Worried about choosing textbooks

Teachers of Cam Thuong Primary School (Hai Duong City) in a meeting to discuss the selection of textbooks for grade 2.

Correct procedure

In the 2021-2022 school year, students in grades 2 and 6 will start studying new textbooks according to the 2018 General Education Program.

The selection of textbooks for grades 2 and 6 is carried out according to Circular No. 25 dated August 26, 2020 of the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) regulating the selection of textbooks in general education institutions. The textbook selection process must follow 6 specific steps, in which the final step is that the Provincial People's Committee decides to approve the list of textbooks for use in local general education institutions.

Compared to the old guidance of the Ministry of Education and Training (Circular No. 01 dated January 30, 2020 on textbook selection in general education institutions), the selection of textbooks according to Circular 25 will have a new point that schools are not allowed to choose their own textbooks. Instead, schools will send teachers to research, give comments, agree on textbook selection proposals and send them to the Department of Education and Training for synthesis and reporting to the Department of Education and Training. The Department of Education and Training will synthesize and submit to the Provincial People's Committee. The Provincial People's Committee will decide to choose the final set of textbooks for the entire province.

On March 9, 2021, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 761/QD-UBND promulgating regulations on criteria for selecting textbooks in general education institutions in Hai Duong province, effective from the 2021-2022 school year. On March 11, the Department of Education and Training issued instructions on selecting textbooks for grades 1, 2 and 6 in the 2021-2022 school year, requiring primary schools, inter-primary and secondary schools to base on the instructions, assign teachers to research and propose the selection of approved textbooks, and report to the Department of Education and Training.

Previously, from March 6 to 9, the Department proactively coordinated with a number of publishers to organize online seminars to introduce textbooks for grades 2 and 6 with the participation of representatives of leaders, officials, and specialists of the Department; leaders and specialists of the District Education and Training Department; principals, vice principals, representatives of professional groups and teams, and teachers assigned to teach grades 2 and 6 at nearly 520 connecting points throughout the province. This is to ensure the progress and quality of textbook selection.

In a short time, schools in the province have completed the proposal to select textbooks for grades 1, 2 and 6 for the next school year. Principal of Cam Thuong Primary School (Hai Duong City) Pham Thi Nam said: "The school mobilized 12 staff and teachers to participate in the research and proposal to select textbooks. Because of specific instructions, this was carried out according to the correct procedure, without any difficulties."

Principals of many secondary schools confirmed that they had directed professional groups and teams to organize for teachers to discuss, evaluate and vote by secret ballot to select 1 textbook/subject/activity according to regulations. On that basis, all schools held meetings and agreed to propose the selection of appropriate grade 6 textbooks.

On April 5, the Provincial People's Committee issued a Decision approving the list of textbooks used in general education institutions in Hai Duong province for the 2021-2022 school year. Accordingly, in the 2021-2022 school year, students in grades 1, 2 and 6 in our province will use three sets of textbooks approved by the Ministry of Education and Training for stable use in general education institutions, including: "Canh Dieu" (of the two Publishing Houses of the University of Education and Ho Chi Minh City University of Education), "Connecting knowledge with life" and "Creative horizon" (of the Vietnam Education Publishing House).

Still have many "mistakes"

The textbooks decided by the Provincial People's Committee will be put into teaching from the 2021-2022 school year. However, many officials and teachers, including those directly involved in proposing the selection of new textbooks, still seem hesitant.

A PTC teacher in Ninh Giang district said: “We only received 4 training sessions and had about a week to read and study the books. With that much time, we could only skim through them and not read them thoroughly.”

Some teachers in Hai Duong City said that in the 2019-2020 school year, when schools selected textbooks for grade 1 according to the 2018 General Education Program, publishers sent sample textbooks. Although the quantity was limited, teachers from each school only had about three days to read and study before having to send them to other schools, but seeing and touching them with their own eyes also made them feel more clearly and accurately. This year, due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, publishers only provided accounts for teachers to read textbooks in PDF format. This form of research made it impossible for them to know the actual quality of the books. The colors and illustrations in the books looked beautiful on the computer, but were they really like that in reality? Because of limited time, they were not able to fully understand the content of the new textbooks they were assigned to research.

Teacher NTH in Tu Ky district was assigned to research the textbook for the second grade experiential activities of the Canh Dieu series. She commented that although it has many advantages, this book still has many "flaws" such as: the part about connecting with parents is limited; page 46 of the book has content about building a plan to visit and help families of war invalids and martyrs, which is not suitable because this is too much for second grade students...

Another primary school teacher pointed out the “errors” in the Vietnamese subject 2 of the Canh Dieu series: “The book has up to 10 symbols, so it will be very difficult for first graders to remember when using them. The lesson “Nurturing Seeds” on pages 90 and 91 of this book has a long reading passage, many foreign names are difficult to read such as: Ro-linh, Ha-ri Pót-tơ... I don’t have enough time to review the book carefully, but I’m sure many lessons still have errors.”

PV