On October 21, the Vietnam Education Trade Union and the Vietnam Association of Psychological Sciences and Education held a workshop to give comments on the following drafts: Circular regulating professional standards for teachers of general education institutions; Circular regulating professional standards for lecturers teaching in higher education institutions and Circular promulgating regulations on professional standards for teachers of vocational schools.
According to Dr. Nguyen Ngoc An - Chairman of the Vietnam Education Trade Union, in 2007, for the first time in Vietnam, a set of teacher vocational standards was issued, which is the primary school teacher vocational training standard. On that basis, in 2008, the preschool environmental protection standard was issued and in 2009, the junior high school and high school environmental protection standard was issued. In 2018, the NNGV standards were issued to replace them with a merger of the NNGV standards for primary, secondary and high school.
In 2025, in the face of huge new requirements for school management and governance mechanisms, new regulations on staffing require unification of related standards, the Ministry of Education and Training will develop 3 drafts: General vocational training standard, university lecturer's vocational standard and university vocational standard teachers.
Dr. Pham Tuan Anh, Deputy Director of the Department of Teachers and Educational Managers (Ministry of Education and Training) said that the promulgation of teacher professional standards according to the provisions of the Law on Teachers and relevant current laws will contribute to improving the quality of education and training. In addition, teacher professional standards are the legal basis for building, managing and developing the teaching staff, educational management agencies, educational institutions using teacher professional standards to recruit, arrange, evaluate, train, and foster teachers; developing and implementing policies for team development...
In his speech, Associate Professor, Dr. Vu Trong Ly, Vice President of the Vietnam Association of Psychological Sciences and Education, expressed his opinion that the duties of teachers and the regulation of teachers' duties should be general and unified at all three levels of education, and should not follow the instructions of teachers. The current draft does not unify the task framework of teachers at all levels. The distinction between the duties of teachers (main teachers, senior teachers) is not clear.
Regarding professional standards, teachers should follow the approach of quality and capacity. The current draft has overlaps and is almost unable to be the basis for evaluating teachers according to standards. The difference in standards between teachers, main teachers, and senior teachers at each level of education is not clear...
UB sp. Dr. Nguyen Thanh Son, Vice President of the Hanoi Education Psychology Association, said that teachers at all 3 levels have been striving for a level playing field in terms of training level, so it is not advisable to set criteria for each level of education but should only set general criteria for general education teachers.
Regarding professional tasks, at each level there are different subjects for learners and programs for each level of education, while in terms of teaching tasks, teachers at each level are the same.
Among some criteria and standards, it is advisable to limit the provision of determination criteria and standards because it will be very difficult for the direction and classification work later in the units.
Some criteria in the draft are very good, but in reality, teachers at general education institutions have very difficulty accessing them. For example, "participating in judging the Excellent Teachers' Competitions" or "participating in document appraisal, textbook selection" or "Caring on the content of training, guiding colleagues"... These criteria should be eliminated to make it easier for management and easier for teachers to strive for in the future", said Mr. Nguyen Thanh Son.
Teacher Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen, Head of the Professional Group, Kim Ngoc High School (Phu Tho) expressed her opinion that the draft should add an appendix in the form of a comprehensive table of professional standards for each level of education and each grade (teacher - main - senior), making it easy for users to look up. You can combine the same standards (IT, foreign languages, professional ethics) in common components, avoiding repeat in each section.
Regarding the standard content, reduce the "emulation - administrative" factor, focus on practical professional competence (for example, eliminating the mandatory requirement to have the title of emulation fighter in the promotion criteria). Clearly stipulate foreign language and IT proficiency according to the reference framework (for example, equivalent to B1, ability to prepare papers on LMS, application of student management software...).
With the criteria for scientific research, it is advisable to classify by level, primary school prioritizes experiential initiatives and practical solutions; Secondary - High school encourages in-depth research, possibly linking schools, Departments of Education and Training...
