Mapping the professional learning of primary teachers in Vietnam: a multi-method case study

Abstract

Over the past 20 years, teacher professional learning as been reconceptualised as a process that is initiated during pre-service preparation but which continues in the form of job-embedded and collaborative learning activities. Researchers ave mapped the range of professional learning activities employed in selected Western and Asian societies. The current case study used a variety of qualitative data sources including open-ended interviews with the principal and teachers, observations of meetings and documents analysis, to identify model practices used to foster teacher learning in one primary school in a central province of Vietnam. The research identified nine professional learning activities for teachers, comprised of both external and school-based activities. These activities are described in detail and also linked to features of the Vietnamese social, political and cultural context under the lens of phenomenological analysis.