Qualitative study maps faculty learning recontextualization in Laos and Vietnam

A longitudinal qualitative study of 12 health professions educators from Laos and Vietnam found that participants reinterpreted learning from a South Korea-based faculty development program through three recurring processes: broadening or systematizing their educational frames, specifying the conditions attached to particular practices, and calibrating possible action to their authority and workplace circumstances. The study followed the entire cohort during a bounded 10-week program and focused on learning before workplace implementation; it did not establish whether educators subsequently implemented the practices or whether their institutions changed.

Researchers analyzed 168 portfolio entries submitted before program modules and 167 submitted afterward, together with two semi-structured interviews with each participant. The repeated, module-level portfolio data covered the full cohort. The analysis combined inductive coding with sensitizing concepts from faculty development and workplace learning. Participant-level longitudinal matrices compared heterogeneous starting points, changes and continuities, institutional conditions, positional authority and transnational comparisons, while a cross-case analysis examined variation by country, professional role and previous faculty development experience.

Participants entered the program with different understandings of teaching. Some primarily associated it with lecturing and assessment, whereas others already had substantial experience with curriculum reform and organizational constraints. The first reported process broadened or systematized educational frames by connecting classroom teaching with curriculum, assessment, accreditation and institutional systems. For some participants, the program linked classroom instruction to these wider structures; for others, it systematized educational ideas they already held. These findings concern how participants described and interpreted their learning, not measured changes in student learning, clinical competence or institutional performance.

The second process involved specifying the conditions attached to particular teaching or learning practices. Participants identified preparation time, class size, facilitators, facilities, budget, workload and faculty agreement as relevant conditions. Their accounts therefore placed educational practices within resource, staffing and organizational settings rather than treating them as context-free techniques. The third process was calibration to positional authority. Participants distinguished changes they could make in their own teaching from modifications requiring departmental support and changes dependent on institutional or policy decisions. The analysis identifies intended actions and perceived constraints, not completed reforms or evidence that the program caused later workplace behavior.

Interaction among participants from Laos and Vietnam provided an additional interpretive resource through horizontal peer comparison. Educators encountered colleagues with different national and institutional circumstances, offering regional reference points alongside host-home comparison. This interaction sometimes revised assumptions, while English sometimes constrained participation. Overall, the study shows that faculty development learning was not treated as a uniform package carried unchanged from one institutional setting to another. Instead, participants interpreted it through broadening, specifying and calibrating, with peer comparison contributing another reference frame. Because the evidence comes from a small, bounded cohort and relies on portfolios, interviews and qualitative analysis, the study does not establish causal effects or predict implementation and institutional change after the program.

Subject of Research: Longitudinal qualitative research on faculty development learning among health professions educators in Laos and Vietnam

Article Title: Recontextualizing faculty development learning: a longitudinal qualitative study of educators from Laos and Vietnam

Article References: Lee, Y., Lee, S.-H., & Na, S.-H. (2026). Recontextualizing faculty development learning: a longitudinal qualitative study of educators from Laos and Vietnam. BMC Medical Education. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-026-10183-0

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12909-026-10183-0

Keywords: faculty development, health professions education, Laos, Vietnam, workplace learning, qualitative study, curriculum reform, transnational education, peer comparison, professional learning, Recontextualizing, faculty