Developing digital competence for general education teachers in the context of educational digital transformation in Vietnam

Authors

  • Tran Thi Minh Hang National Academy of Education Management, Hanoi City, Vietnam
  • Dinh Thi Lua Ninh Binh Provincial Party Committee, Vietnam
  • Luu Cong Tri Hanoi Metropolitan University, Hanoi, Vietnam

Keywords:

digital competence, teacher professional development, educational digital transformation, general education teachers, DigCompEdu, Vietnam

Abstract

Digital transformation has fundamentally reshaped educational systems, making digital competence an essential professional requirement for general education teachers. This study aims to analyze the theoretical foundations, international frameworks, current practices, challenges, and development strategies for teachers' digital competence in the context of educational digital transformation in Vietnam. A qualitative research design was employed using literature review, policy analysis, and qualitative content analysis. Secondary data were collected from international organizations, including UNESCO, the European Commission, OECD, and the World Bank, together with Vietnamese policy documents and peer-reviewed studies indexed in Scopus and Web of Science. The findings indicate that digital competence has evolved beyond basic ICT skills to encompass pedagogical integration, digital resource development, assessment, communication and collaboration, cybersecurity, digital ethics, problem-solving, and lifelong learning. Vietnam has established an increasingly favorable policy environment for educational digital transformation; however, disparities in teachers' digital competence, uneven access to professional development, limited pedagogical integration of digital technologies, and insufficient application of artificial intelligence and learning analytics remain significant challenges. Based on the review, the study proposes a comprehensive framework for strengthening teachers' digital competence through coordinated actions involving policymakers, teacher education institutions, schools, and teachers themselves. The findings provide practical implications for designing sustainable professional development programs and support the implementation of educational digital transformation in Vietnam.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Huong, T. T. M., Thanh, N. T., Tung, V. N., Long, N. T., & Loan, N. T. T. (2024, November). Navigating digital teaching competence: Insights from Vietnamese EFL teachers in the digital transformation era. In International Conference on Advances in Information and Communication Technology (pp. 853-860). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.

Nguyen, T. Q., Ngoc, P. T. A., Phuong, H. A., Duy, D. P. T., Hiep, P. C., McClelland, R., & Noroozi, O. (2024). Digital competence of Vietnamese citizens: An application of digcomp framework and the role of individual factors. Education and Information Technologies, 29(15), 19267-19298.

Aesaert, K., & van Braak, J. (2015). Gender and socioeconomic related differences in performance based ICT competences. Computers & Education, 84, 8–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2014.12.017

Ahmed, W. (2022). Understanding self-directed learning behavior towards digital competence among business research students: SEM-neural analysis. Education and Information Technologies, 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11384-y

Arslantas, T. K., & Gul, A. (2022). Digital literacy skills of university students with visual impairment: A mixed-methods analysis. Education and Information Technologies, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10860-1

Birgili, B., & Demir, Ö. (2022). An explanatory sequential mixed-method research on the full-scale implementation of flipped learning in the first years of the world’s first fully flipped university: Departmental differences. Computers & Education, 176, 104352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2021.104352

Bonfield, C. A., Salter, M., Longmuir, A., Benson, M., & Adachi, C. (2020). Transformation or evolution?: Education 40, teaching and learning in the digital age. Higher education pedagogies, 5(1), 223–246. https://doi.org/10.1080/23752696.2020.1816847

Bordoloi, R., Das, P., & Das, K. (2020). Lifelong learning opportunities through MOOCs in India. Asian Association of Open Universities Journal, 15(1), 83–95. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAOUJ-09-2019-0042

Buckingham, D. (2008). Youth, identity, and digital media. In D. John & T. Catherine (Eds.), Introducing Identity (pp. 1–24). Buckingham the MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning, The MIT Press.

