Educating students with love and responsibility

On this occasion, Nghe An Newspaper had a conversation with Dr., Meritorious Teacher Phan Trong Dong - Principal of Dien Chau 3 High School.

Always try to do well in the role of a teacher.

PV: You have been teaching for nearly 30 years. Is this the profession you have loved since your school days?

Associate Professor Phan Trong Dong:I am the son of a martyr. My father died in December 1975, when I was just one month old. At that time, the country was at peace, he was disarmed and stayed to take over the liberated zone.

The day he died, the letter announcing his wife's birth had not yet arrived, he only knew that his wife was pregnant. Later, my mother raised the children alone. She worked as a traditional medicine officer but her health was poor, life for my mother and I was very difficult when we were young.

When I was young, I studied well. In 1990, I was one of eight students who attended the Asia Pacific Summer Camp Festival in Japan. Later, I took the university entrance exam and passed all three schools: Agriculture, Medicine and Pedagogy, of which Medicine was the school I dreamed of. But as I said, at that time my family's circumstances were difficult, it was impossible to send my child to medical school, so I chose Hanoi National University of Education, Biology Department. At that time, the choice was completely random, no one guided me. Later, after graduating, I had the opportunity to work at the Agricultural Genetics Institute, but I chose teaching because this job was stable and I had an income soon.

My teaching also had quite good results early on. When I first graduated, the first school I taught at was Do Luong 2 High School. Before that, the school had no provincial-level Biology students. When I came here, I discovered, trained and started to have provincial-level students. This result gave me motivation and I thought that maybe my teaching would be effective.

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During my career, I have participated in many activities and held many positions, and now looking back, I see that I chose the teaching profession as the right one. The profession chose me. Here, I can develop my professional capacity, pedagogical skills and also the management qualities of a teacher.

Associate Professor Phan Trong Dong

PV: In 2024, you are one of 64 teachers in the province to be honored with the title of Excellent Teacher. Is this the destination of every teacher when choosing the path of sticking with the "blackboard and white chalk"?

Associate Professor Phan Trong Dong:Titleexcellent teacheris a noble title and not only me but everyone wants it. It is also the dream, the aspiration of every person working in the teaching profession. However, I do not set a goal that I will strive to become an excellent teacher and if I only focus on the title, I will fail.

Since I started my career, I have always believed that if you do good work, good work will come and if you gather enough, it will crystallize. To be awarded the title of excellent teacher, in addition to your own ability, teachers need an environment where they can shine with their work results, and have collaborators from relatives, colleagues, and superiors (every problem needs to be evaluated by the results of the incident)...

In the schools where I have worked and held the position of principal, we always created conditions to honor outstanding colleagues, regardless of their position, some were Chemistry teachers, some were Physical Education teachers, some were Math teachers...

This year, Dien Chau 3 High School has 3 teachers who have been honored with this honor and is the high school with the highest number of teachers awarded the title of Excellent Teacher in the province. There are colleagues of mine who are very respectable because if we consider the standards, they would have been qualified more than 10 years ago. However, at that time, they refused, did not seek fame and fortune because they thought they were still young and gave the opportunity to others.

Harmony between authority and love

PV: Educational innovation has been mentioned and implemented for more than 10 years. During this process, many issues have been discussed, considered, and dissected. In schools, in which aspects have the most obvious changes been made?

Associate Professor Phan Trong Dong:In the process of innovation, I see the first and most obvious change, which is educating students' thinking. If in the past, education was mainly based on the authority and power of the teacher, now students are also educated with love. This is a very positive aspect. Education by authority will create order, discipline, and rules. But there are also limitations that reduce the dynamism and creativity of students. The harmonious combination of authority and love will help students develop, express themselves, and be themselves.

There are also clear changes in teaching. Before implementing the new program, teaching was called lecturing, knowledge and ability of teachers would be passed on to students, lecturing was only one-way or in class, teachers taught and students learned.

With the new program, teaching and learning will change more positively and teachers will use all previous methods including lecturing, teaching and learning in class, and organizing students to learn. Thanks to that, students will be able to explore, form and develop their thinking.

