To make school truly happy

Yesterday morning (October 25), the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences, the Ministry of Education and Training, in collaboration with the Happy Lof Schools Foundation, organized a seminar called "Happy Schools - Happy Lof Schools in Vietnam".

Để trường học thực sự hạnh phúc - Ảnh 1. — Not academic achievement but love is the important factor that creates a happy school.

AVOID TRANSFORMATION

Speaking at the seminar, Mr. Vu Minh Duc, Director of the Department of Teachers and Educational Managers (Ministry of Education and Training), shared that the Ministry realized that students, teachers, and schools are under more and more pressure, especially in the context of the explosion of social networks, every action of teachers, even the smallest negligence, becomes a "storm" on social networks. This makes teachers very hesitant, not daring or not allowed to express their true feelings. Therefore, since 2018, the construction of happy schools has been initiated by the Ministry of Education and Training with 3 core criteria: love, safety, and respect.

Mr. Duc said that from that time until now, the diversity of happy schools shows the interest of teachers in finding positive educational solutions, suitable for the context of the times. However, in the process of implementing happy schools, the Ministry of Education and Training has noticed that there are development trends that are not suitable for the goals, including commercialization, the emergence of inappropriate criteria, and exploitation for economic purposes. Therefore, Mr. Vu Minh Duc said that in the coming time, state management will certainly have to have appropriate management actions.

Specifically, first, the Ministry of Education and Training highly respects diversity and differences in building happy schools, but core values need to be unified to avoid distortions that are not consistent with the goal of happy schools. Second, building happy schools must come from the intrinsic needs of each school and each individual, not become a movement, a competition criterion, and force schools to implement it. If we turn it into a nationwide movement and a competition criterion, it will invisibly create pressure on schools and teachers.

"However, to build happy schools into the schools' own needs, it is necessary to build content, models, and methods that are very specific and respect the differences of each subject," Mr. Duc affirmed.

" ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IS LESS IMPORTANT IN PREDICTING HAPPINESS"

Ms. Louise Aukland, a lecturer at Oxford University (UK), an expert in the field of well-being, believes that happier young people will achieve better results, such as positive impacts on academic performance and non-academic aspects, including: mental health, behavior, self-esteem, performance, motivation, reduced dropout rates... "Compared to emotional and behavioral health, academic performance is a less important factor in predicting adult happiness," Ms. Aukland affirmed.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hoa, Chairman of Nguyen Binh Khiem Education System (Hanoi), recalls the early years of the school's establishment, always maintaining the philosophy and educational goals of training excellent and talented students to become talents of society. However, when applied in reality, many problems arose, causing the "idea of training talents" to disappear: students were disruptive, refused to study, and caused trouble; teachers were insulted, went to the principal to "sue", could not stand the pressure and then quit their jobs; parents, when seeing their children not making progress, also went to the principal to "sue"...

"Parents expect their children to do well in school. The school implements strict measures and regulations. Many teachers have to quit their jobs because they cannot stand the pressure from private schools. I spend all day "judging lawsuits", sometimes I think: the life of a principal is so hard!", Mr. Hoa recounted.

He decided to change the school and himself: "I thought about untying the students by reducing the rules and regulations in the school. Many people believe that the more rules are set, the easier it will be to manage students. However, reality shows that the more rules the school sets, the more students find ways to break them because they are in puberty, the age of hyperactivity and mischief."

Mr. Hoa convinced teachers and himself to love students, not to apply harsh discipline when students make mistakes or get bad grades. Teachers should not focus too much on achievements, chasing after scores and always creating a happy atmosphere in the classroom. "I advise teachers not to use the eyes of classification, the eyes of scores to look at students," Mr. Hoa shared.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hoa also believes that chasing after achievements will make students lose their independence and confidence and become people who "only know how to practice", not train creative people. Learning is just one of the human abilities and no student is weak; education will be for the progress and development of students instead of achieving high scores and achievements.

HAPPINESS FROM SIMPLE THINGS

Recently, the Department of Education and Training of Ba Dinh District (Hanoi) also looked back on 1 year of implementing the happy school project at a number of schools in the district. The happy stories shared at this review session were very simple, unrelated to academic achievements, scores, or rankings.

Ms. Nguyen Loan, a civics teacher (Experimental Primary - Secondary - High School), expressed her happiness in feeling that her students love her subject: "Tomorrow is my class, we are really looking forward to it...", just that one sentence but I was very touched because the subject I teach is considered dry, a secondary subject...

"Tomorrow is your class, we really look forward to...", just that one sentence but I was very touched because the subject I teach is considered dry, a minor subject.

Ms. Nguyen Loan, civics teacher (Experimental Primary - Secondary - High School)

There is no one model that works for all schools.

Professor Le Anh Vinh, Director of the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences, said that happy schools are a concept of great interest in Vietnam today. Therefore, a systematic and comprehensive understanding of the elements that create a happy school is an issue of concern to the whole community. According to Mr. Vinh, a happy school is a school that is developed according to the conditions and capacity of each school, and there cannot be a single model that is right for all schools. However, it is very necessary to build an educational program towards happy schools in Vietnam in a scientific, modern, standardized manner that is in line with the trends of countries around the world. That is one of the important foundations for building a happy school where there is always a feeling of love, acceptance of diversity, respect for individuality, integration, nurturing of physical health, mental health, and development of the intelligence of each school, each teacher and each student.

Source link