Grade 6 entrance exam: Is it supporting extra teaching and learning?

Notably, it is expected that some secondary schools will be allowed to enroll students in grade 6 by combining admission with testing and assessment of capacity, instead of banning entrance exams for grade 6 in any form as it is currently. This is also an issue that schools and parents are concerned about.

Class time of 5th grade students, Ha Huy Tap 2 Primary School (Vinh City). Photo: My Ha

Solving "difficulties" for many schools?

Specifically, if the current Circular 11 stipulates: "Secondary school admission by selection method", the new draft adds: "Secondary school admission by selection method. In case the number of students registering for grade 6 is more than the enrollment quota, the Department of Education and Training will guide the implementation of the enrollment plan by selection method or combine selection with testing and assessing students' abilities".
Receiving this information, there are many conflicting opinions. At Ly Nhat Quang Secondary School, Do Luong District, teacher Nguyen Thi Hong Kien - Principal of the school said: "After 3 years of implementing admission instead of entrance exams, we have seen many shortcomings and impacts on the quality of input. The main reason is that when selecting, we only base on the student's records and grade 5 exam results and some additional criteria. However, the assessment at the primary level is currently difficult to determine and is still subjective for each school. Therefore, out of 160 annual quotas, only about 100 students in the top group are quite accurate. For the rest, we accept that we have to select students who are not really capable and have to take extra tutoring after enrolling."
Cao Xuan Huy Secondary School is also considered a key school in Dien Chau district. Every year, the number of applications to the school is twice as high as the enrollment quota. According to Mr. Pham Quang Thang - Principal of the school: "When recruiting by examination, the school has a hard time filtering the applications because almost every student's application is carefully prepared and very "well-rounded". There are also many cases where students with average ability are admitted".
Regarding this issue, Mr. Ngo Quang Long - Head of the Department of Education and Training of Dien Chau district said that testing and evaluating students' abilities for admission to some special schools is necessary and creates fairness and objectivity for students. In fact, in recent years, many schools have based their admission on secondary criteria such as online English Olympiads and online Math Olympiads. However, these competitions are mainly for children from well-off families, those with favorable conditions or those in favorable areas to participate.
Avoid racing to get into specialized schools and selective classes.
Circular 11/2014/TT-BGDĐT on the Regulations on Secondary and High School Admissions was issued in 2014, requiring schools to consider admission for 6th grade students with the main purpose of minimizing the situation of extra teaching and learning. After 3 years of implementation, although extra teaching and learning have not ended, the situation of competition for admission in key schools has basically decreased and limited the pressure of exams.
However, the Ministry of Education and Training's ban on "entrance exams" but not a complete ban and still allowing high-quality schools to exist has created many problems and caused chaos in the entrance exams. For example, in Vinh city, for many years Dang Thai Mai Secondary School has been considered a "specialized" school at the secondary level.

Therefore, although there is no entrance exam, the city has many other solutions to "select" that people do not agree with. Most recently, in the 2016-2017 school year, the city organized a mass exam for 5th graders but the exam questions were so difficult that not a single student in the whole city got a score of 10.

Or the city organizing an intellectual playground for 5th graders but the main purpose is to use it as a criterion for admission to Dang Thai Mai Secondary School, which is not in line with the policy of the education sector.

Teacher Tran Thi Man - Principal of Ha Huy Tap 2 Primary School shared: "If we still maintain specialized schools, we should have a separate exam that is objective, clear and reserved for students with real abilities. We should not base our selection on the year-end exam because that will put pressure on students."

From this reality, if the Ministry of Education and Training allows the reorganization of competency assessment exams for admission, the recurrence of the situation of "extra teaching and learning" is inevitable. To limit this situation, teacher Tran Thi Phuong Anh - Head teacher of class 5A, Ha Huy Tap 2 Primary School said: "For a long time, the competition to enter specialized schools and selective classes is partly due to the psychology of parents and parents themselves creating pressure for children to study a lot. In my opinion, maintaining specialized schools is right because it will create resources for the locality. But parents need to consider and only encourage children to take the exam if they have real ability. On the contrary, if the children are only average, let them develop in a normal environment."
Teacher Nguyen Thi Hong Kien - Principal of Ly Nhat Quang Secondary School expressed her wish: "I also do not agree with the widespread practice of extra teaching and learning. Therefore, if there is an entrance exam, a comprehensive competency assessment exam should be organized in the form of Hanoi National University combined with admission. That will help to discover talented students and not put pressure on parents and students."

Regarding this issue, Mr. Mai Xuan Vinh - Deputy Head of Secondary Education Department, Department of Education and Training also said: "To apply this draft, the local Department of Education and Training must be very serious and strict in management, absolutely prohibiting extra teaching and learning. For primary school level, increase teaching 2 sessions/day, to have enough time to equip students with skills and knowledge. In case of setting questions, it is necessary to implement flexibly, the main purpose is to comprehensively test students but within the scope of knowledge and skills standards prescribed by the Ministry's education program framework".

My Ha