EDUCATIONAL ADVISORS AS SUPPORT FOR IMPROVING THE WORK QUALITY IN PRESCHOOL INSTITUTIONS

As part of the Project of Inclusive Preschool Education and Care, the Director of the World Bank for External Communications for Europe and Central Asia, Nicole Frost, together with Mirjana Popovic – Public Relations Specialist, Gordana Filipovic – Public Relations Advisor (from the World Bank office Bank in Belgrade), as well as representatives of the Ministry of Education and project management units, visited the kindergarten “Vracarac” today, in order to see the possibilities to further support the visibility of the project, taking into account the results achieved so far.

Kindergarten “Vracarac” was opened in the building of the administration of the city municipality of Vracar, which was reconstructed, renovated, and equipped in accordance with the new Foundations of the Program and repurposed for educational work within the framework of the Project. Within the “Vracarac” kindergarten, 131 children attend the preschool education program, and the teachers from this facility are trained in the application of the Basics of the program and apply them in their work. The kindergarten started operating on September 1, 2021.

The Ministry of Education, through the Inclusive Preschool Education and Care program, and in cooperation with the “Novak Djokovic” Foundation and local self-governments, in previous 2 years, provided around 150 new education rooms through minor adaptations, repurposing, or furnishing of existing spaces in local self-governments. In this way, it was possible for 3000 children to be included in the preschool education program. In addition, in 34 cities and municipalities, local projects financed from grants are implemented, through which, among other things, 51 rooms for educational work have been adapted and equipped.

Thanks to the Project, so far 82% of educators have been trained in the application of the new Foundations of preschool education and education program – Years of Ascension, with the tendency for the coverage to be complete (100%) by the end of the project. All public preschool institutions received mentoring support in the implementation of the new program concept, as well as manuals. Support for strengthening the competencies of educators from all preschool institutions is ongoing through participation in two learning models through the horizontal exchange of practitioners.

The goal is to include 223,559 children with the Project of Inclusive

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As part of the Ministry of Education’s project “Inclusive Preschool Education and Care”, the Support Program for the Implementation and Expansion of the Basics of the Program – Godine uzleta is implemented, which includes all preschool institutions, and which includes: training, mentoring support, the application of two models of horizontal exchange and learning between practitioners (Joint Learning by Modeling – ZUM and Community of Professional Learning – ZPU) and the creation and distribution of a series of manuals and guides under the common name “Linije leta”. The manuals and guides were prepared at the Institute for Pedagogy and Andragogy of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, and the publisher is the Ministry of Education.

The “Linije leta” series includes:

● Manual for documentation – Pedagogical documentation and documentation in the Basics of the preschool Education and Care program “Godine uzleta” – prof. Dr. Zivka Krnjaja and Prof. Dr. Dragana Pavlovic Breneselovic.

● Guide for the arrangement of space in the kindergarten – Space in accordance with the Basics of the program of preschool Education and Care “Godine uzleta” – prof. Dr. Dragana Pavlovic Breneselovic, prof. Dr. Zivka Krnjaja and Sandra Backovic.

● Developing an integrated approach to learning through topics/projects – Guide for developing a topic/project with children in accordance with the Basics of the preschool education program “Godine uzleta” – prof. Dr. Zivka Krnjaja and Prof. Dr. Dragana Pavlovic Breneselovic

● Manual Strategy for the joint development of programs in accordance with the specificities of individual children’s ages – – Developing a realistic program in accordance with the Basics of the PVO “Godine uzleta” program, prof. Dr. Prof. Dr. Dragana Pavlovic Breneselovic, Zivka Krnjaja, Marija Jovanovic, Gordana Sjenicic.

All the manuals and guides from the “Linije leta” series are printed in a circulation of 10,600 copies, which allows it to be received by every public preschool institution: all professional associates and all trainers/mentors for the Fundamentals program, as well as almost every educational group. In the case that each group did not receive a distributed printed copy, preschool institutions also received a PDF version of the manual.

Also, the manuals were delivered to all school administrations, all faculties, secondary and higher schools that educate teachers, as well as teachers who implement the preparatory preschool program in the organization of elementary schools.

The PDF version of the handbook was also given to all private preschool institutions.

We are convinced that the manuals and guides from the “Linije leta” series will represent important professional support and an invitation to practitioners in all public and private preschool institutions to, in the process of spreading the Basics of the program, reconsider their own starting points and beliefs and deepen their understanding of various aspects of the program concept, with the aim of building program quality.

PDF versions of all manuals/guides are available at the link.

Within the framework of component 2 of the “Inclusive preschool education and Care” project, subcomponent 2.3 – Improvement of the quality evaluation system of preschool Education and Care, the Ministry of Education (MOE) with the support of the World Bank, implements the project task related to the improvement of the process of self-evaluation in preschool institutions.

