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Schools change approach

Teachers to emphasize independent thinking

By Kimberly Ashton
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
September 5th, 2007 issue

Reading, writing and arithmetic will share room with more social education this school year under a new Education Ministry approach to teaching.
“Memorizing and learning by rote is no longer a way to educate children. We have to, above all, focus on gaining skills,” Education Minister Dana Kuchtová said in an interview on Czech Television Sept. 2.
Teachers of first- and sixth-graders in 4,000 schools will be given more leeway to teach what they consider to be important this year, while still following the general guidelines of national “Framework Educational Programs,” which contain the basic rules for primary-education curriculum.
“Our educational system needs reform because it is too rigid sometimes and too concerned with memorizing dates and stuff, and less about skills,” said Ondřej Gabriel, Education Ministry spokesman.
Why is the change in classrooms coming this year?
“Research studies show that it is difficult for children to create their own opinions and to justify these opinions in some way. [The studies] show that our children have great knowledge in natural science, but it is, for example, more difficult for them to do some task on their own,” Jana Straková of the Institute of Sociology said on the television program.
New subjects could include multicultural education, how to be a democratic citizen and how to think in a global context, education expert Petr Vinš told the daily Právo.
Critics say teachers have not been trained in the new curriculum. They also fear that some traditional subjects will be neglected.
Kuchtová says there is nothing to worry about.
“I don’t think that there is a danger of anarchy,” she says. “The framework educational programs are … clearly defined in terms of knowledge and skills the pupils need to achieve.”
The new approach will be tried on the first and sixth grades to start with and then extended to the other grades, Právo reports.
Although curriculum might change, one thing will not: National inspectors will still monitor all schools to make sure the necessary educational benchmarks are being hit.
But Kuchtová hopes a more subtle change will happen with the new focus.
“Even if the programs are imperfect … gradually the change will take place at schools and, above all, in the minds of teachers,” Kuchtová said.
— Naďa Černá contributed to this report.

Kimberly Ashton can be reached at kashton@praguepost.com


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