Can I become a teacher without studying education?

More than 2,000 students from Duc Trong District (Lam Dong) arrived very early to participate in the Exam Season Consulting program organized by Thanh Nien Newspaper in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Training and the Department of Education and Training of Lam Dong province on the morning of March 23.

The program is broadcast live at thanhnien.vn , via Facebook fanpage and via YouTube and TikTok channels of Thanh Nien Newspaper.

More than 2,000 students of Duc Trong district participated in the Exam Consulting program last weekend.

PHOTO: BA DUY

REGULATIONS ON ENTRANCE IN TEACHING INDUSTRY

At the beginning of the program, a student from Duc Trong High School asked: "If I study a major other than pedagogy, how can I become a teacher? Are these majors supported with tuition? What is the admission process for majors at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education?" Another student wondered if I only got good grades in 1 year of 3 years of high school, can I study pedagogy?

Dr. Huynh Trung Phong, Director of the Center for Student Support and Entrepreneurship Development at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, said that in 2025, the school will enroll 45 majors, including 22 teacher training majors and 23 non-pedagogical majors. "If students study non-pedagogical majors, they must pay tuition, from 6-7 million VND/semester, for the entire course of 8 semesters. However, students with good academic performance and good training will receive scholarships from businesses, organizations, and individuals. Currently, about 15-20% of the school's students receive scholarships every year."

According to Dr. Phong, if students study non-pedagogical majors such as physics, chemistry, literature, English, they can still become teachers if they have a pedagogical certificate. "Regarding input, the Ministry of Education and Training stipulates that health and teachers must meet the threshold to ensure input quality. For example, in 2024, students must achieve 19 points for 3 subjects if considering high school graduation exam scores. In the method of considering transcripts or assessing capacity, they must have excellent 12th grade academic performance. In 2025, candidates must have good 12th grade academic performance. As for physical education pedagogy, preschool college, and music pedagogy, academic performance only needs to be fair or higher," Dr. Phong added.

Regarding the demand for human resources in the pedagogical sector, Dr. Tran Huu Duy, Head of Training Management Department, Da Lat University, informed that in the Central Highlands region, there are 2 schools, Da Lat University and Tay Nguyen University, among 14 schools nationwide approved as key units for pedagogical training. "Da Lat University alone has been approved for a pedagogical quota of 4,500-5,000 students, based on the demand for teachers in the near future. This number is 4 times the current scale. Therefore, students can rest assured about job opportunities when choosing pedagogical sector", said Dr. Duy.

Tran Ngoc Bao Phung, a student at Hoang Hoa Tham High School, wants to know about the admission to the English pedagogy major combined with IELTS and how to convert it; what is the standard score for the English pedagogy major and the English language major, and how the training is different. Dr. Huynh Trung Phong shared: "Ho Chi Minh City University of Education has 4 admission methods, including direct admission, priority admission, considering specialized competency assessment test scores, and considering graduation exam scores. If you want to use IELTS for admission, you must be a student in a specialized class or specialized school. If you are not a student in a specialized class or specialized school, to be considered for the English pedagogy major of the school, you can take the specialized competency assessment test and the proportion of English is expected to account for about 60%. If you have an IELTS certificate, it will be a great advantage."

According to Dr. Phong, in 2024, the benchmark score for English education is 27.01 points, and for English language is 25.86. "Both majors have specialized courses in listening - speaking - reading - writing. English education majors learn more about theory and teaching methods, while English language majors learn more about the country, culture, economy, and commerce. Currently, English language majors have 2 majors: translation - interpretation or business English for students to choose from," said Dr. Phong.

Students of Duc Trong district asked many questions in the Exam Season Consulting program held on March 23 in Lam Dong.

Photo: Ba Duy

WHAT TO STUDY TO START A BUSINESS AND BUILD A BRAND?

Thinking that business administration is prone to unemployment, Mai Chi, a student at Duc Trong High School, wondered: "So should I study this major or not?"

