Challenges to Quality Management in Vietnamese Higher Education: A Case Study of Social Science Teacher Education

The study reported in this chapter is inspired by a concern with the reality of quality management in relation to pre-service teacher education (PTE) in Vietnam. The chapter will explore the challenges encountered in the quality management of PTE within Vietnamese higher education, focusing on social sciences, specifically the geography and history teacher education programs provided by a selected university. This qualitative case study adopts a comprehensive perspective, analyzing the quality of PTE through the “input-process-output” model, involving key stakeholders such as institution and department leaders, academic staff, students, and teachers from partner schools. With its empirical base in in-depth interviews and observational data, the findings of the research suggest that the significant challenges to the quality assurance in the PTE programs lie in decreased quality of the entrants, limited resources allocated to learning resources and program monitoring, constraints on curriculum design and implementation, a lack of digital tools and technologies during teaching and learning, and a feedback system with low effectiveness. The absence of an effective system for monitoring graduate employability and stakeholder satisfaction is also noted as a considerable challenge to the PTE providers as well as the student teachers in the digital age.