Recently, new regulations were adopted, which, according to the website of the Ministry of Education, are part of the activities that strengthen the educational role of schools and the educational system for the prevention and response to violence. In what way is this done, among other things?
The Ministry of Education in its response to the inquiry of "Vremena" writes that, given that the changes in the law mostly related to the additional regulation of the issue of student evaluation, and especially the evaluation of governance, the Minister of Education adopted this rulebook in order to ensure the smooth functioning of education affairs. .
It remains unclear what concretely means "unhindered functioning of educational affairs".
Disputed article five
Article 5 of the Rulebook on student assessment in primary education states that if more than half of the parents of students from the same class believe that a teacher is not doing something in accordance with the law and this Rulebook, the school will implement certain procedures.
At the same time, this is the article about which the public made the most noise.
Vesna Jerotijević from the Union of Education Workers Union of Serbia explains to "Vreme" that the disputed Article 5 of the new Rulebook on Evaluation does not apply to secondary schools. Also, she reminds that parents had the right to report until now and that she could have been anonymous.
"Certain steps are defined in this way. If more than half of the parents in the class turn to the head of the class, then he informs the subject teacher and the school director about it, and a professional council is organized to consider the application", says Vesna Jerotijević.
If, for example, the application refers to a subject teacher in mathematics, the professional council consists of professors of mathematics, physics and, in general, active natural sciences. If it is seen that the application is unfounded, then the council can reject it, and in that situation the teacher bears no responsibility.
Many decisions are made ad hoc.
The Ministry of Education says that, when it comes to Article 5 and the aforementioned positions, the idea is for the school to be the first to have insight into the parents' statements, which will review these statements and make a decision in the best interest of the students and thus improve the quality of educational educational work.
Dobrinka Kuzmanović, assistant professor at the Faculty of Philology of the University of Belgrade, psychologist, believes that many decisions are made ad hoc, and that she has not seen that research has been conducted, nor that there are statistical data on how many parents have complained about the work of teachers.
"I don't know what provoked the adoption of this measure. Why is this position within Article 5? Has the number of teacher applications increased? Where does that extra tightening come from? Did we ask the teachers? And the students?", asks Dobrinka Kuzmanović.
In its response, the Ministry writes that the adoption of new, as well as changes to old by-laws, is prepared based on the experience of schools and the application of regulations in practice, that is, the experiences of teachers and parents are taken into account.
"In addition, individual petitions of parents to the educational inspection were taken into account, as well as the results of those petitions," the Ministry states.
They further say that the provisions of the mentioned article are not intended to humiliate anyone, bearing in mind that "parents are the closest collaborators, not the opposite party to the teacher."
New Rules - old problems
Dobrinka Kuzmanović points out that the Rulebook is almost identical to the previous one, except for the mentioned new part that concerns the evaluation of the work of teachers and professional associates by parents of students.
"I really haven't seen any fundamental changes. In other words, everything that I think was not good in the previous Rulebook, I think is still not resolved in the new one", points out Dobrinka Kuzmanović.
The entire text about what Article Five of the Rulebook on Student Assessment in Primary Schools really represents and brings? Is that how the problems that existed before were solved? How will the student grade in governance be regulated? And if anyone thinks about the dignity of educators, read it in the new issue of the weekly "Vreme".
Read the entire text about the new Rulebook of the Ministry of Education and other problems in the education system in the new issue of "Vremena", which will hit newsstands on Thursday (February 22). You can subscribe to our publications here.
