i

STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF EDUCATIONAL INSPECTION
ACTIVITIES IN THANH HOA PROVINCE

A Dissertation Presented to the
Faculty of International 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 Education Management LE MINH HUNG
April, 2014

_____________________ ______________________
Member Member

______________________
______________________ ______________________
Chairman DR. APOLONIA A.ESPINOSA DR. APOLONIA A. ESPINOSA
Adviser Dean, Graduate School Accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Management WALBERTO MACARANAN, Ed. D
Vice President, Academic Affairs
_____________________
Date ii

ACKNOWLEDGMENT


TABLE OF CONTENTS iii
LIST OF TABLES v
LIST OF FIGURES vii
LIST OF APPENDIX viii
ABSTRACT ix
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………… 1
Background of the Study 4
Objectives of the study 6
Hypothesis of the Study 7
Significance of the Study 7
Scope and Limitation of the Study 8
Definition of Terms 8
CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Review of Related Literature 10
Research paradigm 41
CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY……… … 43
Locale of the Study 43
Research Design 43
Respondents of the study 44
Research Instruments 44
Data Gathering Procedures 45
Statistical Treatment 45 iv

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 48
CHAPTER 5 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS
AND RECOMMENDATIONS 68
Summary 68

in terms of Professional Inspection …………………………………………… ………61
13. Relationship of the Performance of Students to the Educational Inspection Activities
in terms of Inspection Management………………………………………… ………… 62
14. Relationship of the Performance of Students to the Educational Inspection Activities
in terms of Complaint Management ………………………………………… …………63 viTitle:
STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF
EDUCATIONAL INSPECTION ACTIVITIES IN
THANH HOA PROVINCE
Researcher:
Le Minh Hung
Degree Doctor of Philosophy, Development Education
Nam/ Address of the
Institution
Southern Luzon State University
Graduate School
Lucban, Quezon
Date Completed April, 2014
Adviser
Dr. Apolonia A. Espinosa

ABSTRACT
This study on “Strategies to Improve the Quality of Educational Inspection Activities
in ThanhHoa Province” was conducted to find out the strength and weaknesses of educational
training qu ality of all school levels in ThanhHoa Province during the Academic Year 2012-

school managing board were always abided to the instruction of the education and training
branch. But the transparency on school finances among students, staff and parents were
sometimes observed. In general, the inspection management was oftenly observed with
weighted mean of 3.89.
And, on the level of educational inspection activities in terms of complaint
management, it shows that unresolved complains are often directly referred to the highest
education management with mean score of 4.26. But they are sometimes resolved immediate viii

remedy in five working days with mean score of 2.66. In general, complaint management
inspections were sometimes observed with grand mean of 3.30.
2. Considering the quality of the respondent schools in terms of educational
qualifications of teachers, data shows that out of a total of two-hundred eighty-nine (289)
teachers who taught in the said province, twenty-six percent (26%) had already attained their
master’s degree and the rest seventy-four percent (74%) were still at their bachelor’s degree.
This presents the distribution of the ten schools in ThanhHoa Province based on the highest
educational attainment of the employed teachers.
Whilst the educational quality of the respondents’ school as to the performance of the
students, data shows that the students in high school of ThanhHoaperforms 70 to 75 percent in
classroom level, 50 to 65 percent in inter-school level and only 25 to 35 percent got into
regional level; the students’ performance in secondary school was 40 to 50 percent in
classroom-level, 35 to 40 percent performance in inter-school level and 15 to 20 percent
performance in provincial level. And, data shows that the performances of the students in
primary schools was 45 to 55 percent in classroom level, 40 to 50 percent in inter-school level
and 20 to 35 percent were in provincial level.
3. In view of the significant difference of the educational inspection activities in terms
of professional inspection of the ten schools, results show that the observed professional
inspection were significantly different from the ten schools. Having p-value of 0.031 that is

INTRODUCTION

Vietnamese education is a socialist education with popular, national, scientific, and
modern characteristics wherein educational activities are conducted on the principles of
learning coupled with practice, education linked with production, theories connected to
practicability, and education at schools combined with education in the family and in the
society (Education Law in Vietnam, 2005). Educational development is the first national
priority with a view of improving people’s knowledge, training manpower, and fostering
talents. It must be linked with the requirements of socio-economic development, to the
scientific-technological advances,and to the consolidation of national defense and security;
must implement standardization, modernization, and socialization; must ensure the balance in
terms of qualifications, professional and regional structure; must expand scale on the basis of
quality and efficiency assurance; and must link education with employment.
In terms of State management of education, it is written in the Education Law in
Vietnam Chapter 1,Article 14 that: the State shall carry out the unified management of the
national educational system in terms of goals, programmes, contents, educational plans,
teachers’ standards, examination regulations and system of degrees/diplomas; focus on the
management of educational quality, exercise decentralization on educational management;
strengthen the autonomy and accountabilities of educational institutions.
In view of this, the educational management staff is expected to play an important role
in organizing, managing and directing educational activities; they must study and improve
themselves continuously in terms of moral standards, qualifications, management
competence and personal responsibility. The State therefore shall have plan to build and
improve the quality of educational management staff in order to promote roles and
2
responsibilities of educational management staff, ensuring the development of the cause of
education.

