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EDUCATION REFORM PROGRAM
STRATEGY 2003 - 2005 INTRODUCTION
In October 1999, Open Society Institute –
Montenegro launched the project of education reform in Montenegro in close
cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of
Montenegro. Since the very beginning, the process of education reform has
been dominantly and, for a rather long period of time fully, OSI financed
and guided. The Foundation in Montenegro has been providing expert,
financial and logistical support to all education reform segments, those
being:
The first year of the reform process was marked by extensive capacity building efforts focused on the human resources of MOE, identification of the current state and needs of the Montenegrin education system, as well as the provision of the necessary expert and technical support to MOE. In 2001 the first concrete steps were taken and successes achieved, the most significant of which is, certainly, the completion of the concept and strategy of education reform, the so-called, Book of Changes. However, it was in that year also, that numerous problems and issues were raised that relevant institutions have been so far and will be encountering in the future. The current year was, on one hand, marked by the great enthusiasm and productivity of the reform structure responsible for curriculum reform, as well as the finalization of new laws for all educational segments[1]. On the other, the burden of serious problems that have for years been accumulating in the educational system of Montenegro, the almost year long strike of teachers, and the very unstable and tense political situation, can inflict considerable damage to the education reform process, if not stop it completely. Moreover, Montenegro suffers from a serious lack of donor organizations involved in education reform and this has now become one of the burning issues demanding for urgent action and consideration[2].
Unfortunately, this segment of the strategy which treats the political context within which the education reform takes place in Montenegro remains identical to its two predecessors in the strategies for 2000 and 2001. Namely, the political situation is still very unstable, the statehood issue yet unsolved, and new parliamentary elections with hardly predictable outcomes are to be held by the end of October.
The country is in a deep economic crisis in which anything not directly related to the solution of poverty problems and producing immediately visible effects is often considered superfluous and unnecessary. In this context, a successful implementation of education reform demands not only the development of new legislation and curricula, but also the improvement of the economic situation, the building of new institutions, the re-mapping of the existing school network and the construction of new schools, etc., and last but not least, the rise in the living standard of teachers as the key reform implementers. It is for all these reasons necessary that the World Bank, other international financial institutions as well as bilateral donors be involved as soon as possible in the reform processes taking place in Montenegro.
However, regardless of the direction the political trends take, Montenegro will still need a stable and continuous support in both capacity and institutional building in the field of education in order to sustain and help the existing reform optimism and potentials. It is therefore of utmost importance that OSI should continue its role of being both a resource of expertise and a pressure group which will help MOE to overcome the current political and donor ‘vacuum.’ In order to further enhance the cooperation with MOE, FOSI Representative Office – Montenegro intends to sign a Protocol for Cooperation binding both sides to increase their efforts towards the achievement of the common goal.
Based on the above stated, the strategic goal of the FOSI Representative Office – Montenegro is to support the continuation of the education reform processes and the development and implementation of the quality and sustainable solutions in the next three year period. The Foundation will therefore place strong emphasis on the activities focused on further building of the capacities and institutions within MOE and other key educational institutions and NGOs, as well as help MOE attract other donors and international organizations, the World Bank and bilateral donors in particular, who could pick up the investments which OSI has so far integrally supported. In accordance with the basic open society principles, such as the participatory and open development of sector policies, the Foundation will, as it has so far, assist in the provision of awareness raising and public information activities, with an aim of initiating active participation of all education reform stakeholders.
STRATEGIC COMPONENTS IN 2003 – 2005
As explained above, since 1999 FOSI Representative Office – Montenegro has had an integrated approach to the process of education reform in Montenegro and supported all of its segments, from the development of the concept of education reform to organizing and launching a media and public information campaign for these purposes. It is exactly due to this integral approach that we are now very near the implementation of new solutions, whether in legislation or curricula.
The provision of the conditions for the implementation demands the engagement of other donors and international institutions which would take over and continue investments into many different activities so far mostly supported by OSI (school optimization, institution building, teacher training, re/construction of schools, etc.). However, at this moment, there is only one large-scale project (EU funded VET/Phare project) related to education reform in Montenegro and conducted by international organizations other than OSI. Neither the World Bank nor bilateral donors have so far been involved in the field of education reform.
