Educational innovation, the responsibility rests on the shoulders of teachers

Attending the workshop, on the Central side, there were comrades: Nguyen Huu Do - Deputy Minister of Education and Training; Truong Dinh Tuyen - former member of the Party Central Committee, former Minister of Trade, former Secretary of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee, Head of the Socio-Economic Advisory Group; Nguyen Minh Thuyet - former Deputy Head of the National Assembly's Committee for Culture, Education, Youth, Adolescents and Children, Editor-in-Chief of the General Education Program, and representatives of Departments, institutes and branches under the Ministry of Education and Training.

On the side of Nghe An province, there were comrade Nguyen Dac Vinh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Head of the National Assembly Delegation; comrades who are members of the Provincial Party Standing Committee: Nguyen Thi Thu Huong - Head of the Propaganda Department,Cao Thi Hien - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council;Le Minh Thong - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, and delegates representing universities, colleges, departments, branches and districts and cities in the province.

The conference on general education development is an opportunity to take a comprehensive look at Nghe An education. Photo: My Ha

The quality of education still varies between regions.

In his opening speech and introduction to the workshop, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Minh Thong outlined the results that Nghe An Education has achieved in recent years. As of May 2018, all three levels of general education in the province had 710 schools meeting national standards, accounting for 69.8%.

Comrade Le Minh Thong speaks at the conference. Photo: My Ha

The work of universalizing education has achieved certain results: Achieving universal primary education level 2, universalizing secondary education sustainably. Specialized schools have been invested in and built and are increasingly improved; the quality of the general, key, students admitted to universities and colleges has grown sustainably, continuously ranking at the top of the country in terms of excellent students nationally and internationally.

Class time of students at Yen Tinh Primary School (Tuong Duong). Photo: My Ha

However, due to its own characteristics, the development of education in Nghe An is uneven and still faces many difficulties; the scale of schools is still small; the quality of education still varies between regions; the facilities, area and campus of some schools have not met the regulations; teaching equipment is not uniform, not fully meeting the requirements of educational innovation; the capacity of some educational managers is still limited; the teaching staff is still redundant, lacking locally, not balanced and uniform in structure; the capacity to innovate teaching methods is still limited.

Nghe An education still lacks a key general school model to serve as the core for organizing innovative teaching and learning activities; some public investment policies and mechanisms are still scattered...These are also the main reasons affecting the improvement of the quality of general education in Nghe An.

The 2018-2019 school year is a year of actively preparing the necessary conditions for implementing the new general education program. To orient the strategy for developing general education in Nghe An in the coming time, at this conference, many opinions were put forward. In particular, focusing on issues such as Nghe An's education development strategy, on implementing the new education program.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Huu Do speaks at the conference. Photo: My Ha

Through the presentations, the authors also frankly pointed out the limitations, weaknesses, advantages and challenges of Nghe An education today. Many authors proposed good solutions for school management and administration, innovation in teaching forms and methods and student education in the context of the 4.0 technology revolution.

The workshop is also a forum for scientists, managers, and teachers to exchange, discuss, share experiences, and find solutions to overcome difficulties in the goal of improving the quality of general education in Nghe An province today.

Music class of students at Kim Lien Secondary School, Nam Dan district. Photo: My Ha

Speaking at the workshop, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Huu Do acknowledged the efforts of Nghe An education sector in recent years. He said that innovation in general education is an inevitable trend today.

However, the implementation process needs to pay attention to many issues, that is, education must be considered the top national policy, must be given priority and must receive the attention of the Party and local authorities. The new education program shifts the mindset from developing scale to focusing on quality. Therefore, how to "study properly", not only study but also be active and experience.

Preparing the conditions to ensure the new general education program, the Deputy Minister of Education and Training also determined that the greatest responsibility rests on the shoulders of teachers and this is the most important factor for success. In addition, it is necessary to supplement the list of minimum equipment, to have quality, there must be conditions to ensure quality.

In the coming time, education will also shift its thinking from training based on ability to training based on labor demand. To do so, it is necessary to innovate learning methods, assessment methods, and thinking. In addition, it is necessary to build local programs within the general education program and promote communication work.

In the immediate future, he requested that schools in Nghe An need to innovate the current education program and teaching methods.

Concluding the workshop, comrade Le Minh Thong also affirmed: Developing general education in Nghe An is an urgent requirement for improving the quality of education and training, contributing to the development of human resources of the province in the period 2011 - 2020 and is a premise for implementing fundamental and comprehensive innovation in education and training in the current context.

The province has also proposed groups of solutions to strengthen leadership at all levels, promote professional work, educational management, team building, infrastructure construction, and key general schools to gradually achieve the set goals./.