1. REPUBLIC OF SRPSKA
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
BANJA LUKA
STRATEGY AND CONCEPTION OF
CHANGES IN THE SYSTEM OF
EDUCATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF
SRPSKA
Banja Luka, 1998.
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2. The Republic of Srpska
Ministry of Education
Strategy and conception of changes in the system of
education in the Republic of Srpska
Prepared and drafted by:
Nenad Suzic, Ph. D.
Lectored by:
Vojislav Gakovic
This document was considered and adopted by the
Government of the Republic of Srpska at its session held
on july 10. 1998.
Printed by:
“Trioprint”, Banja Luka
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3. STRATEGY AND CONCEPTION OF CHANGES IN THE
SYSTEM OF EDUCATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF SRPSKA
The present conditions in education
and measures for the problem solution
The state of facilities 7
The state of equipment and devices 10
The teaching staff 11
Economical situation in education 13
Level of organisation of schools 15
Organisation of the Ministry of education 18
Curriculum (and programmes) 22
Normative regulations 27
The main changes in the system of education
The aims of education 32
Directions of development of education 44
Training for life in the XXI century 53
Normative regulations 56
Regulation of curriculum (and programmes) 58
Subject matters of the essential national program 58
New Serbian school after the European model 59
Decision making and management in education 61
Organisational changes in the system
Experimental schools 63
Primary and junior high school concept 66
Modern European secondary school 74
European standards at the university of the Republic
of Srpska 88
Programme for advanced teachers training 108
Introduction of the system of professional
advancement of teachers 113
Reorganisation of the Ministry of education 114
Scheme of institutions of the Ministry of education 114
Institutions important for the ministry activity 114
Republic Pedagogic Institute 115
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4. Inspectorate of the Ministry of Education 116
System of implementation of changes (expert teams,
projects, control, valorisation, experts from europe and
the world...) 119
General issues in the strategy of changes
Relations with Serbia and the Federal Republic
Yugoslavia 122
Relation with the Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina 123
Some ideological issues (religion classes, east – west,
splitting with real – socialism…) 125
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5. THE PRESENT CONDITION OF FACILITIES IN EDUCATION
AND MEASURES FOR THE PROBLEM SOLUTION
The state of facilities
In the Republic of Srpska students attend classes in 187
primary and 88 secondary schools. At the level of higher and high
education, there are 27 institutions, faculties and higher schools.
In March 1996, three institutions of the Republic of Srpska have
finished a huge survey on education. The analyses in question are
from “The urban office of the Republic of Srpska in Banja Luka”,
“Faculty of economy institute” and the Ministry of education.
From them, we are giving the following information.
Table 1
Numb Num Numb Funds needed
er of ber er of for recon- for
buildi of studen struction new objects
Institution ngs teach ts in DM in DM
ers
Central pri-
mary school 187
6.715 131.684 118.187.786 128.806.950
Sub school 550
Secondary
school 88 3.120 54.757 44.753.664 17.818.000
Higher school 3 57 1850 1.100.000 -
University 24 1.203 12.829 99.411.000 5.920.000
Total: 852 11.095 201.120 263.452.450 152.544.950
Table 2: Information about school in May 1998.
Numb Number
er of of
Employees
Institution school students
teachers others total
Primary sch. 189 127.952 7.350 3.150 10.500
Secondary s. 90 51.908 3.220 1.316 4.536
Higher sc. and
Univers. 37 9.337 1.203 509 1.712
Total 316 189.197 11.773 4.975 16.748
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6. Three levels of damages have been registered on
school facilities:
1. burned , pulled down and destroyed objects
2. objects damaged in the war (shelling, war activities),
3. objects damaged due to being inhabited by soldiers or
refugees
Two kinds of needs have come out of this: a) rehabilitation
and reconstruction of objects and b) construction of new
objects. Rehabilitation and reconstruction refer to objects
damaged by bombing or war activities and by soldiers and
refugees during their staing in them. Burned, pulled down or
destroyed facilities can be compensated only by the con-
struction of new ones. The need for construction of new
buildings has been influenced by the migration of population
because of war activities. In “bordering municipalities”, of
the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a number of
school buildings is on the territory of the BH Federation,
while students and their parents have come to live in the
Republic of Srpska, and significant resources are needed for
new schools in these areas.
