The Curriculum Reform as a Means to Upgrade Technology Education at Lower Secondary Schools in Slovakia

Abstract

In Slovakia, various initiatives aimed at supporting technical or polytechnic education at lower secondary schools (ISCED 2) were carried out. Despite the efforts made, these initiatives did not have a positive effect on increasing the interest of pupils in studying at technical vocational schools (ISCED 3). The curriculum plays a significant role in this. The Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports of the Slovak Republic is currently preparing a curriculum reform plan for primary and secondary levels of education (ISCED 1-3). The paper presents the results of a survey focused on assessing the curricular content of the school subject technology from pupils’ point of view. The research survey was carried out with a sample of 101 pupils. To collect research data, a questionnaire was used. The key items of the questionnaire were focused on finding out pupils’ favourite subjects, favourite topics or activities, the impact of teaching technology on pupils’ professional orientation, and their expectations in connection with technically-oriented subjects taught at secondary schools. It has been found out that pupils’ attitudes to the school subject technology is significantly negative. However, this statement has to be considered not only in relation to the content of the subject but also in relation to the way in which the subject is taught at schools. The pupils express an interest in practical activities during which they can produce various objects or products. When the pupils were asked to evaluate the subject using a traditional classification scale 1 (excellent) – 5 (fail/insufficient), only four pupils rated technology with the grade 1, while up to 11 pupils evaluated the discipline by the grade 5. The final (average) grade of the subject was 3.