Teacher recruitment: High competition, opportunity to choose good people

In the 2025-2026 school year, for the first time after the merger, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training will recruit teachers at all levels from preschool to high school. In particular, many subjects have a very high number of candidates compared to recruitment needs.

Regarding the current teaching force in Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu, Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, acknowledged that there is still a shortage in some subjects, some schools, and localities. The structure of the teaching staff is not consistent between subjects, and a number of teachers have not met the training standards according to the 2019 Education Law.

Candidates take the teacher recruitment exam in Ho Chi Minh City on September 27.

PHOTO: BAO CHAU

The number of people working at public general education institutions is still lacking compared to the norm, especially teachers of IT, music , fine arts, technology and physical education... Some units still have teachers who do not meet the standards of qualifications, concentrated in the group of older teachers, close to retirement age according to the regime.

For teachers who have not yet met the training standards but still have a lot of working time, schools have sent them to study to improve their qualifications. In addition to recruiting according to demand, in the coming time, the Department will also have a plan to reduce the situation of local surplus and shortage, and encourage young teachers to volunteer to teach in schools in remote areas...

PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY, BIOLOGY, MATH: HIGH "PASS RATE"

This year, Ho Chi Minh City needs to recruit 5,696 teachers, including 5,022 teachers from junior high school and below and 674 high school teachers. Through the preliminary round, Ho Chi Minh City selected 10,176 qualified candidates to participate in the recruitment. Specifically, there are 1,783 candidates for preschool level, 2,826 candidates for primary school, 3,359 candidates for junior high school, 2,154 candidates for high school and 54 candidates for the position of special education teacher.

Ms. Tran Thi Ngoc Chau, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, Chairman of the Recruitment Council, informed that in this year's recruitment of teachers in Ho Chi Minh City, the position of high school teachers in physics, chemistry, biology, and math is highly competitive. In particular, the leading subject is physics, when the recruitment demand is 18 teachers but the number of registered candidates is 265, the competition ratio is 1/14.7. Chemistry, the demand is 20 teachers, has 266 candidates (1/13.3). Biology, the quota of 19 teachers, has 120 candidates (1/6.3). Math has a quota of 68, has 367 candidates (1/5.39)...

For English, primary school has 432 candidates, needing to recruit 189 teachers (1/2.28); secondary school has 799 candidates, needing to recruit 268 teachers (1/2.98); high school has 279 candidates, needing to recruit 48 teachers (1/5.81).

However, the Department of Education and Training's leaders also said that there is still a shortage of recruitment resources in some subjects such as music, fine arts, and technology, as the number of applicants is lower than the demand.

For example, elementary school music needs 180 teachers but only has 46 applicants; middle school music needs 223 teachers but only has 65 applicants. Elementary school fine arts needs 194 teachers but only has 30 applicants; middle school has only 57 applicants while the need is 235. High school technology (industrial engineering) needs 13 teachers but only has 4 applicants. High school technology ( agricultural engineering) needs 7 teachers but only has 2 applicants.

According to the regulations of the Department of Education and Training, each candidate will register 1 school preference by region. The Department of Education and Training does not limit the candidate's current residence but creates conditions for qualified candidates to choose the working environment they wish to stay in for a long time.

Mr. Tong Phuoc Loc, Head of the Department of Education and Training's Personnel Organization, said that after completing the recruitment phase according to the candidates' wishes to the registered schools, the Department of Education and Training will continue to conduct the selection for schools that are still lacking in quota. Candidates who have not been admitted in the first phase will continue to be selected for the remaining school wishes. The selection will be based on the principle of high to low scores, creating conditions for candidates to have more opportunities.

INDEPENDENT AND TRANSPARENT TO RECRUIT QUALITY TEACHERS

Ms. Tran Thi Ngoc Chau said that the department has issued a system of documents, regulations, guidelines, and very specific rules for recruitment with the aim of selecting truly capable candidates. In addition to professional capacity, there are also pedagogical skills and other capacities corresponding to each position.

The Chairman of the Recruitment Council of the Department of Education and Training said that the recruitment principle is to consider scores from high to low corresponding to the quota of each job position, according to each unit, based on the wishes of the candidates who have registered. Then, when the recruitment position has the highest candidate, the Department of Education and Training will continue to work with candidates with lower scores to continue recruiting for job positions in schools with remaining quotas or positions that candidates cannot accept due to remote conditions or family circumstances. The Department will ensure to select candidates with the best professional capacity and pedagogical skills suitable for the position to be recruited.

Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training Tran Thi Ngoc Chau said that in order to make the recruitment process public and transparent, and to select teachers suitable for each position, the department independently carries out all stages from creating questions to interviews. The question-making committee is completely isolated, ensuring the confidentiality of the questions. Candidates randomly draw questions on knowledge and illustrating professional skills. The number of questions is higher than the number of candidates, to ensure that the drawing is the most objective and fair. For each exam session, the examination council selects judges by drawing lots, so the judges do not know which candidates will be interviewed in that exam session.

According to Ms. Ngoc Chau, with competitive positions, Ho Chi Minh City will increasingly recruit quality teachers. At the same time, although it has just merged with Binh Duong and Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Ho Chi Minh City will recruit based on the criteria of taking points from top to bottom, not dividing recruitment by region.

Candidates prepare to enter the teacher recruitment round in Ho Chi Minh City

Photo: Bao Chau

C TEACHER SUPPORT POLICY

To attract teachers to teach fine arts, music, physical education, information technology, and English at the primary level, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training is in the process of developing and soliciting opinions on a draft policy to support teachers.

According to the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, in the first 3 years, newly graduated teachers face many difficulties in getting used to the job, and worry about the financial burden, which can easily lead to discouragement and quitting the job. Support will help newly graduated teachers have the motivation to develop their talents and intelligence, strive to improve themselves, improve their ability to perform well the assigned tasks, contributing to improving the quality of teaching in schools.

This support solution is not only for new teachers in the first 3 years of graduation but also for those with seniority so that teachers can wholeheartedly contribute long-term and stably.

Teacher recruitment in Hanoi: There is a subject where 1 "competes" with 80

Mr. Tran The Cuong, Director of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training, said the city is recruiting teachers for educational institutions under the department. The recruitment source is abundant, with more than 800 teachers recruited but nearly 8,000 candidates registered. "There is a subject with only 1 recruitment quota but there are 70-80 candidates registered. The recruitment source is very large from new graduates," Mr. Cuong said.

Regarding the recruitment of teachers when implementing the two-level local government model and after the Law on Teachers, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said that immediately after the National Assembly passed the Law on Teachers, the Ministry of Education and Training proactively built a system of documents guiding its implementation.

Regarding teacher recruitment, the Ministry of Education and Training is drafting a circular with the direction of assigning the Department of Education and Training to take the lead in implementing it, or advising the Provincial People's Committee to decentralize and authorize in accordance with local realities. The recruitment is expected to include two rounds of exams, compatible with current regulations on civil servant recruitment. "However, the second round on expertise and professionalism will be designed differently, closely following the actual process of teaching and education activities, ensuring proper assessment of the pedagogical capacity and professional skills of candidates at each level of education and training," the Minister of Education and Training shared.

Tue Nguyen

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/tuyen-giao-vien-canh-tranh-cao-co-hoi-chon-duoc-nguoi-gioi-185250928193928083.htm