VVOB – education for development is delighted to announce the extension of our Integrating Play-based Learning Activities among Young Learners (iPLAY) project with support from the LEGO Foundation. From 2019 to 2023, the project contributed significantly to supporting the Ministry of Education in Vietnam to equip school leaders and teachers in primary schools with the competences needed to systematically integrate play-based learning pedagogies into their school environment and classroom practice. Now, thanks to an extension, the project will run until 2025 — an extra 18 months to continue working in the original eight provinces as well as expand to Binh Duong province reaching an estimated 40,000 school leaders and teachers.
Until recently, the idea of combining learning and play was not widely understood or practiced among educators in Vietnam but thanks to a new curriculum under the National Education Programme (2018) and the support of VVOB’s iPLAY project, school leaders and teachers are embracing their playful side as play-based learning methodologies get adopted nationwide in early childhood education and primary education. According to Luong Thi Huong, a primary school teacher in Vietnam who participated in the iPLAY project, her ambition is ensuring her young students not only learn and acquire new knowledge but enjoy the process of doing so. In other words, she is striving to make learning fun.
Learning and play, an inseparable duo
Play-based learning is an educational approach centred around the use of play as a primary process for children’s learning and development. Play is not just a recreational activity, but it is fundamental for children to learn, allowing them to focus on multiple learning domains simultaneously.
“Play-based learning is a fairly new approach of learning as a process but, in general, it has led to a safe learning environment, a joyful classroom and growing levels of trust and love from parents,” says Luong. Luong was part of the iPLAY programme, enjoying its support during teacher trainings with an emphasis on this play-based learning approach. In addition to trainings such as the ones Luong attended, the iPLAY project has supported teacher professional development through the creation of guides and an e-course which by the end of 2023, benefitted over 149,000 teachers, 681,000 students, and 1,429,000 parents nationwide.
The project’s focus on teacher professional development supports the government’s move to a competency-based curriculum shifting from a focus on academic and rote learning to a more holistic approach to learning.
Play is the way
Play-based learning encourages learners to actively engage with their environment, materials, and activities. It involves manipulating objects, experimenting, exploring and taking an active role in the learning process. Through interactions with the world and their peers, students learn from their experiences, fostering communication, collaboration and negotiation skills.
For play-based learning pedagogies to successfully work and be used by teachers, school leaders and caregivers in Vietnam, a fundamental change is needed in their deep-seated beliefs about learning. Teacher Nong Thi Linh Giang was one such teacher who needed to change their perspective to adapt to the new methodologies. “Teachers were used to lecturing students,” Nong says, herself included, and “needed students to simply absorb the knowledge, without autonomy or self-discovery.”
When the 2018 general curriculum was introduced, teachers like Nong struggled a lot with knowing how to help students develop their competencies and qualities. However, according to Nong, when play-based learning was introduced as an educational approach, there was a new way to effectively implement the educational goals. “Involving play in the learning process has led to more autonomy and general success among my students,” says Nong. Learning can no longer be seen as just a process of memorising and cognitive effort. As emphasised by Nong, it became a dynamic process in which play plays a significant role.
Primary school teacher Vo Thi Hong Thuy is finding similar results in her classroom since switching to play-based learning too. “Involving playful elements and games into teaching practices not only helps students become more independent, but also more confident, and helps them learn more and cooperate better” she explains.
After iPLAY 1.0, comes iPLAY 2.0
Since 2019, VVOB has been working with the Ministry of Education in Vietnam to integrate this new play-based learning approach into teacher training through the existing in-service professional development systems, as part of the iPLAY-programme, supported by the LEGO Foundation. Being a fairly new approach to teaching, play-based learning methodologies were not known, or insufficiently known, among teachers, school leaders and caregivers. With the right training, this new form of teaching and its benefits can be fully explored and the current extension, will enable us to further continue this work in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, the Primary Education Department and the Department of Teachers and Education Administrators.
Our evaluation of the project indicates significant progress on emerging teacher practices connected with the play-based learning approach; for example, involving more games, more physical play and instances of symbolic play. Also, teacher attitudes towards play in the learning process have altered significantly. For teacher Vo Thi Hong Thuy, the approach has not only positively impacted her practices but also her attitude: “Play-based learning helps my teaching work a lot. I feel happy, I love my job more, and I am excited when my students are excited and happy while learning.”
With the extension of iPLAY, we have an opportunity to further broaden the reach of the project and the impact of integrating play in the learning process through training teachers, school leaders and caregivers. The extension allows us to further strengthen the capacity of national, provincial and district level authorities, who will widen the dissemination of the iPLAY resources and results through coordination and collaboration. We now also have more opportunities to deepen discussions with the Ministry of Education around the upkeep and expansion of iPLAY, ensuring its scaling and sustainability.
The extension of 18 months will allow us and our partners to further advance equitable education in Vietnam. More teachers will be introduced to this play-based learning approach during their training. Of course, we too will incorporate play into trainings for educators because as Vo Thi Hong Thuy eloquently puts it: “Only when they have fun will they have the spirit to learn and then participate. If it’s not fun, no one will participate. Fun is the first condition of play-based learning.”
Learn more about the iPLAY programme, its approach and its achievements.
