Numerous educational reforms have been initiated in Serbia since 2000. The aim of this study was to examine education policymaking in Serbia in order to provide policymakers and stakeholders with recommendations on how to minimize pitfalls and increase success of future educational endeavors. In the study, we utilized the education policy cycle heuristic to analyze formation, implementation, and evaluation of three major education policies in Serbia: in-service training of teachers (INSET), school development planning (SDP), and inclusive education (IE). Examining three reforms simultaneously enabled us to identify major characteristics of Serbian policymaking, regardless of the reform content. We also relied on educational change literature, so that we could assess complex contexts of reforms. Finally, considering the importance of school staff during implementation, we examined education policymaking in Serbia through the eyes of over 1,800 teachers, counselors, and principals. The results point out to dissatisfaction of school staff with all aspects of the policymaking in Serbia and with the social and education context. Reforms appear to be undertaken in a similar pattern across different reforms. The findings imply that a thorough examination of both the policymaking in Serbia and communication, organization, and administration within the education system itself is in order.
Having in mind that student achievement and interest in subject are some of the most important educational goals, and that quality of teaching is the crucial schooling factor influencing them, we examined the contribution of teacher-level variables from the Dynamic model of educational effectiveness to student achievement and interest in mathematics and biology. The representative sample included 5476 students from 125 elementary schools in Serbia and 5021 parents. Data on student and teacher variables were collected through student and parent questionnaires, while data on prior and current achievement was comprised from students' TIMSS 2011 scores and national examination results, respectively. Data was analyzed using multilevel modeling. The results indicate that teacher factors from the Dynamic model did not impact student achievement in mathematics and biology, but that they influenced student interest in both subjects. We offer recommendations for educational policy and directions for further research.
This paper reports on the research results regarding children's positioning in their daydreaming narratives. A special feature of the research was its cross-generational character, i.e. we have collected and analyzed written accounts of primary school children's daydreams in grade 4, which were produced in the year 1984 and the year 2009. One of the major insights from our research is that children's daydreaming narratives broadly belong to the category of 'preferred self' constructions. We classified these preferred self-constructions in three categories, namely 'fictional selves', 'future selves' and 'actual selves', which emerged from repetitive themes in children's narratives. Each of these broad categories was further 'unpacked' into more specific constructions of preferred selves. Based on the qualitative data we developed hypotheses about generational shifts in preferred self constructions and used nonparametric statistical tests to evaluate these hypotheses
One of the key messages of the contemporary approach to school development is that teacher participation is a necessary precondition for the successfulness of this process. Experience from the world, however, shows that broad and active participation of teachers in school development is neither easy to achieve nor to sustain in the long run. Similarly, the first experiences with school developmental planning in Serbia from the first half of this decade also pointed out to the differences with respect to readiness of teachers to take over this new role. The research that will be presented in this paper was conducted with the aim of discovering and determining the levels and ways in which different factors influence teacher involvement in developmental activities in school, whereby those activities are of cooperative and leadership character. The research was conducted on the sample of 385 teachers from 51 primary schools in Serbia. The findings indicate that teacher involvement in school development is a product of a complex combination and interaction of numerous personal and contextual factors, bearing in mind that harmony of personal and professional identity and meanings ascribed to changes in school is of primary importance. The final part of the paper provides recommendations for system and organizational level in order for teacher involvement in school development to become a widespread and sustainable practice
Improving the quality of in-service teacher training is a very topical issue in educational policies of a number of countries. This segment of the system was also subject to considerable changes in Serbia in the past ten years. The changes brought about certain improvements, but also opened up numerous dilemmas and issues. This paper is aimed at acquiring an insight into the opinions of different participants on the ways of improving the quality of in-service teacher training. The sample included three groups of respondents: the employees in education bureaucracy and experts in the field of education (N=34), principals (N=50) and expert associates from primary schools (N=93). We developed a questionnaire for the purposes of this research, using open-ended questions to collect respondents? suggestions on improving the quality of in-service teacher training. The content analysis method was used to process the collected data. Research results point to three directions of the necessary changes: (1) better governing of the system of in-service teacher training, (2) providing funding and other forms of support, and (3) higher flexibility of in-service teacher training and implementation of the acquired knowledge. The range and quality of respondents? suggestions demonstrate the need to take into account different perspectives in overcoming the difficulties in the system and practice of in-service teacher training. Consequently, the obtained results should be observed as a contribution to creating a more purposeful and efficient system of in-service teacher training.
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