Sorting or supporting teachers? An exploration of the imbalanced role of classroom observation in the development and assessment of Vietnamese secondary schoolteachers

Minh, Tran Kiem and Dung, Dang Tien and Hue, Hoang Thi Kim and Giang, Nguyen Thi Huong and Cui, Vanessa and O'Leary, Matt (2023) Sorting or supporting teachers? An exploration of the imbalanced role of classroom observation in the development and assessment of Vietnamese secondary schoolteachers. Practice: Contemporary Issues in Practitioner Education. ISSN 2578-3866

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Abstract

In 2018, Vietnam’s National Teacher Education Programme established a new framework for schoolteachers’ professional development. Classroom observation was the dominant method used for teacher monitoring, assessment and development. This paper explores the use and impact of current classroom observation policy and practice on novice teachers in Vietnamese secondary schools. Our study draws on qualitative data from 35 semi-structured interviews across four provinces. Our findings revealed ongoing policy-practice tensions, with the prioritisation and dominance of classroom observation as an assessment tool for sorting rather than supporting teachers. These tensions were indicative of a wider policy-practice disconnect enshrined in recent reform by the Ministry of Education and Training that advocated the adoption of lesson study as the preferred national approach in schools. However, the experiences of our participants reflected a very different picture in practice that reinforced traditional hierarchies of power associated with evaluative models of observation that are designed to standardise and rank teachers’ classroom performance rather than develop the quality of teaching. Instead of the more collaborative and collegial ethos typically associated with inquiry-based approaches like lesson study, observation was being used largely as a high-stakes assessment, resulting in increased levels of anxiety and stress among teachers.

Item Type: Article
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1080/25783858.2023.2177187
Dates:
DateEvent
2 February 2023Accepted
13 February 2023Published Online
Uncontrolled Keywords: classroom observation, teacher development, professional development, teacher education, education policy, Vietnam
Subjects: CAH22 - education and teaching > CAH22-01 - education and teaching > CAH22-01-02 - teacher training
Divisions: Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences > Centre for Study of Practice and Culture in Education (C-SPACE)
Depositing User: Gemma Tonks
Date Deposited: 13 Feb 2023 13:38
Last Modified: 13 Feb 2023 13:38
URI: https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/14180

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