In grades 5–9 of Ukrainian schools, the process of maintaining class registers has been simplified
The procedure for maintaining class registers has been simplified for teachers of grades 5–9. The changes primarily concern the recording of grades and performance groups, while the basic principles of student assessment remain unchanged.
Andriy Butenko, Ukraine’s Minister of Education and Science, announced that from now on, teachers are not required to indicate performance groups next to each grade. Additionally, teachers will assign a single grade per subject per semester.
Previously, teachers were required to indicate next to each grade which performance group it belonged to. As a result, at the end of a semester, a student could end up with several grades for a single subject.
According to Butenko, this grading system has been in place in schools for the past few years. However, in practice, recording performance groups in the grade book created an additional burden for teachers, who repeatedly expressed concerns about the complexity of this procedure.
At the same time, simplifying the grade books does not mean abolishing result groups or changing the assessment approach itself.
Butenko emphasized that the State Standard for Basic Secondary Education under the New Ukrainian School (NUS) remains in effect. The result groups stipulated by the standard and the curricula are also retained.
Teachers must continue to assess students’ achievement of the learning outcomes defined by the standard. The competency-based approach remains the foundation of assessment, and formative assessment is retained in full.
At the same time, teachers will independently determine how often and when to assign grades, as well as the methods used to assess learning outcomes. If indexing by outcome groups is a convenient tool for a particular teacher, they may continue to use it.
“Everything that determines the quality of classroom instruction remains in the teacher’s hands,” Butenko emphasized.
The head of the ministry specifically drew attention to the significant workload teachers face today. This involves not only teaching lessons and grading assignments but also preparing for the next day, communicating with parents, and working with students who have gaps in their learning due to remote learning and relocations.
Added to this are lessons in shelters during air raid alerts and resuming classes after the all-clear.
Against this backdrop, teachers also spend time maintaining class registers and preparing reports and certificates. That is why the Ministry of Education and Science considers it important to streamline procedures that take up teachers’ non-working hours.
“I believe that personal time should be devoted first and foremost to recuperation and spending time with loved ones and family,” the minister explained.
We should add that Zelenskyy instructed the Cabinet of Ministers to check the accessibility of schools and hospitals.
