THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

TON THI NGOC HANH

PERFECTING THE DEVELOPMENT POLICY FOR

HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPALS IN TAY NGUYEN AREA

(THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS)

Specialty: Educational Management

Code: 62.14.01.14

SUMARY OF DOCTOR DISSERTATION

IN EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT

THAI NGUYEN – 2017

The Dissertation was completed in:

TNU – UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

Supervisors:

1. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi My Loc

2. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen

Reviewer No.1: .............................................

Reviewer No.2: .............................................

Reviewer No.3: .............................................

The Dissertation will be evaluated at the State Council held at:

TNU-University of Education

At: hour ... date ... month ...year 2017

Dissertation can be found at:

RESEARCHER’S PUBLICATIONS

1. Ton Thi Ngoc Hanh (2014), “The issue of human resource

development for educational managers at high school in Tay

Nguyen Area”, Journal of Science and Technology, Thai

Nguyen University, Vol. 129 (15), p131.

2. Ton Thi Ngoc Hanh (2016), “Fostering policies for high school

principals in Tay Nguyen Area: Reality and Solutions”, Journal

of Educational Equipment, Vol. 127, p86.

3. Ton Thi Ngoc Hanh (2016), “Realities of recruitment for high

school principals in Tay Nguyen Area”, Journal of Educational

Equipment, Vol. 130, p139.

4. Ton Thi Ngoc Hanh (2016), “Measures for perfecting

development policy for high school principals in Tay Nguyen

Area”, Journal of Educational Management, Institute of

Educational Management, Vol. 11, p77.

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INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale The Central Highlands (Tay Nguyen) is a mountainous area in

the southwest of Central Vietnam. The Central Highlands is strategically important, with great military, economic and cultural and social potentials and advantages.

The requirements of the renovation period have raised the questions of the quality of human resources, in order to ensure the sustainable development of the Central Highlands. To achieve this objective, it is vital to take considerations on the development of educational managers in general and high school principals in particular in Tay Nguyen Area. At present, the majority of high school principals in the Central Highlands has some limitations, and thus does not well meet the requirements of education reform.

Inspired by the above realities, the researcher has decided to work on the study: “Perfecting the development policy for high school principals in Tay Nguyen Area (the Central Highlands)” as the fulfillment of her dissertation in the speciality of Educational Management.

2. Objectives of the research Based on research on theories and practices of policies and

policy perfection for the development of high school principals in Tay Nguyen Area (Central Highlands), the dissertation proposes a number of measures to improve the development policy for high school principals in order to improve the quality of the workforce of high school principals in Tay Nguyen Area (Central Highlands), contributing to improve the quality of education and training in the Central Highlands to meet the requirements of fundamental and comprehensive innovation in education. 3. Research objects and subjects

Research subjects: Development policy for principals in public high schools.

Research objects: Perfecting the development policy for principals in public high schools in Tay Nguyen Area.

4. Research hypothesis The workforce of principals in public schools in the Central

Highlands has not well met the requirements of education reform. This is due partly to the fact that the development policy for this workforce is not suitable to the specific characteristics of the region, and that policy implementation practice is facing a lot of difficulties. If the proposed

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measures for improving the development policy of high school principals enhance the democratic environment in human resource development, assess the suitability of policies, adding some standards suitable to the characteristics of high school principals in Tay Nguyen Area and supporting professional development programs for outstanding teachers for promotion preparation for principal position, the competences of high school principals in Tay Nguyen Area are enhanced to meet the demands of education reforms in the current period.

5. Research contents

5.1. Literature review on policy and perfecting development

policy for high school principals.

5.2. Surveys, analysis and evaluation of the current policy and

the perfection of development policy for high school principals in

Tay Nguyen Area (the Central Highlands).

5.3. Proposals and experiment of some measures for the

perfection of development policy for public high school principals in

Tay Nguyen Area (the Central Highlands)

6. Research scope

- Research duration: from 2012 to 2015.

- Research area: Public high schools in the provinces of Lam

Dong, Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Gia Lai and Kon Tum.

- Subjects: 202 administrators and managers at all levels

(Ministry / Department / Bureaucracy) and high school principals.

7. Methodology and Methods

7.1. Methodology: The dissertation approaches the topic from the

perspective of the Party and State, history - logic, system and practice.

7.2. Research methods: In order to fulfill its tasks, the dissertation

employs some research methods:

7.2.1. Theoretical methods: Those methods include analysis,

synthesis, systematization and generalization of domestic and

international literature in order to study concepts, terms, and

theoretical issues related to the dissertation. On this basis, syntheses

of the literature are conducted to create a system for the awareness of

the relation among the theoretical issues as the foundation for more

profound understanding of the literature.

7.2.2. Empirical methods: Questionnaires, interviews, expert

consultancy, experience summary, experiments.

7.2.3. Supportive methods: Using the statistics to process the survey results.

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8. Research points 8.1. High school principals play an important role in the quality of

upper secondary education. To develop a team of qualified principals that

meet the requirements of education reforms, policies should be made in

accordance with regional characteristics; therefore, it is necessary that

adjustments and additions are needed to improve the policy.

