Introduction

Abstract

Education 4.0 is a new concept in Vietnam that has been mentioned about and discussed the most recently in relation to the Industry 4.0 revolution with the prominence of digital technology applications in all fields. Rapid changes in the working environment caused by the revolution is enlarging the gap between graduates’ competences and requirements of work life. The necessary knowledge amount to be studied increases so hugely that traditional teaching and learning methods could not handle it well within the limited given learning period of students. Accordingly, graduates are facing the lack of knowledge and working skills due to education that is not corresponding to the rapid changes in technology and globalization. Thus, the competences of teachers and vocational/higher education institutions need to be upskilled and new learning ecosystems need to be established where all aspects of education support Education 4.0 principles. The biggest challenge is to change the mindset of educators to understand the needs of students and the world of work, and to empower them to build learning processes accordingly, following the ideas of student-centered and competence based education, collaborative knowledge construction and innovation. Teachers are key mediators in these processes. Teachers need to learn to collaborate with their colleagues and other networks in order to create new competences and expertise. Furthermore, in Education 4.0, all stakeholders, especially students and work life representatives, need to be engaged. To achieve all these, teachers’ professional competence development needs to be supported through training and piloting in which they themselves develop teaching tasks and experience new practices in their working contexts.