It’s a little known fact that one of the greatest shifts in educational thinking occurred during the Second War in America.
Faced with having to train and teach large numbers of people fast and effectively to support the war effort, major changes began to happen.
Students would work with the materials; materials were condensed and written in a less academic fashion. Courses were designed for people with low education levels and almost no formal technical training. Audio and Visual materials became a mainstream feature in teaching.
Nearly seventy years later as part of a western education, this now includes Student participation in lessons as active learners, creating their own projects, discussing their opinions, challenging and questioning the teacher and challenging the information and knowledge presented, daunting requirements in a traditional ‘teacher as unquestioned authority’ educational system.
The modern teacher is also expected to teach ‘soft skills’ – the communication skills of the workplace, act as counselor, explain and lead on social issues such as bullying and emotional stability, coping with personal problems and the love life of young adults.
But how can Vietnamese teachers meet these challenges with outdated, poorly designed materials and teacher training?
Vietnam has two widely known problems: supplying enough teachers in the system and finding them suitable positions and the quality of teacher training and the standard of teaching in the classrooms.
Part of the answer as most Vietnamese educators have already acknowledged is finding ways to improve training. There is an old saying in education, “it’s not the book, but the teacher, that makes the difference”.
The seemingly never ending arguments over the national curriculum, high school testing and ‘rote-learning’ and university lecturers teaching quality are missing the point – education is not ‘learning facts’ but engaging the mind, inspiring imagination and providing reasons for why subjects must be learnt in certain manner.
Trainer teachers, not only in Vietnam but many other countries with a developing education system study mostly theory and not enough practice. The study of semantics for Vietnamese English teachers for example, is largely pointless and should be replaced with layered phonics and pronunciation techniques, particularly stress and emphasis in sentences.
Lesson plan development is too detailed and doesn’t encourage teachers to experiment and create their own ‘style’. However a lot of teachers do try very hard to discover better ways to educate in the classroom.
Another valuable skill that is taught in a ‘hit and miss’ fashion is forms of communication. What I mean is showing the students how to speak and write in English to discuss, compare, contrast, persuade, explain, instruct, report past events, talk about experiences and give opinions. These skills are simple to teach but require a wide knowledge of language choices and options.
This is not only about English teaching but many other subjects where the student and teacher have to talk about complicated topics particularly in technical and scientific areas.
One very important area is the ability to find and research information by teachers for their particular subject areas and upgrade their knowledge on a regular basis by studying further or simply reading, watching information via the internet, professional associations, libraries and other methods. Interestingly, I meet a lot of Vietnamese teachers yet many are simply not aware of the possible ways they can get better at their job, broaden their knowledge and learn to enjoy learning for its own sake.
Vietnamese educators have long understood these desired and required improvements but have struggled to raise standards with budgets, salaries and sub-standard facilities being constant background issues. Worldwide, governments are beginning to understand that better educated workforces raise living standards and increase economies.
In the sixties, Singapore faced the same problems but created a national policy of improving education on a large scale with the result, fifty years later, its rated in the top 10 education nations in the world. In Vietnam, the real need is to ‘bridge’ the gaps in high education and build strong relationships for Universities and business, particularly for technical vocational skills.
It’s not easy as Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan tried to explain during the recent question and answer session in the National Assembly on November 24.
A large part of the problem lies with establishing firm standards across all areas of Vietnamese education and enforcing them. This is a legal and government problem which cannot be resolved quickly. It also requires a widely understood educational framework that links education further to real world needs.
The great problem is poor management and recognition of experience and competence in the classroom rather then the rigid career structure now in place for teachers, particularly those poor but highly dedicated teachers working in difficult areas of Vietnam.
Vietnam is doing its best to modernize. Vocational colleges are trying to install state-of-the-art equipment along with modern teaching methods. Primary Schools are recognizing the need for more visual and mentally appealing material for children and Universities are trying to recruit more lecturers. The nation is on the way to better things.