8.2. The development policy for high school principals in the

Central Highlands remains inadequate. The improvement of policies

for mountainous education has been well acknowledged; The

common policy has generally been applied for all subjects in all areas

across the country and thus it has not promoted the encouragement

and support for enhancing the capacities of the principals. As a

consequence, there are a number of principals who do not well meet

the demands of education innovation practices.

8.3. Measures to improve the development policy high school

principals in the Central Highlands require the promotion of

democratic environment in human resource, adding some standards

suitable to the characteristics of high school principals in Tay

Nguyen Area and support professional development programs for

outstanding teachers for promotion preparation for principal position.

9. Research contributions

9.1. In theories

The research results have contributed to the enrichment of literature

on policy and the completeness of development policy for high school

principals. The dissertation has added the step of policy perfection in

policy process (which includes 6 steps: Problem identification; Policy

formulation and approval; Policy implementation; Policy impact

assessment; Policy ending and Policy perfection).

9.2. In practices - The paper has successfully assessed the current state of

development policy and proposed the step of perfection in

development policy for public high school principals in Tay Nguyen

Area; identifying strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and

challenges, the impact of policy system on the development of public

high school principals in Tay Nguyen Area.

- The research has proposed 05 measures for development policy of

public high school principals in Tay Nguyen Area: Enhancing the

democratic environment in human resource development, especially for

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educational managers; Assessing the suitability of policies in training,

fostering and using the team of high school principals in Tay Nguyen

Area; Adding some standards suitable to the characteristics of high

school principals in Tay Nguyen Area and supporting professional

development programs for outstanding teachers for promotion

preparation for principal position; Building an overall strategic project

for training educational managers in Tay Nguyen Area.

10. Dissertation outline

In addition to the Introduction, Appendix, References,

Conclusions and Recommendations, the dissertation is presented in

three chapters as follows:

Chapter 1: The rationale for perfecting the development policy

for high school principals.

Chapter 2: Situation of completing development policy for high

school principals.

Chapter 3: Measures to improve the development policy for high

school principals.

Chapter 1. THE RATIONALE FOR PERFECTING THE

DEVELOPMENT POLICY FOR HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPALS

1.1. Literature review

1.1.1. Previous international studies

In the last years of the twentieth century, many researches on

educational management and educational managers, principals and

policies for principals and education administrators have been

publishes including the studies of Colin Evers, Judith Chapman;

Gerald Grace Brent Davies, Routledge Falmer; Rene Saran, Vernon

Trafford, Taylor & Francis; Tony Bush, Marianne Coleman ...

1.1.2. Previous studies in Vietnam

The issues of the development of educational managers and policy

development for educational managers have been studied by many

Vietnamese educational scientists such as Dang Ba Lam, Pham Thanh

Nghi; Le Van Thanh; Nguyen Hong Hai; Cao Thi Thanh Xuan ...

1.2. Basic concepts

1.2.1. Policy and policy perfection 1.2.1.1. Policy

Policy is the specific principles to implement some goal and task

in the shortest time in specific areas. The nature, content and

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direction of the policy depend on the nature of the strategy, the

political, economic, cultural and social tasks. To determine the right

policy, there is a requirement to base on the practical situation in

each sector and stage so that goals and directions defined in the

overall strategies and tasks are maintained as well as flexible

application in specific circumstances and conditions are performed.

1.2.1.2. Policy-making process and policy implementation

The policy-making process must go through six stages: (1)

Identifying policy issues; (2) Policy formulation and policy adoption;

(3) Policy implementation; (4) Policy impact assessment; (5) Policy

ending and (6) Policy perfection.

Policy perfection is a stage of policy-making process, adjusting

the objectives, contents and conditions of policy implementation to

minimize gaps and develop its relevance to reality. At the same time,

the legal framework has been adapted to be applied in practice, with

the expectation of feasibility and continuity of existing policies,

being constantly supplemented with a respect to its practical features.

1.2.2. High school principals and development of high school principal

1.2.2.1. The concept of principals and concepts of high

school principal teams In this thesis, the concept of principal is understood as "civil

servants, who are appointed or recognized by state agencies and are

leaders and responsible for the management of the high school."

Based on previous studies, the high school principal team is the

gathering of high school principals who have the same leading and

management functions in high schools in order to obtain the common

goals of the school level.

1.2.2.2. Positions and roles of high school principals in the context of

education reforms

High school principals are the high quality human resource in the

education sector, who are the key staff in the high schools and have

the main responsibility in implementing and organizing the

implementation of all guidelines and policies of the Party and the

State and the superior.

1.2.2.3. Requirements of qualifications and competencies of high

school principals in the context of education reforms

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On October 22, 2009, the Minister of Education and Training

promulgated the Regulations on Standards for Principals in junior

secondary schools, senior secondary schools and multi-level general

schools with three standards which are a systems of requirements for

the principal on political qualities and professional ethics;

professional and pedagogical competencies, leadership and school

management competencies.

1.2.2.4. Perceptions and needs of the principal team

The principal always has needs including "the need to express

themselves." It is an important driving force to promote the

development of high school principal team.

