We continue to comprehend the experience of 2020, when, due to the coronavirus pandemic, only students planning to enter higher educational institutions took the exam, and the rest of the graduates simply received a certificate. Officials in the ministries responsible for secondary and higher education, experts, parents and schoolchildren themselves say that this format can be legalized and made permanent. What other innovations await schoolchildren during the final exams this year?
The possibility of canceling the compulsory exam and exam
The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education are considering the likelihood that state exams in grades 9 and 11 will remain mandatory only for those who plan to continue their studies in school or university .
For the first time this idea arose in 2014 at an educational forum in Penza, during the congress of the All-Russian Popular Front. President Vladimir Putin became interested in the idea and instructed Sergey Kravtsov to consider it, who at that time was the head of Rosobrnadzor. Then the idea did not find its embodiment, but after the "coronavirus" USE-2020 they returned to the discussion of the project.
An unexpected result of the abolition of the OGE and the partial cancellation of the USE was that some of the children were spared from difficult and exhausting tests - this did not affect the quality of their knowledge and allowed them to continue their studies at a college or vocational school and start working. The same applies to graduates of the 9th grade: if a child does not move to grade 10, he can enter secondary vocational education institutions based on the average score of the certificate.
Benefits of canceling the exam and exam
- The percentage of graduates wishing to enter universities has decreased in recent years, so not all students need testing. What is the reason for the decline in interest in higher education? One of the reasons is the opportunity to find a job and earn money without studying at a university. Schoolchildren are not sure if they are ready to study for another 4-6 years before they start making serious money.
- The decrease in the number of seats in the budget led to increased competition for them among 100-point students, winners of the All-Russian Olympiads. Not all families can afford to pay for the education of children on an off-budget basis, and not everyone is ready to simply support a student for an average of 5 years. Young people understand this and choose working specialties that do not need the USE.
- Cancellation of the USE is a reduction in stress for those who are not ready to take tests. There are children who cannot prepare and pass the USE or the OGE: for them, getting a certificate based on the average score is the optimal, least traumatic way to complete secondary school.
- The implementation of the "Digital educational environment" presupposes the inclusion of online technologies in the educational process, and the introduction of hybrid models (full-time training + distance learning) will also require new solutions for final testing. The voluntariness of passing the OGE and the Unified State Exam is a step towards optimizing education.
- The abolition of compulsory examinations and a reduction in the number of those taking the exam will allow the state to save money on examinations. Former Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation O. Vasilyeva notes that more than half of the graduates of basic secondary schools go to receive secondary vocational education, therefore, the issuance of certificates after grade 9 for those who do not enter grade 10 may well be carried out in the schools themselves.
Disadvantages of canceling the exam
What if a graduate received a certificate without a USE, graduated from college, received a working profession - and after 5 years wanted to get a higher education? He is unlikely to pass the USE - a gap in knowledge and a break in theoretical training will affect. While these issues are under discussion.
What will definitely change in the exam-2021
- For the first time ever, the unified state exam in computer science is conducted on a PC. Testing includes 9 practical programming tasks (30% of the total number of questions): creating, setting up a program, working with spreadsheets, searching for information. Another 18 tasks have something in common with the content of the unified state exams of previous years, but in an electronic version. Since 2021, programming tasks can be performed in different languages: C ++, Java, C #, Pascal, Python, School Algorithmic Language. Examples in the Basic language are excluded from the block of tasks for code recognition (not required).
- The time for completing the unified state exam in biology has been increased to 235 minutes.
- In the state exam in the Russian language, the wording of the 9th task, the criteria for evaluating the composition, have changed.
- USE in literature: in the text with a gap of 2 words, you need to insert 2 literary facts or theoretical concepts.
- A historical essay (task 25 of the USE in history) from 2021 will be centered around the historical process or historical personality, and not the historical period, as it was before.
- From 2021, the unified state exam in social studies will include issues related to changes in the Constitution in 2020.
- The structure of examinations in mathematics, physics, chemistry, geography, social studies and foreign languages has not changed.
