What do elementary school teachers say?

Grade 4 textbooks are sold at Nguyen Tri Phuong Bookstore and School Equipment, Ward 9, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City.

More initiative comes with greater responsibility

Thanh Nien Newspaper reporter talked with Mr. Nguyen Van Dai Thanh, former Principal of Ho Van Thanh Primary School (now retired), District 12, Ho Chi Minh City.

Mr. Dai Thanh said that the 2018 General Education Program has many sets of textbooks. When the right to choose textbooks is returned to schools, the good thing here is that the textbook selection council, including schools, teachers, representatives of parents... is the one who understands and grasps all the characteristics of students and parents in their locality, from which they will be able to choose the right set of books for students and their children and parents in that place.

"The right to choose textbooks should be handed over to the facilities. I support schools choosing books for their students. This will gain more consent from parents, helping to make children's education more unified. Facilities should be allowed to choose textbooks and should respect the choice of textbooks, based on the interpretation and analysis of the reasons for choosing that textbook set," said Mr. Thanh.

A homeroom teacher at a primary school in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, said that in the past school years, regarding the selection of textbooks, opinions were still given to schools for selection and comments. After that, opinions from primary school teachers in the school were sent to the education department, and then a decision was made on the set of books selected.

According to the above primary school teacher, by giving the right to choose textbooks back to schools, the decision-making power of school boards and parent representatives will be more proactive, helping students easily access new curriculum textbooks. In particular, the selected textbooks will be suitable for the characteristics of students in each locality in the current context where many sets of textbooks are being circulated at the same time.

Students go buy textbooks for the 2023-2024 school year

The principal of a primary school in Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City, said that the positive side of having schools choose textbooks will help schools take the initiative and take full responsibility for the content.

However, this principal is concerned: "If schools do this, it will be difficult in terms of expertise when choosing books, information on documents, prices... The principal is the person ultimately responsible for choosing textbooks, which is quite stressful. Therefore, it is necessary to provide very careful guidance and training, and implement it methodically," this principal shared.

The characteristic of primary school teachers is that they teach many subjects, except for some subjects such as music, physical education, English, etc., which have subject teachers. Therefore, instead of each secondary and high school teacher only evaluating textbooks for each subject (math, literature, physics), primary school teachers will research, evaluate, and comment on many textbooks from math, Vietnamese, natural and social ethics, history and geography, experiential activities, etc.

Therefore, some primary school teachers in Ho Chi Minh City are concerned that if teachers participate in reading, commenting on, and evaluating textbooks for many subjects, will it be spread out and reduce effectiveness?

How to be transparent?

The issue of transparency in textbook selection is of interest to readers of Thanh Nien Newspaper. When the right to choose textbooks is returned to schools, how can the textbook selection council be impartial, systematic, transparent, and for the benefit of learners?

We raised the issue with a primary school teacher in charge of homeroom work in Ho Chi Minh City. This teacher suggested that in order to increase objectivity and transparency, when selecting textbooks at each unit, there should be the participation of an officer or employee from the Department of Education and Training in the meeting. At the same time, competent authorities such as the People's Committee of the ward or district can also support the textbook selection work with the school.

Students of a primary school in Ho Chi Minh City during English class

Mr. Nguyen Van Dai Thanh said that based on the experience of choosing textbooks in 2020, in the process of guiding the selection of textbooks, the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City and the Ministry of Education and Training will also provide very specific criteria for institutions to base on to choose books. To be objective and multi-dimensional, the school also sends these criteria to parents for reference so that they can participate with the school and comment on the advantages and disadvantages of each set of textbooks.

"The selection of a set of textbooks must be based on specific and clear criteria set by the Department of Education and Training, not just based on feelings. The process of selecting books must involve the participation of all teachers in the school," said Mr. Dai Thanh.

Draft of the Ministry of Education and Training on how schools choose textbooks?

According to the draft of the Ministry of Education and Training on textbook selection, each school establishes a textbook selection council. For general schools with many levels, each level establishes a council.

The Council includes: the head, deputy head; representatives of the heads of professional groups, professional teams, professional departments (collectively referred to as professional groups), teacher representatives, and representatives of the parents' association.

The number of council members is an odd number, with a minimum of 11 people. For general education institutions with less than 10 classes, the minimum number of council members is 5 people.

The council's task is to organize the appraisal of minutes of meetings of professional groups; comments and evaluation forms of textbooks by teachers; and the list of textbooks selected by professional groups. From there, synthesize and propose to the head of the school the list of textbooks selected by professional groups after the appraisal meets the requirements.

The council chairman is responsible for the activities, planning and implementation of the council's work plan. In addition, the council chairman is responsible for explaining the selection of textbooks of the institution.

Tue Nguyen

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/truong-co-quyen-chon-sach-giao-khoa-giao-vien-tieu-hoc-noi-gi-185231024161023991.htm