1.2.2.5. Awareness and teachers’ competences

Awareness and attitudes towards professional development of

each individual staff and teacher have great influence on the

development of the team of high school principals.

1.2.2.6. The importance of developing higher school principals in the

context of education reform

Our Party identifies the rapid development of human resources

as one of three breakthrough strategies, a key solution to the success

of the fundamental and comprehensive innovation in education.

1.3. Perfecting the development policy for high school principals

in the context of education reforms

1.3.1. The importance of policy and the improvement of high school

principals Improving the development policy for the team of high school

principals is a factor that encourages principals’ professional

development to meet the requirements of education reform.

1.3.2. Contents of the development policy of high school students

Figure 1.3. Map of contents in the development policy for high

school principals

1.3.3. Perfecting the development policy for high school principals

DEVELOPMENT POLICY FOR HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPALS

POLICIES ON

RECRUITMENT

AND PROMOTION

POLICY ON

TRAINING AND

PROFESSIONAL

DEVELOPMENT

POLICY ON

ASSESSMENT

AND

EVALUATION

POLICY ON

REMUNERATION

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Perfecting the development policy for high school principals in the Central Highlands is a stage (phase) in the education policy process, including the adjustment of objectives, contents and conditions for the implementation of development policies for high school principals (recruitment and promotion policies), training and retraining policy, evaluation and classification policy, remuneration policy) to overcome inadequacies for better suitability for Tay Nguyen Area (the Central Highlands).

Upon the improvement of the development policy for high school principals, attentions should be paid to the following characteristics: (1) The relation to community objectives; (2) The effects by the demands of high quality human resources for industrialization and modernization and comprehensive education reforms; (3) The dominance of the characteristics of general education, the new general education curriculum in post-2018 period; (4) The dominance of innovation in management mechanism. 1.4. Influencing factors in the completion of the development policy for high school principals

In addition to the factors of international environmental conditions, natural and social environment, the following factors have a direct impact on the completion of the policy of development policy for high school principals: (1) State management system; (2) The leadership policies of a state; (3) Mechanisms and policies of the state. 1.5. International experiences in improving the development policy for the high school principals The issues of development of high school principals have attracted a lot of considerations in many different countries (UK, the USA, Germany, Australia, South Korea, Philippines, Switzerland, China, Malaysia, etc.). Each country has its own policies and improvement of development policy for the high school principals as dedicated in: - Policies and policy improvement in recruitment and promotion of principals; - Policies and policy improvement in training and professional development for principals; - Policies and policy improvement in evaluation and classification of principals; - Policies and policy improvement in remuneration of principals.

Conclusion Study on "Perfecting the development policy for high school

principals in Tay Nguyen Area (the Central Highlands)" with the

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scientific arguments on educational management, educational policies, policies and improvement of development policy for high school principals. Research results are needed to propose some measures to perfect the development policy for high school principals, aiming to develop this team to ensure the standardization in training level, quality, sufficient quantity and structural synchronicity.

In order to take the advantages of the research results as a scientific foundation for policy development of high school principals, the process of proposing measures for policy must be consistent with the characteristics of human resource development, policy development in education as well as adherent to rules in policy development process. The most important consideration is to be consistent with the viewpoints and guidelines of the Party and the laws of the State and must be consistent with particular features of each locality.

Hence, the project objectives are to apply the theories in educational management, human resource development, the development of educational policies, policy implementation and the perfection of development policy for high school principals in order to propose practical and appropriate measures for perfection of development policy: Recruitment and promotion, Training and professional development, Evaluation and classification, Remuneration policy for high school principals in the context of market economy, integration and globalization to achieve the goal of industrialization and modernization of the country.

Chapter 2. PRACTICES IN THE PERFECTION OF DEVELOPMENT POLICY FOR HIGH SCHOOL

2.1. Overview of the socio-economic situation in Tay Nguyen Area (the Central Highlands)

The Central Highlands is a mountainous region with five provinces: Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Dak Lak, Dak Nong and Lam Dong. It has a natural area of 54641.1 km2 and a population of 5,460,400 people. Average population density is 100 persons/km2. Tay Nguyen is an important strategic location of the country, which is bordered by the central coastal provinces in the north and east, Laos and Cambodia in the west borders and southwest provinces in the south. 2.2. General information of the Central Highlands education and characteristics in the upper secondary education 2.2.1. Overview of the scale and quality of education and training in the Central Highlands 2.2.1.1. On the scale of educational development

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Implementing the policies and guidelines of the Party and the State, the Central Highlands provinces have taken advantage of revolutionary tradition of resilience, making great efforts to renovate the system of education left by the previous regimes, socialist orientation, establish and develop the new education with socialist orientation. 2.2.1.2. About the quality of education

The quality of education and training in the provinces of the

Central Highlands has reached more and more stability, the rate of

outstanding students, particularly those from ethnic minorities has

increased significantly. Educators and educational administrators are

qualified in terms of quantity, quality and are willing for continuing

professional learning and improving their political spirits and

profession deserve to be a good exemplary for students.

2.2.2. The current status of high school principal in the Central

Highlands

The results show that the percentage of principals rated excellent and

good occupies up to 99%, which does not correspond to the actual

quality of operation of high schools in the region, and thus there should

be serious considerations of the organization of assessment, self-

awareness of the assessment subjects and the management of the

agencies implementing the current evaluation of principals.

