Overlapping in teacher recruitment and allocation, how to resolve?

This morning, within the framework of the 8th Session of the 15th National Assembly , the draft Law on Teachers was presented to the National Assembly for its first comments. A notable new point in this draft Law on Teachers is the content of teacher recruitment.

Accordingly, the authority to recruit public teachers is chaired by theeducation management agency or delegated to the educational institution. For autonomous educational institutions, the principal is responsible for recruitment. For non-public educational institutions, recruitment is chaired by the school according to the school's organization and operation regulations.

Overlapping authority in recruiting and arranging teachers. (Illustration photo)

Overlapping recruitment and placement of teachers

In terms of local management, Mr. Vu A Bang, Vice Chairman of Dien Bien Provincial People's Committee, commented that state management of teachers is still limited and inadequate.

The management of teachers is governed by many laws (Law on Civil Servants, Law on Public Employees, Law on Education, Law on Vocational Education, Law on Labor, etc.), leading to difficulties in implementation and organization at the grassroots level. The documents also do not clearly define what a teacher is, who is considered a teacher, the scope of regulation, and the subjects of regulation.

"The management of payroll still overlaps between the Home Affairs and Education sectors. The Education sector is assigned total payroll while the recruitment authority belongs to the Home Affairs sector," Mr. Bang commented.

According to the current decentralization regulations, the Department of Education and Training manages cadres, teachers and students at high school level in the area, the remaining levels are managed by the district Department of Education and Training. Therefore, the education sector is not proactive in allocating, mobilizing, and arranging the use (recruitment, secondment, etc.) of teacher staff, especially secondary school, primary school and preschool teachers to carry out annual tasks among localities in the province.

For example, kindergarten A in district B lacks teachers in the 2024-2025 school year, but the sector cannot mobilize or rotate kindergarten teachers from district C to strengthen, due to the management authority, as well as policies managed by the Department of Education and Training and the People's Committee of district C.

The Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee also pointed out the current situation of streamlining the payroll in many places that is not linked to the targets on population growth, number of schools, number of classes but is instead mechanically cut. Many educational institutions in remote, isolated and extremely disadvantaged areas do not ensure the ratio of teachers/class according to regulations. Currently, Dien Bien is still short of 2,008 teachers, including 980 preschool teachers, 533 primary school teachers, 233 secondary school teachers and 262 high school teachers.

From the above shortcomings, the Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Dien Bien province agreed with the proposal to consider decentralizing the management of teachers and educational managers to ensure consistency in recruitment, use and management of teachers from the central to local levels. In particular, assigning authority to the Department of Education and Training to preside over the management of teachers at the provincial level, restructuring the organization, increasing the number of state management positions for the district-level Department of Education and Training; in case of necessity, regulating teachers nationwide is under the authority of the Ministry of Education and Training.

"Consider not to reduce the number of employees receiving salaries from the state budget as prescribed in Resolution No. 39-NQ/TW for provinces where people's lives are still difficult and there is no possibility of establishing non-public schools such as Dien Bien province," he emphasized.

Experts and National Assembly delegates agreed to the proposal to delegate the right to recruit teachers to the Education sector. (Illustration photo)

Untangling the teacher recruitment bottleneck

Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa also said that assigning recruitment authority to the education and training sector will help to proactively develop strategies, projects, development plans, and total staffing of teachers under its management. From there, it will be able to grasp the overall staff, forecast needs, reasonably balance the stages of enrollment, training, and recruitment; and regulate teachers promptly and reasonably.

"If this policy is passed in the Law on Teachers, it can overcome the local shortage of teachers that has been happening in practice in recent times. At the same time, it will contribute to developing a team of teachers that ensures sufficient quantity, quality standards and a consistent structure," said delegate Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa.

Agreeing with the proposal to give the education sector the right to decide on teacher recruitment, National Assembly delegate Thai Van Thanh, Director of the Nghe An Department of Education and Training, said that in order for recruitment to be effective, it is necessary to stipulate the content, form and requirements on conditions and standards for recruitment. The criteria must be consistent with the characteristics of the teacher's profession, minimize administrative and public service requirements, and strengthen requirements and assessments of pedagogical capacity.

Regarding recruitment authority, the educational institution is delegated to carry out recruitment if it meets the requirements. In case it does not meet the requirements, the educational management agency directly managing the educational institution will carry out recruitment.

When teachers are appointed as managers, they must have the opinion of the direct management agency. In addition, it is also necessary to calculate and regulate the retention of some policies for teachers appointed as educational managers.

"The Draft Law on Teachers is the basis for enhancing the position and role of teachers, creating motivation for them to work with peace of mind, making many contributions and dedication to the cause of educating people. The draft has initially created an exciting atmosphere for more than 1.6 million teachers; receiving consensus and support from parents and the people," Mr. Thai Van Thanh assessed.

The draft Law on Teachers was proposed by the Ministry of Education and Training to be developed from 2022. There are 5 groups of policies proposed by this agency, including: Identification, standards, regulations, rights and obligations of teachers; Recruitment, use, and management of teachers; Planning, training, and professional development of teachers; Treatment and honor of teachers and State management of teachers.

The Teachers' Law is expected to be discussed and passed in two sessions (session 8 and 9, 15th National Assembly).

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/chong-cheo-trong-tuyen-dung-va-phan-bo-giao-vien-thao-go-the-nao-ar906316.html