Surplus preschool teachers: 'Humane' but inadequate?
(Baonghean) - As Nghe An Newspaper reported in the special topic'Solving the problem of surplus teachers',To 'cool down' the local teacher surplus and shortage, the education sector prioritizes recruiting primary and secondary school teachers to work as 'childcare teachers'. This solution continues to encounter shortcomings.
>>> Nghe An: 1,500 surplus teachers still continue to sign new contracts
Feelings
Although the province still has 1,500 surplus teachers, and is allowed to recruit up to 900 positions for preschool, so far only 450 primary and secondary school teachers have voluntarily applied to come down to take care of children. However, most of the teachers who were "invited to teach preschool" were "promised" to return when there were recruitment quotas (especially for secondary school teachers) and to receive a more ideal salary.
As a locality that is thoroughly applying the Inter-sectoral Instruction 288/HDLN-SGD& DT-SNV-STC to solve the problem of surplus teachers, this year Con Cuong has recruited 21 teachers to teach preschools out of 40 surplus teachers. Mr. Dam Van Minh - an official of the Con Cuong District Department of Internal Affairs said that the 21 teachers mentioned above include female teachers and 6 male teachers in the surplus. The rest cannot go to preschools because they are all old male teachers and cannot take care of children. Also according to the official of the Con Cuong District Department of Internal Affairs, this is a bold step but suitable for the practical conditions of the locality. Because, among these 6 male teachers, there are teachers who have 14 years of experience in the profession, but are still not on the payroll, still only receiving a salary of about 2,000,000 VND/person/month.
Among the 6 male teachers recruited this time in Con Cuong, there is teacher Nguyen Van Hai, who is an excellent History teacher at Tra Lan Specialized Secondary School. Mr. Hai used to be a teacher stationed at remote checkpoints in Mon Son commune, and was commended for his outstanding achievements in motivating children to go to school.
Mr. Hai shared: "I have been in the profession for 14 years, am extremely passionate about History, and have been trained at the university level, but because of the low income and still not being on the payroll, after many nights of thinking, I decided to write an application to teach preschool, even though I knew it would be very difficult to integrate and difficult to teach like other female teachers." After less than a week at the school, and without a preschool training certificate, Mr. Hai was assigned to be a "2nd teacher" at a satellite school of Chi Khe Kindergarten.
Ms. Chu Thi Minh Ly - Vice Principal of Chi Khe Kindergarten said that Mr. Hai tries very hard to do tasks such as combing and tying hair, dressing, and feeding the children. "Seeing him try to take care of the children makes me feel sorry, because we also know that male kindergarten teachers are rare, not only in the province but also in the whole country" - Ms. Ly said.
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| A kindergarten teacher and a class at Chi Khe Kindergarten. |
For Quynh Luu district, which previously recruited 30 preschool teachers from junior high and primary school levels, but could not teach because they did not have training certificates, this school year has also recruited 15 surplus teachers out of a total of 76 preschool recruitment targets. According to Mr. Kieu Van Thanh - Head of the Department of Internal Affairs of Quynh Luu district: "All of these cases are competent and experienced teachers. The district's view is to transfer them back if in the near future primary and secondary schools in the area lack teachers."
Quynh Hong Kindergarten (Quynh Luu) in October also received 3 teachers from primary and secondary schools in the area, including a History teacher, a Chemistry teacher and an Art teacher. The school principal - Ms. Trinh Thi Thuy is very understanding of the situation of the newly transferred teachers and tries to create conditions for experienced teachers to tutor them. However, from a professional perspective, Ms. Thuy is quite concerned because preschool teaching is a special profession; teachers without experience and without proper training will face many difficulties.
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| Class hours of teachers and students of Hung Dung Secondary School, Vinh City |
Teachers themselves also expressed their anxiety when having to get used to a new environment and new job. Ms. Dang Thi Thu Phuong, who has more than 10 years of experience teaching Chemistry at Quynh Giang Secondary School, shared that after nearly 2 months of observing preschool teachers in class, she was extremely confused because she thought she could not approach preschool lessons.
