Thực trạng quản lý chất lượng đào tạo của các trường dạy nghề trên địa bàn tỉnh Bắc Ninh Đề xuất chương trình can thiệp

Thực trạng quản lý chất lượng đào tạo của các trường dạy nghề trên địa bàn tỉnh Bắc Ninh Đề xuất chương trình can thiệp

STATUS OF TRAINING QUALITY MANAGEMENT OF VOCATIONAL

SCHOOLS IN BAC NINH PROVINCE: A PROPOSED

INTERVENTION PROGRAM

Name of Student : CHU BA CHIN

Date of Birth : 16-1-1970

Thai Nguyen, Apr 2014

ii

SCHOOLS IN BAC NINH PROVINCE: A PROPOSED

INTERVENTION PROGRAM

A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School Southern Luzon State University, Lucban, Quezon, Philippines

in Collaboration with Thai Nguyen University, Socialist Republic of Vietnam

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Management

Chu Ba Chin - ( Nine ) April, 2014

DR RICARYL CATHERINE P CRUZ

Research Adviser Approved by the Oral Examination Committee, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Management offered by Southern Luzon State University, Republic of the Philippines in collaboration with Thai Nguyen University, Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Management offered by Southern Luzon State University, Republic of the Philippines in collaboration with Thai Nguyen University, Socialist Republic of Vietnam

WALBERTO A MACARAAN, Ed D Vice President, Academic Affairs Date _

iv

Completion of this doctoral dissertation was possible with the great support of the following teachers, schools and individuals to whom the researcher would like to express his special thanks:

Dr Cecilia N Gascon, President of the Southern Luzon State University, Republic of the Philippines for permission of training for Doctor of Philosophy in EducationalManagement

in International training center, Thai Nguyen University;

Dr Dang Kim Vui, President of Thai Nguyen University for allowance the training for Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Management in International training center, Thai Nguyen University;

Dr Ricaryl Catherine P Cruz, lecturer of Southern Luzon State University, Philippines Republic for enthusiastically instruction in the completion of this research;

Dr Apolonia A Espinosa and Dr Teresita V Dela Cruz, for their suggestions and recommendations;

Dr Tran Thanh Van, Head of Postgraduate, Thai Nguyen University and Dr Dang Xuan Binh, Director of International Training Center for their kind support throughout the course of this study;

Rector of the Vocational Schools in Bac Ninh Province, especially Master Nguyen Hong Nam, rector of Bac Ninh Vocational College of Construction and Engineering for his contribution in the survey questionnaire to enrich the database for my study;

Managers, lecturers, teachers and individuals for their participation in answering the questionnaire in the survey of this research;

v research, giving him the determination to go through the most difficult stages of the research

CBC

A special thank of mine goes to my friends in Bac Ninh Vocational College of Electromechanical and Construction, Bac Ninh Vocational College of Economic Technical School, Vocational College of Management – Technology School, Vilacera Vocational College, Bac Ninh Economic Technical Vocational Middle School, Au Lac Vocational Middle School, Thuan Thanh Vocational Middle School, Đong Duong International Vocational Middle School, Thuan Thanh Vocational Middle School of Economics - Engineering and Traditional Handicrafts, Vocational Middle School - the Department of Defense for giving me permission to commence this thesis from the initial stage to the end, to do the necessary research work and to use current status of training quality management and data of the schools for my analyses I also want to thank all respondents for helping me to carry the survey of questionnaire in order to collect the primary data which is necessary for data analysis

My particular thank goes to my classmates and the teachers of this course in helping me

to expand my knowledge in the topic in my thesis This program really brought us together to appreciate the true value of friendship and respect of each other

I wish to thank my family for their precious support during my working The last but not the least I want to thank my wife who patiently love and enabled me to complete this thesis in time

vii

TITLE PAGE i

APPROVAL SHEET iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENT iv

DEDICATION vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS vii

LIST OF TABLES ix

LIST OF FIGURES x

ABSTRACT xi

Chapter I INTRODUCTION 1

Background of the Study 2

Objectives of the Study 3

Significance of the study 5

Scope and limitation of the study 5

Definition of terms 5

Chapter II REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND STUDIES 8

Training and Training Quality in Vocational Education 8

Goals and tasks 9

Organisation and management 10

Teaching and learning activities 13

Teachers and administrators 14

Curriculum and Syllabus or Academic Aspect 14

Facilities and equipment 15

Financial management 15

Services for students 18

Conceptual Framework 19

Research Paradigm 21

Discussion of the Paradigm 21

Chapter III METHODOLOGY 23

Locale of the Study 23

Research Design 23

Population and Sampling 24

Research Instrument 25

Validation of instrument 25

Data Gathering Procedures 26

Statistical treatment 27

RESULTS AND DISSCUSSIONS 30

Determining the Status of the Training Quality Management of Vocational Schools 30

