The changes to primary education that will take effect in September in the first grades of mainstream primary schools are not about children simply playing or about lowering educational standards. The aim is to place greater demands on students’ thinking according to Petra Fridrichová, Director of the Department for Formal Education Support at the National Institute of Education and Youth (NIVaM).
“It is not enough to know a rule by heart. Students should be able to explain connections, argue their points, solve problems, and apply what they have learned in different situations,” Fridrichová explained. Active learning methods, experiments, and project-based tasks are not goals in themselves. According to Fridrichová, they are tools that help children develop a deeper understanding of the material. “A great deal of emphasis is therefore placed on reflection—that is, on students being able to identify and explain what happened during a game, experiment, investigation, or verification, what phenomenon was involved, and how an individual experience can be generalized—in other words, to articulate what they have learned,” she said. Equally important is understanding the value of knowledge and how newly acquired knowledge can be applied in practice.
During the three years in which the curriculum reform was introduced voluntarily in primary schools, they received a great deal of feedback from schools, according to Fridrichová. “The schools that are already teaching according to the new national education program confirm that children are more active, cooperate more, learn to think about problems, and are better able to connect knowledge across different subjects,” she explained.
Fridrichová acknowledged that they also encounter opinions that the curriculum reform will not be effective, as well as the view that it is merely about “playing some games with children during lessons.” However, she says that many of these opinions are based on simplified assumptions or incomplete information about what the reform actually involves.
Most schools have been preparing for the changes for several months in cooperation with NIVaM offices. Methodological training days and professional events have been organized for first-grade teachers, covering topics such as how to prepare curricula, how to teach in the context of the changes to primary education, where to find resources, and how to connect with other teachers in their region or city.
“Almost 1,000 primary schools participated in the voluntary implementation over the course of three school years, but a great deal of information was made available to all schools. This included free online webinars on curriculum changes, online courses, methodological guides, and supporting materials—in other words, the entire www.ucime.vzdelavanie21.sk portal, which provides various practical materials for preparing for the introduction of the changes and for their actual implementation,” Fridrichová explained.
“It is natural that every major change brings questions and concerns. It is natural that not all teachers or schools were convinced by the reform from the beginning. We encountered such situations during the first years of voluntary implementation as well,” said the NIVaM Director of the Department for Formal Education Support. However, according to her, experience has shown that when schools have sufficient information, professional support in the form of consultations and exchanges of experience, and, above all, enough time to introduce the changes gradually, initial concerns and uncertainty are significantly reduced. Teachers and students’ parents then begin to recognize the positive effects of the changes.
Source: TASR
