MOET needs to begin retraining teachers as soon as possible

Le Hong Vu, head of the Tay Ho district education sub-department in Hanoi, said the agency has organized sample teaching hours to show teachers the new method. 

However, teachers are still confused about the concept ‘integrated teaching’ and ‘interdisciplinary learning subjects’.

Doan Cong Thao, headmaster of the Giang Vo Secondary School in Hanoi, said the quality of the teaching staff is his biggest concern.

“Will the current teaching staff be able to satisfy the requirements of integrated teaching?” he said. “I think this won’t be an easy thing.”

As a physics teacher, he is not sure that he can impart knowledge about chemistry and biology as well.

Teachers said that the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) needs to start retraining teachers as soon as possible, so that teachers can have enough time to practice the new method.

Nguyen Minh Thuyet, chief editor of the new education program, said teachers will have opportunities to attend refresher training courses to be able to undertake interdisciplinary subjects.

Hoang Duc Minh from MOET said a detailed plan on teacher retraining has been drawn up, under which an 8-day training course will be provided to teachers in one subject who will later train other teachers.

Phan Kim Anh, headmaster of Nam Thanh Cong Primary School in Hanoi, has worries about facilities.

She warned that the overloading at general schools would hinder implementation of the new education program. In principle, there must not be more than 35-45 students in one class. But in reality, one class now has 50-60 students.

Thuyet admitted that it will be difficult to teach students, bring them to fact-finding trips and practice hours if there are too many students in every class.

A MOET report showed that there are 28,177 state-owned general schools in the country, including 15,050 primary schools, 10,697 secondary schools and 2,430 high schools. There are 14,883,647 students, 476,924 classes and 419,903 classrooms. 

The ministry estimates that it’s necessary to build 57,084 more classrooms, including 30,344 for primary schools, 20,571 for secondary schools and 6,169 for high schools.

MOET was initially required to launch the new curriculum for primary and secondary schools in the country from 2018. However, it asked for a delay due to incomplete preparations for launching the new curriculum.

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Mai Thanh