viii

Library, Facilities, Financial Management and Services for Students 39

Chapter IV SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 50

Summary 50

Findings 51

Conclusions 53

Recommendation 53

References 54

Appendix A 64

QUESTIONNAIRE 64

CURRICULUM VITAE 68

ix

Table Page

1 Categorization of Skill by U.S Department of Labor (1992) 9

2 Features of Micro and Macro Financial management 17

3 Distribution of Respondents 24

4 Data Analysis Technique 28

5 Mean Distribution of Goal and Tasks 30

6 Mean Distribution of Organization and Management 31

7 Mean Distribution of Teaching and Learning Activities 32

8 Mean Distribution of Teachers and Administrators 33

9 Mean Distribution of Curriculum and Syllabi 34

10 Mean Distribution of Library 35

11 Mean Distribution of Facilities and Equipment 36

12 Mean Distribution of Financial Management 37

13 Mean Distribution of Services for Students 38

14 Linear Regression Results 39

x

Figure 1: Managing Process 12 Figure 2: Training Design Process 13 Figure 3:Input-Process-Output Model on the Status of Training Quality Management of

Vocational Schools in Bac Ninh Province: A Basis for an Intervention Program 21

xi

VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS IN BAC NINH PROVINCE: BASES FOR A PROPOSED INTERVENTION PROGRAM

Researcher: : CHU BA CHIN – (NINE)

Degree : Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Management

Adviser : DR RICARYL CATHERINE P CRUZ

ABSTRACT

This study determined the status of quality management training of vocational schools in Bac Ninh province bases for an intervention program The study utilized a conceptual research model whichincludes: goals and task, organization and management, teaching and learning activities, teachers and administrators, curriculum and syllabus, library, facilities, financial management, and services for students This study utilized the descriptive analysis using the researcher made questionnaire in arriving at data Meanwhile, the research topic has the following limitations on a number of factors impacting on vocational training quality The study was conducted in Bac Ninh Province in April 2013 to April 2014 The respondents of the study were composed of 300 students from the 10 vocational schools in Bac Ninh Province but 271 students responded to the questionnaire Slovins formula and random selection method were used to determine the sample Based on the findings of the study, the following are drawn: the

xii

intervention program since some of the indicators in determining the training quality management requires enhancement for better performance and service The intervention program is ready for try-out and utilization Based on the findings and conclusions, the following are the recommendations: Training quality management of vocational schools can be enhanced yearly The intervention program may be utilized soon Finally, the future researchers may conduct in-depth studies using similar concepts but more diversified variables other than used in the study

to achieve necessary knowledge in order to prepare for next stages of educations such as secondary school

According to Institute for Institute Research on Educational Development (2013), Vietnam training system is now facing several obstacle concerns The first one refers to the shortage of teachers at both of public and private schools Such shortage is not fulfilled in both of quantity and quality of the teachers Institute Research on Educational Development (2013) states that Vietnamese teachers are often overloaded and they do not have time to do broaden and

to foster their teaching capability and knowledge in term of teaching skills The second concern

is inadequate school facilities and equipment to support better the learning process of the

students According to Institute Research on Educational Development (2013), most of schools

in Vietnam are now finding themselves in insufficient qualified laboratories and libraries for their students The lacking of required facilities and equipment is popular in remote, mountain, and isolated areas where the government funds are often being spent for life improvement and economic development rather than establishing adequate learning environments

Ryder (2012) also addressed that human resource was very important to any organization However most of Vietnamese organizations have not taken into adequate consideration of their trainings towards their employees’ satisfaction (Bekkevold et al., 2003) The weaknesses in training mechanism of Vietnamese organization consisted of the inadequate training materials and facilities due to training was wrongly considered as in lower priority compared to other goals and missions

Background of the Study

The quality of human resource, furthermore, can be improved through vocational training, according to Ryder (2012) that drive the next action of overview examining what training quality vocational training or vocational education are Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training (2014) asserted that there are a lot of training centers that have been established in Vietnam for many years However, the training quality of these training centers are questionable due to a lot of them refuse to recruit the candidates with in-service training degrees On the other hand, it means that most of training centers are selecting the candidates based on local academic achievement degree and there is a big gap since the training education in Vietnam has been in early stage of development without consideration on other aspects of in-service qualifications For last several years, Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training has been providing knowledge-based programs in order to improve the training perception in local universities in the

context of university lectures have been participating into renovation programs in order to improve their perception on the importance of vocational training as part of in-service student training programs In this context, it is necessary to address the overarching objective of in-service training whether it helps the lectures to establish learning-playing environment to attendees

