Hanoi, (VNA)🀅 – Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son has affirmed that teachers are the most valuable asset of the education-training sector, and pledged to make the utmost effort to develop the teacher workforce.

Teachers are the most valuable asset of the education-training sector

At a meeting held in both in-person and online formats with 700,000 teachers, administrators, and school staff nationwide on August 15, the minister said he had been looking forward to an occasion to hold a dialogue with as many teachers as possible to discuss issues in the development of the education-training sector. The August 15 meeting, held with the support of information technology, is an unprecedented event in the sector’s history. “We share opinions on the issue for no other goal than best performing our tasks, fulfilling our responsibility to the sector, the Government, society and the people,” Minister Son said. He stressed that developing the teacher workforce is the most important, fundamental and decisive factor in the task of reforming and enhancing the quality of education.

“The ministry’s leadership will do everything and take every possible measure to enhance the position of teachers, develop and reform the teacher workforce,” he told the meeting. The ministry’s leadership always seizes every opportunity to present proposals on the sector’s development, he said.

What the Ministry of Education and Training will do for teachers?  

Minister Son affirmed that the ministry will conduct a review of policies and mechanisms of the sector. At present, there are more than 200 policies related to education and training stipulated in different legal documents issued by ministries and agencies, causing difficulties for implementation. He said the building of a Law on Teachers in the time to come is likely to bring positive institutional changes in the sector and create a level playing ground for public and private education establishments. The non-public or private educational system will receive equal treatment, facilitating its development and bringing more diverse educational options for society.   The ministry will continue to propose and work with other ministries and agencies on raising allowances and incomes for teachers, improving school infrastructure and working conditions for teachers. The ministry will take measures to care for students in disadvantaged areas, making sure that the reforms that are underway in the education and training sector will not result in inequality in access to education.

The ministry is also making adjustments to Decree 116 on teachers’ training and Circular 16 on the quota of teachers per class.

🅘 “We are rolling out many measures to develop the teacher workforce in terms of both quantity and quality, including those in emulation and reward and teacher training,” Son said. 

Teachers also need to refresh mindset

The leader of the education-training sector also expressed his expectations for the teachers, first of all in the application of the new general education curriculum (GEC).  

He said the GEC brings opportunities to access knowledge, even though there are things that need to be adjusted and it is never easy to adapt to new things. “We should take it as an opportunity for comprehensive reform, taking the education sector to a new chapter with qualitatively changes,” the minister said. He underlined that in such circumstances, teachers should also adjust to their new role, from mainly imparting knowledge to students, to organising, leading and supporting students in building up their capacity and accumulating knowledge. Teachers should change their mindset on the way to use textbooks. Instead of strictly following the textbooks, teachers can take the initiative to supplement existing resources by using different textbooks and learning materials. According to the minister, teachers are given more power in class under the GEC, such as to decide the content and order of lessons and the methods of evaluation, which in the past followed uniform rules. Son also highlighted the role of school principals in education reform, noting that if principals do not reinvent their working style, it will be very difficult for teachers to change./.