Updating the procedure for competitive selection of school textbooks is an important step towards improving their content and quality.
This was emphasised by Minister of Education Serhiy Shkarlet, commenting on the work of the Ministry of Education and Science to improve the quality of school textbooks.
According to him, the Ministry of Education started working in this area last year.
«Everyone remembers the criticism from parents and teachers about the 9th grade chemistry textbook published in 2017 and the 11th grade world history textbook published in 2019. I believe that the criticism is absolutely justified, as there was some inappropriate nonsense on the pages of educational literature,» the minister said.
He also noted that the MES team began to combat this problem by significantly improving the selection procedure.
«Competitive selections of textbooks (except for electronic ones) for the 9th grade and manuals for students of complete general secondary education and teachers have already been announced under the new rules. The main difference between the new Procedure is complete transparency and openness of all stages of the competition,» Shkarlet said.
In particular, only those textbooks that have been granted the stamp of the Ministry of Education and Science will be able to participate in the selection. Thus, the process of textbook examination will be moved beyond the competition and will precede it. This will increase the time for experts to work, as well as provide authors and publishers with the opportunity to revise textbooks after receiving comments.
In addition, the Minister of Education stressed that from now on, textbooks will be submitted to the competition in the form of original layouts, and more time will be provided for familiarisation with the newly created textbooks.
Discussion of the textbooks by teachers, parents and other stakeholders was also made mandatory.
Special attention will be paid to the design of educational publications.
«We are not stopping there. We plan to resume the process of testing textbooks before their mass introduction into educational institutions,» the Minister of Education summed up.
As you know, on 14 December, the Verkhovna Rada passed a law aimed at improving the scientific and methodological support of education and the quality of school textbooks.