In another context, Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training (2014) also addresses the importance of training quality in vocational education whether it directly impact to the outcome of trainings or what students can acquires from vocational training programs Generally, there are several models that have been developed to measure the quality of training such as Quality Control Model, Quality Assurance Model, and Over Training Quality Model (or named

as Total Quality Management Model) It is effectively to emphasize the fact that Total Quality Management Model (TQM) is the most effective framework that helps to facilitate the training quality in vocational education (Nguyen, 2014) The application of TQM in vocational education have not been covering well in Vietnam vocational training system although it requires the management of input such as student recruitments, investment on training equipment, lecturers, syllabi, etc TQM training system also requires vocational training centers to develop the system

to measure the performance of trainings, including learning-teaching plan and its implementation, assessment, inspection)

Objectives of the Study

The study determines the quality management training status of vocational schools in BacNinh province and an intervention mechanism program

Specifically, this research attempted to achieve the following objectives:

1 Determine the status of the training quality management of vocational schools in terms:

 Goals and task

 Organization and management

 Teaching and learning activities

 Teachers and administrators

 Curriculum and syllabus

 Library

 Facilities

 Financial management

 Services for students

2 Analyze the diversity of the training quality management of vocational schools in terms

of the following variables:

 Goals and task

 Organization and management

 Teaching and learning activities

 Teachers and administrators

 Curriculum and syllabus

 Library

 Facilities

 Financial management

 Services for students

3 Develop an intervention program based on the findings

Significance of the study

This study is significant to lecturers and managers of vocational training centers in Bac Ninh Province It means that the lecturers will understand well on current status of training quality management of vocational school

The students at Bac Ninh’s vocational training centers also find the usefulness in this study as they can provide their ideas on training quality in these facilities and to contribute directly to intervention program to renovate the performance of vocational education and training

in the province

On the other hand, this study is also significant to other researchers who would like to conduct their studies on current performance of training quality in specific organizations

Scope and limitation of the study

The study covered the training quality management of the vocational schools in Bac Ninh Province in terms of goals and task, organization and management, teaching and learning activities, teachers and administrators, curriculum and syllabus, library, facilities, financial management and services for students

This study utilized the descriptive analysis using the researcher made questionnaire in arriving at data Meanwhile, the research topic has the following limitations on a number of factors impacting on vocational training quality The study was conducted in Bac Ninh Province

in April 2013 to April 2014)

Definition of terms

The following are hereby defined conceptually for better understanding of the study Curriculum and syllabus is considered a broader term used in institution to cover policies, plans, teaching, learning items, materials, equipment, in other form of logistics (Newby, 1999)

Enhancement Program is defined as “an increase or improvement in quality, value, or extent” (Oxford Dictionary, 2014)

Facilities are defined as “A place, amenity, or piece of equipment provided for a particular purpose” (Oxford Dictionary, 2014)

Financial management refers to the planning activities for long term whereby objective

is specified for maintaining positive future cash flow of the businesses (Uwadiae and Akintola, 2010)

Goals and task is defined as “an ideal, a desired place or objective toward which people are working Most groups have several goals – some immediate and some more distant The immediate goals are stepping stones to the more distant, long -range goals By understanding and identifying immediate and long-range goals it will be easier for the group to reach them.” (Michigan State University, 2014)

Library is “created with the intention of providing free public access to reading material, with the altruistic goal of educational enlightenment and the better welfare of the people Many libraries are in operation with a specialization of a specific subject or focus.”

(Library Laws, 2014)

Services for students are defined as set of combined activities that bring advantages and benefits to the students, including “School Counselors, Interpreters, Special Education Resource Staff, Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists, Rehabilitation Counselors, School Nurses, School Psychologists, School Social Workers, and Speech and Language Pathologists.” (Illinois State Board of Education, 2007, pp.6)

Teachers and administrators are those who provide teaching contents and teaching assistant and other beneficiary services to students (Penny, 2007)

Teaching and learning activities are operationally defined as both the activities of the teachers and the learners

Training quality management is defined as a designed system to assist training providers to develop quality management and to encourage them to continuously improve the quality of their operations and results in pursuit of excellence (The Finnish National Board of Education, 2008)

Organization and management is operationally defined as the structural design/staffing and managerial functions of the administration

Vocational education is defined as “every form of education that aims to the acquirement of qualifications related to a certain profession, art or employment or that provides the necessary training and the appropriate skills as well as technical knowledge, so that students are able to exercise a profession, art or activity, independently of their age and

their training level, even if the training program contains also elements of general education.” (Mortaki, 2012, pp.51)

Chapter II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND STUDIES

The chapter is an explanation of the human resources and exploration of academic concepts and theories that are relevant to the present study (Dellinger and Leech, 2007; Cooper, 1998) The study conducted with literature review on concepts and theories of vocational training quality and its antecedents Then, conceptual research model is established in later part of chapter Therefore, this is set to focus on literature and studies that are relevant to topic of training quality in vocational school

