General education program from 2018: Creating changes in education

The school year 2022 – 2023 is the third year in the implementation of the general education program (GEP) from 2018 for grades 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 10. With the active participation of all levels, sectors in the province and the efforts in teaching and learning, educational activities have achieved many positive results.

A review lesson of the teachers and students in Bac Son Town Primary School, Bac Son District

On December 26, 2018, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) issued Circular No. 32/2018/TT-BGDĐT on the new 2018 GEP. Accordingly, the program begins from the 2020-2021school year, the program started to be applied to grade 1; to grades 1, 2, 6 in 2021 – 2022 school year, to grades 3, 7, 10 in 2022 – 2023 school year. Following the direction of the central government, the province has issued documents directing the implementation of the GET and the use of new textbooks, creating consistency and synchronization in implementation, thereby creating positive changes to meet innovation requirements.

After 3 years of implementation, by the school year 2022 – 2023, there are more than 430 schools and over 60,000 students from primary to high school, and vocational and continuing education centers has implemented this programs and used new textbooks in grades 1, 2, 3,6,7,10.

Creating an environment for students to develop their abilities and qualities

The school year 2022 – 2023 is meaningful to the teachers and students of Tan Lang Primary School, Na Sam town, Van Lang district. This is the third school year that the school has implemented a new GEP with the addition of some new subjects and educational activities. During the school year, teachers and students participated in many activities such as English festival, Math and Vietnamese talent festival, Flashmod dancing, visiting Na Hinh Border Guard Station…These activities has contributed to creating a joyful and vibrant atmosphere to strengthen the bond between the and their school and class, thereby also building an environment for them to practice, learn and experience.

Similarly, other primary schools in the province also focus on building a friendly and happy learning environment, diversifying learning and educational activities for students to learn and play at the same time. Trieu Phuong Thao, a 3rd grader at Dong Tan Primary School, Huu Lung District, said: “Last school year, we had the opportunity to participate in many activities including making cakes, playing folk games, and joining the festivals of reading books, reading comics and learning English.”

Not only at the primary level, but also at the middle and high schools, the new program has also changed. For example, at the high school level, the program is built in the direction of differentiation and associated with the career orientation of students. Accordingly, the 10th grade program has compulsory educational subjects and activities including Literature, Mathematics, Foreign Language 1, Physical Education, National Defense and Security Education, experiential activities, career orientation, local education and history. In addition, students can choose 4 other subjects by themselves. Thus, in the new program, 10th graders in the last school year can choose subjects and are not required to study all subjects in the group of optional subjects.

Along with the changes in the curriculum and textbooks, in the new program, teachers can flexibly apply modern teaching methods, they can test and evaluate students’ cognitive results through open questions and exam.

Teacher Tran Mai Phuong, teacher of Literature, Tu Doan High School, Loc Binh district said: “Currently, the teaching as well as assessment and examination of Literature subject in high schools has changed, especially with classes under GEP. While teaching, we also apply a variety of methods for students to experience, role-play, and turn themselves into literary characters. Additionally, in the examination and evaluation, in recent years, the questions in the social discourse part of this subject are often open, encouraging student to express their own views and thoughts on an issue in society. Those are positive innovation points, receiving the support of a large number of teachers and students.”

The new GEP with a view towards developing students’ capacities and qualities has been received, actively and flexibly implemented by educational institutions in the province. That result is thanks to the active participation of all levels and sectors from the province to the grassroots.

A lesson of students of grade 10 at Cao Loc Ethnic Minority Boarding Secondary and High School

Synchronous implementation

In order to implement the new GEP, the provincial education and training sector has fully and thoroughly prepared many solutions to meet the requirements of innovation. Specifically, after the end of the 2019-2020 school year, the provincial education and training sector actively reviewed and arranged its human resources; increased investment in facilities, equipment and teaching aids; trained teachers about 2018 GEP at each school level according to the roadmap; developed educational plans in the suitable direction to the conditions of staff, teachers, facilities and teaching equipment.

