Big changes: the State Duma is preparing to cancel the classic "homework"
Traditional homework in Russian schools is proposed to be canceled. The State Duma is already preparing a bill to replace it with a more creative one: in the format of projects, clubs and research, Izvestia found out. The document may be submitted to the lower house of parliament in October this year. In general, United Russia supported such an initiative. And in schools, the idea was received without enthusiasm — for this, teachers will have to be retrained and the entire curriculum will have to be rewritten. A bill on the abolition of weekend homework will also be introduced in the autumn, the SRZP reported. What else can await schoolchildren and their parents is in the Izvestia article.
How the State Duma wants to update the homework format
The State Duma is preparing a bill to abolish the classic format of homework in schools. The initiative involves the introduction of a creative approach that will make the educational process interesting and eliminate the possibility of cheating using neural networks, Vladislav Davankov, Vice Speaker of the State Duma (New People), told Izvestia.
— We already have a draft law, and we will invite deputies from other factions to submit it to the State Duma together in the autumn session after discussing alternatives with the professional community. It's time to introduce a progressive approach: creative assignments, research, group and individual projects. But the best thing is full—time schools, when children repeat what they have learned and implement projects after lessons in groups and in a creative format," the parliamentarian said.
The Vice Speaker of the State Duma considers the current format of homework to be, in fact, an imitation of education. "Children pretend to be learning. Teachers — what they teach. But in fact, most simply write off everything from Chat GPT. Therefore, I have long advocated the abolition of homework in its current form," he explained.
It is expected that the bill will be ready by October, Anton Tkachev, a deputy from New People, told Izvestia. According to him, the party is currently holding consultations to clarify the formats of the new version of the homework.
— We need several more meetings with the Ministry of Education, with the expert community, with the public, with the parents of the children, so that this process goes smoothly, and the children do not receive conditional stress due to sudden changes, — said the deputy.
In early September, the party sent a request to the head of the Ministry of Education, Sergey Kravtsov, with a proposal to make the Novosibirsk Region a pilot region. Testing of the new format at the regional level in the city of Novosibirsk, which has a population of one million, will make it possible to scale the idea more effectively to the whole of Russia in the future, Tkachev believes.
— It is not always possible to transfer experiments that have been carried out in Moscow to other regions. This is also a matter of the material base for holding certain events and, of course, people who live in a different rhythm and in a different economic situation," the parliamentarian noted.
United Russia supported such an initiative. When most of the exercises can be done with the help of AI, you need to move on to practical tasks that help develop personal qualities and skills, Artem Metelev, head of the youth policy committee, told Izvestia.
The deputy suggested that the introduction of the new format would require a change in federal state educational standards, which are currently used by all Russian schools.
Even if the State Duma approves the deputies' bill, the implementation of the initiative will require significant resources and state funds, Konstantin Tkhostov, director of Lyceum No. 369 in St. Petersburg, pointed out in a conversation with Izvestia. He recalled that in order to introduce a new format of homework, textbooks will have to be released, programs will have to be rewritten and teachers will have to be retrained.
— We only have reading, Russian, mathematics, the world around us, art, music, physical education and work in elementary school. The older you are, the more subjects you have, and teachers should undergo professional retraining in all of them. Is this possible or not? The question remains open. And most importantly: Who will pay for it? A question for the deputies," said Thostov.
In his opinion, the introduction of a creative format may lead to the fact that the main burden will fall more on adults: "Herbariums in primary schools are a very creative task, the project task is not collected by children at all, but glued at night by parents."
At the same time, a good organization of extended day groups plays a crucial role in the educational process. It is the teachers of the extension program who can teach children a lot, but today it is the lowest-paid teaching position in the school, the lyceum director draws attention to.
What other school initiatives are the deputies discussing?
The problem with homework was raised by State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin in mid-August. He recalled that deputies continue to receive complaints that schoolchildren are severely overloaded and, on average, spend 8-10 hours a day studying. Obviously, this issue was also raised by the Ministry of Education, as from September 1 it set the maximum standards of academic workload for students in grades 1-9. For example, in the first grade it should range from 620 to 653 hours, and in the 8th-9th grades — from 1122 to 1224 hours.
The idea of reducing the workload in schools is supported by the majority of State Duma factions. So, in 2017, Fair Russia for Truth (SRWP) proposed to cancel homework and study on weekends so that children could relax and gain strength for the new school week, SRWP leader Sergei Mironov told Izvestia.
— In the autumn we will submit this proposal to the State Duma again. I would like to add that the issue of the quality of homework and proper load distribution is the competence of teachers, who also need to be unloaded and paid adequately — at least 200% of the average salary, and this is only for one rate," he said.
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation also agrees that the burden on schoolchildren should be reduced. According to Rospotrebnadzor, only 10-12% remain absolutely healthy, while all the others experience chronic health problems, Nina Ostanina, head of the Committee for Family Protection, Fatherhood, Motherhood and Childhood of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, drew attention.
As for changing the format of homework, in her opinion, it's really time to change something, as children have stopped doing exercises on their own.
— They use ready-made answers. As a result, the teacher creates the appearance that he is checking the work, and the children create the appearance that they are doing these jobs on their own. That's why we're all for [new homework formats]," she tells Izvestia.
The idea to systematize homework and stop overloading children is very sensible, Konstantin Tkhostov notes. "But they [the deputies] don't understand that overloading them is not about cramming them with creative tasks. This is an even more complicated process," he said. According to the director of the St. Petersburg Lyceum, the key to successful learning is that the teacher can make the learning process exciting.
Anyway, the speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin wrote in his Telegram channel that the topic of updating homework formats will be closely discussed in the autumn session. The deputies see that most of the tasks are performed using AI, he explained. At the same time, it is obvious that such an initiative, which was proposed by the "New People", will require considerable efforts and expenses on the part of the state. Izvestia asked the Ministry of Education and Science if they were ready to take such a step.
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