At the end of September, as part of the USAID Youth Ethnic Integration Project, a visit was organized for consultants from Finland who conducted a training with representatives of the education process in our country.
The purpose of the training was to develop ideas on how to build a democratic school climate and to systematically assess the progress made in the schools. The training combined the Finnish experience with the Civic Education Concept, developed within our primary education. At the same time, it contributed to the development of a methodology and tool for assessing the participatory climate in the schools.
Through group work and interactive discussion, participants had the opportunity to advance their knowledge of specific terminology and share their experiences of democratic behavior during teaching.
Topics discussed included Finnish philosophy of education, ways to increase student participation in school, including ways to develop the work of the Student Parliament, embedding inclusion, cooperation with the wider community, and media literacy as part of school culture.
“We’ve gained a lot of new knowledge. Although the trainers come from a completely different environment, they understood our environment and responded to our comments. There was interaction in pairs, groups, and between participants and trainers. It was confirmed that there is a need for continuous monitoring of the development of democratic competencies among students not only in Civic Education classes but also in classes in other subjects,” said the training participants.
The consultants also had a meeting with the Ministry of Education and Science where they shared their experiences, and visited the primary school “Cyril and Methodius” in the village of Stajkovci, Gazi Baba where they got acquainted with the way the education process is implemented in our country and exchanged good practices.
This activity is part of the Youth Ethnic Integration Project, supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
This article is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of MCEC and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) or the United States Government.
