any at all” (p.70). On the other hand, it is suggested in the report
that comprehensive conditions and policies could play an important role in enabling the disadvantaged
to overcome their difficulties and take part in learning activities.
1.1.2

Women and adult education
The Global Report on Adult Learning and Education (UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning,

2009) recognized that “Limited access to educational opportunities in the past has left 774 million
adults lacking basic literacy skills, of whom about two in every three are women” (p.19).
While the participation rate in adult education of women is higher than that of men in some
European and North American countries and lower in other nations in the regions, the Southern
countries, compared to those of the North, show greater educational divergence in participation of the
two genders as well as accomplishment. The EFA’s goal of gender disparity extermination in
education was also achieved in 59 countries by 2006. However, this disparity is still in existence in
almost all countries in sub-Saharan Africa, South and West Asia, and the Arab States.
In order to improve the participation of female adults in learning activities and reduce gender
disparity in education, great efforts have been made to provide women with educational opportunities
through a large number of programs worldwide targeting the needs of women from different

2


circumstances (Medel-Anonuevo et al., 2011). Started in 1988, the Mahila Samakhya, an example of
numerous efforts to promote women’s education in India, put its focus on creating “a learning
environment where women can collectively affirm their potential, gain the strength to demand
information and knowledge, and move forward to change and take charge of their lives” (UNESCO,
2002, p.45).
Other projects recognizing the role of women for development and involving them can be found
in many countries. Taking part in APPEAL, China has operated a project dealing with poverty
eradication, in which women were trained to manage small loans from their own self-help groups and
take responsibility for addressing problems, setting plans, sharing and learning from each other in the
groups (UNESCO Bangkok, 2002).
Women adult education in many Asian countries also comprises literacy education for women

and girls, which mainly aims at improving their incomes (UNESCO Institute for Education, 2002). It
is recognized that“[a]dult literacy, especially the literacy of women constitutes an important element
of Vietnam’s education and training policy.” (ibid., p.36). Literacy textbooks were developed with
daily-life functional knowledge to improve females’ literacy level, which attract more and more
women to participate. Training for job purposes was also provided to women at some local areas
aiming to help increase their earnings for living.
Despite increasing opportunities of education designed for women, the hesitation or refusal
towards such offers by a large number of women worldwide is a problem. Based on their analysis of
the CONFINTEAs, Medel-Anonuevo et al. (2011) claimed the essential necessity to understand what
remains low participation in education of women:
For the moment, we need to acknowledge low levels of participation of women in adult
education. […]We need to ask ourselves: how is it that these women are denied the right to
literacy? How is it that these women are not able to reap the benefits of participation? (p.66)
1.1.3

Factors affecting adults’ education participation
The grounds on which adult people make their decision to participate in learning and education

have attracted concerns from many researchers. The focus of the research is mainly on what motivates
and discourages adults in society to pursue learning and educational activities.
1.1.3.1 Motivational factors
Medel-Anonuevo et al. (2011) indicated that one of the factors affecting an individual’s decision
to learn is his/her own motivation. Similarly, Knowles (1975, as cited in Grow, 1991, & in Boeren et
al., 2011), reported one’s learning decision should be self-directed which involves the participant’s
activeness and consciousness in his learning objectives and course-related information searching.
Getzels (1956, as cited in Gallo, 1971) focused his concerns in improving the success of adult
learning in schools. He believed that the four conditions: “time, external and internal pressures of

