Teachers' comments on primary school students after 1 year of implementing Circular 22

After 1 year of implementing Circular 22, some teachers in Hanoi have commented on the advantages and disadvantages of not grading primary school students.

Circular 22 amends and supplements a number of articles of the Regulations on Primary School Student Assessment on the basis of completing and replacing Circular 30, officially applied from November 6, 2016.

After 1 year of implementing Circular 22, teachers at some primary schools in Hanoi have commented and evaluated students without using scores.

Ms. Ha Thi Kim Ngan, a teacher at Doan Thi Diem Primary School, Hanoi, said that Circular 22 inherits the advantages of Circular 30. However, because Circular 22 has some new points, it is difficult for new teachers to accept the way of evaluating primary school students. For example, teachers have to gradually change their thinking about the number of students who have completed excellent studies being less than before.

In addition, when implementing Circular 22, student assessment will be much more rigorous and comprehensive, so teachers will have to face difficulties in changing the psychology of parents and students towards the new assessment method.

According to Ms. Kim Ngan, to properly assess students' level and ability, teachers must be truly dedicated and closely follow their learning and training.

Instead of grading, Circular 22 still requires teachers to regularly evaluate students' learning and training with comments (illustrative photo)

According to Circular 22, titles for students include: Excellent completion of learning and training tasks, Rewarding students who excel in a certain aspect or win prizes in competitions.

While many parents expressed concern, if their children excel in all subjects but do not meet the requirements in one Talent subject such as Music, Fine Arts, or Sports, they will not be awarded the title of Excellent Completion of Study and Training Tasks.

In response to the above concerns of parents, teacher Kim Ngan said that in recent years, teachers have always been under pressure regarding the number of excellent students. Now, Circular 22 has proposed to evaluate students in each aspect, which is correct because not all students are excellent in all aspects.

“Parents want their children to be assessed as being well-rounded in all subjects, while their children are not really that way. We know that there are currently 8 types of intelligence, so it is good if students achieve outstanding results in a certain subject.

The most important thing here is that teachers must explain and change parents' views and thoughts about their children's real learning abilities," Ms. Kim Ngan explained.

It is wrong to give test questions that are not suitable for students.

Most students still like to be graded.

“Circular 22 assesses students’ level and capacity more closely than Circular 30. If when implementing Circular 30, teachers of cultural and gifted subjects had to write many comments for students in books, Circular 22 has changed.

Instead of evaluating students through books, the Ministry of Education and Training requires teachers to evaluate students on a scoreboard in 4 periods (mid-term I, end of term I, mid-term II, end of term II). Mid-term grading is only done for students in grades 4 and 5. This will also reduce the work of evaluating students through books for teachers" - commented the Vice Principal of Chuc Son B Town Primary School, Chuong My District, Hanoi.

However, many parents report that when there is no grading, children are not as aware and proactive in their studies as when there is grading.

On this issue, schools and teachers need to communicate and coordinate with parents more often to train their children's self-study awareness.

Circular 22 has introduced an “open” regulation that depending on the learning capacity of students in each region, teachers who directly teach in that place are free to create exam questions. For example, students in provinces with good learning capacity can have questions set at 4 levels. In localities with weaker learning capacity, questions can be set at 3 levels...

According to the Vice Principal of Chuc Son B Town Primary School, if teachers create test questions that are suitable to the abilities of local students, then creating test questions is correct and vice versa./.

According to VOV