No control over the rate of students entering public 10th grade

TP - From 2025, there will be no control over the enrollment rate in public grade 10 nationwide. This is the content that the Ministry of Education and Training is developing in the Decree on career guidance and streaming in education.

Not only weak students go to vocational school.

Dr. Dong Van Ngoc, Principal of Hanoi College of Electromechanics, said that the notion that students with average/weak academic performance should not take the 10th grade exam and should go to vocational school is wrong. Because not all weak students go to vocational school. Many vocationaltraining institutions currently have very high admission requirements, with some students achieving high school graduation exam scores of over 27 points.

Career orientation is to help students see the future and how to study to suit their abilities, strengths, and passions is the student's choice.

Hanoi students take the 10th grade entrance exam. Photo: NGUYEN DUC

According to Mr. Ngoc, career counseling and guidance need to be more practical, more specific, and more experienced. Career guidance and guidance are currently not being implemented systematically, continuously, and late. In many countries around the world , students are oriented and experience careers very early in life in many different forms and not according to targets or plans.

According to Mr. Ngoc, the establishment of targets and plans for student streaming after secondary school is a policy orientation. The important thing is how to implement it? Each school needs to develop a career orientation and counseling program early, coordinate with parents, and create a space for students to experience.

According to the Education Development Strategy to 2030, with a vision to 2045, which has just been issued, the transition rate from primary to secondary school is 99.5%, from secondary to high school and other levels is 95%. Thus, the Government no longer sets the vocational training rate after secondary school at 30-40% as in the previous period.

According to the reporter's notes, the 2006 program "ignored" the career counseling part. The 2018 program paid attention to this issue, but in the new design, only a certain number of periods were devoted to career counseling.

Students learn in a "passing by" manner or some schools do not pay much attention so it is difficult to "absorb". Only in some non-public high schools, career guidance and streaming are carried out consistently, continuously and with a process suitable for each stage of the student.

Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Thanh Nam, Vice Principal of the University of Education (Vietnam National University, Hanoi) affirmed that there should be no "hard" quantitative criteria in the stream after junior high school and high school. Students' further education depends on the capacity of learners in each locality, the quality of vocational education or vocational education support policies, and it is difficult to depend on the will of those implementing the policy.

“If applied rigidly, it can lead to problems. In fact, there have been cases where teachers in some schools have encouraged students with poor academic performance not to take the entrance exam to public high schools,” said Mr. Nam. Mr. Nam proposed that it is necessary to specify the regulations in the framework of the national education system; clarify the “streams” that junior high school graduates can study to develop sustainable careers; and ensure connectivity between training programs.

Next, it is necessary to strengthen labor, employment and salary policies, and career development opportunities for workers at the vocational education level. Improve the quality of career education and implement career counseling and career experiences for students early so that they can quickly understand their own abilities and the world of careers, the labor market, and the paths after junior high school, high school, etc.

Must ensure 100% of study places for students

According to the Education Development Strategy to 2030, with a vision to 2045, which has just been issued, the transition rate from primary to secondary school will reach 99.5%, from secondary to high school and other levels will reach 95%. This strategy will take effect from 2025. Thus, the Government no longer sets the vocational training rate after secondary school at 30-40% as in the previous period.

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son shared about the process of building the strategy over the past 2 years, in which the Ministry of Education and Training has repeatedly sought opinions from ministries and sectors on each indicator of the strategy. Regarding the rate of streaming after secondary school, the head of the education sector said that there is currently no convincing basis for this rate.

The basis for streaming and career guidance is based on students' voluntary needs, and the State must ensure 100% of school places for students. At the same time, it is necessary to clear up the ratio of streaming and career guidance for localities to ensure adequate investment in schools and classes.

The Ministry of Education and Training said that it is currently soliciting opinions on a draft Decree regulating career guidance and streaming in education. The principles of career guidance and streaming in education include factors such as ensuring harmony between students' aspirations and abilities with socio-economic development trends and human resource needs of the country and localities in each period.

Ensure the right to career orientation and respect for students' choice of study and career. Career orientation and streaming in education must ensure systematicity and continuity.

Career guidance activities need to diversify the forms of practical experience and integrate them into education and training programs; career guidance and streaming must go hand in hand with ensuring quality and connectivity between education and training streams... The responsibility of the People's Committees of provinces and cities is to determine the streaming ratio according to the guidance of the Ministry of Education and Training.

In particular, localities must ensure that 100% of secondary and high school students have access to professional career guidance and counseling services; at least 20% of learners aged 15-25 attend vocational education; the transition rate from secondary to high school and other levels reaches at least 95%.

Benefits of removing the imposition of streaming quotas

Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa, Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Society, said that without being imposed with streaming quotas, schools will not pursue achievements and will better control extra teaching and learning. Localities that are not imposed with streaming quotas will prioritize opening schools to meet students' learning needs.

Ms. Hoa said that the orientation on streamlining is aimed at the goal of training human resources suitable to the needs of socio-economic development. However, the efficiency of streamlining is generally very low.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training's report, the national average rate of student streaming after secondary school is 17.8%. Some localities only reach below 12%; far from the Government's target of having at least 40% of secondary school graduates train at elementary and intermediate levels by 2025 (localities with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions reach at least 30%).

No more streaming quotas, junior high school graduates are guaranteed access to high school education. Photo: HOANG MANH THANG

With this result, the target of streamlining was not achieved, including the criterion of "increasing workers, reducing teachers" according to the human resource requirements for socio-economic development.

This has led to a number of shortcomings in education such as the increasing pressure of the 10th grade entrance exam, the widespread situation of extra tutoring and extra learning, increasing the costs that parents invest in their children to compete for a place at public high schools.

“In my opinion, the nature of student streaming after secondary school is to guide learners to choose a path that suits their abilities, strengths, aspirations, and circumstances; at the same time, it is also suitable for the human resource requirements of society and the economy, contributing to adjusting the structure of training levels and occupations,” Ms. Hoa expressed.

Fortunately, in the Education Development Strategy to 2030, with a vision to 2045, the target is only to achieve 95% of students from junior high school to high school and other levels, and no longer sets the rate of vocational training after junior high school as in the previous period.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa, to successfully stream students after secondary school, localities are responsible for ensuring that schools meet students' learning needs, including a system of general education facilities and quality vocational education facilities. The State needs to have policies on labor and employment, wage policies and other policies for workers through vocational training; closely linking vocational education with the actual needs of the labor market, resolving the imbalance between supply and demand, improving the quality of human resources to meet the requirements of the country's socio-economic development and international integration.

Nghiem Hue

Source: https://tienphong.vn/khong-khong-che-ti-le-hoc-sinh-vao-lop-10-cong-lap-post1758902.tpo