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Examining the Current Status of History Education in Vietnam and Korea

John P. DiMoia
Nghiem Dinh Vy
Professor, History at Hanoi Normal University
The Korean Peninsula, and Korea in particular, lies in the Northeast Asian region. Due to many similarities, Korea has long maintained a friendly and cooperative relationship with Vietnam both culturally and historically. As time passes, the relationship continues to grow stronger, and the two countries have had many successes in cooperation in the fields of economies, politics, and culture. Currently, the two countries have become important economic partners. In addition, as Vietnam strives toward globalization, Vietnam's education sector has also improved cooperation by fostering joint education improvement, expanding faculty and student exchanges, and sharing material and textbooks. These fields have strategic significance in the historical relationship between Korea and Vietnam and contribute the development of the cooperative relationship between the two countries.

In this context, I have been interested in Korean education, and Korea's history education in particular, for a long time. In this article, I will examine ways in which Vietnam can apply Korea's history education program. In particular, I would like to explore methods in which both countries participate in writing general textbook contents about Korea and Vietnam through faculty exchange. Based on this, I believe that joint research on history education can be carried out between the two countries.

1. Examining Korea's Educational System

Hanoi National University of Education (HNUE) is a general university in Vietnam, and it has established many cooperative partnerships with Korea since its establishment. From its inception, HNUE has had partnerships with the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Pusan National University, Youngsan University, and the Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies. To this day, HNUE works with more than 20 large universities in Korea to run cooperative programs. Some of these programs include research exchange programs, faculty and student exchange programs, education training programs, joint conferences and seminars, and cultural activities. Each year, HNUE's History Department, Vietnamese Department, Languages and Literature Department, and Vietnamese Studies Department accept dozens of Korean students, and we welcome them to study and complete research. After graduating, many of these students go on to work as specialists at Korean companies in Vietnam, pursue careers in the embassy, or continue their research as scholars. Starting in 2002, HNUE has conducted joint education and training programs with universities in Korea. Currently, one Korean graduate student is studying at HNUE's History Department.

Since 2013, faculty at HNUE have traveled to Korea with the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training to research Korean curriculum and textbooks and learn about Korean educational system. Vietnam's Ministry of Education and Training (MET) has translated the entirety of Korea's general curriculum into Vietnamese. The following are the general contents of Korea's curriculum, especially characteristics of Korea's education system, that were benchmarked by MET. Korean educational policy supports education for all people regardless of sex, religion, socioeconomic status, or regional distinction. This shows the special societal importance of education in Korean. The Korean people's spirit of education and their demands for education and learning are increasing day by day. This has promoted the strong development of the education system in Korea, and it is a reason why Korea's education system has become so competitive and fierce. The education system in Korea is centralized by the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development (MOEHRD), and the contents established by the institution are operated through a specialized institution called the Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI). The curriculum is essential in all levels of education, from kindergarten to middle and high school. It is used in all types of educational institutions, whether they be public or private. The curriculum dictates the subjects to be taught, the number of school days in a year, and the amount of time to be used in each subject for each school year. There are also strict educational goals and strictly defined standards for textbook editing. The curriculum also provides comprehensive guidelines for teaching and learning activities along with evaluation methods. More attention is needed in building a system that helps students acquire the abilities and skills needed after completing the curriculum. The contents of the curriculum and teaching methods need to be diversified, and these should match the students' desired career paths, talents, abilities, and personalities. It is necessary to expand freedom for different regions and schools in building and running their programs and strengthen educational quality by building evaluation systems.

MET created the education system and most textbooks based on the experiences learned from other countries, including Korea. Based on the integrated national program, several publishers compiled many different types of textbooks. These activities will improve the quality of the textbooks by increasing competition between authors and publishers, and teachers will be able to choose textbooks that they like to match their teaching style. In addition, this enables the use of resources in the important field of education and contributes to the democratization of education. We are also simultaneously integrating and diversifying different aspects, having learned from the Korean experience. The normal Korean education system is 6-3-3. In other words, the system is made up of six years of elementary school, three years of middle school, and three years of high school. So, unlike Vietnam, elementary school is completed in six years. Completing middle school in Korea would be equivalent to completing 9th grade in Vietnam, and completion of high school in Korea is the same as completing 12th grade in Vietnam. In Vietnamese elementary schools, we integrated history into the geography curriculum, and in middle school, the two subjects are separated simply. The way these two subjects are taught in high school depends on the student's career path. History lessons are divided by subject. The history curriculum and textbook content are designed to develop the students' teamwork and critical thinking skills. These goals are included in the lesson contents, but they are not necessarily easy goals to achieve. Students must be presented with various forms of learning activities such as group projects, role playing, or game format activities. These different types of activities help students feel interest and excitement in the lessons. History textbooks in Vietnam don't contain many charts or pictures, but we hope to change opinion on the use of these two important tools and invest in increasing their use. If we are able to carry out these plans, charts and pictures will become an important part of the history curriculum content. This is another part we hope to learn from studying Korea's experience as we revise our high school curriculum and textbooks.

