The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has just announced a draft Circular regulating full-time contract teachers after retirement and visiting lecturers to gather broad opinions from relevant agencies, organizations, and individuals on the Government Electronic Information Portal and the MOET.
The development and promulgation of the Circular aims to institutionalize the provisions of the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Education and the revised Law on Higher Education on full-time contract teachers after retirement and visiting lecturers.
When this Circular takes effect, it will replace Circular No. 44/2011/TT-BGDDT dated October 10, 2011 of the Minister of Education and Training regulating the visiting lecture regime in educational institutions; Circular No. 11/2013/TT-BGDDT dated March 29, 2013 of the Minister of Education and Training amending and supplementing a number of articles of regulations on the visiting lecture regime in educational institutions, issued together with Circular No. 44/2011/TT-BGDDT.
Overcoming the shortage of visiting lecturers
In the context of local teacher shortages, finding teachers/lecturers with appropriate qualifications for visiting lecturers is not easy, especially in specialized subjects, leading to the risk of a shortage of visiting lecturers.
In localities, especially remote and isolated areas, there are many difficulties in attracting scientists, highly qualified teachers/lecturers to lecture, retired teachers with work experience to participate in the teaching process, contributing to educational institutions due to limitations in the working environment and living conditions.
The team of visiting teachers/lecturers, the team of retired teachers are a support force, playing a supporting and strengthening role for the team of tenured teachers/lecturers. Therefore, issuing regulations to build a team that regularly participates in the teaching and scientific research process to serve the community are full-time contract teachers after retirement and visiting teachers are extremely necessary.
First regulations on full-time contract teachers after retirement
In fact, currently there are only legal documents regulating visiting lecturers, and no documents regulating full-time contract teachers after retirement. This leads to difficulties in determining legal responsibility, allocating working time, teaching volume, scientific research obligations and calculating quality assurance conditions according to regulations.
This situation affects the transparency in the management of teachers/lecturers, causing inadequacies in the quality accreditation of education, ranking of educational institutions and state management of education.
In addition, in the context of innovation, autonomy and international integration, a clear legal relationship between teachers/lecturers and educational institutions is required. The development and regulation of full-time contract teachers after retirement at an educational institution aims to ensure the stability and long-term attachment of the staff; standardize personnel management, create a clear legal basis for the recruitment, arrangement, assignment of tasks, evaluation and use of teachers/lecturers.
At the same time, the regulations in the draft Circular also help improve the effectiveness of inspection, ensure quality and standards for full-time contract teachers after retirement; become quantitative indicators to help post-inspection management agencies be substantive, improve the efficiency of human resource use; create a legal basis for inspection, supervision, and handling of responsibilities when there are violations.
