Teachers and parents want the cancellation of the National External Assessment after the 4th and 10th grades. The reason - the results of the exams are irrelevant for the application, which brings unnecessary stress to the students. However, the Ministry of Education and Science does not support this thesis. Nova TV tells about the proposals and the reaction of all parties.
The Department of Education believes that these exams are important precisely because they are external assessments - they show impartially the level of acquired knowledge and in this way an assessment of the curriculum and an analysis of where the students struggle is made. School principals support this. However, teachers' unions are against it because of the administrative burden and the excessive load on children. Parents see exams as unnecessary stress for the whole family, which does not lead to improvement of the education system.
„Union „Education” for at least the tenth time, he makes this proposal to abolish HEIs in grades 4 and 10. Pedagogical logic is absent here, because it doesn't matter at all whether a student will pass with certain results”, commented Julian Petrov from the “Education” Syndicate.
The director of the 51st school in Sofia does not think so. “I find pedagogical logic. In this way, each teacher can check the achievement of their students against the state standards. There is no way an educational system does not have a feedback loop and develop”, pointed out Asen Alexandrov.
The Ministry of Education also sees these exams as an assessment not of the children but of the system. “Evaluations and conclusions about the achievements and deficits in training are a guide for improving the overall work of the school team”, stated in a position from the Ministry of Education and Culture.
And while the adults argue, the fourth graders pack their backpacks for the tough year ahead. “Maybe it shouldn't drop, but it should still be made a little easier because I've heard it's hard. And to increase the time”, thinks the student Daniel.
The boy's mother is of the opinion that the exam brings unnecessary stress. “It leads to stress, first of all, among the teachers, who spend a whole year practicing with the children solving tests for a certain time and for certain points. On the other hand - on the parents, who have to think about whether the children should go to private lessons, and this is absolutely unnecessary”, explained Valentina Stoeva.
„Maybe parents don't want to understand that their child is not the best in the class”, Aleksandrov said.
„Controlled stress is something very important, it is a motivation for success. But when it's pointless, things go awry. Sometimes there are also ambitious parents who exaggerate things”, believes Julian Petrov.
While the cancellation of these exams is still only in the realm of controversy, Daniel has a piece of advice: “You can always learn it and one exam is not such a big deal”.