Draft regulations on working regime for teachers of continuing education institutions

The draft Circular consists of 3 chapters and 12 articles, regulating the working regime for teachers teaching at continuing education centers and vocational education centers, including: working time, annual leave time, teaching period norms, regime of reducing teaching period norms and converting other activities into teaching periods.

Ensuring fairness among teachers in the same vocational training center

Basically, the principles for determining the working regime of teachers at continuing education institutions must be consistent with the regulations for general education and university preparatory teachers in Circular No. 05/2025/TT-BGD&DT.

However, there is a difference with general education teachers: general education teachers do not hold more than 2 concurrent tasks, but teachers of continuing education institutions are not limited to 2 concurrent tasks due to the nature of their professional activities which are very different from those of general education teachers (having to manage many classes with different scales and forms of study; having to carry out continuous enrollment work; performing the tasks of departments; flexible teaching and education activities according to the learning needs of learners;...).

To ensure the quality of teaching and education of teachers at continuing education institutions, the draft Circular stipulates that the total number of reduced and converted periods for teachers' concurrent duties in 1 week must not exceed 50% of the average number of teaching periods in 1 week.

The regulations on principles for determining working regimes ensure fair division of labor among teachers in the same center. At the same time, they ensure that teachers carry out their main activities of teaching and educating, overcoming the situation where many people hold the title of teacher but do not perform or perform very few teaching and educating tasks.

Overcoming the situation of not arranging summer vacation for GDTX teachers

Regulations on working hours of continuing education teachers must be consistent with regulations on educational duration in continuing education programs and educational duration in vocational education programs; and must ensure the stability of current regulations on teaching, studying, and practicing time at enterprises for teachers teaching at the elementary level.

Due to the nature of the summer vacation not being fixed at 8 weeks like preschool, general education and continuing education teachers have to perform many other tasks besides teaching and educational activities, teachers' working hours are not fixed in a fixed number of weeks to allow for flexibility in assigning and arranging work.

The draft Circular stipulates that teachers' summer vacation time is implemented according to the rules and regulations of the continuing education institution, maximum 8 weeks, minimum 4 weeks. During the summer vacation, teachers participate in training and development according to the requirements of the job position, participate in high school graduation exams, enrollment, teach classes according to the training and development program, and educational activities of the center when summoned.

The draft does not stipulate summer vacation time for directors and deputy directors as it does for principals and deputy principals of general schools due to the nature of the center's work, which involves many educational and training activities during the students' summer vacation. However, allowing the center to arrange summer vacation time for teachers holding the position of educational institution management staff must be stipulated in the center's internal rules and regulations and must flexibly arrange summer vacation time to ensure that the center's activities take place normally and complete tasks assigned by competent authorities.

The above regulations ensure teachers' rights to summer vacation according to the Law on Teachers, overcoming the situation where some centers do not arrange summer vacation for teachers or arrange too short summer vacation.

Regulations on unifying the average number of teaching hours per week

The draft Circular also stipulates that the average teaching hours per week for teachers teaching the Continuing Education program is 17 hours to ensure consistency, due to the fact that this teacher teaches both the junior high school program and the high school program. In addition, through surveys at Continuing Education facilities, the centers mainly teach the Continuing Education program at the high school level. The number of students studying the Continuing Education program at the junior high school level is very small, some centers do not have it.

At the same time, according to the draft regulations on professional standards for teachers of continuing education institutions, there will be only one position of continuing education teacher in a continuing education institution. The teaching hour norms for teachers holding the positions of director and deputy director must be consistent with the regulations on teaching hour norms for principals and vice principals of general schools and maintain the current regulations on teaching hour norms for heads and deputy heads of vocational education institutions.

Clearly defining the standard number of teaching hours in a school year and the average number of teaching hours in a week will facilitate the assignment and arrangement of teachers, ensuring fairness among teachers in the same center.

Converting professional activities, reducing teaching hours: ensuring teachers' rights

Regulations on reducing teaching hours and converting professional activities into teaching hours must be consistent with regulations for general education and university preparatory teachers, and in accordance with the functions and tasks of the center.

However, the draft Circular only stipulates the regular concurrent tasks and common professional activities of the center. If there are other tasks that require a reduction in the standard of teaching hours or conversion, the director will base on the complexity and workload to estimate the number of converted teaching hours. This content must be agreed upon at the collective meeting of the center. After reaching a consensus, the director decides the number of converted teaching hours for the task and reports to the Department of Education and Training in writing.

Previously, the Continuing Education Center applied the policy of reducing teaching hours and converting professional activities into teaching hours according to the regulations of general teachers. However, many professional contents were not suitable or did not exist, so the centers encountered difficulties. Clear regulations on conversion and reduction of standards will facilitate the centers in assigning and arranging work, ensuring the rights of teachers when implementing the policy and regime of paying overtime wages.

In addition, to implement the policy of merging vocational education centers and continuing education centers into vocational secondary schools equivalent to high schools under the Department of Education and Training to provide public services in inter-ward and commune areas (according to Official Dispatch No. 59-CV/BCĐ dated September 12, 2025 of the Central Steering Committee on summarizing Resolution 18-NQ/TW), the Ministry of Education and Training is researching and proposing competent authorities to issue legal documents as a basis to guide localities in implementation. When the legal basis system is complete, the Ministry of Education and Training will adjust the provisions of the Circular on working regime for teachers of continuing education institutions to suit the new model.

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/du-thao-quy-dinh-che-do-lam-viec-doi-voi-giao-vien-co-so-giao-duc-thuong-xuyen-post749779.html