Annals of Philosophy, Social and Human Disciplines (Dec 2011)
The Knowledge Society and the Reform of Creative Writing
Abstract
This article deals with how major top-down reforms in the Romanian higher education system have affected and will continue to affect student writing and have forever challenged and changed teachers’ and students’ traditional roles. The reform of student writing in Romania is initially due to the implementation in the Romanian education system of the Bologna Declaration of 2002 and continues ever stronger due to the extraordinary new Education Law passed by the Romanian Ministry of Education, Research and Innovation in 2011. One of the initial outcomes of the adherence of the Romanian education system to Bologna Declaration was that, while previously to this change Romanian universities demanded very little undergraduate writing especially the original, research-oriented one and, thus, grades relied heavily on the results of the traditional sit-down final examinations, most courses now in the Romanian higher education system include student essay writing and other types of writing and systematic teacher feedback. Creative writing has started to appear here and there, too in the university curriculum especially at private universities. As a result of Romania’s adherence to Bologna Declaration of 2002, Portfolio Assessment, which demands extended writing, has been also introduced in Romania, both at state universities and private ones. As a result of the new 2011 Education Law, even more emphasis will be placed on writing, research, competences and abilities, included practical ones, and creativity at all levels of education, higher education included therefore. The article presents some results from an evaluation of the educational reforms in Romania, mostly of the initial reforms following Romania’s adherence to Bologna Declaration of 2002, but the study considers some of the reforms that follow from the newly passed Romanian Education Law. Mainly the following questions are addressed in this research study (1) Why did the initial reforms change writing practices and how even more we expect writing practices to change as a result of the implementations of the newly passed Education Law?; (2) What other factors have contributed and will further contribute to the change; (3) In what ways have the changes in writing practice, including creative writing practices, affected students and teachers and how further on these writing practices will change as a result of the implementation of new Education Law; and (4) What are unintended results and critical factors in the future development of writing in the aftermath of the new reforms of the Romanian education system?
