The Ministry of Education launched in public debate the Methodology project regarding the educational portfolio of preschool and pre-university students.
The student’s educational portfolio comes into force this year. Photo source: archive
The educational portfolio is mandatory starting with the generation of preschoolers entering the middle group, respectively with the generation of students entering the preparatory class, in the 2024-2025 school year.
What does the student’s educational portfolio mean and what is its purpose
This “file” of the student includes certifications showing results in the subjects of study, by years of study/levels of schooling, results in national assessments, recommendations for recovery of learning losses, products or results of the activities carried out, diplomas, certificates or other documents obtained following the evaluation of skills acquired in different contexts, formal, non-formal and informal.
The educational portfolio includes documents relevant to the students’ learning outcomes, such as the student’s individualized learning plan, including recommendations for recovery of learning losses, the personalized educational plan, in the case of students with special educational requirements, descriptive evaluation reports from the end of preschool education, of the class preparatory and 1st grade, the results of the 2nd, 4th, 6th grade assessments, the national assessment at the end of the 8th grade and the Baccalaureate exam. The documents include the graduation diploma and transcript, for secondary school and high school graduates, certifications showing the results of the subjects of study, by years of study/levels of schooling, the professional qualification certificate of level 3 or 4, for graduates high school diplomas, diplomas, certificates, other documents obtained as a result of the evaluation of skills acquired in different formal, non-formal and informal contexts Depending on this portfolio, teachers will be able to make recommendations for school and professional guidance or placement in a form of higher education or the labor market.
“Parents’ distrust of teachers has become chronic”
However, how long will this new directive stand, what typical Romanian problems will it get stuck in and how difficult will it be to put into practice, explained Prof. Andreia Bodea, director of the ILCaragiale National College in Bucharest.
“I think the intention is good, but it will be difficult to implement, almost impossible in the conditions where we have classes with up to 33 students and you have to prepare a file for each one. It’s not like we have 15, 20 students in the class like in other schools outside”, the teacher presented the first reason why this measure could be doomed to failure. “We still don’t know exactly how this information about children will be collected, who will collect and count it. The implementing rules have not yet been published. However, I assume that in grades V-XII the director will collect this information from each teacher and for each student in the class.” the director also specified.
The idea, the teacher thinks, is a good one. “You can give the parent correct information as objectively as possible about the area where the child has, from the teachers’ point of view, inclinations, talent. You give feedback, you can make recommendations, you can point that child in a certain direction. Maybe he is passionate about music, drawing, maybe he has inclinations towards the humanities or exact sciences… Maybe he has a special emotional intelligence”. But the final decision is the parent’s, and most of the time the teachers’ recommendations hit them like a wall. “And here we run into the next phenomenon: almost generalized mistrust fathers in teaching staff. Their lack of trust has become chronic!”
The teacher’s opinion matters little or not at all, according to director Andreia Bodea. “Parents know better than we do. What does it matter that you, my child, are artistically inclined? I want you to become a doctor! Or to tell him that the student has humanistic inclinations.. it’s bad luck! You have something with his child! The relationship in this teacher-student-parent triangle is very flawed. There are situations where it seems like we are in a continuous war”.
We are still very far from the education system outside, says the teacher. “And to get to that level you have to have 12 years of school very well done. What we don’t have. And of course, you also need exceptional teachers who are prepared in every way to do these assessments of children. The evolution in education is measured in decades, not from one day to another”.
“We will be buried in even more papers”
There will also be situations when the implementation of this educational portfolio will be impossible due to rampant absenteeism.
“The student should come to school and do it every day, not when he feels like it, so that the teacher can form an opinion, evaluate him correctly. But if they come to school every year at Easter, plus the holidays they have, the days off, the bridges..basically, you don’t really get to know that child. And this educational portfolio means, in the end: to take an X-ray of his knowledge, of his inclinations and direct him further towards certain fields, even certain professions”.
That’s what it’s all about, that’s the quintessence of the teaching job beyond passing on information, data, figures. To get down from the chair in the middle of the student to get to know him, to know his weak points, but also his strong points. But, from the idea to putting it into practice, it is a long way. Director Andreia Bodea believes that the student’s educational portfolio will ultimately be reduced to a form that will only be checked and that’s it.
The teacher believes that the evaluation of the children for the preparation of the educational portfolio will be a difficult process, which will be blocked in some places in the bureaucracy: “The world doesn’t know, but teachers, principals, those who work in school secretaries, we are all buried in papers. When I hear the word paper, it’s not that I’m scared, my hair stands on end! There are a lot of cumbersome procedures. Now everything you do has to be written down somewhere. Everything needs to be transparent, I agree, but the really essential things are being lost. You basically get lost in the papers and you no longer sit in the chair, you no longer have that direct contact with the student”.
