In the period March 8 – 10, 2023, another professional consultation of educational advisors was held in Nis on the topic of Quality assurance of the methodology of external evaluation of preschool institutions, this time for educational advisors from school administrations: Nis, Kragujevac, Leskovac, Krusevac, Zajecar and Jagodina (30 participants).

Bearing in mind the fact that from September 1, 2022, all PI are obliged to implement the new program concept, as well as the fact that the Quality Framework adopted in 2018 has been revised (it meets the requirements of the new program concept) and so far did not apply, the key activity in the counseling was a full-day educational counselors visit to one of the kindergartens of PU “Pcelica” in Nis (kindergartens “Brodic”, “Plavi cuperak”, “Petar Pan” and “Cvrcak”). Divided into 4 groups (of 7 – 8 counselors each), they had the opportunity to apply the revised Quality Framework and as “critical friends” gain insight into the quality of kindergarten work in two quality areas: Educational work and Support for children in the family.

On the first day of counseling, the educational counselors prepared for the visit to the kindergarten through the presentation of forms for observing activities in the kindergarten and a package of additional instruments and auxiliary materials, created within the Project (in accordance with the Rulebook on the quality standards of the institution’s work). They also created an activity plan with the division of responsibilities in order to provide feedback to the kindergarten manager from the role of “critical friend” who will objectively assess the quality of the kindergarten’s work. Part of the preparation included familiarization with the specifics of the kindergarten they will visit, as well as research reading of 4 manuals/guides created to support practitioners in the quality application of the new program concept: A manual for documentation, a Guide for arranging the space in the kindergarten, Guide for developing the topic/project with children, Strategy of joint development of programs in accordance with the specificities of certain ages of children.

On the second day of counseling, during the visit to the kindergarten, the educational counselors went in pairs to 2 groups of children of different ages in which they followed the implementation of the educational work program, i.e. the work of the teacher in the group, and gave them brief feedback. After that, they visited the common areas of the kindergarten (exterior and interior), analyzed pedagogical documentation (Thematic/project portfolio and Children’s portfolio), conducted interviews with professional associates and managers, teachers, and parents, and distributed surveys to them. Before leaving, kindergarten representatives were given feedback on the quality of kindergarten work for two areas.

On the third day of counseling, educational counselors worked on harmonizing assessments at the level of standards and indicators in two areas of work quality, analyzing the results of surveys and interviews, triangulating quality evidence at the area level, and drafting a report on the evaluation of work quality for each kindergarten.

After finalizing the report, upon returning to the school administrations, the heads of the school administrations will send the reports to each of the 4 kindergartens, in the role of a “critical friend” who provides a different perspective on the work of the institution, and which can be useful to practitioners in a more objective assessment of the quality of work.

All counseling participants expressed their satisfaction after the three-day work, during which they had the support of 4 mentors/leaders for the implementation of OP.

Bearing in mind that the implementation of the new program concept is a complex, demanding, and long-term process in which further support is needed for practitioners in preschool institutions even after the end of the Project, professional and advisory support that can be provided by educational advisors is recognized as a very important support.

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Within the project of the Ministry of Education, Inclusive preschool education and care, which is supported by a loan from the World Bank, in cooperation with the UNICEF Office in Belgrade, which is engaged as an implementation partner, a program is being developed and implemented to support the strengthening of capacities for the implementation of the new Foundations of Preschool Education Program, which includes combined training, mentoring support and horizontal learning for employees in preschool institutions, as well as professional counseling of educational advisors and inspectors, but also online training for professional associates and teachers from primary schools. The project is planned to include 1,300 professional associates from primary schools, but the rational allocation of funds has enabled the training to be carried out for 3,000 participants so that by the end of the Project, it will include professional associates (pedagogues and psychologists) and heads of professional councils from all public elementary schools in the territory of the Republic of Serbia.

The online training “On the common path of learning” was developed in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, the Institute for the Improvement of Education and Training, and UNICEF. The training is free of charge and accredited by the decision of the minister as training of public interest, and it takes place on the platform for conducting public interest training – ZUOVEdu. The organizer of the training is the Institute for the Improvement of Education.

