The final conference of the KEY (Keep educating yourselves) is held at Preschool Teachers Training College in Novi Sad.
The conference was attended by representatives of all partner institutions, as well as representatives of: the Ministry of Education, the Novi Sad school administration; PU “Joyful Childhood”; private PU; Pedagogical Society of Vojvodina and the media.
All present were greeted by Svetlana Radović, Ph.D., assistant director of VSNS, Vesna Radulović, educational advisor, Ministry of Education – Novi Sad school administration, and Jovanka Ulić, M.Sc., project coordinator.
Through a PowerPoint presentation, the representatives of all partner institutions informed the attendees about the general and specific goals of the KEY project, as well as the implemented activities according to the work packages.
The work package products are:
– Publication “Comparative analysis of professional training in partner countries”;
– Realised workshop on the development of lifelong learning centers in Vršac;
– As a starting point for designing professional development seminars, research was carried out (2019) for the purpose of analyzing the needs of the target group, i.e. educators from Serbia and Montenegro
(N = 1466) in the following categories: Conceptual settings The basis of the PVO program; direct work with children; developing collaboration and learning communities; developing professional practice. The questionnaire was the starting point for the design of the professional development program for PU employees in which higher education institutions participated in the ZUOV competition for program accreditation;
– Established Lifelong Learning Centers at all higher education institutions in Serbia and Montenegro;
– Centers equipped with the most modern equipment;
– Held Moodle courses for 24 teachers from 6 partner HEIs who improved their knowledge and skills in using the Moodle platform and creating Moodle courses for teaching and training purposes;
– 39 professional training programs were accredited (Serbia 33 – ZUOV, new cycle of accreditation and 6 Faculty of Pedagogy in Nikšić);
– Held more than 30 seminars/programs for the professional training of criers and professional associates with more than 800 participants;
– Two workshops were held on the innovative approach in the work of Centers for Lifelong Learning: Liberating Structures, Theories of Change;
– Designed and implemented project quality monitoring methodology;
– 5 publications: “Comparative analysis of professional development of educators in partner countries”; “Manual for quality, observation and evaluation of continuous professional development of educators”; “Individual guide to KPRV – tool kit for preschool teachers”; “Models of KPRV accreditation standards”; “Guide to accredited programs at Lifelong Learning Centers”.
The KEY (Keep educating yourselves) project is an Erasmus + project in the field of strengthening cooperation between Higher Education Institutions and the wider economic and social environment.
The project started in November 2018, and due to the COVID19 pandemic, it was extended by one year, i.e. until November 2022.
Representatives from the following partner institutions attended the meeting:
Serbia – College of Vocational Studies for Teacher Education Novi Sad; College of Vocational Studies for Teachers “Mihailo Palov” Vršac; College of Vocational Studies for Educators and Business Informatics – Sirmum, Sremska Mitrovica; Academy of Educational Medical Vocational Studies in Kruševac; Academy of Technical-Educational Vocational Studies Niš, Department Pirot; Association of Vojvodina educators; Federation of Associations of Teachers of Serbia; ZUOV; Institute for the Western Balkans (WEBIN).
Montenegro – University of Montenegro, Faculty of Philosophy in Nikšić; Public preschool institution “Ljubica Popović”, Podgorica; Institute for Education of Montenegro.
Slovenia – University of Maribor; Research and educational center Dvorac Rakičan, Murska Sobota.
England – Birmingham City University.
Romania – West University Timisoara.
Hungary – University in Baja.