2.3. Survey introduction

2.3.1. Purposes of the survey

To examine the implementation of policies for the development of

high school principals, exploring the proposed measures to improve

development policy for high school principals in the Central Highlands.

2.3.2. The subject, time and place of the research

Subjects: 52 educational administrators in departments/bureaucracies

of education and training and 150 principals of public high schools.

The survey period is from September 2014 to October 2015 in

departments/bureaucracies of education and training, high schools in the

provinces of Dak Nong, Dak Lak, Kon Tum, Gia Lai and Lam Dong.

2.3.3. Survey contents

The researcher has chosen to carry out a survey on the

practices of policy development for high school principals in the

Central Highlands, including four groups of policies: recruitment

and promotion policies for high school principals, training and

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fostering policies, evaluation and classification policies and

remuneration policies.

2.3.4. Survey methods and instruments

The survey instruments include questionnaires, in-depth

interviews, expert consultancy and mathematical statistics.

2.4. Current status of policies and implementation of development

policies for high school principals in Tay Nguyen Area

The evaluation of educational managers and principals about the

current status of implementation of development policy for high

school principals in Tay Nguyen Area is reflected in four criteria:

recruitment and promotion policies; Training and fostering policies;

evaluation and classification policies; remuneration policies as shown

in the summary below:

2.4.1. Current state of recruitment and promotion policies

Table 2.12. Evaluation of policy implementation in recruitment and

promotion of high school principals in Tay Nguyen Area

Subjects Average

score

Degree (%)

Weak Fairy weak

Average Fairly good

Good

Educational managers

3.27 1.9 3.8 61.5 30.8 1.9

Principals 3.69 0.7 1.3 62.0 31.3 4.7

2.4.2. Current state of training and fostering policies

Table 2.14. Evaluation of training and fostering policies

for high school principals in Tay Nguyen Area

Subjects Average

score

Degree (%)

Weak Fairy weak

Average Fairly good

Good

Educational managers

3.06 1.9 11.6 67.3 17.3 1.9

Principals 3.72 1.3 10.0 57.3 23.4 8.0

2.4.3. Current state of evaluation and classification policies for

high school principals

Table 2.17. Current state of evaluation and classification policies

for high school principals in Tay Nguyen Area

Subjects Average

score

Degree (%)

Weak Fairy weak

Average Fairly good

Good

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Educational managers

3.19 3.8 0.0 75.0 19.2 1.9

Principals 3.59 2.7 0.0 42.7 48.0 6.7

2.4.4. Current state of remuneration policies for high school

principals

Table 2.19. Current state of remuneration policies for high school

principals in Tay Nguyen Area

Subjects Subjects

Average score

Weak Fairy weak

Average Fairly good

Good

Educational managers

3.29 1.9 15.4 62.3 12.7 7.7

Principals 3.11 1.2 8.7 68.7 20.7 0.7

2.4.5. A general evaluation of the current state of policy and implementation of the development policy for high school

principals in Tay Nguyen Area 2.4.5.1. General evaluation

In recent years, in parallel with the renovation in educational management, strengthening the decentralization of management, the policy system for the development of the high school principals in Tay Nguyen Area has been implemented, creating a range of positive impacts on the quality of education and development of high school principals.

In general, development policy for high school principals were highly rated by educational administrators and principals (3.0 ≤ Average score ≤ 4.0). Recruitment and promotion policies for principals are most appreciated (principals: 3.69, educational administrators: 3.27). Remuneration policies were rated the least (principals: 3.11, educational administrators: 3.29). 2.4.5.2. Causes of limitations

- There are many inadequacies in the policy system, including the policy system for education administration staff and in development policy for high school principals.

-There is an irrelevance between the development of policies for education administration staff and those for teachers.

- The scale of education is on the rise trend, the cultural diversity is becoming richer and richer, the inputs of high schools in the area are more complex than other regions in the country. Therefore,

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beside the general policy of the whole country, the State should introduce policy development guidelines guaranteed by the state budget suitable to each region.

- Policies for principals are built on the "background" of teacher

development policy in general and thus demonstrate some inequality

and are in slow improvement progress appropriate to realities.

2.5. Current state of improving the development policy for high

school principals in Tay Nguyen

2.5.1. Current state of improving the development policy

(i) The evaluation of the current state of adjustment of development

policies for high school principals in the Central Highlands as shown

in the responses of two subjects (educational administrators and

principals) demonstrates some similarities with low average scores.

This shows that the general policy applied for all subjects in all regions

is quite common. It can be seen that most of the policies for high

school principals in the Central Highlands (survey area) are not

different from those in other parts of the country.

(ii) The evaluation of the current state of improvement in policy

development are different in the two groups of subjects; the majority of

principals claim that general policies are not adjusted to better fit realities.

