VietNamNet Bridge – The surveys conducted by the Pre-school Education Faculty of the Hanoi University of Education all showed big problems in the training of teachers for nursery schools.

Unprofessional training

La Thi Bac Ly from the Hanoi University of Education said there is no training establishment in Vietnam producing lecturers to the schools which specialize in training nursery school teachers.

The lecturers who give lectures to the future teachers are from different sources. Meanwhile, the training quality of many universities, especially the provincial schools and private schools mushrooming recently, is really problematic. This explains why it is very difficult to find qualified lecturers.

Students don’t like practicing

Not only are the quality of lecturers problematic, the quality of students, or the future teachers, is also worrying.

Nguyen Thi Hoa from the Pre-school Education Faculty of the Hanoi Education University, said she found out from the survey on 120 second and third year students that only 67 percent of students feel interested in their learning. However, the majority of them said they do not like practice lessons because the lessons are not attractive.

More than a half of the students (59.8 percent) were found passive during the lessons and got low results in practice hours.

Hoa’s survey has also found that students do not try to solve problems themselves, but rely on the solutions shown to them. Only 20 percent of students can apply theoretical knowledge in their work.

Future teachers don’t want to become teachers

Nguyen Thi Nhu Mai from the Hanoi University of Education in 2012 conducted a survey on 106 nursery school teachers working in Hanoi. The most experienced teacher had 20 year service length, while the youngest has been working for only one year.

Of the 16 virtues shown to the teachers, the respect to children, eagerness for learning and proper communication behavior were highlighted by the teachers as the most important characteristics that nursery school teachers need to have.

Another survey on 60 nursery school teachers in Nam Dinh province has found that only 26.67 percent of teachers love their jobs, while 36.67 percent of teachers want to change their jobs and another 36.67 percent said they don’t hate or like the jobs.

The majority of the teachers complained about the hard work, high responsibilities and low pay. Many teachers chose to become teachers not because they love children and the job, but because of other reasons.

Low pay, low enthusiasm

Nguyen Thi My Dung, who also surveyed teachers’ feeling about their job, received the answers from 62 percent of teachers that they love the job, while only 38 percent of teachers said they do not really love it – the figures that show the high interest of teachers in their job.

However, when asked about the salaries and their satisfaction about the pay, only 4 percent said they are satisfied, 42 percent said “acceptable,” while 54 percent said they are unsatisfied.

And the unreasonable pay has been highlighted as the main reason that affects teachers’ passion for their job (78 percent). The other reasons include the poor material facilities (56 percent).

Chi Mai