Ministers of Education worked on the mistakes

Yesterday, two current and two former “educational” ministers admitted that Russian schoolchildren’s interest in physics has plummeted. In recent years, fewer graduates choose the Unified State Examination in this subject, preferring to take computer science, and then it is difficult for them to study engineering. To solve this problem, the ministers proposed enrolling in engineering faculties based on the results of not two, but three unified state exams – in specialized mathematics, computer science and physics.

The number of school graduates taking the Unified State Exam in physics has been steadily falling in recent years, the head of the Ministry of Education and Science Valery Falkov said at a meeting on Tuesday. According to Rosobrnadzor, in 2020, 139.5 thousand graduates chose the state exam in this subject, in 2021 – 128 thousand, and in 2022 – only 100 thousand. Compared to last year, the average USE score in physics also fell, the minister pointed out , — from 55.9 to 53.8. Even sadder were the data from the rector of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, the former head of the Ministry of Education and Science (from 2012 to 2016) Dmitry Livanov. According to him, over the past 30 years, the time planned for the study of physics in school has decreased by 30%. And over the past four years, the number of physics and mathematics classes has more than halved, from 7,000 to 3,000.

Referring to expert assessments, the rector said: two-thirds of Russian schools pay insufficient attention to teaching physics, so “not a single student” chooses this subject for the USE. At an advanced level, only 3% of Russian students study physics, while places in university engineering programs are reserved for 24% of graduates. As a result, “a significant part (applicants.— “b”) comes to these programs without a sufficient level of training,” the ex-minister stated. The head of the Ministry of Education, Sergei Kravtsov, recognized the trend of reducing the interest of schoolchildren in physics. “But I wouldn’t dramatize,” he said.

Recall that in 2020, the Ministry of Education and Science allowed applicants to independently choose which exam to take for admission to a number of areas – the Unified State Exam in physics or computer science. Engineering directions were on this list. Why choose computer science? Mr. Kravtsov asked a question, and answered himself: “It’s easier to hand over—that’s obvious. Many children are pragmatic, parents are even more pragmatic, so they choose computer science.”

For universities, the choice of computer science by applicants creates additional difficulties. “We are getting very diverse groups that are difficult to train in the same way,” complained Dmitry Sednev, rector of the Tomsk Polytechnic University. “We have to conduct adaptation training within the university. Computer science is still digital literacy and language, and physics is basic literacy and understanding of the world. It cannot be an alternative.” Also, according to him, teachers fix “preparation not for physics, but for the exam.” “This reduces the quality of training,” Mr. Sednev emphasized. “As a result, it takes a semester or a year to level up to the general level.” And the assistant to the president (and in 2004-2012 also the head of the Ministry of Education and Science) Andrey Fursenko noted that the problem is aggravated due to the state’s request for specialists “with engineering thinking.”

Valery Falkov suggested that his colleagues create a separate federal project to improve the quality of teaching physics. Sergey Kravtsov responded with the idea of ​​a concept for the development of engineering education. And although the issues of admission to universities are the responsibility of the Ministry of Education and Science, the head of the Ministry of Education proposed to establish three mandatory USE for engineering faculties, in addition to the state exam in the Russian language: profile mathematics, computer science and physics. Rectors participating in the meeting supported this idea. As Kommersant later found out, such a proposal is already contained in the draft concept of measures to improve the quality of physical education at school (developed by leading universities on the instructions of the Ministry of Education and Science). It provides that “three mandatory” in 2024 will be introduced in engineering and technical universities, and in 2025 – in all.

The document also mentions the expansion of the network of specialized mathematical classes in physics and the preparation of a “modern experimental workshop” in this subject with the necessary re-equipment of schools. Teachers are offered retraining and refresher courses. According to the authors of the concept, this will allow “to form a steady influx of interested applicants with a sufficient level of basic training for natural science and engineering programs in universities to train personnel that ensure the country’s import independence in critical technological areas.”

Anna Vasilyeva