Innovations of 2010-2011 Academic Years

Nino Barabadze

The school will begin on September 15 in all public schools of Georgia. Innovations are planned in 2010-2011 for the school children, teachers and school principals. New National Curriculum is developed by MES. School children assessment system and school journals are changed according to the new Curriculum. Introducing of new subjects is underway. Teachers’, principals’, as well as school children’s and parents’ responsibilities are being increased. New academic year will be most important for 12^th graders. For the first time this year, they will pass the general education graduation exams according to the modern Cat system that is recognized in the world.

Minister of Education and Science of Georgia, Dimitri Shashkini answers the questions about the changes in the new 2010-2011 academic years.

Dimitri Shashkini: ‘’finally decision is made that school will begin on September 15 in all public schools. School year will be divided in semesters instead of trimesters. The first semester will be finished on   December 24. The school children will have the big holiday from December 24 till January 20. The 1^st and the 12^th graders will finish the second semester on May 20, others – on June 15. In the middle they will have Easter holidays. It will begin on Thursday and finish on the next Wednesday after Easter.

The evaluation system is being changed as well. School children will be assessed in 3 components instead of 6. This will be homework, class assignment and summarizing task. New subjects will be introduced – civil defence and safety and sports classes. Gyms and stadiums are already refurbished in all schools with the support of Tbilisi City Hall. Natural science subject teaching hours will be increased. Teaching of dance lessons will be launched from January in the pilot schools of Tbilisi. All promises have been implemented. School children from vulnerable families received free textbooks. 3,000 first graders of pilot schools (schools (all first graders of Batumi, Zugdidi, Tserovani, Mestia schools and several first graders of Tbilisi and Kutaisi schools) will be presented with the netbooks by the President. Special educational games, uploaded in these netbooks will assist the school children to study Georgian, natural science subjects and mathematics.

Web-site www.buki.ge was activated in parallel. Textbooks and additional literature is uploaded on this site for every school child. Teachers passed special trainings in order to master the netbooks. The first graders who are provided with the netbooks will begin studying English language right from the first form. From the new academic year all first graders will be provided with the netbooks and therefore all first graders will begin to study English. For the first time in Georgia, textbooks of history and geography were translated for the multilingual schools. School children will study Georgian language, history and geography in parallel. 30% of the subjects will be taught in Georgian in all Russian schools of Tbilisi. This percent will be raised in the future. According to my order, cash was abolished in schools and credit cards were introduced in the school canteens. By the end of 2010, 1,000 English language foreign teachers will work in public schools of Georgia together with the local teachers. In the scope of Teach and Learn With Georgia, foreign teachers will teach the Georgian school children English language. The number of teachers will be doubled from the new academic year.

Changing of the school journals represents one of the innovations. . .

By my order, new journals have been approved. This will be important mechanism for advancing the quality of education and controlling the quality of academic attendance. 100% attendance becomes an important component. Journal will be the document of strict report. Penalty sanctions will be introduced for falsification of the journals. New journals give opportunity to control the attendance of the child and level of knowledge. On the base of these journals, electronic journals will be introduced step by step from 2011. Parents will be able to control education of their children online. This is an important mechanism for managing the quality. MES will hold everyday observation on the teaching situation in order to have immediate reaction.

Ethics codes have been launched for teachers, school children and principals. Is it necessary to follow them?

Each school will develop its own internal regulation according to these codes. It will be obligatory to follow them. Appropriate measures will be launched for the people who will abolish it. In the scope of the Safety Concept, certified resource officers will cover all schools of Tbilisi and Batumi from the new academic year. They will start working in Zugdidi, Rustavi, Kutaisi and Gori schools by the end of the academic year. Surveillance cameras are already installed in the schools in order to control outward and internal perimeter of the school and create the safe zones. The system is connected to the computers of resource officers and principals. Our main priority is the safety of the children. In the case of the systemic abolishment, dismissal from the school will be available. School for the hardly upbringing children functions in Samtredia. The school will be responsible for involving parents in the children’s upbringing. Administrative sanctions will be introduced for the parents who will avoid this responsibility.

Special attention will be paid to the children with Special Needs according to the New National Curriculum. What innovations are developed for these children?

MES has already finished development of the inclusive education program. Part of these children was under the subordination of the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs and under MES. Now only MES is responsible for the education of these children. Optimization of these schools was held during the rehabilitation because refurbishing of the infrastructure was unavailable. So we relocated the children in rehabilitated schools and they will be able to receive education and pass medical treatment.

12^th graders will pass general education graduation exams from 2011. How will these exams be held?

We had a dilemma about these exams. The first version was to hold exams in the examination centers and the school children would be able to pass graduation and entrance exams in parallel. But passing exams in these examination centers was uncomfortable for the children so we chose the fair way. They will pass 8 exams with the CAT system that is the most modernt methodology in the education field. This system is used in the USA, Holland, and etc. This system gives opportunity to evaluate the knowledge of the child deeply. So we decided to hold exams right at schools with the CAT system. The school child will go to school, sit at the computer and answer the questions through the computer in the presence of observer. If the child successfully answers the question the next one will be more difficult, if he/she can’t answer the question, questions will become easier. That means the program corrects the knowledge and gives the answers – did she pass or fail? After passing the graduation exams they will pass the unified entry exams in the examination centers.

Important innovation is that 12^th graders will be able to pass free Abituri course in order to get ready for the graduation exams.