Training and Training Quality in Vocational Education

Understanding of training and training quality in education context can be obtained through satisfaction of trainers or human resource training satisfaction Swanson and Holton III (2001) stated that human resource training satisfaction was one part of a wider concept namely employee satisfaction It means that when the employees feel satisfaction to the firms’ contexts, they will impact and decide a strong performing firm Generally, nothing is more fundamental to generating feelings of satisfaction and engagement than providing the employees opportunities for professional development Employee development training programs offer those developmental opportunities, but many companies don’t have the time, expertise or budget to coordinate first-class, relevant instruction and learning programs It also refers to the fact that the firms can evaluate their training program through how their employees feel satisfy with the training program Thus, the definition of human resource training could be explained through the definition of employee satisfaction Locke (1969, pp137) emphasized employee satisfaction as

“pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from an appraisal of one’s job or job experiences.”

O.C (2010) stated that human resource training satisfaction was considered as the benchmark for the effectiveness and usefulness of already offered training programs The German Socio-Economic Panel Study (2011) reported that employee satisfaction was outcome

by further training Along with the finding of German Socio-Economic Panel Study (2011), the author paid attention on the findings of Clark and Oswald (1996) of which these author provided the equation to measure employee satisfaction through training based on four variables namely income, working hour, individual characteristics, and training participation Hence, the author sensed that, in accordant with employee satisfaction definition, human resource training satisfaction was the level of satisfaction of the employees in an organization towards their received training programs

Goals and tasks

Goals and tasks of vocational training is to develop skills of trainees Cowan (1997) asserted that skills referring to the abilities of an employees that helped the employees to reduce the idle time and efforts Bodnarchuk (2012), however, highlighted skill was often appeared when an employee felt confidence towards assigned works According to U.S Department of Labor (1992), skills could be categorized into 16 entities, including:

Table 1: Categorization of Skill by U.S Department of Labor (1992)

Source: U.S Department of Labor (1992)

Based on 16 skills above, the author would like to group them into five groups of skills, as:

 Work-related skills: the amount of employees experiences, employees’ professionals, salary, management and leadership capabilities Cowan (1997) In this context, the employees who have higher work-related skills, higher salary and higher responsibilities than non-skilled labor

 People skills: “The ability to advance the work of an organization by interacting with others in ways that develop respect, mutual understanding and productive working relations.” Rifkin (2002)

 Social skills: Similarly, Libet and Lewinsohn (1973) defined social skill as abilities of those who could make the reinforcement into other people Wolpe (1958) referred social skills to the ability of hiding anger feeling Witt and Ferris (2003) considered social skills

in workplace as trainable factor so that it could be changed by social factors

 Soft skills: James and James (2004) asserted that soft skills becoming more essential and important to the recruiter in the modern workplace as other researchers also agreed with potential employees should be equipped by good level of soft skills Perreault (2004) and Wilhelm (2004) denoted that soft skills of employees consisted of good interpersonal communication and self-communication, trustfulness, be able to work in a team, leadership capacities

Organisation and management

Due to the HRM is determined as organisational practices (Bloom and Reenen, 2010), it

is crucial to understand the definition of organisation Hoe (2012) defines organisation under formalization that is described as a social group of people who are managed systematically and structurally with the objective of achieving common goals Storey (1987) also denotes that there are many type of organisation such as restaurants, companies, banks, school, etc Hoe (2012), furthermore, asserts that organisation in the modern business world, is open system that allows changing in the new environmental contexts beyond its operational boundaries

Hoe (2012) defines manager as a person who is responsible for the fulfilling of the goals and objectives of the organisation while taking the role of managing the employees in the

organisation Manager is also supported by the followers who will report and help the managers with relevant task (Huselid, 1995)

Dessler (2009) states that manager confronts the managing function through five perspectives namely planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling It is also determined

as the managing process that is often conducted and carried by the managers of the organisation

 Planning: refers to the goals and standards set by the manager in line with the organisation common goals It is also included by rules development and planning process with clear plans and well anticipated mechanism or tools (Dessler, 2009)

 Organizing: refers to the action of the managers that is to categorize and to allocate the works or tasks into subsidiaries for each subordinates It is also consisted of the establishment of channel for coordination and communication between subordinates in order to achieve the shared goals (Dessler, 2009)

 Staffing: refers to the process of recruiting and evaluating performance of the employees and overall subordinate performance that are based on the performance standards set by the agreement between managers and employees/subordinates (Dessler, 2009)

