The draft Circular on ensuring educational quality and recognizing national standards, developed by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), shows a significant shift in management thinking: from cyclical accreditation to building a mechanism for regular self-assessment, with continuous improvement as the central goal.
Self-assessment for quality improvement
The draft Circular on quality assurance in education and recognition of national standards, recently announced by the Ministry of Education and Training, introduces a new approach. Instead of viewing accreditation as the ultimate goal, the draft stipulates that quality assurance must become a regular activity in school management.
According to Mr. Huynh Van Chuong, Director of the Quality Management Department (Ministry of Education and Training), the core point of the draft is to shift from a "assessment for accreditation" mindset to a "management for continuous quality improvement" mindset. The important thing is not just to answer the question of whether the school meets the standards, but also to demonstrate how the quality of education is improving year after year.
In this new approach, self-assessment is no longer a procedural activity or a tool for accreditation purposes, but rather a management tool that helps schools regularly review all aspects of their operations, from teaching staff and facilities to student learning and development outcomes. Through this, educational institutions can identify strengths and weaknesses and develop appropriate improvement plans.
Another noteworthy development is the establishment of a set of educational quality assurance standards comprising 6 standards with 25 criteria. This system of standards is designed to comprehensively evaluate the activities of educational institutions, including governance, staff, curriculum, physical facilities, learning environment, and educational outcomes.
In particular, data is identified as the foundation of quality assurance in the new phase. Instead of focusing solely on reports or evidence at the time of evaluation, the data system will continuously reflect the school's development. Information on student learning quality, teacher competence, facilities, and the effectiveness of educational program implementation will become an important basis for management decisions.
Beyond serving management activities at the school level, the evaluation results also provide valuable data for education management agencies and local authorities in policy planning, resource allocation, and support for disadvantaged educational institutions.
Furthermore, integrating quality assurance activities with national accreditation is expected to reduce overlapping in evaluation processes, lessen administrative pressure, and allow schools to focus more on their core mission of improving educational quality. This is also an important step towards building a culture of quality within schools, where self-assessment and improvement become regular activities instead of just occurring during accreditation cycles.
Providing the "big picture" of educational quality.
Besides strengthening self-assessment at educational institutions, a notable new development in educational quality assurance is the implementation of large-scale national assessments. This activity aims to collect objective data on the quality of general education nationwide, thereby providing a scientific basis for policy planning and adjusting solutions to improve teaching and learning quality.
In fact, some localities have recently conducted surveys and assessments of student quality. However, these activities have mainly been carried out on a limited scale, lacking uniformity in tools, methods, and implementation scope. Therefore, the results obtained only reflect the situation of each locality and do not fully present the overall picture of the national education system.
When a nationwide, large-scale evaluation is implemented uniformly, schools will be able to compare their results with the general standard, thereby better identifying strengths to be promoted, weaknesses to be overcome, and quality gaps between regions. This also serves as a basis for management agencies to assess the effectiveness of the 2018 General Education Program and monitor the development of educational quality over time.
In particular, data from large-scale assessments are not intended to rank or put pressure on schools to achieve high performance, but rather to support management and quality improvement. Through objective and systematic information, localities can accurately identify investment needs, allocate resources appropriately, and develop practical support policies, contributing to narrowing the gap in educational quality between regions and improving the quality of general education nationwide.
Source: https://daidoanket.vn/bao-dam-chat-luong-giao-duc-pho-thong.html
