Truc Thi Thanh Le

Higher education in Vietnam

Many developing countries are in the process of restructuring their higher education system to meet their nations socio-economic development. As their educational budget is not unlimited, working with international educational institutions has become one of the attractive solutions to improve the quality of their education and to make it relevant to meet their nations educational demand for economic development. This paper identifies some key issues which have prevented the Vietnamese higher education system from serving effectively its countrys open-door policy and provide necessary recommendations to help Vietnam overcome its shortcomings and weaknesses. The issues identified together with recommendations, on the other hand, may help some educational policy makers from developed countries select their fields of assistance or cooperation as well as to establish their long term educational strategies to deal with developing countries such as Vietnam..

Teacher Professional Development Under the Impact of Internationalization in VET

This chapter addresses the professional learning needs of teachers in the vocational education and training (VET) sector under the changed circumstances of internationalization and international student mobility. International education is Australia’s largest service export, contributing over

Teacher Professional Learning in International Education

16 billion to the national economy annually. Australian VET teachers are facing significant professional challenges to engage with pedagogical issues in teaching international students. However, there has been a lack of research on how teachers are equipped to effectively cater for international students and respond to the demands of internationalization in VET through professional development. Drawing on empirical research and positioning theory, this chapter analyzes the impact of the presence of international students on VET teachers’ professional learning needs and practices. The findings suggest the need to systemically and explicitly support substantive professional learning with regard to approaches to engaging and teaching international students. The findings in particular show teachers’ aspiration for deep and responsive capacity building and professional learning concerning three primary areas including understandings of international students’ backgrounds and motives for undertaking Australian VET, currency with research on international students, and capacity to develop pedagogies responsive to this cohort. Professional learning centered on these areas is essential to foster conditions for the generation of a more truly student-centered and international student-responsive practices among teachers.

Language and learning advisors as a valuable but under-recognised workforce in higher education: a Bourdieuian analysis of their professional development in international education

This book examines the impact of internationalization, student mobility and transnational workforce mobility on the changing nature of teacher work and teacher professional learning in the vocational education and training (VET) sector. It is based on a three-year project funded by the Australian Research Council across more than 30 VET and higher education (HE) institutions. The authors address how teachers position their professional responsibilities and learning in relation to the institutional structure, internationalization agenda and policy fields in which their profession is embedded by drawing on both empirical evidence and key concepts and models of teacher professional learning.

Teachers’ Recommendations for Professional Learning

ABSTRACT Language and learning advisors (LLAs) play a vital role in supporting the academic development of a fast-growing population of international students. This paper tackles the professional development practices for LLAs and barriers to their professional development. Using Bourdieu’s concepts of field and habitus, the paper addresses the mutual interactions between the work environment and LLAs’ thinking and actions regarding providing language and learning advice to international students. The analysis of 44 semi-structured interviews with LLAs from 18 institutions shows that there was a scarcity of targeted professional development opportunities for LLAs to improve their expertise directly related to international students and internationalisation of education. Financial shortage, time constraints, casualisation conditions, managerial issues, academic to professional employment re-classification for LLAs and the ongoing marginalisation of LLAs have created unfavourable contexts for LLAs’ professional development. The paper points out the critical need to create better work conditions for LLAs, to ensure more investment in creating targeted opportunities for LLAs’ professional development and to provide more resources and attention to support their enactment of agency and development of professional capacities.

VET Teachers’ Professional Learning Needs in Relation to Internationalization

This chapter presents teachers’ recommendations to enhance their professional learning practices under the changed circumstances of the VET sector. These include a reconfirmation of the need for cultural training, particularly in relation to Asia, a participatory approach to professional learning with an emphasis on self-initiated, self-directed professional learning, as well as a realization of more inclusive professional learning practices for casual staff. Based on the analysis of the teachers’ suggestions, this chapter argues for the critical need to urgently consider and implement the suggested changes to ensure teachers’ effective performance of their changing professional roles and enhance teaching and learning in the context of internationalized vocational education.

VET Teachers’ Perceptions of Their Professional Roles and Responsibilities in International Education

This chapter presents findings about VET teachers’ professional learning needs in relation to preparing students for global labor market, developing intercultural capabilities for students, and teaching international students onshore and offshore. It highlights the teachers’ unique professional learning needs including enhancing understandings of industry demands in international students’ home countries, especially Asian countries, and developing global networks and knowledge of global opportunities. The analysis of the interview data indicates that the teachers’ professional learning needs vary dependent on their personal experience, discipline, and perceptions of their professional roles as well as of their students’ study purposes. The chapter provides recommendations on areas of priority and attention for professional learning programs to meet teachers’ needs in internationalized VET.

VET Teachers’ Formal Professional Learning Practices

This chapter presents VET teachers’ perceptions of their professional roles and responsibilities under the changed circumstances of the internationalized VET. The analysis of the data gained from semi-structured interviews and fieldwork show that the teachers position themselves mostly as cross-cultural facilitator and mediator. The findings reveal that the teachers’ self-positioning of their professional roles is mainly shaped by their personal experience in teaching international students onshore and offshore, and being international students in the past. The chapter argues for VET institutes’ better recognition of the contextual influences on the nature of VET teachers’ professional tasks as well as for more support for VET teachers to meet the new demands of their work roles.

Teachers’ Informal Learning in the Internationalization of VET

This chapter examines the current formal professional learning practices of VET teachers from a variety of institutes in Australia. Findings from interviews with the VET teachers in this study show that the teachers’ formal professional learning activities currently focus mostly on generic, technical issues and compliance requirements while matters related to supporting the teaching staff to deal with issues arising from teaching international students and preparing students for the global labor market receives limited institutional attention. The study identifies the current major barriers to professional learning provision and participation being financial and time constraints, lack of teachers’ interest, and casualization of staff.

Overview of Teacher Professional Learning in Internationalization of Vocational Education and Training

This chapter examines VET teachers’ informal professional learning activities to address their professional needs under the impact of the internationalization of the VET sector. Findings from interviews with the VET teachers reveal two most common informal practices of the teachers under investigation: reciprocal learning from immediate colleagues and self-initiated professional learning through informal networking and self-directed research. The findings highlight the importance of the immediate work environment and personal agency in teachers’ professional learning. This study thus argues for the promotion of workplace culture supportive of peer collaboration and learning as well as recognition and nurturing of teachers’ personal motivation for professional learning.