Proposal for 'standard debt' to have a source of teacher recruitment

To gradually overcome the situation of surplus and shortage of teachers, the Ministry of Education and Training said it will coordinate with relevant agencies, ministries and branches to complete a report for the Government to submit to the National Assembly for comments on allowing localities lacking teachers but still having staff to recruit preschool and primary school teachers according to the training standards prescribed in the 2005 Education Law.

The reason for this proposal is because according to the 2019 Education Law, there is a major change in the training standards for teachers. Preschool teachers previously required intermediate training standards, now it is college; primary school teachers have been upgraded from intermediate to university, leading to many localities lacking teachers but having a deadlock in recruitment sources.

C FOR STANDARD DEBT BUT MUST COMMIT TO "PAYMENT" TIME

This proposal received the agreement and support of many localities, especially those that are really "stuck" in terms of recruitment sources.

Primary school students in Mu Cang Chai ( Yen Bai ) during an online English class due to a lack of teachers.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Thuy, Head of the Department of Education and Training of Mu Cang Chai District (Yen Bai), shared: "Currently, the whole district only has one English teacher on the staff of primary school level. Every year, teachers are recruited for this subject but there are no applicants. Many times, it is difficult and deadlocked."

Therefore, according to Mr. Thuy, allowing the recruitment of teachers according to the old standards will help to partially solve the current serious shortage of teachers. Mr. Thuy also shared the reality that currently, for English subjects, if the recruitment of teachers with college degrees instead of university degrees is allowed, the local recruitment source in Mu Cang Chai district will not be available, let alone university degrees. However, through research, neighboring areas have a source of recruiting students who have graduated from English teacher training colleges, but because they have not met the training standards, they are not recruited. "The recruitment must be accompanied by a commitment that these teachers will both work and study to improve their training standards, and the funding will be implemented according to the Government 's guidelines," said Mr. Thuy.

Similarly, Mr. Bui Van Thu, Head of the Department of Education and Training of Meo Vac District (Ha Giang), also said that this is a good solution because the recruitment source will be wider than at present, although it may not be able to meet all the requirements. Currently, in the district, there are some students with college degrees who are not recruited because they do not meet the training standards, while the whole district is seriously lacking teachers, especially at the primary level. In addition to English and IT, according to Mr. Bui Van Thu, some specific subjects such as music and fine arts are also difficult to recruit, so the standards for subjects that are lacking teachers and do not have recruitment sources should be lowered.

According to Mr. Thu, there should be specific regulations on the time for teachers to be trained and improved according to the provisions of the 2019 Education Law, and it is not possible to "owe standards" indefinitely.

Speaking at the national conference to deploy tasks for the 2023-2024 school year, Mr. Do Duc Duy, Secretary of Yen Bai Provincial Party Committee, also pointed out the reality that many localities in the province are lacking many teachers, especially English teachers.

According to Mr. Duy, the province has sought every solution but has not been able to recruit any new candidates. Last school year, when the teacher recruitment quota was announced, the number of applicants only reached more than 53% of the recruitment quota and only recruited more than 50% of the applicants.

Yen Bai Department of Education and Training proposed that the Ministry of Education and Training coordinate with the Ministry of Home Affairs to advise the Government in the next 3 years to allow provinces to recruit below-standard teachers for training in the subjects that are lacking, specifically teachers with college degrees, currently studying at university or committed to studying at university immediately after being recruited.

A teacher assigned from Yen Bai city to teach English in Mu Cang Chai due to a shortage of teachers there.

This is also a proposal from leaders of many provinces in the Central and Southern regions. Ms. Nguyen Thi Quyen Thanh, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Vinh Long province, said that the current very difficult problem is that there is no source to recruit or sign a work contract due to the application of regulations on standard qualifications of teachers at all levels according to the 2019 Education Law. Therefore, Ms. Thanh requested the Ministry of Education and Training to study and propose the recruitment of students with intermediate degrees in preschool education and junior college degrees in primary education during this transition period. Recruited students must commit to self-study to improve their training standards. If they do not meet the standards after the commitment period, the unit can consider terminating the contract.

