Management of critical skills education activities for 5-6 years old preschool children in public kindergartens in Soc Son commune, Hanoi city

Abstract

In the context of fundamental and comprehensive innovation in Vietnamese education, developing thinking capacity and soft skills for preschool children, especially 5-6 year olds, is identified as a key task to prepare them for grade 1. In particular, critical thinking skills are considered essential competencies for 21st century citizens, contributing to the formation of independent thinking, the ability to ask questions, analyze and present opinions confidently. Recent documents of the Party, the State and the Ministry of Education and Training have all emphasized the need to innovate educational methods towards promoting children's initiative and positivity in expressing their opinions and participating in the learning process. However, a survey of public kindergartens in Soc Son commune shows that the activities of educating children on critical thinking skills are still limited. Teachers have difficulty organizing activities, lack instructional materials, and have not yet developed a systematic educational plan. Management work at some preschools has not paid due attention to orientation, support, inspection and evaluation of critical thinking skills training activities. The article focuses on clarifying concepts, analyzing the current status of management of critical thinking skills education activities for 5-6 year old preschool children at public preschools in Soc Son commune; identifying influencing factors, pointing out the results achieved, limitations and causes. On that basis, the article proposes some feasible management measures to improve the effectiveness of critical thinking skills education for children, contributing to meeting the requirements of innovation in preschool education in the current period.