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•    Analysing the results of tests and examinations in the national scalę and reporting to the Minister of National Education and Sport on the level of pupils’ achievements on respective levels of education,

•    Development and dissemination of in-service teacher training curricula in scope of diagnosis and assessment,

•    Keeping the register of the examiners of the Regional Examination Commissions,

•    Development and improvement of electronic system of examination data Processing for the Regional Examination Commissions

•    Inspiring scientific research and innovations in the field of assessment and examination.

The reform of the educational system, which has been implemented in our country sińce 1999, has also included the introduction of a new, coherent and morę objective system of assessment of pupils’ educational achievements. A new solution in this scope is - apart from internal assessment (in schools) - external assessment provided by the educational authorities.

The internal assessment of pupils’ educational achievements in schools is understood as teachers’ recognition of the level of pupils’ progress in acquisition of knowledge and skills in comparison with the educational requirements resulting from the curricula as well as the formulation of the assessment. It includes: establishing the educational requirements and providing students and parents with the information about them, current assessment and semester grading according to the scalę and in forms adopted in a given school, providing grading exams, carrying out end-of-year assessment at the end of a school year (semester) and establishing the conditions under which pupils may improve their finał marks.

The external assessment should allow to provide a diagnosis of pupils’ achievements, to monitor the level of education in schools and to provide objective and comparable information on the quality of school work and to review implemented curricula.

The external assessment includes:

•    A test in the 6^,h grade of primary school - called a test on the level of interdisciplinary skills acquired by pupils and defined in the requirements standards

•    An examination in the 3^rd grade of gymnasium - called the gymnasium examination covering the skills acquired by pupils within the scope of the humanities, mathematics and natural science, defined in the requirements standards.

•    An examination confirming vocational qualifications - called the vocational examination, which is a form of assessment of the level of knowledge and skills acquired by pupils within the scope of a given occupation, defined in the requirements standards which constitute the basis for providing examination confirming pupils’ vocational qualifications; it consists of a written and practical part;

•    Maturity examination (egzamin maturalny) - is a form of assessment of the level of pupils’ generał education; it checks knowledge and skills defined in the examination requirements standards; it consists of a written and orał part.

However the examination requirements standards are developed with regard to so called core curriculum for the respective levels of education - it means the canon of basie teaching contents.

5. Nursery schools

Pre-primary education institutions form a part of the school education system. They organise care and education, thus complementing family education. They also play an important role in compensating environment-related disadvantages, this being achieved through various educational tasks which are designed to support the development of children and to help them prepare for school education.

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