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

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 lea

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

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 socio-economic 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

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

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

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1.1 Terms to be understood in the scope of this study

Table 2.1 Descriptive data on members of poor women’s families

Table 2.2 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

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1 Secondary education enrollment rate by regions in Vietnam in 2010

Figure 2.1 Monthly average earnings per family member

Figure 2.2 Poor women’s job categories

Figure 2.3 Current jobs’ properties of poor women

Figure 2.4 Poor women’s highest initial education completion

Figure 2.5 Poor women’s literacy proficiencies

Figure 2.6 Intention to learn in the future

Figure 2.7 Desired learning activities to learn in the future if the women have opportunities Figure 3.1 Poor women’s overall perceptions of the three groups of barriers

Figure 3.2 Poor women’s choices for institutional barriers to adult learning

Figure 3.3 Poor women as non-participants and participants’ perceptions of institutional barriers Figure 3.4 Poor women’s choices for situational barriers to adult learning

Figure 3.5 Poor women as non-participants and participants’ perceptions of situational barriers Figure 3.6 Poor women’s choices for dispositional barriers to adult learning

Figure 3.7 Poor women as non-participants and participants’ perceptions of dispositional barriers Figure 3.8 Poor women’s choices for motivational factors to adult learning

Figure 3.9 Poor women’s selections for the group of goal-oriented motivations to adult

Figure 3.10 Poor women’s choices for the group of questions clarifying the factors of being

self-motivated to adult learning

Figure 3.11 Poor women as non-participants and participants’ perceptions of motivational factors to

participate in adult learning

Figure 3.12 Non-participants and participants’ perceptions of motivational factors to learning in

their own group

Figure 3.13 Poor women’s choices for benefits of adult learning

Figure 3.14 Poor women as non-participants and participants’ perceptions of benefits of adult

learning

ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviation Meaning

APPEAL Asia-Pacific Program of Education for All

ASPBAE The Asian South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education

CONFINTEA International Conference on Adult Education

(UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning)

ELLI European Lifelong Learning Indicators

GSO General Statistic Office of Vietnam

UNESCO United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNICEF United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund

(United Nations Children’s Fund now)

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

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

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

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

non-participants 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

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

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

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:http://www.aspbae.org/node/22) 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)

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

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

Initial education

“Knowledge acquired at primary, secondary and tertiary 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)

Article 44, Education Law of Vietnam)

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

Upper secondary

%

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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)

Skilled manual worker

Unskilled manual worker

Non-farm employed

self-Farmer

Previous Job Present job

FIGURE 2.2: Poor women’s job categories

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

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

FIGURE 2.5: Poor women’s literacy proficiencies

Spearman’s rho R =.731 and 776 respectively, meaning that the women with higher initial education appear to have higher reading and writing skills The correlation between primary education and the ability to read and write at a humble proficiency can be realized since 68.9% of the poor women who attended primary education claimed that they could only read simple documents and still make many mistakes in writing (Table 2.2, Appendix C)

Two extreme cases are recorded by the statistical analysis One of the women who attended upper secondary education, however, cannot read well This might be explained by the fact that she might be not successful in her initial education, or that she keeps away from reading in her daily life so much that her reading acquisition is degraded The other can read simple texts and write rather well although she has not attended any schooling, which could be understandable if she has learned to read and write at home

Interpreting the initial education achievement of the poor women in accordance with the indices built up by the researcher (Appendix B), the women’s initial education attainment is generally modest

as it ranges from 3 to 8 points, compared to 2 to 16 points expected by the indices, with the mean of 5.84 and the mode is 5 points

2.2 Propensities of participation in adult education of poor women

In this section, the propensities for participation in adult education by poor women is observed through their (non-)participation in learning activities during three periods of time: (2.2.1) the time since the women left their initial education, excluding the most recent five years, (2.2.2) within the most recent five years, and (2.2.3) their intention of (non-)participating in learning in the future The women’s (non-)participation in adult learning throughout different periods of time is analyzed with the major hypothesis that poor women’s adult learning experience in the past might be correlated to their (non-) participation in adult learning in the continuing periods of time

2.2.1 Poor women’s participation in learning since initial education, excluding the period of

the last five years

Of 116 sample women of the research, 47.41% reported that they have taken learning activities after their initial schooling excluding the time of the most recent five years

