Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son responded to a petition from voters in Thanh Hoa province sent to the 8th session of the 15th National Assembly regarding the issue of teaching integrated subjects in lower secondary schools according to the new general education program.
Voters in Thanh Hoa province have requested that the Ministry of Education and Training consider adjusting the teaching of integrated subjects at the lower secondary level to ensure effectiveness in teaching and learning activities and to align with the upper secondary education curriculum.
Responding to this issue, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son cited Resolution No. 88 of the National Assembly on reforming the curriculum and textbooks for general education , clearly defining the content of the reform. Specifically, at the primary and lower secondary levels, related content from several educational fields and subjects in the current curriculum will be integrated to create integrated subjects. The reform aims to streamline and avoid overlapping educational content, and to reasonably reduce the number of subjects.
Voters suggest adjusting the teaching of integrated subjects at the lower secondary school level. (Illustrative image)
To concretize the above resolution, the Ministry of Education and Training issued Circular No. 32/2018 on the General Education Program, in which the Natural Science subject at the lower secondary level is integrated from Physics, Chemistry, and Biology; and History and Geography are also integrated to facilitate the comprehensive exploration of specific teaching content from multiple perspectives.
The topics in the integrated subject are arranged primarily in a linear logic, combined to a certain extent with a concentric structure, and also include some interdisciplinary, integrated topics aimed at forming general principles and laws of the natural world.
On October 10, 2023, the Ministry of Education and Training issued a document providing guidance and training to all teachers teaching these two integrated subjects nationwide. Specifically, the assignment of teachers to teach Natural Science and History-Geography ensured that the teachers' professional training and expertise matched the assigned teaching content.
For example, in Natural Sciences, teachers will be assigned according to content areas; a teacher who is not yet adequately prepared in terms of professional competence will not be required to teach the entire curriculum.
The assignment of teachers who have received professional training and development to teach two content areas or the entire subject curriculum must be implemented gradually, ensuring that teachers meet the required professional competence to guarantee the quality of teaching. Regular testing and evaluation should be conducted throughout the teaching process; teachers should be responsible for testing and evaluating the content they teach.
The Ministry of Education and Training's response only stated that guidance and training on teaching integrated subjects had been provided, without directly addressing the voters' request regarding whether or not to adjust the integrated subject curriculum. Meanwhile, teaching integrated subjects at the lower secondary level has always been the most concerning and pressing issue in the implementation of the new general education program, as there has been insufficient preparation of teachers for this subject.
In August 2023, at a meeting with teachers nationwide, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son acknowledged: "Teaching integrated and interdisciplinary subjects is one of the most difficult challenges when implementing the new general education program; it is a 'bottleneck, a difficult point'." The Minister promised to make adjustments to the teaching of integrated subjects at the lower secondary level.
Khanh Huyen
Source: https://vtcnews.vn/cu-tri-de-nghi-dieu-chinh-day-mon-tich-hop-bo-truong-gd-dt-noi-gi-ar923758.html
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