Supporting teachers in Vietnam to monitor preschool children's wellbeing and involvement in preschool classrooms

Abstract

Vietnam is promoting active teaching and learning as a key strategy to enhance children's learning in preschools. This change depends largely on building the capacities of teachers to implement child-centered education in practice and handover the initiative for learning to children. Vietnamese teachers need to be better equipped with pedagogical skills to enhance children's wellbeing and involvement and to create optimal conditions for learning in classrooms. In 2016, as part of a professional development program for teachers to support the quality of their classroom practice through critical reflection, a collaborative pilot study was carried out to test the relevance and effectiveness of process-oriented child monitoring within the Vietnamese educational context. A process-oriented child-monitoring system was introduced to teachers in eight Vietnamese preschools that enrolled children aged from 3 to 5 years and which included primarily ethnic minority children. Teachers were taught observation skills to monitor children's involvement and wellbeing during classroom activities. Through professional development activities, including coaching, mentoring, and peer learning in school-based and inter-school teacher communities, teachers were encouraged to adjust their practices to the learning needs of the children in their classrooms, including children at risk for low engagement and involvement. This pilot study provides a strong case for the process-oriented child-monitoring system to be implemented at a larger scale in Vietnamese preschools.