Ministry of Education and Training withdraws regulations on practice certificates from draft Law on Teachers: Is it a pity or not?

TPO - Regarding the Ministry of Education and Training's withdrawal of the regulation on professional practice certificates from the draft Law on Teachers, some people said that it would be a pity if this regulation were no longer in place. Meanwhile, many teachers and experts said that the withdrawal was correct, because adding certificates would be wasteful.

The 5th draft of the Law on Teachers presented at the recent National Assembly Standing Committee meeting no longer stipulates the practice certificate for teachers, compared to the first published draft.

Explaining the withdrawal of the regulation on professional practice certificates from the draft Law on Teachers, Mr. Vu Minh Duc, Director of the Department of Teachers and Educational Managers (Ministry of Education and Training) said: "This is a new content, so caution is needed, so the drafting committee did not include it in the draft law at this time and will continue to research and organize a pilot. This content may be included again in the cycle of amending and supplementing the law."

What do "insiders" say?

As a teacher with 22 years of teaching experience, Ms. NTD - a teacher in Hanoi said that she completely agrees with the Ministry of Education and Training's decision to remove the regulation on practice certificates from the draft Law on Teachers because adding certificates would be wasteful.

A vice principal of a secondary school in Phu Xuyen district, Hanoi, said that there should be no teaching certificate. The certificate is redundant, because teachers must have been trained and have a teaching degree.

This Vice Principal believes that teachers' diplomas are issued by qualified teaching training institutions. That diploma is the basis for the recipient to practice teaching. The quality of teachers does not depend on any administrative management procedures.

Sharing the same opinion, Ms. Do Ngoc Dung, a Chemistry-Biology teacher in Hanoi, added that having to have an additional certificate will cost a lot of time, effort and money for those who have graduated from Pedagogy.

“I think the certificate only applies to those who do not major in Education but want to teach,” said Ms. Dung.

Dr. Nguyen Song Hien - European Institute of Management and Technology

Dr. Nguyen Song Hien - European Institute of Management and Technology said that he personally completely agrees with removing this regulation.

Because many licenses and administrative regulations only cause unnecessary costs and waste of social resources. For the teaching profession, it should not be done because it is a noble profession related to people.

According to Mr. Hien, instead of requiring a practice certificate, it is necessary to further improve the training quality of this team and there should be more preferential policies, especially for teachers in remote areas.

“In fact, in this field, we already have many legal documents that set out strict requirements and regulations in selecting, recruiting, and evaluating this team. Therefore, it is thought that it is unnecessary to issue regulations on practice certificates for this field,” Mr. Hien stated his opinion.

Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Thanh Nam - Vice Rector of University of Education, Vietnam National University, Hanoi

Positive, suitable: why leave?

Discussing the Ministry of Education and Training's withdrawal of the regulation on professional practice certificates from the draft Law on Teachers, Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Thanh Nam - Vice Principal of the University of Education, Vietnam National University, Hanoi said that it would be a pity if this regulation no longer existed.

Mr. Nam believes that the view that in order to practice teaching, one must have a practice license (for both freelance teachers who do not teach or educate in educational institutions) is consistent with the approach to educational human resource management.

The license to practice will also play a role in determining who is qualified to practice teaching. It is a tool to support flexible teacher recruitment, expand professional opportunities and international cooperation for teachers; ensure the quality of guest teachers or freelance teachers; be the basis for evaluating and adjusting teacher training programs; as well as the basis for evaluating the continuous professional development of teachers.

Mr. Nam emphasized that the positive point of this policy is to help teachers in the public and non-public systems enjoy fair policies to standardize and improve their professional qualifications according to professional standards; receive salaries commensurate with their titles according to the level of meeting professional standards of teachers. They will not have to participate in training courses that are not related to the professional practice of their professional activities.

In addition, according to Mr. Nam, determining teacher standards through licenses also creates conditions for teachers to participate in the labor market with their professional expertise in a legitimate manner.

“I think these views are still correct and remain valid and I personally still support them. However, the new policy may also lead to additional costs for teachers to participate in training and professional development to meet professional standards and training and development facilities must spend more money to train to meet professional standards,” said Mr. Nam.

According to Mr. Nam, concerns about the licensing organization and management process may result in additional costs for teachers, additional procedures and sub-licenses. That is why the Ministry of Education and Training continues to survey public opinion, listen to social criticism to further adjust this issue.

Previously, the Draft Law on Teachers, first published in May 2024, stipulated the certificate of practice for teachers in Articles 15, 16 and 17. Accordingly, this certificate is valid nationwide and in other countries under international cooperation programs with Vietnam.

Certificates of practice are granted to teachers teaching in public, private, and non-public educational institutions that meet teacher standards; foreign teachers if they meet the conditions prescribed by competent authorities and have a need.

At that time, the Ministry of Education and Training said that a practice certificate is a document confirming the qualifications of a teacher issued by a competent management agency to people who meet the standards of teachers in educational institutions in the national education system, specialized schools and other educational institutions.

Do Hop

Source: https://tienphong.vn/bo-gddt-rut-quy-dinh-chung-chi-hanh-nghe-khoi-du-thao-luat-nha-giao-co-tiec-hay-khong-post1682497.tpo