ONLINE LICENSE EXAM TRAINING FOR DIRECTORS OF PRESCHOOL INSTITUTIONS

In response to the situation caused by Covid-19 and the impossibility of live training for the directors of preschool institutions, the team of CIP – Center for Interactive Pedagogy in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Institute for the Advancement of Education, with the support of the Inclusive Preschool Project has transferred the live training to a distance training format (online format). The training program aims to train candidates to improve the competencies of principals in accordance with the rulebook standards which prescribes the standards of competencies of directors of educational institutions and is a condition for taking the exam to obtain a license for directors of educational institutions. The training program is focused on an interactive approach and is conceived as an active, experiential, cooperative learning process, which enables mutual exchange of experience and learning.

The contents of the direct training are adapted for remote work with the help of Web 2 tools, which provides opportunities to use different formats, such as “room work”, online questionnaires, video presentations, padlet platform … The training took place through 8 online meetings and so far one group of directors had the opportunity to attend the entire training in online format in the period from 24 December 2020 to 24 January 2021.

After training, participants receive 32 hours of professional development program, and are obliged to (as in the case of live training) document the achievement of training goals by enclosing in their exam portfolio the results of research they will conduct and document the acquired knowledge and skills through products/tasks that they will realize after the training.

In order to evaluate the training program and its implementation, participants had the opportunity to express their opinion in the questionnaires created for the purpose of measuring trainees’ degree of satisfaction with the selection and implementation of topics that were chosen to prepare them for taking their license exam. Most of the participants are completely satisfied with the training, both in terms of content and topics, as well as the organization and manner of leadership by the trainers. Some of the participants’ observations are as follows:

– The choice of topics and content is relevant for the preparation of the license exam;

– The choice of topics/content and the way it all was conducted enabled me to learn and professionally develop;

– Activities within this training (knowledge tests, introduction to regulations, proposed professional literature) helped me to prepare well for the license exam;

– The training is conceived in an excellent, comprehensive and detailed manner and presented in a clear and understandable way;

– The training helped me improve digital competencies through the use of various digital tools;

– The general impression of the participants and program leaders is that the training took place in a pleasant, working atmosphere and quality exchange through cooperative learning.