Professor, Dr. Thai Van Thanh presents 6 new policies of the Teachers Law project
On the morning of November 20, at the National Assembly House, continuing the 8th Session, the National Assembly discussed in the hall the draft Law on Teachers. Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Thanh chaired the meeting.
Speaking at the discussion, Prof. Dr. Thai Van Thanh - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Director of the Department of Education and Training, delegate of Nghe An delegation said that the draft Law on Teachers is one of the law projects that has received a lot of attention from voters and has been awaited by teachers for a long time.
It is expected that when the law is promulgated and takes effect, it will contribute to innovating the State management of teachers, helping to improve the initiative of educational management agencies at all levels; basically overcoming "bottlenecks", limitations and inadequacies in the current management and development of teachers; at the same time, it will be a solid legal corridor to develop the teaching staff, creating a great driving force to bring our country's education to new heights.
“Improving the quality of the teaching staff is a decisive factor in developing high-quality human resources, developing creative people ready to enter a new era, an era of growth for the Vietnamese people,” he said.
On that basis, Professor Thai Van Thanh evaluated 6 new policies and made 3 recommendations to complete the draft Law.
Regarding the six new policies, he commented that the draft Law has established the legal status of non-public teachers, ensuring equality in rights and obligations for foreign teachers. That ensures a legal corridor and a favorable environment for teachers to work with peace of mind, love their jobs and be dedicated to their profession; at the same time, it meets the wishes and aspirations of non-public teachers to be creative and contribute to the cause of educating people.
Regarding the title, professional standards of teachers, based on the professional standards of teachers, educational management agencies, educational institutions use, train, foster, evaluate, screen and build policies for teacher development... At the same time, teacher standards are like a "mirror" for teachers to self-evaluate, practice and self-develop in order to continuously develop their own professional expertise, meeting the requirements of fundamental and comprehensive innovation in education and training. This is also an important tool to monitor and control the quality of the teaching staff.
Regarding the recruitment and use of teachers, this policy fully reflects the characteristics of teachers' pedagogical work. Because teachers and the teaching profession have their own characteristics, different from civil servants in other sectors and fields in terms of the purpose of pedagogical work, which is to develop the qualities and capacities of learners, the object of pedagogical work is learners whose personalities are being formed and developed, the product of pedagogical work is a comprehensively developed learner, the nature of pedagogical work is the most creative among creative professions and the tools of pedagogical work are not only knowledge, pedagogical skills but also the lively personality of teachers, the way of dealing with people and the exemplary role of teachers.
“The regulations on teacher recruitment are appropriate to the specific nature of teachers’ pedagogical work; recruitment focuses on professional competence, skills and pedagogical practice. That ensures the recruitment of quality teachers that are appropriate to the job position, professional structure, subjects…”, the delegate of Nghe An province assessed.
In addition, educational management agencies and educational institutions are in charge of managing staff, recruiting and using teachers. This helps educational management agencies proactively develop plans and strategies for developing teaching staff to meet the requirements of fundamental and comprehensive innovation in education and training; at the same time, it solves the existing problems and inadequacies in quality, and the current surplus and shortage of teachers in localities.
Regarding policies to protect and attract teachers, it has created a legal corridor and favorable conditions for localities and educational institutions to build and promulgate policies to attract talented people who have been trained in pedagogical skills to become teachers...
At the same time, this attraction policy will also contribute to creating a team of high-quality teachers - the force that determines the quality of education at all levels and of the entire national education system.
“Notably, the policy to protect teachers will create a favorable and democratic working environment so that teachers can work with peace of mind, be dedicated to their profession, and be creative in a cultural space that is honored, recognized, and coordinated and supported by the whole society,” said Professor Thai Van Thanh.
Regarding the salary and benefits policy for teachers, the delegate of Nghe An province acknowledged that in the regime and policies for teachers, the salary and allowance regime has a great influence on teachers. Therefore, when the Law is promulgated and takes effect, it will quickly resolve the difficulties in the lives of teachers; especially for teachers at preschool and specialized levels, or teachers working in ethnic minority and mountainous areas.
Regarding teacher management, Professor Thai Van Thanh said that the draft Law is based on a new approach of "human resource management, quality management", which means shifting from "teacher management to human resource management" with the control tools being teacher titles and teacher standards.
In State management of teachers, the draft Law has expressed the idea: The subject of State management of teachers belongs to the education sector but is not separate from the role of ministries, branches and authorities at all levels as prescribed by law.
Regarding the responsibilities of educational institutions in teacher management, the draft Law has provided very comprehensive and systematic regulations. If educational institutions fully implement these responsibilities, teacher management will be very strict and effective.
The delegate from Nghe An assessed that the draft Law on Teachers was basically elaborate, scientific and methodical. However, as directed by General Secretary To Lam: "The law needs to be concise, easy to understand and have long-term value", so he proposed 3 additional contents.
First, the draft Law should add the content: "For educational management staff (officials working at educational scientific research agencies) who used to be teachers or lecturers are called teachers" to the article and clause explaining the terms of the draft Law to serve as a basis for common consistency in understanding legal provisions.
Along with that, supplement and clarify the term: "State management agency of education" to distinguish it from education management agency to avoid misunderstanding that these are two different education systems.
Mondayis about the working regime of teachers. Due to the special nature of teachers' pedagogical work, it is required to have a working regime and a full, synchronous, and appropriate legal corridor... Therefore, he suggested that the time for preparing lessons, grading papers... should also be converted into teaching hours/lessons per year/week.
Tuesday,Regarding State management of teachers, which has been stipulated in a number of laws, according to Professor Thai Van Thanh, the drafting agency needs to continue to review, adjust and supplement to avoid duplication or omission of State management content for teachers; at the same time, there needs to be regulations on decentralization of State management for teachers.
