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Description
Pupils in Polish schools are used to a certain pattern: sub-chapter – chapter – quiz – grades. Our observations show that this model does not allow them to pursue their passions and interests. It also leads to conflicts between teachers and parents. We want to do something about it. We target our activities at schools in the entire Poland. We will start a public discussion on the grading system, and we will demonstrate its negative impact on the educational process. We will start from an online conference during which we will present project assumptions to school administrative bodies, schools, and parents. Together with our partner, the onet.pl portal (Ringier Axel Springer Polska), we will launch a social campaign to make parents and pupils aware that they can also engage in the preparation of school documents. The partner will support us with its rich media experience. We will pay a study visit to Bergen in Norway organised by our second partner, Ny-Krohnborg Senter for oppvekst, kultur og Idrett – a Norwegian educational institution that will share its working methods with us. We will utilise our knowledge acquired there to organise provincial debates on the Polish system of education and participation in school, inviting people teaching and working in schools, parents and pupils. We will also analyse conformity of 100 school statutes with the Polish law. Within the project we will hold webinars on evaluation, parents’ role in school, as well as parents’ and pupils’ engagement in school organisation. We will present all materials and opinions gathered, along with the Norwegian educational model during a conference summarising our initiative.
Summary of project results
One of the main problems we tried to address was the failure to comply with educational law on the subject of in-school assessment. In many Polish schools, assessment practices did not correspond to the statutory requirements and the objectives of assessment as defined in the law were not realised in practice. Instead of serving as feedback to students, grades often functioned as grades, which could have a negative impact on students'' motivation to learn and their development.
The lack of coherence between theory and practice was challenging for both students and teachers. There were times when students did not receive adequate feedback on their performance and areas for improvement, making it difficult for them to consciously shape their development. Teachers, on the other hand, were not fully aware of assessment legislation or had difficulties in interpreting and implementing it.
In addition, poor grading practices led to inequality and discrimination among students, which posed a significant social challenge. Rigid approaches to grading favoured certain groups of students (e.g. the gifted) at the expense of others.
In view of the above-mentioned problems, in the project we tried to emphasise the importance of complying with the educational law in the field of in-school assessment and to promote better practices in this area.
The first important element was the organisation of 17 provincial and 20 municipal and district debates on school grading, under the slogan ''Take me to judge, not to evaluate'', which attracted a huge number of participants - a total of 5,500 people, demonstrating the great interest in the issue of intra-school grading.
The next step was 70 webinars on school assessment, which were attended online by as many as 135,000 people. Through these webinars, we reached many teachers, school principals and others interested in the topic across the country. The webinars provided a platform for public discussion on education law and the role of assessment in schools.
A study visit to schools in Bergen, Norway, was an extremely important event. It allowed project participants to directly observe the practices of Norwegian schools that use an alternative approach to assessment - based on feedback instead of grades. Observing the learning process of students without school grades provided valuable lessons and inspiration.
The International Conference on Assessment, under the auspices of the Minister of Education and Science, provided a summary of the project and an opportunity to share lessons learned and present conclusions and recommendations for the education system. The conference was attended by 350 people in person and 1,600 online, again demonstrating the high interest in the topic and the importance of the project for the education community.
During the course of the project, we also developed a variety of materials and reports, including a report on in-school assessment, an analysis of statutes and conclusions and recommendations for the education system.
The main recipients of the project''s activities were school principals, teachers, pupils and parents, as well as teacher training centres. By involving these groups, it has been possible to significantly improve their competences regarding the assessment law and their awareness of the purposes of assessment as defined in the Act.
The project also had an impact on the educational community, enriching their knowledge and skills related to the assessment process. Teachers gained tools to assess more effectively, which contributed to improving the quality of their teaching and learning. School principals gained support in managing their school with the new assessment methods. Pupils, on the other hand, gained greater transparency and understanding of the assessment process, allowing them to better understand their progress and work more effectively on their development. Parents also gained new insights, enabling them to better support their children in their educational journey.
Summary of bilateral results
The bilateral cooperation project has exceeded our original expectations. Its implementation would not have been possible without the participation of the Icelandic partner - the Reykjavik Municipality. Thanks to this partnership, we were able to get a very broad and in-depth look at the Icelandic education system, observe the work of principals and teachers and the activities of students in the learning process. We also observed the organization of school work. The partner also arranged a meeting for us at the Ministry of Education and Children, where we got acquainted with the entire education system in Iceland.The result of the project was to understand the idea of the Icelandic education system and see the implementation of this idea in practice. The direct coverage of the visit on our social networks was very popular. Posts with information about each day of the visit were seen by 1,088,984 people. One of the posts: https://www.facebook.com/zwinnaedukacja/videos/660371852537187?locale=pl_PLObservation of the solutions used in Icelandic schools allows us to implement them in our educational institutions. We propose the application of these solutions during the training sessions we organize for school principals and teachers.On our part, for the teachers of the schools we visited, we conducted training on planning work in agile teams. This way of working fits into the planning of activities in schools, simplifying them and improving the efficiency of this planning. The training was held in the Training Room of the City Hall. https://www.facebook.com/zwinnaedukacja/videos/849785439797391?locale=pl_PL We are confident that the trained teachers will transfer the solutions from the training to their institutions.We intend to continue bilateral cooperation in improving the effectiveness of our mutual activities and exchanging experiences. In the near future, we plan to organize study visits for directors of Polish schools to establishments in Reykjavik.