The Vietnam School Survey captures detailed information about children’s schooling experience
and was administered in October-December 2011 (first wave) and in April-June (second wave).
This included questions intended to measure ‘academic self-concept’ (ASC). Academic selfconcept
may be defined as a student’s self-perception of their academic ability which influences –
and is influenced by – student’s academic performance (Liu & Wang, 2008; Tan & Yates, 2007;
Marsh & Hau, 2003). The concept of academic self-concept may be particularly important in
Vietnam for two main reasons. First, the Confucian Heritage Culture (CHC) stresses the
importance of hard work and diligence over ability. Second, there is evidence indicating the
mediating role of academic self-concept in the acquisition of other positive educational outcomes.
Using the first wave of data the scales were validated using both exploratory and confirmatory
factor analysis. Rasch analysis was then used to create interval level data for academic
confidence and academic stress at Time One (T1) and Time Two (T2).