The aim of the online training “On a common path of learning” is to empower professional associates and teachers in primary schools to strengthen the partnership between the two levels of the education system (preschool and primary school) through understanding the changes in preschool education (introduction of the new Foundations of PVO program, Years of Ascent), stronger connection and recognition of common values ​​in building support for children and families during the transition from kindergarten to school. The strategy for the development of education in the Republic of Serbia until 2030 implies the further development of the PVO system to meet the needs of children and families as support for the well-being and overall development of children through, among other things, achieving smooth transitions, i.e. ensuring the continuity of experiences of children and families in the educational context and developing relationships with other parts of the education system (schools), the community (institutions of culture, health, social protection), local self-government and the wider social community.

The specific objectives of the training are:

1. Empowering professional associates and teachers in primary schools to support children and families during the transition period from preschool to primary school and developing a partnership relationship with the family.
2. Informing professional associates in primary schools about the concept, starting points, and key concepts of the basis of the PVO ” Years of Ascent” program.
3. Motivating professional associates in primary schools to promote the school as a place of research and learning for children of preschool and school age.

After completing the training, participants receive a certificate for 24 hours of professional development

The authors of the training are Dr. Vesna Colic, professor of vocational studies at the College of Vocational Studies for Teacher Education in Novi Sad, trainer and mentor for the implementation of the “Years of Ascent” PVO Basics program, Dr. Sanja Blagdanic, full professor at the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Belgrade, and Katarina Djuric, graduate psychologist ‒ professional associate at the Cukarica Preschool in Belgrade, trainer and mentor for the implementation of the Foundations of the PVO “Years of Ascent” program.

The first cycle of the training for 866 participants from the ranks of professional associates from elementary schools and heads of expert councils for classroom teaching was successfully implemented in December 2022 with an average training grade of 3.56. Another training cycle with 1017 participants was successfully completed on March 13th. By the end of May, it is planned for another 1,000 participants to be included in the training.

We expect that the training will further empower practitioners from primary schools to plan high-quality joint activities in cooperation with teams of preschool institutions and enable smooth transitions from one level of education to another for children and families.

As part of the project of the Ministry of Education, Inclusive preschool education and Care, which is financially supported by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, UNICEF, as an engaged implementation partner, organizes training for the implementation of the new Foundations of preschool education and education program „Godine uzleta”, 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 the Project implementation includes combined training, mentoring support, and horizontal changes, while in the third year, all planned manuals were completed. Support for the introduction of the new Fundamentals of the Preschool Education Program (Fundamentals of the Program) is planned in phases that support the implementation of the Rulebook on the Basics of the Preschool Education Program, which foresees the introduction of new Program Basics in phases from 2019 to 2022, and the goals for each year of implementation have been determined so that the final total coverage of the training will be 12,000 practitioners, that is, 63% 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 13,797 practitioners from public preschool institutions (76%) were trained in the three-year period, which significantly exceeded the target of 12,000 trained (63%). In addition, 678 practitioners employed in private preschool institutions (about 35 %) and 172 teachers who are implementing the preparatory preschool program organized by elementary schools (about 65 %) improved their competencies through online training, although their training was not originally planned.

By June 2022, a total of 14,647 practitioners attended training, which represents about 75% of all practitioners who work in state and private preschool institutions and elementary schools that implement the program in the year before starting school.

From the savings achieved by implementing part of the training in an online format, it is planned that by the end of the project, within the framework of three cycles of moderated online training, all remaining educators of public Preschools who have not had the opportunity to attend training for the implementation of the Fundamentals of the Program will be included. Additional online training is also planned to include practitioners from all private preschool institutions that are registered in the unique information system (JISP) of the Ministry of Education, as well as the remaining educators who implement the preparatory preschool program organized by primary schools.

Additional moderated online training for the implementation of the Basics of the PVO program will be implemented by June 2023. The implementation of the complete training lasts five weeks, with the first two parts of the training (OP Concept and Development of the actual program) lasting two weeks each, and the third part of the training (Documentation) Week.

During that period, it is up to each of the training participants to choose the dynamics by which they will familiarize themselves with the materials and implement the planned activities, where they will also have feedback from the training leader/moderator.

The first part of the training within the second cycle started on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. year, from 8 a.m., through the National Education Portal of the Institute for the Improvement of Education and Training. The second part of the training will be implemented from March 15, 2023, and the third part from March 29, 2023. The entire cycle will be completed on April 4, 2023, and will include 1,787 participants from 22 preschool institutions.