The statistics show that since leaving initial education, the poor women took a variety of learning activities, in which literacy education, learning for general education completion, post-general

education, vocational learning, and other types of learning from participating in workshops and unions were taken by at least 1.7% of the participants Particularly, the two learning activities most taken by the women were the learning from attending workshops and unions’ activities at their local district, and learning for vocational purposes gathering 19.8% and 19% of the participants, respectively Meanwhile, none of the participants studied for their personal interests like sports, music or arts Regarding the frequency of taking learning activities since the women left initial education (excluding the last five years), 92.7% of the participants stated that they took part in learning once to three times during this time; only a few learnt more than three times (Table 2.3, Appendix C)

Meanwhile, the lengths of the courses taken by the participants were quite varied In particular, the women, who attended the courses to complete their general national education left unfinished since their initial schooling, said that they studied from one to three months up to nine to twelve months Meanwhile, the durations for vocational courses largely varied from one week to twelve months, among which the course lasting “within one week” was most reported by the participants (Table 2.4, Appendix C)

According to the indices proposed by the researcher, the amount of learning taken by the women during the time since they left initial education is presented by the cumulative score of the women’s decision to participate in learning, the number of courses, the length of the courses, the number of learning activities taken during this time (Appendix B)

The statistics show that although the highest score of the amount of learning by the women in this period defined in the indices is 18 points, the maximum women’s actual amount of learning during this time was 8 points, and the mode was 0, stated by 52.59% of the women who took no learning at all after they left school In general, the mean at only 2.36, compared to the expected maximum of 18 points, shows a very low amount of learning taken by poor women during this time

2.2.2 Poor women’s participation in learning during the most recent five years

Generally, 76.7% of 116 women in the sample affirmed that they did not take any learning activities during the most recent five years (2008 – 2012) while 23.3% had positive affirmation on their participation in education during this time

TABLE 2.5: Learning activities taken by poor women during the most recent five years

Participation in learning during the most recent five years Non-participants Participants Count Column N % Count Column N %

Other forms of learning (e.g

workshops, clubs, unions)

and hair dressing were shared by many women; and 33.3% of them have obtained education in

workshops or participating in unions at their local districts For example, some women shared that they did attend workshops on Family Domestic Abuse and Violence organized by the Women Union

of the district where they were living On the other hand, fewer women participated in literacy / numeracy education (3.7%), general education (11.1%), or for personal interests (3.7%)

The relatively high rates of participation in vocational education and training workshops suggest that the poor women had a propensity for learning practical working skills that are beneficial to their career improvement and promising better earnings for living In addition, comparing the participation rate in education of the women between the two periods, there was an increase in participation rate in vocational education in the most recent five years with 55.6% of the participants compared to 19% of the women during the time since their initial education The propensity of taking vocational learning activities in the more recent time could be a result of increasing and more intensive policies and action plans by the Government of Vietnam to support the poor in general and the women in particular In fact, the Prime Minister of Vietnam has promulgated the “Vocational Training Project for Rural Workers till 2020” (Vietnamese Government, 2009), according to which about one million rural laborers will be trained for vocational skills each year from 2009 to 2020 in three phases 2009 – 2010,

An example of the efforts for An Giang women’s development is the project ADAPT by the non-governmental organization Pacific Links Foundation, aiming to help reduce the risks of

trafficking of young women from impoverished and rural areas of An Giang Province In particular, the ADAPT has been launching the “ADAPT Culinary Vocational Program” with full scholarships for young women “who have dropped out of school and are of legal working age in Vietnam” to learn cooking as a vocational opportunity (Official website of ADAPT) And as reported in the official electronic newspaper of An Giang Province, ten women, aged from eighteen to twenty-five years and most of whom dropped out due to their difficult family conditions, attended a six-month cookery class

by Sai Gon Tourist with the complete funds from ADAPT (Ngo, August 30, 2009)

Also on the national scale, targeting specifically at women’s development across the country in the future, the Prime Minister of Vietnam has also implemented the project “Supporting women’s vocational training and providing jobs in 2010 – 2015” in which women from poor households are

among the principle beneficiaries (Vietnamese Government, 2010) These active and practical actions

by the state, aiming mostly at enhancing job opportunities for disadvantaged women across the

country, could partly help to explain the increase of participation in vocational education, particularly,

by women during the most recent five years

Back to the research findings, despite the increase in participation in vocational education during this time, there is still a limitation in the number of courses taken by the poor women The majority of them (77.8%) learned only one to three times/courses, and 14.8% attended from four to six courses during the last five years Exceptionally, two of the participants (accounting for 7.4%) took over ten courses during the time Besides, the duration of their learning courses was also humble In fact, the most recent courses taken by 37% of the participants lasted less than one week, and 22.2% claimed one month as the duration of their courses The minority took courses lasting for more than one month (Table 2.6, Appendix C)

