Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Editor's Introduction

2002; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 44; Issue: 12 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2753/res1060-939344123

1558-0423

Anthony Jones,

The fate of all reforms depends on the attitudes and actions of the people closest to implementing them, namely, the teachers. As Gendin and Sergeev note in "School Reform in the Mirror of Teachers' Opinions," many of the reforms currently being pursued by officials have little support among educators, at least in the Krasnoiarsk region where the authors conducted their survey. The data presented in the article show that dissatisfaction among teachers has increased since the end of the Soviet era, especially over such issues as the financing of education, discipline in the schools, and the low salaries and prestige of the teaching profession. In the face of these problems, teachers seem to have lowered their expectations in the classroom. Thus, they now see their task of presenting "a solid body of knowledge" as less important, and are much less concerned with passing on "a substantial store of culture," with helping students to develop their abilities, or of preparing students for a career or for further education. They are, however, in favor of more training for teachers, and of more differentiation in the kinds of education the schools provide. More democracy (an obsessively promoted and discussed issue among educational reformers and officials) is not of primary interest to teachers, though, since "many teachers are of the opinion that relations in school are already sufficiently democratic, and that any further development along these lines poses the danger of permissiveness and anarchy." Another area with little support is that of integrating school subjects, a reform that "has encountered serious obstacles relating to the present unfavorable circumstances in which the schools find themselves, as well as the fact that cadres are not sufficiently trained." Most of the teachers in the survey are also against plans to move to a twelve-year system of education, probably because their experience of other reforms leaves them to expect that the lack of planning and thought about implementation will make the situation even worse than it is now. Plans to reduce student overload by reducing the number of programs in the basic school curriculum also has little support: "Teachers are aware, of course, that this is essential for the sake of maintaining and strengthening students' health, and that given the appropriate conditions (small classes, programmed instruction with the use of computer equipment, a high level of material and technical support for the schools, and so on) such a measure is completely acceptable and even desirable. But they are also aware that such conditions are not going to come about in the mass schools in the foreseeable future. Given the situation as it is today, in fact, the most likely result would be a further decline in the quality of both the scientific and technical and the overall cultural training of the rising generation. Not without good reason, many teachers are afraid that such a measure, under the benign guise of a concern for students' health, is in fact designed to economize on the already skimpy resources being allocated to the schools. Teachers are also worried about the prospect of increasing unemployment in the system of education if that happens." At the same time, the issue of what to do about students' overload is very real, as V.A. Lapshov shows in his article "On the Study-Time Budget of School Students." At present, in some schools students have to attend as many as eight or nine classes a day, plus do the homework that goes with them. In response, students deal with this overload by focusing only on the courses of most importance to them and giving other courses less (or no) attention. As a result, the absolute amount of time spent on homework is often much less than that assigned.