All this is a great problem and a great burden for the
Republic of Srpska. Such a condition will be a burden for
developed countries, let alone for a country whose economy
works at 15% of its capacity at the beginning of 1998. It is
encouraging that the world community is helping the
Republic of Srpska. According to the information obtained
by the International Management Group, under the lead of
Daniel Vanago in January 1998, 367 international projects
have been opened or realised in the Republic of Srpska in the
previous period, which cost the amount of 40.044.710 DM.
All these projects refer to rehabilitation and reconstruction of
schools. That proves that the help of the international
community has been concrete and is an important support to
normalisation of conditions in education in the Republic of
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7. Srpska. In these projects, a number of international huma-
nitarian institutions have taken part, such as: ODA, IRC,
IOCC, SRSA, USAID, ADRA, DMH, UNOPS, UMCOR,
Solidarites, THW, SFOR, IFOR, SA, Parsons, WV Austria,
UNHCR, PEW, ECHO, UNDP, PRONK, EB, Netherlands,
DOOS-HEKS, Switzerland, NMFA, NCA – Norway,
Ireland, ARD, Greece and others. Besides the help of the
international community, the Government of the Republic of
Srpska has also invested in the reconstruction. Those were
modest funds, but a support to a number of schools. Had it
not been for these investments, the situation in schools
would have been catastrophic. We can say that the condition
of school facilities has been rehabilitated at about 30%
compared with the projected optimum for the realisation of
school programs and curriculum..
Measures that the Ministry of education and the
Government of Srpska will ungertake for the
reconstruction and rehabilitation of school facilities
1. Make an inspection into the realisation of all Government
and international projects and state who the donor is, who
carries out the projects, at what phase the projects are so
that further work can be done. (this activity has already
been finished)
2. Make the priority list of schools, which have to be
rehabilitated, reconstructed and constructed. (this activity
is being carried out by the Ministry of education and the
Project Implementation Unit)
3. Elaborate a number of projects after the methodology of
the World bank (WB) with all demonstrations requested:
reasons for constructing a school at a certain location,
benefits for the population, location in the school net of
RS, budget… Projects which have been made:
Rehabilitation and reconstruction of 42 schools –
submitted to the Government of Japan, rehabilitation and
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8. reconstruction of 6 schools – submitted to the World
Bank and is being realised.
4. Determine the school facilities which are not in the
priority of international donors, but need an urgent
intervention, make an estimation of all investments
needed and deliver them to the Government of RS so that
it can intervene accordingly. The Ministry of education is
doing this activity.
The state of equipment and devices
School equipment has been damaged along with the school
facilities. The reasons are various:
- war actions, bombing, shelling, fire,
- soldiers and refugees were accommodated in schools,
- electrical devices have been broken due to the power
loss,
- old furniture have additionally been damaged by
negligence, without renewal.
Schools had been working under war conditions for years
and after the war in such poor economical situation that it
was impossible to buy a blackboard, a chair let alone a
modern device. This has brought students into situation to sit
on shabby chairs and teachers to teach, using a chalk and a
blackboard. The main source of knowledge in such
conditions is the word of a teacher (verbalism), but a word of
a de-motivated, badly paid teacher. If add that classrooms
were not heated, we can presume under what conditions the
lessons were conducted.
Measures for (providing) equipment and devices provision
1. To make an Instrument to inspect the state of equipment
and devices in schools in RS, to check the conditions in
all schools in the Republic of Srpska in three phases: a)
the first phase – missing or shabby and the most needed
10

9. equipment, such as blackboards, chairs, benches,
hangers, b) the second phase – the state and needs for the
most necessary educational devices: graph-scopes,
projectors, TV sets, videos, copiers … , c) the third phase
– the condition of equipment and devices compared
with European standards.
2. To inspect the conditions of equipment in RS (instrument
from point 1 will be applied in May 1998, and the
supervision of its correctness will be done by a team of
experts from the world, Government of RS and experts
chosen by the Ministry of education).
3. Make an instrument to inspect the conditions according
to the phase three and inspect the conditions in all
schools in RS. (the activity is being carried out by the
Ministry of education during the year 1998).
4. Make the priority list of schools to be equipped (will be
done by the Ministry of education in 1998).
5. Design projects following the priority list and submit
them to donors from the international community and the
Government of RS, so that they can equip the schools in
phases according to levels from Point 1. (PIU –
Implementation Unit Banja Luka is responsible for this,
term 1998).
6. To inform the Government of RS about these activities
regularly. (Ministry of education is responsible for this; a
continuous activity).
