Secondary education system it is a little more adapted to children than ours. The second is to work with them, one lesson goes through several hours, you don’t “race” through the material. Projects are done at school, not for parents to do at home. The goal is for the child to learn on his own and the basis of the lesson is to help the student master the material, Višnja Kova tells us. Vezmarović, prof. biology advisor at Sisak Gymnasium.
She recently returned from successfully completing the prestigious Fulbright TEA scholarship at Florida Gulf Coast University in the USA. Prof. Kovač Vezmarović she attended courses in pedagogy and work methodology and got acquainted with new digital methods in teaching. She also gave lectures to the students there. After her return, she shared her experiences with her colleagues and talked with us as well.
‘Seven subjects are too few’
High schools in the USA are of general type. Everyone attends the same program, and the decision about choosing a profession and university is made in the last year at the age of 18. The advantage is that the children are more mature. Electiveness, the professor believes, is also an advantage compared to our high schools, where students have to take 16 subjects a year from start to finish. In the USA, in addition to the two compulsory subjects – mathematics and English, they choose two semi-electives, which they study for three years (for example, biology and history) and three optional ones, completely at will, which they can study for only one year, and then choose another.
– I consider electives to be a better system, but I think seven subjects are too few. In our gymnasiums, students are definitely overloaded. I have been teaching children advanced biology for years, even though some of them are studying history. It would be good if I could at least choose the basic level – the same.
Students in the USA have opportunities to listen to subjects such as digital marketing, design. They are offered everything, culinary arts (after four years the student can work as an assistant cook), health subjects, Cambridge subjects (with a much higher hourly rate than here), engineering, foreign languages, chemistry, psychology…
“The emphasis is on prototyping and that children find what they are interested in. On the other hand, there is no continuity like here where one teacher often follows a child from 1st to 4th grade,” writes the professor.
Everyone uses Google Classroom’
Teaching is much more project-oriented and independent work, from group projects to problem tasks, concrete applications. The teacher monitors their progress and helps them.
“One concept is explained, let’s say the basics of electronegativity, it takes 5-10 minutes, the rest of the hour the children practice tasks that are then solved together on the board”, he says.
Digitization is much more present in teaching. All students have laptops.
– Everyone uses Google classroom, there are all the materials, all the tasks, assignments… so that when you don’t come to school, you know everything. There is no broken phone like here. Not to mention sending private messages to students. I started to use the smart board and online materials a lot more in class – said prof. Kovač Vezmarovć.
During the holidays, it is forbidden to leave the school, and the discipline varies, as with all students in the world.
Everything is evaluated
Assessment is another significant difference, notes the professor. In the USA, students are evaluated and tested much more.
– They have many more ways of testing. Absolutely everything is graded and everything is included in the final grade – from assignments, projects… Electronic standardized tests are conducted throughout the year, from educational to state tests and the like. Our students meet the standardized test only at graduation and only then say: ‘Where am I?’ But that is very late – concludes the professor.
A standardized test is written after the first year of English and mathematics, to make an assessment of how well one knows. If knowledge is not adopted, there is no fall. In the second year, geometry is studied. Those who do not master both, enroll in algebra again in the third year. They are offered help. in school, instruction is not required and is not paid for outside of school.
Counselors for graduation, colleges…
Schools have a lot administrative staff and advisors for helpć students and teachers. There is a special counselor for admission to college, for graduation, several for educational problems, psychologists. Teachers have a much higher hourly rate than in Croatia, but they also have a lot more pre-prepared materials.
– In relation to what they can do with their salary, they are better paid than us, but for the USA they have lower salaries. But those with that salary can live much better, they go out, eat out, and that’s not something foreign to them – he says.
Everyone leaves from Sisak, Petrinja
We also ask her how it is to study in Sisak, is the pressure on gymnasiums as great as in Zagreb?
– No, children here prefer to go to vocational schools because they know that they will be less successful there. They realize late that they have to study a lot for graduation. But from all the smaller towns, Sisak, Petrinje, Glina, students go to bigger towns anyway. The children left because they did not want to be in a city that was destroyed, in which there are no facilities – he said.
Professor Kovač Vezmarović believes that our secondary education is better because children are guided moreć from the beginning, and everyone can progress optimally. He believes that there are too many subjects and materials, especially in high school, where students should have more options for direction. He also believes that we need a lot more standardized tests in electronic form because it would make it easier for both teachers and students to know where they are with their knowledge. Finally, and no less important, we need to work on the status of teachers, if you want quality, you need to pay for it, he concludes.
There are not enough bus drivers
– The classrooms are excellently equipped, there are many more opportunities for practical teaching, the state helps a lot, they get ready-made presentations, digital tools, tests
– The tutorials are free, but almost no one learns from them anymore, everything is learned from digital materials and through practical teaching.
– Classes start mostly at seven o’clock because there are not enough school bus drivers, which most of the students come to
– All students have a free breakfast, and lunch consists of fast food, milk, some fruit
– Classes end on May 30 and begin on August 10