Need to separate to consider the proposal "school staff become teachers"

School staff with many concerns

When the Draft Law on Teachers was widely communicated to educational institutions across the country, once again school staff (libraries, laboratories, information technology, etc.) felt disheartened when they saw that they were not being adequately cared for; specifically, they were not included in the Draft Law on Teachers.

The teacher guides students in the IT festival.

“We are also people working in schools, the work is very hard; it is related to the educational program and school activities but is not mentioned in the Draft,” said Ms. Nguyen Dieu Nhi, a school library staff.

According to Ms. Nhi, it is not that she cannot distinguish between the roles of teachers and staff, but clearly, if not cared for, the treatment of school staff will be difficult to improve. What she and her colleagues expect here is the recognition of society for the hard work of teachers; from there, policies on salary or treatment of school staff must be available.

As a laboratory staff, Ms. Ngo Lan Phuong, residing in Hanoi, shared: a laboratory equipment staff must also study to have specialized knowledge of chemicals and laboratory equipment, supporting teachers and students to have practical experiments. Therefore, the laboratory equipment staff hopes to receive the most satisfactory benefits instead of the current disadvantages.

At the consultation workshop on policies on recruitment, use and state management of teachers in the draft Law on Teachers organized by the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City recently, there was also an opinion suggesting that school staff be teachers to reduce the disadvantages for them.

According to Mr. Le Van Chuong - Deputy Director of Chu Van An Continuing Education Center, Ho Chi Minh City, school staff are a silent force but always suffer from disadvantages in terms of salary, allowances, working hours, emulation and rewards. Many school staff have quit their jobs after many years of working because their income is not enough to live on and there is a lot of pressure. There are school staff who have worked for 20 years, but their salary is only 6 to 7 million VND/month, too low compared to the general level. Without school staff, educational institutions cannot operate. Therefore, the draft Law on Teachers should add that school staff are also teachers.

Increasing the regime does not mean "employees become teachers"

The principal of a secondary school in Hanoi said: In a school organization, there are teachers and staff; teachers do teaching work and staff do related work such as library, administration, health care, etc. Because they work in an educational environment, the duties of school staff are closely linked to the school's educational program as well as to students. Staff perform many tasks and contribute a lot to the school's successful implementation of educational tasks. However, according to this principal, staff cannot be considered teachers.

Teachers are well-trained through pedagogical schools; have a hard working career; in addition to teaching, they also prepare lessons, grade exercises, receive professional training, participate in courses and competitions; take care of students, build relationships with parents, etc.; are responsible for both professional and many other social issues; meanwhile, staff mainly work administrative hours; training capacity varies. School staff also have the flexibility to take turns taking time off during the summer; this is a benefit that staff working in non-educational public service units do not have.

Regarding the proposal to turn school staff into teachers, Associate Professor Dr. Tran Thanh Nam - Vice Principal of the University of Education, Vietnam National University, Hanoi said that to become a teacher, there are many special requirements. For example, those working in libraries at educational institutions may be required to update their knowledge and pedagogical certificates to build a career path and evaluate their work according to their level of competence.

“Support staff in schools need to have opportunities to develop their careers according to their own ranks. For example, IT support staff and facilities staff, if necessary, need to build their own career development roadmap and receive salaries according to their ranks. If they work in educational institutions, they need to have a pedagogical certificate to ensure the safety and comprehensive development of learners,” said Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Thanh Nam.

According to Dr. Nguyen Tung Lam, Vice President of the Vietnam Association of Educational Psychology, Chairman of the Education Council of Dinh Tien Hoang High School (Hanoi), schools have many staff positions. Staff have important positions and roles and usually have a very large workload. If we want a good school, staff must also be good and talented. "Although we should not have the view that school staff are teachers, we must also have good treatment for this group of professional titles, including building a higher salary scale as well as having a separate allowance system for them. Regarding this issue, the Ministry of Education and Training needs to recommend the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Finance to consider and unify the salary scale for school staff so that they have a living wage and to prevent the situation of school staff quitting their jobs due to low wages" - Dr. Nguyen Tung Lam emphasized.

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