Bulgaria is changing the national exam taken after 10th grade this year. A planned change to the exam after 7th grade has been put off by a year. Education minister Prof. Georgi Valchev announced this at a session of parliament's education and science committee.
He was replying to a question from Fatime Yildiz of the DPS party. She asked what part formative and summative assessment should play in schools, and whether the system needs to change, including for regular tests and exams.
Yildiz said summative assessment is gaining weight, with ever more frequent tests, while formative assessment gets less attention. She reminded the committee that results from national exams in 4th and 7th grade count towards the points used for admission to specialised high schools and classes.
Valchev said the change in assessment will depend mainly on the new curricula now being drawn up, because the system has to be reset. "The education system is set up to encourage the kind of assessment that causes an abnormal growth in private tutoring," he said. He added that basic schooling should give pupils enough knowledge to move on to the next stage.
The plan announced last year to change the exam after 7th grade caused unrest among parents, pupils and teachers. After talks with parents, MPs and teachers, the ministry decided to allow one more year. The minister said the delay is meant to put parents and pupils more at ease, because this stage matters a great deal for their development.
The changes for 10th grade were announced in advance, and Valchev said pupils, teachers and parents have been given the chance to learn the new exam format. He said the 10th-grade exam measures a pupil's level and matters less for continuing education, but it shows the direction of the changes.
The minister said changes must go together with preparing parents and pupils, or they create needless tension in society. In his view, a quick change to testing without changes to the curricula and new teaching content means adjusting the exam without adjusting the system.
Valchev also stressed the importance of oral exams. A pupil should show how they argue a case and put a thought into words, how they order their arguments, how they find and defend a thesis and how they challenge accepted claims. The minister added that nothing in the teaching content is eternal, because science develops and new findings must be added all the time.