Cannot be assured about integrated teaching

Although the Ministry of Education and Training has given many explanations and instructions on integrated teaching, the reality in schools shows that all of them are just "firefighting" solutions. We cannot be assured about the quality of teaching this subject when there are no teachers.

" Screaming won't change anything, just keep trying"

The principal of a secondary school in Hoan Kiem District ( Hanoi ) said that at her school, all teachers of physics, chemistry, and biology had previously been trained and certified to teach integrated subjects. Therefore, this year is the third year the school has organized integrated teaching in the way that one teacher teaches all three subjects, no longer teaching each subject separately like the first year.

Grade 9 students in a natural science integrated class

PHOTO: DAO NGOC THACH

Talking about the quality of integrated teaching in the fourth year, this principal still hesitated: "Now, even if we complain, nothing will change, we just have to try to do it. We cannot ignore the quality, we have to constantly improve the expertise of teachers and cannot depend on the quality of the training course. For example, when chemistry and biology teachers teach physics, the school will ask physics teachers to observe the class and give comments...".

According to this principal, repeating this along with the self-study and self-improvement awareness of each teacher will also help improve the quality of integrated teaching.

Teacher Nguyen Thi Huong, Phu La Secondary School (Ha Dong District, Hanoi), said that because she used to teach physics, she had difficulty conducting chemistry experiments and would have to rely on the support of her chemistry colleagues. Phu La Secondary School has 7 teachers teaching physics, chemistry, and biology, while there are 46 classes, so the school had to contract 6 teachers to teach these subjects. School leaders said that for grades 6 and 7, one teacher is assigned to take charge of all 3 subjects, but by grade 8, there is a lot of specialized knowledge so teachers are not confident enough to take charge of all 3 subjects.

A representative of Vinh Quynh Secondary School (Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi) said that the timetable must be very flexible when there are up to 3 teachers in charge of one subject, but this way of doing things helps the school feel more secure about the quality than having one teacher go on a short training course and then return to teach all 3 subjects.

LOSS OF FINAL CLASS DUE TO CHANGES IN GRADE 10 EXAM

Having tried everything, the principal of a junior high school in Hoan Kiem District (Hanoi) said: "Next year, when taking the 10th grade entrance exam, with the Ministry of Education and Training's policy of changing the third subject or combination exam each year, we are also very worried". He explained: "If the Hanoi Department of Education and Training chooses to draw lots for the third subject, it could be natural science. Therefore, we are also discussing the option of teaching 9th grade by subject to ensure the best quality for students taking the 10th grade entrance exam in general and the specialized exam in particular".

Mr. Ho Tuan Anh, Principal of Quynh Phuong Secondary School (Hoang Mai Town, Nghe An ), once shared that in the current context of not having teachers trained from the beginning, teachers are forced to teach cross-subjects, even in localities that have trained and granted interdisciplinary certificates to teachers, it is only a "firefighting measure". Meanwhile, there is a great shortage of teachers. Basically, the school arranges one teacher to teach all the sub-subjects in the integrated subject. "Grades 6 and 7 can still manage, but by grades 8 and 9, it is difficult to talk about the quality of those subjects when teachers actually teach cross-subjects".

NOT CONFIDENT TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY

A teacher at Trung Luong Secondary School, Hong Linh Town (Ha Tinh) said that she used to teach biology and chemistry, and had completed a 3-month training course on teaching integrated subjects, but she could only teach chemistry and biology in natural science. She explained that teaching the entire natural science subject to teachers who had only been trained in one subject could not ensure quality. A representative of Trung Luong Secondary School said that teachers had been trained and updated with knowledge to teach integrated subjects, but that training certainly could not meet the current teaching needs of this subject.

Many localities also said that they had sent teachers to study and receive training from 20 to 36 credits to teach integrated subjects, but with such a short time, it is very difficult for teachers to handle the remaining 1-2 subjects that they have not been trained to teach in teacher training schools. Previously, voters of Hai Phong City sent a petition to the 6th Session of the 15th National Assembly, reflecting that the Ministry of Education and Training in developing textbooks according to the 2018 General Education Program did not pay attention to teacher resources, so when implementing, many schools lacked teachers to teach integrated subjects. To overcome this situation, some units sent teachers to teach physics, chemistry or biology to attend short-term training courses, and were granted certificates to teach subjects that were not trained in teacher training schools, leading to poor teaching quality.

Voters recommend that the Ministry of Education and Training pay attention to and direct the resolution of this inadequacy, ensuring the quality of education and meeting the requirements of educational innovation. Accordingly, for schools lacking teachers to teach natural sciences, the Ministry of Education and Training is requested to provide guidance and permission to organize parallel teaching of physics, chemistry, and biology in natural sciences according to the school's conditions instead of teaching according to the knowledge flow in textbooks; direct pedagogical schools nationwide to immediately train teachers to teach integrated natural sciences to have a source of teachers for schools.

The Ministry of Education and Training has also assigned teacher training institutions to open training codes for teachers of natural sciences, history and geography.

PHOTO: DAO NGOC THACH

NO TEAM REPLACEMENT

Responding in writing to this issue, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said that in order to teach natural sciences, history and geography according to the 2018 General Education Program, it is impossible to replace all physics, chemistry, biology, history and geography teachers, but it is still necessary to train this team of teachers to teach natural sciences, history and geography.

The Ministry of Education and Training has issued a training program for secondary school teachers teaching natural sciences, history and geography so that localities can develop plans, coordinate with training institutions, train teachers and send teachers to participate in training to meet the requirements of implementing the new program according to a roadmap suitable to the actual situation of the locality.

According to Mr. Son, the organization of teaching integrated subjects has been guided by the Ministry of Education and Training to assign teachers of current subjects. Accordingly, based on the situation of the school's teaching staff, the principal assigns teachers to teach topics suitable to the teachers' professional capacity. When a subject has many teachers in charge of each content, the school needs to develop a suitable timetable, not necessarily dividing the number of periods/week equally; if necessary, it is possible to not arrange to teach that subject in some weeks (on the basis of ensuring the program for each semester) to ensure the standard teaching hours/week of the assigned teachers.

The head of the education and training sector added that the Ministry has also assigned teacher training institutions to open major codes for training teachers in natural sciences, history and geography; and issued a circular regulating the training of second graduation degrees at university and college levels in teacher training majors. Currently, most teacher training institutions have opened major codes and are training teachers to gradually replace retired teachers, supplementing recruitment sources for localities.

"Have gradually overcome difficulties"

In a recent report to the National Assembly, in the content of implementing Resolution 88/2014/QH13 of the National Assembly, the Ministry of Education and Training stated: "For some new subjects in the 2018 General Education Program, the assignment of teachers and organization of teaching of natural sciences, history and geography has gradually overcome difficulties because the current teachers teaching each subject have not met the requirements to take on the entire subject. Up to now, the difficulties and obstacles in assigning teachers and organizing the teaching of these subjects have been basically resolved after the Ministry of Education and Training held a national conference to remove difficulties and obstacles in organizing the implementation of integrated subjects and issued Official Dispatch No. 5636/BGDĐT-GDTrH dated October 10, 2023 guiding the development of teaching plans for subjects".

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/chua-the-yen-tam-ve-day-hoc-tich-hop-185241103201001185.htm