Minister of Education and Training responds to proposal to adjust integrated subject teaching

The Minister of Education and Training has just responded to the petition sent by voters of Thanh Hoa province to the 8th session of the 15th National Assembly regarding the issue of integrated teaching at the secondary school level.

Specifically, voters of Thanh Hoa province requested the Ministry of Education and Training to consider adjusting the teaching of integrated subjects at secondary school level to ensure effectiveness in teaching and learning activities and consistency with the high school education program.

Teaching integrated subjects at secondary school level continues to cause concern and worry among voters.

PHOTO: DAO NGOC THACH

Responding to this issue, the Minister of Education and Training cited Resolution No. 88 of the National Assembly on innovation of general education programs and textbooks clearly defines the content of innovation, in which, at primary and secondary levels, related contents of a number of educational fields and subjects in the current program are integrated to form integrated subjects. Streamlining and avoiding overlapping educational content is implemented, and the number of subjects is reasonably reduced.

To specify the implementation of the above resolution, the Ministry of Education and Training issued Circular No. 32 on the General Education Program, in which the secondary school level has natural science subjects integrated from physics, chemistry and biology; history and geography subjects are integrated from history and geography subjects to facilitate the exploitation of specific teaching contents comprehensively from many aspects.

Identifying these as new subjects, the Ministry of Education and Training has instructed schools to enhance innovation in teaching methods and testing and assessment according to the orientation of developing students' capacity, which has been guided and trained by the Ministry for many years, and this continues to be applied when teaching according to the new program.

From the current program, exploiting lesson content from many aspects in an integrated direction (geographical knowledge in history lessons and vice versa, chemical and biological knowledge in physics lessons and vice versa) has been implemented for many years.

No need to teach integration without preparation

In addition, on October 10, 2023, the Ministry of Education and Training issued an official dispatch to guide and train all teachers of these two subjects nationwide. In particular, the assignment of teachers to teach natural sciences and history and geography must ensure the appropriateness of the teachers' professional training and the assigned teaching content.

For example, with natural sciences, teachers will be assigned according to content streams, and a teacher who is not yet professionally prepared will not be required to teach the entire subject program.

The assignment of teachers who have been trained and professionally developed to teach two content streams or the entire subject program must be carried out step by step, ensuring the requirements for teachers' professional capacity to ensure teaching quality. Regular testing and evaluation are carried out during the teaching process; teachers who teach a content must conduct testing and evaluation for that content.

The Ministry of Education and Training's response only stated that it had provided guidance and training on teaching integrated subjects without directly mentioning the voters' recommendations on whether to adjust integrated subjects or not. Meanwhile, integrated teaching at the secondary school level has always been the most worrying and pressing issue in implementing the new general education program when there has been no preparation of teachers for this subject.

Minister Nguyen Kim Son, in a meeting with general education teachers in August 2023, also admitted: "Teaching integrated and interdisciplinary subjects is one of the most difficult things when implementing the new general education program, a "stuck point, bottleneck, difficulty".

According to the Minister, the ministry will make adjustments to the teaching of integrated subjects at secondary school level.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bo-truong-gd-dt-tra-loi-ve-kien-nghi-dieu-chinh-viec-day-mon-tich-hop-185250203152722127.htm