Most of the FGD participants agreed that in order to be good teachers in
the future, trainee teachers should be adequately equipped with relevant
professional knowledge, skills and a high sense of responsibility. They also
noted that teacher training programmes need to be more specific, and
relevant to the local contexts and to the needs and capacities of teachers.
Additionally, the trainees felt that classrooms should be better equipped,
i.e. provided with sufficient teaching and learning materials and facilities.
Overall, the view of trainee teachers is that pre-service and in-service training
programmes need to be improved with more practical components to
enable teachers to meet the needs of students, parents and the community.
Other studies have reported similar perspectives among teachers and trainee
teachers (see Nguyen, 2009; Nguyen, 2006).
To improve the education system and teaching practices in schools, the school
managers and teachers need to engage students’ parents and communities
in the education process. Parents and communities can contribute not only
their labour and financial support to school construction and operation,
but also their expertise and cultural knowledge, which can help teachers
to deliver culturally-responsive teaching. The teacher of the class that was
observed noted in the post-lesson interview that,
It is clearly recognized that students are more interested in learning when it
is based on familiar content. Therefore, it is necessary to embed introduced
concepts in the students’ contexts. In my classroom, the students eagerly
share their living experiences and daily practices. The engagement of
parents and community in our teaching practice can make my students
proud and motivated. I sometimes encounter difficulty in designing and
delivering the lesson with cultural content, such as local festivals and the
functions of administrative agencies. In these cases, the support of local
people is important so that we can give meaningful lessons to our students.Conclusion
In recent years, educators in Viet Nam have made a great effort to improve
pedagogical practices, with a view to improving educational outcomes. This
study contributes a picture of the current pedagogical practices in schools
in Viet Nam and the shortcomings of those practices, as well as providing
an example of innovative pedagogy. In particular, the findings of this study
indicate that while ‘discussion’ and ‘presentation’ methods are used widely in
schools, ‘problem-solving’ and ‘experiential learning’ are rarely present. Instead,
teaching practices hang on a content-based curriculum and on textbooks.