2. About Vietnamese and Korean History Textbooks

In Vietnam, universities mainly teach the history of Joseon, and in particular Korean history. However, there is no real deep discussion of Korea at the high school level. In addition, Vietnamese history scholars in Vietnam have not done much comparative research between Vietnamese and Korean history and culture.

The content and curriculum in Vietnamese history textbooks have undergone many reforms and innovations, but content on Korea is still insufficient. Prior to 2001, Korea was not introduced in the Vietnamese 10th and 11th grade history curriculum. In 12th grade, Korean history after 1945 was included in the world history section as a secondary, minor topic. Korea was briefly mentioned in a section titled "Asian countries, Africa and Latin America after World War II," and it was taught in the fourth part of the course along with Middle Eastern countries and India. (Subtitle: India, Korea, and the Middle Eastern Region.) Therefore, when compared to other contents, the amount of class time and pages spent on learning about Korea was very low. Moreover, the contents related to Korea were not part of its own section. Rather, they were integrated as only part of the larger subject of "India, Korea and the Middle Eastern Region."

Since 2001, Vietnam has conducted a comprehensive education reform program on the contents and methods of education. They revised textbooks for all subjects, including history. In addition to improving basic knowledge about high school history textbook contents and curriculum, they worked to change perspectives in revising textbooks and how class time is spent while planning how to change the old curriculum. Contents in Korean history were also changed along with other topics. In terms of textbooks, the content of lectures on the Korean peninsula are shorter than previous programs. The related contents are only briefly mentioned in the general outline in "Chapter 3: Northeast Asian Countries." In advanced classes, the contents were organized as a first level lesson and relatively more time is spent on Korea. When looked at in general, however, not much time is spent on Korea in Vietnamese high schools.

In the new curriculum published in 2018, Korea-related content is included in a section covering "East Asian and Southeast Asian Countries." After 2020, Korean history will be included in Vietnamese high school curriculums. We are currently writing the history content to be used in 2021-2022 for 6th grade classes. Contents for other grade levels are also currently being prepared.

3. Working Together to Produce Joint History Textbooks

In the past, HNUE's Institute of Social Sciences Research was very interested in cooperation with Korea. This Institute has created partnerships with many Vietnamese centers and provided Vietnamese language training to many Samsung employees.

The Institute of Social Sciences Research's Center for Asian Research collaborated with the Korean History Society in early 2013 to explore ways to develop a joint program to research ways to promote the revision of history textbooks and curriculum in both Korea and Vietnam. HNUE and the Institute of Social Sciences Research conducted intensive research on textbooks about Korea and general education as a way to prepare for the above-mentioned cooperation. The initial research results helped us learn about the experiences of East Asian countries, especially Korea's experience. Although this was just an opportunity to become familiar with the curriculum, we discovered several points that could be applied in Vietnam.

On September 20, 2013, HNUE's Institute of Social Sciences Research and the Korean History Society co-hosted a seminar in Hanoi titled "Korean-Vietnamese History Textbook Compilation (Writing) and Sharing Experiences." Participants from Korea included Professor Lee Geunmyeong (Hankuk University of Foreign Studies), Park Junghyeon (Soongsil University), Lecturer Kim Yukhun (Korean History Society), Professor Bang Jiwon (Silla University), and graduate student Sin Seungbok (HNUE). These participants shared ideas for writing textbooks on Vietnam and Korea and expressed their intentions and hopes of working together in this important project.

These Korean scholars shared their experiences of revising history curriculum together with Vietnamese researchers and faculty charged with revising Vietnam's history textbooks. From the Korean side, Park Junghyeon, teacher at Korea's Jamil High School, presented "Creating Curriculum on the Shared History of East Asian Countries," and Professor Bang Jiwon (Silla University) presented "Review of Writing Vietnam-related Content in Middle and High School Textbooks." From the Vietnamese side as well, two presentations were given including "Innovation in History Textbooks for High Schools and Promoting International Integration" and "Joint Publishing of References and Textbooks on Vietnamese-Korean History." At this seminar, Korean and Vietnamese scholars had a meaningful day of openly sharing ideas about the ways in which Korea and Vietnam can jointly create curriculum contents. The Korean scholars also shared the results of their work with China and Japan, including: History that Opens the Future (2005, joint publishing by Korea, China and Japan), Modern History of Korea and History as Seen by Women (2005), Premodern History of Conflicts between Korea and Japan (2006), History of Korean-Japanese Exchange (2007), East Asian Modern and Contemporary History (2012, joint publishing by Korea, China and Japan), and The Full History of Korea and Japan (2012).

A second seminar with the same topic was held in Seoul on December 3, 2013. At that seminar, the following conclusions were made:
- We agreed to title the conference results "Korean-Vietnamese Joint History Course." (The order of country name may be changed depending on the country of publication.)
- Both sides agreed to target high school students and people with a basic understanding of Korean-Vietnamese history (beginner level) when considering the target audience for the books.
- The books will be mainly composed of great historical events in the order that they took place.
- The contents will be based on topics agreed upon at the seminars, and each party will discuss the content thoroughly. Each side will propose specific plans for compilation of the books, and will provide these plans to the other side for review.

