The excessively complex and academic language used in Azerbaijani textbooks hinders students from independently mastering the subject matter, making them dependent on teacher or tutor support.
It is interesting to consider, what should be prioritized in new generation textbooks, beyond academic rigor, to help students grasp topics more easily?
Əlihüseyn Yaqubov, Azerbaijani language and literature teacher, director, and “Young Teacher of the Year” at Qarabağ village full secondary school in Fuzuli district, shared his thoughts on the topic with AzEdu.az.
According to him, the curriculum is sometimes challenging for students. When programs cover more academic topics, this leads to children being overloaded and a decrease in their interest in lessons.
“In the books published in the last one or two years, especially in Azerbaijani language textbooks, topics have been made more accessible for students' comprehension. However, in any case, the problem of overload persists.
To solve this problem, the issue of extending working hours, which is being discussed in Azerbaijan, is extremely important, and I believe this step should be implemented more quickly. At the same time, high salaries commensurate with working hours should be offered so that teachers are not inclined towards tutoring.
Tutoring activities are mainly related to both students' desire to learn more and teachers' desire to earn more. This, especially in higher grades, can affect the school's reputation to some extent, as students dedicate more time to extracurricular activities.
One of the important points in solving the problem is the revision of teaching materials, especially textbooks for higher grades. At the same time, additional test materials aligned with the admission program can be offered in secondary schools. If primary teaching materials are provided free of charge, supplementary materials can be offered on a paid basis at a reasonable price. Thus, students would have the opportunity to benefit from these materials".
Completely eliminating tutoring does not seem realistic, but it is possible to regulate this burden within the school.
“When we look at students' interests, we see that we live in the ICT era and tired students tend to direct their attention elsewhere. Therefore, the issues we have mentioned must definitely be resolved.
It is difficult to completely stop tutoring activities. A teacher provides additional services in their free time and receives payment in return. However, it is possible to regulate this process more effectively.
Based on the experience of developed countries, students staying at school after lessons, organizing additional classes within the school, explaining tomorrow's topics in advance, and involving additional trainers and teacher assistants in the school can reduce the workload".
