COUNTRY PROFILE FYR MACEDONIA

Transcription

1 COUNTRY PROFILE FYR MACEDONIA GENERAL INFORMATION Population: 2 million (UN, 2003) Capital: Skopje Area: 25,713 sq km (9,928 sq miles) Major language: Macedonian, Albanian Major religion: Christianity, Islam Life expectancy: 71 years (men), 76 years (women) (UN) Monetary unit: 1 denar = 100 deni Main exports: Clothing, iron and steel GNI per capita: US $2,830 (World Bank, 2006) TVE SYSTEM 1 General Structure Vocational education and training is a part of the educational system, which provides individual development of the personality before acquisition of competencies, knowledge and skills necessary for involvement in the labor market or continuation of the education. It enables initial acquisition of first, second or third level of vocational qualifications. The vocational education and training is delivered through teaching plans and programs for the following types of vocational education: Vocational training for jobs with lower requirements which provides practical knowledge and skills for various labor areas. The vocational training programs can include students that obtained elementary education as well as those who have not obtained, but with an obligation, in paralel with the vocational training, to finish their elementary education. The vocational training, depending on the complexity of the occupation, can last up to two years. After the students have finished the vocational training, they acquire I level of vocational qualifications.the students that have graduated vocational training which lasted minimum one year, can continue their education into the second year of the appropriate vocational training for occupation. The two year education in Macedonia did not arouse much interest and very few students decided on education for occupation with two years duration. The greatest need for such qualifications exists in vocations like machinery, electro-technics, chemistry and technology, construction and geodesy, catering and tourism. The total number of education profiles in short term education component is 45. The students that have graduated in vocational training which lasted minimum one year, can continue their education into the second year of the appropriate vocational training for occupation. Vocational training for occupation is dedicated to meet the needs of the economy.students that have obtained elementary education can enroll in the first year of vocational training for occupation. The vocational training for occupation lasts three years.the vocational training for occupation is delivered in a vocational education and training schools, while the practical training is delivered in the school and in the employers premises.after the students have finished the 1 Source The World Bank Residen Office in Macedonia

2 secondary vocational training for occupation, they acquire the II level of vocational qualifications. The total number of education profiles in three year education is 91. The general education takes up 50% of the three year vocational education, the vocational theory 30% and the practical training 20%. The GTZ pilot project for the reform of the three year vocational education started in 2003 for three occupations with three education profiles: machinery, auto- mechanics and electro- technics. The new pilot curriculum proportion coverage is: general education 25%, vocational theory 25%, practical training in the school 25 % and practical training in firms 25%. The students that have graduated in the vocational training for occupation can continue their education in the IV th year of technical education, or after minimum of three years on-job practice to get involved in postsecondary vocational education and training programs Technical education is education which mainly produces staff for employment in all fields of labor, but also for continuation of the education. Students that have finished elementary education, or have graduated in vocational training, can get enrolled in the first year of technical education. The duration of the technical education is four years.after graduating in technical education, the students acquire III rd level of vocational qualifications. The total number of education profiles is 42 into the frame of the 14 vocations. The general education takes up 45% of the technical education, the vocational theory 35%, the practical training 10 % and elective instructions 10%. One part of the election subjects are related with the Final exam and the other one with the State Matura exam. Students that have graduated in technical education can continue their education into postsecondary education on the basis of continuous programs, or after two years of on-job working experience.students that have graduated technical education can continue their education into university institutions, if they acquire State Matura( State Matura will be introduced next school year 2007/08) Postsecondary education and training is a type of education which produces final staff for specific professional duties for particular segments of the labor process.students that have graduated postsecondary education acquire IV th level of vocational qualifications.students that have graduated postsecondary education can continue their education into high vocational education. There is flexibility of movement but merely between profiles in one vocation. If a student would like to move from one vocation program to another differential exams are required. The means and procedures for transfer from one type of vocational education into another are prescribed by the Minister. University education is available for TVE students that have finished technical education. The Universities in Macedonia abolished entrance exams 2 years ago. Summative marks from all 4 years in secondary education are the main criterion for enrollment in Universities. The Preparations for the State Matura implementation have been finished and next school year will be mandatory for the students who are willing to continue their education in university. Although there are a lot of endeavors for more considerable involvement of the social partners in the program design and curriculum development in recent curriculum reform in technical education, the level of enterprises integration is still very low. The GTZ pilot project for the reform of the three year vocational education has a primary aim to integrate enterprises in the education system in a systematic and well organized manner. Pursuant to the new Law on Vocational education and Training, the vocational education and training could be delivered by vocational education and training institutions, the employers and the social partners. The law for the Vocational Education and Training stipulate the role of different Ministries and other governmental and non governmental institutions. Institutions competent for vocational education and training are the Ministry of Education and science, the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, the Center for 2

