[ad_1]
The president of the Lithuanian branch of the International Association for Children’s and Young People’s Literature (IBBY), the president of the Lithuanian Language and Literature Teachers’ Union and a group of literary scholars from Vilnius University and the Institute of Literature and Folklore of Lithuania commented on the prepared project.
In their proposals, they call for the repetition of information and a focus on “an education based on competencies that allows students to act independently in reality.”
Literature experts point out that the program project presented by the NSA “does not correspond to the trends of modern culture, lacks inclusive and relevant topics for students, which would be related to their experiences, would allow to express ideas independently about current issues”.
They point out that a program focused on the student, their needs and nature cannot be regulated in detail, which is why the draft curriculum for grades 5-8 proposes to abandon the compulsory assignments, leaving only descriptions of competencies, general topics and lists of recommended literature for a specific age group.
“From them, the authors and teachers of the textbooks will be able to choose the texts according to the specific region, the particularities of the school, the class and the individual abilities of the students,” the specialists said in a statement.
It is also suggested that in the 9th-10th grade curriculum, in addition to the recommended youth literature texts, a list of classic works could already appear, from which teachers would also be free to choose the set number of works mandatory.
Expert: The current program is too broad, fragmented
Mindaugas Grigaitis, one of the preparers of the proposals, president of the Lithuanian Language and Literature Teachers’ Union and professor at the Jesuit Gymnasium of Kaunas, BNS stated that the NSA project does not change anything.
“This project does not update anything, it basically rewrites the current program since 2016. When it comes to competency-based education, we are developing what a person will need in life to be able to apply that knowledge. But in reality, the question of how the child will apply the knowledge acquired in life has no answer ”, said M. Grigaitis.
According to him, writers, academics, and parent organizations themselves have expressed concern in the past that school literature programs are “utopian” and inconsistent with reality.
“Teachers see that working with these programs requires hypocrisy, half of the program is inexhaustible, it is simply lost. Why? Because the volumes are huge, there are too many works, as well as too few complete texts, too many fragments because the reading is fragmented. Also, there are definitely some early classical texts in the younger classes. This shows that the needs and context of the child are not taken into account and that they simply want to push a project with an excavator, which is suitable and liked by a small group of bureaucrats or Lithuanians, ”said M. Grigaitis.
Experts suggest giving students more freedom in choosing texts for the teachers themselves. According to M. Grigaitis, by waiving the mandatory literature list in grades 5-8, the teacher could choose texts “according to the needs and level of the students” that would allow them to form the skills they need in life: critical thinking , text creation, creative expression, multicultural perception.
“The development of these topics requires less content, reading longer texts, careful and slow reading.” The current project, with its large scope, fragmentation and age-appropriate texts, will certainly not achieve these goals, “said the expert.
In the ninth-tenth grade, according to M. Grigaitis, “some compulsory works of literary classics” could already appear, but great freedom of choice should also be left to the teacher.
“If the teacher needs it, he takes the textbook, if the teacher wants it, he teaches himself. It is a 21st century school and a 21st century teacher. The current government, the Freedom Party and the Conservatives, followed the slogans: free the teacher, create relevant content. Where these slogans have gone, I have no idea. But it would be a freedom for the teacher to see with his students what they need specifically, not to be told what to read and how to read in some center, “he said.
The proposals were prepared by M. Grigaitis, Inga Mitunevičiūtė, President of the Lithuanian branch of the International Association for Children’s and Young People’s Literature (IBBY), Aistė Kučinskienė, researcher at Vilnius University (VU) and the Lithuanian Institute of Literature and Folklore (LLTI) and Viktorija Šeina-Vasiliauskienė, LLTI researcher. The proposals were also supported by other VU and LLTI researchers: Paulius Subačius, Paulius Javsejevas, Jurgita Katkuvienė, Solveiga Daugirdaitė, Dalia Satkauskytė, Rimantas Kmita, Akvilė Rėklaitytė.
[ad_2]
