CIRCULAR

ON STANDARDS FOR ASSESSMENT OF TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAMS AT COLLEGE AND POST-SECONDARY LEVELS

Pursuant to the Education Law dated June 14, 2005 and Law on Amendment to Certain Articles of the Education Law dated November 25, 2009;

Pursuant to the Law on Vocational Education dated November 27, 2014;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 69/2017/ND-CP dated May 25, 2017 on functions, duties, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Education and Training;  

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 75/2006/ND-CP dated August 02, 2006 detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of Articles of the Education Law; the Government’s Decree No. 31/2011/ND-CP dated May 11, 2011 amending a number of Articles of the Decree No. 75/2006/ND-CP; the Government’s Decree No. 07/2013/ND-CP dated January 09, 2013 amending Point b Clause 13 Article 1 of the Decree No. 31/2011/ND-CP;

At the request of the Head of the Quality Control Department;

The Minister of Education and Training hereby promulgates a Circular on standards for assessment of teacher training programs at college and post-secondary levels.

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GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope and regulated entities

1. This Circular provides for standards for assessment of teacher training programs at college and post-secondary levels.

2. This Circular is applicable to pedagogical post-secondary schools; pedagogical colleges and educational institutions assigned pedagogical training at college and post-secondary levels by the Ministry of Education and Training (hereinafter collectively referred to as “schools”) that implement teacher training programs at college and post-secondary levels (hereinafter referred to as “training programs”) and relevant organizations and individuals.

Article 2. Definitions

In this Circular, the terms below are construed as follows:

1. “training program” includes the program’s objectives; knowledge, skills, autonomy and personal responsibility that the learner will gain after completing the program; training contents, methods and activities; facility and equipment requirements; and organizational structure, functions, duties and academic activities of the school permitted to implement the training program.

2. “curriculum” of a training program at a specific level consists of the general and specific objectives and expected learning outcome of the academic discipline and each of its subjects or courses; training contents, evaluation methods and duration of the academic discipline and each of its subjects or courses.

3. “training program quality” refers to the achievement of general and specific objectives and expected learning outcomes of a training program for lower secondary teachers, primary teachers or preschool teachers (hereinafter collectively referred to as "teachers"), fulfillment of the requirements stated in the Education Law, Law on Vocational Education and Vietnamese Qualifications Framework, and satisfaction of demand for teachers from localities, the education sector and the society..

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5. “criterion” means the requirement for a specific aspect of an assessment standard that must be satisfied.

6. “benchmarking” refers to the process of contrasting and comparing a training program with a set of assessment standards or with another designated training program.

7. "assessment of training program quality” refers to collection and processing of data and drawing of conclusions based on assessment standards for all activities relating to a training program in a school, including objectives and expected learning outcomes; training program description; curriculum structure and contents; approaches to teaching and learning; admission and learner support; evaluation of learner performance; managers, lecturers, teachers and workers; facilities and equipment; quality assurance and enhancement; and actual learning outcomes.

Article 3. Objectives for promulgation of assessment standards

1. Schools shall self-evaluate all activities related to their training programs based on the assessment standards so as to enhance the quality of training programs and give proper explanations for the actual quality of each training program to competent authorities and the society.

2. Education accrediting organizations (hereinafter referred to as “accrediting organizations”) shall employ the assessment standards for peer assessment and granting of accreditation status to training programs.

3. Other organizations and individuals shall evaluate and give comments and social criticism on training programs of the schools they are interested in based on the assessment standards.

Article 4. Assessment scale

1. Each criterion is assessed using a rating scale with the following 7 levels:

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b) Level 2: Unsatisfactory; require remedy;

c) Level 3: Unsatisfactory, require minor remedy;

d) Level 4: Satisfactory;

dd) Level 5: Good;

e) Level 6: Very good;

g) Level 7: Excellent.

2. A criterion is considered unsatisfactory if rated from level 1 to level 3 and considered satisfactory if rated from level 4 to level 7.

Chapter II

STANDARDS FOR ASSESSMENT OF TRAINING PROGRAM QUALITY

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1. The objectives of the training program are specific and suitable to the mission and objectives of the school, objectives of vocational education stated in the Law on Vocational Education and local situation.

2. Expected learning outcomes of the training program are specific, reflect the objectives of the training program and meet the requirements of the Vietnamese Qualifications Framework and teachers' standards.

3. Expected learning outcomes of the training program reflect the demands of relevant parties, meet Vietnam’s need for educational modernization; and are regularly reviewed and improved and publicly announced.

Article 6. Standard 2: Training program description

1. The description of the training program contains adequate and up-to-date information.

2. Syllabi of all subjects/courses contain adequate and up-to-date information.

3. The description of the training program and syllabi of all of its subjects/courses are published for reference.

Article 7. Standard 3: Structure and contents of curriculum

1. The curriculum is designed based on expected learning outcomes.

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3. The consolidated curriculum has a logical structure and sequence and up-to-date contents.

Article 8. Standard 4: Approaches to teaching and learning

1. The educational objectives are published and notified to relevant parties.

2. Teaching and learning activities are designed with an aim to meeting the expected learning outcomes.

3. Teaching and learning activities nurture the virtues and capacity necessary to teachers and enhance lifelong learning capacity of learners.