Ms. Phuong also frankly said: After many years of working as a contract teacher with low and unstable salary, she switched to being a preschool teacher. However, she still can't help but feel regretful because at her old school, she was the only Chemistry teacher and for many years was awarded the title of excellent teacher at the district level... When asked about their wishes for the future, all the transferred teachers hope to return to their old jobs, because that is their main expertise, their forte and their passion in their career as a ferryman.
Inadequacies in training
In order to recruit primary and secondary school teachers down to preschool level, the Department of Education and Training has "willingly" allowed localities to contract and cooperate with secondary schools and colleges with preschool training codes. Quynh Luu, Anh Son, Thanh Chuong, Dien Chau districts cooperate with Viet Anh Secondary School; Nghi Loc, Yen Thanh, Do Luong districts cooperate with Nghe An Pedagogical College...
As the first school to cooperate in training preschool teachers in the part-time program, Viet Anh Secondary School has provided certificates to 500 teachers. Currently, this school is continuing to train nearly 600 surplus teachers from the districts with which it has cooperated. Of these, 2 classes are taught at the school's headquarters, the remaining 4 classes are taught locally in cooperation with the district's Continuing Education Centers.
Commenting on these “special” students, Mr. Pham Huy Hoang - Principal of Viet Anh Secondary School said: Due to many years of experience in teaching, their awareness and pedagogical skills are quite good. However, because they are not in the profession, they have many difficulties with gifted subjects.
To overcome these limitations, the school has arranged more practice periods in its curriculum than the Ministry of Education and Training requires. The school principal also affirmed: In this regard, the school is very favorable because there are preschool classes open at the school and teachers can practice on-site.
That is the theory, but the reality is not as expected. Because the classes are mainly held at continuing education centers, the main lessons are mainly for teachers to study theory. The practice time at the headquarters is shortened and confined to the weekend. Arranging specialized and specific subjects such as Dance and Music with the number of periods from 30 to 40 periods (equivalent to 3 or 4 sessions per subject) is also difficult to achieve quality.
In Con Cuong, 21 teachers who have just been transferred are also studying at the preschool intermediate class. The teachers said that they have studied for 7 months at the District Continuing Education Center for some subjects, the rest have to go to the Provincial Continuing Education Center and Cua Lo Tourism Vocational Training Center. However, according to Ms. Nguyen Thi Que - Director of the District Continuing Education Center: The Center only has the task of recruiting and introducing students to study at Dong Do General Secondary School (Hanoi). After being admitted, students will study at Cua Lo Tourism Vocational Training Center (?).
Regarding this issue, Mr. Nguyen Manh Ha - Head of the Department of Vocational Education (Department of Education and Training), said: Since June 2016, the Provincial People's Committee has sent a document requesting the Ministry of Education and Training to consider allowing Dong Do General College to train 100 intermediate preschool teacher training targets, in a centralized training form. Also according to this document, the classes must be located at the Central Tourism Private College. If any GDTX center "circumvents the law" by opening classes on-site, it is against the regulations.
The training of preschool teachers for surplus teachers is also facing criticism from the teachers themselves. A PhD who is a lecturer at the Faculty of Education, Vinh University, said: In reality, if nearly 1,000 surplus teachers are allowed to teach preschools with degrees that do not guarantee quality, it will not only affect the care, education and safety of children, but in 10 or 20 years it will also affect the long-term education development strategy. Imagine the consequences of a generation of thousands of children being cared for by teachers who do not have the qualifications and capacity.
“Personally, I think that the Department of Education and Training as well as localities need to realize that teaching at preschool level cannot be taken lightly. Instead of sending teachers to accelerated courses to get certificates, we should create conditions for teachers to go into specialized training,” the above doctor stated his opinion.
The current training method poses a big question mark for the surplus teachers who are being sent to train in "preschool skills" and also for the receiving units - It is a fundamental problem coming from a solution that is considered humane.
PV Group
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