Drucker: Curriculum Reform Aims to Make Learning Useful in Practice

Bratislava, 31 August (TASR) - The aim of the curriculum reform taking effect at all first years of primary schools as of September is to ensure that children know and understand what they are learning and can also apply it in their everyday lives and in practice, Education, Research, Development and Youth Minister Tomas Drucker (Voice-SD) told TASR on Monday with respect to changes in education in the 2026/2027 school year. As an example, Drucker cited a maths lesson in which children learn to calculate percentages. He pointed out that pupils can solve numerous examples, but it is questionable whether they know how to apply them in practice. Children, for example, often don't know what a 15-percent loan means, whether this is a lot or a little, or what it means for them. In other words, knowledge hasn't been translated into understanding. "Then a situation arises in life in which we want them to be able to decide whether it's a good idea to take out a mortgage and at what interest rate, and what's actually good for them," said the education minister. He believes that even in an age of artificial intelligence, when everything is available on the internet, people should still know certain facts and dates by heart. He cited the beginning and end of the Second World War as examples, describing them as "key" facts. "Memorising and having knowledge both make sense, but if we don't understand the essence of this tragic global conflict, what happened and how to prevent something similar in the future, then I don't think that knowing when the Second World War began and ended and who won it is enough," stated the education minister. According to Drucker, the curriculum reform doesn't introduce any entirely new idea. Its aim is to return education to its essence, so that children won't merely recite what they have learnt by heart, but above all understand it. This doesn't mean that memorisation will disappear from schools. Children will continue to learn things by heart, including poems, and recite them. What is important, however, is that they should also understand what they are learning, are able to think about it and use their knowledge. During the first three years of the gradual introduction of the new educational programme, 944 primary schools voluntarily joined the reform, representing almost half of all primary schools in Slovakia. In the first year, nearly 40 schools began teaching under the new system, while in the second year there were more than 400 of them. As of September, all remaining schools will join. The change is slated to begin with first-year pupils and progress with them into higher grades in subsequent years. mf/df