Article 9. Standard 5: Admission and learner support

1. The admission policy is specific, publicly announced and kept up to date.

2. Information on the academic discipline, training program, curriculum, syllabi of subjects/courses and implementation thereof is detailed, adequate and easy to access.

3. Policies on priority admission and learning support for persons eligible for preferential treatment are implemented.

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5. There are academic counseling, extracurricular activities, emulation activities and other support services to facilitate learning and increase employment opportunities for learners.

6. Socio-psychological environments and scenery facilitate training and research and ensure learner’s comfort.

Article 10. Standard 6: Assessment of learner performance

1. Assessment of learner performance is designed based on levels of achievement of expected learning outcomes.

2. Regulations on assessment of learner performance (including time, method, criteria, weighting factors, feedback mechanism and relevant contents) are clear and notified to learners.

3. There are diverse assessment methods to ensure validity, reliability and fairness.

4. Assessment results are systematically retained and promptly notified to learners for improvement.

5. Learners can easily file complaints regarding their learning results.

Article 11. Standard 7: Managers, lecturers, teachers and workers

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2. Lecturers and teachers with necessary virtues and qualifications are sufficiently employed.

3. Lecturers and teachers satisfy required professional requirements; have professional capacity and pedagogical skills that meet the training program’s requirements in terms of training and scientific research; and fulfill their training duties effectively.

4. Lecturers and teachers have their capacity assessed and are enabled to fulfill their duties.

5. Workers possess necessary virtues and professional qualifications, fulfill their duties effectively; have their capacity assessed; and receive periodical professional training.

6. Recruitment, appointment and employment of managers, lecturers, teachers and workers are compliant with regulations, publicly announced and transparent.

Article 12. Standard 8: Facilities and equipment

1. Function rooms, classrooms, offices, laboratories and practice rooms meet the curriculum’s requirements.

2. Suitable educational resources and libraries are kept up to date to support training activities.

3. Appropriate teaching equipment and information technology equipment, including infrastructure for online learning, are regularly updated to ensure teaching and learning efficiency and fulfillment of the curriculum’s requirements.

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Article 13. Standard 9: Quality assurance and enhancement

1. There are appropriate policies for effective performance of quality assurance activities.

2. Preschools and secondary schools where learners visit for teaching practice have been accredited to national standards or granted accreditation status.

3. Teaching practice activities are summarized, evaluated and periodically reviewed and improved.

4. Teaching and learning processes and learner performance assessment are reviewed and evaluated regularly to ensure suitability and consistence with expected learning outcomes.

5. Quality of support services and utilities of libraries, laboratories and information technology systems and other support services are evaluated and enhanced.

6. Feedbacks from relevant parties are collected in a systematic manner. Feedbacks and demands from relevant parties are used as the basis for design and development of the training program.

7. Design and development of the training program are recorded, reviewed, assessed and improved.

Article 14. Standard 10: Actual learning outcomes

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2. Post-graduation employment rate is recorded, monitored and benchmarked for improvement of training program quality.

3. Satisfaction levels of relevant parties are recorded, monitored and benchmarked for improvement of training program quality.

Chapter III

IMPLEMENTATION

Article 15. Responsibilities of Quality Control Department

Quality Control Department shall provide guidelines for implementation of assessment standards, self-assessment and peer assessment for consistent implementation from schools and accrediting organizations.

Article 16. Responsibilities of schools

1. Schools shall proactively formulate plans for development of training programs that meet accrediting standards for each period of time and measures for implementation of such plans based on each school’s situation. Self-assessment, peer assessment registration and other matters related to accreditation of training programs shall be carried out in compliance with existing regulations from the Minister of Education and Training on procedures for and cycle of accreditation of training programs.

2. Schools may have their training programs individually accredited based on the standards stated herein or standards of reputable foreign accrediting organizations that are recognized by the Ministry of Education and Training.

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Accrediting organizations shall assess and grant accreditation status to training programs of schools in accordance with this Circular and existing regulations from the Minister of Education and Training on procedures for and cycle of accreditation of training programs.

Article 18. Effect

1. Effect

a) This Circular comes into force on March 23, 2020;

b) This Circular supersedes Decision No. 72/2007/QD-BGDDT dated November 30, 2007 by the Minister of Education and Training on standards for assessment of college-level training programs for primary teachers.

2. Transitional provisions

Schools that are self-assessing their training programs according to the Decision No. 72/2007/QD-BGDDT may continue their accreditation process in compliance with existing regulations until July 01, 2020 and perform self-assessment and register for peer assessment with accrediting organizations for such process before the effective date of this Circular.

3. Chief of the Ministry Office, Head of the Quality Control Department, heads of relevant affiliates of the Ministry of Education and Training; Chairpersons of People’s Committees of provinces and central-affiliated cities; heads of Departments of Education and Training; heads of schools; heads of accrediting organizations and relevant organizations and individuals shall implement this Circular./.

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PP. THE MINISTER
THE DEPUTY MINISTER




Nguyen Van Phuc