The Introduction Conference Held
The Introduction Conference on Competences in Early Childhood Education and Care was held on 18th and 19th of May, 2017.
The main aim of the Conference was to gather all relevant stakeholders in the field of ECEC and to discuss how to embed competences in preschool teacher education curricula so that student competences better fit the needs of labour market.
Furthermore, the Introduction Conference gathered student representatives from Bosnia and Herzegovina partner Higher Education Institutions in order to provide that student opinion is also heard.
The Introduction Conference should result in set of recommendations for Bosnia and Herzegovina Higher Education Institutions how what to innovate in preschool teacher education curricula.
DAY ONE, 18/05/2017
At the beginning of the Conference the TEACHERA project was first presented. The project coordinator, Selma Seta presented the basic information about the project and pointed out that the aim of the project is to innovate and modernize the first cycle of the academic study in preschool education in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but through the introduction of competence-based curricula. In addition, the project seeks to improve the interactive teaching method and transversal skills. Today’s Conference has a dual task – presenting research findings and making conclusions that will be used as guidelines for further work.
President of the Steering Committee of the University of Travnik, sir Nihad Selimovic expressed great gratitude and welcome to all participants at the Introduction Conference which is one of the activities within the TEACHER project.
Professor Amra Tuzovic addressed the audience on behalf of the Expert Team of the project. She pointed out that the partners made Bosnia and Herzegovina visible in the area of preschool education.
Association of Preschool Institutions Employees Principal, Ljiljana Kovac emphasized the importance of preschool education and increasing of children inclusion in education and expressed gratitude to partners, principals, parents and preschool teacher for participating in the survey.
Mayor of Travnik Admir Hadziemric expressed warm welcome and said he was particularly impressed that the University of Travnik is a project coordinator of the Erasmus+ project and wished happiness and success in further work.
On behalf of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Middle Bosnia Canton, the Cantonal Inspector Refija Kulasin addressed the audience, expressing her great pleasure and honor to attend this meeting since that is of great importance for whole educational system.
On behalf of the Ministry of Civil Affaris, sir Suvad Dzafic emphasized that even Bosnia and Herzegovina is not an EU candidate can participate in such projects and the University of Travnik has managed to compete, thus showing that Bosnia and Herzegovina has many potentials, but they should be directed in the right direction.
Finally, sir Enver Halilovic, Head of Agency for Development of Higher Education and Quality Assurance expressed his pleasure for attending the Conference of this. He said the University of Travnik can be an example of progress since this is a significant step in internationalization of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
After welcome speeches, participants started with a working part of the Conference. Presentations of students were quite interesting where students outlined their expectations from preschool curriculum programs.
The first day of the Conference was completed by the activities prepared by EU partners and through interactive work they enabled the exchange of opinions, attitudes and experiences on the activities that were taking place during the preparation of the Introduction Conference.
DAY TWO, 19/05/2017
The second day of the Introduction Conference started with defined conclusions from the previous day, but however that will guide the further project work.
Short meetings with partner representatives were also held in pauses.
Prior to leaving, the partners had a joint photograph.
The Introduction Conference has passed in very pleasant atmosphere. Successful implementation of the Conference and satisfaction of all partners have been stated through an evaluation report that has been evaluated by the participants in the highest grades.
