The majority of career guidance staff are still amateurs and lack specialized skills.

Today (December 5), the General Education Subcommittee, National Council for Education and Human Resources Development held a meeting on Career Education and Orientation for students in secondary education institutions.

Reporting on career education and orientation, Director of the Department of Secondary Education (Ministry of Education and Training) Nguyen Xuan Thanh said that on May 14, 2018, the Prime Minister approved the Project "Career education and orientation for students in general education for the period 2018-2025" (Project 522). The project emphasizes innovation in the content and methods of career education, linking with production practices and social needs, while promoting measures to direct students after lower secondary school (JHS) and high school (THPT) into vocational education.

Overview of the meeting

Implementing Project 522, the implementation of career guidance programs in junior high schools and high schools has achieved many results, marking an important step forward in the innovation of general education in the direction of career orientation. Specifically, at the junior high school level, the rate of schools organizing career guidance programs linked to local production, business and service practices reached 68.52%, exceeding the set target of 55%. At the high school level, 75.93% of schools implemented it, exceeding the initial target of 60%. The rate of schools with teachers concurrently performing career guidance tasks at the junior high school level reached 74.07%, at the high school level reached 77.78%, exceeding the set target.

Career orientation and advocacy activities have been widely organized to raise awareness among students, parents and society about the importance of career education and student orientation. A recent highlight is the integration of STEM education into subjects, helping students to recognize and orient their careers early through practical activities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. This has helped improve students' applicability and adaptability to future work fields.

Although many remarkable results have been achieved, in the process of implementing the project, there are still many shortcomings and problems related to the lack of synchronization between regions, limitations in documents, support tools, facilities, human resources, implementation costs, coordination between schools and families, and the interest and awareness of the whole society.

Assessing that one of the main reasons why the work of streamlining and orientation in schools is still facing difficulties lies in policies and resources, Dr. Hoang Ngoc Vinh, former Director of the Department of Vocational Education (Ministry of Education and Training) said that there are currently many limitations in financial investment, human resources and implementation tools. The team doing career guidance work is mostly amateurs, lacking specialized skills. Therefore, the most urgent solution is to have strong investment in facilities, teaching staff and to introduce specific financial policies, supporting career education and streaming instead of relying solely on local budgets.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen, Thai Nguyen University of Education needs to improve the legal framework on streaming education, develop policies to support students, improve post-secondary training programs, promote community and business participation, monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of streaming high school students. Along with that, the monitoring and evaluation mechanism should improve the effectiveness of the program.

Pointing out the role of macro policies on this issue, Professor Nguyen Van Minh, former Principal of Hanoi National University of Education, said that it is necessary to change society's perception of vocational training: "The word 'vocation' goes with the word 'career', so we must focus on output policies for the professions that have been oriented in schools as well as training after streaming. Vocational training must meet the needs of society and ensure fairness. Only then can we change perceptions and convince society."

With the viewpoint that career education and orientation must start from the needs of students, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Anh, former Principal of Nguyen Tat Thanh Secondary and High School, shared that if students want to have needs and interests in career orientation, 100% of teachers in schools must have full awareness of this work. This is also consistent with the orientation and goals of the 2018 General Education Program.

Source: https://vov.vn/xa-hoi/doi-ngu-lam-huong-nghiep-phan-lon-van-la-nghiep-du-thieu-ky-nang-chuyen-sau-post1140135.vov