Moreover, while 40.7% of the participants studied more than ten hours per week in their courses, intensive courses, however, could not be the case when 33.3% of the participants reported their

training course lasted from only one to three hours per week (Table 2.7, Appendix C) In addition, the statistic of Spearman’s rho shows that there is a positive correlation (R=.636, p=.000) between the duration and the numbers of hours per week of the courses taken by the women, meaning the longer the courses were, the more hours of learning per week the women took during the course; and vice versa This doubts the intensity of the course taken by the women (Table 2.8, Appendix C)

Overall, only twenty-seven out of 116 women in the sample (23.3%) participated in learning activities during the most recent five years from 2008 to 2012; this presents a low rate of participation

in education during the time Moreover, the participation in education of the participants was still humble in terms of the small number of courses taken and the short durations of the courses

When the participation in learning of the women during the most recent five years is transferred according to the indices (Appendix B) as the amount of learning achieved by poor women, the

maximum score of the women’s learning during this time was 14 out of 23 points while the minimum was 0 The mode at 0 point presents the largest population by 75.9% of the women taking no learning activities during this time

Examining the relation between the participation in education of the women since their initial education and that during the most recent five years, statistics shows that 49.1% of the participants who learned during the period after initial education appeared to continue learning during the most five recent years On the other hand, for the non-participants who did not take any educational and training activities since they left initial education, they all continued not to learn in the most recent five years Thus, it can be inferred from the descriptive data that those having participated in education after their initial education are more likely to study afterwards than the non-participants with no learning activities taken after they left schools (for details, see Table 2.9, Appendix C)

2.2.3 Intention of participating in education in the future

In this section, poor women’s intention to study in the future is observed; this helps to provide a more profound picture of the propensity of participation in education of women who are struggling for their lives in poverty

Answering the survey questions, 35.3% of the sample women expressed their prediction for the possibility that they would learn in the future; meanwhile, up to 51.8% predicted that the possibility of their learning in the future will not happen, among whom 37.1% insisted that they would certainly not learn in the future (Figure 2.6, Appendix D)

When asked which learning activities they want to take if they have opportunities, the women had different concerns and interests for their learning intention Figure 2.7 shows that more women chose to continue their study with national general education and post-general education (higher or post-graduate education) than for personal interests or life skills from participating in workshops or unions at the local districts, if they have opportunities in the future

Vocational-oriented learning was the leading option chosen by 57.25% of the women, followed

by the literacy and numeracy education with 25.95%

Although learning from workshops/conferences or participating in local unions’ activities was taken by a relatively high proportion of the women during the most recent five years (33.3%)

(observed in Section 2.2.2), it appears not to be the desirable learning activity of the poor women in the future when only 2.6% of the respondents chose this type of learning

2.3 Observing factors relating to the propensities of participation in adult education of poor women

The propensities of participation in adult education of the poor women in the survey were examined through their actual participation or non-participation (2.3.1) after they left initial education and (2.3.2) during the last five years, and (2.3.3) their intention of participating in learning in the future

In this section, the factors affecting the propensities of participation in adult education of the women are examined The factors comprise the women’s perceptions of their family and occupational

Vocational-57.25%

Personal interests

0.76%

Learning from workshops or participating

in unions for life skills

2.29%

FIGURE 2.7: Desired learning activities to learn in the future if the women have opportunities

situation, and their initial education In addition, the relations among their actual (non-) participation

in adult education and their intention of participating in the future are also analyzed

2.3.1 Factors relating to the propensities of participating in learning after initial education, excluding the most recent five years

2.3.1.1 Personal, socio-economic and family characteristics

In this study’s framework, the poor women’s personal, socio-economic and family

characteristics are observed thanks to the information requested in Section I of the survey

questionnaire

Pearson correlation operations are applied to examine correlations between poor women’s personal, socio-economic, family factors and their participation in learning (question 18) Statistics show that there are positive correlations between the three factors – the ethnicity, the family’s debt situation, and the proportion of employed family members – and the decision to participate in learning since the women left initial schooling (r=.221, 189, and 257, respectively) Thus, it can be interpreted from the statistical results that the women of the Khmer minority group, rather than the Kinh women, were more likely to have taken learning activities since their initial education However, it might be the case that because the population of the Khmer women in the sample, by random, is small (16 women), the correlation between the women’s participation in learning during this time and their ethnicity might not be generalized.Secondly, the Pearson coefficient r =.189, p=.042 shows that the debt situation of the family and their participation in education are positively correlated, meaning that the women whose families are in debt are more likely to learn since their initial schooling Finally, the positive correlation r =.257, p=.005 suggests that the higher the proportion of employed family

