Should there be a competition for excellent teachers at the commune level?

Lean to reduce stress

From July 1, 2025, the whole country will officially apply the two-level local government model, eliminating the district level. Accordingly, relevant legal documents will also be amended, including Circular 22/2019 of the Ministry of Education and Training promulgating regulations on competitions for excellent teachers in preschool education institutions; excellent teachers, excellent homeroom teachers in general education institutions.

According to Article 9 of Circular 12/2025 issued by the Ministry of Education and Training on June 12, 2025, the authority to organize competitions for excellent teachers and excellent homeroom teachers as prescribed in Point b, Clause 1, Article 3 of Circular 22/2019 will be implemented by the People's Committee at the commune level. Replace the phrase "Head of the Department of Education and Training" with "Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune", "Department of Education and Training" with "Commune People's Committee", "District level" with "Commune level" in Circular 22/2019.

Discussing this issue, teacher Nguyen Thi Van Hong - Principal of Chuong Duong Secondary School (Hong Ha, Hanoi ) said that when applying the policy of streamlining the apparatus according to the direction of the Central Government, the Ministry of Education and Training should study and cut down on some unnecessary competitions/contests. Specifically, Ms. Hong suggested not to organize competitions for excellent teachers and excellent homeroom teachers at the commune/ward level to reduce pressure on teachers.

“Depending on their abilities and personal wishes, teachers can participate in the school-level competition. After that, the Department of Education and Training needs to issue guidelines to organize the competition for excellent teachers in the form of inter-commune/ward, then select teachers with enough qualities and standards to participate in the city-level competition. Not to mention, if commune/ward officials do not have enough expertise to judge the commune-level competition, can objectivity be guaranteed?” Ms. Hong raised the question.

Located in a difficult area of the province, teacher Nguyen Thi Ngan - Principal of Phu Nham Primary School (Dan Chu, Phu Tho ) said that if a competition for excellent teachers at the commune level is organized while there is a lack of human resources and competent staff transferred from the district Department of Education and Training, it will be a big challenge for the localities.

Therefore, Ms. Ngan said, if implementing the competition for excellent teachers at the commune level, the Department of Education and Training of the provinces needs to have detailed and specific instructions on how to implement it, especially solutions to remove difficulties for localities and schools in terms of facilities and personnel to do the exam marking work in an objective and impartial manner to ensure effectiveness.

From a local perspective, teacher Doan Van Tuan - Principal of Giao Thuy Secondary School (Giao Thuy, Ninh Binh) suggested that in order to contribute to improving teachers' expertise without having to participate in the excellent teacher competition, the school board can directly observe classes.

Two sets of judges are established. When marking, one set is randomly selected and will be present in the hallway so as not to affect the class. The class is randomly selected within the grade and must have 100% of the students in that class. Avoid selecting only good students and letting weak students rest, and avoid acting out.

If we innovate by observing online, we can randomly select a set of examiners to observe remotely with cameras placed at different angles for the examiners to monitor. The teacher must randomly pick the test papers and prepare 20 minutes in advance and teach any class in the block to avoid giving students questions.

“In reality, the competition for excellent teachers is much different from teaching in class because the test is developed by the whole school. This is a collective intelligence, so many solutions need to be proposed to promote the independence of teachers taking the test,” Principal Doan Van Tuan analyzed.

Useful playground

According to teacher Nguyen Thi Dam - Principal of Doi Binh Kindergarten (Hoa Xa, Hanoi), to create a playground for teachers to practice their profession, it is still necessary to organize competitions for excellent teachers and excellent homeroom teachers at the commune level, because the number of schools is so large that not every school can send representatives to compete at the city level. There must be "screening" right from the commune level to select the most outstanding teachers to compete at a higher level.

“Previously, when organizing the competition for excellent teachers and excellent homeroom teachers at the district level, the jury was composed of managers who were good at their profession and worked objectively and transparently. The teachers selected to take the city exam based on the results of the district exam were all worthy. I suggest that it would be reasonable to hold the commune exam first,” Ms. Nguyen Thi Dam suggested.

Teacher Hoang Thi Minh Nguyet - Principal of Tran Bich San Secondary School (Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh) shared that it is still advisable to hold a ward-level competition for excellent teachers and then select a provincial competition. For example: Nam Dinh Ward has 16 secondary schools, which will be divided into 4 clusters, each cluster has 4 schools and select teachers from 4 schools to represent the ward competition. The 4 clusters will select representatives to compete at the provincial level.

According to Ms. Nguyet, the contest will help discover competent and dedicated teachers in the locality to have appropriate training and development plans. Teachers have the opportunity to improve their expertise, innovate teaching methods, thereby contributing to improving the quality of education right at the unit; at the same time, creating a forum for teachers in the same commune and school cluster to exchange and learn from each other's experiences.

From the perspective of managing an inter-level educational institution, Mr. Nguyen Van Hoang - Principal of Kim Boi Primary and Secondary School (Kim Boi, Phu Tho) said that Circular 12/2025 of the Ministry of Education and Training on the excellent teacher exam does not organize a written test to test teachers' knowledge, which is unreasonable. According to him, the written test should still be organized to properly assess the professional knowledge of the teachers taking the exam.

“After the merger, the schools in Kim Boi commune only have 7 primary and secondary schools. If a competition for excellent teachers is organized at the commune level, only these 7 schools will participate; the organization format is still the same as at the district level, but the judges are mainly the principals and core teachers with good expertise. If the commune lacks judges, judges from other communes can be invited for more objectivity, fairness and efficiency,” said Mr. Nguyen Van Hoang.

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/nen-hay-khong-thi-giao-vien-day-gioi-cap-xa-post738485.html