English proficiency among 35,000 Vietnamese teachers not encouraging: ETS executive

The 35,000 teachers, from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Quang Ninh, Dong Nai, Lao Cai, and Phu Tho, took part in an assessment of their English proficiency in schools using the TOEIC Link test.

Pushkar Saran, executive director for Southeast Asia and South Asia at ETS, shared the information on the sidelines of an international conference on education cooperation in the digital era in Hanoi on Thursday.

Even best teachers need to improve

Saran said ETS worked with Vietnam's Ministry of Education and Training in March to assess the English proficiency of the 35,000 English teachers and teachers of other subjects who considered themselves proficient in English.

They took the TOEIC Link test, which appraises listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills.

Saran said detailed results had not yet been released, but the overall results were 'not encouraging.'

The Ministry of Education and Training and provincial-level education authorities can use the assessment results as a baseline to develop plans to improve the English-language proficiency of English teachers and teachers of other subjects, he said.

Saran said he had studied Vietnam’s project to make English a second language in schools from 2025 to 2035, with a vision to 2045, and was impressed by its level of detail and ambitious goals.

Vietnam faces two major challenges in achieving these goals, he said.

The first is the need to significantly improve the English proficiency of both English teachers and teachers of other subjects.

According to ETS’s assessment, even the best teachers need to make great efforts to improve their English proficiency.

“Teachers need to understand English well before they can pass on language knowledge and skills to their students,” Saran said.

The second challenge is the shortage of teachers.

The Ministry of Education and Training has also discussed with ETS how AI could help address the teacher shortage and improve teachers’ capabilities, Saran said.

He stressed that people cannot learn English effectively if they cannot actually communicate in the language.

“Everything has to start from the top. Teachers need to be proficient in English before students can learn from them,” he said.

Why don't years of English study lead to basic communication skills?

The fact that many people have advanced English-language certificates but poor real-world communication skills is not unique to Vietnam, Saran said, adding that it is common in countries where English is not the main language.

A society can progress only when everyone works together; improving language skills cannot be left to schools alone, he said.

Parents, teachers, and government agencies all need to cooperate to raise overall English proficiency.

Saran recalled that when he studied in India, schools had strict rules requiring students to speak English even outside the classroom, instead of speaking other languages.

Language skills can gradually improve only when such systems are firmly established, he said.

Therefore, simply looking at students’ performance in assessment tests is not enough if their communication skills are not improving, Saran said.

Improving those skills requires sustained efforts over many years and across different levels of society, he added.

Doan Nguyen Van Khanh, managing director of IIG Vietnam, said English teaching and learning in Vietnamese schools have changed considerably from 2000 to 2026, with Vietnamese students’ performance in international tests improving steadily.

For example, in 2005, universities typically set TOEIC graduation requirements at around 300-400 points, while most now require 650 points, with some setting the bar at 800.

Between 2005 and 2010, airlines could recruit flight attendants with TOEIC scores of around 200-250, whereas the minimum requirement is now 550 or 650, depending on the airline, Khanh said.

Vietnam needs 22,000 more English teachers for preschools, elementary schools

The project to make English a second language in schools will cover all preschool, general education, higher education, vocational education, and continuing education institutions nationwide, according to the Ministry of Education and Training.

The project is estimated to affect around 50,000 educational institutions, nearly 30 million students, and about one million education managers and teachers.

The project will be implemented over 20 years in three main phases.

In terms of human resources, the ministry said preschools would need one English-teaching position at each preschool. 

This would create an estimated 12,000 additional English teacher positions at public preschools nationwide.

At the elementary school level, the ministry has proposed making English compulsory from Grade 1, instead of Grade 3 as is currently the case.

This would create nearly 10,000 additional English teacher positions at elementary schools nationwide.

The ministry also said at least 200,000 teachers would need English and professional training to teach subjects in English between now and 2035 to meet the project’s goals.