For all these reasons, support to MOE in the mobilization of other donors will be one of the main activities of the Foundation in the next three-year period. FOSI Rep. Office – Montenegro will rely on the international influence OSI has in terms of the engagement of other donors, governments and organizations in the reform processes in education.
It is certainly worth mentioning here that the initial steps have already been taken. Namely, at the suggestion and with the help of OSI, the Ministry of Education and Science prepared in July this year the first letter to the World Bank. Moreover, at the meeting between the Foundation, OSEP-SEE, UNICEF and EAR representative, it has been agreed that these two organizations will together with FOSI Montenegro stand behind the realization of these activities.
Foundation will continue to provide expert support to the key aspect of education reform. In the last three years serious and extensive capacity building efforts have been invested on the part of OSI which resulted in the creation of the core group of local experts who have been working on different education reform issues. However, Montenegro still suffers from a bad lack of know-how in the fields of curriculum reform, teacher training, education reform management, etc.. The situation is further worsened by the fact that, currently, there is no institution in Montenegro which is treating these issues. The Ministry is therefore facing an extremely difficult and responsible period during which experts and institutions capable of dealing with the increasingly demanding educational environment should be created. Our Foundation therefore intends to provide expert support to MOE in the fields of curriculum and legislation reform, textbooks production reorganization, institution building and teacher training, relying on the vast experience and knowledge gathered under the auspices of OSI.
Curriculum Reform
The greatest need for expert help in the next three years will be in the field of curriculum reform. This is when the most significant documents will be developed, institutions created and, according to the MOE Strategy for education reform for 2003 – 2004, new curricula implemented in a number of selected schools. The vast curriculum reform structure which is now being created will need both expertise and guidance in their efforts. The Foundation, which has been fully involved in the process of curriculum reform, therefore intends to continue its support in order to provide a sustainable and quality process, which, again, is a prerequisite for all other developments and changes in the education system.
Educational Legislation Reform
The whole process of developing new educational legislation, from the establishment of MOE working groups to the reviewing of the new laws and organizing public debates has been taking place due to the support of FOSI Representative Office – Montenegro. We expect that MOE will need additional expert help for the preparation of by-laws and other regulatory papers and will therefore remain open to these initiatives.
Textbooks Publishing
The process of reorganization, capacity building and textbooks preparation and writing at the Textbooks Publishing Agency of Montenegro (the only of its kind in Montenegro) will be taking place along the reform of curricula. In fact, this process has already started due to the professionalism and dedication of the employed and two workshops aimed at improving editorial and book design skills were already held in June and September this year. Three distinguished experts with international reputation have conducted study visits to the Textbooks Agency through OSEP-SEE. The Agency has prepared a strategy for the next two years and our Foundation plans to provide expert support to their efforts.
Institution Building
According to the strategy of education reform drafted by MOE for the period 2003/2004, new institutions will be created (General Education Agency, Vocational Education Agency, Councils for General and Vocational Education, etc.) and the Ministry will be subject to serious reorganization (Department for Public Relations and International Cooperation is be established in 2003). We expect that the Ministry will need expert help both in the management of these activities and in developing human resources to be employed at new institutions.
Teacher Training
Apart from the teacher training activities conducted through the Pedagogic Agency (OSI spin-off / Step-by-Step) and UNICEF (Active Learning), there has been no systematic efforts at increasing the skills of teachers in order to prepare them for the new reformed school. FOSI Representative Office Montenegro will focus its efforts at mobilizing donor support for this issue, but will also have an open and flexible approach in order to be able to provide expert support for quality initiatives in this field.
In the context of the first strategic goal, i.e. mobilization of other donors, it is important to point out that expert support on the part of the Foundation should be flexible and organized in such a way as to enable OSI to withdraw in the future from the program components taken up by other organizations.
As it has been the case so far, the Foundation will support the activities aimed at providing the transparency and accountability of the education reform process. Our goal is to raise the awareness and achieve the consensus among all education reform stakeholders, i.e. the citizens of Montenegro, on the necessity of changing the existing education system.
