Teachers in digital era: Redefining relationship between teachers and students

WVR - As society develops, the role and position of teachers change according to trends, however, the key thing is that they have always know how to change to improve themselves, to fit and adapt to the times.
Teachers in digital era: Redefining relationship between teachers and students
Teachers in digital era: The digital era requires teachers to constantly update their knowledge. (Photo: Pham Thi Thanh Thuy)

At the celebration of the 40th anniversary of Vietnamese Teachers' Day, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said that the world changes every second, the amount of human knowledge explodes, the model of erudite teacher knows 10 and teaches 1 no longer suitable. Instead, teachers must grasp basic knowledge and be good at methods to orient and guide students to search and develop their own knowledge, equip themselves and accumulate unlimited knowledge. Accountability and multi-dimensional interaction with students, parents and society also give teachers higher and more complex skills in terms of cultural and social behavior. Meeting the demands of new situations and tasks, teachers' self-innovation is decisive for the success of educational innovation.

It can be said that education is a field that is heavily influenced by the 4.0 Industrial Revolution, artificial intelligence, social networks, etc. Therefore, education in the digital age also needs to "transform" and create innovation. Teachers must help students have the opportunity to develop their abilities in a free direction.

Hence, it is necessary to redefine the relationship between teachers and students. Unlike traditional classes, teachers carry out the role of conveying knowledge from basic to advanced one, now this sequence has been changed. Students can search for knowledge through the Internet. In class, there will be hours of presentations, debates and solving problems, the teacher's role is to lead.

That is to say, in the era of digitalization, the teacher's role has changed from one who teaches to one who designs appropriate learning programs and creates a vibrant, quality learning environment. Teachers need to have an open mind, helping students adjust to new sources of information and knowledge. In other words, students in the digital world have full capacity and means to receive information, can self-study, self-research and refer to many different sources. A good teacher must be someone who is willing to change and innovate in each lesson in class.

Currently, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) is implementing the 2018 general education program with many new content and new requirements to change compared with previous program. Therefore, if a teacher does not change or innovate, he could fall behind. In other words, as society develops, the role and position of teachers will change according to trends. The key thing is that they must always know how to change themselves - change to improve, to fit and adapt to the times.

Education in the 4.0 era creates conditions for teachers and students to work in an in-depth training environment. Professor Tony Wagner (Harvard University) once said: "The world today does not care what students' knowledge is, but what is important is what students can do with that knowledge." Therefore, the role of teachers in the 4.0 era is not simply to impart knowledge, but also to help students equip skills for global integration. Learners need to have the capacity for lifelong learning, constantly updating new knowledge to keep up with constantly changing job requirements.

Today, with modern education, learners are forced to increase their initiative, ability to self-orient the knowledge they need and build their own learning path. Thanks to the Internet, classes can take place anywhere, at any time. Online schools develop, learners become 4.0 learners.

In addition to experience, the digital era requires teachers, to have many appropriate and selective methods and ways of accessing knowledge. In particular, they must be good at technology and regularly approach new things to help enrich their lectures and create excitement for students.

If in the past, the Internet had not yet developed, book knowledge and the teacher's knowledge were considered the standard in teaching, then the teacher was the center of educational activities in the classroom. However, today's education has changed many times, taking the student as the center to promote the student's qualities. The teacher has changed his role to a leader and orientator for his students.

Teachers in digital era: Redefining relationship between teachers and students
Teachers in the digital age must change themselves. (Photo: Kim Ngan).

In a letter to the Education sector on the occasion of the opening of the 2023-2024 school year, President Vo Van Thuong wrote: "Our Party and State always identify education as the top national policy. Educating and training children is common tasks of school - family and society. A country that wants to develop must have high quality education and investing in education is investing in sustainable development. I hope teachers and teachers Teachers should always maintain their passion and dedication to their profession, their courage to overcome all obstacles and difficulties, and contribute more to the noble cause of cultivating people."

At the recent Commendation Ceremony for outstanding teachers and administrators in 2023, Minister Nguyen Kim Son also determined that the team of teachers is an important factor, a sustainable foundation, determining all successes of the school. education and training. Therefore, the leaders of the Ministry of Education and Training will try to do everything and every measure to enhance their position and develop the teacher force in both quantity and quality. Innovation is both an opportunity and a challenge for educators. Wherever the innovation of teachers is achieved, the innovation of the education sector will also be achieved.

It must also be added that the expectations of the whole society have unintentionally created challenges for teachers themselves. Education is one of the most important foundations for shaping and developing a country and people. Because of that special position and role, education always stands before the expectations of the entire society. In a digitalized society, education faces significant challenges in innovating teaching and learning methods. Therefore, teachers also have to change to adapt to the pace of modernization. If teachers do not renew themselves, it will be difficult to keep up with the development of society.

Speaking at the opening of the 12th ASEAN Education Ministers' Conference (2022), Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son affirmed that education always plays an important and central role in the development of every country, all nations in all times. Vietnam considers education a national policy. Educational development is identified as one of three breakthrough stages to implement Vietnam's socio-economic development strategy for the period 2021-2030.

“Every year, the budget for education accounts for 20% of the national budget. Vietnam is very interested in ensuring equality and improving the quality of education. Currently, Vietnam is implementing fundamental and comprehensive reform of education, strongly restructuring the education sector. In recent years, Vietnam's education quality has changed positively. The quality of Vietnam's general education is highly appreciated through international student assessment results such as PISA, PASEC and SEA-PLM", Minister Nguyen Kim Son emphasized.

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