members is, the more likely the women were to have participated in learning since their initial

education Meanwhile, the women’s age, in contrast, is negatively correlated with their participation in learning since initial education (r =-.244, p=.008), meaning the older the women are, the less likely the women are to have learned during this time Nevertheless, all three correlations are weak (see Table 2.14, Appendix C for details)

The amount of learning by poor women is calculated by summing all the scores from questions

12 to 17 according to the indices (Appendix B) It is then examined for correlations with the factors The statistics show similar correlations between the women’s age, ethnicity, the family’s debt

situation, the proportion of the employed family members, and the amount of learning by the women since initial education In addition, the statistics show negative correlations between the number of children the women have (r=-.215, p=.021), the number of children aged from five to four-teen (r=-.190, p=.041) in particular, and the amount of learning taken by the women after they left initial education That is, the more children the women have, the less amount of education they took since they left initial education Furthermore, the number of members in the family who are old, disabled, or sick was found to be positively correlated with the amount of learning taken by the women after they

left initial schooling (r=.278, p=.003), meaning that the women in the families with more old, sick, or disabled members were more likely to learn during this time Therefore, it can be inferred,

interestingly, in this case that the old, sick, or disable members in the families might not prevent the women from learning, but even work as incentives instead whereas childcare tends to reduce

opportunities to learn (see Table 2.10, Appendix C for details)

To sum up, among the personal, socio-economic and family factors, the ethnicity, the debt situation of the family, and the proportion of employed family members are positively correlated to the women’s decision to both have participated and the amount of learning taken since they left initial schooling while their age has a negative correlation Meanwhile, there are negative correlations between the total number of children, the number of children aged five to fourteen in particular, and the amount of learning taken by the women since they left initial education On the other hand,

positive correlations are found between the number of the old, sick, and disabled members of the family and the amount of poor women’s learning during this time Nevertheless, all of the correlations are weak

2.3.1.2 Occupational characteristics

As analyzed in Section 2.1, the occupational characteristics of the poor women comprise their current employment status, the categories of previous and current jobs of the women, and the

properties of their current jobs

Table 2.11 shows that among the four occupation factors, only the current employment status of poor women has a correlation with their decision to learn and the amount of their learning during the

TABLE 2.11: Correlations between poor women’s occupational conditions and their participation in education since initial education (excluding the most recent five years)

Correlations

Decision to participate in learning since initial education (excluding the most recent five years)

Amount of learning since initial education (excluding the most recent five years)

* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)

time since initial education (r =-.218, p=.019 and -.263, p=.003, respectively) Also, the proportions of the participants for the women having full-time (60.87%) and part-time jobs (60.61%) almost double the proportions of the participants who are currently unemployed (Crosstabs 2.1, Appendix C for details) These results suggest that the women in better current employment status are more likely to participate in learning and learn more than those who are unemployed and looking for jobs This result might also suggest an inverse possibility that the women who have more participated in learning in the past are more likely to have better employment conditions now

To sum up, among the occupational properties possessed by poor women, their current

employment status is correlated to their participation in learning and the amount of learning that they have had since they left initial education (excluding the most recent five years), to which the women with a better employment status appeared to study more than those unemployed at present

2.3.1.3 Initial education attainment

The initial education attainment of the women was observed through the factors – the highest initial achievements or diplomas in education obtained by the women, and their literacy (reading and writing) proficiency Firstly, in Table 2.12, the Pearson’s coefficients r=.267 (p=.004) and 0.283 (p=.002) show that the women’s reading and writing proficiencies respectively, are positively

correlated to the decision of participating in learning In other words, the better the women performed

in reading and writing, the more likely they are to have participated in learning activities These two coefficients are slightly stronger in the correlations with the amount of learning taken by the women during that time with r=.369 (p=.000) for reading and 0.387 (p=.000) for writing proficiency

TABLE 2.12: Correlations between the women’s initial education attainment

and their participation in education since initial education (excluding last five years)

Decision of participating in learning since initial education (excluding the most recent five years)

Amount of learning since initial schooling (excluding the most recent five years)

* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Secondly, while the highest initial achievements or diplomas in education of the women has no correlation with their decision to participate in learning after initial schooling, it positively correlates with the amount of learning that the women got throughout that period of time The latter result

suggests that the women with higher initial educational achievements tended to obtain more learning than those with lower initial education completion

In conclusion, from the statistical results, the correlations between the factors and the women’s decision to have participated in learning and the amount of learning taken during the time since they left initial education, excluding the most recent five years, are presented in the following Table 2.13 All the correlations stated in the framework are statistically weak

2.3.2 Factors relating to the propensities of participating in learning of poor women during the most recent five years

2.3.2.1 Personal, socio-economic and family characteristics

The Pearson coefficients show no correlation between almost all of the family factors and poor women’s having participated in adult learning as well as the amount of learning taken during the most recent five years, except for the proportion of employed family members This proportion has a

positive correlation with the amount of learning taken by the women during that time The Pearson’s coefficient r=.196 refers to the probability that the higher the proportion of the employed family members gets, the more learning the women obtained during the most recent five years However, this

is a very weak correlation (for details, see Table 2.14, Appendix C)

2.3.2.2 Occupational characteristics

Among the factors that describe the occupational situation of the women, only their previous employment is negatively correlated to both the decision to have taken learning activities and the

Table 2.13: Factors correlated to the poor women’s participation in education since they

left initial education (excluding last five years)

Amount of learning since initial schooling (excluding the most recent five years)

Number of family members

Proportion of the employed

(*) Occupational factors: Because these factors have been calculated in reference to the system EGP

(Erikson-Goldthorpe-Portocarero – a diagram on ranking and classifying occupations), the lower the points are, the better occupational conditions the women have Meanwhile, the higher the points are, the more likely the women participate in adult education That is, if the result is negative, then this means the better occupational conditions of the women are, the more likely they participate in adult learning.

amount of learning during the most recent five years (r=-.208 and -.195) In other words, the lower the working class of the women’s employment is, the less likely the women participated in learning and the less amount of learning they took in the last five years as well (Table 2.15)

TABLE 2.15: Correlations between poor women’s occupational conditions

and their participation in education during the last five years

Decision to participate in learning during the most recent five years

Amount of learning during the most recent five years

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)

* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)

In particular, except for the first case in which the women worked as military cadres or collar workers where the percentage of the participants is low, in other cases, the proportion of the participants decreases as their working class gets lower Especially, only 16.85% of the women, whose jobs are unskilled manual, took part in learning during the most recent five years (for details, see Crosstabs 2.2, Appendix C)

white-2.3.2.3 Initial education attainment

The factors of the women’s initial education achievements, including their highest initial

diplomas, their reading and writing competences, are all proved to be positively correlated to the amount of learning taken by the women during the last five years with the Pearson coefficients at 200, 244, and 222, respectively Meanwhile, only the women’s capacity of reading positively correlates with their decision of participating in learning during these years (r=.206) (Table 2.16)

TABLE 2.16: Correlations between the women’s initial education attainment

and their participation in education during the last five years

Decision to participate in learning during the most recent five years

Amount of learning during the most recent five years Highest initial qualification Pearson Correlation 172 .200*

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)

* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)

In brief, the factors correlated to the women’s decision of having participated in learning during the most recent five years are presented in Table 2.17 as follows All of them are weak correlations

Table 2.17: Factors correlated to poor women’s participation in education during the most

recent five years

Groups of

factors Factors

Decision to participate in learning during the most recent five years

Amount of learning during the most recent five years Personal,

2.3.3 Factors relating to the propensities of participating in learning in the future

2.3.3.1 Personal, socio-economic and family characteristics

The propensity of learning in the future of the poor women are found to have statistically

negative correlations with their age (r=-.300, p=.001) and the number of children aged from five to fourteen they have (r=-.210, p=.024) This suggests that the older the women are and the more children aged five to fourteen they have, the less likely they might have an intention to study in the coming time Nevertheless, the correlations found are weak (see Table 2.18, Appendix C for details)

2.3.3.2 Occupational characteristics

Statistics in Table 2.19 show no correlation between the women’s occupational factors and their intention to learn in the future This might imply that the women’s intentions to learn in the future or not appeared to be independent of their occupational properties including their current employment status, the categories of their previous and current jobs, and their current job’s properties as well

TABLE 2.19: Correlations between poor women’s occupational characteristics and their

intention of participating in learning in the future

Intention of participating in learning in the future

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)

* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)

2.3.3.3 Initial education attainment

Among the factors constituting initial education attainment of the poor women, the highest diplomas that the women achieved from their initial education is found positively correlated to their intention to participate in learning in the future The Pearson coefficient r=.225, p=.015 suggests that the higher initial qualifications the women possessed, the more likely they might have an intention to learn later

TABLE 2.20: Correlations between poor women’s initial education attainment and

their intention of participating in education in the future

Intention of participating in learning in the future Highest initial qualification Pearson Correlation .225*

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)

* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)

In conclusion, the results show statistical correlations between the three factors – the women’s highest initial qualifications, their age, and the number of children aged from five to fourteen they have – and their intention to participate in learning in the future although all the correlations are weak The following Table 2.21 presents the factors in correlations with the poor women’s intention to participate in adult education in the future

TABLE 2.21: Factors correlated to poor women’s intention to participate

in education in the future

Groups of factors Factors Intention of participating in learning

in the future

In this part, the researcher attempted to examine the correlations among the actual participations

in learning by the women in the periods of time – since their initial education and during the most recent five years, as well as to see whether their past participation in adult learning have any

correlation with their intention to learn in the future

It is found that there are positive statistical correlations among the women’s decisions to have learnt since their left initial education, the amount of learning they took during this time, and their decisions as well as the amount of learning taken by the women during the most recent five years with the absolute significance of 000 for all the correlations That is, the more the women took learning activities during the time since they left initial schooling, the greater possibility and amount of

learning that the women took during the most recent five years On the other hand, the statistics show

no correlations between the propensities of the past participations in education of the women with their intentions to learn or not in the future (for details, see Table 2.22, Appendix C)

To sum up, the factors that are found to be correlated to the poor women’s propensities of participation in adult education in the survey can be summarized in the following Table 2.23, in which all the correlations are weak

TABLE 2.23: Summary of the correlations between the factors and

poor women’s participation in adult learning

Groups of

factors Factors

Decision of participating in learning since initial education (excluding the last five years)

Amount of learning since initial schooling (excluding the last five years)

Decision to participate

in learning

in the last years

Amount

of learning

in the last five years

Intention

of participat- -ing in learning in the future

since initial schooling

(excluding the last

CHAPTER 3: POOR WOMEN’S PERCEPTIONS OF BARRIERS, MOTIVATORS,

Living in poverty, the poor have been the marginalized, including from the pathways to

education (UNESCO, 2010).While much research has pointed out factors affecting adults’

participation in adult learning in general, there are few focusing on the poor and poor women’s

perception of adult learning in particular, in Vietnam and worldwide Chapter 3 of this study,

therefore, attempts to explore poor women in An Giang Province, Vietnam’s perceptions of barriers hindering them from learning, of motivations, and adult learning’s benefits Poor women’s perceptions

of the three groups of factors are also characterized in relation to their experience of participation / non-participation in adult learning

3.1 Poor women’s perceptions about barriers to adult learning

Taking Cross (1981)’s research as a main reference, this study explores poor women’s

perceptions of barriers to learning activities, classified into three groups: (3.1.1) institutional barriers which originated from educational institutions’ provisions and organizations of learning activities, (3.1.2) situational barriers pertaining to the women’s living conditions, and (3.1.3) dispositional barriers characterized by their own reflections of learning participation

A lot of research work has been conducted to find out what makes it difficult for adults to go back to school Reviewing previous studies on barriers that hinder adults from learning, Cross pointed out that obstacles from adults’ life situations have been considered the most influential of the three barrier groups Similarly, examining institutional, situational, and psychological barriers to returning adult learners at an American university towards their continuing education participation, Apps (1980) also found that situational barriers show up as the most dominant of the three groups, followed by the institutional barriers Dispositional barriers were exposed to least influence adults’ learning

participation in these previous studies

Although this study focuses on the participation in adult education of poor women in particular, its survey findings share similar results with those from previous studies Overall, situational barriers, with 57.33% of agreement by the respondents, are perceived to be the most difficult factors that hinder the participation in learning of poor women Meanwhile, for the group of institutional barriers, the proportion of the respondents agreeing (31.57%) is higher than those disagreeing (29.74%) while these numbers for dispositional barriers are 33.41% for agreement lower than 37.72% for disagreement This proves, again, institutional barriers as the second most impacting, and dispositional barriers take the least influence on the poor women’s participation in adult learning (Figure 3.1)