A unified set of textbooks nationwide: Common standards for development

(Dan Tri) - After determining the necessity of the policy of building a unified set of textbooks nationwide, the problem is how to implement this policy effectively and scientifically.

Educators and experts point out that the key solution lies in repositioning the role of textbooks as the "backbone" of knowledge and building an independent national test bank to liberate teaching and learning thinking. In particular, the responsibility of teachers largely determines the success of this strategy.

From a management perspective, Master Huynh Thanh Phu, Principal of Bui Thi Xuan High School, Ho Chi Minh City, pointed out three shortcomings of the "one program - many textbooks" model: financial burden, "disorder" of knowledge for students and lack of a common standard for testing and evaluation. These shortcomings have created great costs for parents and complexity for learners and teachers.

In that context, Mr. Huynh Thanh Phu affirmed that the unified textbook set will act as a "standard" or "backbone" of knowledge, creating a solid foundation for teachers and students to develop, not a rigid "ordinance".

"Teachers will rely on this unified set of books to develop lessons, and proactively update new knowledge, supplement it from the Internet and other sources to enrich lesson content," the principal said.

This helps teachers stay on track and avoid getting "lost" among too many sets of books, while realizing the State's macro-management vision to ensure consistent educational quality nationwide.

National Assembly delegate Duong Khac Mai ( Lam Dong delegation) also agreed that unifying a set of textbooks is reasonable, practical and economical. He emphasized that reform is necessary but needs to ensure stability, avoiding constant changes that make students and parents feel "experimented".

According to him, the Government and the Ministry of Education and Training need to have long-term, fundamental solutions to ensure that each reform is sustainable.

Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Society Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa emphasized that having a unified set of textbooks nationwide should not mean that schools only use one set of textbooks; and even more so, not denying the socialization of textbooks to create diverse learning materials to meet the needs of learners.

She commented that recently, we have implemented the mechanism of "one program - many textbooks" to aim for flexibility and creativity in the implementation of the 2018 General Education Program.

Textbooks are considered learning materials for teachers to research, refer to, and create appropriate teaching materials; helping learners develop their own abilities, not depending on model lessons.

However, Ms. Mai worried: "Unfortunately, this goal seems to have not been achieved, because in reality, teaching is still mainly based on lectures built on the basis of a selected set of textbooks."

A unified set of books will aim to establish common standards to ensure fairness in access to knowledge.

“It is important to guide and encourage teachers and students to access other textbooks to enrich teaching and learning content. With the concept of studying what you take on the test, the high school graduation exam question bank that demonstrates this spirit will be an important driving force for the use of many textbooks for teaching and learning activities,” said Dr. Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa.

In general, Mr. Nguyen Kim Hong - former Principal of Ho Chi Minh City University of Education - said that when clearly identifying the program as the core issue, textbooks with their own materials and teaching materials do not affect the creation of exam questions and assessment.

The most important thing in this issue is to build a question bank and a national assessment system, applying technology to ensure fair and flexible testing and examinations.

“The curriculum and textbooks are related to each other, but that does not mean that when implementing a set of textbooks, the ideas of “one curriculum - many textbooks” cannot be implemented. They are not contradictory. Textbooks are just one of the means, content, and materials for teaching,” said Mr. Nguyen Kim Hong.

Sharing the same view, engineer Le Dung - an expert with many years of research on policy - emphasized the importance of building a question bank for exams.

Engineer Dung believes that because old habits are still deeply rooted, the practice of zoning, limiting, providing sample papers, or rote learning still exists somewhere in schools, because the right to set questions still belongs to the school.

“To break those limitations, completely liberate the educational mindset that depends on pre-prepared “cheat sheets”, and bring education back to its true nature, the exam questions must be issued by an agency independent of the school,” Mr. Dung proposed.

He proposed a model of randomly drawing exam questions between localities, moving towards an open national exam question bank, mobilizing the participation of schools nationwide.

In order for the unified textbook set to meet the requirements of Resolution 71, standardization and modernization in the integration period, Mr. Le Ngoc Diep, former Head of the Primary Education Department, Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, said that it is impossible for a textbook set to exist that is just "old wine in new bottles".

He emphasized: The unified set of textbooks must be modern, professional, and have Vietnamese identity. To achieve this goal, the Ministry of Education and Training needs to proactively implement it, the process must be fast, careful, and scientific.

In particular, he proposed to invite domestic talents and overseas Vietnamese to participate in compilation in the spirit of "brain hunting", absolutely avoiding localism and favoritism.