Teaching staff
All reforms in education failed on the key factor of reform
performing, on teaching staff. If the teaching staff is not
interested in or willingly engaged in the realisation of
projected changes in the system of education, it is hard to
expect any positive results. That is the experience of all
school reforms, both in the world and in our country. Years
of the civil war in BH, almost no payment to teachers till
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10. 1998 and the lack of interest from the authorities for
problems in education have given many negative results:
1. unsatisfied and depressive teaching staff, de-motivated
for teaching and work in his profession,
2. an imperilled existence and dignity of teachers because
they could not fulfil their consumers baskets, they could
not dress properly or buy professional literature, spend a
holiday, but had to do other jobs like standing behind the
counter, under the open sky and so on,
3. many teachers want to leave their profession looking for
those jobs in which they could earn in a dignified way,
4. devaluation of teachers profession in the eyes of ordinary
people – pity and admiration do not go together for the
same person, at the same time,
5. being unpopular, the profession of a teacher attracts only
those who failed to pass entrance exams at some more
attractive faculties
6. Teaching staff has no confidence or trust in the state and
the government, nor in the state institutions or the
minister of education as the representative of education in
the government of the Republic of Srpska.
This means that a long and patient activity of the
Government and state institutions is needed to rehabilitate
economical situation in education, to restore the dignity of a
teacher, gain confidence of teachers in measures undertaken
by the Government and its institutions, and finally, to
achieve a necessary motivation of teachers for their devoted
commitment in new curricula.
In spite of all these circumstances, our teachers have stood
all war misfortunes, problems with shortages and standard of
life and deserved admiration of citizens:
- they worked in war conditions, doing their best to meet
the requirements of curricula as best as possible
- they worked for months without any payment or with the
payment which is not worth mentioning
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11. - after the war they have worked under unbearable
economical conditions, without proper textbooks and
literature, without any devices, in cold classrooms – it
became almost normal to see teachers and their students
sitting in classrooms in winter coats
- even in such circumstances, students of the Republic of
Srpska have been winning many competitions in the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, pass entrance exams and
enrol faculties.
This proves that the teachers of the Republic of Srpska are
capable of meeting the demands and challenges of a modern
system of education that will be introduced by the concept
Serbian schools after the European model. Our teachers will
soon acquire the application of new teaching methods of
active teaching, modern curricula and techniques.
Economical situation in education
During the self-managing period, education had been treated
as consumption or as a social burden. Such awareness has
been dominant till these days. Budget for education has been
at the level of the least developed countries for years. The
situation has not essentially changed since the period of self-
management ended. Education has been treated as
consumption. This started to be changed by the appointment
of the new government in 1998. In the first budget plan
education got 14 % of the total budget. This would have
been an excellent percentage had the economy not started
with 15 % of its capacity in the beginning of the same year.
Although the income of the economy is that low, the
government has undertaken a number of measures to
rehabilitate the conditions in education.
Due to the inherited mistrust in the Government of RS and
state institutions and a desperate economical situation, the
branch union went on strike in the beginning of 1998. The
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12. Union had righteous demands, but also a number of
oversights in the strike organisation and a few claims that
could not be justified. It turned out that it was more
important for the Union to claim some old debts than to look
for a systematic solution to some status questions in
education. It was more important to demand small dues than
a salary increase, regular payments, meeting the needs of the
consumer basket… After a discussion with representatives of
the Government, initiated by the Minister of education, the
Government of RS accepted a set of measures to help
education:
- to pay the staff regularly
- to increase the budget for education in accordance with
the increase of budget
- accomplishment
- to ask the international community to help education in
order to overcome such state in education
By our own efforts and by the help of EU and the world
community, teachers started to be paid better. Budget has
also become bigger due to the cessation of grey economy
and the support from the international community.
Employees have been paid for years, without being taxed.
Even in state services, till the end of 1997, employees were
paid without being taxed. The first salary paid after all
obligations had been fulfilled was paid in education. This
shows that the establishment of a legal system is the aim of
all society levels, especially of education in RS. The
previous period, in which this was not the matter of concern,
could be called a naïve egocentric national phase, in which
the people and the leaders behave irresponsibly, self-
sufficient, happy to have a state but unaware of the fact that
they are destroying it, since they don’t know how to
maintain and create it. A state is a dynamic and a very
complex system that is split if it is not maintained and
developed. The dynamics of the system depends on the
surrounding and global trends in the world. In order to be an
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13. actual part of the world, a state has to follow modern
achievements in science, economy, culture, marketing,
design … Only those countries that have efficient and
modern system of education can follow modern trends. The
most developed countries are aware that education is not
consummation but a profitable investment.
