Back
Trends in standards and professional development of physics teachers
Ovidiu Florin Caltun
Faculty of Physics, “A.I.Cuza” University, 11 Blvd Carol I



GIREP Seminar
2003


The Bologna declaration has firmly supported the harmonizing of educational systems in all the European countries. Romania along with the other ex-communist countries has high expectances from the reform of education. Since 1990 with its ups and downs the reform has strongly affect the national curriculum and therefore the whole education system. Firstly both professors and school physics teachers are seriously concerned about, not way worried by the changing of the number of the classes allocated to the school subjects and they are rather skeptical about the continually changing contents of the various curricula. A second reason for concern is the students performance against the decreasing number of science classes in favor of the social science. The change has initially affected the low secondary school, which is compulsory.Then the wave of the reform has reached the upper secondary school. The students have been expected to achieve high schools performances whilst the number of classes has been decreasing and the job market and the unemployment have been completely demotivating.The academic study seems to have hit a minimum level as if it were at low tide. Few young people still appear interested in building up a career as schoolteacher. The student knowledge has been poorer and poorer both at the entry examination and on graduation. The best students have begun to take great interest in job offers from the most remote places in the world.The present study is based on my own observation and on pedagogical research and also on some conclusions drowns from the START project, which took place in Romania under the coordination of the British Council – Romania. The study reveals the results of questionnaires about the Students, Trainers, Teachers and Mentors needs for initial in service training. The results of the above mentioned questionnaires together with interviews involving the same people have shown that both the trainers and the mentors/teachers are at ease speaking about their teaching experiences. They seem to stress on the educational aspects of their experiences and they rarely make any references to standards.