3

relearning, impact of learning on others around him, and the emotional factor of earlier commitments”
(p.240) do have significant impacts on adult learning. He also suggested a set of seven principles for
adult training practice, in which the first one – “Learning depends on motivation” – emphasizes the
decisive importance of one’s own motivation in making changes through his learning.
Another perspective confirmed by Rubenson & Schuetze (2000, as cited in Boeren et al., 2011)
from their research findings is that job-related aspects, educational attainment, and age are
determinants to adult learners. Similarly, in her summary of research on adult participation in
education after their school leaving, McGivney (1990) characterized adult participants and nonparticipants based on their age, educational background and attainment, and socio-economic status.
She asserted that employed, young adults with longer initial education and higher socio-economic
positions attend and benefit more from adult learning activities than those who are unemployed, older,
early school leavers, and in lower socio-economic status. This can be inferred that a learner’s
motivation might be determined by factors related to their earlier life experiences.
Houle (1961, as cited in Cross, 1981; McGivney, 1990, & in Boeren et al., 2011) also defined
learners in relation to their personal goal, learning interest, and activity attendance from which they
are motivated to take part in learning activities.
Realizing this relationship between institutional, situational, and psychological factors and
adults’ learning motivation, Boeren et al. (2011) examined the impacts of national welfare systems by
the governments of twelve European countries on adult learners’ motives to learn. They recommended
that “different strategies need to be implemented in order to boost adults’ motivation to learn” (p.152)
due to the differences in the countries, which again confirms the role of governments on the national
scale in promoting adult’s participation to education.
McGivney (1990) and Cross (1981), in their analysis of previous research on motivation of
adults to learning, found that adults participate in a learning activity because they want to improve or
obtain skills for their employment or to widen their knowledge. Participants’ motivations are also
categorized according to their tendencies of learning choices, among which male reasons to learn are
more job-related than women’s, and lower-level or non-advanced courses are more likely to be chosen
by disadvantaged learners with lower socio-economic status.
In addition, looking at learners’ motivation from the aspect of educational outcomes, Riddell
(2004) suggested that returns to education could also affect one’s decision on the amount

of education he/she wants to achieve. Economic returns which mostly refer to income and wealth
increase have also been confirmed by many researchers as strong motivators for many learners. Social
returns may comprise private and social returns to an individual’s education, including making
him/her more successful in child rearing and education, enjoy better health and longevity, be less
involved in criminal activities, and enhance citizenship through civic participation (ibid.). Likewise,
Oreopoulos & Salvanes (2011) proved that benefits from education are not just related to finances but
also from a wide range of non-monetary outcomes by a thorough analysis on private and social returns
4


to learning and educational investment, such as improving one’s decision making in personal affairs
(health care, marriage, and parenting) as well as positive social involvements.
1.1.3.2 Hindering factors
Rubenson & Schuetze (2000, as cited in Boeren et al., 2011) claimed the importance of the
availability of educational opportunities and realistic lifelong learning strategies for disadvantaged
groups in increasing the possibility of adult participation in education. The decision of an individual to
enroll in education could depend on how successfully an individual interacts with the space designed
by the welfare system of a country and vice versa (Rubenson & Desjardins, 2009, as cited in Boeren et
al., 2011).
Cross (1981) defined three groups of factors that lock adults from education. The first group
involves situational factors that refer to those related to one’s life circumstances or conditions. Lack of
time and energy due to housework or paid work, familial tradition, or incapability in affording
learning course fees are typical examples of situational barriers. Secondly, institutional barriers related
to the “practices and procedures that exclude or discourage working adults from participating in
educational activities” (p.98); that is, the fact that whether the organizational and managerial practices
of educational institutions are comprehensive and responsive to their clients affect the decision of
participation or continuity of one’s learning. Thirdly, deterrents by dispositional aspects reflect one’s
negative or pessimistic perceptions or attitudes about learning or schooling-related activities which
constitute non-participant characteristics. In some cases, a clear-cut distinction between institutional
and situational barriers cannot be made. In addition, of the three groups of barriers, women tend to

deal with impediments arisen from their living conditions while the other two groups have more
influence on poor people (ibid.).
The striking disparity between the men and women claimed by many researchers might also be
rooted in a variety of socio-cultural and/or socio-traditional barriers. For example, in order to attend
learning activities, Ghanaian women must overcome a number of obstacles: the traditional dowry
system, male privilege in familial and societal lives, time limitation, and the multiple family roles they
have to carry. Socio-economic barriers pertaining to direct costs and men’s support, as well as many
failures of the country’s education system and macro-level management in struggling for female’s
education are sociological impediments for Ghanaian women’s learning participation (Tanye, 2008).
Morgan (1996, as cited in Tanye, 2008) indicated that in many developing countries, negative
societal attitudes, including those of teachers towards female’s education and learning ability, also
strongly relate to girls’ reluctance to attend class and dropping out. Moreover, “[g]enerally, there are
fewer government-funded institutions for females than males in most developing countries, but more
females than males in the poorer quality institutions in these countries” (Tanye, 2008, p.177).
Although the result of surveys on women’s interest in literacy education showed that they
perceive being literate helpful for their agricultural work and organizing their family and raising

