The Ministry of Education and Training recently organized a training course on teaching integrated subjects such as Natural Science, History and Geography, Experiential Activities, and Career Guidance for administrators and teachers nationwide.
According to Deputy Minister of Education and Training Pham Ngoc Thuong, the 2023-2024 school year marks the third year that the education sector has implemented the teaching of Natural Science, History and Geography, and career guidance experiential activities at the lower secondary level. "This is new and challenging content, and given the varying conditions in terms of infrastructure and teaching staff across different regions and localities, difficulties, obstacles, and confusion are inevitable," he acknowledged.
The conference was held in a hybrid format, combining in-person and online participation, connecting all 63 provinces and cities.
According to Deputy Minister Pham Ngoc Thuong, in order for teaching and educational activities in schools to be implemented more effectively, functional units under the Ministry need to continue listening to feedback from the grassroots level to provide advice and guidance. This will allow for solutions to address difficulties in areas facing challenges, the replication of successful models, and the timely handling of negligent units.
Mr. Thuong also emphasized the important role of management officials and stressed the need for decisive leadership, clearly identifying the current situation and solutions to promptly address issues and avoid delays. Local authorities need to be proactive, flexible, and creative, but ensure that their actions are scientific , rational, closely follow the Ministry's program and requirements, and are appropriate to their practical conditions.
According to the Deputy Minister, training and professional development is a continuous process, linked to both short-term and long-term goals, with a strategic focus on the teaching staff.
At the training session, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh, Director of the Department of Secondary Education, pointed out the reasons for the difficulties in implementing and teaching integrated subjects in localities, including a shortage of teachers, equipment and experimental materials, confusion in organizing activities and conducting assessments, and financial difficulties.
The head of the department analyzed that currently, the teaching staff is uneven across different subjects, making it difficult to ensure that teachers teach according to their specialization. Some teachers lack experience in teaching integrated subjects or have not received adequate training, and therefore do not have the necessary qualifications or confidence to teach the topics in the subject curriculum.
In some areas, teachers have not received training in integrated teaching of Natural Science, History, and Geography, leading to difficulties in teaching (such as Long An, Tien Giang, Soc Trang, Quang Tri, Bac Lieu, and Kon Tum).
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh, Director of the Department of Secondary Education.
Some localities lack teachers with specialized training in career guidance experiential activities (such as Long An, Tien Giang, Soc Trang, Quang Tri, and Dak Nong).
"The shortage of teachers makes it difficult for the school to arrange and schedule timetables. If teachers are required to teach different subject areas simultaneously to stabilize the number of lessons per week, the topics may become jumbled, which is inconsistent with the spirit of integrated subjects because the curriculum is designed according to a logical knowledge structure," Mr. Thanh emphasized.
He also noted that the implementation of the activities lacked coordination between the Ministry of Education and Training's directives and the textbook authors' guidelines on career guidance experiential activities, causing difficulties for administrators and teachers.
At the same time, the number of teaching hours used to calculate teachers' workload has increased, while the number of teachers on the payroll remains unchanged, and there is no budget to pay for overtime. Schools and teachers are also confused about determining the content and themes for flag-raising ceremonies; how to organize them simultaneously for multiple classes and grade levels; and how to calculate teaching hours and determine the compensation for teachers.
In addition, organizing and evaluating students' learning outcomes is difficult because the curriculum is based on themes, meaning some subjects are taught in the first half of the semester and tested at the end, thus disrupting students' continuity of knowledge.
In response to these difficulties, the Director of the Department of Secondary Education proposed solutions to support and alleviate the problems for localities and educational institutions.
Specifically, with integration, schools assign teachers whose expertise matches the teaching content (following the main content areas of the subject curriculum or specific themes).
The Ministry of Education and Training encourages assigning teachers who have received professional training to teach two content areas or the entire subject curriculum, but this must be done step by step, ensuring the required professional competence and the teacher's confidence and readiness to guarantee the quality of teaching.
The lesson plan should be flexible in terms of time and timing for implementing major content areas of the curriculum or topics within those areas. The timetable should be arranged to avoid overloading teachers and to ensure that the content taught earlier serves as a foundation for subsequent content.
For experiential and career guidance activities, schools need to develop educational plans based on specific themes. The timetable should be flexible, not requiring the themes to be implemented sequentially in the textbook order, thus avoiding overloading teachers during the time they are assigned to a particular theme…
Ha Cuong
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