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This year, the call for graduate exams may be slightly different, as the National Education Agency (NSA) proposes dropping the Lithuanian language and literature credit.
It is also proposed to change the procedure for students in 10th grade: the Test of Achievement in Basic Education (PUPP) can be taken remotely. Oral language tests for graduates can also be arranged remotely.
The NSAs accepted the proposals differently from the parent, teacher, and student communities. The latter rejoice in the freer billing schedule. Others say that is not enough and that the current exam system should be fundamentally changed, not just for this year, but forever.
Resignation was suggested above
The Lithuanian Language and Literature test for graduates is organized annually starting in February and normally ends in March or April. This year, due to almost a year of distance education, he intends to abandon it entirely.
Sara Aškinytė, president of the Lithuanian Student Union, says that the students also participated in discussions about changes in the organization of maturity exams. So far, the planned changes are rewarding.
“Regarding the Lithuanian language test, it is worth noting that the students are happy that they will not be. We believe that they will now be able to focus more systematically and prepare for the maturity test itself, ”says S. Aškinytė.
According to her, maturity exams cause graduates a lot of stress each year, and twelfth grade itself is not easy. Therefore, even the rejection of a loan, according to S. Aškinytė, slightly reduces the tension.
“And this year we see that stress, actually due to distance education there is a little more. Of course, this could affect the final results a bit. Much depends on the student’s own awareness of how much time they will be able to use, ”says the president of the Lithuanian Student Union about preparing for the maturity exams.
Andrius Navickas, president of the Union of Education Workers, also appreciates this decision of the NSA.
“If it is clear that these changes are not substantial, they do not change much. The teachers themselves have been proposing for a long time to give up credit, because it does not cause anything at all, it can even make it difficult to prepare for exams, “he says.
Considers decisions unfounded
Darius Trečiakauskas, president of the Lithuanian Parents’ Forum, has a slightly different opinion. He says that he does not understand at all how it is possible to give up the oral test of the Lithuanian language.
“I have a strange question: why is the Lithuanian language test rejected when the Lithuanian language is the state language? Your ability, knowledge, ability to use it properly and correctly is probably one of the main tasks of our state educational system.
Live communication, verbal communication is the opportunity to see from all angles how mature that student is. It also gives you the opportunity to reveal yourself from a much broader angle than simply responding to a test, ”says D. Trečiakauskas.
According to him, the Lithuanian Parent Forum and the NSA have repeatedly provided parents with suggestions and opinions on how matriculation exams should be conducted for graduates, this time as well. However, according to D. Trečiakauskas, institutions do not always want to hear what is said:
“Every official should start thinking, thinking, working and taking responsibility for these changes. It is much easier to make a formal decision to cancel something. {…} If it will give a positive result, if it will give a negative result or if the The reason was to destroy it, nobody evaluates it. “
Not considering dropping exams completely
A. Navickas has repeatedly stated in public that, in his opinion, the maturity exams may not have to be taken at all this year. However, the MES and the NSA say they have not even considered such a proposal.
“Our suggestion was to fully consider that scenario to possibly move on to teachers assessing and not taking tests during this period.
We attend those few meetings and argue. We have heard some suggestions from parents, school leaders, to consider that third scenario to forego testing. But that was immediately rejected, ”explains A. Navickas.
According to S. Aškinytė, so far there is no real possibility in Lithuania to reject the maturity exams. To do this, it is first necessary to find a way to equalize the quality of teaching in all schools in the country.
“There are different opinions of the students. Certainly, there are those who think that the exams should not be taken this year and are offered judging by averages. At the moment, this is practically impossible due to school differences. Ten in a prestigious gym is not actually equal to ten in a small town school This would cause a lot of problems.
We want this program to not harm graduates and to be treated in the same way as other graduate programs. If there were no exams, many problems would arise with admissions abroad and, in general, with admissions to universities ”, explains S. Aškinytė.
I’d like to change the whole system.
Discussions about a possible waiver from the maturity exams this year have also revived reflections on the overall quality of maturity evaluations and the success of their conduct. Mr. Trečiakauskas, President of the Lithuanian Parents’ Forum, says that the current system should immediately be restructured to correspond to the 21st century. Rules.
“The exams in themselves, as they are, do not correspond to the current reality. It is not just a question of giving up this year’s exams, in principle, a system should be thought about that allows evaluating the maturity of young people during a period of time, and not just after completing twelfth grade on that day or half a day.
A debate should start in our state about what tests should be, how they should be organized and what their real purpose is. Most of the conscientious and thinking parents say that the exam system is already outdated ”, D. Trečiakauskas criticizes the current organization of the maturity exams.
Kristina Paulikė, director of the Parents for Education Association, has a similar opinion. In his opinion, if the world changes, so should student assessment systems.
“More generally, it is clear that, under any circumstance, examinations, tests and other methods of assessing knowledge in schools must be changed, as they no longer meet the needs of the modern world.
To achieve positive system-wide changes, we must initially change our approach, which would allow us to create an effective and evaluation system at the same time. With the old approach, no new changes will occur ”, says K. Paulikė.
She is convinced that, above all, it would suffice to put less emphasis on the importance of the maturity exams, which would help both with the stress experienced by twelve-year-olds and change attitudes towards settlements in general.
“Still, we put too much emphasis on exams. We do this in public spaces, schools, educational communities. The standard phrase is heard everywhere: “You will not study, you will not pass the exam, you will not study anywhere.”
This whole environment is tense and instills in society the vision that learning takes place on the basis of an exam, not on the basis of knowledge, important competencies that will be necessary in life. By forgoing one or the other evaluation, we only remove or insert individual blocks, ”says K. Paulikė about the problems of the maturity examination system.
According to the Ministry of Education and Science, final decisions on the organization of the graduation maturity exams will be made on March 1.
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