TRAINING FOR THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE PROGRAM HAS BEEN COMPLETED – 21,232 PROFESSIONALS FROM PRESCHOOL INSTITUTIONS HAVE BEEN TRAINED

Within the project of the Ministry of Education, Inclusive preschool education and Education, which is financially supported by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, UNICEF, as an engaged implementation partner, realized training for the implementation of the new Foundations of preschool education and education program Years of Ascension, which was developed by the Institute for Pedagogy and Andragogy of the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Belgrade.

The support program developed in the first year of project implementation includes combined training, mentoring support, and horizontal exchange, while in the third year manuals were completed and planned. Support for the implementation of the new Fundamentals of Preschool Education and Education Program (Fundamentals of the Program) was implemented in phases that support the implementation of the Rulebook on the Fundamentals of Preschool Education and Care, which foresees the introduction of the new Fundamentals of the Program in phases from 2019 to 2022, and the goals have been determined for each year of implementation so that the final total training coverage would be 12,000 practitioners, i.e. 63 percent of all practitioners in public preschool institutions (1,500 in the first year, 4,500 in the second, 8,500 in the third and 12,000 in the fourth year).

The set goal of the project was greatly exceeded! A total of 21,232 professionals from preschool institutions (out of a total of 22,229) were included in the training, which almost doubled the predicted goal of 12,000 trained.

Based on the savings achieved due to the online realization of part of the training, moderated online training included all the remaining educators who until now did not have the opportunity to attend training for the implementation of the Fundamentals of the program.

From all public preschool institutions, 18,967 educators and professional associates were trained, as well as 275 nurses in preventive health care. Additional online training included 1,721 practitioners from all private preschool institutions who are registered in the unique information system of MPNTR, as well as 269 educators who implement the preparatory preschool program organized by primary schools.

The training was implemented for a total duration of five weeks, with the first two parts of the training lasting two weeks each, and the third part of the training lasting one week. During that period, the participants could choose the dynamics by which they would familiarize themselves with the materials and implement the planned activities, and the training sessions were open 24 hours a day during the training period.

In cooperation with the Institute for the Improvement of Education and Care, the training will be translated into a programmed unmoderated format by the fall and as such will be permanently available for free to all practitioners in preschool institutions.