unesco serbian study - Education Reform Initiative of South Eastern ...

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United Nations


Educational, Scientific


and Cultural Organization



























EDUCATION REFORMS





IN THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

























This report is a part of the national case study series published by UNESCO
to monitor and evaluate progress in the implementation of the Education for
All goals.
The author is responsible for the choice and presentation of the facts
contained in this report and for the opinions expressed therein, which are
not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the organization.
Any part of this report may be freely reproduced with the appropriate
acknowledgement.





Division of Educational Policy Analysis and Educational Evaluation
UNESCO
7 Place de Fontenoy
75352 Paris 07 SP
France
Tel : (0033) 1 45 68 08 33






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Editorial coordination: Prof.Vinayagum CHINAPAH

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Author: Prof.Ivan IVIC

Table of Contents


Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Executive Summary

GENERAL FRAMEWORK
2

1.1.Specific objectives
5

1.2.Methodology
6


A.EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN UNSTABLE POLITICAL CLIMATE :
WHAT COULD BE ACHIEVED AND HOW ?
6

A1. The Changes in 2001-2003
6

A1.1.The Major Characteristics of the reforms 2001-2003
6

Box 1
8

A1.2. The Main Components of the Educational Reforms 2001-2003 8

A2. The Changes Introduced in 2004-2005
15

A3.Reforms 2001-2005 :Conclusions - Education Policy and Politics
17

A4.Some new Projects.Initiatives and Actions
19

A5. Conclusions : The Impact of the Changes 2001-2005 on EFA
Goals
20




B. EDUCATION FOR ALL IN SERBIA: WHERE ARE WE? 21

B1.Background
22
B2.Specific Problems
22
Goal 1
23
Goal 2
23
Goal 3
24
Goal 4
25
Goal 5
26
Goal 6
27
Box 2.
29
B3.Conclusions about the Problems Related to the Achievement
of the EFA Goals i Serbia
30



C. EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN SERBIA -
WHAT COULD BE ACHIEVED? 31

C1. Education in Serbia : Who Has Access to Education
31

C2.Conclusions about the Access and Equity
of Education in Serbia
36



C3.What is Taught and Learned in Serbian Schools and How? 42



C4,Conclusions about the Quality of some Education Parameters 42

C5. What Type of Knowledge is Acquired in Serbian Schools 42


C6. Conclusions regarding the quality of students' achievements 50


C7.Resources : Capacities Within the System to Help to Achieve
Educational Goals in Serbia
51

C8.Conclusions regarding education resources in Serbia
55

C9. National Monitoring and Evaluation System (NMES) 56


C10.Conclusions Regarding NMES 62


D. RECOMMENDATIONS: WHAT CAN BE DONE,
WHEN AND HOW ? 63

D1.General Approaches
63

D2.General Conditions
64

D3.Access and Equity
65

D4. Quality Education
66

D5.National Monitoring and Evaluation System (NMES) 69



ANNEXES
70

Annex 1.Acronymes
Annex 2. Organigramme of the Education System in Serbia
Annex 3.Educational Levels of the Population in Serbia
Annex 4. Persons Consulted
Annex 5. National Plan for Children (NPA)
Annex 6. References




































Acknowledgements

This study was made thanks to the cooperation and support of many people.
Firstly, we wish to thank the UNESCO, who initiated the making of
this study. An the beginning of work on this document, Mr. D. Najman, the
UNESCO ambassador for Serbia and Montenegro expressed his gratitude by
stating the following:

"I appreciate very much the proposal to include Republic of Serbia
as one of the Case Study of educational policy analysis within the
framework of EFA implementation. This is direct response to the
International Workshop on Educational Policy Analysis and Evaluation held
at UNESCO Headquarters last year. I understand that the state-of-art-study
will look at the educational development in the Republic of Serbia from
policy-analysis perspective, and namely with respect to the achievement of
EFA goals and other challenges in the field of education."[1]

Now, when this study is finalized, we wish to thank the UNESCO once
again for this initiative that will play a part in intensifying the process
of implementation of EFA goals in Serbia and Montenegro.

We owe a special acknowledgment to Professor V. Chinapah, the one
most responsible for a successful realization of this UNESCO initiative.
During his visit to Belgrade in June 2005, we made contact with the
Ministry of Education and Sport, as well as other institutions relevant and
important for creation of this study.During this visit, we discussed the
outline of the study.
In creation of this study, the paper "Educational Policy Analysis and
Evaluation in the Republic of Serbia", a document made by professor
Chinapah, proved to be of great help to us all. It provided a clearer focus
on the quality of education as an essential aspect of the EFA program and
on monitoring of the process of implementation of the EFA goals.

Professor V.Chinapah and his team gave a big effort in improvement of
the first draft of the document (regarding content, form and editing).
Final form of the document is, in greater part, the result of constructive
cooperation between the author and Professor V. Chinapah and his team.
The author is greatly appreciative of all the people mentioned in
Annex 3 ("Persons Consulted"). They all contributed effort and time so that
this document could have the most accurate data about the state of
education in Serbia.Special appreciation goes to the Statistics Office of
the Republic of Serbia that provided their date base for use during this
work.

Ivan Ivic



Executive Summary

This study is done within the framework of the UNESCO project on
education analysis and evaluation of the education systems in the member
countries.
This study is focused on the present status of the implementation of
the six EFA goals and on examination of overall capacities of the education
system in the Republic of Serbia to achieve these goals within next few
years.
The study is limited to the changes in education in Serbia in 2001-
2005.

Methodology


This is a desk study. The following documents and topic-related
information were reviewed in making of this study: legal provisions (laws,
acts, by-law regulations), policy documents, various databases, new
projects and results of the national and international assessments of the
student achievements.

A. EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM REFORMS IN UNSTABLE POLITICAL SITUATION: WHAT COULD
BE ACHIEVED AND HOW?

This section discusses changes in educational system in the Republic
of Serbia after the year of 2000.
In October of 2000, in the Republic of Serbia, huge political
changes took place. Basically, these changes initiated processes that were
very similar to the processes in other ex-socialist countries in regards to
transition processes in economic, social and political life.
Within the period between 2000 and 2005, many changes occurred
in the field of education. Because of the political instability and the
change of government, many radical changes, declarations of intended
changes and actual implementation of changes with different political
connotation happened during that period.

A1. Changes Introduced in 2001- 2003

Changes in this period have had the ambition to be comprehensive.
They have included:
. legislature (adoption of general, general law on
education,i.e. «Umbrella 1» Law)
. building new independent professional institutions (Council for
Education, Centre for Curricula and Textbooks, Centre for
Professional Teacher Development, Centre for Evaluation)
. structure of educational system (primary education length - 9
instead of 8 years divided in 3 cycles, secondary school 3
instead of 4 years)
. Curricula that is more flexible (individual schools cou