Determination of the new government of the Republic of
Srpska is to continuously work to improve the economical
situation in education shows that it is a modern government,
which understands its place and role in relation to national
interest of the Republic of Srpska. The period of national
excitement and selfishness must be replaced by the period of
reason and a clear vision of the future of the nation in
contemporary world.
The level of school organisation
A very low level of school organisation has a few objective
and a few partial roots. Instead of describing the conditions,
we will give a few features typical for the majority of
schools:
- principals took care more about how to find a donor to
paint the school or pay the teachers then about the
curricula
- Criteria for appointment of a principal was, first of all,
party membership. It was more important that a principal
belonged to the ruling party than that he had professional
and moral qualities
- The law says that the Minister appoints principals in
secondary and primary schools, under the proposal of the
school board. This board consists of at least two teachers,
one parent and two representatives of the founder
(municipality). A principal could have propose two
teachers and one parent, the Executive council of the
local Assembly could have proposed two representatives
from the same party, and we could have had a single-
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14. party school board, and the principal proposed him,
himself
- The problem of school organisation is not only
principals. There is a question of a uniform methodology
of plan making. The Republic Pedagogic Institute drafts
methodology for a yearly plan. Many principals did not
respect that methodology up till now, or they decided to
follow it formally, so that yearly school plans presented
one unmatchable mess of data, given in as many ways as
there were school principals.
- The work of pedagogues in schools has also been diffuse,
from those who were always on duty to those who
performed the most complicated professional; tasks in a
school. Although we have an appropriate methodology
for making a programme for a pedagogue, in practice in
schools this is carried out differently.
- Employing new teachers is a special problem of school
organisation. The present law allows many
improvisations and principal’s self-will. It so happens
that in Grammar schools, the most eminent schools, those
with stronger party connections get a job, not the best.
- A special problem is the connection between school
boards and principals. In our practice, a school board
represents a state institution and local authorities that rule
the school. In practice the school boards have been
substitutes for workers councils. Besides that, in many
schools the school boards do not function at all.
- In a number of schools, ilegal activities of principals have
been registered: payment for enrolment and other duties
illegally, privatised managing with money – principals
pay salaries, personally, illegal enrolment of special
students and the similar.
The mentioned examples only partially show some of the
problems of school organisation. We do not deal with a
number of sophisticated psychological-organisational prob-
lems of school-managing, such as: privileged teachers
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15. (because of party belonging or after a personal criteria),
politics in teachers’ rooms, persecution of non-sympathisers
and political opponents (some teachers got fired due to
political reasons), autocratic and a rigid attitude of some
principals and so on. Namely, the current regulations for
primary and secondary schools give principals an almost
unlimited power. Therefore, many principals started to
behave as owners of schools and inviolable masters of
teachers and their rights out of work. These are special
organisational problems that have to be solved
systematically and without improvisations.
Measures for improvement
of the school work organisation
Out of the survey about the problems in school
organisation a number of measures for its improvements can
be derived, which will make the work of schools better..
1. Along with regular salaries, schools have to be given
proper amounts of money for material expenses, in order
to stop indecent “manager-like” intervention of principals
working on collecting sponsors’ contributions.
2. To introduce more moral, professional and organisational
suppositions into the criteria for the elections of
principals.
3. Principals should be responsible to the teaching-staff, law
and the institutions of the system and not to the ruling
party or the party they belong to.
4. To prevent the possibility of manipulation with law when
a principal of a school is elected, and when a principal
“appoints him” through the school board.
5. To create a new, modern and rational methodology for
programming the schoolwork. Those principals who can
not or do not want to respect the methodology should be
sanctioned because the yearly programme is the ID card
of the school and the principal.
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16. 6. The work of pedagogues at schools should be risen to an
appropriate level through co-ordination at the level of the
Republic Pedagogic Institute, through seminars and the
similar.
7. To define and sanction by law, special criteria for the
selection of teachers and for employment, in order to
prevent self – will and improvisation with employment.
8. To create suppositions for a successful activity of the
school boards and insert these suppositions into law of
secondary and primary schools.
9. To prevent illegal actions in schools through a firm
application of law and educational inspections.