The future rests on the national commitment to a large scale drive to raise educational standards with a nation wide program. This in turn will produce not only better educational outcomes but also lift incomes and eventually the national opinion of the value of education.
Nearly seventy years later as part of a western education, this now includes Student participation in lessons as active learners, creating their own projects, discussing their opinions, challenging and questioning the teacher and challenging the information and knowledge presented, daunting requirements in a traditional ‘teacher as unquestioned authority’ educational system.
The modern teacher is also expected to teach ‘soft skills’ – the communication skills of the workplace, act as counselor, explain and lead on social issues such as bullying and emotional stability, coping with personal problems and the love life of young adults.
But how can Vietnamese teachers meet these challenges with outdated, poorly designed materials and teacher training?
Vietnam has two widely known problems: supplying enough teachers in the system and finding them suitable positions and the quality of teacher training and the standard of teaching in the classrooms.
Part of the answer as most Vietnamese educators have already acknowledged is finding ways to improve training. There is an old saying in education, “it’s not the book, but the teacher, that makes the difference”.
The seemingly never ending arguments over the national curriculum, high school testing and ‘rote-learning’ and university lecturers teaching quality are missing the point – education is not ‘learning facts’ but engaging the mind, inspiring imagination and providing reasons for why subjects must be learnt in certain manner.
Trainer teachers, not only in Vietnam but many other countries with a developing education system study mostly theory and not enough practice. The study of semantics for Vietnamese English teachers for example, is largely pointless and should be replaced with layered phonics and pronunciation techniques, particularly stress and emphasis in sentences.
Lesson plan development is too detailed and doesn’t encourage teachers to experiment and create their own ‘style’. However a lot of teachers do try very hard to discover better ways to educate in the classroom.
Another valuable skill that is taught in a ‘hit and miss’ fashion is forms of communication. What I mean is showing the students how to speak and write in English to discuss, compare, contrast, persuade, explain, instruct, report past events, talk about experiences and give opinions. These skills are simple to teach but require a wide knowledge of language choices and options.
This is not only about English teaching but many other subjects where the student and teacher have to talk about complicated topics particularly in technical and scientific areas.
One very important area is the ability to find and research information by teachers for their particular subject areas and upgrade their knowledge on a regular basis by studying further or simply reading, watching information via the internet, professional associations, libraries and other methods. Interestingly, I meet a lot of Vietnamese teachers yet many are simply not aware of the possible ways they can get better at their job, broaden their knowledge and learn to enjoy learning for its own sake.
Vietnamese educators have long understood these desired and required improvements but have struggled to raise standards with budgets, salaries and sub-standard facilities being constant background issues. Worldwide, governments are beginning to understand that better educated workforces raise living standards and increase economies.
In the sixties, Singapore faced the same problems but created a national policy of improving education on a large scale with the result, fifty years later, its rated in the top 10 education nations in the world. In Vietnam, the real need is to ‘bridge’ the gaps in high education and build strong relationships for Universities and business, particularly for technical vocational skills.
It’s not easy as Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan tried to explain during the recent question and answer session in the National Assembly on November 24.
A large part of the problem lies with establishing firm standards across all areas of Vietnamese education and enforcing them. This is a legal and government problem which cannot be resolved quickly. It also requires a widely understood educational framework that links education further to real world needs.
The great problem is poor management and recognition of experience and competence in the classroom rather then the rigid career structure now in place for teachers, particularly those poor but highly dedicated teachers working in difficult areas of Vietnam.
Vietnam is doing its best to modernize. Vocational colleges are trying to install state-of-the-art equipment along with modern teaching methods. Primary Schools are recognizing the need for more visual and mentally appealing material for children and Universities are trying to recruit more lecturers. The nation is on the way to better things.
The future rests on the national commitment to a large scale drive to raise educational standards with a nation wide program. This in turn will produce not only better educational outcomes but also lift incomes and eventually the national opinion of the value of education.
STIVI COOKE
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