On March 13, the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences organized a seminar on "Let Vietnamese children grow up with a stress-free childhood". The seminar aims to create a forum to share the current situation of factors that cause pressure on primary school students, aiming to build a healthy living environment, helping children to be themselves, to live innocently, without pressure.
Professor Le Anh Vinh shared at the seminar "For Vietnamese children to grow up with a pressure-free childhood"
PHOTO: HS
At the seminar, Professor Le Anh Vinh, Director of the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences, shared a story that made him think a lot about the pressure that students are under: "In 10 years of leading the national team to compete in the International Math Olympiad, once when taking students out to eat before the exam, a very stressed team member told me, "Teacher, there are only 2 more days and I will never have to compete in math again."
"A seemingly normal statement, but coming from one of the best students in math, surprised me," Professor Le Anh Vinh shared, and said that he had to tell the student right away that he did not have any pressure on them, and that he himself was not under any pressure about the team's performance, so that he would be less stressed when entering the exam.
At that time, to balance the student's psychology, Professor Vinh said he said: "Go into the exam room like a boy in elementary school and do the math problems in the IMO exam like the best math problems in your life, not for the score or the prize."
Later, that student succeeded in math at a top university in the US. However, the question of why students are under such pressure is still a concern for Professor Le Anh Vinh.
Parents only care about their children's grades.
Regarding the evaluation of students, especially primary school students, Professor Le Anh Vinh also shared the story of a child coming home from school and showing his father that he got 9 points, but that was the lowest in the class, the father was sad. On the contrary, when the child got 6 points but was the highest in the class, the parents were still excited and praised "you are so good".
Professor Le Anh Vinh also mentioned the changes in primary school student assessment since Circular 30, which eliminated regular grading and then schools and teachers were under great pressure because they did not know whether the comments could accurately and adequately assess students.
Therefore, although the assessment idea is very progressive and humane, this circular had to be adjusted a lot before being implemented in practice.
Director Le Anh Vinh said, we often think more is better, if we combine both scoring and commenting it will be better than just one form. It is good for teachers to praise students but parents still need teachers to give 9, 10 points.
However, according to Mr. Vinh, a research result has shown that assessment by scoring or scoring combined with comments does not bring significant changes in students' learning outcomes; only assessment by comments brings the expected changes.
"Simply because when there are scores, no one cares about the comments and the true nature of what is happening in the classroom. We have too many students with high scores, many 10s, but have many problems... Scores are not everything," said Mr. Vinh.
Emphasizing the importance of making children happy and carefree when going to school, especially at the primary level, Professor Vinh recalled that there was a proposal to extend the number of years of primary school from 5 years to 6 years, which caused much debate.
Many countries have adopted this model, the reason is that they want their children to have longer study time and live a less stressful life while in primary school. Primary school is not about knowledge, achievements, or grades, but is a level of education to train qualities, personalities, and attitudes so that children can confidently step into life.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/vien-truong-giao-duc-giat-minh-tu-cau-noi-cua-hoc-sinh-thi-olympic-toan-quoc-te-185250313164207978.htm
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