A unified set of textbooks nationwide: Teachers propose to revise integrated subjects

(Dan Tri) - From the reality of teaching, there are opinions that compiling a set of unified textbooks nationwide needs to fundamentally solve current shortcomings, including the problem of integrated subjects.

This school year, the education sector is facing unprecedented opportunities. Never before has the Party and State paid as much attention and expectation to education and training as they do today.

The most important of these is the recent issuance by the Politburo of Resolution 71-NQ/TW on breakthroughs in education and training development. This is an important political foundation to further promote the fundamental and comprehensive innovation of education and training that was established in Resolution 29-NQ/TW (2013) and continued to be emphasized in Conclusion 91-KL/TW (2024).

In the face of these strategic changes, the joint contribution of the whole society is extremely necessary.

All comments and contributions from experts and readers, please send to email: giaoduc@dantri.com.vn

The following article is the personal sharing and perspective of Mr. Nguyen Van Luc, former teacher of Trinh Phong Secondary School, Khanh Hoa .

The Politburo has requested the compilation of a unified set of textbooks nationwide, to be applied from the 2026-2027 school year. This is a necessary solution to overcome some shortcomings of the implementation of "one program, many textbooks" in the past, while affirming the leading role of the State in the field of education and training.

As a teacher directly teaching according to the 2018 General Education Program, I would like to make some specific recommendations, with the hope of contributing to the process of compiling the highest quality textbooks.

Currently, students nationwide use 3 sets of textbooks in high schools (Photo: My Ha).

First, about the program . We have the 2018 General Education Program, which basically ensures scientific, advanced, modernity, and is consistent with the world's development trends, meeting the country's development reality in the context of the scientific and technological revolution that is taking place like a storm.

Therefore, the Ministry of Education and Training does not need to rewrite a new program, it should only update new knowledge and discovered achievements such as Al (artificial intelligence).

Second, about textbooks. Currently, students nationwide use 3 sets of textbooks in general schools: Canh Dieu, Connecting knowledge with life and Creative horizons.

Each set of books has its own strengths and weaknesses in terms of presentation, layout, and the same unit of knowledge but different in terms of capacity, difficulty and terminology. There are concepts that each textbook presents in a different approach…

Therefore, it is recommended that the Ministry of Education and Training, when compiling a unified set of books, should integrate the strengths of each book and set of books. In other words, it should select the quintessence of each book to have a set of books for common use of the highest quality and most standard.

For natural science subjects, we can refer to or purchase copyrighted programs and textbooks from countries with advanced education to improve quality.

Along with that, to achieve the goal of making English a second language, the Ministry of Education and Training should implement English teaching from grade 1. At the same time, it is necessary to apply testing and assessment according to international standards such as the UK's Cambridge program to ensure that students can use English fluently.

Third, about integrated subjects. Implementing the 2018 General Education Program, at the secondary level, a number of new subjects (integrated subjects) appeared, including natural sciences, history and geography, and arts.

Although called integrated subjects, in reality these subjects are mostly formal combinations. For example, in history and geography textbooks, the content of these two sub-subjects is quite independent.

And in particular, teachers teaching these subjects are mostly trained in a single subject, therefore, most schools have to assign teachers to teach each sub-subject separately, causing difficulties in assigning teaching, testing, and evaluation (matrix, specification, setting questions, marking, comments, etc.) and not ensuring the required quality.

The same thing happens with natural sciences (physics, chemistry, biology).

Through practical work, many teachers commented that this is not called integration but rather "forced". We hope that the Ministry of Education and Training will conduct research to separate the above integrated subjects into separate subjects to facilitate teaching and learning, develop students' qualities and abilities, and be suitable for the teaching expertise of the majority of teachers who have previously trained to teach each subject separately.

A teaching session at Tay Thanh High School, HCMC (Photo: Huyen Nguyen).

Fourth, about the teaching staff. Teachers are the key factor determining the success of a new program. The Ministry of Education and Training should invite competent teachers with rich practical experience to participate in the textbook compilation process, in addition to leading experts.

Along with that, it is necessary to organize more direct training sessions and practice for teachers. The online training method implemented in the past has not been really effective.

Fifth, on the use of textbooks. Textbooks should be considered as reference materials, and the new curriculum as a law. Having a unified set of textbooks does not mean eliminating existing textbooks. The Ministry of Education and Training should encourage students and teachers to refer to different sets of textbooks to save costs, prevent waste, and acquire new and best knowledge.

In fact, when preparing and teaching, I and many of my colleagues have researched many textbooks, selected new knowledge, or from different books, and diverse sources of information to have a quality lesson plan to help students absorb the lesson easily.

Having a unified set of textbooks is a right step in the current context. However, if the shortcomings that have been exposed are not thoroughly resolved, especially with integrated subjects, the goal of improving the quality of education will be difficult to achieve.

We hope that the Ministry of Education and Training will listen to voices from practice to make appropriate decisions, creating the best conditions for teachers and students, towards an effective and sustainable education.

Nguyen Van Luc

Former teacher at Trinh Phong Secondary School, Khanh Hoa

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/mot-bo-sgk-thong-nhat-toan-quoc-giao-vien-kien-nghi-sua-mon-tich-hop-20250918235950310.htm