Broos, A. (2005). Gender and information and communication technologies (ICT) anxiety: Male self-assurance and female hesitation. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 8(1), 21–31. https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2005.8.21

Calvani, A., Fini, A., Ranieri, M., & Picci, P. (2012). Are young generations in secondary school digitally competent? A study on Italian teenagers. Computers & Education, 58(2), 797–807. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2011.10.004

Carretero, S., Vuorikari, R., & Punie, Y. (2017). The digital competence

Cattaneo, A. A. P., Antonietti, C., & Rauseo, M. (2022). How digitalised are vocational teachers? Assessing digital competence in vocational education and looking at its underlying factors. Computers & Education, 176, 104358. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2021.104358

Çebi, A., & Reisoğlu, İ. (2020). Digital competence: A study from the perspective of pre-service teachers in Turkey. Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research (NAER Journal), 9(2), 294–308. https://doi.org/10.7821/naer.2020.7.583

Chang, L. Y., & Coppel, N. (2020). Building cyber security awareness in a developing country: Lessons from Myanmar. Computers & Security, 97, 101959. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cose.2020.101959

Chang, H. H., & Meyerhoefer, C. D. (2021). COVID-19 and the demand for online food shopping services: Empirical Evidence from Taiwan. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 103(2), 448–465. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajae.12170

Clifford, I., Kluzer, S., Troia, S., Jakobsone, M., & Zandbergs, U. (2020). DigCompSat: A self-reflection tool for the European digital competence framework for citizens. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. ISBN 978-92-76-27592-3. https://doi.org/10.2760/77437, JRC123226

Crocco, O. S., Nguyen, L. A., & Tkachenko, O. (2021). Vietnam and regional human resource development in ASEAN. Human resource development in Vietnam: Research and practice, 97–117. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51533-1_14

Esteve-Mon, F., Llopis, M., & Adell-Segura, J. (2020). Digital competence and computational thinking of student teachers. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 15(2), 29–41. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v15i02.11588

Farrokhnia, M., Baggen, Y., Biemans, H., & Noroozi, O. (2022). Bridging the fields of entrepreneurship and education: The role of philosophical perspectives in fostering opportunity identification. The International Journal of Management Education, 20(2), 100632. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2022.100632

Ferrari, A., & Punie, Y. (2013). DIGCOMP: A framework for developing and understanding digital competence in Europe. Publications Office of the European Union.

He, T., & Zhu, C. (2017). Digital informal learning among Chinese university students: The effects of digital competence and personal factors. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 14(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-017-0082-x

Hossain, Z. (2016). Towards a lifelong learning society through reading promotion: Opportunities and challenges for libraries and community learning centres in Viet Nam. International Review of Education, 62(2), 205–219. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-016-9552-y

Howgego, G., Sharma, I., & Kalu, P. (2020). The rules for online clinical engagement in the COVID era. Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery, 73(12), 2127–2135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bjps.2020.08.045

Ilomäki, L., Paavola, S., Lakkala, M., & Kantosalo, A. (2016). Digital competence–an emergent boundary concept for policy and educational research. Education and Information Technologies, 21, 655–679. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-014-9346-4

Ifdil, I., Fadli, R. P., Suranata, K., Zola, N., & Ardi, Z. (2020). Online mental health services in Indonesia during the COVID-19 outbreak. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 51, 102153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102153

Jantavongso, S. (2022). Toward global digital literate citizens: A case of Thailand’s aging generation. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 88(2), e12207. https://doi.org/10.1002/isd2.12207

Jiménez-Hernández, D., González-Calatayud, V., Torres-Soto, A., Martínez Mayoral, A., & Morales, J. (2020). Digital competence of future secondary school teachers: Differences according to gender, age, and branch of knowledge. Sustainability, 12(22), 9473. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12229473

Kar, A. K., Ilavarasan, V., Gupta, M., Janssen, M., & Kothari, R. (2019). Moving beyond smart cities: Digital nations for social innovation & sustainability. Information Systems Frontiers, 21(3), 495–501. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-019-09930-0

Kowalska-Chrzanowska, M., Krysiński, P., & Karwowski, M. P. (2021). Digital competences of residents in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship in the light of the polish training project “E-active.” Education and Information Technologies, 26(3), 3427–3444. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-020-10411-0

Law, N., Woo, D., & Wong, G. (2018). A global framework of reference on digital literacy skills for indicator 4.4.2. UNESCO. Retrived August 7, 2022, from at https://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/ip51-global-framework-reference-digital-literacy-skills-2018-en.pdf

