Teachers disapprove of some provisions of the new curriculum, in particular the integration of certain subjects. The teachers think that the retraining that they will have to do in order to teach the new disciplines will be insufficient, affecting students and education in general. Opinions in this regard were expressed at a new round of public discussions organized by the Ministry of Education and Research.
Vitalie Condraticov, a physics teacher at Evrica Lyceum, believes that if several subjects are combined and taught by one teacher, the level of education will decrease. In his opinion, you can’t do so much retraining, as it is demanding for the teacher, and then in a few years it turns out that there was no need for that retraining. He also said that the last curriculum was adopted in 2019, and so far no adjusted textbooks have been published, those from 2013 are still being used. The teacher wonders where resources will be found to edit textbooks in the next two years. In his opinion, merging physics, chemistry and biology into one discipline will negatively influence the way these sciences are studied.
Anatol Gremalschi, one of the authors of the new curriculum, noted that the integration of subjects is proposed for two middle school classes. “We want physics and chemistry in the high school years to be consciously chosen and taught with love, and for students to achieve good results”. He added that Moldova has poor results in the PISA tests, and the provisions of the new curriculum aim to improve them.
Iulia Baerle, a teacher at the Natalia Dadiani Lyceum, believes that the PISA results distort the existing academic reality in Moldova. She says interest in the PISA tests should be raised, there should be model tests, exercise books, the child should be informed about these delays. Also, she does not agree that a teacher should teach different subjects. “In front of the student must come an informed teacher, who knows well the discipline taught”.
Radmira Lâsîi, a teacher at the Fetești Lyceum, says that she did requalifications, but the knowledge gained cannot be compared with that of the basic specialization. “This is putting the cart before the horse, things are proposed for which the teachers are not prepared”, the teacher commented on the intention to merge several subjects, as well as other innovations from the new curriculum.
Viorica Andrițchi, another author of the curriculum, said that the concept of curriculum development proposes innovative pedagogical practices and experiences, implemented with the support of professional mentors, modern textbooks, including digital ones, a portal with educational resources, portfolios, educational software, didactic and educational integrative projects. Schools are not forced to apply that educational plan, only those who choose to do so.
One novelty of the school curriculum development concept is that students will have only four basic mandatory subjects: Romanian, mathematics, the first foreign language, world history and Romanian history (grades IV, V-IX and X-XII) and science (grades I-IV), which form the so-called “common trunk of general culture”. In addition to these basic subjects, there will be other compulsory ones, but they will not count towards the average grade and will not matter when transferring to a different school. Other subjects will be optional.
The new national curriculum is to be implemented in select schools from September 2025, and from September 2027 it will be gradually implemented across the system.