5


children, there are still a great number of barriers inhibiting women from participating in literacy
activities:
[S]ocio-cultural customs, negative images of women, limited access to and control over
productive resources, family problems and inadequate knowledge of matters related to health
and family life, overwork, lack of confidence, and the traditional role of the woman as a wife
and mother”
(Due Van, N., 1993, cited in UNESCO Institute for Education, 2002, p.66).
In addition, Tyer-Viola & Cesario (2010) also affirmed the early occurrence of societal and
cultural barriers that deter young girls from schooling because they have to shoulder housework while
boys take charge of studying in order to take care of women later.

Moreover, different disadvantages together constitute greater deterrents to adults’ participation
in education (UNESCO, 2009); that is, the more disadvantages individuals possess, the less likely they
are to attend learning and educational affairs.
1.1.4

Context of poverty on adult education participation
Many researchers insist that participation in adult education is influenced by a variety of factors,

in which one’s socio-economic status is one of the most striking determinants. Adults with higher
socio-economic position with better jobs and higher income are more involved in learning activities
than those with lower socio-economic position with lower-skilled jobs and income (McGivney, 1990;
UNESCO, 2009; & Rubenson & Schuetze, 2000, as cited in Boeren et al., 2011). The situation is far
more extreme to those in poverty, especially women.
In his study of poor children in the United Kingdom and their inclusion in schools, Ridge (2003)
observed that children in poverty refuse and diminish their needs and demands, hence exclude
themselves from school activities in order to help lighten the burden for their indigent families. In his
words, children do not participate “to protect their parents”, in which the females were more likely to
practice it due to their greater concerns for parents than male children were. Beyond the schooling
participation in general, Wikeleya et al. (2009) found a connection between pupils from low social
economic backgrounds receiving free school meals and their limited participation in activities taking
place after school time.
Maslow’s need hierarchy theory (1954) of five levels of human needs proposed that one
addresses his/her needs or desires only after previous levels have been fulfilled. In the line of
Maslow’s theory, a lot of research on education has been conducted that relates to decision making for
learning activities. Gratton (1978), studying needs based on the five levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of
adults from three different groups – lower class, working class, and middle class, asserted that social
class position, rather than gender or age indicators, proves to be more effective in measuring the need
importance. She observed that the link between middle-class people and the highest two levels of
Maslow’s hierarchy – self-esteem and self-actualization – was established while the lower class group

6


was associated with belonging and physiology needs. In other words, those in lower socio-economic
status are more likely concerned with the basic demands for life, rather than the satisfaction of full
development of their talent and knowledge of esteem and actualization, which requires holistic
learning and conditions for intellectual development.
Likewise, Tyer-Viola & Cesario (2010), from their review of the impact of poverty on people’s
lives, concluded that poverty and its consequences put more burdens on women, and girls’ goal setting
could never exceed the need for survival. Similar findings from observing the poor situations of
villages of African countries by Sachs (2005) revealed “[e]ducation seems to be the best luxury for all
citizens” (p.14) when they suffer from the hardest of life and possess almost none of the basic supplies
of life condition. The situation is even worse for rural women.
In these village settings, women carry a triple burden, caring for children, the elderly, and the
sick, spending long hours to gather water and fuelwood, to process and produce food, and
working on farms or in family enterprises for little or no income. (ibid, p.14)
In the Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy (2003) – an action plan for
poverty amelioration from 2001 to 2010 prepared by the Vietnam Government, high cost for education
makes a heavy burden for the poor of the country, whose income is merely enough for daily food.
Moreover, the availability of education with quality that is accessible to poor people is also limited
throughout the country.
Yet, despite the reality of an extremely low participation rate by the poor in education across,
education is considered one of the most efficient and powerful strategies for poverty reduction, as
confirmed by a wide range of research and promoted by most countries in the world. Asian South
Pacific Bureau of Adult Education (ASPBAE) put its strong belief in the role of education and
learning in helping people escape from poverty, stating that:
[E]ducation and adult learning are essential means to combat poverty, fight all forms of
discrimination, and equip citizens to actively participate in development and governance. That
through education, women and men, children and youth, individuals and communities can be
empowered to improve their lives, and transform their conditions.

