<html> <META name="description" content=""> <META name="keywords" content=" education for all reform changes Serbia system analysis recommendations SER ENL T02"> <title>CHALLENGES TO THE EDUCATION REFORM IN SERBIA - EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF THE EDUCATION SYSTEM </title> <!--PICOSEARCH_SKIPALLSTART-->
EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF THE EDUCATION SYSTEM The discussion on the correlation of education and economic growth (vigorously promoted in the modernisation theories of the fifties and sixties) is still going on, and hypotheses on the primary one-sidedness or two-sidedness of their relationship frequently shape education-policy decisions. Within public expenditure reduction and general rationalisation policies, developed countries are increasing their expenditures on research and education, as well as their demands for greater efficiency and effectiveness of the education system. Education systems provide a basis for the development of human resources, and the rediscovery of the significance of human capital in economic development in the late nineteen-eighties gave priority to education and qualification of the labour force. Since then, greater attention has been paid to quality demands posed to the labour force. In the majority of world countries (especially developed countries), education is considered to be, although in the long run, decisive for the process of reallocation of social influence and power. Raising the education level of the population as a whole has been recognised as a significant factor of the economic development of society. Accordingly, the introduction of compulsory education in the duration of nine years in Serbia in 2003 represents a promotion of the relevance of learning and an increase of the general education level of our population. The existing relationship between education development and changes in the area of socioeconomic development has been recognised in the Poverty Reduction Strategy document (Government of the Republic of Serbia, 2003b), giving education the role of a very important instrument for poverty reduction. We may speak of two ways in which education contributes to the economic advancement of society. The first one is the increase in the level of education of the overall population through acquiring higher levels of education among insufficiently educated groups and through gaining qualifications suited to the needs of our society. The conditions necessary for the achievement of this strategic contribution of education are created through extending the duration of compulsory education, opening up the education system to include marginalized groups, opening up the system of vocational education to the economic needs of the society, and creating systemic opportunities for gaining adult qualifications. The second way in which education can contribute to the economic strengthening of society is through increasing the efficiency of the education system itself. The increase in the efficiency of the system can be achieved through: ! Introducing compulsory preschool education (which creates the opportunity for the effects of
early learning to diminish the consequences of social deprivation); ! Establishing a system for quality assurance in education, a system of teacher professional
development, a restructured curriculum aimed attaining lasting and transferable knowledge, skills, values, and forms of behaviour suited for modern society; ! Optimisation of the school network (which secures the rational usage of resources and their
redirection to other demands of educational institutions); ! Equipping schools (which creates the conditions for efficient teaching and gaining transferable
knowledge); ! Promoting and modernising the method of governance and administration in the education
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