Russia introduces grades for behavior in schools. What you need to know

Since September 1, behavior assessments have been introduced in schools in seven regions of Russia. Educational institutions will decide for themselves how to evaluate the discipline of children. In the past, marks for behavior were issued in both the Russian Empire and the USSR, until they were abolished in 1989. What such assessments affect and what consequences they will lead to is in the Izvestia article.

What will be the assessment for the behavior

• Grades for behavior in Russian schools will be introduced on September 1 as part of an experiment. 84 educational institutions in the territories of Novgorod, Yaroslavl, Tula, Leningrad regions, Lugansk People's Republic, Chechnya and Mordovia will participate in it. According to Olga Letkova, chairman of the Association of Parents' Committees and Communities of Russia, schools will be able to choose one of three assessment systems — two-level (credit/non-credit), three-level (exemplary, acceptable and unacceptable behavior) or five-level ("excellent", "good", "satisfactory", "unsatisfactory", "completely unsatisfactory"). Based on the results of the experiment, one of these models will be approved.

• Classroom teachers will give grades for behavior, taking into account the opinions of teachers who work with the child and the administration of the educational organization. Students will be assessed according to criteria such as discipline, compliance with the norms of interpersonal interaction with students and adults, social activity and lawful behavior. At the same time, no appeal mechanism is reported in case of receiving a bad grade.

• The Ministry of Education notes that in the future, the assessment for behavior should be reflected in the graduation documents, that is, it will become an assessment in the certificate, which will determine whether the student receives this document. The ultimate goal of introducing such assessments is to strengthen students' conscious discipline. At the first stage, the behavior of only students from grades 1 to 8 will be evaluated during the year. High school students were exempted from this in order to avoid unnecessary stress before exams.

• The rest of the schools will continue to operate the current system of responsibility for misconduct. It stipulates that measures such as reprimand, reprimand, and expulsion may be applied to students for non-compliance with and violation of school regulations, internal regulations, and discipline requirements. They cannot be applied in kindergartens, elementary schools, or to students with disabilities, and expulsions are not allowed until they reach the age of 15. Students should also not be punished during illness, vacations, academic leave, and maternity leave.

How they used to give grades for behavior

• Students' behavior began to be assessed in various forms back in the Russian Empire. Grades and criteria were not systematized, and students often received characteristics in their certificates such as "with excellent success with honest behavior." Educational institutions could adopt their own charters, which already clearly stated for which violations the student's behavior could be considered unsatisfactory.

• In Soviet times, from 1918 to 1932, there was no system of assessment of knowledge and behavior in school education. Then a four-level scale was introduced, and then a five-level scale. In 1943, rules of conduct were introduced, the observance of which was assessed by analogy with academic performance. Because of a poor grade for a student's behavior, they could be expelled from school, and the "five" was needed to award a gold medal and other rewards.

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• In 1970, the system of assessments for behavior changed again. It was replaced by a three-step system with marks of "exemplary", "satisfactory" and "unsatisfactory" behavior. The last assessment deprived the student of admission to the exams, after which he received a certificate of attendance at a secondary school instead of a certificate. A good grade was taken into account when applying to universities and when issuing diplomas.

• The grading rules changed several times during the 1980s. A mark for diligence was also introduced, which was supposed to influence the final decision on awarding a medal to a student. In 1989, assessments for behavior were abolished, they were not supposed to be placed in journals and diaries, but informally this practice, which no longer had much influence, continued.

What impact will behavior ratings have?

• Experts note that the introduction of grades for behavior can put unnecessary pressure on students. In addition to the fact that students will need to monitor their academic performance, they will receive additional responsibilities that distract from the main educational process. Those students who already behave in a disciplined manner and do not cause concern will receive additional stress, which can cause rejection and lead to the opposite effect.

• Another consequence of the innovation is that grades for behavior can turn out to be a kind of blackmail tool on the part of teachers or school management in relation to students. In the case of hostile relationships that are not directly caused by bad behavior, the student runs the risk of receiving an unfair assessment, which will negatively affect his motivation to continue his studies. In addition, it can be regarded as bad simply the non-standard behavior of a student who, at a young age, expresses himself more actively than his peers and stands out from their background.

• As teachers note, cases of obvious rudeness on the part of students, which lead to disruption of the educational process of classmates and become a problem for teachers, do not arise so often that it makes sense to deal with them with the widespread introduction of grades for behavior. The management councils, which include teachers, school management, and parents' representatives, are currently engaged in the analysis of egregious cases.

Go out and harm normally: in Russia they want to introduce grades for behavior

Subsequently, they must be included in the graduation certificate.

• At the same time, the innovation will help to form responsibility and discipline among students, as well as create a positive atmosphere in the classroom if grades are given objectively and reflect the real behavior of students. In this case, they will serve to encourage positive behaviors.

• In the past, the behavior assessment system played a role in ensuring that a student's destructive behavior was reflected in the documents. This allowed the admissions committees of prestigious universities to get at least some idea of the identity of applicants who could come from far away. But now, with the development of information technology, many other tools have appeared that make it possible to assess the moral training of yesterday's schoolchildren. If a student has used drugs, committed offenses, or bullied peers, this will in any case become known at the next stages of his life and without grades for behavior.

During the preparation of the Izvestia material, we talked and took into account the opinions of:

• Director of GBOU "School No. 109", Honored Teacher of the Russian Federation Evgeny Yamburg;
• Natalia Savinkina, Deputy Director for Educational Work at the Retro private school.