International agencies and national and provincial Vietnamese governments have grappled with the challenges primary education reform for more than a decade. Challenges have been particularly marked by a discrepancy in access to education with the poorest sections of the population, frequently among ethnic minority communities in the based in rural and remote areas. An increasing emphasis upon the attainment of universal primary education supported by the international donor community and the national government's insistence on a national standards of curriculum and schools have converged to give direction to reforms that entail a common curriculum, reform of teaching practice and teacher training, and incentives and directives for provincial governments to provided more support to the most disadvantaged communities.

These reforms elements appear on first consideration to be highly laudable and uncontentious. However, closer scrutiny of the impacts of the reforms on the targeted communities reveals some significant policy dilemmas. Notable amongst these is the decision by many provincial authorities to rationalise the provision of education services in district and or satellite centres and away from the hinterland areas occupied by minority communities and to encourage children to move away from family and community to undertake their schooling in larger centres. This paper will examine some of the local impacts and implications of current approaches to education reform in the Lai Chau and Son La provinces in the remote north-west of Vietnam. The focus will be on illumination the apparent trade-off between access to education and the threat of loss of access to family, community and culture for the ethnic minority communities affected.

Academic and Research Interests: Local and international community development, comparative study of Indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities and social policy in developing countries, youth justice reform. Teaching Areas: Community Development, Development Studies, The Experience of Difference, Placement (Behavioural Studies). Professional Activities: International Commission on Folklore and Legal Pluralism Development Studies Association. Select Publications: Chantrill, P. 2003, 'Strategies for Indigenous Resource Management: A Case Study of the Kowanyama Land and Natural Resource Management Office and its relevance for Ethnic Minority Communities in Vietnam and Cambodia', in R. Pradhan ed., Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law in Social, Economic and Political Development, Proceedings from For the XIIIth International Congress of the Commission Folklore and Legal Pluralism, Chiang Mai, Thailand), International Centre for the Study of Nature, Environment and Culture, Kathmandu. Chantrill, P. & Spence, R. 2002, 'Developing Curricular and Appropriate Learning Strategies for Community Development and Peace Studies', Peace and Change, Vol. 27, No. 1 pp. 106-118.