 Leading: refers to the leadership styles of the managers (Dessler, 2009) Bryman (1992) refers people management skills to the leadership of the managers that is included by transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and Laissez-Faire leadership The transformational leadership is the characteristics of the managers who attempt to provide the clear vision and direction to their employees so that they often gain the respect from their employees (Hamidifar, 2009) Transactional leadership, however, is belonged to the managers who often conduct comprehensive communication with their employees in order to share goals and the commitment for rewards in case of their employees accomplish well their job roles (Hamidifar, 2009) Lastly, Laissez-Faire leadership is considered as disciplined managers who tend to apply strict disciplinary to their employees in case of they do not finish their job roles at timely and quality manners (Bryman, 1992)

 Controlling: refers to the function of setting standard for overall l business areas of the organisation such as the total quality per product, the customer service standards (Dressler, 2009) Controlling is playing the critical role in aligning all the operations of the organisation in the right manners and in line with the common goal of the organisation Controlling also helps to ensure the comprehensive and good coordination between different functional units within one organisation (Hoe, 2012)

Figure 1: Managing Process

(Source: Dressler, 2009)

Grossi et al (2007) defines organisational structure as a set of coordination between functional units within an organisation Decker and Lesser (1995) undertake that organisation is structured by two dimensions namely organisational activity dimension and delegation activity dimension Organisational activity dimension refers to the managing action in order to maintain the interdependencies between functional activities within the organisation Delegation activity dimension, however, refers to the flow of obligation in the organisation in the context of maintaining the empowerment in different roles in the organisation (Horling and Lesser, 2004)

In the shed of the globalisation and economic integration, organisational structure is playing the crucial role in many organisations and the relationship between organisational structure effectiveness and the organization’s size, strategy, technology, environment and culture have been clarified and denoted in many previous studies (McMillan, 2000) For example, Mintzberg (1989) determines the impact of organisational structure and the business/corporate strategy configuration and process in the long term Handy (1993), however, constructs the

research on the important role of organisational structure in maintaining the culture in the organisation Pascale et al (2000), furthermore, provide an identification of which adequate organisational structure helps to bring the organisation into the real life context and vice versa Parasuraman et al (2001) indicate that high effectiveness in organisational culture shall help the organisation to keep the customer satisfaction at proper level Hamidifar (2009), finally, refers the organisational structure to the employees satisfaction and there is an significant positive relationship between two entities

Teaching and learning activities

Seeklander (2009) defined teaching and learning activities as a process that consisted of initial design of a program based on goals to the execution of the training to the measurement of results to the modification of the program to meet those results Holton et al (2000) emphasized training design as the way of which training was designed and conducted with the objective of

helping the trainees to apply what they had learnt from training to their works

Figure 2: Training Design Process Source: Seeklander (2009) Holton et al (2000) denoted that the employees in an organization would be more satisfied with the training through proper teaching and learning activities The reason of this relationship was reflected through the fact that training was design to help the employees to shape up their competencies in their daily workings Hence, the employees were more likely

satisfy with the training programs if they perceive that the training program was designed and delivered in such a way that maximizes the trainee’s ability to transfer the training to the job (Holton, 1996; 2005)

Teachers and administrators

Holding (1991) and Healthfield (2012) defined teachers and administrators play critical roles in transferring learning context to those who were received the trainings Baldwin and Ford (1988) asserted that teaching and learning activities had its polar whether the positive training transfer was formed if the employees could apply successfully the training contents into specific situations and vice versa During the time, there were many previous studies written about the relationship between teachers and administrators and human resource training satisfaction in which these previous studies considered human resource training satisfaction (Zumrah, 2012) Noe and Schmitt (1986) found transfer of training was significantly related to educator performance improvement including their fiscal management and relationships with the community

Curriculum and Syllabus or Academic Aspect

It cannot be denied that curriculum and syllabus or academic activities is the central task

of training centers which bring knowledge to students This activities is carried by the academic staff or professors and directly impact the students’ satisfaction because the main reason of getting training centers is for gaining academic knowledge Due to that fact, the role and responsibilities of academic staffs or professors is the most concern of board of director of the training centers Besides having deep knowledge, there are some other characteristics that required the academic staff or professors to have Firstly, they need to have positive attitude because they communicate directly with the students and the students will find it hard to gain knowledge and communicate with people who have negative attitude to them When the students work with academic staffs who have positive attitude, they will feel confident to ask more questions about what they do not understand clearly and therefore strengthen their knowledge Moreover, academic staff with positive attitude will tend to give solutions for students and receive feedbacks from students rather than rejecting all others opinions In additional, the academic aspects refer to the characteristic of professors which is good communication skills In

fact, if someone do not have good communication skills, he/she cannot transmit information for other people and the effectiveness of transferring knowledge from professor to students will be limited

