Applying the G20 Training Strategy in Viet Nam (Phase 2)

Draft Assessment tools for Front Office and Housekeeping occupations continue to receive positive feedback from top businesses in the Vietnamese Tourism and Hospitality sector

The workshops provided a renewed opportunity for DVET to introduce competency-based training and assessment development approaches to other top businesses and training institutions in the country.

Article | Hanoi, Viet Nam | 23 June 2019
Participants of the Front Office consultation workshop on 16/06/2019
Hanoi, 16 and 23 June, 2019 - After testing the tools in the Hue Tourism College (08-09/12/2018), the drafting teams for the Front Office and Housekeeping assessment tools continued to revise the materials, based on comments and inputs collected from participating workers and judges participating during the testing activity.

The revision process has taken 6 months, with a number of group meetings throughout this period. Within the revision process, the teams examined further and looked carefully at the feedback received from testing activity in order to ameliorate the developed tools. The packages developed include question banks for the theory test, a mock-up practice test and instructions for both judges and contestants of each occupation at different levels, all these instruments were adjusted to increase the quality of the assessment.
Participants of the Housekeeping consultation workshop on 23/06/2019

Upon receiving the revised version of assessment tools from the drafting groups, the Department of Vocational Skills under Directorate of Vocational Education and Training (DVET)in collaboration with the ILO’s G20TS Project organized two consultation workshops in Hanoi on 16th June and 23rd June for the Front Office and Housekeeping occupations respectively.

20 representatives from 6 training institutions and 13 hotels across the country participated in the 16th June event, while for the 23rd June event, there 24 representatives from 1 training institution and 21 hotels and businesses in industry were welcomed in the discussions. Both events also benefited from the support of the Training Department under Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MoCST).

At the workshops, Mr Nguyen Chi Truong, Director of Vocational Skills Department/DVET and Mr Nguyen Anh Tuan, Deputy Director of Training Department/MoCST re-emphasized the importance of these assessment tools in piloting and providing experience for further development of assessment tools for other occupations within and outside of the Tourism and Hospitality industry. The two Ministries expressed their appreciation to the ILO for its technical support during the whole process, as well as the coordination role of G20TS Project in connecting with key players in the industry and the Russian Federation for its generous financial contributions.

On behalf of the drafting groups, Mr Tran Ngoc Luong – Leader of Housekeeping group, BIM Group and Mr Ngo Trung Ha – Leader of Front Office group, Pegasus International Centre introduced the whole drafting process to date to the invited participants. They also shared with the audience, some of the difficulties and challenges encountered during the development process, such as the differences in terms of mismatching standards, established operation procedures and existing facilities among businesses across the country.

The two groups also expressed the challenge of applying the new assessment approach for the first time. However, according to the specialists at the consultation workshops, once the assessment tools are finalized and approved by MoLISA, a huge improvement in terms of service quality and skills development could be foreseen which would bring about a competitive advantage to Viet Nam’s Tourism and Hospitality sector.

The workshops provided a renewed opportunity for DVET to introduce competency-based training and assessment development approaches to other top businesses and training institutions in the country. Mr Nguyen Quang Viet and Mr Cao Quang Dai, ILO’s TVET consultants supported with providing introduction to participants on the development method, guidance on key points to pay attention to when receiving, reviewing and providing feedback.

Following the instructions, 44 specialists were able to practice as part of a group work exercise, which help them to better understand the process in order to become able to provide feedback in detail as per DVET’s requirements.

Invited participants for consultation all agreed on the importance of having these assessment tools in place, which will be of great contribution to quality improvement of their services, as well as to enhance workers’ skills in order to attain better jobs.

After the workshop, 44 specialists will review again the assessment packages and share their comments to drafting groups for revision. The next drafts are expected to be available in mid-August for the appraisal process officially starting in September 2019.