Portraits of Innovative Vocational Schools in South Eastern Europe

European Training Foundation. Available from: EU Bookshop. e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://bookshop.europa.eu/en/home/

N

84

Vocational Education; Anthologies; Vocational Schools; Foreign Countries; Educational Change; Communities of Practice; Institutional Characteristics; Educational Policy; Educational Development; Best Practices; Educational Practices; Knowledge Management; Change Strategies; Regional Characteristics; Regional Cooperation; Effective Schools Research; Profiles; Educational Innovation; Educational Improvement; Improvement Programs; Educational Research

Albania; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Croatia; Denmark; Europe; European Union; Kosovo; Montenegro; Serbia; Slovenia; Turkey; Yugoslavia

10.2816/13394

978-92-9157-587-9

The reform of South Eastern European country vocational education and training (VET) systems has been underway for more than a decade. Initially major efforts focused on reforming the curricula of the vocational schools and training centres to align them better with the rapidly changing needs of the labour market and society. Later the focus moved to changing framework conditions and strengthening national policies in the region. However, education reform is not only about changing policies, regulations, curricula and teaching materials. The pivotal point for implementing reform that impacts on vocational students and trainees is teachers and schools. This is why a high priority is now increasingly given to vocational teacher education and training in EU policies and in education strategy papers for countries in transition. With the EU initiative on Schools for the 21st Century a sharpened focus is being put on the competence development of teachers in a whole school development perspective. The purpose of this collection of examples of good practice in innovative vocational school development in South Eastern Europe is to document how selected vocational schools perceive their own modernisation, and to develop a shared interest in and stimulate developmental thinking for improved vocational schools with an emphasis on the competence development of teachers. Through independent, informal and responsive collaboration within an already well-established network, organised as a community of practice, participating countries have found supporting the dissemination and continuing exchange of ideas and practices worthwhile in order to learn from each other and with each other, to solve common problems and develop new ideas, to build on their own creativity, and possibly to move from talking to action. The school portraits presented in this anthology are written by the schools themselves and relate specifically to how they see vocational school development. All except two are drawn from candidate and potential candidate countries and illustrate approaches to solving the problems of policy, provision and practice that may help school principals and teachers to come to terms with the massive changes around them. Appended are: (1) Links to additional useful sources and contents of previous compendiums; (2) The Learning Organisation; (3) Professional Learning Communities; (4) Community of Practice; and (5) School development for lifelong learning in Central Asia. (Contains 5 figures, 1 table, and 8 footnotes.)

ERIC

2013

ED538927