What do Nghe An teachers say about the new draft for selecting textbooks?
(Baonghean.vn) - The Ministry of Education and Training is seeking opinions on a new draft on textbook selection. Accordingly, the decision to select textbooks, instead of being made by the provincial level, will now be handed over to schools.
According to the new draft, the textbook selection council is established by the principal of a general education institution or the director of a vocational education or continuing education center, to assist the head of the institution (generally called the school) in organizing the selection.
Previously, textbook selection was carried out according to the Law on Education, the authority to decide on textbook selection for teaching in general education institutions was the People's Committee at the provincial level. The textbook selection council was established by the People's Committee of the province and each subject at each level was a council, schools were only allowed to contribute opinions.
According to new regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training, the selection of textbooks must be based on 3 principles:
+ Schools select textbooks from the List of Textbooks approved by the Minister of Education and Training for stable use in general education institutions.
+ Each subject and educational activity carried out in general education institutions at each grade level selects a set of textbooks.
+ The selection of textbooks must ensure democracy, objectivity, openness and transparency.
This new draft received the approval of many teachers and many schools.
Teacher Phan Thi Ba Tuyet - teacher at Nguyen Truong To High School (Hung Nguyen)
I think that giving the decision to choose textbooks to the school board and teachers is a decision with many advantages. Because teachers are the ones who directly teach the class and they understand their students. Meanwhile, the school also understands the characteristics of the school and they will choose a set of books that are suitable for teaching conditions, facilities, regional characteristics, and the abilities of students and teachers.
Besides, I think that when teachers are autonomous in choosing textbooks, they will be responsible for researching and choosing books according to the program they have been teaching. Thereby, it helps us promote teachers' autonomy and creativity and is suitable for current teaching practices.
Teacher Ha Thi Hong - teacher at Chau Hoi Primary School for Ethnic Minorities (Quy Chau)
After 3 years of implementing the textbook replacement according to the 2018 General Education Program, I see that my school's students are studying the "Connecting Life Knowledge" book series and it is quite suitable for the characteristics of students in mountainous areas. With a lot of reasonable data, students can easily absorb knowledge and develop their abilities and qualities. I also like the experiential activities according to the new books because students can both learn and experience knowledge related to the real life where they live.
However, the book series has been selected with the first grade program, I hope there will be more adjustments, for example, the number of words and rhymes in a lesson is still a bit too much. Therefore, if we only teach in 1 day, it will be a bit heavy. In fact, during the teaching process, we had to increase the duration to match the program.
If schools are now given the right to take the initiative in choosing textbooks, I completely agree, because schools and teachers will be the ones closest to their students and will be able to choose books that are suitable for the students' characteristics.
Teacher Tho Ba Cha - teacher at Tri Le 2 Primary School (Que Phong)
The textbooks that our school is using according to the new program are easy for students to access and we are also familiar with the program. The most important thing is that students can read and understand.
Therefore, when the Ministry changes its policy on textbook selection, whether it is the province or the school, I think that it should not change too much, because it will lead to confusion for teachers and students. Students in the place where I teach still have a difficult life, they do not have many conditions to buy textbooks. A suitable set of books is one that does not change too much so that after you finish studying, you can leave it for your younger siblings and many other students in the village to continue studying.
Teacher Ho Dinh Tu - Vice Principal of Ethnic Secondary SchoolTri Le Secondary School (Que Phong)
During the implementation of the innovation program, many different sets of books were introduced to create choices for many subjects and many regions. In the process of implementing the directives of the superiors, the school has deployed them to each teacher for reference, especially referring to the soft books on the system so that teacher groups and professional groups can research and choose the right set of books for the students and the local socio-economic situation.
Personally, I think that if there are many sets of textbooks, it is very good for schools to have many opportunities to choose from to suit each subject and each grade.
Currently, with the textbook series we are implementing, I see that students are basically familiar with and have approached the direction of the book, teachers are familiar with the compilation, the structure, and the images.
However, if there are more options, we hope that the editors will pay attention to the specific characteristics of the region. For example, there are villages in Tri Le commune, because of the remote conditions, so the information of the children is very limited. Therefore, instead of taking issues that refer to the whole society, we should have an open direction so that teachers can be flexible when teaching, connecting with the reality in the locality.
