Social Innovation in the field of Education Disadvantage reduction: A study of the mechanisms leading to social change and social impact measurement

Abstract

The Government of Vietnam has made a significant effort to enable the modernisation and transformation of the country’s education system. However, challenges still exist in providing quality education, especially in marginalised groups of children. There remains room for the involvement of other sectors in the delivery of educational transformation, under the guise of social innovation. However, the prior research focused on the change mechanisms delivered by social innovations being applied to reduce educational disadvantage remains limited. The current research adopted a qualitative approach to data collection to explore seven social innovation initiatives in Vietnam. This approach was embedded within a theoretical framework centred upon the model of social innovation in education developed by Ümarik et al. (2014), Bourdieu’s theory of reproduction of cultural capital (1977) and Boudon’s model of inequality in education opportunity (1974). A total of 35 semi-structured interviews were held with parents, school leaders, teachers, students, social innovators, and NGOs to explore defined mechanisms of change through these social innovation initiatives. The results of the thematic analysis highlighted the lack of representation in decision-making and cultural capital inheritance, which is considered critical to forming children’s disadvantage in education, in accordance with inequality of educational support and opportunity. Disadvantaged children benefited from social innovations through two mechanisms of impact including: empowerment to become independent learners; and synthesising a system for children’s learning. The current research also indicates that social innovation in education also creates supportive implications for sustainable changes, by addressing some of the barriers that exist within the institutional environment. These results are discussed in relation to the prior literature and policy implications for Vietnam and other middle income countries.

Date of Award	Mar 2023
Original language	English
Supervisor	Richard Hazenberg (Supervisor), Ecem Karlidag-Dennis (Supervisor), Frederick A Seddon (Supervisor) & Truong Thi Nam Thang (Supervisor)