2.5.2. Practical issues that need to be addressed in selecting a policy

improvement measure

(i) With regards to the recruitment and promotion policies for

principals, in the Central Highlands, the principal is appointed from

outstanding teachers with good pedagogical capacity and

revolutionary enthusiasm. This prolonged form of recruitment and

promotion has shown some inappropriateness with the current state

in which school management are tend to approach modern models

such as school-based management, result-based management, total

quality management. Therefore, principals are required to be

professional; principals must receive adequate training before the

appointment.

ii) With respects to the policy in training and professional

development, the majority of educational administrators have been

provided training in management right after their appointment.

Recently, Departments of Education and Training have coordinated

with the School of Educational Administrators to organize new

training courses in which there are updates of new knowledge, which

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has created changes in perceptions of educational managers about the

new educational management model. Regarding the contents of the

fostering program, principals in the Central Highlands, in addition to

the general requirements of the education sector, need to be provided

the following contents:

Firstly, the principal should be equipped with the knowledge of

regional and local cultural diversity. On that basis, they are required

to formulate the strategy to build a suitable educational environment,

defining the vision of the school development plan to meet the needs

and aspirations of the locality.

Secondly, the principal should be supplied with knowledge and

skills for national reconciliation. On that basis, they are supposed to

propose measures to build solidarity within and outside the school as

well as measures to mobilize resources in the society for the

development of the school.

Thirdly, the principal should be fostered feelings and beliefs for

the development of the Central Highlands so that they are ready to

sacrifice their personal interests, contributing efforts to overcome

difficulties and set a good model in uniting and leading the school to

improve the quality of education in accordance with local conditions.

On the other hand, for many reasons, the amount of time spent on

practice is too little, especially the problem solving skills due to the

inequality of educational development policy.

(iii) With regards to evaluation and classification policies, the

evaluation and classification of high school principals have not been

implemented based on reality survey. The reason is that there is too

much overlap of evaluation tools but yet there are still inadequacies:

policies in post-evaluation and classification stage are ambiguous and

thus do not create new motivation for the administration staff after

evaluation and classification; there are no suitable regulations with

respect to regional characteristics, types of schools (specialized

schools, schools with big population of ethnic minorities).

(iv) Regarding remuneration policy, the principal does not have

any preferential remuneration policy. In reality, the principal is the

person in charge of leading and managing a school, performing the

tasks of education development of the sector and the socio-economic

development of the locality. In the extremely difficult areas, the

pressure to complete these tasks is very great, but the current

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treatment regime is not adequate (in fact, there is a status of "level-

off"), the original attraction policies is not adequate for a long lasting

attachment with the locality. Moreover, when changing the management method, with actual

decentralization, principals are those who are responsible for the majority of the school operation, so there should be changes in salary policy. Educational administrators must have their own wage scale, not only on the basis of the current salary scale and the allowance regime. In order to overcome the inadequacies and overlap in remuneration regimes, it is necessary to apply these regimes to principals, focusing on the salary policy of civil educational administrators.

Conclusion Research on the current state of development policy for high school

principals in the Central Highlands, the results show that: (1) The planning work in human resource development for educational administrators, especially for high school principals has not been paid much attention; (2) Forms of recruitment and appointment of principals from outstanding teachers with good pedagogical skills and revolutionary enthusiasm which are long-lasting are not suitable for the present; principals have not received adequate training before the promotion; The democratic factors, publicity and clearness in the process of recruitment and appointment of principals have not been taken seriously; (3) Forms and ways of organizing training reforms have demonstrated slow changes, not taking learners as the centre, offering learners one-way, passive knowledge; The contents of the fostering program have not updated the knowledge and skills that meet the needs of principals in the Central Highland; (4) There are too many evaluation but inadequate assessment tools in evaluation and classification of the principals: post-evaluation and classification policies are ambiguous, not creating new motives for the principal. There are no suitable regulations focusing on regional characteristics and types of school.

Chapter 3. MEASURES FOR THE PERFECTION OF POLICY DEVELOPMENT FOR HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPALS

IN TAY NGUYEN AREA 3.1. Guidelines of the Party and State in the development of the principal team in Tay Nguyen Area 3.2. Principles in measure formulation for the perfection of policy development for high school principals in Tay Nguyen Area 3.2.1. Principles of purpose guarantee

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3.2.2. Principles of scientific guarantee 3.2.3. Principles of insurance for inheritance and development of the current guidelines and policies for educational development 3.2.4. Principles of guarantee for practicality and feasibility 3.2.5. Principles of guarantee for integrity and consistency system 3.3. Measures for the perfection of policy development for high school principals in Tay Nguyen Area 3.3.1. Measure 1: Enhancing the democratic factor in the development of civil servants, especially of educational administrators in Tay Nguyen Area

(i) Purposes:

The purpose of the measure is to expand the democracy in

development of civil servants in general and in the process of

recruitment and promotion to take advantage of the wide

participation of related organizations and individuals in the

development of high school principals in Tay Nguyen Area in both

quantity and quality.

(ii) Contents:

(1) Improving the forecast of the development scale of the high

school system.

(2) Deploying the planning of staff resources for upper secondary

education.

(3) Publicize the criteria and standards for the subjects of the

planning, resourcing and promotion criteria as well as the procedures

of the stages.

(iii) Implementation process

Organize negotiation between the Standing Council of the Party

Committee, the People's Committee of the district with

representatives of the Department of Education and Training.