Mr. Diep also pointed out that compiling textbooks requires a specialized team, cannot be a "side job" and this process must be based on the ability to synchronously meet the requirements of facilities and teaching methods.

In addition, the role of textbook authors does not stop at compiling but must accompany the teaching process: continuously observing classes, surveying and editing documents, and updating knowledge regularly every year.

The author also has an important responsibility in supporting the teaching staff, from guiding how to design lectures and tests to building a reading culture for students.

Along with that, Mr. Diep focused on other influencing factors and said that textbooks cannot be compiled individually. The compilation must be based on the actual situation and the ability to meet the requirements of classroom facilities, teaching methods, support tools, etc. All need to be synchronized to create a truly modern and effective learning environment.

In particular, he said it is necessary to improve the quality of teachers. No matter how good a set of textbooks is, it will not be effective if the teaching staff does not have the capacity to convey them.

Mr. Diep emphasized that the compilation process this time needs to closely follow the Resolutions of the Party Central Committee on education and training, which is: "Fundamental, comprehensive innovation, standardization, modernization in the integration period". This is not only the task of the education sector, but also the common responsibility of the whole society for the future generations of the country.

Similarly, Mr. Nguyen Van Luc - former teacher of Trinh Phong Secondary School, Khanh Hoa - suggested that the process of building textbooks should invite competent teachers to contribute to ensure compatibility between theory and teaching practice in each region.

“Teachers and leading experts compile books to ensure that teaching theory and practice in each region are compatible at each level, so that students can acquire general knowledge more easily,” Mr. Luc suggested.

Mr. Luc further emphasized that it is necessary to change the mindset that textbooks are just learning materials. When there is a unified set of textbooks, teachers should still refer to the current sets of books to avoid wasting knowledge, as well as learn many other materials to make lessons more attractive and effective.

At the conference to review and evaluate the results of implementing the program and textbooks for the 2020-2025 period held on October 17, the Ministry of Education and Training said that for the first time, it successfully implemented the socialization policy, attracting 7 publishers and 12 joint stock companies to participate in compilation, with 3,844 authors nationwide.

The process of compiling, appraising, approving and selecting textbooks is carried out openly, transparently and with quality assurance. Localities also actively compile local educational materials, contributing to bringing regionally specific content into schools.

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son emphasized: “The education sector has completed a complete cycle from grade 1 to grade 12, achieving both breadth and depth, meeting the goals of the new program - a comprehensive innovation at the general education level.”

The new program has many different, “non-traditional” elements, requiring strong adaptation, shifting from imparting knowledge to developing learners’ qualities and abilities - a profound philosophical change. Textbooks are also transformed from “knowledge packages” to open learning materials, helping teachers guide students to develop their abilities.

However, the Ministry also determined that the compilation of textbooks according to the 2018 General Education Program (implementing one program - many textbooks; socializing textbook compilation) was applied for the first time, so it encountered many difficulties from the design stage to the implementation organization.

The policy of socializing textbook compilation was implemented without past experience, while consulting and learning from international experience could not be applied much to the context of our country; the socialized force participating in compiling textbooks according to the new program nationwide has not been as expected.

Regarding the tasks in the coming time, Minister Nguyen Kim Son stated: "We must both maintain and improve what we have done and prepare for the new stage."

Accordingly, the Ministry identified the task of reviewing, perfecting, and developing the program after a period of operation, and implementing it in a scientific and systematic manner. Localities continued to advise the government, paying more attention to the conditions for implementing the program, including facilities, equipment, finance, and staff.

Regarding textbooks, the Minister emphasized the preparation of a unified set of textbooks for use nationwide, to be implemented from the 2026-2027 school year.

"The compilation, appraisal and promulgation of a unified set of textbooks will be carried out according to a strict and scientific process, inheriting the results achieved in the previous stage, while overcoming existing shortcomings," the Ministry of Education and Training determined.

Regarding the direction, before the time when textbooks are provided for free, the Ministry of Education and Training will develop a plan and implement textbook support for students from difficult family circumstances, students from poor and near-poor households, remote and isolated areas, ethnic minority students, and policy beneficiaries.

Content: My Ha, Huyen Nguyen, Hoai Nam

Photo: Huyen Nguyen, Nguyen Vy

Design: Tuan Huy

October 30, 2025 - 06:00

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/mot-bo-sach-giao-khoa-thong-nhat-toan-quoc-chuan-chung-de-phat-trien-20251029235426950.htm