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The National Assembly Standing Committee's proposal for the National Assembly to consider and decide on the policy of continuing to assign the Ministry of Education and Training to compile a set of textbooks is receiving great public attention with many different viewpoints.
Among them, there are opinions agreeing with this policy to have a standard set of textbooks, but there are also opinions that if the Ministry of Education and Training compiles another set of textbooks, it will easily return to the previous monopoly situation, and teachers and students will lack initiative and creativity in teaching and learning.
Request to compile a set of State textbooks
Implementing Resolution No. 88/2014/QH13 on innovation of general education textbook programs according to the policy of one program, many textbooks, in addition to encouraging organizations and individuals to compile textbooks, the Resolution also clearly states: "To proactively implement the new general education program, the Ministry of Education and Training organizes the compilation of a set of textbooks..."
However, the organization of the Ministry's textbook series became impossible due to the inability to mobilize the necessary number of authors, each author at that time had his name on a textbook compiled by the publishers. Therefore, the Ministry of Education and Training switched to directing the compilation of textbooks in the direction of socialization, not using the state budget (returning the World Bank a loan of 16 million USD to make this series of books).
The National Assembly also considered the reality to direct and adjust by Resolution No. 122/2020/QH14, with the content: "When compiling textbooks by the socialized method, if each specific subject has completed at least one textbook that has been appraised and approved according to the provisions of Education Law No. 43/2019/QH14, then the compilation of textbooks using the state budget for that subject will not be implemented".
Currently, there are 3 sets of textbooks approved by the Ministry of Education and Training for use in schools, including: Connecting knowledge with life, Creative horizons and Kite.
However, based on the report of the National Assembly Standing Committee's monitoring delegation in August 2023, on September 18, 2023, the National Assembly Chairman signed and issued Resolution 686/NQ-UBTVQH15 to monitor the implementation of Resolution 88/2014/QH13 and Resolution 51/2017/QH14 of the National Assembly on innovation of general education programs and textbooks. In which, it clearly stated the shortcomings when the Ministry of Education and Training failed to compile a set of textbooks according to the provisions of Resolution 88, and did not fully perform its responsibilities, especially in managing, updating, and developing general education content; managing and regulating textbook prices; implementing social policies for a number of subjects and localities. The appraisal, reception, and editing of textbooks were not strict, leading to errors in the content of 18 textbooks...
Therefore, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly "Requests the National Assembly to consider and decide on the policy of continuing to implement the provisions of Resolution No. 88/2014/QH13 on assigning the Ministry of Education and Training to organize the compilation of a set of textbooks".
Agreeing with this policy, Mr. Dang Tu An, former Director of the Department of Primary Education (Ministry of Education and Training) said that it is very necessary to compile a set of State textbooks, and even compile them as soon as possible. This will resolve many current conflicts regarding textbooks such as content, form, and especially price.
According to Mr. Dang Tu An, the addition of a set of State textbooks does not affect the implementation of the new program and there are still many sets of textbooks on the market. The State textbooks will learn from experience, overcome the shortcomings of existing textbooks, thereby optimizing the standard. Although they are State textbooks, the textbooks are still equal. The choice of textbooks will be decided by schools and teachers based on their research and comparison process.
Mr. Pham Van Cong, a teacher at Minh Khai Primary and Secondary School, Hung Ha District, Thai Binh Province, also hopes that the Ministry of Education and Training will have another set of standard books written according to the content of the published books, on the basis of overcoming the shortcomings of those books. If there is a standard book set, the current books will become reference books for parents, students, and especially teachers. This can be considered an extremely rich source of documents for teachers when teaching the standard books of the Ministry of Education and Training.
The new general education program is the standard for teaching, learning and assessment.
However, many experts do not agree with the Ministry of Education and Training compiling another set of textbooks at this time.
