The Minister of Education, Daniel David, announced that the framework plans for the high school will be put up for public debate this month. It is about the subjects and the hours intended for them in the children’s timetable – the minister’s number one priority and the first concrete step taken after more than 30 years for the fundamental reform of high school education.
Daniel David, the first concrete step for the adoption of the framework plans for the high school. Archive
The decision, which no minister had the courage to take, comes in the context in which high school students learn from old textbooks from the time of communism, they have a lot of compulsory subjects in their timetable, the information delivered is too much, sometimes truncated and, most of the time, expired. On the other hand, assessing children values the amount of information they memorize, at the expense of critical thinking and logical value judgments. But not only the system is to blame for such a high degree of functional illiteracy among young people, but also the teachers, many of whom are very poorly trained. We have been facing a vicious circle for decades that this month will finally be broken.
The minister’s priority program, a lousy “golden egg”? What are the risks?
“I’m afraid that these blueprints are just Mary in another hat,” explained for “Adevărul” Marian Staș, one of the supporters of the education reform and the one who developed a 21st century curriculum model.
Marian Staș has always considered that the adoption of the new framework plans is a national priority, which is why the project must be thought through very carefully. “For now, we don’t know what those master plans will look like. They were not presented to the educational community for us in the system to see. Apart from the models of framework plans that I have discussed and presented publicly, I have not seen anything in this regard. I do not know, therefore, what is the curriculum approach, the design of the curriculum model of these plans. It’s a secrecy I don’t understand and it doesn’t do anyone any good.” the expert specified.
Marian Staș refers to the fact that, before being put into public debate, the framework plans should be presented to education specialists: “I’m afraid we’ll end up with the same kinds of crappy tables as before. And let’s move forward with them. I, for one, would be happy if there were more approaches. Three, four, five models proposed by the School of Thought from Iasi, the School of Pedagogy from Cluj, the School from Bucharest…people who could say how they would make a 21st century curriculum model. Besides, there is a high probability that this whole story, beautiful otherwise, will fail miserably and syndically”.
Model: eight curricular areas to be allocated three or four hours a week
The specialist believes that the discussion about theory, culture, skills, knowledge is not essential, but about what the architecture of these framework plans will look like, concretely. “And I put it this way: the curriculum model must contain a single-digit number of learning areas. So no more than 8.9 things for kids to do in each school module. That is one of the most important challenges. Currently, they also have 15, 16, 17 subjects that they study like crazy, on the fly due to lack of time. Obviously, they don’t have time to assimilate what is being taught to them, and the information they receive is dissipated”. Marian Staș also specified.
Marian Staș proposes a framework plan model containing eight learning areas. The first area includes Language, Literature, Latinity, Romanian Culture. The second contains History and Geography, the third contains Mathematics, Statistics and Applied Informatics. The fourth curricular area includes Arts and Aesthetic Education, the fifth, Natural and Earth Sciences, the sixth area is about Man, Society, Spirituality, and the last one includes Physical Education, sports and health. “Each learning area should be allocated three, four hours a week, so that there is equity. For example, six learning areas could be allocated four hours per week, and the remaining two areas could be allocated three hours per week. In total we would have 30 hours in high school. If we divide them by a number of 5 days, we will have six hours per school day“. And here’s how, all of a sudden, everything becomes simpler and 100% efficient.
Specialist: “The framework plans put into national debate, a populist idea”
Another important aspect pointed out by Marian Staș is the possibility for students to choose which fields to go to in the future. “I am referring to the relationship between the common core and the curriculum in the decision of the students in the school’s offer. Everyone has to do Romanian language and literature and Mathematics, but not everyone has to learn Physics or Chemistry or Biology. Because as children grow up, they develop in one direction or another and they should have the opportunity to choose their own professional paths and careers.” consider the specialist.
Once the project will be put up for public debate, says Marian Staș, we will wake up with a lot of unapproved opinions, comments and proposals. “Until now, everyone was good at politics and football. From now on, they will also know framework plans”. The specialist tries to emphasize the fact that the framework plans that were lying in the drawers of the minister Ligia Deca should have been brought to light, dusted and put on the table in front of the experts. To be rethought, reanalyzed, to be amended, supplemented, etc. Only then should they have been submitted for public debate. “This story with the public and national debate seems rather populist to me. Yes, God, let it be just a matter of transparency!”, the expert also stated.
High school director: “I hope the minister will collaborate with specialists who know what it is about”
The framework plans are a priority and should be adopted urgently, Prof. Andrea Bodea, director of the ILCaragiale National College. The teacher stated for “Adevărul” that the students learn too many subjects, the information comes from everywhere and from all directions, some are useless, others are truncated, many no longer find their purpose in today’s reality. “It is clear that we need a change in the system, but this must be thought out and analyzed very well. I hope that the minister surrounds himself with teams of specialists, because we have many in this country and it would be a shame not to consult them. And I hope they take the informed opinion of these people into account. I am cautious in my statements, however, I hope that Daniel David chooses his collaborators from among those who really know what it is about. If he surrounds himself with these people, he can really start some things that have been waiting for years and years”, attracts the teacher’s attention.
“A bloody guerilla fight over the number of teachers’ hours”
Marian Staș is of the opinion that some really pertinent comments will be able to be made only after the document of the framework plans is made public: “ But, I’m inclined to believe that there, in fact, there is a bloody guerilla fight over the number of teachers’ hours. It is also the reason why Ligia Deca kept postponing this project. It is possible that each of those commissions on subjects did not understand each other from this point of view: how many hours you take from the teachers, how many you give them, how you divide them”. Curriculum at the students’ decision from the school’s offer is the poisoned premise of this whole story. “They will try to push to the minimum the number of hours at the student’s decision from the school’s offer in order to keep as many mandatory hours as possible. Everything, for reasons of norms and salaries. It remains to be seen if I am right”. In conclusion, if the framework plans will be the same Greatness with a different hat, “it means we can turn off the light and go home” the expert also pointed out.
The framework plan is a document that establishes the compulsory subjects, the number of hours per week for each of them and the number of hours allocated to optional subjects. The subjects that students learn are currently divided into: the common core, which includes the subjects that all students learn, regardless of profile, the differentiated curriculum, which generally refers to subjects specific to a profile, and the curriculum at the school’s decision. The latter involves a series of subjects that the school offers and from which students can choose.
In the spring of 2023, a draft draft of the framework plans (the skeleton of subjects that students learn) was published in the media. Shortly after, the Ministry of Education said that the document in question is not an “assumed” one and that, in fact, new framework plans are being worked on. Since then and until the end of the mandate, Ligia Deca has kept postponing the adoption of the project which is only now to come into force. It is the desire of the new minister who stated that he wants the new framework plans to be implemented before the presidential elections.
