Digital, inclusive, and transformative: Quality education for Montenegro
| Project title: | Digital, inclusive, and transformative: Quality education for Montenegro |
| Participating agencies: | UNICEF, UNESCO, ILO |
| Lead Agency: | UNICEF |
| Project manager: | Ivana Boškovic, Maja Kovačević |
| Timeframe: | December 2023 – December 2025 |
| Budget: | 500,000 USD |
Area of intervention
The proposal aims to accelerate Montenegro’s EU Accession and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It directly contributes to SDGs 4, 5, 8, 10, 16 and 17. In particular – human capital development, education, gender equality, social development and human rights.
The intervention tackles three key challenges to the successful digitalization of education:
- Insufficient capacities of teachers and school professionals to use digital tools and technologies for teaching and collaboration.
- Lacking or scarce digital infrastructure in schools, including digital devices and quality digital content; and,
- Unequal access to education and limited involvement of children and adolescents, including in the co-creation of EdTech initiatives and the acquisition of 21st century skills, employability skills and career guidance.
The project is aligned with the Cooperation Framework 2023-2027:
Outcome 2: By 2027, all people, especially the vulnerable, increasingly benefit from equitable, gender-responsive and universally accessible social and child protection system and quality services, including labour market activation and capabilities.
Output 2.2: Participative policies and capacities of key stakeholders are improved to provide development of inclusive and labour market-oriented, 21st century skills, including sustainable mechanisms for successful school-to-work transition, reskilling opportunities, and lifelong learning, for improving employability and activity rates of women, youth and all vulnerable groups.
Outcome 3: By 2027, all people, especially the vulnerable, benefit from strengthened human capital, including early childhood development, and more resilient, gender-responsive, and quality healthcare and education.
Output 3.2: Capacities enhanced to formulate and implement policies for improved learning outcomes and access to quality, gender informed education that is career oriented, inclusive, equitable and shock resilient.
Partners
Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation is partner in the project implementation and it is being implemented in collaboration with schools at different educational levels (both primary and secondary schools) across six municipalities in north. Furthermore, project partners are the Centre for Vocational Education, the Bureau for Education Services. As well, the project relies on a coordinated and collaborative multi-stakeholder approach, involving traditional and non-traditional partners from government, civil society, private sector, and academia.
Key objectives
This action will provide children and adolescents with opportunities to achieve better educational outcomes and to acquire the skills needed for learning, living and working in the 21st century, in collaboration with the 12 schools in northern region (primary, secondary, vocational) in six municipalities (Berane, Rožaje, Plav, Mojkovac, Petnjica, Pljevlja), with a total of 581 teachers and 6,201 students. All activities are geared towards sustainability and further replicability across the whole country.
Major expected results
1. Primary and secondary school teachers are capacitated to use modern didactics for online, offline, and blended learning, including a learner-centered approach, e-pedagogy and special support for the most vulnerable students. This includes the use of Microsoft (MS) tools and the Digital School Platform, the prevention of online violence, and improving media and information literacy. A network of ICT coordinators / focal point will be created to support peer-to-peer learning and school partnerships between selected primary and secondary schools and EdTech Hubs. At least 60% of all teachers in targeted municipalities will be targeted, and all IT school coordinators across the country shall acquire the skills for implementation of the Digital School Concept.
2. The Digitalna Skola platform is enriched with digital teaching and learning contents, focusing on quality and inclusive digital content for STEM skills, career guidance, core-employability skills and prevention of online violence. EdTech Hubs are established at primary and secondary schools in six municipalities in the northern region and provide quality and inclusive learning opportunities for all children and adolescents, with a focus on gender equity, including Roma, disadvantaged and students with disabilities. At least 6 digital courses will be developed and made available on the Digital School Platform.
3. Children and adolescents in underserved communities in the north shall be empowered with STEM, core-employability, digital, media and information literacy skills, at school, through participation in Digital Skills Summer Camps and extra-curricular activities at school-based EdTech Hubs. At least 50% of all students in targeted schools will directly benefit from the Action.
Target groups
In terms of a Human Rights Based approach, the initiative seeks to enable all children and adolescents, particularly those from disadvantaged groups and in northern, poorer region, to have equitable access to school, to benefit from a quality education and to complete all years of schooling, in line with their right to education.
