Challenges to STEM education in Vietnamese high school contexts

Abstract

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.

Utilizing STEM-based practices to enhance mathematics teaching in Vietnam: Developing students' real-world problem solving and 21st century skills

“…Vietnamese instructors, on the other hand, faced difficulties in terms of transdisciplinary knowledge and teaching methods, curriculum, practical limits, and ideas about effective STEM education. The findings of teachers' ideas about effective STEM education and the tension between their beliefs and teaching aims were particularly related to local cultural values and schooling system expectations (Le, Tran, & Tran, 2021).…”

Pre-Service Teachers Learning to Teach English to Very Young Learners in Macau: Do Beliefs Trump Practice?

“…Teacher beliefs have been shown to be influenced by a teacher’s personal experience [ 15 , 16 ], teaching experience [ 16 ], educational background [ 17 ], and colleague support [ 16 ]. Moreover, the literature has provided insights into teacher beliefs concerning teaching practice [ 18 , 19 , 20 ], teacher education [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ], learning experience [ 25 ], curriculum design [ 14 , 26 ] parent involvement [ 27 ], learner autonomy [ 13 ], and corrective feedback [ 28 , 29 ]. Researchers have also suggested that there is a strong relationship between teacher beliefs and their teaching practice in EFL classrooms [ 1 , 13 , 30 , 31 ].…”

How Does Hands-On Making Attitude Predict Epistemic Curiosity and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Career Interests? Evidence From an International Exhibition of Young Inventors

“…STEM education has become an important part of curricula in educational systems around the world (e.g., Bagiati and Evangelou, 2015 ; Al Salami et al, 2017 ; Margot and Kettler, 2019 ), and in particular, has seen successful implementation in a number of Western countries including the United States and Australia ( Lee et al, 2019 ). In a special issue on STEM education in 2019, Le et al (2021) called for further investigation of how STEM education is implemented in Asian schools. Since then, the difficulties of implementing STEM education have received increasing attention, and there has been a search for effective educational approaches and curricula ( Le et al, 2021 ).…”

“…In a special issue on STEM education in 2019, Le et al (2021) called for further investigation of how STEM education is implemented in Asian schools. Since then, the difficulties of implementing STEM education have received increasing attention, and there has been a search for effective educational approaches and curricula ( Le et al, 2021 ). It has been argued that STEM narratives of progress, competition, and innovation have obscured some of the issues that students must face on a daily basis, including urgent ecological, ethical, and social justice issues ( Yanez et al, 2019 ).…”