10. To start a school for professional training of principals of
schools, in which the principals will be trained for
modern school managing, for creating a wished
emotional atmosphere in schools and favourable human
relations. This programme is being realised in Serbia, in
the organisation of the Teachers’ faculty in Belgrade. The
same programme should be implemented in the Republic
of Srpska.
Organisation of the Ministry of education
One of the most serious problems during the change of
government in normal democratic procedures is a bad
organisation of a relevant Ministry. Taking over the
responsibility at the Ministry of education, we were faced
with a number of problems:
- The Minister of education was resigning, his tasks were
performed by Social Affairs Vice-president, who was the
Minister of science and culture. That is why nobody could
be consulted about many genuine questions important for the
work of the Ministry of education.
- In certain segments the hierarchy did not function in the
Ministry of education.
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17. - The republic Pedagogic Institute, as a technical service of
the Minister of education, did not execute its essential
function. A marginal approach to this institution could be
perceived from the side of the Minister of education, as
all the functions of the Ministry of education were
conceptualised at Pale, and the service has its seat in
Banjaluka, where the biggest number of supervisors were
located.
Table 3: Scheme of organisation of the Ministry of Education
Minister
Deputy Minister
Assistant for Assistant for Assistant for Assistant for
primary secondary high economic
education education education affairs
Operational
service Legal service Financial PIU
Pedagogic service
Institute
Director Secretary Assistant for Director
Deputy general economic Deputy
director A lawyer affairs director
Detached unit Inspection
in service
Bijeljina Bijeljina
Detached unit Inspection Computation Lawyer
Doboj service service
Doboj Banjaluka
Detached unit Inspection Architect
Srbinje service
Srbinje
Detached unit Inspection Computation Administrativ
Prijedor service service e worker
Prijedor Pale
Inspection
service
Total number Total number Total number Total number
of employees: of employees: of employees: of employees:
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18. Out of this scheme we can read that there are some
problems in the organisation of the Ministry of education:
1. In the found regulation, the position of an assistant for
high education has not been systematised, so that the
Minister has no organisational possibilities to inspect the
functioning and quality of teaching at higher and high
education. There is a systematised position of the
Republic inspector for high education, but it is not a
professional but a legal aspect of inspection. This way one
whole field of education has been out of the range of the
Minister of education, when a professional-educational
aspect of work is in question.
2. The inspection is not organised according to hierarchy, so
that inspectors were working after their own models, on
the base of individual orders of the minister of education
or his assistants, without having any working plans or a
reasonable system. There is a systematised position of the
chief inspector who was above all inspectors, but
essentially he had no the competence of an organiser for
other inspectors. He dealt only with higher and high
education and was not competent for primary and
secondary education.
3. Inspectors are responsible for law regulations to be
respected at schools, but inside the institutions of the
Ministry of education they did not have a professional
lawyer to turn to for some specific legal questions. The
two lawyers employed had their own “specialisation” so
that they could not work for the needs of inspection.
4. The Republic Pedagogic Institute is an institution, which
does not exist in the system of organisation in Serbia.
Namely, the Republic Pedagogic Institute in the Republic
of Srpska performs some functions that are carried out by
more institutions in Serbia, like Pedagogic Institute,
Psychological Institute, The service for development and
improvement of education and so on. The role of this
institution in the Republic of Srpska is poorly defined in
normative documents. The law for primary and secondary
20

19. education, the task of the Republic Pedagogic Institute is
to create teaching curricula and programmes, while the
Regulations on operational-pedagogic supervision deter-
mines this as a task of supervisors.
5. The World Bank (WB) (PIU) has given project Imple-
mentation Unit at the disposal of the Minister of
education. The World Bank has financed this service. The
main activity of this service is mediation in the implemen-
tation of projects of donators in school constructions,
providing the equipment and devices. Till the beginning
of 1998, the work of PIU was far away from the Minister
of education. The Minister only signed projects already
agreed upon or the priority lists for schools to be rehabili-
tated and reconstructed. Representatives of the World
Bank sent a written protest against the work of this insti-
tution to the Minister of education. After that the PIU has
been reorganised so that this institution got its place in the
system of organisation of the Ministry of education.
Apart from the problem of systematisation, explained
herewith, there is a series of other organisational problems.
- The Ministry of education has been moved from Pale to
Banja Luka, and a need for more offices for professionals
who are to execute the functions of the Ministry has
become evident. The solution of this problem is in
progress: offices in the detached unit in Banja Luka have
been adapted, facilities of the ex Military headquarters
are being rehabilitated so that the Ministry of education
will have its seat where other Ministries are.
