To the delight of schoolchildren in Poland, it was forbidden to give and evaluate homework! While these changes apply to those who study in middle and junior school, in the future such innovations will be recognized in high school.
In Poland, the opposition Civic Coalition has taken the country's education system seriously. They have prepared a number of bills to improve the work of educational institutions, including those related to the work and salaries of teachers. More emphasis will be placed on critical thinking and debate rather than memorizing paragraphs.
Also, students in Poland will no longer learn the Law of God.
The main decision of the coalition was the abolition of homework in the junior and middle grades. Legislators believe that it is better for a child to spend time with his parents after school, and not to sit at lessons. This and other bills were presented during the party elections, and after the victory of the Civic Coalition, the Poles began to implement them.
Schoolchildren from grades 1 to 3 will not do homework at all, from 4 to 8 - only at will, and they will not give grades for it. Minister of Education Barbara Nowacka noted that parents often have to do homework with their child after work, and if a student decides everything himself, then he does not have time to communicate with friends, go to extracurricular activities and much more. Because of these two factors, children and parents have the maximum level of stress, lack of sleep and other negative consequences.
Not everyone supported the idea of abolishing homework. Poland's former education minister said that because of the law, teachers would not be able to teach "individually" and students would be less stress-resistant, inindependent and irresponsible.
The head of the teachers' union is also not enthusiastic about the new idea. In his opinion, before the adoption of the law, it was necessary to talk to the teachers themselves, because before that, Poland had already adopted some of the reforms related to the educational system, which did not bring improvements. But teachers and school administrators suffered from the new rules. The new requirements will greatly affect the academic performance of students, because not everyone can study with tutors and parents to consolidate their knowledge. Homework helped at least a little in this.
The new law has already entered into force. Schoolchildren are delighted with the lack of homework, but parents are wary of it: they agree with the opinion that children are not as stressed as they used to be, but now they are "unproductive" spending time after school.
Of course, only a month has passed, and it is still difficult to say how this law will affect the level of stress and knowledge of students. Well-known teachers say that homework itself can be different: there are also those that help to consolidate the level of knowledge, develop versatility and reveal the talent of students. And it is very disappointing that teachers and schoolchildren are deprived of such an opportunity! Teachers also express concerns related to the attitude of parents and children to the reform: they may decide that schools have become less aware of knowledge and take care of students, so you can not go to lessons in principle.
The Polish authorities want to make more free circles, including educational ones, where students will be able to study in their free time. It is planned to put lockers in each school and introduce electronic textbooks so that students do not carry heavy loads with them. But this is all ahead - was it worth canceling homework now?
Poland is not the first country to make amendments related to homework. In Korea, where education is highly valued, and schoolchildren receive high scores on tests, in 2017 the amount of homework was reduced. But this does not mean that students have relaxed: they still sit in libraries for a long time, read textbooks and complete assignments. In US schools, teachers and parents agree on the amount of homework: for example, it should not take longer than 10, 20 or 30 minutes to complete it.
All these reforms sound very attractive, but what the results will be and what other countries should learn from Poland's experience remains to be seen in at least a few years.
