Ministry launches trial run of new state school-leaving exams
After years of preparations, the Czech Education Ministry has launched a trial run of the new state school-leaving exams that should test the system before the real exams are sat by some 100,000 secondary school students next June. A vast majority of the country’s secondary schools are taking part in the mock examinations, although many teachers and students have doubts about the new system.
The Education Ministry began distributing packages with mock school leaving exams to secondary schools around the country on Monday; by the end of the week, all of the 1225 schools taking part will have received their exam forms, and the mock exams will begin next week.
Pavel Zelený is the head of CERMAT, a ministry-run organization responsible for the new state exams. He explains what the objectives of the mock exams are.
“One of them is to check whether technology-wise and organization-wise we are ready to launch the state school-leaving exam. We also want schools, teachers and students to get a taste of what the exams will entail in some six or seven months’ time. I think it will be a good guideline both for students and teachers what to focus on in preparing for the exam.”
Uniform state school-leaving exams in the Czech Republic were scrapped after the fall of communism, and schools have since been free to design their own exams. But the push to re-introduce a standardized school-leaving certificate began in the late 1990s, and a law on the new state exams was approved three years ago.
Although the new state exam has meet with opposition, particularly from students, a great majority of Czech secondary schools are taking part in the mock examinations. One of them is a Brno Spanish-language grammar school. Its deputy director is Jarmila Červenáková.
“We decided to take part because I think it‘s a good opportunity for both the teachers and students to find out what it will be like. As an English teacher, I think it’s a good idea to have a written exam as part of the school-leaving examinations. On the other hand, the whole matter is very complicated and I’m afraid there might be problems with its organization.”
Another school that is participating in the trial run is the Czech-English grammar school in České Budějovice. Deputy director Štěpánka Kloudová says their students are not sure what benefits the exams will bring them.
“To be honest, they are a little puzzled because they know – especially those who are going to graduate next year – that their priority is international certificates and our own school-leaving exams, because that’s what they need for the entrance exams to universities.
In protest of the new exams, some students have even suggested boycotting the mock exams. But ministry officials say this will have no effect; the trial run should test the system rather than students knowledge. That will only be examined in June, when all of the 100,000 or so of secondary school students will sit the new exams for real.
