Education Policy Meeting in Bosnia and Herzegovina

2nd Education Policy Meeting of the BiH Ministers of Education
 
Sarajevo 6th of December, 2004

 

 

OVERVIEW

 

The meeting was organised by the Finnish Co-operation in the Education Sector of Bosnia and Herzegovina 2003- 2006 (CES). The CES programme aims to support the education reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina through capacity building in (i) education policy making; (ii) education administration; (iii) school management; and (iv) inclusive education.

 

The topic of the 2nd meeting the CES organised in Sarajevo addressed the links between education quality and curriculum development: what does education quality mean within the European context, and how should curriculum development be connected with relevant European principles and standards of good practices in education at the primary and secondary level.

 

CES approached the IBE-UNESCO and invited Mrs. Dakmara Georgescu to this meeting based on the previous work the IBE carried out in Bosnia and Herzegovina within the context of the UNESCO project (2003/2004: Capacity building for curriculum developers in BiH) and the EU Education project (2004).

 

CES MEETING

 

The meeting was opened by Mrs. Tuia Lauren, project team leader, who talked about the CES’s objective to support the development of a coherent education policy vision in BiH and enhance the capacity of the education authorities in BiH to design and implement comprehensive education reforms in primary and secondary education

 

She mentioned that the issue of the links between quality assurance and curriculum development was of a special interest for the high representatives of the education authorities in BiH, and that they asked for this topic during a previous meeting.

 

Dr. Hasan Muratović, the President of the University of Sarajevo , introduced the Training Centre of the University to the participants and also addressed the need to find a right balance between the valuable education traditions of BiH , and the good practices within the European context.

 

Mrs. Dakmara Georgescu, IBE-UNESCO programme coordinator, then started the discussions with the high representatives of the education authorities of BiH, which took approximately three hours (see background power point presentation).

 

PRESENTATION SUMMARY:

 

The presentation was conducted based on continuous interaction with the colleagues from BiH who asked many questions, and made comments as summarised below.The Concerns the representatives of the BiH education authorities have are regarding quality assurance and curriculum development.

 

Understandings, questions, concerns:

 

  • The participants agreed upon some general features of ‘education quality’ that are linked to knowledge, cognitive development, and the processes of learning; they also said that to date they miss an emphasis on procedural knowledge and on the personal development of students within the current curriculum.
  • Quality definitions should actually take into consideration four levels of the education system:
    • Pre-school
    • Primary
    • Secondary
    • Tertiary education


QUESTIONS TO BE ADDRESSED IN DISCUSSION

 

To date each upper level is unsatisfied by the results of students in the lower levels. Expected results for each level should be clearer. Learning should be useful, necessary and relevant. It should also be practical and problem solving oriented. Knowledge is not enough - one also needs to develop students’ skills. Schools have to avoid the transmission of pre-fabricated knowledge. Life-long learning skills should be also envisaged.

 

  • The question is what makes education ‘good’ or better than it currently is.
  • Can quality be assessed? For instance, for assessing the quality of education services we could consider the level of satisfaction of education stakeholders (students, parents, teachers, politicians, the Ministries of Education, etc.). Several participants said they would rate their personal level of satisfaction concerning the BiH system by 3 to 4 on a scale from 1 (lowest rate) to 5 (highest rate). But it would be also important to measure the impact education has on society, economy, etc. One needs reliable means of measurement for quality assessment.
  • The participants agreed that there is a need to develop a system for assessing quality of the education - the development of criteria and methodologies for assessing the quality of education should be designed as a system, otherwise there will be no reliable references. The criteria should be clear – so far there are no clear-cut standards of education quality in BiH. The following question should be also asked: how is the curriculum and the students’ assessment system influencing quality?
  • Quality should be also discussed by taking into consideration the need for a clear and strong value system. Knowledge is important, but we also need values and skills.
  • What about the school context? Quality assurance and assessment should tackle the different kinds of school contexts in BiH.
  • Which ‘education system’ are we talking about? The participants stressed that there is a lot of fragmentation to date in BiH – thus there is a need of building an education system that should be unified/harmonized and coherent.
  • When talking about education quality, we should differentiate between processes and results. BiH needs standards for both.
  • The quality question is probably best answered if we know how well are students prepared for life.
  • In terms of the links between curriculum and quality assurance: the participants feel that they need more compatibility with the European countries/European standards; they also need better links between general and vocational education.
  • Before assessing the quality of the BiH education system, there is a need of setting the foundations of our systems properly; and of setting clear expectations for students’ learning in terms of learning outcomes/student competencies.
  • Again: how is the curriculum affecting quality? The participants said that they should agree on some common criteria for a good curriculum, based on principles such as:
    • Interactive learning
    • Learner centred approaches
    • Coherence and continuity
    • Promotion of modern teaching methodology; and
    • A different role of the teacher, as facilitator of students’ learning.
  • What is the role of institutions, such the Assessment agency, in the process of quality assurance?
  • How is Assessment influencing quality? Both the curriculum and the assessment system should be based on modern principles, and coherent links between the to are needed. Assessment should in no way drive the curriculum: the participants agreed that there is a need to develop the curriculum first, based on modern teaching and learning principles, and to develop assessment standards and procedures accordingly.


CONCLUSION

 

The participants were extremely pleased with the outcomes of the discussion. They considered that this meeting gave a new impetus to the curriculum development process in BiH, based on a shared vision of what is quality learning and education within an European context, and how does the BiH education system relate to the challenges of improving education quality in line with the so-called European education standards.

An article documenting the meeting was published the following day in the OSLOBOÐNE newspaper.

 

The participants asked CES to plan an other similar meeting for 2005, where the IBE should be again invited, in order to continue the dialogue on the links between quality assurance and curriculum development, and the concrete actions that the education authorities of BiH should take in order to support the development and implementation of a curriculum that contributes substantively to the improvement of education quality in BiH.