(ASPBAE’s Core Beliefs, official website: />Tyer-Viola & Cesario (2010) considered education “as a means of alleviating poverty and
gender inequality” (p.585). It is also confirmed by the Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth
Strategy of Vietnam (2003, p.17) that “[t]he poverty rate declines as the level of education rises”. The
effect is more meaningful especially for women and girls because with education they are more
successful in taking care of themselves and family, finding jobs, empowered to become more
independent and contributive to outside-home community, which have been proved by research
(Riddell, 2004; UNESCO, 2010).

7


1.2 Methodology
1.2.1

Aim of this study
It is recorded in the Vietnam: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper-Annual Progress Report

submitted to the International Monetary Fund (IMF, 2006) that “although Vietnam has achieved the
Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on poverty reduction, it is still a country with low income”
(p.57). In addition, the country’s poverty reduction remains variable, and many households relapse
into poverty. Meanwhile, there has still been great gender inequality observed when women are
disadvantaged in basic social service, less likely to achieve undergraduate and postgraduate degrees,
and hold fewer managerial positions in the governmental system than targeted in the national action
plan (ibid.). In case of poverty, for example, poor female householders are under-represented as
borrowers of the national fund to reduce poverty, eliminate hunger, and support employment
opportunities, which might mean that poor women are likely to be less benefited by the policy than
men, according to the report (IMF, 2006).
An Giang is an agricultural province of the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam, and a large
population lives on farming with quite low level of schooling. Sharing common characteristics of rural
areas, the province is affected by a relatively high rate of poverty. Statistics from the Department of

Social Welfare Service of An Giang show the province has had 47,979 poor households by the end of
2011, accounting for 9.16% of the whole province’s households. In addition, there were 28,420
relatively poor households and 13,145 in difficult living conditions. Poor people are therefore less
likely to think of learning and education as their minds are too engaged with struggling to earn for
everyday life. Berg (2008) asserts poverty as a perpetrator hindering the poor’s education
participation, in which the situation is more severe to women and girls.
Adult education is considered an important part of many countries. In particular, UNESCO
(2002) has observed the increasing demand for, and practice of, adult education participation in many
Asian countries. However, the participation rate is admitted to be low, especially of the disadvantaged
people including the poor and women. Moreover, the limited source of information in a large number
of countries on issues about gender and women is also addressed (ibid.), which implies the necessity
of more research to be conducted regarding gender issues, especially on women. Vietnam has
prioritized, in the Constitution of the country since 1992, education and training as important for the
nation’s socio-economic development and directed that a learning society for everybody is
constructed. It is therefore important to invest in women’s education because of their remarkable
returns to individual, family, and society (Riddell, 2004; UNESCO, 2002).
In order to promote women’s participation in education, it is crucial to understand what prevents
them from participating in education so that interventions or changes could be made to tackle the
obstacles to women’s education. In this point, Medel-Anonuevo et al. (2011) also insist that it is
crucial to have women’s self-identification of the obstacles that prevent them from achieving

