Core General Education Teachers Are Ready for the New General Education Program

Hardworking and inquisitive

Although the training sessionModule 2took place at a time when the weather was unfavorable, storms and floods brought heavy rains causing widespread flooding in many localities in the central provinces, but the core teachers sent to attend training courses to improve their capacity under the ETEP program still worked together to overcome difficulties and overcome their circumstances to participate.

There are cases where both husband and wife are "bright examples" of encouraging each other to "overcome the flood" to complete assigned tasks, such as Mr. Hoang Quoc Quyet - Vice Principal of Nguyen Dinh Lien High School (Cam Xuyen, Ha Tinh) and his wife, Ms. Nguyen Thi Tra - a teacher at the same school. Or like Mr. Hoang Van Bau - Vice Principal of Ha Huy Tap High School (Cam Xuyen, Ha Tinh), Mr. Truong Van Tien - teacher of Cam Xuyen Town Middle School, who are also teachers from deeply flooded areas.

Many teachers wade through floodwaters to get to school. Photo: HN-KL

Mr. Truong Van Tien shared: Participating in the training module 2 right on the occasion of the storm and flood, my hometown Cam Xuyen is one of the most severely damaged areas in Ha Tinh province, there are houses flooded up to the roof, there are schools submerged half a floor. But we, the core teachers, are still determined to go to class to complete the training program on schedule. Luckily, we are supported by Vinh University, creating the most favorable conditions from accommodation to transportation arrangements.

Mr. Tien added: "Each core teacher is aware of his or her duty in absorbing the contents of the new General Education Program to support general teachers, so they are all proactive and positive in their studies. Students are divided into groups and teams, and everyone is active and works to their full potential to produce products in each class for presentation. Other groups participate in giving opinions and the lecturer will evaluate, synthesize and edit to make the students' products more complete."

A Literature class. Photo: KL

Many lecturers of Vinh University who directly teach the classes have the same comment: The core general education teachers participating in the module 2 training classes have a very high spirit of learning. They are willing to listen, exchange, and interact with lecturers and colleagues to best absorb teaching methods, communication skills, and education to develop students' qualities and abilities in the ETEP Program. In addition to performing tasks assigned by lecturers, the students who are core general education teachers also learn how to prepare scenarios and plans to implement mass teacher training support at their schools and localities.

Ms. Le Thi Lan - teacher at Nong Truong Secondary School (Trieu Son, Thanh Hoa) expressed: "We, the core teachers, always try to absorb and comprehend new content and new methods in teaching.ETEP ProgramThe best way to support and pass on knowledge to local teachers is to serve their professional duties well, especially in organizing students to work in groups flexibly, in order to promote students' qualities and abilities.

Equal level and ability

As someone who has participated in training students in both module 1 and module 2, Dr. Le Thanh Nga -Lecturer of Institute of Social Pedagogy (Vinh University) shared: If in module 1, students are still confused because they are approaching completely new issues, many people do not even have the right awareness of the problem, and still think that going to training is instead of textbooks.

Therefore, we, the lecturers, have to correct and explain to them clearly: Training on the new program, not changing the textbooks, the nature of the problem is completely different. But from module 2 onwards, I see that the students work responsibly, with a very good spirit and attitude towards learning. Especially, they are core teachers selected based on many criteria, equipped with good background knowledge, so when they start working, they absorb very quickly and clearly understand the problem. Of course, there are still some mistakes and misunderstandings from time to time, but they are not significant.

Dr. Le Thanh Nga - Lecturer of Institute of Social Pedagogy - Vinh University (white shirt) guides students in group discussion. Photo: KL

Also according to Dr. Le Thanh Nga: "The good news is that the team of students are core teachers with quite even qualifications and abilities, without too much difference, even teachers from mountainous districts such as Ky Son and Tuong Duong also learn very well, not inferior to teachers in the city and the plains."

The objectives of the training courses according to the modules are: Improving the capacity of general education teachers on the new General Education Program (General Education Program 2018), supporting core teachers to deploy mass teacher training to effectively implement this Program. Therefore, the assessment of trainees' training results is also carried out publicly and transparently through group work, individual work and assessment on the LMS system...

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Chien Thang - Lecturer at the Institute of Natural Education - Vinh University (wearing glasses) instructs students. Photo: KL

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Chien Thang - Lecturer at the Institute of Natural Education (Vinh University) said: After completing module 2, students clearly saw the innovation, advantages and differences of the teaching program oriented towards capacity development, so when implementing activities for students, they worked very enthusiastically. Of course, in a class there will be "nuclei", there will be more outstanding people, but in general, the core teachers selected to participate in the training all have in-depth knowledge and capacity, so when the lecturers impart knowledge, they absorb very quickly, grasp the method, understand the nature of the problem and have teamwork skills.

During the training of module 2, the lecturer tried to design the lecture so that the students played two roles, that is, they both experienced new teaching methods and techniques and at the same time they were the ones who would later reorganize for their students and guide their colleagues in general.

Trainees are key teachers participating in module 2 training with good teamwork skills. Photo: KL

"There are two types of student assessment: process assessment and periodic assessment. To assess the process, the lecturer must monitor the students to see how well the groups are learning, and there will be different levels in each group. First, the groups will self-assess through their products. If they are at the same level, the teacher will evaluate based on the final product of the group" - Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Chien Thang said.

However, according to the assessment of the ETEP Program Management Board (Vinh University): There are also some difficulties in the assessment on the LMS system due to the difference between actual trainees and trainees only on the list, leading to the system not updating trainee information in a timely manner, making it impossible for lecturers to accurately assess trainees. In addition, during the learning process and updating assignments submitted to the system, many problems arose related to system errors or incorrect updating of trainee information (studying this subject but assigning permissions to another subject), so the assessment of the lecturer was not complete. In addition, the short training time was not enough for the groups to work in depth on analyzing and developing lesson plans, so assessment was also an obstacle. Another drawback is that although assessing learners using information technology will ensure fairness and transparency, it is also very difficult to control the learners' skills.

Core general education teachers are ready for the new General Education Program. Photo: KL

However, according to Dr. Tang Thi Thanh Sang - Director of the Center for Pedagogical Training (Vinh University): The majority of teachers participating in the training and professional managers felt confident and secure when implementing the 2018 General Education Program. The core general education teachers also clearly understood their roles and responsibilities in supporting mass training and fostering for their colleagues in the locality to best serve the new General Education Program.