Children and adolescents (girls and boys) in primary, general secondary and vocational education represent the main beneficiaries. Activities will particularly target girls in formal education (48% of children / adolescent beneficiaries). Within the Northern regions, the action will reach out to approximately 6000 children and adolescents, but intents to create multiplication effects across the overall territory of Montenegro.
The intervention seeks to capacitate at least 300 teachers (60% of the total number of teachers in 12 targeted schools), primary and secondary (incl. TVET) schoolteachers, out of which at least 50% women.
This project will provide self-paced training, addressing all forms of violence and (cyber)bullying, accessible through the Digitalna Skola platform to all parents of school children at primary, as well as secondary education levels.
Implementing status
All three agencies have dedicated programme interventions and related activities, in line with their organizational focus and expertise. There are three main areas in the programme, developed jointly with the three implementing agencies (UNICEF, UNESCO and ILO), focusing on:
1. Capacity building - such as of teachers, practitioners and school staff.
Country wide training for ICT coordinators to implement Digitalna škola concept and enhance its use in classroom for the benefit of children, adolescents and teachers (UNICEF).
Furthermore, capacity-building for primary and secondary teachers in use of Microsoft-developed tools for delivery of online/offline and blended learning is launched and on track, in collaboration with all of the listed partners (UNESCO). The activity in progress is training for teachers in integration of Media and Information Literacy concept into formal education, starting with schools envisaged in project.
Finally, the development of an online course and capacity building on e-Pedagogy for TVET teachers is launched, following the mapping of existing resources as well as needs on the ground.
2. Digital content development and establishing the EdTech hubs – to provide quality and inclusive learning opportunities for all children and adolescents, including Roma, disadvantaged and students with disabilities, with focus on gender equity.
The major project highlight is infrastructure development – envisaged through establishment of six EdTech hubs with support of UNICEF, across all six municipalities in project, to be put in use for both primary and secondary school at local level. However, within the public policy development this triggered further investments, particularly through recognition that central part of infrastructure of the EdTech hubs is programme component centering softs skills & digital skills development, and, that being said – Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation has matched the funding and expanded the EdTech hubs development, currently being put in place across 32 schools (more in relevant links below). The plan is to support 100 EdTech hubs being established within the Reform Agenda – mainly through Growth plan.
Development of the STEM and coding courses is in progress – with focus on programming, PET recycling, 3D modelling and printing as well as first steps in programming and robotics. These will be implemented within EdTech Hubs in the north, with an aim to create a scalable programme for all established Hubs (UNICEF).
These are complemented with UNESCO’s activities, in progress, on the development of online courses for teachers, students and parents on prevention of online violence, as well as ILO’s activities in the development and implementation of a digital training module and on core employability skills.
3. Community mobilization through planning and delivery of Digital skills summer camps, bringing together children, adolescents, teachers and practitioners to challenge and learn of digital world in a jointly created environment.
The two Digital skills summer camps, envisaged for 2025 – will be jointly planned and implemented activity, alongside children, adolescents, teachers and practitioners.
Contribution to EU Accession
EU accession is furthered by directly supporting underlying principles of Chapter 26/European Education Area. The proposal contributes to the Economic Reform Programme 2023-2025 (Measure 4: Digitalization of education and development of digital skills), to the educational and social rights objectives of the EU Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027) and to the European Digital Agenda 2020-2030, including new, five-year European Skills agenda, enshrined in the European Pillar of Social Rights.
Project brief description
This initiative aims to address the challenges brought by the digital revolution by creating opportunities for over six thousand girls and boys in the poorest, northern region of Montenegro to develop digital skills in schools every day. The goal is to ensure equitable, quality, student-centered education for all children and adolescents, in line with the rapidly developing 21st century digital environment, with focus on the most disadvantaged, alongside providing support to teachers and parents.
Relevant links
Digitalno, inkluzivno i transformativno: Kvalitetno obrazovanje za sve (www.gov.me)
Škole za 21. vijek | UNICEF Crna Gora
EdTech Lab - OŠ Radojica Perović
M. Vukašinović o inovacijama u obrazovanju
MAF-Funded Projects:
|
|
|
|
Back