The new framework plans for high school education are in the works and could be completed by the end of March at the earliest. The Minister of Education, Ligia Deca, stated that there is indeed a need for a major change in high school education.
High school subjects, focused on practice and applied exercises. Photo source: archive
The textbooks that high school students learn from are almost 30 years old, the subjects are dense, they contain a lot of information – ballast, which no longer keeps up with current events, the children's schedule is very busy and the hours dedicated to optional subjects are few. Even so, they hardly make their way among the mandatory ones, which are required in the national exams. Example: health education taught in no more than 10% of schools. It is the context in which education officials are thinking of a new framework plan to reinvigorate high school education.
Customized framework plans according to the needs of the students
The Minister of Education, Ligia Deca, stated that the new framework plans are in the works and must be customized according to the needs of the students. After they are approved in their final form, they will be subject to public debate. Ligia Deca mentioned that the framework plans will be drawn up in such a way that the high school follows “the student's interest” and there is a greater degree of optionality. “I had discussions with those who are in charge of coordinating these working groups. There were a number of intermediate variants. We believe that these framework plans must be personalized, depending on the needs of the children, to reduce where we have too much, when it comes to the number of hours per day”, the minister also said, according to the quoted source.
“Certainly we need a theoretical approach that also means a connection with real life. We want this in school programs and in pedagogy. It matters a lot how a teacher approaches the curriculum. Including the tests for the national exams, I think that in recent years, if we observe, they have moved towards a more applied area, more focused on skills”, said Deca.
What are framework plans
The framework plans include the compulsory and optional subjects in each class and the minimum and maximum number of hours related to them.
The high school framework plans, currently valid, are those approved in 2004 and 2009, depending on the discipline. They group the study subjects into seven curricular areas: Language and communication, Mathematics and natural sciences, Man and society, Arts, Physical education, sports and health, Technologies, Guidance and counseling.
For high school education, the theoretical and vocational stream, the framework plans include the following components:
– common core, as a mandatory curricular offer, consisting of the same subjects, with the same hourly allocations, for all specializations within a profile;
– differentiated curriculum, as a mandatory curricular offer established at the central level depending on the year of studies, stream, profile, specialization;
– curriculum at the decision of the school, which includes the hours allocated for the development of the curricular offer of each educational unit.
Variants of framework plans proposed last year
According to EduPedu, the framework plans proposed last year stipulated, among other things, that physics, chemistry and biology would no longer be in the common core for students from the real profile, in the 11th and 12th grades and that the “logic” subjects and “psychology” should no longer be studied by students from the human and real profiles, the theoretical stream. Work on them would have stopped in order to resume them according to the provisions of the new laws.
The new high school master plans should be ready by March 31, 2024. Originally, the order with the new high school master plans was supposed to be completed by February 29, which means a one-month delay.
