Nearly 'white' Music and Art teachers

The above shortcomings were raised by Associate Professor, Dr. Trinh Hoai Thu, Deputy Head of the Department of Primary Education, Ministry of Education and Training at the scientific conference "Art education in the direction of developing qualities and capacities in general education institutions in Vietnam" organized by the Faculty of Arts, Hanoi National University of Education.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Trinh Hoai Thu, the new general education program has many changes such as the inclusion of art education in general school teaching. For the first time in the history of general education, art has been included in the two subjects of Music and Fine Arts.

However, the number of Music and Fine Arts teachers at high school level is almost "empty", except for non-public high schools or high schools with foreign elements.

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Education and Training for 2023-2024, the number of high schools in the country is nearly 2,400. If each school needs 1 music teacher and 1 art teacher, there will be a shortage of nearly 4,800 teachers, not counting the shortage at the secondary and primary levels.

"In fact, there are quite a lot of art teachers trained at university level. In 2024, the number of students graduating from training institutions is more than 6,000, but the question is whether they want to work or not? And if they are passionate, will they be recruited or not, even if there are quotas for the position?", Associate Professor, Dr. Trinh Hoai Thu asked.

Ms. Thu also added that recently, many localities have not paid attention to Music and Fine Arts but mainly focused on main subjects such as Literature and Math.

According to the organizers, in 2018, the Ministry of Education and Training issued a new general education program. The basic point of art education under the 2018 general education program compared to the 2006 general education program is the innovation in orientation, contributing to the formation and development of the main qualities and general abilities for students.

Art education is carried out through many subjects, the core of which is Music and Fine Arts. From grade 10 to grade 12, students can choose subjects from the technology and art groups that suit their career orientation, interests and abilities.

Dr. Tran Thi Thu Ha, Head of the Faculty of Arts, Hanoi National University of Education, said that the organizing committee received 64 reports to attend the conference. The reports were divided into 3 topics including: Art teachers, art education in the 2018 general education program, and art subjects in general schools.

Dr. Tran Thi Thu Ha spoke at the workshop.

The topic of art teachers shows the overall picture of art teacher training (Music, Fine Arts) at art education institutions across the country today. In which, most of the articles mention the difficulties and problems in training teachers in the direction of developing learners' qualities and abilities. From there, solutions are proposed to overcome this situation.

In the topic of art education in the 2018 general education program, this is a research direction with new perspectives, making important contributions to the conference content, attracting the participation of many scientists.

The papers mentioned the goals, orientations, art education in the direction of developing qualities and capacities in general education institutions in Vietnam, methods of art education, current situation and solutions to improve the quality of art teaching in general schools in the direction of approaching learners' capacities.

Some articles are reflections on the program, on compiling textbooks, on bringing folk music into the current teaching program at all levels of general education.

In the final topic, many papers mentioned the current situation and solutions for the shortage of art teachers, facilities and equipment for teaching art, teachers' views on the implementation of art, the current situation and solutions for teaching art in high schools...

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/lanh-dao-vu-giao-duc-tieu-hoc-gan-nhu-trang-giao-vien-am-nhac-va-my-thuat-ar891340.html