Curing negative extra teaching and learning at the root: When the policy is both constructive and anti-destructive

The test is like a puzzle.

A parent whose child is in grade 6 at Lam Son Secondary School, Phuoc Dong, Nha Trang City (Khanh Hoa) has just sent a petition to the Department of Education and Training regarding the Literature test for the second semester of the 2024-2025 school year. According to the parent, the teacher's test questions were unclear, causing misunderstandings and grading were not objective. The content of the test questions is as follows: "Every trip we go through leaves behind its own lessons and meanings. Write an essay about a memorable experience for you." This parent believes that there is a contradiction in the direction of the question. The leading sentence creates a feeling of directing students to write about a trip. Meanwhile, the main question requires students to tell about a memorable experience. Such unclear posing of the question is like a puzzle for students, making them confused in choosing the content to answer.

Students take the 6th grade competency assessment test in 2024 in Hanoi

This parent's child wrote an essay recounting a memorable experience that was relevant to the question, had structure, emotion, and educational value. However, because he did not write about the trip, he only received 0.5 points. This parent believes that this is a mechanical and unfair way of grading. Because if compared to the actual requirements of the question, his child's essay was not wrong. Grading like this not only affects students' academic performance but also makes them lose faith in the fairness of education.

According to a report from the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences, in the period 2011-2020, on average, each Vietnamese family contributed about 24% of the total cost for students to go to school, of which the largest expense was extra classes. For primary school, it was 32%, for secondary school, it was 42% and for high school, it was 43%.

In response to parents' feedback, the Department of Education and Training has studied the mid-term exam for the second semester of the 2024-2025 school year for the Literature subject of grade 6 at Lam Son Secondary School. The Department found that the school's Literature exam was unclear, lacking linking words between the "introduction" and "conclusion" sections as reported by parents. The Department has worked with relevant individuals, requesting the school to learn from experience in creating the exam, and at the same time directing the school to re-grade the students' exams according to the actual exam questions.

According to many candidates, the math exam in the 10th grade entrance exam in Ho Chi Minh City in 2024 had difficult questions that made candidates cry with surprise; while in Hanoi, for many years the exam was given in a way that forced students to practice and practice solving questions to the point of proficiency,... Remember not long ago, the Literature exam for gifted students of the Department of Education and Training of Cam Khe (Phu Tho) caused a stir in public opinion when it had 2 questions. Specifically, question 1 (8 points): Turkish proverb says: "A generous person always feels rich". Present your thoughts on the above proverb. Question 2 (12 points): Discussing poetry, Du-blai wrote: "Poetry is the faithful secretary of hearts". How do you understand the above opinion? With a work of poetry, please clarify the above opinion.

At that time, speaking to the press, Associate Professor Dr. Do Ngoc Thong, Editor-in-Chief of the Literature subject of the 2018 General Education Program, said that after reading the above test, he could not sleep all night, not understanding why they gave such a literature test to 7th graders, even though it was to select excellent students...

Parents in Hanoi take their children to the exam. Photo: DUC NGUYEN

Prof. Dr. Do Duc Thai, Editor of the Math program in the 2018 General Education Program, also gave an example of exceeding the prescribed time but 3 math professors (including himself) could not solve a single question in the math exam in the 2024 high school graduation exam. The problem of tricky and tricky questions did not only occur once in the exam of the Ministry of Education and Training, but in previous years, it was reflected many times. Prof. Do Duc Thai affirmed that no matter how well the program is designed, if the way of testing, evaluating education, and testing does not change synchronously, it will go down the drain.

“I see that the entrance exams for specialized schools, national excellent student exams, and exams to select teams for the International Math Olympiad... are becoming more and more complicated. It does not make students smarter and does not assess the intelligence of students,” said Professor Thai. According to him, the exam questions to differentiate students are written in a tricky way, which is very harmful to students’ thinking and goes far beyond the requirements of the 2018 Program.

Associate Professor Dr. Tran Thanh Nam, Vice Principal of the University of Education (Vietnam National University, Hanoi) acknowledged that extra learning and teaching are currently greatly affected by test and assessment results. If we do not change and continue to approach testing and assessment mainly based on content and knowledge memorization, the need for extra learning and abuse of extra learning will not be eliminated, because students take extra learning not to develop knowledge and critical thinking but only to ensure high scores in exams.

High quality field attraction

One of the concerns of public opinion today is the model of high-quality schools in general education. This model is essentially a public school with high tuition fees (in Hanoi, about 20 times higher than public school tuition fees), a team of quality teachers, and class sizes that meet the requirements of the Ministry of Education and Training...

In Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and many other provinces, there is a system of high-quality secondary schools with very stressful admission procedures, forcing students from primary school to take extra classes to have a chance to be admitted. Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Ngoc (Thanh Tri, Hanoi) shared that since grade 3, her family has been looking for extra classes with the aim of getting her child a place in grade 6 at Chu Van An Secondary School (Thanh Tri) or a high-quality non-public secondary school. Without extra classes and exam preparation, Ms. Mai Ngoc's child has no chance of being admitted to these schools. She has to take 3 extra subjects: Math, Vietnamese and English. Therefore, the extra class schedule during the week is even heavier than the main class schedule.

High-quality secondary schools in Hanoi do not have a zoning system for admission, so the competition to get into the school is as fierce as that of public high schools. In 2024, the competition rate for admission to grade 6 at Nguyen Tat Thanh Secondary and High School is the highest in the capital, 1/20.5; Foreign Language Secondary School is 1/18; Cau Giay Secondary School is 1/6.1... These schools organize exams, so parents want to have the opportunity to choose to let their children take extra classes. Because of that pressure, every year, the Hanoi Department of Education and Training has to find ways to guide grade 6 admission for these schools with increasing levels of stress and even "puzzles".

Not only Hanoi, many provinces and cities in the North are also showing a tendency to develop "special" secondary schools, with entrance exams for grade 6 instead of admissions like other public schools. For many years, Bac Ninh has had 8 key secondary schools with strict admission plans. In Bac Giang, besides Bac Giang city, almost every district has a high-quality secondary school or a secondary school with high-quality classes. Similarly, in Nam Dinh, since 2011, implementing Resolution No. 10 of the Provincial People's Committee, each district/city has 1 high-quality secondary school...

A primary school teacher commented, when reading the entrance exam for grade 6 of a high-quality school in Hanoi: The requirements of the primary education program do not have the requirements as set out and the teachers themselves cannot achieve high scores. There are many tricks and riddles in the so-called competency assessment tests that schools organize every year for enrollment. According to this teacher, the competency here is actually the competency that is practiced over and over again in the form of Math and Vietnamese exercises to solve the fastest in a limited time with dozens of multiple choice questions. That is not the competency that the 2018 general education program is aiming for.

Therefore, many people believe that no matter how the regulations change, it is important to be consistent with the examination policy. If the policy is both to build and to fight, on the one hand banning extra teaching in primary schools but on the other hand still allowing it to exist and holding entrance exams for grade 6 in special schools, then the story of extra teaching, extra learning and reducing pressure on students will still be a never-ending story. Besides, secondary school is a universal level of education, so the existence of high-quality models like today is creating inequality in education.

Nghiem Hue

Source: https://tienphong.vn/tri-tan-goc-day-them-hoc-them-tieu-cuc-khi-chinh-sach-vua-xay-vua-chong-post1739937.tpo