Since September, the standards of the New Ukrainian School have been introduced in the educational institutions of the city. About 4,400 first-graders began studying under the new program. In Mariupol, the work of the first academic half year had been summed up.
According to Angelika Medvedeva, a specialist in the education department of the city council, the teacher’s task in the New Ukrainian school is not just to tell the material but to help the student find the answers and instill a desire to learn new things. The criteria of behavior, attentiveness and sociability replaced negative assessment and a red pen.
‘This reform can be called the most ambitious in Ukraine. Now the learning process has become more informal, motivational and integrated. Several items are connected in one lesson, because children perceive the world holistically. In 2018, first-graders began studying in Ukrainian. So, the school is gradually moving to the state language, ‘ noted the deputy director for educational work of school No. 5, the regional coach of the New Ukrainian School, Elena Andreyeva.
According to the new program, ‘I Explore the World’ mini-theaters appeared in the first classes, where children try themselves in different roles. Every morning begins with active communication. In the classes there is a ‘mood scale’, each child can put his badge on a cheerful or sad smile.
There are mobile desks in the classrooms which are easy to rearrange during the day. Changing the situation, children get equal opportunities in choosing a place. School desks are arranged in rows or gathered in a circle, depending on the topic of classes. There are also play areas and mini-galleries in the classrooms, where crafts and drawings of all pupils are shown.
During the lessons, the teachers tell how the knowledge gained can be used in the future. The child learns to adapt in the new environment, to take the initiative and be independent. From the first grade, teachers help students identify their strengths and develop them further.
Parents of first graders say that innovations were treated at first warily. - The opinion changed having seen the result. ‘Classes last from 8:00 to 12: 00-13: 00, with lunch breaks. First graders do not have to do homework. This frees up time for visiting additional circles or chatting with friends. At first I was worried, but I realized that my daughter had enough knowledge gained at school. She likes to go to school, the learning process is perceived as a game. Every time she tells what she has learned new. She has already learned to read, write and count,’ says the mother of a student of grade 1-B of school No. 5, Valentina Migotskaya.