Master Pham Quang Truong, Deputy Head of the Faculty of Business and Law at Saigon International University, commented: "If you do not know what to study, how to study, and do not determine your future goals... then no matter what major you study, you will likely be unemployed. Therefore, before studying a major, you need to research, prepare, and orient yourself well, have a clear roadmap and strategy, then no matter what major you study, you will not have to worry about unemployment."

Similarly, a student at Luong The Vinh High School was also worried that studying general business administration would make it difficult for him to achieve his goal of owning a business and building his own brand in the future, and wanted to know which major would provide the core knowledge to do this.

Master Nguyen Thi Kim Phung, Deputy Director of the Center for Admissions and Business Relations, University of Finance - Marketing, affirmed that the business administration major provides many different knowledge blocks about human resources, production, marketing, finance... so that students can fully operate and manage a business. "To start a business, you have to learn a lot of knowledge and skills, in which the business administration major helps you have knowledge to manage and administer a business; the marketing major helps you research the market to build a complete marketing strategy for products and brands; the multimedia communications major helps you connect effectively with customers, the brand management major helps you build and position your brand...".

Students enthusiastically participate in activities in the counseling program.

Photo: Ba Duy

KNOWING TECHNOLOGY WILL INCREASE YOUR ADVANTAGE IN YOUR CAREER

Worried that studying tourism will lead to unemployment due to the development and impact of artificial intelligence (AI), a student at Chu Van An High School hopes to receive advice on how to avoid being replaced by technology after graduation. Dr. Tran Huu Duy noted: "You go to university not just to work in that field, because society is constantly changing, you have to learn more knowledge and skills to adapt to the changes. You should not worry about AI replacing humans. AI can never replace humans, but if humans do not have AI, they will be replaced by people who are good at AI. When studying tourism or any field, you must know how to grasp and apply technology to work. There are jobs in the tourism field that machines can do, but AI can never replace humans in thinking, emotions, and communication with customers."

Master Nguyen Thi Kim Phung also emphasized that in the development trend of the country, if you study economic majors that integrate technology, there will be very high job opportunities and higher career development potential. "In addition, you should update and supplement soft skills, improve foreign language skills... You yourself will become "hot" in the profession and be welcomed by businesses if you have enough knowledge and skills, especially knowledge about technology in the current context", Master Phung acknowledged.

Thanh Nien Newspaper would like to thank the units supporting the implementation of the Exam Season Consulting program in Duc Trong District (Lam Dong): Ministry of Education and Training, Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee, Lam Dong Department of Education and Training, Lam Dong Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Lam Dong Provincial Youth Union, Duc Trong District Party Committee - People's Committee, Duc Trong High School, Duc Trong District Department of Education and Training, Lam Dong Tourism Joint Stock Company, Lam Dong Lottery Company Limited, VNPT Lam Dong Business Center, MobiFone Lam Dong, and more than 20 universities, colleges, study abroad centers, teachers from high schools. Thank you Duc Trong District People's Committee, Da Lat University, Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, Yersin University (Da Lat) for accompanying the Nguyen Thai Binh Scholarship program of Thanh Nien Newspaper. Thank you Phuong Trang Passenger Transport Joint Stock Company for picking up and dropping off the consulting team. Thank you Saigon International University for giving Duc Trong District students 100 copies of the 2025 Admissions Handbook.

This year candidates do not need to register for a combination.

In response to students' questions about whether it is possible to use 2 or 3 combinations for admission, Dr. Nguyen Trung Nhan, Head of Training Department of Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, noted that this year candidates do not need to register for combinations.

However, besides math and literature being compulsory subjects, when choosing 2 optional subjects for graduation exams, candidates need to choose how these 2 subjects overlap the most with the combinations at universities, so that there will be more opportunities. Accordingly, schools will proactively choose the combination that students have the highest total score for consideration.