3 Vocation Education and training ( recently established ), self-government Units and the social partners. The Ministry of Education has the following competencies: propose to the Government a network of vocational education and training institutions; verify the vocational education and training institutions accredits institutions which organize the training of teachers; adopts national framework teaching plans and programs; decides on the Occupational Standards List for vocational education and training. The Ministry of Labor has the following competencies: is involved in the implementation of the state policy in the field of vocational education and training; identifies the needs for vocational education and training staff by analyzing the labor market and provides opinion on the enrollment policy to the Council, accordingly.; is involved in the development and harmonization of the vocational qualification for the standards. The Center performs the following activities: provides support for the social partnership on all levels and phases in the planning, development and realization of the vocational education and training; develops concepts for all types of vocational education and training, occupational standards, the models for teaching programs for the vocational subjects for vocational education and training and standards for premises and equipment for the schools; proposes exam programs for every type of vocational education and training. The Chambers carry out the following activities: submit proposals to the Center regarding adoption of new and improvement of the current teaching plans and programs and regarding development of new occupational standards. Financing and Expenditures The Republic of Macedonia is in the process of fiscal decentralization. In Phase 1 of the decentralization reforms that began in mid-2005, maintenance functions (such as the provision of heating, energy, materials and services) and the transport of students to school were decentralized to municipalities. Teacher salaries, however, are still paid by the central government.in 2005, the transfers to municipalities to cover the costs of their responsibilities were based on historical costs. As of 2006, the allocations are based on a formula that includes a fixed basic amount for each municipality and a variable amount based on enrollmentphase I of the decentralization is to be followed by a second phase when the teacher salaries will be transferd to the municipalites. In this moment funds allocation for teachers salaries is based on the number of classes in schools. The major indicators in public spending on education for 2005 are given as follows: 2 2 Detailed financial data for VET secondary education can not be extracted from the Macedonian FM system (the treasury and schools' financial statements). The reason is that a number of schools provide both VET and General High School education and the financial data of these schools can not be disaggregated between the two types of schools. The issue is made a bit more problematic by 3

4 TVET Expenditure (% of Total Education Expenditure) N/A TVET Expenditure (% of GDP) N/A Total Education Expenditure (% of GDP) 4 Per Capita TVET Expenditure (% of GDP Per Capita) 16 Per Capita Secondary Education Expenditure (% of GDP Per Capita) 20 Per Capita Tertiary Education Expenditure (% of GDP Per Capita) 42 Quality Assurance The Center for Vocational education and training is responsible for setting standards and development of a national qualification framework. Unfortunately, both standards and a national qualification framework have not been developed yet. TVE can be provided by vocational education and training schools and centers for vocational training. The Ministry of Education certifies the TVE providers. Special commission established by the Ministry evaluates the conditions that have to be fulfilled regarding equipment; space facilities and teachers (staff) qualifications. This school year is the last in which it will be a practice for teaches to have absolute domination and responsibility to assess and certify student competences and skills. Starting form next school year 2007/08, two types of exams (Final exam and State Matura) will be introduced in the system. The Final exam will be mandatory after finishing 3 year VET, whereas both the State Matura and the Final Exam will be mandatory only after the competition of the 4 th year of TVE. The Final exam has a certification purpose; State Matura has primarily a certification purpose but will also serve as a selection mechanism for University. Role of the Private Sector As was mentioned above participation of the industry and employers in policies defining and priorities settings is very limited. There are some isolated cases of social partners involvement but mainly as members of subject syllables development committees. The same situation is regarding business and enterprises provision of work place training opportunities. Schools have to find firms which could provide work place for apprentice and trainees. The private sector can provide TVE and currently there are two private TVE schools in Macedonia. Business and enterprises provide funds only if they need some specific skill trained workforce and the current system does not offer such training. the fact that the MoES used to make payments to suppliers directly thus preventing the FM system to determine whether those expenditures are for VET, General HS or mixed schools. For example, the difference for 2005 between the MoFinance records on total expenditures in secondary education and the sum of the school-level financial statements is around MKF 360 million, or around 15 percent of all expenditures in the secondary education. However, if school-level data is analyzed (understanding that they are understating the true level of expenditures) one can notice that there are no large discrepancies between the allocations per student in the VET, mixed or general HS schools. The only schools which stand out are the art schools (music schools etc.) which have significantly larger expenditures per student. 4

5 The Students of TVE Systems The parents and their children are the one who decide about the children s education path way after finishing primary education. Every school year the Ministry of Education and Science publish a public announcement about the number of student who will be able to enroll in every vocational school and type respectively. At the same time, the schools announce criteria for enrollment. In the last couple of years, the main criteria for enrollment were the summative marks from the last four years of primary education as well as summative marks from the relevant subjects for each vocation respectively. If there is a case where there are more applicants who fulfill the required conditions than available positions, the Ministry of Education and Science conducts selection exams. Career education and guidance system are still in the phase of development in the Republic Macedonia. The USAID project Secondary Education Activity, has a component for career development of the students. The goal of SEA s development activities is to help better prepare secondary vocation students for employment. The current situation clearly indicates the need of sustainable implementation of career education and guidance system as a regular practice in schools. Enrollment patterns for 2005 are given as follows: Number of Students in TVET (Total) 56,189 % of Total Enrollment Number of Students in General Secondary Education (Total) 330,756 % of Total Enrollment Number of Students in Tertiary Education (Total) 50,158 % of Total Enrollment