Director of Nghe An Department of Education and Training: If the foreign language center does not follow the correct procedures, the association will be temporarily suspended.
(Baonghean.vn) - Nghe An Newspaper had an interview with Prof. Dr. Thai Van Thanh - Director of the Department of Education and Training about the quality of centers when implementing the Enhanced English Program and extracurricular subjects.
PrizeMethods to improve the quality of foreign language teaching
PV:DearMr. Nguyen, in recent years, the Ministry of Education and Training has issued many documents for localities to organize extracurricular educational activities, increasing according to learners' needs.In Nghe An, the organization of enhanced English teaching has just been implemented but the number of students participating is quite large. Could you share the purpose of the program and some outstanding results that have been achieved?
GSDr. Thai Van Thanh:Many years ago, the English quality of Nghe An students was very low compared to the national average, as shown in the national and high school exams. One of the main reasons was that students in Nghe An studied English for a short period of time, mainly with domestic teachers, without foreign teachers or native teachers participating in teaching.
Faced with this reality, since 2020, the Provincial People's Committee has issued the Project "Improving the quality of foreign language teaching and learning in educational institutions in Nghe An province, period 2020-2025, orientation to 2030". To improve the quality of foreign languages for students, one of the solutions proposed in the project is to increase the duration, diversify the forms of learning and add quality teachers, especially native teachers to participate in teaching.
In the process of implementing Clause 2, Article 6, Decree No. 24/2021/ND-CP dated March 23, 2021 of the Prime Minister regulating the management of public preschool and general education institutions, the provincial education departments have cooperated with centers to organize enhanced English teaching in schools and initially achieved many encouraging results. That is, the average score of English in high school exams has increased continuously in the past 3 years, from 3.98 to 5.46; many students with international proficiency certificates in English, Chinese, French, etc. are exempted from the foreign language high school graduation exam, and are directly admitted to universities. The English learning movement has spread from urban to rural and mountainous areas.
There is still a state of machinery and lack of flexibility in implementation.
PV:JobLink with foreign language centers to teachlanguageHe strengthenedRecently, we have received many comments from parents regarding issues such as training programs, training quality, teaching staff, affiliated units, and implementation facilities that are still inadequate... According to you, what is the reason? What is the role of the Department in implementing and supervising the implementation process at the grassroots level?
GSDr. Thai Van Thanh:The English introduction program for preschoolers and the English enhancement program in educational institutions in Nghe An province have been implemented for 3 years. Accordingly, in the guiding document, the Department of Education and Training has basically implemented all the requirements on the conditions for implementing the enhancement program such as: training program, teaching staff, material facilities, commitment to output standards; and there are specific regulations on the authority to inspect and approve (for high school level, the Department of Education and Training approves, and for preschool, primary and secondary school levels, the Department of Education and Training approves).
However, during the implementation process, there are still some shortcomings due to the following reasons: Educational institutions have not done a good job of propaganda, so some parents think that their children are placed in an intensive English class, which means they are in a selective class. Some schools have not carefully studied the guidance documents of the Department to implement class placement from the beginning of the year; because the needs and abilities of each individual student are different, it is difficult to choose a program, as well as arrange a suitable class and study time.
Furthermore, when implementing the enhanced program at primary, secondary and high schools, due to the requirement of no more than 20 students per class, classes must be divided into 2. If schools have a large number of students participating in the enhanced program, it will be difficult to arrange classrooms. Meanwhile, with no more than 20 students per class, it will be difficult for students to contribute funds, especially for foreign teachers in localities with difficult economic conditions.
At the same time, teachers participating in the enhancement require international standard competency certificates, making it difficult to select. Another reality is that we currently do not have an independent testing center to objectively assess the quality of students according to the center's commitment so that parents can see the quality and progress of their students.
