When does the 2022-2023 academic year end? How to grade students who studied in two different schools simultaneously? How are final grades calculated? Why should teachers be liberal with grades for schoolchildren? Serhii Diatlenko, an education management expert of U-LEAD with Europe, answered these questions.
June or May? When will the summer vacation start?
According to the Law on Comprehensive Secondary Education, the academic year must be completed by the 1st of July. Under martial law, this provision is suspended, as well as the requirement of 175 academic days. According to Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 711 dated 24 June 2022, the academic year runs from 1 September to 30 June. Because of “30 June”, educators are wondering whether everyone has to work until this date and when they can go on vacation.
I would like to clarify this. The duration of the academic year is determined by the Resolution, but the academic year is not only lessons. How long to study is determined by the curriculum of the institution adopted by the decision of the Pedagogical Council and put into effect by the order of its head. All our curricula are designed for 35 weeks. If the school has completed them, schoolchildren go on vacation. Otherwise, classes can last until 30 June.
Why is it so important that students work through the planned curriculum? The issue of educational damage is being considered.
Educational damage can be caused by blackouts, air strikes, distance learning, hostilities, etc. Another reason is the inability of the educational institution to complete the curriculum. That is why I advise you to ensure a 35-week academic year so that the institution itself is not to blame for educational damage.
Returning students and grading them
First. After returning to the territory of residence, all students are enrolled in the educational institutions where they studied before the forced displacement. A request from one of the parents is sufficient for this.
Second. If children (have) resided in an uncontrolled or de-occupied territory or in localities on the contact line and have been unable to study for more than six months according to any form of education, they should be reinstated in the school where they used to be enrolled or should be enrolled in another school in Ukraine upon request of one of the parents. Such students’ knowledge levels in various subjects should be assessed and the educational process should be adjusted. Grades obtained in educational institutions in the occupied territories are discarded.
Grades of students who studied in other Ukrainian schools or abroad must be credited. Based on the decision of the Pedagogical Council, grades obtained in extracurricular institutions (music, PE, IT, drawing, etc.) may be credited.
Third. I know that there are teachers who are very principled. “The student didn’t get in touch, didn’t send their work on time, so I won’t grade them.” But keep in mind that the end-of-semester grading can be done based on the current grades in addition to the final tests. It can be a quiz, a test, a final paper or even an oral interview over the phone.
Try to side with the child when grading, and then you can make up for the missing knowledge together. Do not try to drive yourself and the child into a corner from which it will be difficult to find a way out later. A grade should be an incentive for learning rather than a punishment for the student.
About the State Final Examination and moving to the next level
This year, students of all years are exempted from the State Final Examination.
As for moving to the next academic year, if any difficulties arise, there are two rules that should be followed. Firstly, read the Procedure for Transferring Students of General Secondary Education to the Next Year. Secondly, when considering controversial or unregulated issues of grading and transfer of students to the next year, the Pedagogical Council can make its own decisions within the limits of autonomy in the best interest of the child.