Furthermore, the students will not satisfy with the education system if they do not receive sufficient consultation from their professors when doing assignment/thesis/dissertation or carrying more research of the topic given in the class/books Sufficient consultation from professors is not only what students deserve but also being the motivation for them to enhance their knowledge; the professors must consider that giving their student sufficient consultation is their prior duty and is one of the best method to bring satisfaction to their students Moreover, with academic activities, the professors need to provide regular feedback to students in order to let the students understand the strength and weakness or what need to be improved during training time at training centers and therefore the professors also take a deep look on the current educational status of the students and find the right way to give suitable consultation for their student Through carrying all responsibilities, the professors can satisfy their students with the academic educational system of the training center

Facilities and equipment

Facilities and equipment aspect can be seen under the view of the accessibility of information from extra services, accessibility to the supports of administration and accessibility

of academic staffs When students carry their assignment/thesis/dissertation, it is very important for them to access the information from books/contexts/researches in the university’s library If the approachability of the student is limited, they will not implement the jobs in the most effective way therefore leads to the dissatisfaction of the students The availability of the academic staffs as well support staffs will also make the students feel self – worth and therefore increase their satisfaction

Financial management

Base on the concept of financial management, it is crucial to identify the aspects of financial management process in public sector in this study According to The Institute Chartered Accountants (2012), financial management process in public or private sector shares the same

essence of three stages of development, from traditional stage to transitional stage to modern stage Traditional stage means that financial management is only set to support for the occasional events while transitional stage and modern stage are referred to financial management in daily basis and future cash flow management respectively

According to International Monetary Fund(2009), a top-down approach is that “a binding

decision on financial management aggregates is taken before allocating expenditure within that aggregate” On the other hand, it means total expenses are determined in advance or before the

detailed division of expenditures in the organization are decided and submitted This method is based on the constraints that have been set at previous stage

The bottom-up, however, is derived by expenditures proposed by line ministries and spending agencies The MOF then negotiates bilaterally with each main financial management entity, then all the agreement on expenditures from units is consolidated and compare to financial management revenue If the deficit occurs, the MOF will set up a second round of negotiation or require producing proposals on how to increase the revenue

Rubin (2012) in the book named “New directions in financial management theory” provided the comparisons between macro-financial management and micro-financial management that help to clarify the best approach for public sector in general and public sector

trade union in particular The author pointed that the macro-financial management is “the high

level of decision on spending, revenue and deficit arrogates and relative financial management shares” while the micro-financial management is “the intermediate level decisions on agencies, programs and line-items” The table below examined some of features of micro-financial

management and macro-financial management in a Congress

Table 2: Features of Micro and Macro Financial management

management

Macro-financial management

appropriations committees and subcommittees

Financial management committees and party leaders

resolutions, reconciliation instruction, tax and spending

Financial management Act of 1974; Balanced Financial management and Emergency Control Act of 1985

Based on the table, the researcher recognized that the top-down approach is suitable in macro-financial management or in government organization The hypothesis testing of Hagen (1992) on top-down process in 12 European Union countries has proven this idea The result

showed that “a top-down process in the preparatory phase of the financial management, and a

top-down decision-making order in parliamentary approval is more conducive to fiscal discipline than bottom-up procedures” or a top-down approach is associated with lower deficits

De-Haan and Sturm (1994) expanded the Hagen’s result to the composition and stability of government and he confirmed that top-down financial management is correlated with robust fiscal position Perotti and Knotopoulos (2002) also found a relationship between a lower level

of fragmentation and a lower deficit, lower expenses and lower revenues However, the relationship is still weak

Services for students

It is notable to indicate that services for students are widened and it can be recognized through the characteristics of training center Training center is determined as an organization so that it has distinctive characteristic in organization structure According to Watson (2005) and Huff (2003), the organization of training center is generally constructed by as set of:(i) a board of trustees; (ii) a president, chancellor, or rector; (iii) at least one vice president, vice-chancellor, or vice-rector; and (iv) deans of various divisions

Secondly, private and public training center is also considered as another aspect of training center’s characteristics As mentioned above, public training center and private training center are distinctive with each other through the source of funds However, public training center is also different to private training center as it has larger size and low cost Grove (2013a, 2013b) states that all largest training centers in the world are public ones ad public training center often requires tuition fees less than what the student should have to pay for attending private training center Another different characteristics of public training center is that it allows the students to be more commuter and part-time attendances while such mechanism is very rarely

in private training center

Thirdly, another characteristics of training center is addressed by the nature of training center work as it “mandate to conduct original research requires resources, infrastructure, human capital, and a climate of inquiry protected by the principles of academic freedom.” (Bennie,

2012, pp.4) Each training center, has different nature of work, thus it creates high portfolio of diversification for global training center context The nature of work of each training center is clearly stated in the website of each training center