Right in Hanoi, a leader of the Department of Education and Training also said that the proposal to recruit substandard teachers for some specific subjects such as English and IT is very necessary because even in Hanoi there is a shortage of teachers for these subjects. "In reality, it is not that there is no source of recruitment in Hanoi, but bachelors with foreign language and IT qualifications in the city have many better job opportunities, with much higher incomes than teaching in elementary schools," he said.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING PROPOSES IMPLEMENTATION ROADMAP

A representative of the Department of Teachers and Educational Managers (Ministry of Education and Training) said that implementing Resolution No. 75/2022/QH15 on questioning activities at the 4th session of the 15th National Assembly, the Ministry of Education and Training is researching and drafting a report to the Prime Minister on the proposal to develop a Resolution of the National Assembly proposing a number of specific policies to recruit teachers to implement the 2018 General Education Program.

In order to have a basis for proposing policies according to the requirements of Resolution No. 75/2022/QH15 of the National Assembly, the Ministry of Education and Training has sent an official dispatch requesting the People's Committees of provinces and cities to coordinate and give opinions on related contents. Accordingly, in this official dispatch, the Ministry of Education and Training said that it is planning to propose "allowing localities that lack teachers, have staff but lack recruitment sources to recruit students, teachers with a college degree in pedagogy or a college degree and a certificate of pedagogical training to teach English, IT, and art subjects according to the 2018 General Education Program".

After being recruited, these teachers must participate in the standard upgrading roadmap to meet the training standards as prescribed in the 2019 Education Law. The recruitment process for this group is carried out according to Government regulations. The policies and regimes after recruitment are applied according to the regulations of the Government and the Ministry of Education and Training.

Mu Cang Chai students in an online English class

Regarding the scope of implementation and application time, the Ministry stated that the recruitment of this subject is expected to be carried out until the end of 2028 (2 years before the end of the roadmap to raise training standards according to the provisions of Decree No. 71/2020/ND-CP of the Government to ensure training standards according to the 2019 Education Law by 2030).

Professor Dinh Quang Bao, former Principal of Hanoi National University of Education, said that the general trend in the world is not to lower teacher standards. However, if a temporary solution is really needed to have a source of recruitment, the Education Law should not be amended.

According to preliminary statistics based on industry data, the country is currently short of 118,253 teachers, an increase of 11,308 people compared to the 2021-2022 school year. Currently, the rate of teachers meeting training standards (according to the 2019 Education Law) is 91.7% for preschool level; 74.8% for primary school; 86.1% for secondary school; and 99.9% for high school. Thus, primary school has the highest rate of unqualified teachers, 25.2%; followed by secondary school at 13.9%; and high school at only 0.1%.

There should be regulations on salary classification.

From a policy perspective, some opinions also stated: if teachers are recruited below training standards, it is necessary to clarify how the salary appointment will be arranged because there are currently no regulations.

Currently, if a general education teacher is recruited, he/she will be classified as a civil servant, appointed, and ranked according to the lowest qualification, which is a bachelor's degree (University). Those with substandard qualifications will become civil servants when recruited, but will have difficulty being appointed, and their salaries will be ranked according to the circulars of the Ministry of Education and Training. Therefore, if recruiting substandard people, the circulars of the Ministry of Education and Training must also be amended, and specific regulations must be made on the salary ranking for pedagogical students who are recruited but have not met the training standards according to the new Education Law.

In addition, for teachers who are teaching, upgrading their qualifications is free according to Decree 71/2020/ND-CP, but for pedagogical students who have not met the qualifications and are admitted to the teaching profession, there are no specific regulations on whether upgrading their qualifications is funded by the individual or by the budget.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/de-xuat-cho-no-chuan-de-co-nguon-tuyen-giao-vien-185240109230710817.htm