(iv) Conditions for implementation

Under the guidance of the provincial Party Committee and

People's Committee; the coordination of the Party Committee and the

District People's Committee in order to promote democracy in the

human resource development in general and the process of

recruitment and promotion of principals in particular.

3.3.2. Measure 2: Organizing the evaluation of the appropriateness

of policies on training, fostering and employing of high school

principals in Tay Nguyen Area

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(i) Purposes and Significance: Evaluating the effectiveness of

development policies for the high school principals in Tay Nguyen

Area, including policies of resourcing, attraction, fostering, employing

and transfer of the staff; identifying the success indicators and the

causes of success and failure for arguments of the following measures.

(ii) Contents:

Building a set of survey criteria, survey toolkit and survey

conditions;

Deploying the principal's capacity evaluation through the direct

channel;

Proposing measures that take regional characteristics, ethnic

minorities and educational qualifications of high school principals in

the Central Highlands provinces into consideration.

(iii) Implement methods: The provincial Party committees (the

Organizing Committee in charge of advising) coordinate with the

Central Highlands Steering Committee and the Ministry of Education

and Training to direct the Project for development of the regional and

interregional educational administrators. This task is implemented

through activities of committees, seminars, and related projects.

(iv) Conditions for implementation: There is coordination

between the Personnel of the Party Committee in the district and

Personnel Division of the Department of Education and Training and

the Board of high school leaders.

There should be a document stipulating criteria, resourcing

conditions, transfer and appointment of high school principals by

Provincial People's Committees.

3.3.3. Measure 3: Adding typical features of high school principals

in Tay Nguyen Area

(i) Purpose:

To supplement the criteria in Circular 29 with specific and practical

elements, contributing to the improvement of the development policy for

high school principals in the Central Highlands.

(ii) Content

Organizing the research group to review the Circular;

Building data system of high school principals;

Adjusting and supplementing the recruiting criteria for the Principal

(which may be added to the written decision of the authorized

commissar of the personnel):

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(iii) Implementation methods:

Carrying out a review of the relevant documents: the policy of the

provincial Party Committee, district Party Committee on personnel;

procedures for promulgation of personnel documents of the

provincial People's Committee; develop a plan for the improvement

of policies; proposing the policy to the authorities to make decision,

promulgate and notify the stakeholders.

(iv) Conditions for implementation

There is coordination between the district Party Committee, the

Department of Home Affairs, the Department of Education and

Training, high schools, experts in educational management in research

institutes, local government committees and in-office principals.

There should be a system of documents related to the personnel

policy of the provincial Party Committee, regulations on personnel

work of the provincial People's Committee, selection criteria for high

schools principals.

3.3.4. Measure 4: Developing development plan for outstanding

teachers to be promoted as principals in order to create a

breakthrough in the resources for high school principals in the

Central Highlands.

(i) Purposes

In order to make a strong leap in policies of fostering outstanding

teachers to supplement the sources of the principals, contributing to

limiting current less feasible policies.

(ii) Content

+ Building training programs for local outstanding teachers to be

promoted as principals to proactively prepare human resources,

ensuring democracy and raise the strategic level for personnel work.

+ Publicizing the sources of principals from the stage of

determining talents and leadership potentials of the selected

outstanding teachers to encourage motivation and create

opportunities for advancement for everyone.

+ Identifying the position and opportunities of the future principal

+ The fostering program for outstanding teachers must be based

on the Standard Framework for high school principals.

(iii) Implementation methods

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Step 1: Determining the criteria for selecting teachers who

demonstrate potentials in competencies and personalities to meet the

requirements of future principals.

Step 2: Conducting interviews or essays (in form of reports); the

selecting rate is 200-300% (2-3 candidates for the position of one principal)

Step 3: Selecting subject topics and contents suitable for each

target group and in accordance with each local realities.

Step 4: Organizing training programs in the local.

Step 5: Awarding the certificate to the qualified person and

including them and in the human resource development plan.

(iv) Conditions for implementation

There should be support from the Department of Teachers and

Educational Administrators, specialists and lecturers at research

institutes and universities.

There is a regulation on criteria for selection of teachers to be

trained and the standards of the instructors by the Ministry of

Education and Training.

There is a plan to organize a training program for outstanding

teachers to be promoted as high school principals in Tay Nguyen Area.

3.3.5. Measure 5: Developing an overall training plan for the

educational administrators at strategic level for the Central

Highlands

(i) Purposes

In order to solve the problem of educational management staff in the

Central Highlands in a fundamental, strategic and long-term manner, in

order to improve the quality of human resources development to meet

the requirements of socio-economic development.

ii) Main contents

Contents of the overall project: (1) Renovating of the management and leadership in the training, re-

training and fostering of educational administrators. 2) Reviewing educational administrators’ needs in training re-training and retraining (3) Promoting propaganda on training, retraining and fostering of high school managers (4) Promoting socialization and internationalization in training, re-training and fostering high school management staff; (5) Developing contents, training, re-training and fostering programs for high schools management board; (6) Renovating methods and forms of training, re-training and fostering programs for high school administrators in Tay

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Nguyen Area; (7) Renewing the assessment and evaluation in training, re-training and fostering programs for high school administrators; (8) Enhancing capacities of trainers and managers in training institutions; (9) Upgrading facilities and equipment of training institutions for high school managers in Tay Nguyen Area.

iii) Implementation methods: Establishing Project Management Board; determining the financial

source and total budget for implementation of the Project; developing and issuing a system of documents regulating the operation of the Project; implementing the action plan of the project in association with the regular activities of the process of building and developing the educational administrators and training institutions:

(iv) Conditions for implementation There should be support from Ministry of Education and Training,

Ministry of Home Affairs and other ministries; there should be a coordination between provincial Party Committee and People's Committee, experts and lecturers at research institutes and universities.

