Should we abolish the high school graduation exam? A candid view from an education expert

For many years, the graduation rate has been almost absolute. The high school graduation exam is serving the following purposes: to consider graduation for students, to evaluate the quality of teaching and learning at the high school level, and to serve as a basis for university admission. Public opinion has raised the question of whether the graduation exam should be abolished or not?

Tien Phong reporter had an interview with Dr. Nguyen Song Hien - education researcher to better understand this issue.

High pass rate does not mean the exam is “meaningless”

For many years, the graduation rate has been almost absolute. Do you think we should abolish the graduation exam?

In my personal opinion, a high passing rate does not mean that the exam is “meaningless”. The graduation exam is still fulfilling essential functions of the general education system.

Firstly, this is the only national exam to standardize the quality of high school teaching.

Dr. Nguyen Song Hien - educational researcher

Second, it is a tool for inspection, monitoring, and creating positive pressure for localities and schools to seriously implement the general education program, ensure quality, and achieve the set educational goals.

Third, it is also the legal basis for recognizing the completion of general education for students in the national system as a reference basis to ensure conditions for learners to participate in the domestic and international labor market after completing the general education program...

However, to make the exam more “valuable”, the Ministry of Education and Training should adjust the output standards and test content to assess capacity, not just reproduce knowledge or challenge test takers. Combine school-based assessment with final exams, in the direction of reducing exam pressure but ensuring output quality standards. And this exam should only serve one goal: graduating from high school.

In the long term, should Vietnam have a strategy to integrate with the world , separate and have its own university entrance exams like the ACT and SAT aptitude tests in the United States, sir?

This is an inevitable trend in the international education integration strategy. University admissions need to measure higher differentiation capacity, serving the goal of selecting quality human resources (thinking, logic, analysis, application, etc.). Therefore, "sharing" the high school graduation exam for university admission leads to conflicting goals. In principle, one exam cannot meet the requirements for two goals. Personally, I think that to solve this problem, Vietnam can design 1 to 2 types of national standardized competency assessment tests (National Standardized Tests) organized by an independent testing agency (following the ETS model - USA). At that time, the high school graduation exam only plays the role of completing the general education program. Universities can use the "competency" results for input (in combination or independently of the transcript). This is completely consistent with international trends and the process of implementing the policy of autonomy in higher education in Vietnam. The Ministry should not take on the responsibility of recruiting students at this level for universities.

“Ministry of Education and Training continues to organize graduation exams”

There are opinions that considering decentralizing the organization of high school graduation exams for provinces and centrally-run cities is a necessary and inevitable step to adapt to reality and comprehensively reform the education system?

In terms of modern management principles, decentralization is an inevitable trend. However, two conditions must be ensured.

Firstly, the standardization of exam questions, question matrix, and examination process must be designed by the Ministry of Education and Training to ensure systematicity, uniformity, and consistency. Secondly, independent inspection and supervision must have a separate examination unit to avoid the risk of "localizing quality". In the current context of Vietnam, it is possible to implement the "partial decentralization" plan (Ministry sets the exam questions, local authorities invigilate and grade the exams, Ministry of post-inspection).

The proposal to assign the high school graduation exam to the local level has been mentioned many times. To realize the idea of having only one effective university entrance exam, what do we need to do?

To make this a reality, we must do it step by step. Establish an independent national testing agency (National Testing Agency) separate from the Ministry of Education and Training, responsible for organizing standardized university entrance exams. Standardize the university entrance competency framework, build a test matrix based on skills (analytical thinking, logic, language, STEM...).

The Ministry of Education and Training continues to organize graduation exams as part of the general education quality assessment system.

For university admissions, universities should agree to use the results of national standardized competency tests for admissions (can be combined with academic records, interviews, etc.).

It can be affirmed that maintaining two exams (graduation & university entrance) is reasonable if the goals, tools, and organizing units are separated.

During the transition period, Vietnam should apply a transitional model: streamlined graduation exam + national standardized competency test for admission, moving towards establishing an independent examination system like developed countries.

Australia is an example. Australia is one of the countries that has operated these two components in parallel in a harmonious way. The HSC is organized by each state. Australia does not have a “national” final exam, but is divided by state and territory, each state has its own program and exam. For example, in the state of NSW, the final exam is the academic subjects of Year 12. Upon completion of this level, students are awarded a Higher School Certificate.

In Victoria, students take exams in academic subjects and are awarded the Victorian Certificate of Education. The main purpose of the exam is to recognize the completion of secondary school, and is a combination of a formative assessment and final examination. It is administered by the state, but the Federal Department of Education has issued a national competency framework (Australian Curriculum) to ensure consistent output standards.

University admissions are based on the national standardized ability score (ATAR) system. After the final exam, the results of Year 11–12 studies and non-school exams are entered into the processing system to assign an ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank). ATAR is a national ability ranking measure, ranging from 0.00 to 99.95, indicating the top % of students and is used for university admissions. Universities do not hold their own exams, but take ATAR results + some additional criteria (if necessary such as interviews, aptitude, personal profile).

Thank you!