The interest in policy to enhance the quality of early childhood education and care has never been higher across the globe as UN has adopted the agenda in its sustainable development goals as SDG Target 4.2. UNESCO stresses the importance of professionalism of early childhood teachers including their qualification and training for the implementation of SDG 4.2. Considering that it takes a considerable amount of time to improve the qualification criteria and initial teacher training of early childhood teachers, it is urgently needed to increase the professionalism of existing early childhood teachers at sites now. Hence, Training of Trainers (ToT) is critical to ensure the quality of trainers who will be providing training and capacity-building assistance to existing teachers as it determines the quality of high-level professional learning offered to teachers or program participants. Despite the significance of ToT, however, training of trainers responsible for in-service training of early childhood teachers, whose qualifications require a low education level for entry into the profession in developing countries, as well as the quality monitoring of training programs still remain poor.
   As for Vietnam, about a 95% of early childhood teachers currently meet the minimum qualifications (high school graduates). In September, 2019, the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and  Training (MOET) announced the 'in-service training frameworks for early childhood teachers to increase the qualification criteria as junior college graduates (or those with 3-year programs) and improve their professionalism through regular training and education. Prior to the framework, MOET initiated '2018-2025 project for enhancing professionalism of early childhood teachers and managers in August, 2018 as a policy approach to introduce ToT in the early childhood education for the first time in the country.
   The purposes of this study are as follows: first, to identify the current status of and needs on training of early childhood teacher trainers in Vietnam; Second, to develop a suitable ToT program for early childhood teachers and to explore the implementation feasibility of such program; third, to provide suggestions to MOET for the improvement of ToT programs for early childhood teachers, and to identify agendas for the New Southern Policy of Korea in terms of ToT.
   In Vietnam, 'key teachers' refer to outstanding experienced teachers who are in charge of training programs by definition. In practice, all trainers of teachers 'serving' as key teachers in Vietnam including school inspectors working for office of education and experienced kindergarten directors are dubbed as key teachers in general, although they are not having the 'status' of teachers.
   To identify the current status and needs of in-service training for trainers of early childhood teachers in Vietnam, a survey was conducted in 63 cities and provinces by classifying them into the North (Hanoi), Central (Da Nang), and South (Ho Chi Minh). A MoU was concluded with Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences (VNIES, a national research center) to carry out the survey and a total number of 458 respondents participated in the survey. In addition, two workshops were held in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh to gather opinions from a total of abut 40 local government officials of education offices, academia, and key teachers about the directions, plans, and examples of ToT programs jointly developed by Korean research team. In order to share key findings of survey and major outcomes of consultation meetings with domestic stakeholders, a policy seminar was held in Seoul, Korea.
   The chapter 2 provided an overview on the status of early childhood education and key policies in Vietnam, and reviewed previous studies both in Korea and overseas. The chapter 3 explored legal grounds for ToT systems and policies, training structure, training institutes, and trainer qualification criteria. Training programs (in-service) for early childhood teachers supported by the Vietnamese government are classified into the central level by MOET, local level by office of education in city and provincial government, and individual kindergarten levels.
   The chapter 4 identified the status and needs of ToT for early childhood teachers in Vietnam including current status, training institutes, qualification of trainers, training curriculum,  duration, topics and modules, and rewards for participation. A 93.2% of respondents answered that they participated in training programs for trainers of early childhood teachers for the recent 3 years, offered mostly off-line, and the average training hours was about 21 hours. Topics with the highest participation rate were planning of educational activities and  on-site learning (92.8%), followed by emotional and social development (88.2%), and teacher character and job competency (87.6%). On the other hand, training to work with ethnic minority children (46.7%), children's rights to education, and children with special educational needs were topics with a relatively low participation rate. Officials from city and provincial offices of educations were found to be the most suitable for teacher trainers, and active interactions through professional learning communities were considered as the most effective training method. Demands for diversified approaches to educational methods were significantly strong, followed by improving professionalism and capacity-building of trainers for early childhood teachers, harmonizing the quality of training programs across regions, and provision of incentives for training.
   The chapter 5 suggested directions and plans for the development of ToT programs for early childhood teachers in Vietnam with program structures and examples. As for program development directions, the focus was primarily on the alignment with the Vietnamese national framework for the development of professionalism of early childhood teachers and  development of standard programs based on the needs to reduce regional disparities. Other suggestions included diversification of the types and methods of training centering on adoption and application at sites and support for children from the vulnerable and disadvantaged families.
   The chapter 6 provided policy suggestions for the Vietnamese government and proposed policy agendas regarding early childhood education for the New Southern Policy. As an approach for ToT for early childhood teachers in Vietnam, it was suggested to develop ToT program policies for early childhood teachers based on data and needs assessment and to establish standard ToT programs. Recommendations for options to provide quality training programs by the central government agencies in terms of the target participants, methods of training, trainers of teachers, topics and modules of training were provided. Specifically, stressed were central governmental monitoring the quality of training at local level and operation of local training support groups for early childhood teachers by region for  the mid/long-term development of local training systems. Other recommendations included support for professional learning communities consist of key teachers, support for traveling for training, pay increase and other incentives.
   In addition, several agendas were proposed and discussed for the New Southern Policy including exporting of online training contents and systems for early childhood teachers and training agents, development, implementation, and consulting of standard ToT programs, identification of common needs of early childhood teachers training and promotion of joint development and cooperation programs in key countries of the New Southern Policy, accumulation and use of database and building a think tank network (TTN) of early childhood education experts in key countries of the New Southern Policy.
   This study has significant bearings in that it serves as a data based on the first nationwide study and needs assessment on the current status of trainers of early childhood teachers in Vietnam.  This study may help the two countries provide a venue for continued and effective cooperation and exchange by identifying a linkage with the New Southern Policy in Korea as Vietnam strives to push forward its policy to enhance professionalism of early childhood teachers and their trainers.