Both sides also proposed a general format for the books. Additionally, they provided writing samples for the other side to examine.

A focus was placed on the following issues regarding content:
a. General issues: environmental conditions, geopolitical location; current relationship between the two countries, economic exchange, multicultural families in Korea and Vietnam
b. Premodern history in each country: nation formation, shared experience of resisting Mongolian invasion, and unique national culture and progress of Vietnamese and Korean peoples
c. Vietnamese and Korean modern history: focus will be placed on the following when writing about the similarities and differences in each country's history: reforms in Vietnam and Korea, the Cold War period, rebuilding after the Korean War, unification of Vietnam and Đoi Moi (reforms and renovation)
d. Historical figures of each country: heroes who fought against foreign invasion, cultural figures, important figures in modern history
e. Culture, exchange and cooperation: world cultural heritage in each country, ideological culture, and history and current exchange

A follow-up seminar was held in Korea in December 2014 to focus on the specific topics which would be written and to reconfirm the title of the book. As of now, the basic topics have been decided. However, the Vietnamese team think that they are insufficient and need to be supplemented to provide the highest quality contents. We hope that the funding and time commitment needed to complete this important book project can be secured quickly.

4. The First Step in Faculty Exchange

In 2018, a high school teacher exchange program was conducted by the Korean Historical Association and the Vietnamese History Education Association. From Korea, Cho Hansuk, a teacher at Seoul's Poongmoon High School, traveled to Vietnam. The teacher worked at Viet Duc High School at 47 Ly Thuong Kiet, Hoan Kiem District of Hanoi, teaching classes about Korean history and culture and some details about Vietnamese history found in Korean textbooks. In addition, they shared opinions about teaching methods with the faculty at Viet Duc High School.

On September 9, 2017, Viet Duc High School teacher Pham Thi Thanh Huyền came to Poongmoon High School under the invitation of the principal, Kim Gildong. The teacher oversaw the history classes at Viet Duc High School and taught 11th grade students in Korea from October 13 – October 18, 2018.

The teacher introduced Vietnamese history and culture and shared opinions about student and faculty exchange and curriculum subjects. There was time for meeting Poongmoon High School students, the principal, and the vice principal. The exchange program achieved remarkable results.

5. Ways to Cooperate after 2020

The cooperative relationship between Vietnam and Korea with regards to issues both countries are interested in, in particular how we will teach history classes in high schools (teacher training, experiences in history classes, and textbook writing), must be strengthened. The Vietnamese institutions include the Institute for Cultural Education Development (previously the Institute for Social Sciences Research at HNUE), the Vietnam History Education Association, and HNUE's History Department. The Korean institutions include the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies' Institute of History and Culture, the Korean History Society, the Korean Historical Association, and the Academy for Korean Studies.

I believe that both sides should produce many books about the Korean-Vietnamese relationship that can be used in general education. It is clear that we urgently need activities that encourage the creation of new Korean-Vietnamese history curriculum, literature and research for Korean and Vietnamese history classes through empirical research in practical situations. Vietnam and Korea share a lot of historical and cultural aspects. This is one of the reasons why the two countries need to work together to review historical literature and create some of the curriculum. I think we need to work more closely on our approach and perspective on historical research and improve our mutual understanding.

As of now, the "Joint Korea-Vietnam History Curriculum" has not been completed because Vietnam hasn't finished some of the most important parts. The problem is that the projected time period has ended and there are no longer sufficient financial resources. However, we will continue the work of revising the curriculum to produce the highest quality results.

With the determination and passion for research amongst the Korean and Vietnamese researchers, especially historians, I hope that a consensus can be reached without further delay. We hope that a book on Korean-Vietnamese history will be compiled, welcomed by readers in both countries, and will be used a reference or textbook.

The faculty exchange between our countries will continue, which will greatly contribute to helping students and teachers understand the culture and history of Korea and Vietnam.

References

1. Republic of Korea Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Korean General Curriculum, 2011, Vietnamese translation used by the Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training.
2. Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training, General Curriculum for History and Geography, 2006.
3. Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training, Complete General Curriculum and History Curriculum, 2018.
4. Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Institute of History and Culture – Hanoi National University of Education, Institute of Social Sciences Research, "Korean-Vietnamese History Textbook Compilation and Sharing Experiences" Seminar, September 2012, Hanoi.
5. Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Institute of History and Culture – Hanoi National University of Education, Institute of Social Sciences Research, International Seminar for Korean-Vietnamese Joint History Textbook Compilation, December 2013, Seoul.
6. Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Institute of History and Culture – Hanoi National University of Education, Institute of Social Sciences Research, International Seminar for Korean-Vietnamese Joint History Textbook Compilation, October 2014, Yongin.
7. Cho Jaehyeon and Bùi Mạnh Hùng, 2008. Korean Literature Curriculum in Vietnames Experience. Language, Volume 3 / 2008.

[ Announcement of "2020 Textbook Seminar for Educators of Vietnam" ]


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