Article Gold Open Access 2026

Understanding geography teachers’ varied responses to competency-based curriculum reform in Vietnam: A qualitative typology

Teaching and Teacher Education
Journal · Vol. 172 · Art. 105365
Abstract

This qualitative study investigates Vietnamese geography teachers' perceptions and experiences with implementing competency-based curriculum (CBC) reform. Through typology-building content analysis of semi-structured interviews with 21 teachers, three distinct profiles were identified: passively adaptive, transformative-adaptive, and pioneering. Analysis revealed these profiles systematically differ across professional roles, past professional experience, reform-oriented beliefs, school culture, and training quality. Rather than fixed categories, the typology captures dynamic orientations, suggesting that teachers may transition along this continuum given supportive institutional and professional conditions. The findings suggest the need for differentiated professional development strategies tailored to the specific characteristics and constraints of each profile. While grounded in Vietnam's context, the study offers transferable insights for other centralized, exam-driven systems where structural constraints and teacher agency interact to shape curriculum implementation. © 2025 The Author

Keywords

Author Keywords

Competency-based curriculum (CBC) Curriculum reform Teacher typology Teacher's perception Vietnam

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations
Universität Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Bayern, Germany, Faculty of Geography, Trường Đại học Sư phạm Hà Nội, Hanoi, Viet Nam
Funding & Acknowledgements
Universität Bayreuth, UB
This work was supported by the Open Access Publishing Fund of the University of Bayreuth.
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