Vinh City: Effectiveness from rotating school management staff

(Baonghean)Starting from the 2001-2002 school year, the policy of rotating school management staff of the Vinh City Party Committee and People's Committee officially took effect. After 10 years of implementation, the policy of rotating management staff has proven its effectiveness in improving the quality of education, as well as creating new schools in the city...

Regarding teacher Tran Van Phuong, most people working in the Vinh City Education sector, especially primary education, know that he is not only one of the five typical managers of Nghe An province, but he is also always the "trump card" in rotating staff effectively.

In the 2001-2002 school year, teacher Tran Van Phuong (Principal of Trung Do Primary School) was transferred to become the Principal of Le Mao Primary School; in the 2008-2009 school year, he continued to be transferred to become the Principal of Hung Binh Primary School; in the 2012-2013 school year, due to the organization's request, teacher Phuong was transferred to become the Principal of Ha Huy Tap 2 Primary School.



A Math class of teachers and students at Nghi Phu 2 Primary School

During his time at Le Mao Primary School, as the head, Mr. Phuong introduced correct policies and good practices to improve the quality of teaching and learning for the school, building a branded school, becoming a trusted address for parents. At the "peak" of quality and prestige at Le Mao Primary School, he received a notice of transfer from the City Education Department to work at Hung Binh Primary School. Mr. Tran Van Phuong shared: “When Le Mao Primary School was on the rise, I was assigned to be the Principal of Hung Binh Primary School, a school that was still facing many difficulties in terms of both facilities and education quality. Honestly, I was a bit worried but still happy, because I thought that my superiors were trusting me with a more difficult task. After 4 years as Principal of Hung Binh Primary School, I found myself successful in 2 things: Effectively advising the leaders of Hung Binh ward on educational work and building a strong enough team of teachers to meet the current requirements of primary education reform. From this school year, Hung Binh Primary School was chosen as one of the 3 key schools in the city.”

Having not yet completed his term as Principal of Hung Binh Primary School, this school year, he received a decision to transfer to work at Ha Huy Tap 2 Primary School (starting from July 2012): “The transfer of school management staff is one of the important solutions for educational management innovation. Transferring management staff will eliminate the inertia and self-satisfaction inherent in school management staff, especially those who have worked for a long time in a unit. Not only that, when coming to a new unit, to a new environment, it “forces” management staff to think and find ways to do better, at least not less than their predecessors. This is a driving force that makes school activities more vibrant, rich, in-depth and effective”, said Mr. Tran Van Phuong.

Teacher Le Thi Hoai An, Principal of Hung Dung 1 Kindergarten, was transferred to become Principal of Hoa Hong Kindergarten (Quang Trung) and confided: “When I was transferred to Hoa Hong Kindergarten, with the experience gained from years of working at Hung Dung 1 Kindergarten, I realized that if the school wants to improve, it cannot do without the careful attention of the locality. First, I proposed that the Vinh City Party Committee transfer the 4 party cells of the 4 kindergartens to the Quang Trung Ward Party Committee for management. From there, I had the opportunity to advise the ward on many solutions to develop and improve the quality of education in the ward. Based on my advice, not only Hoa Hong Kindergarten but also 3 other kindergartens located in Quang Trung Ward have received more complete and effective attention from the ward leaders. Only a short time later, all 4 kindergartens have made remarkable improvements...”.

Teacher Tran Thi Mai Lien, from the Principal of Hong Son Primary School - a national standard school, was transferred to become the Principal of Dong Vinh Primary School - a school facing many difficulties. Here, she gathered forces inside and outside the school, helping the school to stand up in terms of both facilities and teaching and learning quality; the school will soon be recognized as a national standard school...

Mr. Thai Khac Tan, Head of Department of Education and Training of City. Vinh said: “The rotation of school management staff in Vinh City is not only carried out for principals but also vice principals; not only rotating management staff after completing 2 terms in a unit but also rotating management staff after completing only 1 term; there are special cases (usually due to urgent need for staff), when not completing 1 term, there is also rotation. In the past 3 years, the city has rotated 15 principals and 11 vice principals. In the 2012-2013 school year, the city rotated and reassigned 37 staff. Among them were 7 principals and 11 vice principals. In reality, it can be affirmed that the rotation of management staff has made an important contribution to the implementation of the political tasks of schools; created conditions for management staff, especially young and promising management staff, to be comprehensively trained and developed; and overcome the local situation in each school, from which the educational activities of the schools are better and more effective".

Vinh City is a locality that has recognized the importance of rotating management staff early, so it has pioneered the first rotation of school management staff in the province. The city's Education Department has prepared a thorough plan for the rotation in a public, fair and transparent manner. For example, selecting the rotation subjects, schools, doing psychological work, asking for the opinions of management staff...

Therefore, after more than 10 years of implementation, the effectiveness of the rotation is demonstrated through the quality of education. At the end of the 2011-2012 school year, 23 schools were recognized as excellent collectives in completing their tasks; continued to be recognized as excellent units in universalizing primary education; achieved high efficiency in implementing the new preschool education program and the project to universalize education for 5-year-old preschool children; the city led the province in the quality of key education at all levels (ranked first in the province in the online English competition for primary school children; ranked first in the provincial Math Olympiad for children; ranked first in the province in the percentage of excellent students in grade 9; ranked first in the province in the Physics Olympiad for grade 8...).