History of subjectivity in dispositif: changing arrangements of Vietnamese teachers’ meeting through lesson study for learning community

ABSTRACT

This study examined research–practice partnerships (RPP) as a place where teachers (re)shape their discourses in a distinctive working arrangement through our case in Vietnam. In particular, it explored the concept of subjectivity in dispositifs, focusing on a heterogeneous ensemble of discursive and nondiscursive arrangements of collective activities formulating its members’ patterns of thought, practice, and identity. We present the historical roots of dispositif in Vietnamese schools and locate a new one in our RPP. There are two categories of dispositif in organizations from the Vietnamese public sector: assembly and gathering. We added a model of Lesson Study for Learning Community (LSLC) as a dispositif from Japan. The assembly is an authorized place for the members to convey information in a hierarchical order, while the gathering represents occasions for discussing issues in an egalitarian manner. The arrangements of discursive and socio-material conditions of the LSLC allowed the teachers to engage in equal and free discussions relying on their own emotions. Our case suggests that exploring dispositif of schools could improve the design of teacher professional learning through RPP.

KEYWORDS:

• Dispositif
• shaping a teacher
• teacher subjectivity
• micropolitical approach
• research–practice partnership
• lesson study for learning community

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Vietnamese schools have organized teachers’ meetings to improve their professional ability since 1980s or even earlier (field notes on 15 February 2019 by the first author). The meeting is called “professional gathering (Sinh hoạt chuyên môn)”, which terminologically closer to a gathering rather than assembly. The meeting consisted of similar activities of lesson study such as lesson planning, conducting, and observing a model lesson, and post-lesson reflection session. In our previous studies, we have referred to this meeting using another term – Professional Teachers’ Meeting – due to a translation version of original Vietnamese wording (Saito & Tsukui, 2008 Saito, Tsukui, & Tanaka, 2008 Saito, Khong, & Tsukui, 2012). In this study, we use the term “Professional Gathering” since the centre of our examination is the difference between the two arrangements of an assembly and gathering.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Atsushi Tsukui

Atsushi Tsukui is a senior researcher who studies teacher education in Asian countries/regions.

Eisuke Saito

Eisuke Saito is a lecturer for Faculty of Education, Monash University, Australia.