A 'sub-license' for the teaching profession?

Teachers currently teaching, recent education graduates… are bewildered because regardless of their background, everyone will be subject to review for this certificate. Based on their past experiences and painful lessons learned from obtaining similar certificates, everyone thinks this is just a kind of "sub-license" primarily for bureaucratic purposes.

Many pressing questions have been raised. Teachers have been teaching for many years, and to be recruited, they have had to go through rigorous entrance exams at teacher training colleges, internships during their training... After graduating and starting to teach, teachers almost annually participate in training courses, professional development programs, and even upgrade their qualifications... Yet, when drafting the Law on Teachers, if simply adding the sentence: "Teachers must have a professional certificate," millions of teachers will struggle to obtain a certificate authorizing them to practice their profession.

The Director of the Department of Teachers (Ministry of Education and Training) affirmed in Thanh Nien Newspaper: "This certificate does not create any additional administrative procedures." He also explained that the certificate is issued free of charge and replaces the current decision recognizing the completion of the probationary period for individuals who have completed their probationary period and have been assessed and confirmed by the educational institution as meeting the standards from the lowest level (achieved) upwards according to the professional standards for teachers at a given educational level or training qualification.

However, the above explanation is not convincing enough for educators and the public. Besides the counterarguments from experts within the education sector, the most frequent feedback received by Thanh Nien Newspaper from readers is the need to improve the quality of teacher training, both in terms of curriculum and practical training, to ensure that graduates from teacher training colleges are automatically qualified to become educators in terms of both professional expertise and skills.

The 2019 Education Law has raised the training level for preschool teachers from intermediate-level teacher training to college-level; primary school teachers from intermediate-level to university-level; and secondary school teachers, instead of graduating from a college-level teacher training program, now must graduate from a university-level teacher training program. Those who have not studied a teacher training major must participate in a training course to obtain a teaching certificate before they can teach, and then they must obtain a professional title certificate.

Therefore, the creation of so-called professional certificates, no matter how it's explained, hasn't reassured teachers. The important thing now is to focus on policies and regulations that allow teachers to feel secure and committed to their profession. Don't burden teachers with paperwork that's merely for bureaucratic purposes!

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