Le, A.-V., Do, D.-L., Pham, D.-Q., Hoang, P.-H., Duong, T.-H., Nguyen, H.-N., Vuong, T.-T., Nguyen, H.-K.T., Ho, M.-T., & La, V.-P. (2019). Exploration of youth’s digital competencies: A dataset in the educational context of Vietnam. Data, 4(2), 69. https://doi.org/10.3390/data4020069

Le, V. T., & Hutchinson, J. (2022). Regulating social media and influencers within Vietnam. Policy & Internet, 14(3), 558–573. https://doi.org/10.1002/poi3.325

Lindgren, I., Madsen, C. Ø., Hofmann, S., & Melin, U. (2019). Close encounters of the digital kind: A research agenda for the digitalization of public services. Government Information Quarterly, 36(3), 427–436. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2019.03.002

Lissitsa, S., Zychlinski, E., & Kagan, M. (2022). The Silent Generation vs Baby Boomers: Socio-demographic and psychological predictors of the “gray” digital inequalities. Computers in Human Behavior, 128, 107098. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.107098

Lucas, M., Bem-Haja, P., Siddiq, F., Moreira, A., & Redecker, C. (2021). The relation between in-service teachers’ digital competence and personal and contextual factors: What matters most? Computers & Education, 160, 104052. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2020.104052

Lythreatis, S., Singh, S. K., & El-Kassar, A.-N. (2022). The digital divide: A review and future research agenda. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 175, 121359. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121359

Mattar, J., Ramos, D. K., & Lucas, M. R. (2022). DigComp-based digital competence assessment tools: Literature review and instrument analysis. Education and Information Technologies, 27(8), 10843–10867. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11034-3

Mayring P. (2000). Qualitative content analysis. Forum Qual Soc Res, 1(2). http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs/.

Mehrvarz, M., Heidari, E., Farrokhnia, M., & Noroozi, O. (2021). The mediating role of digital informal learning in the relationship between students’ digital competence and their academic performance. Computers & Education, 167, 104184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2021.104184

Fereshteh Ghaljaie, Mahin Naderifar, & Hamideh Goli. (2017). Snowball Sampling: A Purposeful Method of Sampling in Qualitative Research. Strides in Development of Medical Education, 14(3). https://doi.org/10.5812/sdme.67670

NapalFraile, M., Peñalva-Vélez, A., & MendiórozLacambra, A. M. (2018). Development of digital competence in secondary education teachers’ training. Education Sciences, 8(3), 104. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci8030104

Nguyen, T. X. H., Tran, T. B. N., Dao, T. B., Barysheva, G., Nguyen, C. T., Nguyen, A. H., & Lam, T. S. (2022). Elderly People’s Adaptation to the Evolving Digital Society: A Case Study in Vietnam. Social Sciences, 11(8), 324. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11080324

OpenGovAsia. (2022). Vietnam invests in digital skills education. Retrieved November 15 from https://opengovasia.com/vietnam-invests-in-digital-skills-education/

Oyedemi, T., & Mogano, S. (2018). The digitally disadvantaged: Access to digital communication technologies among first year students at a rural South African University. Africa Education Review, 15(1), 175–191. https://doi.org/10.1080/18146627.2016.1264866

Oyedemi, T. (2014). Beyond access: Youth and digital skills. Communicatio, 40(2), 137–154. . https://doi.org/10.1080/02500167.2014.907191

Penmetsa, M. K., & Bruque-Camara, S. (2021). A framework for building a sustainable digital nation: Essential elements and challenges. Digital Policy, Regulation and Governance, 23(3), 262–286. https://doi.org/10.1108/DPRG-10-2020-0148

Petry, N. M. (2002). A comparison of young, middle-aged, and older adult treatment-seeking pathological gamblers. The Gerontologist, 42(1), 92–99. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/42.1.92

Portillo, J., Garay, U., Tejada, E., & Bilbao, N. (2020). Self-perception of the digital competence of educators during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-analysis of different educational stages. Sustainability, 12(23), 10128. https://doi.org/10.3390/su122310128

Downloads

Published

2026-07-21

How to Cite

Hang, T. T. M., Lua, D. T., & Tri, L. C. (2026). Developing digital competence for general education teachers in the context of educational digital transformation in Vietnam. Tennessee Research International of Social Sciences, 8(2), 55–70. Retrieved from http://triss.org/index.php/journal/article/view/163

Issue

Section

Research Articles