These activities will represent a follow-up of the media/public information campaign on education reform the Foundation developed and launched last year and are fully compatible with the Media Campaign Task as defined in the new MOE strategy for education reform in 2003/2004 (public debates, round tables, news releases, TV shows and videos, etc.). The Foundation is planning to make the most of the activities initiated within the project of developing a Resource Pack on Communicating Education Reform (sensitization and training of journalists, training for MOE employees/PRs, organization of national seminars, etc.).
The strategic goal of FOSI Representative Office – Montenegro in the next three-year period is to ensure a sustained and accountable continuation of the education reform process which it has initiated and so far integrally supported. Due to reasons of both external and internal nature (the process reaching the phase of implementation which demands the investments far exceeding the abilities of a single donor, and the fact that the General Education Program is closing in three-years time, respectively), the Foundation is now changing its integrated approach to education reform process to a more focused one in order to contribute to the continuation and sustainability of this process.
For the purpose of achieving this goal, the Foundation will place particular emphasis on the following three strategic activities: (1) mobilizing other donors in the field of education reform, (2) expert support to key reform processes, and (3) ensuring adequate transparency, public information and debate on the reform processes.
In the context of the above said, the Foundation has defined the evaluation questions as follows:
The whole process of education reform, starting from 1999 up until 2006, will be taken into consideration in the evaluation. Monitoring of the existing data and the quality and quantity of direct outputs in the course of the following 3 year timeframe will enable us to gain insight into the quality and feasibility of our project and, if necessary, rethink and re-direct our activities. FOSI Rep. Office – Montenegro intends to use a contextual approach to the evaluation in order to capture the manner and extent the political context affects the project implementation and outcomes. It is planned that in 2005 a summative evaluation, external and participatory in character, is conducted and its findings distributed to all reform stakeholders.
The fact that OSI has been the initiator and the dominant donor in the education reform process throughout the previous three-year period, and that, consequently, the evaluation of OSI activities will at the same time be the evaluation of the whole process, will certainly contribute to the significance of this evaluation in terms of its relevance for MOE and its decision and policy-making in the future. MOE has prepared a new implementation strategy for 2003/2004 with clearly defined timeframe of tasks and assignments. The extent to which it will be realized by 2006 will largely depend on the capacities of MOE to attract other donors as well as the cooperation with FOSI Rep. Office along all three strategic segments.
To conclude, the evaluation is intended to be summative from the point of the Foundation, but to have a ‘formative’ character from the aspect of the reform process and its stakeholders.
Useful benchmarks (1999 – 2002)
Indicator Areas are developed along the main strategic lines of the FOSI Representative Office – Montenegro for the period 2003 – 2005. These are:
The Foundation’s exit strategy is developed around its three strategic components and will be based on:
Evaluation of the FOSI Montenegro education programmes will not only relate to the period 2003 – 2005, but will also encompass the whole duration of the education reform starting from the beginning of the year 2000. Internal evaluation will be conducted periodically, while a summative evaluation will be carried out in 2005 by an external expert in cooperation with the participation of the foundation staff and key education reform stakeholders. The presence of an external expert will add to the value and credibility of the evaluation, the findings of which will have a two-fold purpose: to give insight into the impact of the OSI activities in the education reform process, and to provide examples of best practices to MOE/ educational institutions in Montenegro and the donor community as part of the resource pack on the education system change.
Resource pack on the education reform in Montenegro will contain all documents recording the processes of change and will include evaluation findings, best practices and experience acquired throughout the 6-year reform process. The resource pack will be made available to all education stakeholders in Montenegro as well as donors and other international institutions in the field of education.
Establishing partnerships with other donors will greatly contribute to the sustainability of the reform process and, consequently, continue and justify both OSI and MOE activities at introducing changes in the education system. Our foundation will therefore invest a lot of efforts at helping the Ministry establish contacts with other donors, prepare the necessary documentation and organize meetings/conferences for this purpose. We strongly believe that, apart from the willingness of Montenegro to embark on this comprehensive project of reforming the educational system, the participation of international financial institutions (IFI) will create the necessary preconditions to the achievement of this goal.
1 Anex I: The Chronology of Education Reform in Montenegro (back) 2 Anex II: Table: Donors Helping/Involved in Education Reform in Montenegro (back)
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