Don't distort teaching 2 sessions/day

Organizing 2 sessions/day of teaching according to the Prime Minister's Directive requires those directly implementing it to be truly dedicated and for the students, and cannot continue to prolong the old way of doing things by "extending the first session", labeling it as innovation but in fact legalizing extra teaching.

The new school year has only been a week, and parents have been "complaining" about the disruptions in organizing two sessions a day in some schools. What makes them most frustrated is having to choose the second session by using various "tricks" from the school. Some schools arrange their schedules to alternate between review and knowledge consolidation (not allowed to charge money) with extracurricular subjects (for money) to force students to choose. Some schools organize the second session with only a few periods, and the class ends hours before parents get off work, forcing them to choose after-school clubs for their children, paying even very high tuition fees, to "kill time"...

According to the instructions of the Ministry of Education and Training, the content of the second session will be fundamentally different from the "extended first session" teaching method. However, schools and parents are still familiar with the old way of doing things, the second session at school is mainly for teachers to teach extra classes, "advanced" teaching of "important" subjects such as math, literature, foreign languages, etc.

Some parents complained that although it was called a skills club, in reality it was still math and Vietnamese teachers teaching core subjects. The subject names were "coded" to avoid violating the rules of extra teaching. Many other parents also wanted their children to learn math and literature instead of subjects that did not serve any purpose for exams or assessments such as life skills, physical education, sports , etc.

The school also has difficulties in changing parents' perceptions. A middle school principal confided that the school really wants to include STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education content, or extracurricular activities in the second session in accordance with the guidance of the Ministry of Education and Training, but it must be affirmed that not many parents are "interested". Parents, especially parents with children in their final year, said frankly that they want to spend the "precious" time of the second session for their children to review for the 10th grade entrance exam according to their personal wishes.

High school students and parents also have the same mindset when facing the stressful high school graduation exam and university entrance exam, not the other skills that education policy makers desire.

A correct policy can only be implemented correctly if there is consistency and consensus. However, the way it has been implemented in many schools has made parents lose confidence that the second session is truly organized for the benefit of the students. On the contrary, many people are skeptical that this is a way to legitimize educational services and increase school revenue after the ban on collecting extra teaching fees in Circular 29.

Furthermore, if teachers ask students to open math and literature books to do exercises during skills lessons, it will in no way reinforce parents' belief that comprehensive education is necessary.

We want students to develop in all aspects, but exams are still heavy and stressful like today, and adding subjects outside of exams is just for show and not really concerned with effectiveness, so the second session will be difficult to convince students and parents about the meaning and necessity.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/dung-bien-tuong-day-hoc-2-buoi-ngay-185250912221847875.htm