8


education, which helps to authorize women and assist their decision making about whether they
should take a course or not.
With this in mind, this study aims to explore factors that are related to poor women’s
participation in education, as well as their perceptions of barriers, motivators, and benefits of adult
learning. It is hoped that the study can contribute to provide better understanding of the reality of adult
education of poor women in Vietnam. The study findings is hoped to serve as a source of reference for

educational agents, policy makers, and researchers in their strivings for the advancement of adult
learning of Vietnam in general and for the poor in particular, as an important additional solution to
improve poor women’s income, reduce poverty, and ameliorate their life. It seeks to answer the
following questions:
1. What are the propensities for participation in adult learning of poor women in An Giang
Province, Vietnam?
2. Which perceived factors are related to the participation in education of the poor women?
3. What are the poor women’s perceptions of barriers, motivators, and returns of adult
learning?
4. What are possible implications to improve the participation in adult learning of poor
women?
The important terms understood in the scope of this study are presented in the following table.
TABLE 1.1: Terms to be understood in the scope of this study
Term

Definition in this study
“Knowledge acquired at primary, secondary and tertiary education

Initial education

institutions. In a broader sense, initial education could also include early
childhood and preschool education or even post-secondary education”
(European Lifelong Learning Indicators – ELLI, 2008, p.7).
Adult education, identified as synonym to continuing education (ELLI,

Adult education

2008), is understood as:
◦

“Any form of education, both vocational or general, resumed after an

interval following the continuous initial education” (ELLI, 2008, p.7);
◦

“Continuing education helps people pursue in-service, continuous

and lifelong learning to perfect their personality, broaden their
understanding, and raise their educational, professional and operational
qualifications in order to improve the quality of life, to seek jobs, selfemploy, and adapt themselves to the social life.” (Chapter II, Section 5,
Article 44, Education Law of Vietnam)

9


1.2.2

Description of the research region

1.2.2.1 Vietnam and the Mekong Delta
UNICEF Vietnam recognized that “in all the Millennium Goals, Vietnam has made impressive
progress in the first goal of poverty reduction”, in which the poverty rate was reduced by 75%, from
58.1% in 1990 to 14.5% in 2008, and the hunger rate fell more than two thirds, from 24.9% in 1993 to
6.9% in 2008. Likewise, according to the report on Living Standard Survey of Households in Vietnam
2010 conducted by the General Statistic Office of Vietnam (GSO), there are some considerable
achievements in the income of the people generally, the rate of poverty reduction, and the people’s
lives remaining stable. However, living standards are remarkably diverse between urban and rural
areas, the rich and the poor, and between regions in the country. Regarding the gap between the rich
and the poor, shocking differences could be observed, in which the expenditure spent by the rich on
education is six times that by the poor and 131 times on leisure activities (ibid.).

On the field of education, the rate of those aged over fifteen years with no qualifications or never
having gone to school is 38.2% for the poorest group, making 4.8 times higher than that of the richest
quintile. Women with no qualifications or no schooling accounted for 24.6%, 1.6 times higher than
that of men. The statistics also shows that the higher the level of education is, the lower participation
rate of the poorest students becomes. Of every one hundred children in the poorest quintile, fifty-three
attend upper secondary education while this number in the richest group is ninety (GSO, 2010).
Situated in the South and agriculturally vital to Vietnam, the Mekong Delta is among the
“sunken” areas on the education map of Vietnam, where educational quality is still poor. The rate of
secondary education participation in the Mekong Delta in 2010 is the second lowest of all eight main
regions of the country (Figure 1.1) (ibid.).
These issues of disparity throughout the country continue to pose problems for policy making in
addressing and proposing effective solutions.
FIGURE 1.1: Secondary Education Enrollment Rate by Regions in Vietnam in 2010
Source: Living Standard Survey of Households in Vietnam in 2010 by the General Statistic Office of Vietnam
100.0

% 90.0
80.0
70.0
60.0
50.0
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0

