Approximately 1,900 teachers trained to apply key competencies in education

During the project "Integration of key competencies in the education system in Montenegro", which was supported by the European Union, approximately 1,900 teachers were trained, it was pointed out at the final conference on the end of the project, held on Tuesday, December 21, in Podgorica.

The conference was officially opened by Mr. Goran Drobnjak, Senior IPA Programming Officer and Acting Director General of the Directorate for European Integration, Programming and Implementation of EU Funds and International Cooperation in the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, Ms. Sladjana Pesic, Head of the Directorate for Contracting EU Aid and Contract Implementation in the Ministry of Finance and Social Welfare, Ms. Audrone Urbonaviciute, Deputy Head of the Cooperation Department of the Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro and video message Karol Rudny, Project Director, Member of the Board of EPRD.

In addition to trainings, the project also prepared the "Montenegrin Framework Program of Key Competences" based on the European framework, which includes eight competencies, namely: literacy; multilingualism; mathematical competencies and competencies in science, technology and engineering; digital; personal, social and learning competence (how to learn); civil; entrepreneurial; as well as the competence of cultural awareness and expression. Eight key competencies are the basis for lifelong learning and should be included in all levels of education, as well as selected future professions, it was said at the conference.

In addition to teachers, the trainings included 338 principals and members of management teams of all primary and secondary schools on planning key competencies and quality assurance, 168 members of Matura commissions on exam assignments, 176 principals and members of management teams of primary and secondary schools on conducting self-evaluations. Trainings for quality assurance advisors and supervisors were held in educational institutions - the Institute for Education, the Center for Vocational Education and the Agency for Quality Control and Assurance in Higher Education. In total, 2,746 people from the education sector were involved in the project activities.

The project, in addition to training, developed documents important for improving education, as well as the application of key competencies in practice: Guide for teachers to integrate key competencies in teaching and learning and formative evaluation, strategic program for integrating key competencies in the education system of Montenegro 2022- 2024, Modules for initial teacher education at the University of Montenegro (pedagogical, psychological, didactic and methodological), Guide for self-evaluation of pre-tertiary educational institutions according to the draft of the new Methodology, as well as 50 "PISA-like" tasks in mathematics, science, technology and engineering (MINT - STEM).

The project "Integration of key competencies in the education system of Montenegro", which ends at the end of this year, began on August 30, 2019 and its key beneficiary is the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, educational institutions - Institute for Education, Center for Vocational education and Examination Center, University of Montenegro and all primary and secondary schools.

The project, worth approximately 920,000 euros, was co-financed by the European Union and the Government of Montenegro under the Pre-Accession Assistance Program (IPA II).