Difficulty in implementing comprehensive general education program

No reduction in primary school workload
According to the content just announced by the Ministry of Education and Training, the new primary school curriculum will include 11 compulsory subjects and educational activities. These are Vietnamese; Math, Ethics, Foreign Language 1, Nature and Society, History and Geography, Science, Information Technology and Technology, Physical Education, Arts (Music, Fine Arts); Experiential activities. In addition, there are 2 elective subjects: Ethnic minority languages, Foreign Language 1 (in grades 1 and 2).
After many years of "postponement", the Ministry of Education and Training has also decided to start implementing the new general education program and textbooks for grade 1 from the 2020-2021 school year. The program will also be implemented in a "rolling" form and by the 2024-2025 school year, it will be deployed in all classes of this level.

Foreign language class with foreign teachers at Phuong Hoang High Quality Secondary School (Vinh City). Photo: My Ha

Previously, at the Scientific Conference on General Education Development in Nghe An Province, Professor, Dr. Nguyen Minh Thuyet - Editor-in-Chief of the New General Education Program also affirmed: The new general education program is built according to the capacity development model, through basic, practical, modern knowledge and methods to actively promote learners' activities, helping students form and develop the qualities and capacities that schools and society expect.

To achieve this goal, the new general education program is built with the spirit of reducing the number of subjects and educational activities; reducing the number of class periods; reducing scholastic knowledge; increasing differentiated and elective teaching; implementing new teaching methods; and innovating the assessment of educational outcomes.

Particularly at the primary level, comparing the current program and the overall program, there are also differences when some subjects such as Crafts and Engineering will be changed to Information Technology and Technology, Music and Fine Arts will be replaced by Art, History and Geography from separate subjects will be combined into one subject.

Regarding this program, teacher Phan Xuan Huynh - Principal of Herman Gmeiner Vinh High School said: "When the draft program was built, what teachers and parents most wanted was to reduce the workload for students. However, with this arrangement, the amount of reduction is not much, not significant and the knowledge for primary school students is still too heavy. In my opinion, for primary school students, we should let them have many experiential activities to teach life skills. For a long time, we have only cared about what to learn, learning many things, but we have not cared about how students learn and what aspirations they have."

Another issue that is also of concern at the primary level is the organization of extracurricular activities. As someone with many years of management experience in both public and non-public school systems, teacher Tran Van Phuong - Vice Principal of Phuong Hoang High Quality High School said: Organizing extracurricular activities is very meaningful for primary school students, helping them have the opportunity to experience, explore and apply the skills they have learned in practice. With the new program, the inclusion of experiential activities in the compulsory program is a progress and we are really pleased with this.

However, to implement it well, there will be many difficulties because to innovate, it is necessary to have facilities, team work, teachers and students, and to reduce the workload of other subjects. For example, in the current program's timetable, students have too many self-study and practice sessions, but there are fewer life skills classes. The new program also requires schools to organize 2 sessions/day. But in the current conditions of Nghe An, I'm afraid that synchronous implementation will be very difficult.

Many subjects are difficult to implement

LIVEIn junior high school, if previously, Information Technology was an elective subject, it has now been changed to a compulsory subject. The subjects have also been integrated, in which Physics - Chemistry - Biology will be integrated into Natural Science, History and Geography will be combined into one subject. Students will also study Art instead of Fine Arts and Music.

Regarding the form of the subjects, although there have been many changes, they are not new, especially for teachers who have taught according to the new school model at the secondary level.

Since the 2017-2018 school year, Nghe An has also organized exams in the form of a combination of Natural Sciences or Social Sciences, so students have begun to get used to this concept.

Biology lesson of 9th grade students at Hermann Gmeiner High School (Vinh City). Photo: My Ha

The current difficulty, when applying it to the mass, is the team of teachers, especially those who teach integrated subjects. The main reason is that for a long time, according to the training program at pedagogical universities, teachers often only study one major. In the college system, teachers are trained in interdisciplinary subjects but in reality, each teacher usually has only one major. Rarely, in some schools that lack teachers, teachers teach a second major.

Regarding the integration of subjects, teacher Tran Huong Tra - Herman Gmeiner Vinh High School said: When integrating, the number of lessons will be reduced but the program content will remain the same. This also puts a lot of pressure on teachers and they must have appropriate methods to convey the entire program.

In many other schools, the lack of teachers is a difficult problem. Mr. Nguyen Quang Xuyen - Deputy Head of the Department of Education and Training of Nam Dan district said: In the district, there are many surplus teachers of Math and Literature but there is a shortage of teachers of subjects such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Fine Arts and Music. Therefore, to meet the new requirements of the general education program, it is necessary to have a long-term plan for training, arranging teachers or rearranging the team.

At high school level, with the policy of being a career-oriented education stage, the number of compulsory subjects has been reduced to only 7 subjects: Literature, Math, Foreign Language 1, Physical Education, National Defense and Security Education, Experiential Activities, Career Guidance, and Local Education Content.

However, in addition, there is an increase in elective subjects in groups such as Social Sciences (including Economic and Legal Education, History, Geography), Natural Sciences (including Physics, Chemistry, Biology), Technology and Arts (including Technology, Information Technology, Arts). This change is considered to reduce the workload for students but is difficult for schools.

Teacher Phan Xuan Huynh - Principal of Herman Gmeiner Vinh High School said: "When organizing elective subjects, there will be a situation where many students study one subject and few students study another. So how will schools arrange it appropriately? Currently, the Ministry has also proposed a solution for inter-school learning, but then there will be difficulties in giving grades and evaluating students' academic records..."

With the above series of questions, it is clear that although there is still more than one school year left for the general education program to be implemented, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done.

On the side of Nghe An Department of Education and Training, speaking at the conference on general education development, Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Chi - Director of the Department of Education and Training also pointed out many contents that will have to be implemented in the coming time, which is to rearrange the scale of schools and classes, ensuring the minimum number of students according to regulations. At the same time, it is necessary to continue to pay attention to the implementation conditions such as the team of managers, teachers, facilities and equipment, and teaching organization. In particular, it is necessary to innovate the content, programs, and educational methods in the direction of modern integration, improving overall quality.

My Ha