monitoring process involves supervision by inspection of educational institutions such as
schools, and other aspects of the education systems. The critical role of inspection as one of
the dominant strategies for monitoring and improving the performance of education system in
schools cannot be overemphasized. Inspection is concerned, in the main, with the
improvement of standards and quality of education and should be an integral part of a school
improvement program. In many countries where inspectoral system of supervision of schools
is conducted, the responsibility for inspection lies with the Inspectorates. School inspection
practices, especially in Third World countries, such as Vietnam, are associated with
numerous problems which, as a result, strength its attempts to improve education quality into
the background.
To quote the Decision of the 2
nd
Central Committee Communist Party III, the main
targets of the educational management are "Innovation of management mechanisms, training
the manpower, improving the capacity of education and training, in order to complete the
inspection system of education, increase the number of inspectors, and focus on professional
inspection." Inspection is a professional activity, so it is a must to have professional training.
Each officer in the inspection system must be proficient enough to understand his/her own
tasks. Also, as noted by Hargreaves (2010), inspection is a powerful way of monitoring the
education system, tracking standards and performance levels over a period of time, and of
identifying schools’ failures. 4
In 1990, the State Council (now Chairman of the Convention) issued a system of
inspection which included the state inspectors, home affairs inspectors, and educational
inspectors. Then, in 1992 the Council of Office (now the Government) issued Decree
358/HDBT, which provided the educational inspection system to include the state inspectors,
home affairs inspectors, and educational inspectors.
In 2004, the Vietnam Government issued another inspection law which replaced the

basic problems of education and training inspection {1}. In 2006, Mr. Ha TheTruyen wrote
on “Examining-inspection and evaluating in education” that this book is an important content
of professional competence for examining and inspection work in school.
To do this, it is vital that Thanh Hoa Province should carry out suitable measures to
enhance the inspection in order to uplift the quality of all schools in the long-term stability.
Moreover, a number of studies on Ph.D. Educational Management that dealt about
educational inspection in the training inspections course were conducted with focus about
inspection, examining and providing further knowledge for the inspection staff. Said topics
and articles were specifically focused on the typical issues of inspection work, but the main
aspect of inspection is examining the teachers, schools and the managing strategy on
inspection’s work, and other valuable and useful documents. However, none of them
discussed the details and conducted specific research about the ways on how to train and
develop inspection staff regarding the national education system in general and the education
of ThanhHoa in particular. In view of this, building and developing the inspection staff is
really necessary; hence, there is a need to conduct a research both in theory and reality on
educational inspection activities in Thanh Hoa. This topic, therefore, is considered urgent to
contribute ideas and strategies in developing the skills of inspection staff, equip enough 6
quantity time for inspection, establish identical structure, having professional skills and attain
the required knowledge based on international standards, and provide positive contribution
to improve the education management in general and Thanh Hoa’s education and training in
particular.
Based on theoretical research and assessment of the status of the professional
inspection in Thanh Hoa Province, the researcher proposed some measures to build and
develop a team of professional inspectors for the enhancement of professional inspection
activities, which may contribute to improving the educational management as well as the
quality of teaching and learning in all school levels in Thanh Hoa Province.
For these reasons, the researcher chose the title: "Strategies to Improve the Quality of

educational quality.
No significant difference exists between the educational inspection activities of the
respondent schools.
Significance of the Study
This study was carried out with the aim of finding out the weaknesses of the
educational training quality and propose suitable measures to improve the quality of
education in all school levels in Thanh Hoa Province.
In this context, this study would be beneficial to the following:
Administrators. This study will serve as an effective tool in managing the school
educational inspection activities and will be helpful in the strategic planning activities. In
addition, this will provide them valued information concerning quality education
management, hence, they will be able to adapt development programs for the future. 8
Teachers. It is necessary for them to be aware of their responsibilities in performing
their duties and responsibilities for the improvement and upliftment of the education quality
of the schools.
Students. This study will provide the students better understanding of the importance
of hard work, thus, improving their knowledge as well as the quality of learning.
Researcher. The researcher as a candidate for Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in
Educational Management Degree, this study will enhance his knowledge about educational
management.
Future Researchers. This can serve as reference materials for future researches similar
to this.
Scope and Limitations
The study was focused on the investigation of the status of educational inspection
activities covering ten (10) schools in Thanh Hoa Province.
The researcher used questionnaires as an instrument of the study and likewise
conducted a survey on professional inspection activities. Further, an interview to managers

and Training (Vietnam Education Law, 2004).
Strategies. Refers to plans or approaches that are applicable in addressing or giving
solution to problems met.

