Teacher training admissions: "Declining" without brakes

Never before has the benchmark score for teaching been as low as this year. The benchmark scores for many majors and schools have fallen to rock bottom, equal to the common floor score but still unable to fill the quota.

The lowest scores belong to local and regional universities. The physics and literature pedagogy majors at Quang Nam University only have the floor score but still have to consider dozens of admission quotas based on the second wish (NV).

Candidates look for information before the exam day at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education in the 2011 admissions period - Photo: Nhu Hung

Similarly, almost all university-level pedagogical majors of An Giang, Thu Dau Mot, Hong Duc, Quang Binh, Tay Bac, and Thai Nguyen universities only have the minimum score, including math, chemistry, biology, and literature pedagogical majors, and must consider many NV2 quotas.

Not only that, at An Giang University, the Information Technology Education major has no successful candidates. The major with the most candidates is Mathematics Education with 20 candidates, the remaining pedagogical majors have only 5-10 successful candidates NV1.

History exam score 0.25, passed history pedagogical university!

Mr. Hoang Xuan Quang - Vice Principal of An Giang University - lamented: Never before has the benchmark score for pedagogy majors fallen to rock bottom like this year. The benchmark score is only at the floor level, but only a few candidates have passed. Many majors may have to close due to the lack of candidates because the NV2 exam does not have much hope because the recruitment source has run out.

In mid-level schools and regional universities such as Quy Nhon, Hue, Da Nang, Can Tho... the standard scores for pedagogical majors are more positive, but there are also many basic pedagogical majors with standard scores that are only equal to the floor or only 0.5-1 point higher.

Not only that, the benchmark scores of specialized pedagogical schools such as Ho Chi Minh City University of Education and Hanoi University of Education 2 also dropped dramatically. This is the first year in the past ten years that Ho Chi Minh City University of Education has set the benchmark scores for the two majors of history and geography as the floor score.

Similarly, Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 had to set the standard score equal to the floor for chemistry and biology pedagogy majors while physics pedagogy major was only 13.5.
The notable point is the history pedagogy major. Not only the benchmark score is equal to the floor, many candidates are admitted to the university level in this major but the history exam score is only 0.5-2 points. Although the University of Education (University of Danang) has multiplied the coefficient of history, the benchmark score is only 14.5 points! Among the 42 candidates admitted to the history major, only three candidates scored 5 points or higher in the history exam, the majority of candidates scored 2-3 points. There are even three candidates who only scored 1.25 points, one candidate scored 1 point in history.

Similarly, at Can Tho University, at least four candidates passed the history pedagogy major with a score of only 1 point, many candidates got 1.25-2 points. More notably, at Da Lat University, one candidate passed the history pedagogy major with a history score of 0.5. Even more peculiar, a candidate at this school passed with a total score of 13 but only got 0.25 points in history, which means he just escaped the failing score threshold (0 points)!

Alarm!

The reason for this alarming decline, as stated by many managers of universities and departments of education and training, is that the salary and benefits policies for teachers are too low. Another important thing is that the output of the teaching profession is extremely difficult.

According to records at many Departments of Education and Training, in the past four years, the demand for teachers has been saturated, each year the number of pedagogical graduates who have not been assigned jobs is up to hundreds in each province.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh - Director of the Department of Education and Training of An Giang - also said that this year the department received about 1,400 applications for recruiting teachers at all levels but could only process 1,100 applications. In 2011, only for high school level, Dong Thap province received 890 applications but could only process 90 applications. About 800 university graduates of pedagogical universities do not know where to go.

From the training unit perspective, Mr. Hoang Xuan Quang shared: it is difficult for pedagogical students to find jobs after graduation, and if they do, their income is low. Moreover, career transition is more difficult than in other professions. The current tuition-free policy is no longer attractive enough for students because what they need is a job to make a living, and tuition fees are already too low.

Meanwhile, Associate Professor Van Nhu Cuong - Principal of Luong The Vinh High School (Hanoi) - is concerned: "The decline in input quality is alarming because it will affect the entire education system and the sustainable development of society. Education is the foundation of science and social sciences. If we can only recruit teachers with poor quality, we will clearly not have a good foundation."

(According to Tuoi Tre)