Within the project cycle EPALE 2022-2024, the Agency for Pre-Primary, Primary and Secondary education and the National Support Service (NSS) EPALE Bosnia and Herzegovina in collaboration with NSS EPALE teams from Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, North Macedonia and Montenegro, has organized 7th Regional EPALE Conference: European Year of Skills in the period 9 – 10 November 2023. The two-day event was held in the hotel “Vučko” on Jahorina mountain.
Maja Stojkić, the director of the Agency for Pre-Primary, Primary and Secondary education opened the conference. Also, the national EPALE coordinator in Bosnia and Herzegovina Siniša Gatarić welcomed the participants.
On the first conference day, the participants had an opportunity to hear more about the European Year of Skills from the experts from region during a panel discussion. The representative from the Slovenian Institute for Adult Education, Zvonka Pangerc Pahernik has spoken on the topic European Year of Skills – a great opportunity for adult education?! During the panel discussion, the Croatian representatives of the Agency for Vocational Education and Training Mario Vučić and Ognjen Piljek Žiljak have shared examples of good practice in their country. They were discussing about Strategic positioning and developmental goals of adult education and Vouchers for microcredentials.
In the second part of the first conference day, the participants had an opportunity to participate in parallel workshops which aimed to contribute the quality improvement in work with adult learners. The first workshop topic was Skills for burn-out syndrome prevention. The moderator was Svetlana Jovetić Koprivica, a professor of media education from Montenegro.
The second workshop topic was Skills for work with young adults: Learn, think and act for young adults. The moderator was Zorana Tovilović Glavaš, a representative from the Institute for Youth Development “Kult” from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The third workshop topic was Project-oriented classes in adult education and was moderated by representatives of the Foundation “Tempus” from Serbia – Tatjana Petrović and Marijana Pantić.
All the presentations of the first conference day are available for download via this link EPALE resource.
During the second conference day, the participants had an opportunity to get involved in the panel discussion with a topic Skills for life and work. Each country participant had its representative in the panel discussion. The experts from the fields of education, the representatives of the institutions, practitioners and educational policies’ creators from the six regional countries have shared their experiences and thoughts on the topic. The participant in the panel discussion were: Brigita Kruder, a director of the Adult Education Center Slovenska Bistrica from Slovenia, Gordana Bošković, a National EPALE coordinator for Montenegro, from the Center for Vocational Education Montenegro, Aleksandra Mihajlović Bijelić, a director of the Center for dual education and educational policies of the Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of Srpska from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Maja Holek, a director of the Open University Koprivica from Croatia, Biljana Mojsovska Manojlova, a founder of the Lifelong Learning Center Skopje from North Macedonia and Tatjana Radović, a psychologist from the School for primary education of adults “Braća Stamenković“ Belgrade from Serbia.
The regional collaboration among the six countries from northeast Europe within the Erasmus+ program EPALE has been continuing for eight years. The host of 7th Regional Conference was Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Regional EPALE Conference has gathered 100 participants from the field of education from the region. The experts from six countries of the region had an opportunity to exchange good practices during these two days, to share experiences while working in the workshops and the panel discussion, to gain new knowledge about the European adult education policies and the year of skills, and to strengthen the collaboration at the regional level.
The deputy director of the Agency for Pre-Primary, Primary and Secondary Education Milana Popržen closed the conference and announced 8th Regional EPALE Conference that will be held in Montenegro next year.
A photo album from the conference is available on the link for the EPALE Bosna i Hercegovina Facebook page.