Associate Professor - Doctor Do Ngoc Thong, editor-in-chief of the Literature subject of the 2018 General Education Program, analyzed: More than half a century ago, due to the development conditions of educational science as well as the situation of the country at war, there were many periods when there was no program, only compiling and considering textbooks as the standard. By the 60s and 70s of the last century, there were programs for subjects, but they were very simple, essentially just a program distribution and officially approved by the Ministry (except for the program of the South before 1975 - all had Decisions, Decrees approving and promulgating). Until the 3rd educational reform (1980 - 1992), the General Education Program was officially built for the whole country, but the Ministry did not approve it in the program document. For example, it was only written in the program document from grade 6 to grade 9: "This draft has been approved by the council; Hanoi - 1986". It was not until 1989 that the program was created for high school level.
The 2000 innovation program was built more systematically, but still followed the method of separating 3 levels of education at 3 different times (Primary School Program: 1995, Middle School: 1998 and High School: 2000). Then, in 2006, the 3 levels were unified into the 2006 General Education Program and the Ministry signed the Decision to issue it.
Associate Professor - Doctor Do Ngoc Thong said: The situation of one program and one textbook leads to equating the program with the book, teachers only know the book and consider the textbook as the standard. By the 2018 General Education Program, the construction is more professional, approaching the international way of building and designing the program. Accordingly, most developed countries only focus on designing the program and program standards to use that as a basis for compiling textbooks, organizing teaching and learning as well as testing and evaluation. In large countries with many states, regions, and areas, each large locality bases on the national program to build and develop into a state, region, and area program... and a school program. Therefore, there is no standard textbook, but textbooks are only important learning materials in many different sources.
Associate Professor - Doctor Do Ngoc Thong also emphasized: Due to the increasing development of science and technology, the role of textbooks is gradually losing its unique position. Teachers and students can access information from many different sources and perspectives to teach and learn, as long as they meet the requirements of the program. Textbooks are very diverse and rich, but must be compiled based on the program. The program becomes the standard, the most important basis for reviewing textbooks as well as teaching and learning methods; especially testing and evaluation methods.
Testing and evaluating students is also based only on the requirements of the program and program standards for consideration, regardless of which books are studied, where they are studied, or how. All international assessment organizations have the same concept and conduct assessment. The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is a very clear example, when 70 countries only test the same reading comprehension test.
Also emphasizing the role of the General Education Program, Associate Professor - Doctor Nguyen Van Khanh, Hanoi National University of Education shared: The General Education Program is a policy document of the State that reflects the goals of general education, stipulates the requirements for students' qualities and abilities, educational content, educational methods, and assessment of educational outcomes, and serves as a basis for managing the quality of general education. This is also the State's commitment to ensuring the quality of the entire system and each general education institution.
The role of textbooks is to provide core scientific information about the field related to the subject. Therefore, textbooks are one of the learning materials for learners and teachers to fulfill the requirements of students' qualities and abilities, as prescribed in the General Education Program.
To prepare a lesson plan, a teacher can use a textbook along with a teacher's book (corresponding to that textbook), appropriate teaching equipment and materials. Teachers can also read a number of other textbooks and teacher's books to prepare a lesson plan. It is rare for a teacher to be so weak that he teaches every word of a lesson in a textbook. As for students, they carry out learning activities according to the teaching plan prepared by the teacher. If the student is good and passionate, he can read not only the textbook but also other books.
From the current exam reality, Associate Professor - Doctor Nguyen Van Khanh believes that Vietnamese teachers are extremely good at preparing for exams, as evidenced by the fact that the teams of excellent students who take the exams all achieve the highest scores in the world. With domestic exams, teachers also practice according to the level of the exam and no one who practices only based on textbooks to practice. Thus, if teachers are required to teach according to the requirements set out in the General Education Program, teachers will meet the requirements no matter how many textbooks there are.
National Assembly Delegate Hoang Van Cuong, Vice Principal of the National Economics University, expressed: It is a fact that Vietnamese students are very good and intelligent, but when it comes to practice, they often cannot be creative. The reason is that they have been taught according to a model, their thinking has followed that model, which leads to not daring to be open and not daring to be creative. Therefore, at present, we should not be too concerned about whether there must be a new set of textbooks from the Ministry of Education and Training or not, but should focus on how to enhance the capacity of teachers and managers, change the awareness of society and learners...
