Vietnam’s developmental standards for five-year-olds, issued by the Ministry of Education and Training in Circular 23/2010/TT-BGDĐT, describe what children are typically able to do by the end of kindergarten across four domains: physical development; emotional and social development; language and communication; and cognition. They contain 28 standards and 120 indicators, and they are meant to guide teaching, observation and support for families, not to test, grade or rank children. Together with the national preschool programme, they frame the final kindergarten year and the move into grade one, which children start in the year they turn six.
The standards were introduced in the same year as the national push for universal preschool education for five-year-olds, and they remain a key reference for the final year, the class Vietnamese schools call lớp Lá. Yet many international educators have never heard of them, and some Vietnamese families mistake them for an entrance test. This article explains what the standards are, how they are intended to be used, where they fit with the transition to primary school, and how bilingual programmes can work with them well.
Why the standards were introduced
In 2010 Vietnam launched its national project to make preschool education universal for five-year-olds, aiming to give every child at least one year of kindergarten before primary school. Expanding access raised an obvious question: what should that year achieve? Before the standards, expectations for five-year-olds varied widely between schools and regions, and families often judged readiness by whether a child could already read and write.
The developmental standards answered that question in a way that matched international thinking on early childhood. They were developed with reference to work on early learning and development standards promoted by UNICEF in many countries during the 2000s, which encouraged governments to describe what young children should know and be able to do across several domains, as a guide for programmes and families rather than as a test. Vietnam’s version was adapted to its own language, culture and national programme.
The timing also mattered for teachers. As thousands of new kindergarten classes opened, many staffed by teachers who were still upgrading their qualifications, the standards gave a common picture of the final year that could be used in training, planning and supervision. They helped turn universal access into a shared idea of what a good final year looks like.
The four domains of the standards
The standards group children’s development into four domains. Each domain contains several standards, and each standard is described through observable indicators, things a teacher can see a child do in ordinary situations.
| Domain | Examples of what it covers |
|---|---|
| Physical development | Gross and fine motor skills, coordination, health, hygiene habits and keeping safe |
| Emotional and social development | Self-awareness, confidence, expressing and managing feelings, relationships with adults and peers, cooperation, behaviour that respects others |
| Language and communication | Listening and understanding, speaking to express ideas, using language in communication, interest in books and early awareness of reading and writing |
| Cognitive development | Knowledge of the natural and social world, early mathematical concepts, curiosity, reasoning, problem solving and creativity |
Two features stand out. The emotional and social domain is substantial, reflecting a view that confidence, self-regulation and getting on with others are as important for school as early literacy and numeracy. And the language domain speaks of awareness of reading and writing, interest in books and the purpose of print, rather than of reading and writing as skills to be mastered before grade one. Read carefully, the standards describe a well-rounded, curious child, not a child who has finished the first chapters of a primary textbook.
How the standards are meant to be used
To guide planning. Teachers use the indicators to understand what development in the final year typically looks like, and plan experiences that help children move towards them through play and everyday activity.
To support observation. The indicators give teachers a shared vocabulary for observing children in ordinary situations, at play, at meals, in conversation, and for noticing where a child needs more support.
To work with families. They help schools explain to parents what matters in the year before school, and what families can encourage at home, using clear examples rather than abstract goals.
To inform policy and programme review. At a system level, they give education authorities a reference for judging whether the final year is achieving its purpose, and for adjusting programmes and support.
Not to test or rank children. The standards are not an examination, and using them to give children scores, compare them or decide who is ready to start school would go against their purpose. Children develop at different paces, and a child who has not shown an indicator by a certain date is not failing.
How the standards relate to the national programme
The national preschool programme sets the curriculum for the whole span from three months to six years, with expected outcomes for each age group and five areas of development in kindergarten. The developmental standards focus only on five-year-olds and are organised into four domains. The two documents overlap heavily, and schools treat them as complementary: the programme provides the plan for teaching and care, while the standards offer a detailed picture of development at the end of preschool that teachers can observe against.
For curriculum leads, the practical step is to keep one map that shows how the school’s own framework, the programme’s expected outcomes for the final year and the standards’ indicators line up. In Global Nexus, the six dimensions, language, emotion, life skills, independence, creativity and thinking, map onto the four domains without difficulty, with language and thinking aligned to language and cognition, and emotion, life skills and independence spread across the social and physical domains. A clear map means teachers write one observation that serves all three, instead of keeping parallel records.
It also guards against drift. When pressure from families pushes a school towards formal reading and writing in the final year, the standards are a useful reference for leaders: they describe readiness in broad terms and give as much weight to self-regulation and relationships as to letters and numbers.
Common misuses to avoid
Turning indicators into a checklist test. Some schools run children through all 120 indicators at the end of the year in a single sitting. This produces anxious children and unreliable results. The indicators are meant to be seen across many ordinary situations over time.
Reporting scores or rankings to families. Converting the indicators into percentages, grades or class rankings misrepresents what they are for and invites comparison between children. A narrative description of each child’s development, with examples, is both more accurate and more useful.
