Prohibit negativity in extra teaching, not prohibit legitimate needs of teachers and students

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh, Director of the Department of Secondary Education (Ministry of Education and Training) shared this when discussing the draft regulations on the management of extra teaching and learning that the Ministry of Education and Training is widely soliciting comments on.

Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh affirmed: Extra teaching and learning are practical needs of both teachers and students. Good teachers will always have studious students who want to learn to develop their abilities.

The current issue that is very pressing for public opinion is that teachers teach students at school, then in one way or another “force” students to take extra classes that they themselves teach outside. In these cases, students and parents have to “voluntarily” do so. This is an issue that the education and training sector must find a way to manage.

Open, transparent, creating a mechanism for national supervision

-Draft regulations onmanagement of tutoring and learningWhat are the notable new points, sir?

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh:Regarding extra teaching and learning in schools, the previous regulations specifically stated cases where extra teaching and learning are not allowed. With this draft, we see that it is no longer necessary to include it, or it must be adjusted to ensure fairness and appropriateness.

For example, at the primary level, the draft stated the principle: "For schools that have organized 2 sessions/day, no extra teaching or learning will be organized". Currently, the 2018 General Education Program is designing compulsory primary school to teach 2 sessions/day, of course no extra teaching or learning in school. This ensures fairness between primary, secondary and high schools.

Second, after a long time of monitoring the organization of extra teaching and learning in schools, I see another problem that needs to be solved: the organization of extra teaching and learning in schools itself is also incoherent, even causing discrimination between "main subjects, secondary subjects", between this teacher and that teacher...

Therefore, the management of extra teaching and learning in schools that the draft is seeking opinions on is aimed at regulating the organization of extra teaching and learning in a public and transparent manner so that when there are questions or inspections, everything must have verification documents.

Specifically, with extra teaching and learning in schools, the draft clearly stipulates that it must start from the proposal of the professional group: What subjects do you want to teach extra, why do you need to teach extra? What is the goal of extra teaching? To achieve that goal, what is the content of extra teaching, how long is it? A specific list of teachers registered to teach extra?

The principal, based on the proposal of the professional groups, organizes a meeting with the school leaders, heads of the professional groups, and representatives of the school's Parents' Association to agree on the organization of extra teaching and learning in which subjects and in which grades, ensuring practicality, fairness, transparency, and the interests of students. The total teaching time and organization of educational activities according to the school's educational plan and extra teaching and learning must not exceed 35 periods/week for primary school, not more than 42 periods/week for secondary school, and not more than 48 periods/week for high school.

The above regulation on the number of periods/week has been implemented since 2010 according to Official Dispatch No. 7291/BGDĐT-GDTrH dated November 1, 2010 guiding the teaching of 2 sessions/day for secondary schools. Specifically, for schools teaching 2 sessions/day, for secondary school level, the morning teaching must not exceed 4 periods, the afternoon teaching must not exceed 3 periods, each week studying must not exceed 6 days; for high school level, the morning teaching must not exceed 5 periods, the afternoon teaching must not exceed 3 periods, each week studying must not exceed 6 days. The total teaching time in schools, including extra teaching and learning in the draft, must not exceed the number of periods in this regulation.

For extracurricular teaching outside of school, organizations or individuals doing business in extracurricular teaching and learning activities outside of school (extracurricular teaching facilities) must do two things. First, they must register their business according to the provisions of law (this is not a regulation of the Ministry of Education and Training but a regulation of the law on business registration).

Second, tutoring establishments must publicize the subjects that are organized for extra teaching and learning; the duration of extra teaching of each subject by grade level; the location and time of organizing extra teaching and learning; the list of tutoring teachers and the tuition fees before enrolling students for extra teaching and learning classes. The public disclosure is for the entire population to monitor.

The regulation that public school teachers are not allowed to "organize" extra teaching or learning remains the same, in line with the general regulation that civil servants are not allowed to organize business; but teachers are still allowed to "participate" in extra teaching.

However, if a teacher participates in extra-curricular teaching, he/she must do two things. First, he/she must report to the Principal about the subject, location, and time of extra-curricular teaching and commit to the Principal to complete the assigned tasks and not violate the regulations on the principles of extra-curricular teaching and learning. Second, if in the extra-curricular teaching class of the teacher there are students from the class that the teacher is directly teaching in the school, the teacher must report and make a list of those students (full name of the student; class currently studying in the school) to the Principal and commit not to use any form of coercion for students to take extra-curricular classes.

These reports are for the school principal to have information and keep records, in case of teacher violations, there will be evidence for handling.

This regulation is similar to the regulation that one must not run a red light when participating in traffic. However, the one who can control this cannot be the Minister of Transport but the traffic police. In the education sector, the education management agencies in localities must essentially play the role of supervisors and managers, starting from schools, to the Department of Education and Training, and the Department of Education and Training. If there are violations discovered by schools or reported by the people, there will be evidence to serve the inspection, examination, and handling of violations; ensuring to minimize negative aspects in extra teaching and learning.

Avoid forcing students to voluntarily write applications for extra classes

-According to current regulations, students and parents must first write a voluntary application for extra classes, then the school will develop a plan for extra teaching and learning. But this draft requires the opposite, that is, a proposal from the professional group and the school. Can you explain this change?

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh:We want to avoid formalities, because there are regulations requiring students to write applications, which creates a phenomenon of forcing students to write applications voluntarily. Therefore, there must be clear regulations on all information about extra teaching and learning, so that students and parents have a basis to register based on the needs and desires of each student.

As mentioned above, teachers (including vice principals) of public schools who teach extra classes outside of school must clearly report to the principal for record keeping. If in the extra-school class of a teacher there are students from the class that the teacher is directly teaching in the school, they must report, make a list of those students (full name of the student; class currently studying in the school) and send it to the principal and commit not to use any form of coercion to force students to take extra classes. Thus, teachers are not prohibited from teaching their own students when the students and parents really need it, absolutely no coercion is allowed.

-So is there any mechanism to control teachers and schools from forcing students to take extra classes?

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh:The issue is information transparency and the draft has introduced many new regulations on what information must be made public and how to report when organizing extra teaching and learning. When developing this draft, the important thing we aim for is to prohibit negative phenomena, not to prohibit the real and legitimate needs of both teachers and students.

In addition, the draft also adds the principle: "Do not use examples, questions, and exercises that have been taught or studied extra to test and evaluate students" to avoid the long-standing phenomenon that has caused frustration: students who study extra will have high scores in tests and assessments and vice versa.

Furthermore, supervision of extra teaching and learning is not only the responsibility of the education and training sector or local authorities, but also the responsibility of the entire population, students and parents, based on issued regulations.

-Will amending regulations on extra teaching and learning in the context that extra teaching is not yet recognized as a conditional business sector resolve the biggest problems that localities are facing in managing extra teaching and learning outside of school today?

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh:In fact, extra-curricular teaching and learning outside of school is a business activity, so if organized, it must be registered as a business, even if it is an individual business household. The most important requirement for the Ministry of Education and Training is to make it public before organizing. Publicize the subjects that are organized for extra teaching and learning; the teaching duration of each subject by grade level; the location and time of organizing extra teaching and learning; the list of teachers teaching extra lessons and the tuition fees before enrolling students in extra teaching and learning classes. The Ministry of Education and Training issues such principles and the local management must base on them.

How to solve the root cause of the problem that I mentioned above, which is teachers forcing their students to take extra classes even though they don’t want to. This is the problem that the education and training sector wants to rectify the most.

Thank you!

Hieu Nguyen