In order to effectively implement the program, first of all, there has been a consistency in the selection of textbooks and local educational materials. Every year, general education institutions propose to select textbooks according to regulations; establish provincial textbook selection councils, from the proposal of the councils, the Provincial People’s Committee approves the list of textbooks used in educational institutions in the province. As for the set of local educational materials, the Provincial People’s Committee has also issued a plan on compiling and appraising documents, forming a compilation group and a document appraisal council at all levels. Thereby, Lang Son is one of the few provinces in the country to early complete local education materials approved by the Ministry of Education and Training.

Along with that, the provincial education and training sector has focused on implementing the contents related to teachers, from training to improving professional capacity to meet the requirements of 2018 GEP. Currently, the province has more than 20,000 officials, teachers and employees, in which the number of high school teachers teaching the new GEP accounts for nearly 10,000 people, basically all of them meet the professional standards.

Teacher Nong Thi Tuyen, a teacher at Bac Ai 1 Ethnic Semi-boarding Primary and Secondary School, De Tham Commune, Trang Dinh District said: “In the school year 2022 – 2023, I was assigned to teach grade 1. Preparing for this important task, since the summer of 2022, I have attended training courses on the curriculum and textbook to understand the new and different points compared to the previous programs and books. At the same time, through the training classes, we also exchanged, discussed, and learned more skills and expertise to improve the quality of teaching.”

On the other hand, in order to implement the new GEP, the preparation of facilities has received special attention from the provincial education sector. In the 2016-2020 period, the province has equipped 159 computer rooms and added 298 computer; invested in equipment (TVs, computers) for 564 classrooms, 29 rooms for particular subject; additionally equipped 769 sets of teacher tables and chairs, 8,537 sets of student tables and chairs; provided basic equipment for teaching grade 1 according to the Circular No. 05/2019/TT-BGDDT dated April 5, 2019 of the Minister of Education and Training on the list of minimum grade 1 teaching equipment. It also implemented the plan purchasing minimum teaching equipment of grade 2, 3, 6, 7, 10.

With the uniform and synchronous implementation from the province to the grassroots, the implementation of the 2018 GEP in Lang Son has followed the schedule, educational institutions have focused on the goal of capacity and quality development, for students at each grade level.

Meeting innovation requirements

After 3 years of implementation, the new GEP has initially met the renovation requirements and brought about positive changes in all aspects. First of all, with the implementation of the new GEP, all levels and sectors in the province have paid attention to investing in the education sector, schools have been built with adequate facilities, equipped with modern teaching methods. In particular, unlike before, since the implementation of the new program, every year, the Provincial People’s Committee has established councils to appraise the replacement of textbooks, and to compile local educational materials.

For teachers and students, the implementation of the new GEP has also brought about positive results. At first, the teachers were still confused with the new program, but over the years, with the training, education, learning, exchanging experience and methods, the teachers have mastered the program, teaching methods to meet the innovation program. Many teachers confidently, flexibly and creatively apply teaching methods to improve teaching quality. As for students, learning the new program, they are educated, trained to develop comprehensively, associated with the formation and development of qualities and capacities.

Mr. Hoang Quoc Tuan, Director of the Department of Education and Training, said: “After 3 years of implementation, the new GEP has received the support and consensus of the whole society. Educational institutions have actively planned and implemented new programs in line with the province’s guidelines and orientations. The teachers have been flexible and creative in organizing teaching activities and educational activities towards comprehensive development of students. Year by year, the quality of education in the grades implementing the new program has been increasingly improved.”

According to the report, by the end of the 2022-2023 school year, for students in grades 1, 2, and 3 of primary school, 99.5% of students are graded as completed or above in Mathematics (up 0.3% compared to last year); 99.3% of students are graded complete and above in Vietnamese (up 0.5% year-on-year). At the grades 6, 7 in middle school level and grade 10 in high school, through the end of the school year assessment, more than 50% of students’ academic ability are graded as good or higher…

With the achieved results, in order to effectively implement the new GEP in the 2023-2024 school year, in the coming time, the Department of Education and Training will urge schools to prepare conditions for new programs and textbooks in grade 4, grade 8 and grade 11. At the same time, they should maintain and improve the quality in the grades that has already been under the new GEP. At the same time, teachers should be facilitated to improve their professional qualifications, to study and self-study in order to meet innovation requirements; regularly check, grasp the situation and report on the actual implementation in schools for appropriate and timely orientation and direction, contributing to improving the quality of teaching and learning in the province.