10
Chapter II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter presents the relevant readings and literature which bear the
significance and similarities in this study. This also includes the paradigm that could help the
readers to fully understand the context of this study.
Educational Inspection Activities
The United States of America takes a special importance to educational development
to maintain the unique position of economy, technology and science. It is shown by the
numerous financial development and sharing of their society and nation. In the message to
the US nation on 4
th
February 1997, Mr. Bill Clinton said that: “I want to give out the need
for a significant contribution to take our country into 21
st
era, to maintain our economy,
promote education, technology and science.” In this regard, one strategy for monitoring
teaching and learning in schools and for enhancing quality and raising standards which has
received a great deal of attention over the years concerns supervision by inspection to

contribute to increasingly complex and changing society.
In many countries where inspectoral system of supervision of schools is conducted,
the responsibility for school inspection lies with the Inspectorates. For example, in Scotland,
as explained by McGlynn and Stalker (2005), Her Majesty’s Inspectorate (HMI) is in-charge
with the following major inspectoral responsibilities: (a) to undertake a program of
inspections of individual schools and colleges and of key aspects of education; (b) to monitor
arrangements for quality assurance in education through the Inspectorate’s Audit Unit; (c) to
provide frank and objective advice through the Inspectorate’s Chief Inspector of Schools to 12
the Secretary of State; and (d) to ensure that educational initiatives are implemented
effectively.
Similarly, in South Africa, as noted by Chetty, Chisholm, Gardiner, Magan, and
Vinjevold (2009), the Inspectorate is primarily concerned with and is divided into
management functions and advisory services. However, they argued, the functional
effectiveness in terms of quality of teaching and learning and the instruments used to assess
teacher competencies are highly limited.
According to Wilcox and Gray (2011), inspection, as a mode of monitoring education,
offers the following major benefits: it gives inspectors an opportunity to observe classrooms
and, thereby, a better basis for discussing the development of the school with head teachers;
it gives school inspectors an opportunity to learn about the schools, the head teachers, the
teachers, the curriculum, and the students and indicates which way forward; it can be a
potential learning experience for those involved; it should provide useful information for
parents in their choice of schools; it leads to a better understanding of schools; it enhances
staff cooperation and public recognition that the school is basically on the right track; and it
boosts staff morale.
According to Hargreaves (2010), the following four basic assumptions underlie
school inspection:1. Inspection is an effective and cost-effective method for improving
schools;2. The inspection process leads to a set of recommendations which describe the main

According to Wanga (2008), the main purpose of legal provision for school inspection
is to enable the Education Inspector as representative of the government and the people to
satisfy himself that educational standards are being maintained or improved, and that the
schools and colleges are being conducted in accordance with national aims and policies. 14
Seen from a legal standpoint, therefore, inspection is an instrument with which the political
and administrative authorities maintain a necessary contact with schools, teachers, and the
community.
According to Okumbe (2004), in some countries, school inspection seems to be
viewed as a process of checking other people’s work to ensure that bureaucratic regulations
and procedures are followed and that loyalty to the higher authorities are maintained. This
view of inspection overlooks the professional interests and needs of the teaching personnel.
Inspection process conducted with this view in mind, may not be effective in facilitating
educational quality or in improving teaching and learning in educational institutions.
Based on the survey conducted by Kamuyu (2006) in Kenya, he stated that school
inspection is conducted for the following six major reasons: (1) To have an overview of the
quality of education, based performance indicators of the performance of an educational
institution (benchmarks) and to report back to the educational institutions to enable them plan
improvement strategies; (2) To supervise the implementation of school curriculum; (3) To
help diagnose the problems and shortcomings in the implementation of the curriculum; (4)
To identify some of the discipline problems encountered in schools; (5) To monitor and to
improve teaching and learning in schools; and (6) To provide guidance to schools on how
they can improve.
Moreover, the purposes of inspection may be prompted by the following four major
factors : a) agreed inspection plans and work programs at national, provincial, district,
divisional, or zonal levels; (b) inspectors’ personal initiatives; (c) adverse reports or
anonymous correspondence from the stakeholders and school managers asking for inspection;
and (d) follow-up inspection from concerns indicated in the previous inspection report.