The next (third) cycle of additional training will be realized in the period from April 25 to May 31, 2023, and will include another 1,666 practitioners from 38 preschool institutions.

The first cycle of additional online training has already been implemented in the period November – December 2022 and included 1700 participants.

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In the framework of the project “Inclusive preschool education and Care” implemented by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development (MPNTR) with the support of the World Bank, within the framework of goal 2.3 Improvement of the system of evaluation of the quality of preschool education and care, a project task related to Improvement of the process is foreseen self – evaluation in preschool institutions. The Center for European Policies (CEP) was engaged to implement the project task, which was defined in cooperation with MP and the Institute for Evaluation of the Quality of Education and Training (ZVKOV).

The goal of the activities within this project task is to improve the process and practice of self-evaluation through the development and application of various techniques and instruments for monitoring and evaluating the quality of work of preschool institutions (PU) and strengthening the competencies of practitioners who are recognized as key actors in the process of changing practice in accordance with the starting points program concepts of preschool education and education (PVO). In this sense, it is important to ensure a common understanding of the cycle and the role of self-evaluation in the development and change of kindergarten practice, by designing different types of support for that process:

1. prepared resources for self-evaluation of the work of preschool institutions (proposed instruments (checklists for self-evaluation team members, questionnaires for educators and nurses, focus groups/interviews with educators, parents, professional associates, the director, a list of questions for consultation with children);

2. prepared Guide for self-evaluation of PU (10,600 copies are being printed so that almost every group in public PU will receive its own copy);

3. one-day training for self-evaluation teams of public PUs (during June and during September);

4. mentoring support for self-evaluation teams of all public preschool institutions through the entire cycle of self-evaluation during the working year 2022/2023;

Based on the decision of the Minister, the one-day training for self-evaluation of the quality of the work of preschool institutions was placed on the list of programs of public interest and as such is free for all participants. The training leaders form a team of 30 practitioners who were previously trained to conduct training for the self-evaluation of the work of the PU and provide mentoring support to the PU during the entire cycle of self-evaluation (past two-day training for the training of trainers).

During June, 8 training sessions were held with 200 participants, and during September, 6 training sessions were held with around 200 participants. The hosts were preschool institutions that provided their space for the implementation of the training (except for a few that were implemented in vocational training centers). In November, 3 training sessions were held for educational advisors from all school administrations in the territory of the Republic of Serbia as part of the support of PU, but also with the aim of empowering educational advisors to provide support to practitioners in PU following the new program concept.

Mentoring support to the self-evaluation teams of all public PUs is ongoing and will last throughout the self-evaluation cycle in the PUs (until June 2023).

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As part of the project “Inclusive preschool education and Care” implemented by the Ministry of Education in partnership with the Novak Djokovic Foundation, another 14 workrooms in the territory of the city of Vranje were equipped with a loan from the World Bank.

Vranje is located in the extreme south of our country, and in addition to the Serbs who make up the majority of the population, there are many Roma, Bulgarians, Macedonians, and members of other ethnic groups. PU “Nase dete” has existed since the thirties of the last century and has been working hard on inclusion for years.

2285 children attend the institution, while almost 200 are on the waiting list. The number of children who were not registered for kindergarten is 2,440. When enrolling in kindergarten, the established priorities for enrollment are respected, so 35 children whose parents are beneficiaries of financial and social assistance were enrolled. 66 Roma children are enrolled in regular programs, while another 29 children out of a total of 368 in the city participate in various projects.

Since the need to expand the capacity of the institution and increase the number of children is great, the local self-government and the Ministry of Economy built a completely new facility with a large yard and all the accompanying rooms and facilities, while the Novak Djokovic Foundation, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, with a loan from the World Bank, through the project “Inclusive preschool education and care” allocated part of the funds and completely equipped all 14 workrooms.

The capacity of this facility is up to 234 children, which will greatly reduce the number of excluded children. The plan is to form groups for all ages in this facility (2nd younger nursery group, 2nd older nursery group, 5 mixed groups, and 5th group of preschoolers). All rooms are equipped following the needs of children, and educators and by the new basics of education.

In addition to the furniture that was chosen and adapted to each age group, the facility is also equipped with new toys, carpets, lazy bags, easels for painting, books, and the necessary didactic material.

Over 200 new children of all ages will be able to enroll in all 14 new groups on the territory of the city of Vranje, from the youngest nurseries to preschoolers.

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