As part of her official visit to the Republic of Serbia, the Minister of Labor and Social Policy of North Macedonia visited the kindergarten – cluster center within the public preschool institution “Dr. Sima Milosevic”

On Friday, 21^st of July, 2023, in the period from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., the delegation of the Republic of North Macedonia, led by the Minister of Labor and Social Policy, Mrs. Jovana Trencevska, visited the “Zemunski Biser” kindergarten, at Dragana Rakica Street 39, in Zemun.

In front of the Ministry of Education, the host was the state secretary, Mrs. Anamarija Vicek. In addition to her, the following participated in the visit: Ljiljana Marolt, head of the Group for Preschool education and care, and in front of the Project – Biljana Hroneos Krasavac, director, and Marija Belenzada, consultant for PVO.

In addition to the minister, the Macedonian delegation included: Natasa Dimoska, head of the Cabinet, and members of the Project Management Unit, which is implemented in North Macedonia with the support of the World Bank: Elizabeta Kunovska, director, Natasa Stojanovska, grant coordinator and Anica Gjurovska IT coordinator.

In front of the “Zemunski biser” kindergarten, which is one of the 5 kindergartens – cluster centers for the implementation of the new Foundations of the PVO program “Godine uzleta”, the host was Jasmina Bouali Stanojkovic, director of the public preschool institution (PI) “Dr. Sima Milosevic”, with a professional assistant – pedagogue and educators.

The visit, which was extended from the planned 1 hour to almost 2 hours, took place in an open and direct atmosphere in which the guests visiting the kindergarten had the opportunity to hear from the educators how the cluster center functions within the model of horizontal exchange and learning “Joint learning by modeling”, how practitioners from one kindergarten learn with practitioners from another kindergarten-cluster center through direct experience and modeling in the context of practice. During the tour of the working rooms of the kindergarten, the guests were able to hear and see from the children how they study and research, which spaces they use, what they do during the summer months, and also to play the board game “Uno” with the preschoolers.

Guests had the opportunity to ask questions, but also to see how an environment is created in which children can explore by manipulating different materials, in which children can ask questions, in which they learn from each other and together with adults (teachers, parents), they learn through experience, in situations that make sense for them.

The guests expressed great satisfaction and gratitude, emphasizing that everything they saw and heard was very significant and could be useful for improving the quality of preschool education in the Republic of North Macedonia.

You can see the photos here.

In the Ministry of Education, Contracts on financing and construction of a new kindergarten in Petrovac na Mlava were solemnly signed today. The contracts were signed by d.c. Minister of Education Djordje Milicevic, President of the municipality Dusko Nedinic, and the contractor.

“Investing in the construction of preschool institutions and increasing the coverage of children through preschool upbringing and education is a priority and strategic commitment of the Ministry of Education. Supporting the development and upbringing of children from the earliest age is very important for a happy childhood and is the foundation for their further education and their future. That is precisely why we are working very dedicatedly on this through the project “Inclusive Preschool Education and Care”. With the construction of this kindergarten, 200 new places will be provided,” said the d.c. Minister of Education Djordje Milicevic.

The Ministry of Education allocated over 184 million dinars for the construction of a new facility in Petrovac na Mlavi, with an area of ​​over 1,350 square meters.

The planned completion of the works on the construction of the new facility is 12 months from the start of the works.

“We are extremely happy and grateful for this investment, which is of immeasurable importance for the present, but also the future of Petrovac na Mlavi. We owe a great deal of gratitude to the Ministry of Education, with whom we fight side by side to improve the conditions for our youngest and most important fellow citizens, because without a healthy and safe upbringing and adequate education, there is no future for the municipality of Petrovac na Mlava, and neither is our country. By implementing this project, we will solve the decade-long problem of waiting lists for enrolling children in preschool,” said the president of the municipality of Petrovac na Mlavi, Dusko Nedinic.

The Ministry of Education, as part of the Inclusive Preschool Education and Care project, with the support of the World Bank and in cooperation with local governments, builds new and expands existing kindergartens and adapts and repurposes buildings. This ensures about 11,000 new places for children in kindergartens. In addition to expanding capacity and increasing coverage, this Project also pays special attention to the improvement of preschool education and care through the introduction of the New Basics of the program, as well as the knowledge and skills of professional staff through mentoring support and training for about 12,000 educators. An important aspect of the Project is communication and support for families with small children, especially families from vulnerable social groups.

As part of the “Inclusive Preschool Education and Care” project, implemented by the Ministry of Education in partnership with the Novak Djokovic Foundation, five more workrooms were adapted and equipped in the territory of the municipality of Trstenik, the village of Velika Drenova, with a loan from the World Bank.

PU “Biseri” enrolls over 1,000 children in four facilities and 19 half-day groups. There is a great need to increase the coverage of children, and PU is trying to include as many children as possible. 150 children at the institution level are exempted from payment by category – the third and every subsequent child in the order of birth in the family, children who are recipients of financial social assistance, members of national minorities, children with developmental disabilities, and children of war veterans.

The Novak Djokovic Foundation, together with the Ministry of Education, recognized their need and adapted and completely equipped five workrooms in the village of Velika Drenova as part of the Inclusive preschool education project.

The new facility in Velika Drenova will be attended by children who are members of national minorities, children of single parents, children whose families are recipients of financial social assistance, as well as children with developmental challenges.

Renovation works included the replacement of floors, walls, ceilings, joinery, and lighting. New, adapted rooms (one junior nursery, one older nursery, two mixed, and one preschool group) are fully adapted to the needs of children and educators and follow the new basics of the preschool education program.

