Nearly 2,200 students from 85 schools across Poland will take part in the 1st National Logistics Olympics, organized by the Poznan School of Logistics (WSL). The deadline for applications has just passed.
Participants have begun preparations for the first stage of the competition. There is little time left, as test question forms will be sent to schools on November 27. The best students will advance to the regional stage (January 5, 2009), from which the final thirty will be selected. They, in turn, will come to the WSL headquarters in Poznań on March 20, 2009, to take part in the final competition for the title of the best.
It is worth the effort, as the winners can expect not only valuable material prizes (including laptops) but also an exemption from the written part of the vocational examination in the professions of “logistics technician” and “freight forwarder technician,” as well as free undergraduate and graduate studies at the Poznan School of Logistics. The best secondary school whose students participate in the first edition of the Olympics will also be awarded.
The project aims not only to spark interest in logistics among young people but also to help evaluate the curriculum in secondary and post-secondary schools.
– For several years, logistics has been present in the curricula of secondary and post-secondary schools. This is gratifying because the educational chain of logistics training has thus become complete. But schools, students, and teachers need to be helped so that the educational content is consistent with what we teach at the university level. Textbooks, teaching materials, and various forms of teacher training are also needed – lists Assoc. Prof. Ireneusz Fechner, PhD, Chancellor of WSL. – The Poznan School of Logistics is not indifferent to these needs. We treat secondary and post-secondary school teachers as partners, and students as subjects of our genuine interest. And there is no courtesy in this, because we want to influence the quality of logistics education in the links preceding studies at the Poznan School of Logistics and the preparation of candidates for studies. Hence the various forms of cooperation with schools and the idea for the logistics Olympics, which will strengthen students’ interest in learning logistics. Thanks to the Olympics, our contacts with secondary and post-secondary vocational education will be even closer, and participation in the Olympics will be an additional reward for students for choosing this profession – he adds.
Furthermore, as the WSL Chancellor notes, for teachers and schools, the Olympics will be an important field for verifying the quality of education. Schools will be able to compare the results of their work in direct competition among students for Olympic laurels and associated prizes, the most important of which for winners and finalists will be the right to be exempted from the written part of the vocational exam, which, along with the matura exam, concludes education in these schools.
Anna Wawruch-Lis, a teacher at the Transport and Communication School Complex in Lublin, whose students were among the first to express their desire to participate in the 1st National Logistics Olympics, agrees with this.
– A great idea. Students training in the professions of “freight forwarder technician” and “logistics technician” will finally have a chance to test their knowledge. Because, after all, tests and quizzes do not fully give them such a chance – she notes. – Twenty of my students expressed a desire to participate in the project. Mainly from the third and fourth grades – adds Anna Wawruch-Lis.
The substantive partners of the Olympics are: the Institute of Logistics and Warehousing and the Polish Logistics Society. Media patronage was provided by: the magazine “Logistyka” (main patron), “Polska Gazeta Transportowa,” the daily newspaper “Polska Głos Wielkopolski,” the portal logistyka.net.pl, Kariera.com.pl, and Studentnews.pl.