The Foundation Open Society – Macedonia (FOSM) supported the project “The readiness of primary schools to implement and the effects of the implementation of the curricula from the Concept for Primary Education” of the Association for Research and Analysis ZMAI in which the attitudes of teachers and parents of students from first and fourth grades for the implementation of the Concept for Primary Education in the academic year 2021/22.
The presentation of the findings of the analysis was presented at an event held on 12 October 2022 at Europe House. The analysis and research shows the need to improve infrastructure and increase investment in education.
In his address, Viktor Mitevski, president of ZMAI, emphasized: “The concept is a good foundation on which the further development of the educational system should be based.” The extended school day is one of the key organizational changes that the Concept should bring. In order to achieve this, it will be necessary for all schools in the country to work in one shift, and to achieve this, it will be necessary to build new classrooms in almost all municipalities throughout Macedonia. On the other hand, the majority of teachers and parents who responded to our surveys welcomed the introduction of innovative teaching and learning methods (62% of parents agree that teachers used innovative methods during lessons). However, they point out that better information technology infrastructure and more training for educational staff is needed.”
Part of the presented findings from the analysis of ZMAI presented by the main researcher Goran Mojanoski, point to a high level of agreement among parents (71%) that students who followed instruction in the languages of smaller ethnic communities had an increased sense of belonging to society. Respondents welcome the innovation offered by new technologies. According to them, it helps children learn faster. 62% of the parents agree that during the lessons, the teachers used innovative methods, which facilitated their child’s learning, and a similar level of agreement (64%) occurs in the answers from the teachers. The recommendation remains, in addition to digital tools, to use printed materials and textbooks. 86% of parents think that they are necessary.
According to Natasha Angjeleska, senior program coordinator at FOSM, children from these communities face unique challenges in teaching. Because of that, as she pointed out: “The Foundation Open Society – Macedonia worked several years ago to support schools from smaller communities and with the language of instruction from the less numerous ethnic communities in the country. We tried in 10 schools in which teaching is conducted in the languages of the less numerous communities, followed by about 5,000 students in Turkish, Bosnian, and Serbian languages, to compensate for the shortcomings of didactic materials, library funds, but also equipment, through procurement and distribution. For example, in schools we donated technical equipment necessary for the realization of modern and online teaching: laptops, desktop computers, printers, smart-boards, LCD projectors, tablet devices with internet cards for 350 children from socially disadvantaged families, we provided a series of workshops and teaching staff training for innovative teaching, encouraging critical thinking among students and dealing with prejudices and stereotypes. In addition, FOSM supported the initiative to introduce a new Concept for Primary Education and last year helped print materials for learning the languages of the less numerous communities in the first grade. We believed that such research, by collecting data from the field and including the voice of parents and teachers, would help to create effective interventions, and most importantly, policies for a better quality of education for every child.”
At the event, the director of the Bureau of Education, Zeqiria Hasipi, spoke about the role of the Bureau in carrying out concepts and curricula.
After the presentation of the findings of the ZMAI analysis, a productive discussion followed, in which participated prominent university professors, mayors from the municipalities where the research was conducted, representatives from international organizations working in the field of child development and education, and representatives of state institutions in the field of education.
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13 October 2022