- In order to organise this Ministry in a modern way, we
have to employ new personnel, what brings the need for
flats. The Government of RS will have to take adequate
measures to solve this issue.
- Modernisation of work of this Ministry demands modern
equipment, computers, mobile telephones, Internet, a
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20. better rolling stock, more efficient printing services and
the similar. The conditions we found in the Ministry of
education could not have met the needs of a small firm,
let alone of one Ministry. Solving of these problems is in
progress.
- There was no good division of work between the
Minister, his deputy and his assistant. These places exis-
ted formally and all the functions were carried out by the
Social Affairs Vice – president. One person can not
perform all these assignments, so that many of them were
not done, were done superficially, even wrongly.
Measures for improvement the work organisation of the
Ministry of education
1. To make a new organisational scheme for an efficient
functioning and a new systematisation of the Ministry of
education.
2. To provide the services of the Ministry of education
materially.
3. To develop programmes and efficient models of work in
all sectors and services of the Ministry of education.
4. To impose normative sanctions and open possibilities for
a modern organization of the Ministry of education.
5. To re-define and develop better the functions of the
Republic Pedagogic Institute.
Curricula / educational plans and programmes
Some features of our educational plans and programmes
have been evident for decades: encyclopaedic approach, they
are not adapted for the age of students, they are traditional,
out -of –date and completely centralised.
Encyclopaedic approach is one of the most troublesome
characteristics of our curricula. Too dense a timetable of the
contents or facts makes the students to repeat them only and
the teachers to compete with time in retelling them to
22

21. students. Most of the students are not capable of overcoming
or reproducing such a number of information, so the teachers
turn to work with 4 –5 best students in the class. Therefore
most of the students feel themselves unsuccessful, unable,
depressed and incompetent. It is contrary to the national
interest in the field of education.
Unacceptability of contents according to the age of stu-
dents has been present in our schools for years. When a new
scientific knowledge comes, we insert it into the curricula,
without omitting any of the old issues. We only move such
contents to lower age. It has become almost normal for a
teacher to expect his first-grade students to behave as if they
were at school for a few years. Children’s need for playing,
emotional warmth and the similar are pushed into the second
plan. In the whole Europe, children start school at the age of
six; with us they start at the age of seven. Eight-year primary
school with us lasts for ten years in Europe. The following
table shows the age of starting school.
Table 4: The beginning and duration of primary school in Europe
Pre-school School Period of Junior Compulsory
education start schooling high education
in years school
Belgium 3 6 6 3+3 12
France 2 6 5 5 10
Greece 3 6 6 3 9
Ireland 3 6 6 3 9
Luxembourg 3 6 6 3 9
Portugal 3 6 6 3 9
England 2 5 6 5 11
Germany 2-3 6 4 5-6 9-10
Austria 2-3 6 4 5 10
Switzerland 3 6 4 5 9
Serbia 3 7 (4 + 4) 8 - 8
Republic of 3 7 (4 + 4) 8 - 8
Srpska
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22. To start school a year later is not only the problem of age
or the psychological maturity of a student but also, under our
conditions, the problem of organisational and pedagogic
readiness of school to accept children when they come to
school. If we moved the age to six, without a good prepa-
ration of teaching staff and curricula, we would have educa-
tion even less suitable for the age of student than it is today.
In order to start education at the age of six, the following
preparations have to be done in our schools:
- to create appropriate plans and programmes
- to train the teachers to follow new methods of work with
children of that age
- to make organisational, systematic and applied prepara-
tions
- to adapt classrooms for children of that age
At the pre-school level of education, it is necessary to
develop models of teaching the contents from the first grade
of primary education, in order to unburden the syllabus in
the first grade and prepare students, through games, for a
more serious encounters with curricula. Simple games, story
retelling, casual and gradual introduction of teaching num-
bers and use of drawing equipment, light musical forms,
through games and dances, will make this year of school
very favourable for children, and very useful for further
work in education.
At the level of the seventh o and eighth grade, a row of
subjects should be moved to higher level of education, so
that they are connected with professional education. As an
example, those who will continue education at a medical
school should have a stronger syllabus in biology and less
general contents than those who will continue education in a
language school.
