Piloting AI into teaching at secondary level

(Dan Tri) - The Department of General Education (Ministry of Education and Training) is piloting the application of AI in teaching at the general education level in preparation for nationwide deployment.

The information was given by Prof. Dr. Le Anh Vinh, Director of the Institute of Educational Sciences ( Ministry of Education and Training ) at the Workshop "Developing artificial intelligence capacity for learners", jointly organized by the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam Association of Science and Technology... on October 28, in Hanoi.

Also according to Professor Dr. Le Anh Vinh, this unit has built an AI curriculum in general education , from which schools can build regulations to apply AI (artificial intelligence) in schools.

“Next, we will build an AI competency framework for high school students and teachers. The curriculum framework has been reviewed by the Department of General Education (Ministry of Education and Training) and we hope to implement it soon,” said Mr. Vinh.

Prof. Dr. Le Anh Vinh, Director of the Institute of Educational Sciences (Photo: Organizing Committee).

87% of secondary school students know how to apply AI

At the workshop, Prof. Dr. Le Anh Vinh said that according to a survey of more than 11,000 secondary school students at the end of 2023 - the time before the Institute built an AI competency framework for learners - about 87% of students knew how to apply AI. Students evaluated AI in education as effective, for example, using Chat GPT to answer difficult questions.

According to a survey conducted by the institute with nearly 35,000 secondary and high school teachers by the end of 2024, 76% of teachers said they used AI in teaching. Teachers highly appreciated the effectiveness of applying AI in teaching.

“Even if we do not systematically apply AI to high schools, this will still happen very actively, but if we do not research appropriate educational methods, the results will not be as expected.

So how should we use technology when applying technology in education?", Professor Le Anh Vinh asked.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Hoang Minh Son, Chairman of the Council and Director of Hanoi National University, this unit considers AI and digital technology as strategic pillars until 2030, with a vision to 2045.

Mr. Hoang Minh Son said that AI is an essential skill, similar to foreign languages ​​in the past.

More importantly, it is necessary to incorporate leadership and creative initiative into the teaching and learning process, so that students can use AI right in their studies, not just wait until graduation to access it.

Associate Professor, Dr. Hoang Minh Son, Chairman of the Council, Director of Hanoi National University (Photo: M. Ha).

Struggling to bring AI into general education

According to Mr. Le Anh Vinh, bringing AI into general education needs to be based on three main pillars.

The first is a consistent policy framework for bringing AI into schools. The second is a comprehensive and flexible curriculum and materials. The third is human and financial resources.

To implement it into the high school curriculum, there are currently three directions. First, integrate AI completely into the subjects. Second, consider AI as a part of the computer science subject. Third, keep AI as an independent subject.

“Our view is that AI should be integrated into general subjects to avoid overlap. The approach must be step-by-step, clear, and have research evaluation for timely implementation,” Mr. Le Anh Vinh added.

According to this expert, the AI ​​program is being piloted by the Institute from grades 1 to 12 at experimental schools, with 16 teaching periods per school year.

Accordingly, at the primary level, the focus is on ethics education and awareness of AI; at higher levels, the content of technical knowledge and skills will gradually increase.

Initial results show that teachers can absolutely teach content about ethics and safe use of AI, if they have appropriate guidance materials.

On the contrary, the fundamental knowledge and AI techniques are a big challenge, because most teachers do not have technological expertise. Therefore, the Institute is proposing to standardize and digitize learning materials, so that teachers play a supporting role instead of direct teaching.

AI education orientation in the general education program of the Institute of Educational Sciences (Photo: My Ha).

At the workshop, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhiep, Principal of Chu Van An High School for the Gifted, Hanoi, said that she was very concerned and struggling with organizing AI teaching in schools.

“Observing Hanoi and some provinces, we can see clear differentiation, some schools do not care, some schools invest heavily.

In particular, this differentiation is clearly shown between urban and rural schools, between public and private schools, in which many private schools have very good training organization methods," Ms. Nhiep said.

“We really want to incorporate AI into training, and can even allocate budget to organize it, but it is stuck with the regulations on extra teaching and learning. So what is the basis for the school to teach? Why is it allowed to collect money? That is a difficult problem,” the female principal wondered.

From the above difficulties, Ms. Nhiep proposed that there should be a legal corridor, goals, and roadmap for students, teachers, and schools to apply and develop AI in teaching and learning. Teacher training and infrastructure are also decisive factors for schools when implementing.

In his presentation, Dr. To Hong Nam, Deputy Director of the Department of Science, Technology and Information, Ministry of Education and Training pointed out many challenges. Currently, learners mainly self-study AI through friends, social networks or online courses but lack a quality verification mechanism.

Many people “claim to be AI teachers” but have no expertise, making students not know their level and what is enough to learn. Therefore, according to Dr. To Hong Nam, there needs to be a unified system of assessment, recognition and standardization to ensure the quality of AI training.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/thi-diem-dua-ai-vao-giang-day-o-bac-pho-thong-20251028195920804.htm