Teaching Practices That Support and Promote Learning: Qualitative Evidence from High and Low Performing Classes in Vietnam

Abstract

This Insight Note contributes to the growing body of knowledge on teaching practices that foster student learning and achievement by analysing in-depth qualitative data from classroom observations and teacher interviews. Much of the research on teachers and teaching in development literature focuses on observable and quantified factors, including qualifications and training. But simply being qualified (with a university degree in education or subject areas), or trained in certain ways (e.g., coaching versus in-service) explains very little of the variation in learning outcomes (Kane and Staiger, 2008; Wößmann, 2003; Das and Bau, 2020). Teaching is a complex set of practices that draw on teachers’ beliefs about learning, their prior experiences, their content and pedagogical knowledge and repertoire, and their commitment and personality. Recent research in the educational development literature has turned to examining teaching practices, including content knowledge, pedagogical practices, and teacher-student interactions, primarily through quantitative data from knowledge tests and classroom observations of practices (see Bruns, De Gregorio and Taut, 2016; Filmer, Molina and Wane, 2020; Glewwe et al, in progress). Other studies, such as TIMSS, the OECD and a few World Bank studies have used classroom videos to further explain high inference factors of teachers’ (Gallimore and Hiebert, 2000; Tomáš and Seidel, 2013). In this Note, we ask the question: What are the teaching practices that support and foster high levels of learning? Vietnam is a useful case to examine because student learning outcomes based on international tests are high, and most students pass the basic learning levels (Dang, Glewwe, Lee and Vu, 2020). But considerable variation exists between learning outcomes, particularly at the secondary level, where high achieving students will continue to upper-secondary and lower achieving students will drop out at Grade 9 (Dang and Glewwe, 2018). So what differentiates teaching for those who achieve these high learning outcomes and those who don’t? Some characteristics of teachers, such as qualifications and professional commitment, do not vary greatly because most Vietnamese teachers meet the national standards in terms of qualifications (have a college degree) and have a high level of professionalism (Glewwe et al., in progress). Other factors that influence teaching, such as using lesson plans and teaching the national curriculum, are also highly regulated. Therefore, to explain how teaching might affect student learning outcomes, it is important to examine more closely teachers’ practices in the classroom.