However, services for students is narrowed in this study with concentration on the mechanism of which the students are allowed providing feedbacks after training Colbert (2012) defined performance feedback as the way in which the organization conducting an assessment on their employee performances through different feedback mechanisms For example, the organization could choose between formal and informal feedbacks Formal feedbacks referred to the mechanism enabling the managers, the customers could provide the feedbacks to the employees Informal feedback, however, referred to somewhat private discussion between the

managers and their employees Kluger and Denisi (1981), Kim (1984), and Jawahar (2006) denoted that feedbacks have significant and positive effects on performance when it is provided for a familiar task, is directed on goal setting, and does not direct attention to the self Hattie and Timperley (2007) asserted that feedbacks have the most influence on learning and the polar of this relationship could be positive and negative depending on the articles of trainings These authors also identified that although feedback is among the major influences, the type of feedback and the way it is given can be differentially effective According to Velada et al (2007), performance feedback was one part of the working environment

Conceptual Framework

Goals and tasks impacts positively to student satisfaction towards vocational training and education program in Bac Ninh Province It is notable to emphasize that if the students and teachers can clearly define their goals and task during training process, the training content will

be suitable and in line with the perception and needs of students as well as requiring teaching skills to teachers and administrators

Organization management is also impacting positively to student satisfaction as Bloom and Reenen (2010) asserted that efficient organization will create efficient workflow and process that enable the possibilities of reducing overtime working or higher operating costs

Teaching and learning activities are central theme in vocational training and education whether good performance in teaching and learning will create positive outcome or satisfaction from students On the other hand, it means that good teaching activities from teachers and good learning behaviors from students foster the training quality achievement whether the students will be satisfied with training contexts and how the teachers deliver training content to the students Teachers and administrators are also impacting positively to student satisfaction towards vocational training and education program in the context of teachers who have good teaching skills and administrators who have good management skills will bring higher benefits to students Nickse (2007) claimed that teachers attempt to increase motivation by beginning lessons with examples, activities, or questions that attract students’ attention and provide frameworks for the information

Apart from teaching and learning activities and capacities of teachers and administrators, there is argument of which good designed curriculum and syllabi will create higher student satisfaction Indeed, Vietnam education system has problem of which the students have to be absorbed a lot of knowledge that create the concern and workload to both teachers and students Therefore, good designed curriculum and syllabi will bring the benefit to students as they do not need to acquire a lot of knowledge but practically applying into real life contexts

Libraries, facilities, and equipment play critical roles in generating student satisfaction in vocational training It is true since Vietnam education system is now on transformation process whether the students are being required practicing more On the other hand, it means that vocational training schools have to invest on libraries, facilities, and equipment in order to ensure that their students can apply what learnt into real life contexts

Financial management is the combination of anticipating, planning, managing, allocating, coordinating, and controlling all activities related and affected to financial performance of firm

in both of current and future contexts and regards to the financial overarching objective Good financial management will bring the benefit to the students as they can learn at lower costs, this, furthermore, indirectly creating satisfaction to students

Finally, services for students is emphasized as all value-added services that the students will be received High number and diversified services, eventually, create student satisfaction

Research Paradigm

INPUT

PROCESS OUTPUT

Figure 3:Input-Process-Output Model on the Status of Training Quality Management of Vocational Schools in Bac Ninh Province: A Basis for an Intervention Program Discussion of the Paradigm

Figure 3 explains the input of the study in determining the status of the training quality management of the vocational schools in terms of goals and tasks, organization and

Status of Training Quality

Management of Vocational

Schools in terms of:

 Goals and task

PROPOSED INTERVENTION PROGRAM

management, teaching and learning activities, teachers and administrators, curriculum and syllabus, library, facilities, financial management and services for students The process includes observation and distribution of research questionnaire to the vocational schools in the target locale, data collection, interpretation and the development of the intervention program Finally, the output was a proposed intervention program

Chapter III

METHODOLOGY

In this chapter covers the research methodologies and research methods applied in the study This also includes the research locale, the research design, respondents of the study, data gathering procedure and the statistical treatment

Locale of the Study

The study was conducted in Bac Ninh in the mid of December 2013 The reason of choosing Bac Ninh as locale of the study was that Bac Ninh had many vocational schools such as (1) Bac Ninh Vocational College of Electromechanical and Construction, (2) Bac Ninh Vocational College of Economic Technical, (3)Vocational College of Management – Technology, (4) Vilacera Vocational College, (5) Bac Ninh Economic Technical Vocational Middle School, (6) Au Lac Vocational Middle School, (7) Thuan Thanh Vocational Middle School, (8) Đong Duong International Vocational Middle, (9) Thuan Thanh Vocational Middle School of Economics - Engineering and Traditional Handicrafts, (10) Vocational Middle School

- the Department of Defense

Research Design

This research was a descriptive research analysis on various training conducted in various vocational schools in Bac Ninh Province The design described the essential character of the method Employing this method dealt with collecting data to gather information about present existing conditions without analyzing relationship among variables

