NEW MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGIES IN PEDAGOGY

New difficulty scale of subjects

Authors

How to cite

GOST Dzyatkovskaya E. N. New difficulty scale of subjects // Education Management Review. 2026. Vol. 16. No. 9. P. 276-285. DOI: 10.25726/g1987-2142-9758-e
APA Dzyatkovskaya, E. N. (2026). New difficulty scale of subjects. Education Management Review, 16(9), 276-285. https://doi.org/10.25726/g1987-2142-9758-e

Abstract

The article presents the conceptual basis for updating the scale of difficulty of academic subjects in the general education system, which is intended for hygienic regulation of students' academic workload. The scale of difficulty of academic subjects, developed by hygienists in the 1970s, was based on the subjective perception of the difficulty of a subject by students. In the 2000s, it was supplemented with an ergonomic characteristic, which is the subjective perception of the exhaustion of a subject by students. Today, with significant changes in the content, methods, and tools of education, as well as the health status of the child population, there is a need to update the scale of difficulty. The author argues that what is needed is not cosmetic changes, but a reflection on the methodology of their construction. The current medical and sociological nature of the existing scales is insufficient for an integrated assessment of the impact of academic workload on the health and education of modern students. Based on the theory of systems, a three-component model of the difficulty scale is proposed, which reproduces the control system in complex self-regulating socio-natural systems. This includes the main control loop (which regulates the accessibility of educational material for students and the achievement of educational outcomes), the adaptive loop (which regulates the fatigue of educational activities and maintains the student's academic performance), and the protective loop (which compensates for the difficulty and fatigue of the subject through the student's academic motivation, self-education skills, self-regulation, and self-help). The three-component difficulty scale is an analogue of nature-like control, which is characterized by stability, reliability, and the ability to self-compensate for overloads.

Keywords

student health difficulty scale of academic subjects criteria and indicators of academic subject difficulty interdisciplinarity psychological hygienic and didactic approaches to regulating academic workload

Funding

The work was carried out as part of State Assignment № 073-00033-26-01 «Scientific Justification of Improving the Difficulty Scale of Subjects Studied in General Education»

References

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NEW MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGIES IN PEDAGOGY

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