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23. Traditionalism or out-of-date approach is a common
feature of the present curricula. Some investigations have
shown that almost 80 % of the syllabus learned at school
never come to be used in life. By inertia, all educational
contents are prescribed, with a minimal addition of new syl-
labus, very few issues are ousted and new issues can hardly
force their way in. As an example, syllabus for sociology has
been identical to those from 20 or 30 years ago, while
futuristic issues are missing, as well as modern methodology,
social psychology, modern sociological theories and the
similar. Traditionalism is reflected in the application of ste-
reotyped traditional methods and ways of work in education.
Frontal method is prevailing, lecturing method also,
verbalism, authority of a teacher...
A complete centralisation of planning is an inherited
model of socialistic-realistic way of thinking. Namely, in a
centralised system of planning, lower subjects expect every-
thing to be planned “from above” and they will only realise
and, eventually, criticise those who planned.
The curricula in the Republic of Srpska, Serbia and
Yugoslavia are completely centralised. Such a way of
planning has proved to be non-functional. It has been shown
that a given syllabus can not meet various interests of certain
regions and towns. In class schooling, the knowledge of
nature and society is spreading from narrower to wider
native land. This results in a need that teachers do a part of
the syllabus independently and creatively: students get infor-
mation of their native town, the nearest mountain and the
similar. This is illustrative enough to prove that our curricula
can not fully satisfy practical needs.
Another problem of centralised or uniformed plans and
programmes is their un-adaptability to a concrete group of
students, a concrete mentality or environment. It is some-
times necessary that teachers develop small class groups or
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24. individual projects with their students, which will accord the
given cognitive style, interests of the class and the similar.
Consequences of such centralised plans and programmes
are manifold, we single out the following:
- inappropriate syllabus concerning a concrete local and
regional area
- non-adaptability of lecturing to a cognitive style of
students
- minimised or prevented creativity of students and tea-
chers
- ignoring of individual aspirations and interests of
students and students group.
In developed western countries, a decentralised way of
planning has been developed. Plans and programmes have
one centralised subject-contents core, and the rest of the
programme is realised creatively and in relation with a con-
crete area, respecting the interests of a class and a concrete
situation. Through optional and free-chosen programmes,
through thematic projects, and in other ways, 30 – 40 % of
the programme is realised. The rest 60 – 70 % of the
programme is realised as a constant core, but the method is
free. Such a decentralised aspect of educational contents is
not in practice in the Republic of Srpska and in the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia, but practically, in the Republic of
Srpska, a certain aspect of decentralisation has occurred.
This reflects in production of supplementary materials for
the third grade of the primary school, for example, for which
a “Supplementary textbook for natural history for the third
grade of the primary school” has been issued. In this text -
book, the issues specific for the Republic of Srpska, local
area and the similar are dealt with.
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25. Normative regulations
The existing laws of primary and secondary schools, the
Law of higher education and the Law of University were
brought in 1993, and today are not applicable for a modern
education. Common features of these regulations are:
- they are not adapted to European patterns.
- they are not in accordance with novelties in the educa-
tional practice
- they are inconsistent
- the system of education is a formal and closed system.
Non adaptability to European patterns is reflected in a
number of aspects:
- some definitions on human rights and the right of children
are missing
- the relation between the central and local level of admini-
strating the school has not been defined: state, munici-
pality, school;
- there are no determinations about decentralisation of
educational plans and programmes;
- forms for modernisation of the system have not been
given;
- vocational training and professional advancement of
teachers has not been defined;
- criteria for the election of principals have been badly
worked out;
- There is no proper treatment of talented and backward
students.
Discord with novelties in educational practice is evident
in the Laws of primary and secondary schools, in the Laws
of higher schools and Universities. As an example, Ministry
of education, science and culture has been divided into two
ministries and renamed as Ministry of education and
Ministry of science and culture, while the old name for these
institutions is still in the Law. Further on, system of entrance
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26. exams in secondary schools has achieved the level of
realisation and has to be sanctioned, as done in France, but
this problematic has not been defined.
There is a raw of other questions that are not considered by
formal regulations of the laws, and are considerably present
in the practice. That is the question of school fee in
secondary schools, at higher schools and faculties.
Inconsistency can be recognised at all these laws. An
example, Law of high schools and the Law of University
have completely different criteria for the election of teachers
and assistants. It so happens that at the first year of a high
school, a high school teacher can conduct lessons, while the
same teacher can not be chosen to be a higher assistant at the
first year of a faculty. Another example of illegal regulation
of the Law of primary school is the article of the Law that
deals with strike. If teachers are on strike, they have to
conduct lessons which last thirty minutes to maintain “the
minimum work process” since the primary school education
is of a special state /social/ interest. The same regulation is
not valid for secondary schools. And besides, this regulation
of the Law of secondary schools is not in accordance with
the Law of strike.
