This study addressed the research question: How do Vietnamese principals lead the professional learning of teachers? The research was comprised of a multiple-site case study of leadership and teacher learning in four Vietnamese schools. Qualitative data analysis aimed at identifying modal practices adopted by these Vietnamese principals to lead teacher learning in their schools. The research identified four key leadership practices: moral purpose, collaboration, learning support, and motivational strategies. The findings support assertions for a broad set of globally-relevant school leadership practices as well as the need to adapt these to the cultural context of specific schools.

Teacher professional development (TPD) plays a significant role in better school improvement and student achievements. Research on TPD shows that favorable workplace conditions greatly enhance teachers' teaching knowledge and practice. This research was conducted to find out what workplace conditions principals had created to promote TPD in four schools in a province in Vietnam. The study utilizes multiple-site case study design relating to principal leadership and TPD in those schools. The four key workplace conditions were identified in this study including collaboration, teacher empowerment, supervision and evaluation, and teachers' motivational strategies. Based on the findings, the study offers implications for both research and practice on principal leadership for TPD within and beyond the Vietnamese context.

Second/foreign language (L2) education reforms have triggered increasing research investigating the effectiveness of and teachers’ cognitions and practices concerning the reformed curricula. This study extends this line of enquiry by employing a sociological perspective, an undertaking that little prior research has demonstrated in L2 teacher cognition literature, to explore teachers’ understanding, knowledge and beliefs about and their actual implementation of a reformed English language curriculum (i.e. task-supported language teaching) in Vietnam. The participants were six experienced English-as-a-foreign-language teachers at a secondary school. The data comprised in-depth semi-structured interviews, informal conversations, lesson plans and classroom observations. The findings showed that the teachers made use of their existing deep-rooted knowledge and beliefs about language teaching and learning to enact the reformed curriculum in their own ways, illustrating a focus-on-forms approach. The study drew on Bernstein's notion of pedagogic discourse to shed light on the teachers’ rationales for their own ways of practice. Pedagogical implications are discussed.

STEM education has been considered foundational to economic growth by many countries. It has received great attention from various educational systems, but the actual implementation has triggered several problems, especially in developing countries in Asia. This qualitative study investigated the challenges to STEM education in public high schools in Vietnam. The participants were ten experienced teachers from ten different schools in a Vietnamese central province. The data were collected from in-depth semi-structured interviews. Analysis of the transcripts of the interview recordings showed that the teachers faced many challenges regarding their interdisciplinary knowledge and teaching methods, curriculum, practical constraints, and beliefs about effective STEM education. Notably, the findings concerning the teachers' beliefs about effective STEM education and the tension between their beliefs and the teaching goals were closely related to the local cultural values and the expectations of the schooling system. The findings of the study were discussed in relation to the local contextual factors and cultural values. Implications for teacher pedagogy and professional development regarding STEM education for Vietnamese high school contexts, and beyond, are discussed.

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) has generated worldwide popularity as a curriculum innovation, and extensive research has investigated various aspects of the approach. However, little is known about the implementation of classroom assessment in TBLT curricula. This study investigated high school English as a foreign language teachers’ beliefs and practices regarding assessment in a curriculum innovation context in Vietnam. Data comprised in-depth interviews with six teachers, as well as testing documents. The findings revealed a strong impact of the high-stakes exams on teachers’ testing beliefs in that they focused explicitly on linguistic items in the assessed content and forms of assessment. These beliefs were accurately reflected in their testing practices. However, both the teachers’ beliefs and practices were contradictory to teaching principles and the expectations of the intended curriculum. These findings suggest that in-service teacher professional development programs are necessary for innovations like TBLT to have a real change in the classroom.

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Teacher professional development (TPD) plays a vital role in enhancing student achievement and the education quality improvement at general education schools. Vietnam is carrying out the general education reforms including the curriculum, teaching methodology and textbook replacement. In order to make those reforms succeed, a lot of things have been done so far in which TPD is considered a key measure. This qualitative case-study research aimed to find out the perceptions of principals and the teachers in three selected K12 schools on TPD in response to the education reforms implementation in Vietnam using the data from the open-ended interviews with the principals, the questionnaires from teachers, and the school policy-related documents. The importance of TPD related closely to the general education reforms implementation at three schools was highly perceived and highly appreciated by the principals and teachers in similar vein. These made a strong link between their beliefs and TPD practices at their schools for promoting the education reforms. Keywords: education reforms, qualitative case-study, teacher professional development, Vietnamese K12 school.

This qualitative study explored the needs for teacher professional development (PD) of Vietnamese primary school teachers. The participants of the study were ten teachers at ten different primary schools in a large city in Vietnam. The data included in-depth individual interviews with the participating teachers. Qualitative analysis of the interview transcripts revealed several interesting insights into the teachers’ perspectives on PD, their regular PD activities, and their needs for PD. All the teachers considered PD essential for their demanding teaching job. They reported having attended various PD programs and activities provided by their schools, and the department of education and training at the province and district levels. They also participated in several teacher professional learning communities available on the Internet. However, the teachers expressed a need for more PD programs and activities, especially in the context of curriculum reforms. Notably, they preferred to attend PD courses which were more practical and relevant to their work. In addition, they highly appreciated the hands-on activities and opportunities to interact with teacher trainers and educators. These findings were interpreted and discussed in relation to the sociocultural contexts of Vietnamese primary education. The study also discussed implications for PD course designers and teacher educators in Vietnamese primary school contexts and beyond.