Opportunities and Challenges of Communicating Education Reform

Beneficiaries of the REDIS 2030 project - EU support to reform of education in Serbia, identified opportunities and challenges related to education reform communication.

During the workshop, the  representatives of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, the Institute for the Evaluation of the Quality of Education, the Institute for the Advancement of Education, the National Council for Higher Education, the National Accreditation Body, the Agency for Qualifications and the National Education Council joined forces in this task. 

Goals of the Education Development Strategy

Through active participation and healthy debate, participants discussed, through a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats), four goals set in the Education Development Strategy of the Republic of Serbia until 2020:

• Increasing the quality of education processes and outcomes to the maximum attainable level - one that stems from scientific knowledge of education and reputable educational practices.
• Increasing the coverage of the population of Serbia at all educational levels, from pre-school education to lifelong learning.
• Achieving and maintaining the relevance of education, especially one that is wholly or partly funded by public sources, by matching the structure of the education system to the immediate and developmental needs of individuals, economic, social, cultural, research, educational, public, administrative and other systems .
• Increasing the efficiency of use of all education resources, i.e. completion of education within the stipulated period, with a minimum extension of time and reduced school leaving.

The participants had the opportunity to devote to each of the goals set out in the Strategy, to look at them through different prisms and to answer the SWOT analysis questions. In this way, they gained a better understanding of the challenges, benefits, and best paths to solving the challenging items. Also, participants provided suggestions and supported good solutions.

The result of the workshop was a list of key items that are relevant to strategically plan further communication of the implementation of education reform in Serbia and the support provided by the EU.