To overcome the shortcomings and limitations, in recent times, the Department of Education and Training has strengthened inspection and supervision at facilities. At the same time, it advised the issuance of Resolution No. 31/2020/NQ-HDND dated December 13, 2020 of the People's Council of Nghe An province on the regulation of maximum collection rates for service fees serving and supporting educational activities of schools for public educational institutions; collection rates for enrollment services at all levels in Nghe An province; Official Dispatch No. 1530/SGD&DT-GDCN-GDTX dated August 5, 2021 on guidelines for implementing the English familiarization program for preschool children and the English enhancement program in educational institutions in Nghe An province; Official Dispatch No. 1670/SGD&DT-GDCN-GDTX dated August 15, 2022 on guidelines for implementing the English enhancement program online in educational institutions in Nghe An province and Official Dispatch No. 1909/SGD&DT-GDCN-GDTX dated September 12, 2022 on guidelines for implementing the English familiarization program for preschool children and Official Dispatch No. 2288/SGDDT-CTTT-GDTX dated September 25, 2023 on the process of selecting centers for association.
PV:The implementation of affiliate programs must be carried out voluntarily and with the consent ofagreebetween 3 parties, which are the center - school and parents, students. However, currently tooimplementationAt the grassroots level, it seems to be going against this spirit. This leads to situations such as parents who want their children to take a leave of absence have to ask to change classes, prolonged study is not effective, there is an output commitment but it is not implemented properly... As the head of the Education sector, how do you view this issue? The Department's viewpoint in directing language teachingHe strengthenedwhat is it sir?
GSDr. Thai Van Thanh:In reality, at first, parents registered their children voluntarily. After a certain period of study, some students could not keep up with the program, and at that time, parents wanted to apply for their children to attend an intensive English class.
During the implementation process, there are still some educational institutions that are mechanical and not flexible in handling the problem, because they believe that parents have committed from the beginning when participating to follow the whole level of education, so they do not allow transfers, for fear of disruption. On the other hand, when registering to participate, the centers all commit to the quality of the output standards, but in reality, at the end of the class and level, the output test is mainly undertaken by the centers, so it is not objective. Therefore, parents have not yet noticed the progress of their children when participating in those classes.
To overcome this situation, the Department will direct educational institutions to be flexible in arranging classes, arranging entrance and exit in a way that respects the choices and wishes of students and parents. At the same time, the Department of Education and Training will annually organize independent inspections and publicly announce the results of these enhanced English classes, so that parents know and the centers are responsible for fulfilling their commitments.
Are notforced in intensive English learning
PV: OneAnother issue that makes many parents, especially parents with children studying in primary school in Vinh city, upset is that many schools take advantage of the psychology of "choosing a class, choosing a homeroom teacher" to indirectly force parents to register for language classes.He strengthenedwith the purpose of being able to study in a selective class. This also causes other consequences, even causing discord among the teaching staff in schools... The industry's orientation on this issue is to rectify the work of enrollment and organization of language teaching.He strengthenedin schools?
GSDr. Thai Van Thanh:Choosing to enroll your child in an intensive English class is the parents’ choice when registering for admission, not the school’s coercion. Therefore, parents need to carefully consider before deciding and must take responsibility for their decision (before enrolling, schools have publicly announced the plan, program, and output standards of intensive English).
Due to the nature of intensive English classes requiring more frequent coordination between the three parties, educational institutions select teachers with good networking skills to take charge of those groups of classes. During the implementation process, parents misunderstood that those classes were assigned the best teachers of the school to attract students to participate, but in fact the teachers' qualifications in the school were basically equivalent and at the beginning of the school year the school organized a lottery to assign teachers. In the coming time, the Department will direct the Vinh City Department of Education and Training to strengthen the inspection and supervision of teacher assignment, at the same time, step up propaganda so that parents have full information from which to make appropriate choices.
PV:LanguageEnglish Enhancement is one of the programs being implemented in the model of high-quality key secondary schools. Some parents of students who have completed the English Enhancement program said that the program has not achieved the results as committed, many students have not been assessed for output standards. This makes parents hesitant when letting their children participate in the English Enhancement program. Given this reality, what direction will the Department have for the centers that are collaborating with the school so that the following courses are effective?
GSDr. Thai Van Thanh:In recent times, most localities with high schools implementing the high-quality key school model (except Vinh city) have lacked foreign language centers with sufficient capacity to meet the different, diverse needs and high output requirements of students and parents for the enhanced English program.
Furthermore, in the 4 years of implementing the high-quality key high school model, there were more than 2 years of the Covid-19 pandemic, the affiliated centers lacked teachers, especially foreign teachers, so the implementation of the enhanced English program in many schools encountered difficulties, was interrupted many times, and even had to be stopped. Therefore, the output results of students are still limited, and some students have not even been assessed according to output standards.
