PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATES AS CARRIERS OF CHANGE (SNOP) – PROFESSIONAL TRAINING PROGRAM FOR EMPLOYEES IN PRESCHOOL EDUCATION RECEIVED STATUS OF PUBLIC INTEREST PROGRAM

The Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development made a decision that the program of professional training for employees in preschool education called: SNOP: Professional associates as bearers of change get the status of a program of public interest.

The Institute for Pedagogy and Andragogy of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, within 2nd component of the Inclusive Early Childhood Education and Care project, and on the subproject PLUS – Development of training, mentoring and horizontal learning system for capacity building in the application of the Preschool Curriculum Framework – ”The Year of Ascent” , developed training for those who create changes in practice inside preschool institutions. The training is based on theoretical starting points harmonized with the modern understanding of the nature of practice change and the concept of the Preschool Curriculum Framework- ”The Year of Ascent” and represents a significant form of professional development of practitioners and support for their professional development as reflective practitioners.

The goal of the training is to empower change practice holders, professional associates and directors to guide change through the development of democratic, inclusive and reflective practice in preschool.

 The specific objectives of the training are:

1. 1. Understanding the nature and process of change.
2. 2. Strengthening competencies for the transformation of the institution’s culture into a learning community through a continuous process of change.
3. 3. Strengthening the capacity to develop the quality of preschool practice, as a democratic, inclusive and reflective practice.

The authors of the training are: Dragana Pavlovic Breneselovic and Zivko Krnjaja – Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade.

The first parts of training, planned for preschool institutions that started the implementation of the new Preschool Curriculum Framework in September 2019 (11) and in September 2020 (22), will be realized in the following terms: June 21 and 22, 2021, 24 and 25 June 2021 and 06 and 07 July 2021.

The number of training participants from each of the 33 preschool institutions was established on the basis of the number of professional associates and on the basis of the number of kindergartens- the core of change in a particular preschool institution.

We expect that the training will further empower principals of preschool institutions and professional associates to further lead the change initiated after the training for the implementation of the Preschool Curriculum Frameworkand mentoring support, and develop them in accordance with the context in which the change occurs.