In-service teacher training concept in Serbia: Between the proclaimed and hidden models

Abstract

In-service teacher training is a very important factor for increasing the quality of the education system and without its reform there can be no efficient reform of education. The concept of in-service teacher training is defined in the Bases of Education and Upbringing Act, but besides legal documents and framework, practical realization of the concept is of utmost importance. The paper analyses the Catalogue of the Programme of In-service Educational Cadre Training in the Republic of Serbia, the official document from which teachers select in-service teacher-training courses for personal development and this represents the level of operativity of the adopted educational policy in the domain of enhancing the quality of teachers' work. In our study we applied the semantic analysis technique which included the following: the composition of the entire document, the programme categories, the parameters of separate courses and their logical consistency. The results of the analysis show that besides the fact that in our country we do have a valid legal framework for in-service teacher training, its realization does not correspond to the concept of professional teacher development (PTD), namely, the Catalogue is not followed by a clear, complete, consistent and plan-guided system of teacher training. Further, the Catalogue offers no assistance to teachers how to select courses and make their personal profile of professional development that will suit their personal professional needs and/or the needs of the school they work in, which should be one of the Catalogue's basic functions.

Usavršavanje nastavnika je veoma važan deo unapređivanja kvaliteta obrazovnog sistema i bez reforme obrazovanja nastavnika ne može biti efikasne reforme obrazovanja. Koncepcija stručnog usavršavanja nastavnika definisana je u Zakonu o osnovama obrazovanja i vaspitanja., ali pored pravnog dokumenta i okvira, veoma je važna praktična realizacija te koncepcije. U ovom radu smo analizirali Katalog programa usavršavanja kadra u obrazovanju u RS, zvanični dokument iz koga nastavnici biraju programe za svoje usavršavanje i time predstavlja operacionalizaciju obrazovne politike u domenu unapređivanja kvaliteta rada nastavnika. Primenjena je semantička analiza sadržaja koja je obuhvatila: kompoziciju celog dokumenta, kategorije programa, parametre pojedinačnih programa i njihovu unutrašnju logičku konzistentnost. Rezultati analize pokazuju da i pored toga što u zemlji imamo zakonski okvir za valjan sistem usavršavanja nastavnika, njegova realizacija ne odgovara konceptu profesionalnog razvoja nastavnika (PRN): iza Kataloga ne stoji jasan, celovit, dosledan i planski vođen sistem usavršavanja nastavnika. Osim toga, Katalog ne pomaže nastavnicima da donesu odluku o izboru programa i naprave svoj profil usavršavanja koji će odgovarati njihovim ličnim profesionalnim potrebama i/ili potrebama škole u kojoj rade, što bi morala da mu bude jedna od osnovnih funkcija.