There has been a report on the training needs of educational administrators in the Central Highlands provinces. 3.4. Examining the necessity and feasibility of proposed measures 3.4.1. Purposes: Consulting experts on the urgency and feasibility of proposed measures to complete the development policy for high school principals in Tay Nguyen Area. 3.4.2. Implementation process: Organizing scientific seminars, inviting experts, educational administrators, high school principals to attend and discuss the proposed measures. At the end of the seminar, asking for opinions with questionnaires on the necessity and feasibility of the proposed measures (68 questionnaires). 3.4.4. Result: The majority of proposed measures were evaluated by the respondents as urgent, feasible and accordant with the development policy of the high school principals in the Central Highlands in the current period. 5/5 measures accounted for 100% of comments receive average scores X ≥ 2,50. Average scores X = 2.82. 3.5. Experimenting some contents of the recruitment and promotion policy for high school principals in the Central Highlands 3.5.1. Purposes

In order to help managers, principals and teachers find the importance of recruiting high school principals to meet the requirements of the current general education; To apply some

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contents of the proposed measures to improve the development policies for high school principals in the Central Highlands (measures 1,2,3) to check the suitability and feasibility of the proposed measures in order to supplement and improve the policy before mass deployment. 3.5.2. Subjects and experiment scope

100 managerial staff at the level of departmental and bureaucracy/ principals, vice principals and teachers at high schools in Dak Nong province; the experimental time is 12 months. 3.5.3. Experiment content

(1) Establishing criteria for recruitment of high school

principals (2) Implementing recruitment process for high school principals

3.5.4. Experiment methods and procedures Discussing with the managers of the Department of Education

and Training in Dak Nong province about the content of the experiment; Coordinating with Department of Education and Training of Dak Nong province to implement the pilot; Organizing survey content according to the data reported by the Department of Education and Training in Dak Nong province; Compiling the results of the evaluation of the relevance and feasibility of the five criteria for the experiment content. 3.5.5. Experiment results 3.5.5.1. The experiment results of criteria formulation for selection and appointment of high school principals in Dak Nong

With 11 criteria: Having master's degree or higher qualification, diploma in political theory; having certificate of educational management; having political qualities and professional ethics; having good professional capacity; Having good health; having lived and worked in the Central Highlands for more than 10 years with deep knowledge about geography, history, ethnicity of the school and students; having leadership capacity; being able to speak the language of the indigenous people (Jrai, Bana, Ede, M'Nong ...) and having knowledge about ethnic characteristics and culture of the Central Highlands region; being recognized as an outstanding teacher at the school level, having worked as a head or deputy head of the division or a leader in the Party organization or other organizations in a high school; being a ethnic minority.

Through the process of experiment, evaluation, feedback, the

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results show that the vital criteria for selecting a high school principal in Tay Nguyen Area are Criteria 3,4,5,6,7,8, 9, 10, 11, but for the high school for gifted students , high quality schools, high schools in cities and towns, the use of 11 criteria is required.

The results of the experiment are can be used as the basis for the recruitment criteria to be presented in the recruitment and appointment policies for high school principals in the Central Highlands. 3.5.5.2. Experiment results on the selection and appointment process for high school principals in Dak Nong province

The process involves the following steps: Identifying personnel needs; Making recruitment plan and submitting to Director of Department of Education and Training for approval; Reviewing and making decision; Announcing recruitment; Receiving applications and prequalification; Organizing examinations; Announcing results of the examination; Completing and submitting the application; Considering and approving the promotion decision for the selection of principals in 4 high schools (Krong No, Truong Chinh, Gia Nghia, Ethnic Boarding School) with 2 forms of recruitment and appointment.

The steps in the selection process are highly appreciated in both terms of relevance and feasibility. In the experiment process there has appeared an matter that need to be added before the stage of

Examination, namely: Recruiting qualified candidates to participate in the recruitment, after consultation with the Standing Committee of the district Party Committee.

Therefore, it is possible to select 10 steps mentioned above to be presented in the process of selection and appointment of high school principals in Central Highlands.

