Confucian Heritage Culture and Moral Education Practices among Vietnamese Primary Teachers: A Conceptual Framework

Nguyễn Thị Liên¹, Ngô Vũ Thu Hằng^2, , Vũ Thị Ngọc Tú³, Trương Thị Bích⁴ and Bùi Thị Thủy⁵

¹Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Education – Vietnam National University, Hanoi

²Faculty of Primary Education, Hanoi National University of Education, Hanoi, Vietnam

³Faculty of Education and Psychology, Hanoi National University of Education, Hanoi, Vietnam

⁴Faculty of Education, University of Education – Vietnam National University, Hanoi

⁵Faculty of International Politics and Diplomacy, Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam

Cite this paper:
Nguyễn Thị Liên, Ngô Vũ Thu Hằng, Vũ Thị Ngọc Tú, Trương Thị Bích and Bùi Thị Thủy. Confucian Heritage Culture and Moral Education Practices among Vietnamese Primary Teachers: A Conceptual Framework. American Journal of Educational Research. 2026; 14(10):326-331. doi: 10.12691/education-14-10-2

Abstract

Moral education remains a central mission of schooling in societies shaped by Confucian traditions, where teachers are expected to function not only as transmitters of knowledge but also as moral exemplars. In Vietnam, Confucian Heritage Culture continues to exert a strong influence on educational values, teacher professionalism, and moral expectations, while contemporary educational reforms increasingly emphasise competency-based learning and learner-centred pedagogy. This coexistence creates both opportunities and tensions for primary teachers, who must reconcile inherited moral traditions with modern pedagogical demands. Despite growing international scholarship on Confucian Heritage Culture, existing studies have largely focused on students’ learning behaviours or system-level characteristics, offering limited conceptual insight into how teachers mediate, reinterpret, and enact Confucian moral values in everyday educational practice. Addressing this gap, the present paper adopts a conceptual approach to examine the role of Confucian Heritage Culture in shaping moral education practices among Vietnamese primary teachers. Drawing on key international literature on Confucian Heritage Culture and moral education, the paper proposes a conceptual framework that conceptualises Confucian Heritage Culture as a dynamic cultural resource operating across four interrelated dimensions: cultural moral values, teacher moral identity, moral education pedagogical practices, and adaptive strategies in response to contemporary educational tensions. The framework foregrounds teachers as active cultural agents who interpret, enact, and transform Confucian moral values within modern primary classrooms. By reconceptualising moral education as a culturally mediated and professionally enacted process, this study contributes theoretically to the literature on Confucian Heritage Culture and moral education, and offers implications for teacher education, moral education policy, and culturally responsive pedagogical reform in Vietnam and other Confucian-influenced educational contexts.

Keywords:
Confucian Heritage Culture moral education teacher moral identity primary education Vietnam conceptual framework

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