INNOVATIONS IN FOREIGN SCHOOL EDUCATION

Abstract

The article presents an overview of innovations in the school system of certain foreign countries. The purpose of the article is to describe the changes in the modern foreign school and to gain useful experience in the formation of schoolchildren’s competencies necessary for life in modern conditions. Currently in school didactics there are constant discussions about the introduction of new school subjects that have more in common with our modern life. School subjects that are studied at school today were already in the school curriculum in the past, and even the century before. However the school must correspond to current realities. In today’s world students need to learn “soft skills” to be competitive and successful in their profession. Today the society needs initiative, independent thinking, creative people who are able to perceive reality critically, who know the basics of digital literacy. New school subjects to be introduced into the curriculum should better prepare graduates for their future lives in the context of globalization, digitalization and climate change. The goal of modern education is to “teach how to learn”. Therefore it is necessary to strengthen at all levels of school education the tendency to develop in students independent thinking, creativity, the ability to project new own research. The article describes and analyzes individual school subjects introduced into the school curriculum in a number of countries in recent decades. In some schools in Germany the school subjects “Research”, “Care”, “Nutrition and Health”, “Happiness” are studied. Schools in Italy, New Zealand, Finland have introduced the subject “Climate Change and Sustainable Development”, etc. Examples of the main forms of organizing lessons and the main approaches (project-based learning, cross-subject learning) are given. The role of the teacher is defined, they play the role of a consultant, whose main task is to motivate the student to research, regardless of the upcoming assessment, to teach them to think. The main principles in the implementation of student projects are the integration of individual school subjects, practical orientation, connection with modernity.