In addition to the furniture that was selected and adapted to each age group, the rooms are equipped with new toys, carpets, lazy bags, easels for painting, books, and necessary consumables.

In this way, we have enabled the joint forces for a large number of families to remain in the countryside and for their children to have the same quality conditions for early education as in the cities.

115 new children between the ages of 1 and 7 were enrolled in new groups in the territory of the municipality of Trstenik, and the premises were adapted and equipped to the needs of our youngest residents.

You can see photos from the fair here.

Within the framework of component 2 of the project “Inclusive Preschool Education and Care”, support is provided through various activities to improve the inclusive approach to developing a realistic program.

As one of the types of support for 809 participants from 155 public Preschool institutions (members of teams for inclusive education, professional associates, and PI directors) in the period May – June 2023, the training Quality education and care for all children was implemented.

The training is a shortened and adapted version of the unique design Modules for training teachers in the field of inclusive education (UNICEF 2015). The author of the program is Judith Hollenweger. Adaptation of the scenario for training in Serbia was carried out by Gordana DJigic and Olja Jovanovic. Gordana Djordjevic and Jasmina Vuletic aligned the training with the Basics of the Program to implement the training within the Inclusive Preschool Education and Care project and after its pilot implementation for a group of participants from all professional associations.

This training aims to help the participants systematize their previous experiences and knowledge about inclusive education into a conceptual map that will represent a framework for further development and improvement of quality inclusive educational practice, both in their work and through exchanges with preschool teachers, institutions with which they are in the project together, as well as other preschool institutions.

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It is expected that after the two-day training, the participants will be able to:

– systematically plan and improve quality education for all children in their institutions, relying on relevant concepts, principles, and theoretical models, and

– participate in monitoring, evaluating, and providing quality guidelines for solving practical problems and improving the practice of educators in the institutions where they work, based on relevant concepts, principles, and theoretical models.

The training is designed to guide participants through the following topics:

–  Building common understanding: basic concepts and principles of inclusive education;

– Different environments carry different potentials/barriers to development and learning;

– Educational policies as a framework for the action of practitioners;

– Competences and beliefs of educators as a significant factor in the development of inclusive education;

– Learning involves participation in a learning community;

– How and where children learn is as important as what they learn;

– Learning from the perspective of lifelong learning;

This requires trainees to be familiar with:

1) the basic principles and assumptions on which inclusive education is based, i.e. education that includes and enables the well-being, involvement, and learning of all children;

2) the importance of participation, the limitations of participation, and the planning of changes that will enable the child’s participation in the process of upbringing and education;

3) legal regulations at the international and national level as a basis for the actions of practitioners;

4) the profile of a teacher competent for inclusive education;

5) situational approach to the educational process, i.e. how the behavior of educators affects the behavior of children and with planning and creating a stimulating environment for all children.

A group of 58 training leaders selected from among interested training leaders/mentors for the Fundamentals of Air Defense Program was trained during two trainings for training leaders (ToT) held in Belgrade on April 27-28 and May 8-9, 2023. In the period from May 22 to June 9, 809 members of Teams for Inclusive Education (TIO) from 155 public preschool institutions participated in 29 trainings organized throughout Serbia. Each preschool institution received the number and structure of participants based on data on the structure of employees and TIO members, to ensure the participation of various profiles (management, professional associates – psychologists, pedagogues, speech therapists, nurses, educators, special education teachers, pedagogical assistants).

In addition to training, the improvement of inclusive practice is also supported through the participation of all public preschool institutions in the implementation of the model of horizontal exchange of practitioners – the Community of Professional Learning. In the context of the implementation of this model, all kindergartens – the core of change – analyzed their inclusive practice based on the offered scenarios, then shared their insights with colleagues from other PUs and created action plans for improving and changing practice.

Additionally, The Kindergarten stories of good inclusive practice are being prepared by PU “Djurdjevdan” Kragujevac, PU “Nada Naumovic” Kragujevac, “Decija radost” Cuprija, PU “Bambi” Kula, PU “Nase dete” Sabac, and PU “Radost” Novi Banovci. It is planned that The Kindergarten stories of good inclusive practice will be available as a learning resource for all practitioners on the Learning Passport platform.

On the 19^th of June, 2023, in Zrenjanin the first Parenting Fair in this city was organized.

The goal of this event is for parents, guardians, and foster parents to find answers to questions and new knowledge about parenting in a conversation with experts from various fields, to provide children with a healthier and more beautiful upbringing. At the stands, information was available to them about nutrition and care of children, about protecting their health, rights, enrollment in kindergarten…

During the Fair, parents were able to familiarize themselves with the services provided by the City Administration of the City of Zrenjanin, the Preschool, the Center for Social Work, the “Dr. Bosko Vrebalov” Health Center, the Red Cross, the Center for the Provision of Social Protection Services “Most”, Primary and Secondary school “9. May”, Institute of Hygiene, Educational Center “Klikerino” and the Police Department of the city of Zrenjanin.

Tatjana Lojovic, coordinator of the project team of the “Kindergarten with a smile” grant program implemented in Zrenjanin as part of the “Inclusive preschool education and care” project, said at the opening of the fair: “One of the strengths of the city of Zrenjanin is the intersectoral cooperation in the interests of all children.” and their families. For this reason, during the month of parenting, the Parenting Fair is held on Trg slobode, where several different institutions of the city of Zrenjanin will be presented that deal with raising and educating children and providing support to families.”

You can see photos from the fair here.