90.1
73.8

84.6

81.3
69.3
56.0

86.9
74.2

62.4

63.5

71.4
56.9

47.2

40.2

82.8
Lower
secondary

45.1

Upper
secondary

10

1.2.2.2 An Giang Province and the three districts of survey
Situated in the Southwest of the Mekong Delta of Vietnam and bordered by Cambodian, An
Giang is a typically agricultural province with the largest acreage for cultivation of the Mekong Delta.
An Giang is home to about 2,151,009 persons (1,069,618 males) in 2011, in eight districts, two towns,
one city, and 156 communes. The majority group – Kinh – and the three ethnic minorities Khmer,
Cham, and Chinese live together in the province. Besides the majority Kinh group, Khmer is the
largest ethnic minority of the province.
The education system of An Giang provides all levels of schooling, comprising pre-school,
primary, lower and upper secondary, and post-general education. The province now has 390 primary
schools, 155 lower secondary schools, and 48 upper secondary schools. For continuing education, the
province has a fourteen-year-old An Giang University located at Long Xuyen city. All thirteen
districts of the province have Centers for Continuing Education, and Community Learning Centers are
founded in all 156 communes of the province. This is evidence of efforts and concerns of the
government at all levels for the education and training of the people. An Giang’s education is directed
carefully and consistently in the Directive 11-CT/TW by the Vietnam Ministry of Politics and
Directive 19-CT/TU of An Giang Province Standing Committee of the Communist Party,
emphasizing: “Constructing a learning society is the task of the entire Party, the people of the country.
It is the basic objective of the strategy to revive and develop the country’s education”.
1.2.3

Research methodology

1.2.3.1 Population of the study
The study population was poor women from 47,979 poor households in An Giang Province
whose income was less than 400,000VND per month for citizens in the countryside to 500,000VND
per month for those in urban areas (equivalent to about 14.5 to 18 EUR per month). This was pursuant
to the Decision 09/2011/QĐ-TTg dated January 30, 2011 by the Prime Minister of Vietnam on
regulating types of poor households based on the regulated amount of income of each individual in the

household. The women population might share similar characteristics of the poor: being unemployed
or having unstable low-skilled jobs with low salary, having different burdens from taking care of their
family. As Vietnam succeeded in illiteracy eradication to 94% of the country population in 2000
(Nguyen, 2003), the majority of the women population were supposed to be literate.
1.2.3.2 Sample of the study
The study sample was120 poor women aged from nineteen to thirty-five from three districts:
Long Xuyen city represented as the urban, Chau Thanh district as the semi-urban, and Tri Ton district
as the rural. Sixty women represented each area. The list of poor households at the three districts in
2011 was provided by the Labor and Social Welfare Department of An Giang Province.

11


As the capital city of An Giang, first, Long Xuyen is a major centre for trading, primarily of rice
and farming products, as well as fish processing. Possessing a high population with 67,319
households, the city still has 3.25% of the households living in poverty.
Secondly, Chau Thanh borders four other districts of the province and the Long Xuyen City.
Agriculture is an important sector of Chau Thanh with 29.252 ha of farming land. Bordered with Long
Xuyen city, Chau Thanh has the advantages of a semi-urban area. Yet, among the total 40,705
households, there are 3,260 poor households, accounting for 8,01% of the district’s households.
Thirdly, Tri Ton, located near the Vietnam – Cambodia border to the South-West, is a
mountainous rural district of 32,727 households. The poverty rate of the district has been the highest
of the province for many years, with 23.32% of 7,632 households in 2011, being 7 times higher than
that of Long Xuyen City. Tri Ton is home to the largest population of Khmer people in An Giang with
9.388 households; however, the poverty rate in the Khmer ethnic group has remained continuously
high, with 3.993 poor households accounting for 52.31% of the poor families in the district. Tri Ton is
a particularly difficult area, so education and training of the district are identified as important factors
in improving the people’s knowledge and reducing poverty (An Giang Province’s Postal).
1.2.3.3 Data collection
To collect data for this study, the researcher used a quantitative questionnaire for the sample

