This paper describes the teacher education programs offered by a university in New Zealand (NZ) and a university in Vietnam (VN) from the comparative perspective. The description focuses on such issues as learning outcomes, admission criteria, course selection, practicum periods, management, and teacher qualifications. A comparison between the teacher administration system of Vietnam and that of New Zealand is also presented. | Trường Đại học Vinh Tạp chí khoa học, Tập 47, Số 1B (2018), tr. 77-83 TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS AND TEACHER ADMINISTRATION: A COMPARISON BETWEEN VIETNAM AND NEW ZEALAND IN THE CURRENT PERIOD - ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS Tran Thi Ngoc Yen Department of Foreign Languages, Vinh University Received on 22/11/2017, accepted for publication on 21/4/2018 Abstract: Teacher education programs play a crucial role in the educational system of a country. This paper describes the teacher education programs offered by a university in New Zealand (NZ) and a university in Vietnam (VN) from the comparative perspective. The description focuses on such issues as learning outcomes, admission criteria, course selection, practicum periods, management, and teacher qualifications. A comparison between the teacher administration system of Vietnam and that of New Zealand is also presented. 1. Overview There are two school levels in NZ: Primary schools for children from 5 to 12 and Secondary schools for teenagers from 13 to 17/18. According to the NZ law, all children must go to school from 6 to 16 years of age. Most of them begin at 5 and many also go to early childhood education centers such as kindergartens before the age of 5. After leaving school students may go on to a university, polytechnic or college of education. Most NZ schools are state schools and some are private schools. There are three school levels in VN: Primary schools for children from 6 to 11, Secondary schools for teenager from 11 to 15 and High schools for teenagers from 15 to 18. According to the VN education law, children must go to school from 5 to 15 years of age. Most children in VN begin Primary school at 6 and many go to kindergartens from the age of 3. Like students in NZ, after leaving school, students in VN may go on to a university, polytechnic or college. There are organizations responsible for different duties in both countries’ educational systems. As it can be seen from Table 1, NZ does not have the .
