Autonomous teacher recruitment - A new step for the education sector

One of the key highlights in the Law on Teachers passed by the National Assembly in July 2025 and effective from January 1, 2026 is the delegation of the right to preside over teacher recruitment to the Department of Education and Training and localities, which is expected to solve the problem of teacher surplus and shortage, while improving the quality of the teaching staff.

Computer Science practice hour of teachers and students of Chieng Dong Secondary School, Yen Chau commune.

According to the Law on Teachers, the Department of Education and Training (DoET) plays a leading role in recruiting, receiving, transferring and seconding teachers for high schools and continuing education centers. At the same time, it has the authority to establish a school council, replace the chairman of the school council; appoint principals and vice principals of affiliated educational institutions. For educational institutions from preschool to junior high school, the People's Committees at the commune and ward levels will be responsible for recruiting teachers; the Departments of Culture and Social Affairs advise and submit to the People's Committees at the same level plans for recruitment, management of job positions and teacher structure in the locality.

The province is currently short of about 1,200 teachers at all levels, affecting the implementation of organizing 2-session teaching/day and meeting the requirements of the 2018 General Education Program. Previously, teacher recruitment was usually chaired by the District People's Committee. Schools sent their requests to the Department of Education and Training, the district's general report synthesis department; the district submitted them to the Department of Home Affairs, then they were approved and the recruitment exam was organized. Many intermediate steps made the recruitment time long, sometimes taking up to half a year to complete an exam. There were many cases where teachers were recruited when the school year had already started, causing disruption in teaching arrangements.

Mr. Nguyen Van Chien, Director of the Department of Education and Training, said: Being granted recruitment authority will help the Department organize a centralized recruitment period, ensuring consistency in quality and cost savings. At the same time, it will contribute to overcoming the situation of local surplus and shortage of teachers, ensuring the structure of the team according to grade levels, subjects and educational activities.

Class time of teachers and students at Le Quy Don Secondary School, To Hieu ward.

Currently, the whole province has 23,400 managers and teachers. According to the plan, in 2026, Son La province is assigned to recruit 700 positions in the education sector, of which 610 positions are for preschool, primary, secondary school and 90 positions are for high school. Since August 2025, communes and wards in the province have reviewed the number of teacher positions and developed recruitment plans.

Mr. Nguyen Van Cuong, Head of the Department of Culture and Society , Chieng Coi Ward, said: There are currently 10 schools in the ward, and through review, the schools are lacking 11 teachers. The Department has advised the Ward People's Committee to develop a recruitment plan and synthesize the registration of teacher recruitment needs for the 2025-2026 school year.

Class time of teacher and children at To Hieu Kindergarten, To Hieu ward.

In reality, some communes and wards do not have enough human resources and conditions to develop exam questions and grade exams to recruit qualified teachers, so they have transferred the plan to the Department of Education and Training to carry out recruitment.

Mr. Vu Quoc Cuong, Head of the Department of Personnel Organization and Political Ideology, Department of Education and Training, informed: Currently, the Department is compiling the list and documents sent by localities. At the same time, building a recruitment plan according to the instructions of the Ministry of Education and Training. In the criteria for recruiting teachers, focus on pedagogical practice, set criteria on the capacity to develop plans, organize education, test and evaluate students and solve pedagogical situations. After completing the recruitment, the Department will announce the recruitment results so that the People's Committees of communes and wards can issue recruitment decisions according to decentralization.

The granting of autonomy in recruitment not only solves the problem of human resources, but also opens up an important step in building a team of teachers that is sufficient in quantity, strong in quality, and synchronous in structure. This is the foundation for the Son La Education sector to continue to improve quality, meeting the requirements of fundamental and comprehensive innovation in the new period.

Source: https://baosonla.vn/khoa-giao/tu-chu-tuyen-dung-giao-vien-buoc-chuyen-moi-cho-nganh-giao-duc-slI0b13Ng.html