Monika Salamánková: Is secondary school for the more talented pupils or more ambitious?
Education and inclusion. Most of people immediately imagine example of elementary school and Roma children or disabled children. In case somebody mentions term inclusion/exclusion in education sphere, we are used to think in accustomed frames thanks to mainstream media. Me either. No doubt, frequented topics are serious and it is needed to stick to them and keep finding ideal options or solutions. On the other hand, it is important to think out of box sometimes. I have read a short article last week. Even if it was quite a short one, it made me think in a different way about institution that used to be (and probably still is) an important part of my life. This institution is secondary school. Concretely, it is our quite unique kind of secondary school called „gymnasium“ that does not have an accurate English equivalent.
Historically, this type of educational institution was appointed to pupils who had bold talents at school. Gymnasium should give more talented people chance to develop their capabilities.
In 1990s, there was an accepted amendment of education statute. The amendment in 1995 (Act n. 138/1995 Sb) established four-year, six-year, and eight-year study programmes at gymnasiums. However, for several earlier decades there were only the four-year programmes available. Nowadays, the general discussion flows about how useful this step has been and what impact this kind of education offers to young Czechs and society in general.
There are those who say that eight-year programmes at gymnasium are highly exclusive and, what is more, they also say it is not true that pupils there are more capable or intelligent. Theirs argument is based on data which shows comparison of final exams results between group of pupils in four-year and eight-year programmes. These results are reportedly not differentiated enough. Simply, there was not a significant gap between those who had studied for longer time (and logically should be more influenced by presence at prestige school) and between those who spent there only half of the time.
Eight-year programmes are criticised because of their rigid methods of tuition, for their lack of innovations and also because they separate children into groups which are quite homogenous. This concept is against the idea of inclusive education movement in the Czech Republic. Consequently, the situation at common secondary school (6th to 9th grade) is still far more problematic. There is a lack of determined teachers, they have lower salary, maybe prestige than teachers at gymnasium. Also nearly all the children who are labelled like „study type“ move to gymnasium. Data shows that about 10 % of pupils in age 11 become students at gymnasium. It leads to less incentive environment at common schools and on the other hand also at gymnasiums.
As was mentioned before, historically, gymnasiums target were extraordinary talented pupils. Applicants still have to pass through unified entrance exams. Problem can be seen in the fact that one can prepare for these exams in advance – for example on a base of Cermat materials or have extra lessons. Preparation takes much effort (by children) and certain amount of money (by parents). Not everybody can afford this investment with uncertain results and not everybody can see any sense in such extra activity. One cannot neglect that social and cultural background are next crucial factors of higher education ambitions and that life plans are connected with it. That is why children of middle-class families are mostly gymnasium students. The success does not have to depend on capability of attendants but on ambitions and possibilities of their parents.
Therefore, we can ask whether the eight-year programmes at gymnasium should be cancelled. Let´s take another point of view. Sometimes, not only people with disabilities or lower income may feel uncomfortable when crowded by people with different prospects, interests, or values. For this time, the first step might be to consider budget for common schools to improve conditions of tuition and activities.