More than 40 participants from across BiH gathered at a joint meeting of the Teacher Training Working Group and the Working Group for Continuous Professional Development of Teachers that was held in Sarajevo on April 21, 2022.

At the joint session, members of the working groups were presented with the results of previous projects dealing with similar topics, as well as the occupational and qualification standards for the teaching profession that have been developed so far. The participants were also acquainted with the possible use of these standards for the development of curricula at higher education institutions, as well as for creating the basis for continuous professional development of teachers.
These two working groups operate within the third component of the European Union project “Education for Employment in BiH”, which deals with the initial education and continuous professional development of teachers. In order to improve the reform of teachers’ education in BiH, Project Component 3 focuses on establishing a teacher training model that would be a key reference point for the revision and development of study programmes based on learning outcomes. Also, this component supports the development of model study programmes for continuous teacher training based on defined key competences, including entrepreneurial and digital competences.
In a productive discussion, the WG for Teacher Training defined its target group, the way of using standards, documents and materials that will be developed during the project, as well as the type and methods of teacher training at universities that will enable them to develop study programmes based on learning outcomes. The second working group, which will elaborate models for the continuous professional development of teachers and their pilot content, also agreed on its future mode and scope of work.
“In Sarajevo, it was agreed that the next meeting of these working groups would be held in June 2022. It was also agreed that both working groups could be expanded with additional members from educational institutions, in order to further strengthen the use of the results of this project in practice and in order for the project to experience true sustainability”, emphasized Adi Kovačević, Team Leader of Education for Employment project in BiH, during the WGs’ meeting in Sarajevo.
Members of these working groups are composed of representatives of education institutions, competent ministries, agencies, as well as pedagogical institutes or institutes for education.
In order to overcome the high unemployment rate and a huge mismatch of the education and training systems with the demands of the labour market, the EU funded project “Education for Employment, BiH” aims to produce human resources in line with the labour market needs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The project assists BiH authorities in improving capacity and structure for planning the educational process and quality of educational outcomes.