Dmitry Khoma: «Every school must work for a common result»
Everything goes into the achievement bank
Dmitry Khoma, Head of the Main Department for Education of the Regional Executive Committee, emphasized this point. Every school in the region must make its feasible contribution to the common achievement bank of the education system. While the Vitebsk region as a whole shows good results in academic competitions, centralized testing, and admission to secondary vocational and higher education institutions, there are issues with individual schools.
Optimization will continue; this is an inevitable aspect of the development of the education sector, but it is aimed at improving the system. And it is gratifying that in the districts, schools that receive assistance from the Regional Executive Committee in improving their material base not only utilize this opportunity for the benefit of children but also yield corresponding results. As an example, Dmitry Khoma cited Dubrovno Secondary School, where a robotics class was established several years ago. Today, students from this educational institution can compete with their peers from the regional center, demonstrating high proficiency in "communicating" with robots and programming them.
Regarding subject Olympiads, the Vitebsk region still has room for growth. In recent years, our region has moved from sixth to fourth position in terms of the number of republican-level diplomas, but there is potential, and we must strive for more. This year, schoolchildren from the region achieved a success rate of almost 45% in terms of prize-winning places at the Olympiad (out of the total number of participants from our region).
– This is a good indicator, – noted Dmitry Leonidovich, – but we need at least 50%.
Consequently, it is necessary to enhance the preparation of students in subjects, find incentives for successful students, and encourage participation in Olympiads.
Staff rotation is important
The work with personnel should also be taken seriously, emphasized Dmitry Khoma. Young specialists need to be retained in their first place of employment, and the Main Department for Education has financial resources for this, among other things.
– The trend is such that when a young teacher comes to their first job, they are usually given a teaching load of 20 hours, and in the next year, at best, 25 hours, – noted Dmitry Leonidovich. – But if a teacher is energetic, eager to grow further, and wants to stay in their profession, then the school administration is obliged to help them. For example, one can apply for early assignment of a qualification category, which will also lead to an increase in salary.
An analysis of the personnel should be conducted at the local level. Experienced teachers, who continue to hold their important and responsible positions even after retirement, need to be guided towards the understanding that their workload will be gradually distributed among younger colleagues. The region should experience a rejuvenation of its teaching staff.
– No one diminishes the merits of teachers with significant experience, however, it is necessary to prepare young people not only for pedagogical but also for managerial work, – believes Dmitry Khoma.
The potential of novice teachers is great, and it needs to be noticed and promoted in a timely manner, to interest a graduate of a pedagogical university, and to retain them in their first place of employment.
Into Business from the School Bench
Also at the meeting of educators, opportunities for pre-professional training in schools were discussed. For example, the Regional Institute for the Development of Education can provide useful information, including methodological guides on organizing extracurricular activities in entrepreneurship – the so-called business school.
The state is interested in the intensive development and rejuvenation of small businesses. The private sector of the economy is mobile, capable of quickly responding to changes in consumer demand, including that of foreign consumers. But in order to competently organize one's own business, one needs to know where to start, how to conduct market research, what documents are necessary, and to study the possibilities.
– Professional qualities for many professions are laid at school: there are medical, agricultural, and pedagogical classes, – said Ida Sitnikova, Head of the Department of Educational, Ideological, Socio-Pedagogical and Psychological Work of VOIRO. – The same principles can be used to stimulate students' entrepreneurial spirit and economic education of schoolchildren. In our institute, we train teachers who, as is known, are far from the business environment, on how to conduct extracurricular activities, organize educational business companies, unite children by interests, and promote students' ideas.
For example, in additional classes, boys and girls can learn how to draw up a business plan, develop key activities, maintain documentation, search for sales markets, and raw material bases. All this will be implemented in the form of a simulation model, as the practical part, including the intricacies of taxation and salary payments, is still too complex for children of this age. Through a kind of game of businessmen, the children will master the basics, and by the time they graduate from the educational institution, they will decide which niche they want to occupy.