Through the process of innovation, we have also seen changes in schools after changing teaching methods.

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Without educational innovation, perhaps a rural school like ours would not have many students having the opportunity to get into top schools.

But now, new teaching methods help students develop their abilities. They have boldly participated in capacity assessment exams, thinking assessment exams, and exams to obtain international foreign language certificates. Therefore, there will be more opportunities for them.

Associate Professor Phan Trong Dong

PV: In the process of implementing educational innovation, the "Happy School" model is considered an important step forward, aiming to create a positive educational environment, where students are not only equipped with knowledge but also nurtured spiritually and developed comprehensively in personality. With Dien Chau 3 High School, the first school to pilot the "Happy School" model in Nghe An, what are the school's expectations when building this model?

Associate Professor Phan Trong Dong:It is not accurate to say that it is a pilot project. In fact, our school did it voluntarily. We only have one mindset and one simple goal, which is to choose what is best for the students, from the quality of teaching, teaching conditions and finally the results of teaching.

During the implementation process, there were many difficulties. Because, although happy school is the motto and purpose, there is no specific method to build the model and no specific formula.

If talking about constructionhappy schoolIt is not right to focus only on achievements, facilities or teaching. Simply put, it is a school where students can learn according to their abilities, teachers can teach according to their abilities. And with these wishes, the school must create an environment, a mechanism so that students and teachers feel happy when coming to school. From this environment, the team of teachers and students must make achievements with their own abilities, and the students can develop their abilities to their fullest potential.

We also understand that implementation should not be an illusion but must build a teaching environment suitable to the economic conditions and culture where the children live.

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Our dream is not to build Dien Chau 3 High School into a high-quality educational school, but our dream is to build the school into a cultural, educational and sports center of the region. From here, not only students but also people can enjoy, outside of school hours students can practice. From this school, graduates will have a standard cultural style and continue from generation to generation.

Associate Professor Phan Trong Dong

Looking back at the results after 4 years of implementation, it is difficult to clearly quantify. But we clearly see the changes in the school. Last school year, our school received joy in the quality of teaching when 3 students were recognized as students with high scores in the 2024 High School Graduation Exam, the achievements of excellent 12th grade students ranked in the top 5 in the province and the results of the Graduation Exam were 8 levels higher than the previous school year.

When we received these results, we were overwhelmed with happiness. In fact, during the implementation of the school year's tasks, we did not assign achievement targets to teachers. But we built them through attitudes, gestures, behaviors and were demonstrated through actions. These results were achieved because teachers competed themselves, and teachers and students were motivated to strive when they were regularly rewarded and encouraged promptly.

PV: Vietnam has Vietnamese Teachers' Day on November 20th and the world also has World Teachers' Day on October 5th, and this is a way to honor and recognize those who work as "ferrymen". So, in your opinion, in the new era, to meet the increasingly high demands of society, what qualities do teachers need to have? As a manager, how do you need to change to be able to complete your assigned tasks well?

Associate Professor Phan Trong Dong:In any era, to become a good teacher, the core is to have good knowledge. Second, you must have qualities, ethics, a loving heart, enthusiasm, and dedication to the profession. These are two basic, mandatory factors, and are necessary conditions for the profession.

However, in the new society, teachers are required to have management skills (when teaching and educating students), each person must know how to build a personal plan. In addition, they must have the ability to integrate so as not to fall behind society and students. If they are not equipped with this, their authority will be lost and will not be respected.

The new society requires education to change and leaders must also change. In the past, principals were mainly teachers and had the mindset of a teacher, managing with the qualities, abilities and authority of a teacher. In the current trend, the leader of a unit must be a good administrator, that is, must have the authority of a teacher, have good management skills and have management thinking.

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Leaders must also be ready to accept opposing opinions. Personally, I always think that in good things there are bad things, in bad things we must find the good things to do, in bad things we must find the less bad things to do first and adjust. And if we do not acknowledge the bad things, we will not be able to work, there will be no progress.

Associate Professor Phan Trong Dong

PV: Thank you for joining the conversation!