Some regulations are partially explained, which is also a
feature of inconsistency: various payments done by students,
the question of private schools, regulations for the founda-
tion of schools, the tasks of school boards and administrative
organs of schools and the similar. The consequences are
manifold. Some competencies have been doubled and
confused. Many principals took over the competencies of
school boards, while some deans took over the competencies
of university councils. School fees were different so that
students of grammar schools paid ten times higher a fee that
those in other towns of the same country. This has brought a
great dissatisfaction among students and their parents and
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27. disappointment among teachers. This has generated
intolerance and discontent of citizens. New faculties were
irrationally and non-systematically open, as well as high
schools and secondary schools. New educational profiles
were offered in high schools. A great number of secondary
schools enrol one class of a profession. All this has created
such a school net that would be expensive for the most
developed countries of the world.
Formalism and closing of the system of education is
reflected in a series of concrete aspects:
- school plans and programmes are centralised and
prescribed by the state institutions
- all lectures are organised as class system in which classes
last for 45 minutes. Classrooms are the only polygons of
lecturing. Under such circumstances, children learn about
vegetables, poultry, and bread- baking and about similar
contents, in classrooms, instead of learning about it in the
school garden, farmyard or a bakery. This is the result of
school formalisation after Herbrat’s pattern.
- Closing of schools is reflected in a very hard pass of
students from lower to higher grades or a year of
education in a shortened period of time. A talented student
has small chances to finish two years of education in one
year, simply because he has to attend the whole school
programme and then take exams. Besides vertical, there is
a problem of horizontal passage. If a student want to
change a school or a profession, he is faced with many
administrative obstacles. There are no standardised forms
in normative regulations, there are many improvisations,
private copying of forms, reselling and so on. Badly made
forms have given possibilities for forgeries and bad
copies, which usually damage students. The problem is
present if a student wants to move from one entity to
another.
- The whole system of education is conceptualised
differently than in Europe, so that our students can hardly
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28. get their certificates ratified in European countries and
continue education there.
Out of the things mentioned herewith, it is obvious that
normative regulation is a serious obstacle to modernisation
of the system of education and a barrier in including this sys-
tem into the schooling system of the European community.
Measures for improvement of normative
regulations in the system of education in RS
Out-of-date, inconsistent and inflexible normative regula-
tions can not serve the creation of a modern system of educa-
tion, which would be a part of European, and the world
trends. It is necessary to undertake a number of measures to
improve legal system in the system of education in the
Republic of Srpska.
1. To analyse all laws and regulations concerning education,
keep useful ones, eliminate the surplus and unnecessary,
and insert new, needed regulations.
2. Insert regulations on human rights and the rights of
children.
3. Define the competence in terms of centralised and
decentralised managing of educational institutions: state,
municipality, and school.
4. Create possibilities in the law for decentralisation of the
school plans and programmes.
5. Create the forms for modernisation of educational
system.
6. Conceptualise and , through a democratic procedure, ac-
cept Regulations for professional advancement of
teachers.
7. To define, more precisely, forms for election of
principals at schools and deans at faculties.
8. Create possibilities for a better treatment of talented and
backward students.
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29. 9. Name the institutions in a way that will not demand the
change of law in case the name of an institution gets
changed.
10. Pass regulations for entrance exams, matriculation at all
educational levels.
11. To define all kinds of fees by passing a special
regulations.
12. To pass a law of higher schools and faculties and
eliminate duality at that educational level.
13. To oust rules about strike from the Law of the primary
schools.
14. To make a clear concept for opening and define standards
for private schools.
15. To define more precisely, the conditions for opening a
school or a faculty.
16. To define more precisely the work of all executive and
administrative bodies in all educational institutions.
17. To create a base for rationalisation of the system of
education, for rationalisation of educational institutions
net, enrolment policy and the policy of school finishing.
18. To create possibilities for modernisation of teaching
through normative regulations and to eliminate formalism
and a blind attitude which have bad effects in lecturing.
19. To pass regulations for all acts and forms which refer to
school documentation and evidence.
20. To create, by law, forms for application of European
standards in the system of education.
31