Open School Cultures and Educational Innovation: Evidence from a K–12 Principal Survey in Vietnam

Abstract

Educational reform in Vietnam advances competency-based and student-centered practices, while policy directives prioritize creativity, collaboration, and technology-enabled teaching across school systems. Outcomes vary across schools, which highlights disparities in institutional conditions influencing the implementation of educational innovation processes. This study examines how open school culture is associated with educational innovation using survey data collected from 369 principals across primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary schools in different regions of Vietnam. Open school culture includes supportive and participatory leadership, teacher collaboration within professional learning communities, and Student engagement in classroom practices. Educational innovation is conceptualized as systematic change across pedagogy, curriculum, assessment, and digital practice within school contexts. Results indicate that open school culture explains 50 % of the variance in innovation outcomes, highlighting the central role of cultural conditions in shaping school-level change. Student engagement demonstrates the strongest association with innovation ( β  = 0.28), while leadership and collaboration remain significant with smaller effects. Digital readiness is positively associated with innovation, and interaction effects indicate stronger collaboration in digitally ready contexts. Findings highlight uneven institutional conditions that continue to influence educational innovation across Vietnamese school systems.