Mathematician talks about how to get good teachers for specialized schools

Mathematician Dr. Le Ba Khanh Trinh said that at the Gifted High School (Ho Chi Minh City National University), he acted as a guest lecturer, while his main place of work was the University of Natural Sciences. The reason was that in the early days of the establishment of the Gifted High School, a number of experienced teachers were needed. The Gifted High School and the University of Natural Sciences are members of Ho Chi Minh City National University, so his teaching hours, regime, and income are within the system regulated by Ho Chi Minh City National University.

Dr. Le Ba Khanh Trinh acknowledged that the working environment at the Gifted High School is very “stable”. Firstly, the students are carefully selected, obedient, passionate, and creative. Secondly, the permanent teachers are very dedicated, and guest teachers like him are given the best conditions, without any obstacles or formalities, so they can focus on teaching.

Dr. Le Ba Khanh Trinh

According to Dr. Le Ba Khanh Trinh, teaching specialized students is teaching to improve knowledge and form skills one level higher than the general level. Teaching specialized students requires teachers with profound knowledge and the ability to inspire creativity in students.

In addition, if a subject has many different knowledge blocks, many teachers can be invited to teach, unlike in non-specialized high schools. And when there is a full team of teachers, many teachers can teach a subject in a class. For example, teaching high school math can have teachers specializing in algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus; teaching literature can include language teachers and literature teachers... that is also a way to have good teachers for specialized schools.

“It can be said that teachers in specialized schools have to sacrifice a lot. To have one hour of teaching, to impart knowledge to students who already have the qualities, to increase their passion and they find it useful, teachers must be professional, dedicated, and invested, this is different from teachers in other general schools, which is the mass”, Dr. Khanh Trinh acknowledged.

But what about the income regime at specialized schools?

An associate professor in Ho Chi Minh City said he sat with two guest teachers at a specialized school in the city.Ho Chi MinhOne of them is a doctor, and the other is a specialist from the Department of Education and Training. The doctoral teacher confirmed that the salary for teaching a lesson at this specialized school is 40,000 VND to 60,000 VND. When he heard this news, he was a bit startled, while a lesson at a private school was paid from 150,000 VND to 200,000 VND.

When he asked why it was so 'cheap' to teach, the other person said that he accepted to teach because teaching at a specialized school allowed him to "show off" his professional knowledge.

Dr. Tran Nam Dung

According to Dr. Tran Nam Dung, Vice Principal of Gifted High School (Ho Chi Minh City National University)Ho Chi Minh), to attract good teachers to specialized schools, first of all, there must be career opportunities, opportunities to work with challenges, with students who have good qualities and aspirations. Second, the treatment must be good so that they are not distracted and must be enough for teachers to be able to work with peace of mind. Third, specialized schools must have a good vision, avoiding getting carried away by immediate achievements.

"Just spending money is not enough"

Meanwhile, the Director of a Department of Education and Training in the South shared that more than 10 years ago, her locality had a separate mechanism for recruiting teachers for specialized schools and as a result, over the past 10 years, the province's specialized schools have had outstanding results in national key awards. The recruitment mechanism is that the principal taking over the specialized school is free to decide on the selection of teachers and is approved by the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee.

“I think no one understands better than the principal of the specialized school. Therefore, the principal of the specialized school must participate in the mechanism or issue and set the selection criteria. The principal will also be the one who knows clearly which policy will attract that force. While I am sitting above and talking, I cannot understand the thoughts of the teachers of the specialized school,” she said.

She said that in terms of policies and regimes, not much is enough, so two factors must converge: specialized students, entering the specialized pedagogical industry, certainly have the desire to serve education and training; secondly, they have ambitions and the desire to contribute, so no matter how much support we give them, they will feel recognized. Thus, this policy and support also depends on whether that person wants to be a leading teacher or not.

Students take the entrance exam for grade 10 of gifted high school for the 2021-2022 school year. Photo: Thanh Tung

According to this female director, the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training on the regime for teachers of specialized schools are still not appropriate, especially some contents of rewards and levels of rewards for teachers, so localities need to have their own policies to stimulate teachers' contributions, which are appropriate and worthy.

If we only spend money to attract teachers who don't love the job, then no amount of money is enough.

According to Vietnamnet