On August 7, the British Council in Viet Nam in collaboration with Viet Nam’s National Institute for Education Strategy and Policy (VNIESP), and other key Ministry of Education and Training departments and agencies organised a hybrid consultation workshop in Hanoi entitled "Developing a Professional Development Framework for Vietnamese Teachers."
This workshop is part of an ongoing collaborative project launched in April between the British Council and VNIESP, with technical support from the UK-based consultancy TELT. The initiative aims to develop a national Teacher Professional Development Framework (TPDF) for Vietnamese teachers of English, as well as those who may soon be tasked with teaching other subjects in or through English.
Bringing together over 120 academic researchers, education experts, teacher trainers, representatives from education management agencies and Provincial Departments of Education and Training, as well as teachers, the consultation workshop provided a forum for multi-dimensional dialogue. Participants learnt about recent research findings, reviewed the initial draft Framework, shared their feedback and discussed practical implementation strategies, aiming to:
- Define core professional competencies for teachers;
- Establish a phased roadmap for professional development and career advancement;
- Support implementation of Viet Nam’s "English as a Second Language" (ESL) orientation;
- Propose policy recommendations to enhance the quality of teaching and learning nationwide.
In his opening remarks, Professor Dr. Le Anh Vinh, Director General of Viet Nam’s National Institute for Education Strategy and Policy (VNIESP), emphasised that the Professional Development Framework was developed by building on existing Vietnamese regulations, drawing on international best practice, and informed by findings from surveys and consultations with relevant stakeholders. The framework proposes six core competency domains together with a four-level continuum of professional growth, all designed to guide teacher education, professional development, and workforce development efforts in the new ESL educational context.
From an international perspective, Associate Professor Dr. Daniel Xerri, from the UK’s TELT consultancy team, shared:
“International experience shows that successful reform is a gradual process that needs to be carefully planned and adapted to local contexts. Countries should begin with clear and achievable goals, pilot new approaches, learn from experience, and only scale up when schools and teachers are ready. Language education reform must reflect local educational conditions, linguistic diversity, and the actual needs of learners.”
Participants were active throughout with discussions reflecting broad recognition of the value of establishing such a national framework to guide the professional development of English language teachers and subject teachers teaching through English in the new ESL era. Equally, the consultation workshop activities highlighted several areas requiring further clarification, refinement, and development before the framework can serve as a coherent and useful national tool. These areas include its structure, scope, terminology, contextual relevance, and the relationship between competency expectations and the professional learning opportunities necessary to achieve them.
As one participant noted, "The framework has the potential to give teachers a clearer pathway for professional growth while recognising the realities of classroom practice. It is encouraging to see different voices coming together to help shape its development."
Over the next few weeks and months, feedback gathered from the consultation workshop will be synthesised and analysed to further refine the Framework, ensuring it is academically robust, aligned with the context of Viet Nam's education system, and also to ensure that it is easily accessible, understood and can be used by key stakeholders, including teachers themselves, as part of their future professional development.