In the coming time, the Department will closely monitor the selection of affiliated centers according to the guidance of Official Dispatch No. 2288/SGDĐT-CTTT-GDTX dated September 25, 2023 so that schools can choose quality affiliated foreign language centers. The Department guides schools to survey students' needs, organize input assessments of students to assign them to classes suitable to their needs and abilities.
The Department will have policies to encourage and attract quality foreign language centers to implement intensive English programs in remote areas. In mountainous districts, centers that cannot directly implement intensive English teaching will be encouraged to implement intensive English teaching online (centers invest in facilities such as projectors, tablets, sound systems, etc.).
In addition, the Department is organizing training to improve international English proficiency IELTS for core teachers of the units; after completing the course, these teachers will have enough English proficiency to directly participate in teaching intensive English.
Strengthen monitoring and inspection
PV:NewThe Department of Education and Training has just issued a 6-step process for assessing foreign language centers that are affiliated with schools. According to the assessment of some school leaders, this is a necessary process and also helps schools have a clear direction in assessing affiliated units to organize teaching and learning. However, what parents are concerned about is, after the document is issued, how will the Department monitor the implementation of units that have, are and will have plans to cooperate in strengthening English teaching and learning with schools?
GSDr. Thai Van Thanh:The issuance of Official Letter 2288 stems from the practical implementation of the Enhancement Program at educational institutions in the past time, specifically: Some educational institutions have not done a good job of communicating with parents, leading to parents not being informed, not understanding the nature of the Enhancement Program, leading to a lack of consensus from parents and students. In addition, the 6-step process for assessing foreign language centers associated with schools (through a specific set of criteria) helps schools to be transparent in selecting centers with the capacity to meet implementation requirements.
In the coming time, the Department will have solutions to strengthen the supervision of the implementation of the Enhancement Program at educational institutions, specifically: On the basis of this process, the Department will strengthen inspection, review, and timely correction. Any units that do not comply with the process and regulations will resolutely suspend the implementation of the Enhancement Program.
Also from the 2022-2023 school year, the Department has requested that, after approving the enhanced teaching plan for educational institutions, the Department of Education and Training of districts, cities and towns synthesize data to report to the Department (name of educational institution, name of the center coordinating enhanced teaching, number of classes, number of students, number of periods/week, amount of money/period) and the enhanced teaching schedule of all educational institutions in the whole province; In the coming time, based on the enhanced teaching schedule of educational institutions, the Department will establish inspection teams to inspect and observe teachers' teaching hours at any time without prior notice to the principal or the Department of Education and Training.
PV:On September 29, the Ministry of Education and Training sent a document to the Departments of Education and Training requesting a review and report on the situation of extracurricular educational activities at preschools, general education institutions, and continuing education institutions.Recently, the Nghe An Department of Education and Training has also been very determined in rectifying the organization of life skills teaching in schools and the temporary suspension of life skills teaching has received the support of many parents. CurrentlyNowadays, around the teaching of enhanced English, many opinions also say that, there areMany problems are arising. So, at this time, the DepartmentShould we review and evaluate objectively before continuing to deploy it simultaneously in many schools? What are the upcoming solutions of the education sector?
GSDr. Thai Van Thanh:After 3 years of implementing the Enhanced English Program, although there are still some difficulties and shortcomings, a comprehensive assessment shows that this activity has greatly contributed to improving the quality of foreign language teaching and learning in the whole province.
Based on current regulations, the Department will continue to review and supplement to promptly rectify the implementation of the Enhancement Program at educational institutions to be practical, effective and ensure quality.
In particular, the Department focuses on the following main issues: Reviewing the role and responsibility of the Principal in organizing educational programs in schools; Focusing on reviewing the quality of teachers participating in enhanced teaching; Closely monitoring the implementation of the Curriculum of foreign language centers at educational institutions (increasing class observation and class visits, both in person and online); Coordinating to survey and evaluate output standards for enhanced English classes, at least grades 3, 5 and 8. The implementation process must ensure compliance with legal documents and regulations.
PV:Thank you sir!.
