Thanh Nien had an interview with Director of the Department of Teachers and Educational Managers (Ministry of Education and Training) Vu Minh Duc about some notable changes of this circular.

Photo: Ministry of Education and Training

Why is it regulated that each teacher cannot hold more than 2 positions?

Sir, the regulation that each teacher cannot hold more than two concurrent positions has received the agreement and support of the education sector. However, many school leaders believe that in the current context of teacher shortage, educational institutions will have difficulty in arranging and assigning teachers to comply with the regulation.

So, what does the Ministry of Education and Training have to share to help localities and schools implement this regulation?

The main task of a teacher is to teach and educate, so the Ministry of Education and Training stipulates that each teacher cannot hold more than two concurrent tasks to ensure the rights of teachers and ensure the quality of education. Teachers do not have to hold too many concurrent jobs to focus their time on teaching and educating students.

In Circular No. 20/2023/TT-BGDDT dated October 30, 2023 of the Minister of Education and Training guiding on job positions, staff structure according to professional titles and quotas for the number of people working in general education institutions and public specialized schools, when prescribing the quota of teachers/class, it was calculated to ensure a sufficient number of teachers to implement the 2018 General Education Program and professional tasks such as: class leader, head of professional group, deputy head of professional group...

At the same time, other job positions (not teachers) are prescribed to support the implementation of educational activities of the school. Therefore, to ensure the quality of teaching and education, localities need to assign sufficient staffing quotas to educational institutions according to regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training.

Circular 05 stipulates the summer vacation regime for principals and vice principals as for teachers. However, summer is also the time for exams, entrance exams, training, staff development, textbook selection, etc. Therefore, some opinions are concerned about the feasibility. In your opinion, is there any solution to this problem?

According to the provisions of Point b, Clause 4, Article 6 of Circular No. 05, the summer vacation of the principal and vice principal is flexibly arranged during the school year and during the summer vacation of teachers to ensure that the school's activities take place normally and ensure the completion of work tasks convened by management agencies at all levels (if any). The summer vacation schedule of the principal and vice principal must be reported to the competent management agency or according to the decentralization.

Accordingly, the summer vacation of the principal and vice principal does not necessarily have to be during the summer, but is flexibly arranged during the school year and during the summer vacation of teachers. Therefore, to ensure the implementation of activities such as organizing exams, recruiting students at the beginning of the school year, training, staff development, selecting textbooks, etc., the school principal must arrange the summer vacation of the principal and vice principal reasonably, in accordance with the conditions and requirements for implementing the school's educational activities and must report to the competent management authority or according to the decentralization.

PHOTO: DAO NGOC THACH

In line with Circular 29 on extra teaching and learning

Could you tell us what changes the new regulations on employment regime have that are consistent with Circular 29 and contribute to teachers making notable changes such as: teaching extra classes, tutoring, and reviewing students without collecting money from students?

To ensure consistency with Circular No. 29, Circular 05 has added regulations such as: Teachers participating in teaching students to review for entrance exams and graduation exams according to regulations, 1 direct teaching period (or online) is converted to 1 standard period.

For teachers participating in training excellent students according to the school's educational plan, 1 direct teaching period (or online) can be converted to a maximum of 2 standard periods. The school principal shall base on the scale and level of the exam to specifically determine the conversion of teaching periods according to the provisions of this clause after receiving consensus from the school council.

Teachers who participate in tutoring students whose final semester study results are below the school's educational plan, 1 direct teaching period can be converted to a maximum of 1.5 standard periods. The school principal shall base on the scale of the extra class organization and the capacity of the students in the tutoring class or extra class to specifically determine the conversion of teaching periods after receiving consensus from the school council.

This is an important legal basis for schools to calculate payment for teachers, ensuring policies and regimes for teachers when participating in extra teaching in schools.

How will the implementation of Circular 05 be monitored to ensure that the new working regime for teachers is implemented in accordance with the spirit and wishes of the Ministry of Education and Training? Does the Ministry have any recommendations for relevant ministries, branches and local authorities to ensure resources for serious and effective implementation of this circular, sir?

To ensure the effective implementation of Circular No. 05, Clause 1, Article 14 of this Circular stipulates that the Provincial People's Committee directs the Department of Education and Training and relevant agencies under their assigned authority to guide and inspect the implementation of the working regime for teachers prescribed in this Circular. The work of inspecting and supervising the implementation of the law is also one of the regular tasks of the Ministry of Education and Training, organized annually to grasp and support localities and educational institutions to properly implement the provisions of the law.

To ensure the improvement of the quality of education and training, the People's Committees of provinces and cities need to proactively review and propose to the Ministry of Home Affairs to submit to competent authorities to arrange enough employees in educational institutions to ensure compliance with the norms of the Ministry of Education and Training; arrange enough funding to implement labor contracts for job positions when not enough employees have been recruited; arrange enough funding to pay overtime wages for teachers in the context of a shortage of workers, requiring teachers to teach in inter-schools, inter-levels, and hold concurrently the positions that are still lacking...