FROM MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION COMPETENCE TO PEDAGOGICAL ENACTMENT: THE ROLE OF INSTITUTIONAL CONDITIONS IN VIETNAMESE SCHOOLS

Abstract

This study examines the gap between teachers' multicultural education competence and its reported pedagogical enactment in Vietnamese general education. Multicultural education is understood as an approach to teaching that recognizes students' cultural, linguistic, and social diversity and uses this recognition to inform curriculum, participation, interaction, and assessment. The study approaches competence as a professional capacity whose classroom use is shaped by school conditions. It draws on survey data (N = 800), a professional development intervention (n = 120), and illustrative qualitative interview material. At baseline, teachers reported stronger attitudes toward diversity than knowledge and instructional skills. In the intervention group, pre-post comparisons showed increases in knowledge (M = 2.84 to 3.71, d = .83), skills (M = 3.02 to 3.77, d = .71), attitudes (M = 4.08 to 4.44, d = .58), and values (M = 3.69 to 4.04, d = .63). The absence of a control group limits these results to evidence of within-participant changes and does not support a causal interpretation of intervention effects. The 12-week follow-up means are reported descriptively. Knowledge and skills were lower at follow-up than immediately after training, although the available data do not establish an inferentially confirmed decline. To interpret these patterns, the article proposes three conditions relevant to pedagogical enactment: conceptual guidance, instructional exemplarity, and institutional continuity. This model remains provisional and is intended to organize the available evidence and provide a basis for further empirical examination.