Principals can recruit teachers: Need sincerity and talent

Responding to practical requirements

The Ministry of Education and Training has just announced a draft Circular allowing principals of qualified schools to be authorized by the Provincial People's Committee to recruit teachers.

Accordingly, to be granted the right to recruit, schools must meet many criteria such as having enough teachers to teach the same subject, having at least one main teacher who has participated in professional exams, having enough staff to set up a recruitment council, and ensuring facilities to serve the exam seriously. The school will send the application for decentralization to the Department of Education and Training for appraisal and submit it to the Provincial People's Committee for decision, ensuring strict control.

With nearly 1,000 students studying but still lacking teachers, Ms. Nguyen Thi Van Hong - Principal of Chuong Duong Secondary School (Hong Ha Ward, Hanoi ), highly appreciated this draft and said that this is an important step in the decentralization process, helping schools increase autonomy and flexibility in personnel work, especially with special subjects or difficult areas lacking staff.

“The principal best understands the needs and staff shortages of his school in terms of each subject, quantity, and time. Decentralization helps the recruitment process take place more quickly and proactively, avoiding long waiting times from superiors. The school-level recruitment council can evaluate and select candidates who not only have expertise, but also suit the culture, characteristics, and actual requirements of the school,” Ms. Hong emphasized.

Similarly, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu - Principal of Nguyen Hue High School (Lao Cai) affirmed that this draft regulation will create many advantages for schools because it is suitable for the specific conditions of each school. This helps reduce administrative work for the Department of Education and Training, while promoting the role and management capacity of the head of the educational institution in recruiting personnel suitable for the unit.

For specialized, less popular or newly introduced subjects, finding and recruiting teachers is often difficult. Decentralization helps schools have a flexible mechanism to attract and recruit candidates with deep expertise in that field. With authority comes responsibility, the principal decides and must take greater responsibility for the quality of the recruited teaching staff.

According to Mr. Vu Van Tien - Principal of the Specialized Pedagogical High School (Hanoi), the decentralized recruitment of staff and teachers to the facility is a "breakthrough", especially for specialized schools. When the principal is able to recruit staff and teachers, they will know which subjects to recruit, what their professional qualifications and strengths and specific abilities are so that the schools can recruit the right people they need.

Ms. Phan Thi Hang Hai - Principal of Kim Ngoc High School (Phu Tho) said that the regulation of authority for principals to recruit teachers helps increase autonomy in human resources for schools to be proactive in conditions of teacher shortage, as well as in selecting teachers with good professional capacity. Thereby, enhancing the responsibility of leaders in recruiting, using - training and fostering teachers to achieve the highest educational efficiency.

Teachers and students of Soc Son High School (Hanoi). Illustration photo: Dinh Tue

Still wondering

However, Ms. Phan Thi Hang Hai said that there are still many problems such as mechanisms, policies; quotas and related regulations. If the right to recruit is given, will the school be autonomous in terms of staffing quotas and salary funds? If not, "recruitment without staffing" will still fall into the situation of short-term contracts. The unification, transparency and objectivity between schools in recruitment are also issues of concern.

Local recruitment can make it difficult for the Department of Education and Training to plan overall human resources for the entire province, leading to local surplus/shortage and lack of uniformity in staff quality. Each school organizing its own recruitment will entail preparing facilities, printing, council remuneration... for each unit, which can increase overall administrative costs compared to organizing a centralized, large-scale exam.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Van Hong - Principal of Chuong Duong Secondary School (Hong Ha, Hanoi), the draft requires schools to have enough staff to form a council and have main teachers to participate in professional exams. However, not all schools, especially in difficult areas, have enough experience and expertise to organize a fair, quality and serious recruitment exam like the provincial level.

“In particular, if the principal is not dedicated and knowledgeable, it is easy for the situation of running errands and recruiting teachers who do not meet the requirements and professional capacity through relationships, which will cause many consequences. I think that the factor of 'sincerity and talent' is the core to be able to recruit quality teachers, not just chasing quantity just to fill the vacancy", Ms. Nguyen Thi Van Hong frankly expressed.

Mr. Vu Van Tien - Principal of the Pedagogical High School for the Gifted (Hanoi) also pointed out the challenge, schools in the city or with prestige can easily recruit teachers with good expertise, while schools in difficult/remote areas may still face double difficulties because there will be few applicants, not enough conditions to set up a quality council for recruitment. This is also a difficult problem when applied to each unit.

From a cautious perspective, Ms. Tran Thi Thuy - Principal of Minh Khai High School (Hanoi) said that the draft clearly states which schools "enough conditions" to give the right to recruit to the principal. That is, when officially approved, this circular will not be applied to the general public, but only to a number of suitable units that meet the criteria and standards as prescribed.

“I think this draft shows many breakthrough ideas to help schools increase their autonomy. However, with many years of experience, I see that when the Department of Education and Training/Provincial People's Committee recruits teachers, it still ensures high legality. For schools that do not meet the conditions, it is more appropriate to let the Department of Education and Training organize teacher recruitment,” Ms. Tran Thi Thuy further emphasized.

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/hieu-truong-co-the-tuyen-dung-giao-vien-can-thuc-tam-thuc-tai-post754442.html