Approaching textbooks in a new direction

In the current new context, when technology develops every day, the approach and perception of textbooks, whether one or many sets of books, must change to be suitable and highly effective.

If in the past teachers and students considered textbooks as a law, now they should consider textbooks as one of many learning and teaching materials. Besides the unified set of textbooks nationwide, teachers and students still use other learning materials to serve teaching and learning. To encourage and nurture the spirit of innovation in the use of textbooks, it is necessary to first maintain and promote positive changes in testing and assessment in teaching and learning.

One of the advantages of the 2018 General Education Program, a program with many textbooks implemented over the past 5 years, is that it has changed teaching and learning, testing and evaluation. The program has shifted the educational goal from imparting knowledge to developing students' qualities and abilities. From there, teaching and learning have also changed. The 2025 High School Graduation Exam marks a 5-year cycle of innovation, clearly showing a strong change in the approach to knowledge. This is the first time that the language test materials for the Literature subject are not included in any textbooks currently in use. The test questions for other subjects have increased practicality, escaping the academic questions of the past...

After 5 years, a generation of teachers and students have formed the habit of not relying too much on textbooks in accordance with the innovative spirit of the new educational program. Therefore, the Ministry of Education and Training needs to continue to nurture this spirit, avoiding returning to rote learning, rote learning, and following the old ways even though a unified set of textbooks is implemented nationwide. Only then, the policy of a unified set of textbooks will not make public opinion think that it is a return to the old path that was abandoned, but rather the development and promotion of the advantages that the current program has worked hard to implement.

In another approach, with the strong development of technology, especially with artificial intelligence (AI), the world has now gone very far in terms of learning materials. Now textbooks in many countries are no longer paper documents but have become an open learning materials ecosystem (Open Educational Resources - OER) for the whole society.

According to UNESCO, open educational resources are teaching, learning and research resources in any format and medium, located in the public domain or released under open licenses, allowing others to access, use, adapt, reuse and share freely, at no or minimal cost.

At that time, textbooks were no longer just a stack of paper but became a living digital platform - flexible, updated and regularly interactive. In an era where change and fluctuation occur continuously, today's knowledge may be outdated tomorrow. But on the open learning material platform, with the development of AI, these documents are regularly updated in real time, ending the situation of printed books being outdated, especially with knowledge about history, geography, technology, etc.

In the digital age, open educational materials have become a global trend, helping education not only save costs but also spread knowledge widely.

Resolution 71 of the Politburo sets out the requirement of having a set of textbooks for nationwide use and free of charge by 2030. This policy aims to unify quality and ensure equity in education. But for this change to be effective in the digital age, it is necessary to develop an open and digital learning materials ecosystem in addition to renewing the perspective on the use of learning materials.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/tiep-can-sach-giao-khoa-theo-huong-moi-185251114231551496.htm