Where be the ‘magic bullet’ for educational change? Vietnam and the quest of policy borrowing from abroad

This paper is a reflection upon my previous research on an educational reform initiative in Vietnam that was borrowed from Colombia’s renowned Escuela Nueva model. In addition to being situated within the global phenomenon of policy lending/borrowing, or policy transfer, this case also reflects the prevalence of policy borrowing in Vietnam’s contemporary educational policy-making. Through a reflection of Vietnam Escuela Nueva and various cosmopolitan traces within Vietnamese education policy-making, I will highlight the constant thread of Western modernity as an anchoring reference in the pursuit of educational change. In this particular context of Vietnam as a supposedly postcolonial developing country, learning from abroad is always a process intertwined with questions of coloniality.