Professional Development of the Teachers' Staff in the Elementary Schools |
The analysis of the conditions with the professional development of the teachers in the course of their working, made by the Ministry of Education and Science, points out to lack of harmonized investments in this sphere, especially when compared to the initial education of the teachers. The training of teachers during work, in order to be able to respond to the new challenges in Macedonia, is not compulsory and is provided in somewhat limited extent. As a response to the abovementioned challenge, the Government of Republic of Macedonia implements loan from the International Bank for Renewal and Development (World Bank), in amount of $5 million, with participation of 10 million EUR from the Dutch Government and $3 million participation of the Government of Republic of Macedonia for the Project Modernization of Education. The overall goal of the project was contribution to updating and modernization of education in Republic of Macedonia. The objective of the project was contribution to improvement of quality of teaching and increase of the participation of teaching in the target schools within the project. One of the components of the project is building capacities and professional development of teachers in the elementary and secondary schools. The Project Coordination Unit within the Ministry of Education and Science, in April 2006, published a catalogue of providers and their programmes for training of teachers, wherein the topics, curricula, contents and price of training were provided. The schools, depending on needs and available grant provided by the Ministry of Education and Science to every school, selects a topic for training and provider they wish to deliver the selected training. After the selection has been made by the schools, the providers conclude agreement with the Ministry of Education and Science wherein the details with reference to the training delivery are stipulated. For the students’ 2006/2007, MCIC concluded agreement with the Ministry of Education and Science for delivery of total of 6 (six) trainings, namely: 3 (three) trainings on Project Management, 1 (one) training for Communication Skills, 1 (one) training for Participatory Approach towards Learning and 1 (one) training on School Management, for the following 6 (six) elementary schools in Republic of Macedonia: “Sande Sterjoski”, Kicevo; “25 May”, suburb of Singelic, Skopje; “Petar Zdravkovski Penko”, Skopje; “Goce Delcev”, Negotino; “Maca Ovcharova”, Veles; and “Bajram Shabani”, Kumanovo. In the framework of the project, total of 81 teachers and other school staff were trained. The time period for implementation was February 1st – December 17th 2007. The financial report of the project amounted to 414,659.00 MKD (direct costs). |