Extra teaching and learning: What do parents and teachers in Nghe An say?

Extra classes - a real need

Since her child entered grade 1 until now when she is in grade 9, every year Ms. Tran Thi Huong in Hung Loc commune (Vinh city) has registered her child for at least 2 extra cultural classes. The extra classes have become more difficult since the end of primary school, she intends to let her child take the entrance exam to Dang Thai Mai Secondary School.

In junior high school, in addition to the three extra subjects of Math, Literature, and English to prepare for the 10th grade entrance exam, her child also registered for an English class to prepare for the specialized exam. The extra class schedule was full 7 days a week, but the mother and child were still worried.

“

I think the exams are very competitive and the questions are very different. Therefore, if your child only studies at school, it is difficult to ensure that he has enough knowledge to get a high score on the exam, so he still has to take extra classes.

Ms. Tran Thi Huong, Hung Loc commune (Vinh city)

Calledlearn morebut it seems that it has now become the “main study” of many students, especially those in urban areas and central areas. To attend extra classes, many parents have to go to great lengths to find teachers, accepting to spend dozens of times more money than the regular school tuition.

According to Vinh city, the average price for each extra class session currently ranges from 70,000 - 100,000 VND/session at most levels. However, if students study specialized subjects, study English or review for foreign language certificates, there are classes where the price for each extra class for 1 student is from 150,000 - 200,000 VND/session and each class can have up to 30 - 40 students.

Although tuition fees are expensive and admission is not easy, many parents in Dien Chau, Yen Thanh, Do Luong, Nghi Loc districts are willing to rent cars to travel dozens of kilometers so that their children can study with famous teachers in Vinh city. The cost of extra classes has therefore doubled.

In addition to learning from famous teachers, many parents choose to study through centers or outside facilities. The current problem is that although these are educational facilities, they have teachers, students, and teach according to their own programs and lesson plans, and some centers have over 1,000 students, but the quality management at these centers is lax.

Even the Department of Education and Training does not manage it, because currently, tutoring and learning outside is a type of business that does not require conditions.

Responsibilities of schools and teachers

In addition to extra classes outside, extra teaching and learning at schools are also implemented by most schools. Accordingly, for junior high school students, students usually study 3 subjects: Literature, Math, and English. At high school level, in addition to the 2 main subjects: Math and Literature, students can register for subjects according to the subjects they plan to take the graduation exam to apply for university admission.

Regarding the issue of extra teaching and learning, at the end of August, the Ministry of Education and Training issued a draft regulation on extra teaching and learning with many new points. Accordingly, if students wanted to take extra classes, they had to write an application to the school. But the new regulation requires that before teaching extra classes, professional groups must meet to agree and propose to the head of the school about teaching and learning extra subjects in the subjects that the group undertakes. After developing a plan, school representatives must meet with representatives of the parent association to agree on organizing extra teaching and learning in which subjects and in which grades. On that basis, the school allows students to voluntarily register, then arranges classes and assigns teachers to teach.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, this change aims to create consistency in organizing extra teaching and learning while at the same time ensuring practicality, transparency, and for the benefit of students.

In addition, the Ministry of Education and Training specifically regulates the duration of teaching and learning, organizing educational activities according to the school's plan, of which, no more than 35 periods/week for primary school; no more than 42 periods/week for secondary school; no more than 48 periods/week for high school. Regarding teachers participating in extra teaching, the new draft has removed the clear regulation that public school teachers are not allowed to organize extra teaching and learning but can participate in extra teaching outside of school.

Instead, public school teachers who teach extra classes outside of school to students they are teaching regularly do not need to ask permission from the principal. However, they must report and make a list of those students to the principal and commit to not using any form of coercion to teach extra classes. Teachers must also commit to not using examples, questions, or exercises taught extra classes to test or evaluate students.

Regarding this draft, many teachers affirmed that these new regulations are suitable for current conditions. Teachers themselves also have the opportunity to contribute, to develop their talents, intelligence and to earn additional income in a legitimate way.

“

For a long time, when it comes to tutoring and extra learning, there have been many conflicting opinions. However, I believe that tutoring must be based on “need”, meaning that there are good students who want to take extra classes to improve, weak students want extra tutoring to improve, and tutoring must achieve the set goals. In this way, parents and students will have good learning results, and teachers will also enjoy the material and spiritual fruits of their efforts.

Teacher Le Van Thanh - Principal of Dang Thai Mai High School (Thanh Chuong)

At Dang Thai Mai High School (Thanh Chuong), for a long time now, the school has been implementing extra teaching and learning according to 3 principles: the voluntary participation of parents, teaching only necessary subjects for graduation exams, and teaching only knowledge that the main study does not have enough time for. Through implementation, the school's current collection rate is 20,000 VND/session and about 80% is paid directly to the teachers in the classroom. This is a collection rate within the regulations of the Department of Education and Training...

In fact, although tuition fees are quite cheap and students in rural areas do not have many options, in many schools the enrollment rate is only over 50%. Particularly for 12th graders, there are times when school teachers volunteer to teach free extra classes but still have to encourage them to attend classes.

Teacher Le Van Thanh - Principal of Dang Thai Mai Secondary School believes that tutoring is also a "measure" to evaluate teachers' capacity: The fact that students can "choose" teachers when registering also requires teachers to make efforts, try hard, and improve their expertise to affirm their capacity.

From a management perspective, Mr. Nguyen Manh Ha - Head of the Department of Political Ideology - Continuing Education, Department of Education and Training also agreed with this new draft, because in reality, there is still a widespread situation of extra teaching and learning. Some public school teachers neglect teaching in class and focus on knowledge in extra classes, giving periodic tests close to the extra teaching program...

Therefore, if tutoring is strictly managed, it will enhance the responsibility of teachers and ensure the rights of students. Mr. Nguyen Manh Ha also agrees that it is necessary to correctly recognize that tutoring and learning are real needs of both teachers and students. Therefore, in addition to strengthening the management of tutoring in schools, teachers in public schools need to have more mechanisms and supervision for tutoring in independent units outside.

Currently, there is no regulation on the management of tutoring facilities, so inspection, supervision and punishment, if any, will be very difficult. It is necessary to regulate tutoring outside of school as a conditional business type, so that relevant agencies, departments and sectors can coordinate to jointly manage and carry out related tasks such as with foreign language centers and life skills centers.

Mr. Nguyen Manh Ha - Head of Political and Ideological Department - Continuing Education, Department of Education and Training