Conclusion Deeply grasping the views and guidelines of the Party and

Government on socio-economic development, development of education and training in the Central Highlands; adhering to the principles of development, improving the development policy for high school principals; combining scientific methods of survey, experiments, the research has identified and proposed 05 measures to improve the development policy of high school principals in Tay Nguyen area:

(1) Strengthening democratic factors in human resource development, especially education administrators in the Central Highlands;

(2) To organize the assessment of the suitability of policies on training, retraining and employing of senior high school principals in the Central Highlands;

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(3) Supplementing specific standards of high school high school principals in Tay Nguyen Area;

(4) Developing a good teacher training program to create a breakthrough in creating the principal of Tay Nguyen High School;

(5) Formulating a fostering programs for outstanding teachers to be promoted as principals in order to make remarkable changes in the training of high school principals in the Central Highlands;

By 2020, in order to meet the demand for comprehensive reform of the education system, it is required that high school principals in the Central Highlands must be transformed in both quantity and quality. Therefore, the synchronous implementation of 5 measures to improve the development policy for high school principals in the Central Highlands is very urgent and appropriate.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Conclusion

1.1. The development of educational administrator is considered a key part in our Party's educational development strategy.

1.2. The nature of the perfection process of development policies for educational administrator workforce, in which the focus is on the policies of sourcing, rotation, training and retraining as well as the appointment of the principal is a strategic breakthrough starting from modern viewpoints in management and timely adjustment from practice so that policies can be applied in realities and achieve the expected results.

The research results of the dissertation are built on the scientific basis so that the development policy of the high school principals in the Tay Nguyen provinces meets the objectives, on the basis of which the process of proposing measures must conform to the characteristics of the development policies for education. Attentions should be paid to factors influencing the implement of the policy. The measures should also be an adherence to the principles and regulations of the policy development process.

1.3. The dissertation has studied and examined the current situation of development policy of the high school principals in the Central Highlands to clarify the following issues: the system of development policies for high school principals is quite adequate, contributing to the increase in the number and quality of principals in line with the growth of the general school in the area. However but in the areas with particular difficulties there have been many quality

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problems: unreasonable structure, age, sex, ethnicity and level of training; inflexible implementation; appointers are not qualified enough; the democratic factor, source planning, the process of recruitment and appointment and evaluation are not highly acknowledged. These above mentioned limitations are due to the insufficient implementation of a number of development policies for high school principals

1.4. The dissertation has emerged from the viewpoints and guidelines of the Party and Government on socio-economic development, development of education and training in the Central Highlands region, adhering to the principles of development in order to improve the development policy for high school principals; studying the experience of countries around the world; combining scientific methods of surveys and experiments. The dissertation has identified 5 measures:

(1) Promoting democratic factors in human resource development, especially for education administrators in the Central Highlands;

(2) Reviewing the effectiveness of policies on training, retraining and employment of high school principals in the Central Highlands provinces;

(3) To supplement the specific standards for high school principals into Circular No. 29/2009 / TT-BGDDT;

(4) Developing training program for outstanding teachers to be promoted as principals in order to create a breakthrough in the sourcing policies for school principals in the Central Highlands;

(5) Developing a general training plan for the educational administrator at strategic level in the Central Highlands.

1.5. The synchronous implementation of the five measures to improve the development policy for high school principals in the Central Highlands has a strong theoretical basis with the examination of importance and urgency, capable of matching with practices in Tay Nguyen Area and thus will have a positive impact on the results of fundamental and comprehensive educational reform in the Central Highlands. 2. Recommendations 2.1. To the Government, ministries, central branches and provincial people's committees and Departments of Education and Training

The government has proposed to the National Assembly the revision of the Law on Education and to other ministries and central agencies to amend the sub-law to supplement the regulations on the

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development of high school principals in general and the Central Highlands in particular. The content to supplement includes:

(1) Organizing examinations for the position of high school principals with criteria and selection procedures suitable to the characteristics of the Central Highlands with attention paid to teachers and ethnic minority managers.

(2) Encouraging the principals' strengths in the management of

the school;

(3) Extending the involvement of the principal to attract more

professional and social forces;

(4) Diversifying contents and forms of professional development

programs for the improvement of the capacity and behavior of the

principals;

(5) Improving the working environment for the principal.

2.2. To the Institute of Educational Management and universities

of education and teachers' colleges

Proactively developing training and professional development

programs and improving capacity for staff in accordance with the

recruitment criteria.

Organizing training programs to meet the needs of principals

and potential candidates for high school pricipals in the Central

Highlands.

2.3. To high school principals in the Central Highlands

2.3.1. To the High School Principal

High school principals should actively self-assess and evaluate

based on the framework of general competences and adjust if

necessary in order to identify strengths and weaknesses, planning

self-professional development in order to effectively meet the

requirement for the development of the school as well as the

requirements for the principal's position.

High school principals should focus on planning, training and

providing fostering programs for potential candidates. At the same

time, there should be a focus on employing those with talents, virtues

so that resources for the development of the school are mobilized.

2.3.2. To the administration staff under the management of the

principals, teachers and staff in high schools

Those forces should demonstrate and express their viewpoints

and aspirations on the competencies, standards and specific criteria

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for the school principal so that the principal can peruse to develop

these standards and criteria.

These forces strictly and objectively expressing their individual

viewpoints and opinions in the evaluation of the quality and capacity

of the current principal, avoiding subjective judgments and

prejudices, lack of constructive spirit especially in the questionnaire

items which do not require scores.