Problems in recruiting college lecturers: Good at their job but difficult to recruit

According to the draft Circular regulating professional standards for lecturers teaching at college level in vocational training institutions of the Ministry of Education and Training, which has just been consulted, lecturers teaching theory must have a bachelor's degree or equivalent or higher; lecturers teaching both theory and practice must have a bachelor's degree or equivalent or higher and have a diploma, certificate, or certification that meets the standards of professional practice capacity to teach practice at college level according to regulations.

According to colleges, this regulation is necessary to standardize the teaching staff, ensuring legality and training quality. However, in reality, its application has caused many problems – especially for practical teachers.

Good at the job but not "qualified" to teach

Master Vo Cong Tri, Vice Principal of Saigon College of Technology and Tourism , shared that currently, many colleges are having difficulty recruiting practical lecturers. There are people who are skilled, experienced, and have outstanding abilities, but do not have the required qualifications or certificates. Meanwhile, those who have qualifications do not have much practical experience to guide students in their profession.

According to Master Tri, the school always considers two factors: “degree” and “skills”. Degree is a necessary condition to ensure legality, but vocational skills are the decisive factor in training quality. “We want to create conditions for skilled people who are passionate about teaching to teach, but still have to comply with the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training”, said a representative of Saigon College of Technology and Tourism.

The regulations on degrees and certificates make it more difficult to retain good practical lecturers, especially for experts, technicians, and highly skilled chefs from businesses. Most of them do not have a formal university degree, or have not studied pedagogy, so it is difficult to meet the requirements to teach. Teaching and studying for additional degrees is a challenge that makes many people "afraid" to stick with it for a long time.

Similarly, at Saigon Tourism College, according to Master Ngo Thi Quynh Xuan, Principal of the school, the biggest difficulty is in the kitchen industry. “Many experienced chefs and head chefs, even with good teaching skills, do not have a university degree in the right field. Meanwhile, those with a university degree have little connection with the practical aspects of the kitchen industry,” Master Xuan added.

Lecturer qualifications are a necessary condition to ensure legality, but vocational skills are the decisive factor in training quality.

PHOTO: YEN THI

Why are good teachers not interested?

To overcome difficulties in recruiting lecturers, Saigon College of Technology and Tourism has flexibly implemented solutions such as inviting business experts to participate in teaching as consultants, organizing pedagogical training courses for practicing lecturers, and focusing on remuneration policies and career development opportunities to retain skilled workers.

Ms. Ngo Thi Quynh Xuan said that in recent years, Saigon College of Tourism has selected skilled people with a spirit of passing on their profession, then trained them to meet pedagogical standards. Every year, the school organizes the selection of lecturers from businesses and trains source lecturers according to European standards. "After being trained and completing the required certificates, only those with good pedagogical qualities and skills are officially invited to teach," Ms. Xuan informed.

According to Master Lam Van Quan, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Vocational Education Association, the current policy is not attractive enough to attract skilled people to teach. "Salary, allowances and career development opportunities in schools are not competitive with businesses. Meanwhile, the procedures for inviting experts and artisans to teach are complicated, making many people not interested," said Master Quan.

Master Quan believes that the current selection mechanism is still rigid when it requires candidates to be both skilled and have a teaching degree. Therefore, the source of candidates is significantly narrowed. To solve this problem, it is necessary to apply the "recruit first - train later" model: accept skilled workers, then gradually train them in teaching skills and complete their degrees.

Sharing about the criteria for evaluating good lecturers in the field of vocational education, according to Dr. Hoang Ngoc Vinh, former Director of the Department of Vocational Education (Ministry of Education and Training), good lecturers in vocational education are not measured by the number of scientific publications like in universities, but mainly by their skills, pedagogical capacity and training effectiveness linked to the labor market.

According to Dr. Vinh, important criteria include: meeting national or international vocational skills standards, being able to effectively guide practice, regularly updating new technology, and especially ensuring "output products" - meaning graduates have jobs that meet the needs of businesses.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bat-cap-tuyen-giang-vien-cd-gioi-nghe-nhung-kho-tuyen-185251106205218658.htm