Speaking with Dai Doan Ket Newspaper reporter, Mr. Dang Tu An - Director of the Vietnam General Education Innovation Support Fund, former Director of the Department of Primary Education (Ministry of Education and Training) said: Principals, teachers, students and parents play a decisive role in the success or failure of the implementation of Circular 29.
PV: After more than a month of implementing Circular 29 of the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) regulating extra teaching and learning, there are still some disturbances. Teachers, parents and students are still familiar with the old teaching and learning methods that have lasted for many years. How do you view and evaluate this issue?
Mr. Dang Tu An: Circular 29 has been in effect for more than 1 month, which is too short a time compared to more than 10 years of rampant and negative extra teaching and learning activities. Circular 29 is considered by many experts to be a breakthrough in restoring order and discipline in teaching and learning in schools. Changing mindsets to adapt takes time, and cannot happen immediately so that schools and society can make appropriate adjustments to the current negative situation of extra teaching and learning.
Although Circular 29 has clear regulations, in reality, the situation of circumventing the law still exists. Some teachers still find ways to ask relatives to register their tutoring businesses and attract students to outside centers. Many people are concerned that students are being caught up in the cycle of tutoring?
Circular 29 has clearly and specifically regulated extra teaching and learning in and out of school. However, parents' awareness is not correct, not keeping up with educational innovation, so they still cling to and find ways for their children to take extra classes. Studying to accumulate knowledge, taking the purpose of exams and scores as the goal for children, is outdated and out of date. Extra classes, in fact, are students doing math problems and essays that have been taught by teachers in class. Therefore, extra classes today are essentially just practicing skills to achieve high scores in exams. Where there is demand, there is supply, when extra classes in schools are limited, students turn to outside facilities. Therefore, extra classes are being transformed when teachers and students move outside of school to rationalize this activity. Some teachers even continue to teach extra classes in school with public declarations that they are free, not charging students. We think that we need to have democratic and widespread discussions in schools to gain correct awareness and then change behavior. Managing extra teaching and learning in schools is much easier than outside of schools. Local authorities at all levels need to get involved to support education and work with schools to effectively implement Circular 29.
Do you think it is the pressure of public schools that has caused students and parents to be tormented by the cycle of extra classes for so long?
The characteristic of the private school system is that they have favorable conditions to pioneer educational innovation. In addition, they have the initiative in funding, and are highly autonomous in school management. They can terminate contracts with teachers if they do not meet the commitments in the contract. The public school system, still burdened by subsidies, many teachers still maintain the mindset of lifelong civil servants. Teachers teaching in public schools receive salaries from the State, so they must fulfill their responsibility to teach the main curriculum. That is, to guide students in self-study skills, to arouse and develop their potential. Students in public schools enjoy the State's free education policy, so they must train their personalities and build a lifelong learning style. Extra teaching and extra learning are the private needs of teachers and students, and cannot be confused with public assets. The country is changing to enter a new era of the nation. Principals, teachers and students of public schools need to proactively adapt to the daily development of the country.
Encouraging students to study on their own is not something we have only recently mentioned. In your opinion, what are the requirements for the role of teachers in encouraging students to study on their own?
It can be affirmed that the Law on Education and documents of the Party, National Assembly, Government and Ministry of Education and Training all emphasize and attach importance to teaching students self-control and self-study skills. Teachers play an important role in training students' self-control and self-study skills. Teachers are supporters, role models and creators of self-study environments for students. Schools need to guide students in learning methods and orient their self-study abilities. Training self-control skills needs to be done regularly and started early from primary school. The habit of taking extra classes can reduce children's ability to think independently, making them passive and dependent on others. Extra classes can become a barrier, even negatively affecting the development of students' self-control and self-study skills.
Do you think that in order to achieve the highest goal of the education sector, which is to improve the quality of formal teaching and learning, helping teachers and students to go to school with the right roles, responsibilities and feel happy, we first need to change the perception of adults, especially parents and teachers?
As mentioned above, Circular 29 is a breakthrough, a new "gate" to enter a situation of extra teaching and learning that still has many negative aspects, which needs to be arranged soon, to stabilize and bring back a healthy school environment. This work requires a synchronous coordination from the Ministry of Education and Training, components in the school community and the whole society. Principals, teachers, students and their parents are the key components, playing a decisive role in the success or failure, throughout the process of receiving, understanding and enthusiastically putting Circular 29 into practice. Public schools are organizations that receive state budget, students are exempted from tuition fees, so they need to have the duty to do well the main teaching task. Students must be trained to develop comprehensively and their own capacity to be able to be independent in the future. Teachers are the ones who inspire students to learn.
Sir, along with the tuition exemption policy, Circular 29 of the Ministry of Education and Training on tightening extra teaching and learning will help students enjoy double benefits. So, is this also one of the conditions to ensure a happy school environment?
It is true that high school students benefit from the government's double benefit of free tuition and not having to pay unreasonable fees for extra classes. The school environment is guaranteed and supported to the maximum extent for students.
The core of current innovative education is to strongly shift from imparting knowledge to forming and developing the qualities and capacities of learners. That means abandoning the old teaching method of enhancing knowledge teaching (teaching words), replacing it with teaching students how to learn, teaching life skills, physical training, and arts for students (teaching people). Therefore, providing knowledge to students at a moderate level, spending time on teaching and developing students' capacities.
For a long time, extra learning and teaching have mainly been about teaching words and letters, bringing immediate material benefits to teachers. Besides, over the past 5 years, Vietnamese education has been too hard and busy because of having to change new textbooks, change teaching methods and change the way students are evaluated. With such heavy daily pressure, teachers will not be happy and the happiness of students will remain a distant dream. This is wrong, going against UNESCO's recommendation to transform schools globally in the direction of Happy Schools.
Thank you very much!
According to the Ministry of Education and Training, after 1 month of implementation, Circular 29 has had a positive impact on the awareness and actions of managers, teachers, students and parents. However, many schools suddenly stopped teaching extra classes when Circular 29 took effect, affecting the psychology of students and parents - while they should have been ready and prepared to do this beforehand.
Source: https://daidoanket.vn/tra-lai-gia-tri-dich-thuc-cho-giang-day-chinh-khoa-bai-cuoi-can-thay-doi-nhan-thuc-tu-nguoi-lon-10301830.html
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