Population and Sampling

The respondents of the study were composed of 300 students from the 10 vocational schools in Bac Ninh Province but 271 students responded to the questionnaire Slovins formula and random selection method were used to determine the sample

Table 3:Distribution of Respondents

Bac Ninh Vocational College of Electromechanical and

Bac Ninh Economic Technical Vocational Middle

Thuan Thanh Vocational Middle School of Economics -

Vocational Middle School - the Department of Defense 439 25

Research Instrument

The questionnaire was designed to determine the status of the training quality management of the vocational schools in Bach Ninh Province in terms of (1) Goals and task, (2) Organization and management, (3) Teaching and learning activities, (4) Teachers and administrators, (5) Curriculum and syllabus, (6) Library, (7) Facilities, (8) Financial management, and (9) Services for students Likert scale was used in the questionnaire

Validation of instrument

Polit and Hungler (1993) referred validity of an instrument as the degree that measures what it is intended to measure An instrument represents the factors under study refers to content validity The interviews and questionnaires consist of a number of questions on the knowledge of students about quality of vocational training in Bac Ninh province

The questions were based on the information gathered during the literature review to ensure that they are representative of what respondents should know about the vocational training activities Content validity also was ensured by the consistency of questionnaires The researcher will distribute the questionnaire to employee personally and interview directly the managers All questions in questionnaires and interview were designed in simple language for clear and easy to understanding

The participants completed the questionnaires in the presence of the researcher to ensure that they completed the questionnaire by themselves instead of another person To ensure validity, the questionnaires were collected by the researcher And the researchers should study to add more questions on interview and questionnaires to ensure higher representativeness With closed-ended questions, the researchers should add more appropriate alternatives response choices to provide for meaningful data analysis (Burns and Grove, 1993)

Self-determination also was kept throughout the questionnaires The subjects were informed about the study and volunteered to participate or not Answers in the questionnaires were completed by themselves

Scientific honesty was considered as a very important ethical responsibility when deploying research Brink (1996) indicates dishonest conduct such as manipulation of design and methods and retention or manipulation of data And the researcher should be tried to avoid any form of dishonesty by recording truthfully the answers of those subjects who could not read or write The open-ended questions analyzed by the researcher were also checked by the supervisor for confirmation of credibility

Data Gathering Procedures

This study was conducted with the primary data collected from survey with relevant people It was worth to denote that the respondents are taken from customer’s database of vocational schools in Bac Ninh Province The sample size is about 300 students who have been receiving vocational training for last 3 years Then the survey process was designed with the following steps:

Step 1: Preparing draft version of survey form and sending to the director of vocational training center Vietnam for seeking approval

Step 2: Working with Human Resource Department in vocational training center in Bac Binh province in order to get the list of students who have been receiving vocational training in last 3 years It is notable to emphasize that there are 300 students to be involved in this survey The sample size is generated randomly from population and it is followed the rule of thumb provided

by Robson (2002) whether this researcher suggests the sample size should be higher than 200 for social and business phenomenon

Step 3: Conducting survey with 300 students by email in 2 weeks

Step 4: Collecting and consolidating the answers of 300students into Excel sheet

Step 5: Uploading the database of answers of 100 customers into SPSS 16 and preparing data analysis, including (1) descriptive statistics, (2) reliability test analysis, and (3) linear regression Step 6: Generating key findings and listing them into the study

Statistical treatment

The following statistical treatment was used to make the analysis and interpretation of the gathered data more valid: Weighted Mean was used to determine the status of the training quality management of the vocational schools in Bac Ninh Province

Weighted Mean Formula :

of the training quality management of the vocational schools

Point Scale Range Interval Descriptive Rating

Table 4: Data Analysis Technique

Frequency analysis To obtain detail characteristics of respondents Descriptive statistics analysis To obtain detail choices of respondents on each

statement in questionnaire Reliability analysis To check whether the variables used in

conceptual research model is reliable or not Exploratory factor analysis To check the construct between variables used

in conceptual research model

To identify optimal combination between variables

To obtain new variables or components

Frequency or one-way tables represent the simplest method for analyzing categorical (nominal) data They are often used as one of the exploratory procedures to review how different categories of values are distributed in the sample Cross-tabulation is a combination of two (or more) frequency tables arranged such that each cell in the resulting table represents a unique combination of specific values of cross-tabulated variables Thus, cross-tabulation allows the author to examine frequencies of observations that belong to specific categories on more than one variable By examining these frequencies, the author can identify relations between cross-tabulated variables Only categorical (nominal) variables or variables with a relatively small number of different meaningful values should be cross-tabulated

Secondly, the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) might not be as influential as Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) which is known to work better compared to EFA Brannick (1995), Stone-Romero, Weaver and Glenar (1995) suggested that the CFA will be more