Concerns about integrated subject teaching
Teacher, why is 1 subject with 3 notebooks, 3 notebooks of exercises?" - this is the question that 6th grade students who have just entered secondary school asked teacher Le Thi Hang - a teacher teaching Natural Sciences, Physics sub-subject. According to this female teacher, the student's question accurately reflects the inadequacies of integrated subject teaching at secondary school: 1 subject, 3 teachers, 6 notebooks (3 notebooks corresponding to 3 notebooks of exercises of 3 sub-subjects Physics, Chemistry, Biology).
The orientation of the 2018 General Education Program, Natural Science is a new subject, not combining 3 subjects Physics, Chemistry, Biology. Therefore, in theory, there will only be 1 teacher teaching.
In general education schools, teachers of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology will be trained with a Natural Science certificate. However, in reality, at Ms. Hang's school and many schools, no one can teach the entire subject, but "teachers teach each sub-subject".
In addition to dividing teaching time and norms for 3 sub-subjects, another difficulty mentioned by Ms. Hang is the stage of testing and evaluating students. Although it is 1 subject, the three teachers jointly create 1 common exam, after grading, they must summarize the common scores, then put them into the score book, comment... "Very complicated, time-consuming and difficult to evaluate students" - Ms. Hang said.
As someone who has directly taught for 38 years at the secondary school, teacher Nguyen Van Luc - former teacher of Dien Khanh Secondary School (Dien Khanh commune, Khanh Hoa) also believes that integrated secondary school subjects are causing difficulties for both teachers and students.
According to the 2018 General Education Program, the secondary school level includes 10 compulsory subjects (Literature, Math, Foreign Language 1, Civic Education, History and Geography, Natural Sciences, Technology, Informatics, Physical Education, Arts) and 2 educational activities (experiential activities, career guidance, local education content).
But in reality, students have to study 16 subjects because Natural Science is an integrated subject of 3 subjects Physics, Chemistry, Biology; History and Geography are integrated subjects of History, Geography; Art is an integrated subject of Music and Fine Arts; Local education content is an integrated of many topics depending on each locality; Career experience activities. "Knowledge pressure weighs heavily on students' shoulders" - Mr. Luc expressed.
Proposal to restructure some subjects
In the decision Promulgating key tasks and solutions for the 2026 - 2027 school year of the education sector, the Ministry of Education and Training said that one of the key tasks and solutions is "Synchronously amending the education program and textbooks to meet new requirements; strengthening education on history, national culture, patriotic traditions, ethics, lifestyle, life skills, health and social responsibility for students; building a disciplined, orderly, healthy, "teacher-like, student-like" educational environment.
Contributing opinions, Ms. Hang suggested that the program should be adjusted, separated into 3 independent subjects Physics, Chemistry, Biology as before. "This is easy for both teachers and students" - Ms. Hang said.
Teacher Luc also agreed with Ms. Hang, but said that not only natural science subjects, but also some subjects such as Civic Education; Experiential activities, career guidance; Local education content also need to be reconsidered.
According to teacher Luc, instead of just teaching dry, difficult-to-practice knowledge and theories, secondary school teachers can completely integrate and teach the content of Civic Education through the subject of Literature (teaching how to be decent, kind, and compassionate people...), through the subjects of History and Geography (transmitting emotions about patriotism, national pride, and the good traditions of the Vietnamese nation: Patriotism, solidarity, studiousness, respect for teachers,...
According to teacher Luc, with practical skills, students can be educated through practical situations such as disaster prevention skills, escape skills when there are storms, floods, earthquakes, fire and explosion prevention skills, childlife protection skills,... instead of generalizing according to textbooks.
Similarly, for local education content, transfer all local education content to integrate into specific subjects such as Literature, History, Biology... to educate students" - Mr. Luc proposed.