women (Appendix A).
The questionnaire included questions with multiple-choice answers and five-point Likert-scale
questions which allowed the women to express their perceptions at five level: Strongly agree / Agree /
Neutral / Disagree / Strongly disagree. The questionnaire comprised five sections, in which Section I
aimed to understand the poor women’s personal and family background. Section II with the three
subcomponents (Part A, B, and C) was to explore the women’s educational attainment including their
initial education, their learning participation during the last five years (Part A) and since their initial
school leaving (Part B), as well as their prediction for their participation in learning in the future (Part
C). Then, section III helped to understand the women’s perceptions of three groups of institutional,
situational, and dispositional barriers defined by Cross (1981). Motivations to adult learning as well as
benefits of female adult learning considered by these sample women were also recorded in the last two
sections IV and V of the questionnaire (see Appendix A for details).
Originally designed in English, the questionnaire was then translated to Vietnamese to be
launched on 120 poor women of the sample, randomly chosen from the list of poor households in An
Giang province in 2011 provided by the Labor and Social Welfare Department of An Giang. The
translation process was carefully conducted with several times of checking, making sure that all the
questions were properly understood in Vietnamese. Regarding the survey data collection, the
researcher has applied for permissions from the People’s Committee and Women Association at the

12


districts before distributing the questionnaire. During this, consultations with the cadres who were
experienced working with disadvantaged families in the countryside were also carried out.
1.2.3.4 Data analysis
The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel software programs
were employed for the data analysis of this study. Descriptive analysis were the main instruments
which allowed exploring the poor women’s personal, family, and education background, as well as
other information of their participation in adult learning during the three defined periods of time.
Pearson Correlation and Spearman’s Rho were used to explore the correlations between poor women’s

personal, family, and education backgrounds, and their participation in education. The poor women’s
perceptions of the hindering and motivational factors as well as of the benefits of adult learning were
also analyzed.
In addition, in order to fully measure and explore the relations of the factors and poor women’s
participation in adult learning, the researcher has built up the indices of variable description (Appendix
B), thanks to which the variables were standardized and allowed for several comparisons.

13


CHAPTER 2: PROPENSITIES OF PARTICIPATION IN ADULT LEARNING
OF POOR WOMEN
In this chapter, the propensities of participating in adult education of the poor women are
observed in three parts: poor women’s past participation in adult education after they left initial
schooling, their participation in adult education during the latest five years, and their intention of
participating in education in the future. We also look at the propensities of participation in learning of
poor women in relation to their age, family, occupational, and educational attainment explored thanks
to the findings from the questionnaire.
2.1 Description of poor women’s present states
2.1.1

Personal, socio-economic and family characteristics
The sample comprises 116 women after excluding four women having not completed their initial

education as they are continuing with higher education. Most of the women in the sample (86.2%)
belong to the majority Kinh ethnic group and the remainder (13.8%) to the minority Khmer group. The
three age groups were approximately equal in size with 33.62% aged from 19 to 25 years, 29.31%
from 26 to 30, and 37.07% from 31 to 35 years.
Family characteristics of the women were described in the survey through the number of family
members and children, number of family members who are old, disabled, or sick, the proportion of the

employed members in the families, the families’ average income, and whether the families are in debt
or not.
Firstly, average size of the poor women’s family (4.78 persons/family) is still 1.22 times higher
than that across Vietnam (3.89) and 1.38 times than the well-off families (3.46) (GSO, 2010).
Moreover, although the mode of family size is four members, 14.7% of the poor women’s families
still have six members, and 11.21% with seven to ten persons living in a household. Also, although the
commonly found numbers of children in the families are one (36.6%) and two (30.2%), some families
have three (12.1%) and four children (2.6%). Among the three age groups of the children, 43.97% of
the women have children aged under five, 50.86% having children aged from five to four-teen, and
12.93% with children aged over fourteen (Table 2.1, Appendix C). As a result, although these figures
imply some advantages of small-scale families’ characteristics encouraged by Vietnamese
Government in the Ordinance on Population (Vietnamese Government, 2003) that the poor women’s
families could share, there are still difficulties related to large-scale families and to the tasks of taking
care of their young children.
Of 116 women’s families, 37.12% have at least one member who is either old, or disabled, or
under-treatment for illnesses, and 87% stated that their family were currently in debt. In addition, the
proportion of family members employed reaching 50% and above is relatively low (16.3%), while
83.6% of the families are in the situation that less than half of total family members have jobs. For
example, there are twenty-one families with four to ten members but only one of them goes to work.
14


The total monthly income that the families earn also poses a challenge for the family members’ living,
including the women. Statistics show that 74% of the average earnings crossing members in each
family attains only 80,000VND (approximately 3.3EUR) to 560,000VND (approximately 22EUR) per
month. In addition, 25% got 561,000 to 1,041,000VND, which was still below the minimum wage at
1,050,000 in Vietnam since 2012. This confirms the poor women’s difficult living circumstances in
accordance with the Decision by the Prime Minister of Vietnam on defining types of poor and
relatively poor households in the country and supporting them with corresponding subsidies
(Vietnamese Government, 2011).

