Vietnam Journalist Training Centre takes next step on syllabus breakdown

VJTC’s Dinh Thi Thuy Hang places some questions for discussion with trainers in Online journalism group. Photo by Hoa Ta.
Hem/Nyheter/Vietnam Journalist Training Centre takes next step on syllabus breakdown

Following the success of its previous curriculum overhaul, the Vietnam Journalist Training Centre develop 20 new syllabuses with more focus on issue-led journalism and new media.

The second course gathered 20 experienced media trainers to discuss how to renew media training curriculum in Hanoi on 19th December 2019.

It is the second time the centre has received funding to review a set of 20 syllabuses with the participation of five female and 15 male trainers.

Following the first review, the overhaul involved a three-step process. The first workshop was for general discussion and topic assignment. Then each trainer reviewed a certain area for one month and sent it back to the VJTC for review followed by a final discussion to examine each area.

Participants were grouped in categories relating to their areas of expertise, including online journalism, print, TV and radio.

Trainer Nguyen Thi Thu Ha shares with her peers in TV and radio group about news production in her media house. Photo by Hoa Ta.

Depending on the topic, each group decided their way of sharing their knowledge and skills with their peers.

“From my own observations, media training in Vietnam has a serious problem because its lagging behind reality. The workshop is a really good chance for us to sit down and review the situation and contribute our knowledge and experience to building syllabuses that can fix the issue,” one of the trainers, Bui Tien Dung, head of education at Tuoi Tre Newspaper, said.

“This is also a great opportunity for networking and learning from trainers who are experienced journalists with a lot of skills to share,” he said.

Although participants appreciate joining the workshop resulted positive impacts on the training and newroom work for themselves, some of them suggested changes for the activity to reach the highest effectiveness.

Nguyen Thi Lien, an investigative trainer from Vietnam Television, pointed out the workshop could have done differently by saying that having the best trainers for a specific training topic was not enough.

“For a tricky topic such as investigative journalism, I would like to be able to sit down with three to four trainers/journalists who focus on that area. That way I could learn far more than sitting with trainers who are talking about topics such as TV and radio,” she said.

After the meeting, each group will continue to work on their assigned topics and gather again on February 14, 2020 in Vung Tau City.

According to the head of training of VJTC, Le Van Anh, the first 20 syllabuses completed at the end of August will be put into use in February after the Tet holiday.