Associate Professor, Dr. Dang Quoc Thong: It is necessary to adjust the High School Graduation Exam to suit reality.

TPO - Talking to Tien Phong reporter, Associate Professor, Dr. Dang Quoc Thong, Chairman of the Board of Doan Thi Diem School (Hanoi) shared that there are many opinions demanding to abolish the exams for higher levels and graduation exams, but according to him, studying needs to be closely linked with exams to evaluate the quality of students and the teaching methods of teachers. As for the High School Graduation Exam, if it still sets dual goals, it will make it difficult for both the test makers and the students, and in the coming time, there needs to be adjustments suitable to reality.

Sir, the High School Graduation Exam, with the participation of more than 1 million candidates nationwide, has received great attention from public opinion. Some people say that the exam has revealed shortcomings due to its "dual" goals, and that a common exam should be stopped. With the current reality of teaching and testing, what is your opinion?

For many years, the Ministry of Education and Training has maintained the organization of the High School Graduation Exam with the purposes of considering graduation, evaluating teaching in high schools and using the results as a basis for schools to enroll students.

I think that it is not advisable to combine many objectives in one exam, as it will be difficult to achieve the desired results. In fact, to achieve this goal, the exam must ensure basic knowledge in textbooks for the majority of students to achieve, but must also have differentiation for university admission. The question is, in each exam, what percentage of differentiation questions is reasonable and whether this level is equal among the subjects or not is always a matter of debate after each exam.

In my opinion, after each level of education, there should still be an exam to assess the quality of students, including primary and secondary school. With the view that once you study, you must take the exam, this puts students in the mindset of always studying seriously and at the same time evaluating the teaching results of teachers, from which appropriate adjustments can be made.

Associate Professor, Dr. Dang Quoc Thong, Chairman of the Board of Doan Thi Diem School ( Hanoi ).

The graduation exam should be organized by localities in a gentle way, testing basic knowledge in textbooks to issue certificates to students who have completed their high school education. Universities and academies have appropriate admission plans according to requirements, in which, schools that do not have the conditions to enroll students can use the exam results of other schools. For example, the results of the Competency Assessment Exam (National University), Thinking Assessment of Hanoi University of Science and Technology. Many countries, including the US, have thousands of universities but do not organize a common exam for admission.

In a recent meeting with the Ministry of Education and Training, I also commented that the Ministry of Education and Training's policy is to limit extra teaching and learning, but the exam questions are of increased difficulty, such as Math and English. If students do not practice for the exam or take extra classes, it will be difficult for them to do well.

We raise the issue of reducing costs and pressure on society, but in reality, it is not possible to calculate how much money parents have spent on extra classes and exam preparation with the current testing method. I know that there are students who take 5-6 exams including graduation, IELTS, SAT, thinking assessment, ability assessment, etc. to get the best results for university admission. Parents spend a lot of money and students are also under great pressure. On the other hand, this does not ensure fairness for all students in localities, especially in difficult areas, without the economic conditions to practice for certification exams, practice taking exams on computers.

The problem with restricting extra teaching

Circular 29 of the Ministry of Education and Training has been in effect for half a year now. There have been many supportive opinions but also many recommendations and proposals that need to be adjusted more appropriately. From the reality of teaching at school, can you tell us if there are any problems or difficulties that need to be resolved?

A class in our primary, secondary and high schools currently has around 40 students, which is too crowded, making it difficult to require teachers to ensure consistent output quality. In the class, there will be good students, good students, average students, and even weak students. With the prescribed duration of 45 minutes/period, teachers cannot support each student. If there is tutoring to help weak students improve, it is only for a certain period of time, and cannot be extended without charging fees.

When discussing with professors and experts, we also affirmed that it is impossible to limit extra teaching and learning. Because it comes from practical needs, good students want to study to be better, good students want to improve to be good and weak students want to improve to be good. Besides, parents, for many different reasons related to busy work, lack of pedagogical skills... will let their children take extra classes, hire tutors.

On the teachers' side, they also have the need to teach extra classes to earn more income. In fact, the current salary of teachers, even if increased, still cannot ensure the life of their families and children. For a long time, teachers in many places have worked in different jobs to improve their income, but these are all part-time jobs. Therefore, it is necessary to create a mechanism and have appropriate management methods so that teachers can work extra in their profession.

Circular 29 has allowed teachers to teach extra classes at centers, only "forbidding" them to teach their own students, but in reality, teachers in class are the ones who understand each student's abilities. When they go to the center, they can exchange students with each other to teach.

When the “schools are closed”, students take extra classes at centers with very high fees while the facilities are not up to standard. Students have to study in houses in alleys, classrooms are not safe.

Previously, at school, in addition to the good and weak students who were trained for free by the school, I used to let teachers take advantage of the facilities to teach students right in the school. After school hours, any teacher who wanted to teach extra would register with the principal about the students and the teaching content to improve the capacity of those in need. Teachers taught in the school's classrooms with electricity, air conditioning, and security staff. Thus, students could study in a clean, airy, safe place, with proper teachers teaching, without having to secretly rent a room in the alley.

However, I tell teachers, the line between tutoring to help students improve and making money off of them is very thin. Anyone who makes things difficult, gives unfair grades to students or charges excessive fees causing a fuss, I will warn, even discipline. As a teacher, maintain professional dignity.

Candidates taking the 2025 High School Graduation Exam.

Since Circular 29, the school has been forced to stop doing that, only reviewing for final year students, weak students, and excellent students according to regulations. But I still worry that the staff and teachers have been attached to the school, so we need to create mechanisms and conditions for them to live well. If there is more work, stricter management, and more stress, there will be a situation where good teachers leave the industry. Brain drain is painful because recruiting a good person, trained for many years, with experience is not easy.

Dear Associate Professor, the new school year is approaching, with the graduation exam being innovative and clearly differentiated like this year, what teaching methods will high schools have to adopt to meet the exam requirements?

- Implementing the new General Education Program, in addition to compulsory subjects, students entering grade 10 can choose a subject combination. However, the current subject combination in some schools, due to staff conditions and facilities, is quite rigid, only limited to the Natural Sciences and Social Sciences groups, and students face difficulties if they change. Over the years, it has been shown that the majority of students choose Social Sciences, avoiding Physics and Chemistry, while these are subjects that provide basic, necessary foundational knowledge for future life. No matter what major or profession they study, people use a lot of knowledge of Physics and Chemistry every day.

I tell a real story, in a topic about environmental pollution, greenhouse effect, the expert asked about 500 students in grades 10-12: What gas causes the greenhouse effect? ​​At that time, the whole hall was silent. When asked for the third time, a student timidly said: "Sir, nitrogen gas". Or a student studying at a specialized school, having won a scholarship to prepare to go abroad but was worried about failing Physics and Chemistry in the graduation exam because he had neglected them for a long time.

That reality shows that management needs to have appropriate solutions for basic science fields to attract students and train future human resources.

In high schools, next school year, schools and teachers will also have to continue to innovate teaching methods to develop students' abilities and thinking.

Since implementing the new program, we have considered textbooks as learning materials and thoroughly understood that teachers cannot just stick to teaching according to textbooks anymore but need to teach students how to learn so that they can learn and discover more knowledge on their own. Students today also have the advantage that there are many sample questions on the internet, many teachers, classmates, and students can refer to.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/pgstsngut-dang-quoc-thong-can-dieu-chinh-ky-thi-tot-nghiep-thpt-phu-hop-thuc-te-post1765548.tpo