Teaching to individual indicators. Planning a separate activity for each indicator fragments the day. Rich play, projects and routines usually address many indicators at once, across several domains.
Ignoring the emotional and social domain. Because letters and numbers are easier to see, schools sometimes focus there. The standards give equal weight to confidence, self-regulation and relationships, which matter as much for grade one.
Applying them to younger children. The standards describe five-year-olds. Using them as targets for three- and four-year-olds pushes inappropriate expectations down the age range.
The move from kindergarten to grade one
Children in Vietnam start grade one in the calendar year they turn six. Public primary schools enrol children by age and place of residence, and education regulations do not allow public schools to run entrance tests for grade one. Since the 2020–2021 school year, grade one has followed the 2018 general education programme, which places more weight on competences and activity-based learning than the programme it replaced, and which begins with a period of getting used to school before formal teaching starts.
The Ministry has also long told preschools not to teach grade-one content in advance, especially formal reading and writing. The reasoning is that children taught to write letters early, often with poor pencil grip and through repetitive copying, can arrive in grade one with habits that are hard to correct and an attitude to learning shaped by drills. The kindergarten programme instead includes familiarisation with letters and numbers through play, songs, books and games, alongside the broader skills described in the standards.
In practice, the transition is where policy and family anxiety meet. Many parents enrol children in extra classes before grade one, worried that their child will fall behind classmates who have been taught to read. Preschools respond in different ways. Some resist firmly, explaining the reasons; others quietly add more formal work to the final year. For schools that want to stay true to the programme, the most persuasive approach is evidence: showing families, through observations and portfolios, how their child is developing the language, attention, independence and curiosity that make learning to read straightforward once formal teaching begins.
Supporting a good transition from the preschool side
Preschools cannot control what happens in grade one, but they can do a great deal to make the move smoother. A practical sequence for the final year looks like this.
- Share the standards and the school’s approach with families early in the year, with examples of what readiness looks like in everyday life.
- Plan experiences across all four domains, with particular attention to self-regulation, independence in daily tasks and rich conversation.
- Build familiarity with letters, numbers and books through play, stories and real purposes, without copying drills or worksheets.
- Observe and document each child’s development across the year, and use the record to plan support where it is needed.
- Organise visits or exchanges with local primary schools where possible, so that children see the building, the classroom and older pupils before they start.
- Talk with children about the move, read stories about starting school, and let them express both excitement and worry.
- Give families a clear, non-comparative summary of their child’s development to share with the primary school if they wish.
None of these steps requires extra lessons or tests. They depend on teachers who know each child well and a school that is confident enough in its approach to explain it to families.
Bilingual programmes and the final year
For bilingual and international programmes, the final year carries a particular responsibility. Most children in Vietnamese bilingual preschools will move into Vietnamese-medium primary schools, where all teaching takes place in Vietnamese. Their readiness for grade one depends above all on a strong foundation in Vietnamese: rich vocabulary, the ability to follow and tell stories, phonological awareness and confidence in conversation. English that grows alongside this foundation is a gift; English that crowds it out is a risk.
That is why frameworks such as Global Nexus keep Vietnamese as the anchor language throughout, and especially in the final year, while English continues as a language for thinking within the same themes and projects. Families who plan an international primary school have different needs, and schools should discuss these openly rather than reshaping the whole final year around one pathway. In every case, the standards offer a shared, child-centred picture of what a five-year-old needs, and a reminder that readiness is about the whole child rather than any single skill.
Câu hỏi thường gặp
What are the developmental standards for five-year-olds in Vietnam?
They are a set of standards issued by the Ministry of Education and Training in Circular 23/2010/TT-BGDĐT, describing typical development at the end of kindergarten in four domains: physical, emotional and social, language and communication, and cognitive. They contain 28 standards and 120 indicators.
Are the five-year-old standards a test for entering grade one?
No. They are meant to guide teaching, observation and support for families, not to test, score or rank children. Public primary schools in Vietnam enrol grade-one children by age and place of residence, and are not allowed to hold entrance tests.
At what age do children start grade one in Vietnam?
Children start grade one in the calendar year they turn six. Since the 2020–2021 school year, grade one has followed the 2018 general education programme, which begins with a period for children to get used to school before formal teaching starts.
Should Vietnamese preschools teach children to read and write before grade one?
National guidance says preschools should not teach grade-one content in advance. The kindergarten programme instead includes familiarisation with letters, numbers and books through play, alongside language, social and emotional skills that support learning to read once formal teaching begins.
How do the standards relate to the national preschool programme?
The programme is the curriculum for children from three months to six years, with five areas of development in kindergarten. The standards focus on five-year-olds in four domains. Schools treat them as complementary, using the programme for planning and the standards as a detailed reference for observation.
How can bilingual preschools prepare children for Vietnamese primary school?
By keeping Vietnamese strong as the anchor language, especially in the final year, building vocabulary, storytelling and phonological awareness, developing independence and self-regulation, and using English alongside Vietnamese within the same themes rather than in place of it.