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 care (PEC).

Self-evaluation of quality within a preschool institution is a process initiated and implemented by preschool institutions, with the aim of improving the work of employees, further developing the institution, and providing support for the well-being of children and families. Self-evaluation supports the institution’s autonomy and develops employees’ capacities for continuous critical review of existing practice while respecting the specific context of the institution as well as taking responsibility for the quality of work.

To this end, support is provided to preschool institutions, which includes: 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, director, proposal of questions for consultation with children); one-day training for self-evaluation teams of public PUs (during June and during September); mentoring support for self-evaluation teams of all public preschool institutions throughout the entire cycle of self-evaluation during the working year 2022/2023; free use of the application for questionnaires MS Forms.

As part of the support of PU, a guide was prepared and distributed Self-evaluation in preschool institutions – Guide for employees in preschool institutions.

The guide was created as an expression of the need to support preschool institutions in the process of self-evaluation after the revision of the quality framework.

The Center for European Policies (CEP) was engaged to implement this project task, which was defined in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and the Institute for the Evaluation of the Quality of Education and Training (ZVKOV).

The authors of the guide are: Jelena Najdanovic Tomic, Jasmina Vuletic, Aleksandra Kalezic Vignjevic, and Sasa Glamocak, and the publishers are the Ministry of Education and the Institute for Evaluation of the Quality of Education.

The guide was printed in a circulation of 10,600 copies and distributed to all public preschool institutions in order to make it available to educators, i.e. most educational groups, all professional associates in the institution, as well as trainers/mentors from preschool institutions who provide support for the implementation of the program concept through the Project.

The guide was delivered to all school administrations, all faculties, secondary and higher schools that educate teachers, as well as teachers who implement the preparatory preschool program in the organization of primary schools.

All public and private preschools received the PDF version of the Guide, and you can download it from this link.

We are convinced that the Guide will be significant support for preschool institutions, that is, that it will provide practitioners with valuable professional support in self-evaluation of the quality of work of preschool institutions.

Minister of Education Branko Ruzic, Mayor of Novi Pazar Nihat Bisevac, and President of the Municipality of Petrovac na Mlava Dusko Nedinic signed today in the Government of the Republic of Serbia an Agreement on the construction of two new kindergartens, in Novi Pazar and Petrovac na Mlava.

“The strategic determination and goal of the Ministry of Education are to increase the coverage of children through preschool Education and Care. That’s why the Ministry of Education, with the support of the World Bank and the Inclusive Preschool Education Project, invests in the construction and extension of kindergartens, an adaptation of space, which provides 11,000 new places for children. The cooperation we establish with local self-governments is extremely important, and today cooperation agreements were signed with the mayor of Novi Pazar, Nihat Bisevac, and the president of the municipality of Petrovac na Mlava, Dusko Nedinic, by which we confirm our intention and undertake to work together on the construction of two more new kindergartens, with a total capacity of 470 places, 270 in Novi Pazar and 200 places in Petrovac na Mlavi. For the construction of these two kindergartens, the Ministry provided about 410 million dinars, and we can expect the first works in the spring,” said Minister Ruzic, adding that in the coming period, apart from Novi Pazar and Petrovac na Mlava, the construction of new buildings in Cicevac is also planned. , Leskovac, Cacak, Alibunar, Kragujevac, Arandjelovac, Prijepolje and Aleksandrovac.

He stated that so far the projects in Doljevac, Zitoraza, Sremska Mitrovica, Vladicin Han, and Loznica have been completed and 510 new places have been secured, while new facilities are under construction in Merosina, Prokuplje, Tutin, Sid, and Smederevo, as well as the addition of two facilities in Krusevac. The planned deadline for the completion of the works on these two buildings is one year from the start of the works.

The new kindergarten in Novi Pazar will cover about 1,900 square meters and will provide 270 new places for children who will be placed in 14 groups, and about 210 million dinars will be invested in it. The construction of a new building on the territory of the municipality of Petrovac na Mlava will provide 200 new places for children who will be placed in 10 groups, the building will cover about 1360 square meters, and about 200 million dinars have been allocated for it.

The Ministry of Education, with the financial support of the World Bank, is implementing the project “Inclusive Preschool Education and Care” within the framework of which the construction of kindergartens is being implemented. The implementation of the Project, whose value is 47 million euros, will ensure the expansion of the capacity in preschool institutions for 11,000 new places by building 23 facilities in 22 local governments, and by adapting and equipping 330 rooms in cooperation with the Novak Djokovic Foundation and through grant programs that are implemented in 34 local self-government units. This Project is also dedicated 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 sensitive social groups.