The points of family conditions of the women are calculated by accumulating the points of all
answers for question three and four to show the level of difficulties the families are in. The result
shows the minimum points for family condition is 11, meaning that the women’s family conditions are
still at least 2.75 times higher than the expected minimum point of difficulty (4 points) by the
researcher of this survey (Appendix B). The indices from the women’s family conditions suggest that
the all the women in the sample are in difficult family situations despite their different level of
difficulties ranging from 11 to 32 points (mode= 17, mean= 19.20).
2.1.2

Occupational characteristics
Occupational status of the poor women also reveals many difficulties. The statistics show that

more than half of the women (51.8%) are still unemployed, among whom 39.9% were looking for
jobs. Of those having jobs (48.2%), more than half (28.4% of the total) are working part-time.
FIGURE 2.2: Poor women’s job categories
90.00%
80.00%
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%

79.82%
76.72%
Previous Job
Present job

3.45% 3.51%
White-collar
worker

10.34%
9.65%

4.31%
1.75%

Skilled manual Unskilled manual Non-farm selfworker
worker
employed

5.17%
5.26%
Farmer

While some of the women have either white-collar, skilled manual jobs or are self-employed or
farmers, the majority defined their previous and current occupations as unskilled manual workers
(76.7% and 78.4%, respectively) (Figure 2.2). In addition, when asked to describe their current job,
very few women characterized the jobs as stable (11.2%), intellectual (2.6%) or high-paid (0.9%); the
features of low-working-class employments were commonly admitted by the women to include
manual, unstable, low-paid, sundry, painstaking jobs (see Figure 2.3, Appendix D for details).

15


The points of occupation conditions of the women are calculated by accumulating the points of

all the answers for questions five to eight (Appendix B). The result shows the high diversity (Std.
Deviation= 4.723) of the women’s working conditions, ranging from 8 up to 31 points. The indices for
the women’s occupational characteristics suggest that although some women (4.4%) got relatively
good qualities in their jobs within 8 to 17 points, over 50% of them got at least 24 points, implying
that at least more than half of the poor women are faced with difficulties from their low-working-class
occupations (Appendix B).
2.1.3

Initial education attainment
Generally, the poor women have obtained rather low initial education since none of them

attended post-general education (including vocational, college, undergraduate, and post-graduate
education). Instead, over half the women (52.6%) obtained primary education, and 26.7% had lower
secondary education. Only 11.2% achieved upper secondary education, and some (9.5%) did not go to
school (for details, see Figure 2.4, Appendix D).
With such relatively humble initial schooling, it could be understandable when the women’s
literacy is quite poor. In fact, while 40.5% of the women can read well; 44.8% admitted that they
could just read simple documents, whose message and language are clearly stated, and still 14.7% are
not able to read. Meanwhile, writing proficiency appears to be worse than reading as 45.7% of the
women said that they could write but not well and still make many spelling mistakes, and even 20.7%
could not write except her name, while only 33.6% are capable to write well.
FIGURE 2.5: Poor women’s literacy proficiencies

The statistics also show quite strong correlations between reading and writing’s proficiency of
the women, as well as between their highest achievement of initial education and the two literacy
proficiencies.
Firstly, the fact that the Pearson chi-square value under Asymp. Sig. is .000 and that the
Spearman correlation values .791 indicates that the contingency crossing reading and writing
proficiency are significantly dependent and possess a positive correlation. In other words, the women
who read well are more likely to write well, and vice versa. Secondly, initial education achievement of

the women is found to be correlated to their reading and writing proficiency with p= .000 and
16