Many teachers could be overloaded with work

According to Hoang Ngoc Vinh, former director of the Professional Education Department under the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), many teachers may become idle.

Under the new general education program which MOET has made public, there will be compulsory and optional learning subjects. Students may focus on certain subjects and ignore others. So, many teachers could be overloaded, while others would have few students. 

As for higher education, compulsory learning subjects include literature, math, foreign language No 1, physical exercises, national defence & security education.

The optional learning subjects are classified into several groups 1) social sciences, which includes economics & laws education, history and geography, 2) natural sciences which includes physics, chemistry and biology, and 3) technologies and arts, which includes technology, IT and arts. Students can also choose to study ethnic minority languages and another foreign language.

Nguyen Thanh Giang, director of the Ba Ria-Vung Tau Education Department, has also questioned whether teachers will become redundant and how the management agency will restructure the local teaching staff.

Nguyen Xuan Thanh, deputy director of Secondary Education Department, affirmed that the redundancy will not happen because subject matter provided to students will be the same. Therefore, there won’t be changes in the structure of teaching staff.

Currently, secondary school students have five periods of physics a week, four periods of chemistry and eight periods of biology. The subject matter being provided during the periods will be the same as the that in natural sciences in the new integrated education program.

Hoang Duc Minh, head of the Department of Teachers and Education Management Officers, also affirmed that no current subjects will be eliminated in the new program.

“Most teachers will still give lessons to students. All the teachers of subjects related to integrated subjects will undergo training to satisfy requirements,” he said.

Regarding the application of the new general education program, Vinh emphasized the need to retrain teachers immediately.

A high school teacher also said that the quality of the teaching staff will determine the success of the new education program. 

“Since teachers are trained to teach subjects separately, they need to be retrained to teach integrated subjects,” he said. “Many teachers complain that it is difficult to make lesson plans for integrated subjects.”

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