Teacher agency in times of educational change: the case of transitioned teachers in Vietnam

ABSTRACT

Working from the perspective that teachers are central agents in policy processes and educational changes, this article discusses how 20 teachers, who transitioned from teaching other foreign languages to first learning and then teaching English at one of the leading Vietnamese universities, experienced the transition. Data from multiple in-depth interviews with transitioned teachers, and with faculty and university leaders, complemented by observations, were collected to explore the teacher agency. The concept of Figured Worlds [Holland, D., Lachicotte Jr, W., Skinner, D., & Cain, C. (1998). Identity and agency in cultural worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press] provided a productive conceptual framework for understanding how these teachers responded to the change. The findings show that teachers’ responses to the transition were both complex and contradictory. Teacher agency was not simply an action of resistance or accommodation to the change, but rather was dynamic and more nuanced. Other features of teacher agency such as their industriousness, their professional manoeuvring capability, and their collective agency were also noted. These findings hope to contribute to the current and future scholarship of teacher agency in language policy and planning.

KEYWORDS:

• English language education policy
• teacher agency
• educational reform
• Vietnam
• language shift

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Hao Tran is currently doing her PhD at Griffith University, Australia. She obtained a Master of Applied Linguistics (Advanced) (TESOL) from the University of Queensland, Australia and has worked as a Lecturer of English at Vinh University in Vietnam for eight years. Her main current research interests are language policy and planning, teacher agency, teacher identity and teacher education.

ORCID

Hao Tran http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5846-3903