TEACH AND LEARN WHAT IS NEEDED, CLOSE TO LIFE
The math exam in the two major exams, the 10th grade entrance exam and the 2025 high school graduation exam, is assessed by teachers to have integrated elements, using meaningful contexts associated with images, practical situations in life, science and technology accounting for a large proportion... To be ready for the 2026 exams, schools need to develop a systematic study and review plan early on, including consolidating the knowledge base, practicing logical thinking, reading comprehension and problem-solving skills.
The way the high school graduation exam will be designed in 2025 raises the issue of changing the way of teaching and learning in high schools in accordance with the spirit of the new General Education Program.
PHOTO: TUAN MINH
Mr. Nguyen Ba Tuan, a teacher at Chu Van An High School ( Hanoi ), said that schools have been prepared after having sample questions and official exams, which further motivates teachers and students to continue to innovate because they know that it is in the right direction. According to Mr. Tuan, the highly differentiated part is not so difficult that no student can do it, but differentiated at a level that only truly excellent students can do it. Exams with too many 10s are not good either.
With the requirements of the new question-setting method, Mr. Tuan believes that it is necessary to equip students with reading comprehension and information processing skills; logical thinking and situation analysis as well as the ability to apply knowledge to practice to be able to handle it well. In addition, the questions in these two parts have a good level of differentiation, requiring learners to master skills, have a good knowledge base, and know how to connect knowledge in the knowledge streams they have learned to handle it. Focus on developing self-study capacity, analytical thinking, mathematical reasoning and the ability to apply knowledge to solve practical situations, closely following the requirements of interdisciplinary integration.
Associate Professor Ngo Hoang Long, Deputy Head of the Faculty of Mathematics and Information Technology, Hanoi National University of Education, said that with the competency assessment requirements of the 2018 General Education Program, mathematics needs to equip students with the ability to communicate with mathematics. Specifically, students must read long texts about mathematics, thereby recognizing and filtering necessary information and gradually building models to solve problems in practice. This is the task that the 2018 General Education Program aims for.
According to Associate Professor Ngo Hoang Long, if we want to develop learners' abilities and have exams to assess learners' abilities instead of simply testing knowledge, we must have math problems and issues like that.
Mr. Dam Tien Nam, Principal of Nguyen Binh Khiem Secondary and High School (Hanoi), reflected that the school's math teachers thought that the exam questions were not difficult in terms of math knowledge. If the requirements remained the same but kept the form of simple calculations, students would be able to do it faster, but when the requirements had to be related to real life, students would find it difficult because they were not really familiar with it. This is something that schools need to pay more attention to in the future.
Ms. Pham Thuy Chi, a master ofeducational psychology and career guidance specialist, commented: "The exam shows that preparing students with the capacity and skills from high school for a world of changing careers is extremely necessary. The first year may be confusing with the changes, but I believe that in the following courses, it will help students review their studies and schools will also have to change their teaching methods." Ms. Chi advised students to "study deeply" instead of choosing safe subjects, because this is the way for us to solve problems.
Candidates for the 2025 high school graduation exam, the first exam under the new program
Photo: Ngoc Duong
IS STUDYING TEXTBOOKS NOT ENOUGH?
Analyzing the recent high school graduation exam in English, Ms. Am Thuy Linh, an English teacher at Luong The Vinh Secondary and High School (Hanoi), pointed out that if students only study the current English textbooks, they cannot meet the requirements of the exam. The vocabulary required by the exam is much larger than the vocabulary that students learn in the textbooks. Therefore, according to Ms. Linh, the question is whether the textbooks will change if the exam questions continue to be like this, because up to now, the textbooks are still the clearest illustrations of the program.
However, Ms. Linh affirmed that studying textbooks alone is not enough. Students are forced to explore more materials outside of textbooks. For students in urban areas with favorable conditions, this is not too difficult, but for students in rural areas or remote areas, this is not easy.
Mr. Nguyen Ba Truong Giang, founder of The Ivy-League Vietnam English Center, asked: With this test, how much of the English content can a student who only studies English according to the textbook program do? According to Mr. Giang's assessment, the test has a language quality and difficulty level that is based on the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) and a relatively wide vocabulary, which can confuse many high school students, including those who have had time to review English outside of the textbook.
Therefore, Mr. Giang believes that it is necessary to comprehensively re-evaluate both linguistic science and educational science to improve the quality of future examinations. Specifically, it is necessary to integrate learned knowledge into the exam, establish a balance between the difficulty level of the exam and the textbook to ensure that a student who only studies the textbook has enough vocabulary and understanding of grammar, scientific and social information to be able to do at least 70%.
SELF-STUDY AND SELF-READING ARE NOT "BLACK WORK" FOR STUDENTS
Ms. Pham Ha Thanh, a literature teacher at Le Quy Don High School - Ha Dong (Hanoi), shared: "Even when we approach a new work, we need time to read, understand the context of its creation, and reflect to deeply feel it, so we cannot demand the same from students when approaching completely new material. Therefore, teachers cannot impose their own subjective, strict assessments in the teaching and grading process according to the new way of setting questions."
Ms. Thanh and many other teachers recognize that one of the major changes is that in the past, teachers used the teaching method of lecturing on literature, commenting on literature, telling students about the beauty and goodness of the work according to the teacher's understanding and feelings. Currently, teaching literature is teaching how to read and understand texts; teachers organize activities for students to find the beauty and goodness of texts and works according to their own perspective, way of thinking, way of feeling...
On July 3, in his article about some current deviations in teaching literature, Associate Professor Do Ngoc Thong, Editor-in-Chief of the Literature Program of the 2018 General Education Program, pointed out some incorrect understandings and approaches in teaching this subject. Among them, there is a phenomenon of ignoring works in textbooks, taking speaking and listening lightly. "This is a mistake. Because first of all, the texts in textbooks are representative texts of national and world literary achievements, very good and true to the genre, and have been selected by the authors. If we do not use texts in textbooks, how can we teach students how to read and understand?", Associate Professor Thong raised the issue.
Another worrying fact that he pointed out is the phenomenon of "leaving it all to students to read and absorb on their own. This is not true, because in teaching reading comprehension, the role of teachers is still very important.
Need to re-evaluate after exam results
According to Dr. Le Viet Khuyen, Vice President of the Association of Vietnamese Universities and Colleges, the process of changing the way high school graduation exams are created this year shows that the change is happening too quickly, while the foundation (innovation in teaching and learning) is not yet guaranteed. Many teachers still do not really understand the concept of "competency approach", students are confused in choosing combinations from grade 10, leading to passivity in reviewing and taking exams.
"The program has been changed, but the people, methods and conditions have not been able to change in time," Dr. Khuyen commented. However, he also said that we should not return to the old path because of initial difficulties. We need to summarize immediately after the exam results, evaluate the entire program, textbooks, teaching staff and especially the students' ability to receive information.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/tu-cach-thi-nhin-lai-hieu-qua-doi-moi-chuong-trinh-sgk-185250704212652094.htm
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