10 or 12?
Academicians call upon MPs not to pass the law on a 10-year schooling term
Parents can often be heard complaining that their children find it difficult to study at school: there is a host of subjects, every year brings changes, the curriculum is too difficult, and you have to go to school for 12 years to boot. It was 10 or 11 earlier, and that was good. On the one hand, it is easy to understand parents’ concern. On the other hand the 12-year system of secondary education was introduced precisely not to overload children but rather to help them choose a future profession in the last years of school. Moreover, it is too early to make definitive conclusions as the first cycle of 12-year schooling is not yet over.
Nevertheless this novelty, which has not yet become part of Ukrainian school routine, may give way to another one. This week the Verkhovna Rada is going to debate on changes to the Ukrainian law, which call for a 10-year system of education instead of the current 12-year one. This issue has aroused concern among members of Ukraine’s Academy of Pedagogical Sciences. They wrote an open letter to parliament the other day, signed by the academy President Vasyl Kremen, Vice-President Volodymyr Luhovy, First Vice-President Vasyl Madzihon, Presidium Counselor Olha Savchenko, and other academicians.
The scientists are surprised that the draft law is being fast-tracked in parliament without proper validation or public discussion. The bill’s authors claim that such a reduction of the duration of studies will improve the pupils’ preparedness for adult life and professional careers, and that it will increase the wellbeing and status of teachers. However, this does not convince academics. Especially since UNESCO has defined a complete secondary education as at least 12 years.
In the EU, which Ukraine wishes to join, there is a single state which does not meet this standard: the duration of a hardly full secondary education is 12 years in 14 countries, 13 years in 12 countries, and as much as 14 years in 4 countries. In most of these states schooling begins at the age of six or even earlier, and lasts until one is 18 to 20.
The majority of them have the so-called lower secondary education until the age of 15-16, which does not entitle one to apply to a university, but provides the school-leaver with a certificate of secondary or vocational education. Academics believe that this is possible venue for Ukraine, but such a choice should be preceded by a nationwide public debate and the appropriate amendments to the constitution.
In the scholars’ opinion, this bill goes against our state’s priority guidelines for development. Nobody in Europe will seriously believe that Ukrainian schools are able to provide a high-quality and internationally competitive full secondary education in a ten years period. Moreover, no international comparative studies confirm this.
The academics write in the letter that the draft law is irresponsible in terms of social policy: “[The law] is amoral towards young 16-17-year olds, who find themselves ‘ejected,’ unprepared for a labor market where none of the employers will hire them because, according to labor law, he [the employer] bears full responsibility for their actions until they come of age. The bill is also strongly imperfect from a pedagogic point of view, for is it common knowledge that if neither the family nor the school educates a young person, they will come under the influence of ‘street pedagogy,’ with the resulting criminal consequences. Therefore, what the law drafters call ‘liberated’ funds will be spent on maintaining the penitentiary system rather than raising teachers’ salaries.”
Another downside of the new law is that it is economically unsound, as it does not take into account the considerable funds that will have to be spent on drawing up and publishing new curricula and manuals, retraining teachers, reequipping schools, etc. Indeed, where can one find this money if the state treasury is almost empty now?
Therefore, the academy members call upon MPs to reject this draft law because it does not comply with the current official policy in education, runs counter to worldwide tendencies in education development, and hinders the integration of the Ukrainian system of education into the worldwide educational space.
EDITOR’S NOTE
The editorial board is ready to hear your opinions on whether or not Ukraine should introduce a 10-year system of secondary education and what are the pros and cons of such a policy would be. Please email to [email protected].
