In Israel, the reform of the matriculation exams (bagrut) is starting , designed to simplify the examination of high school students in a number of humanitarian disciplines. This was announced by the Minister of Education Yifat Shasha-Biton and the Director General of the Ministry of Education Dalit Shtauber at a special press conference on Tuesday, April 26.
The main element of the reform is the rejection of out-of-school examination commissions when taking examinations in literature, the Tanakh, history and the basics of jurisprudence (ezrahut) . In these subjects, students will be able to take exams at school, and the score will be set by the teaching staff together with an external examiner (bochen hitsoni) appointed by the Ministry of Education.
The new matriculation certificate (teudat-bagrut) will include points for the discipline of in-depth study (miktsoa murhav) and three subjects - mathematics, Hebrew and English - exams for which the extracurricular commission will continue to take exams (such exams are commonly called bagrut khizonit ).
This innovation caused sharp criticism even at the development stage. Opponents of the reform argue that the new procedure for passing exams will weaken the study of humanitarian subjects in high school.
In the past two years, when the coronavirus epidemic broke out in Israel, the Ministry of Education made it easier to pass the matriculation exams by allowing high school students to take examinations in the out-of-school commission in only one humanitarian subject. For the remaining three subjects, the exam was taken by a commission formed from the staff of the school where the high school student is studying.
The Ministry of Education stressed that the changes will be carried out gradually, starting from the next (2022/23) academic year, affecting students in grade 10. Exams under the new rules will begin in 2024, and the rules will only apply to students in grade 11. Those who are now finishing 10th or 11th grade will have to take exams according to the old rules.
The reform will require a change in the school curriculum. Students in 10th and then 11th grades will have to take a course in each of the humanities, and the successful completion of the course should be reflected in the certificate as 1.5 academic units (yehidat limud) . Another 0.5 units can be earned by passing the term paper.
It is allowed to submit a collective term paper in several disciplines, created by a small group of students (2-3 people).
For different systems of education - state (mamlahti) , state-religious (mamlahti-dati) , orthodox (haredi) , Arabic and Druze - specialized rules for writing works will be established.
The final score will be made up of points obtained at school (50%) and issued by the attestation department of the Ministry of Education (50%). The oral presentation of the work by the students should also be taken into account.
The press conference emphasized that out-of-school examiners would conduct random checks on coursework to ensure "high quality and credibility of the certificate."
Presenting the draft reform to the media, the head of the Ministry of Education, Yifat Shasha-Biton, said: "The world is rapidly changing, and the education system must adapt to the changes. We decided to take a truly revolutionary step that will not only change the procedure for passing matriculation exams, but also affect the learning process schoolchildren of all ages, throughout the education system.
According to the minister, the goal of the reform is to give high school students opportunities that will be useful to them in choosing a profession and continuing the education process. "We want students to stop cramming and start to really take an interest in what they are being taught," Shasha-Biton said. She stressed that the implementation of the reform will be accompanied by the strengthening of the teaching staff of schools.