The mission of the Education Union is to make the education system as good as possible, and it cannot be if the teacher is not motivated and satisfied.
This was said during the round table "PISA testing - short-term and long-term measures to improve results", held in Podgorica, said the president of the Education Union of Montenegro. Radomir Božović.
The round table was organized by the Union of Education and the NVU Educational Union of Montenegro.
Božović said that due to the results of the PISA tests, he had long wanted to hold a round table dedicated to them.
As a long-time teacher, he estimated that the education system is ripe for reform, "and this was shown by the results of the PISA test".
"Our children are less motivated. They can't keep their attention even for 10 minutes continuously," said Božović.
He said that Montenegro has not been at the top for years when it comes to PISA testing, adding that "our children are not without knowledge".
He said that one must insist on reading literacy because "everything comes from it".
Reading literacy is the key to education
Divna Paljevic from the Examination Center of Montenegro reminded that 63 countries participated in the PISA testing.
She said that Montenegro did not meet the OECD average of 480 points, and added that the coronavirus pandemic cannot be blamed for that.
"It is worrisome with the natural sciences. There has been stagnation all this year," said Paljević, adding that growth was recorded in reading literacy until 2015.
She said that the achievements of students in all three areas (mathematics, reading and science) were the most pronounced in 2018.
She said that more than half of students are ready to use additional learning platforms.
Blaženka Petričević, from the Institute for Education of Montenegro (ZZŠ), said that the school environment must be improved in order to improve learning results.
She pointed out that Montenegro has over 54 percent of functionally illiterate science students.
Petričević said that they compared the national subject frameworks with the PISA science testing frameworks and came to the conclusion that there are not many differences, but the way of teaching is different.
She said that the activities of ZZŠ were aimed at each student doing an experiment that is in accordance with the procedures of PISA tests.
Petričević noted that the results of their activities indicated a couple of problems - teamwork was present where experiments do not allow it, they were repeated too often, scientific phases in the research were missing...
She said that the next PISA test is in 10 months.
She pointed out that some of the goals of ZZŠ are to single out the best practitioners and teachers, train teams that will help "colleagues in preparing for the PISA test"...
Drekalović: Separate the essential from the unimportant
UCG Faculty of Philology Professor Vladimir Drekalović said that it is important to separate essential data from non-essential ones, and that, he claims, is important for everything, not only natural sciences.
He presented examples of tasks that do not exist in the Montenegrin education system, and which are an integral part of the PISA mathematics test.
He pointed out that the PISA test does not emphasize the excessive use of formulas.
"We are terribly burdened with memory. In PISA testing, there is not so much emphasis on formulas," said Drekalović.
Rosandić: Noticeable discrepancy between Lučonoš and results on PISA and external testing
Milan Rosandić, a teacher at Elementary School "21. Maj" in Podgorica, said that children are looking for new methods, approaches and modernization.
"Faculties must follow new trends and must adapt. More knowledge in methodology, psychology, pedagogy is needed...", assessed Rosandić.
He emphasized that the students "should be guided to investigate so that they can find a solution to the problem themselves". He noticed that the students were disinterested in learning, and that they were struggling for grades.
Rosandić believes that it is necessary to introduce new concepts by comparing them with real life, adding that there is a discrepancy between "the number of Luč and the results of external and PISA tests".
He explained that it is important to set a good mathematical base that will be built on later.
It is important to encourage children to learn and experiment
Physics teacher at "Milorad Musa Burzan" Elementary School Jadranka Radović she said that it is necessary to encourage children to explore and experiment.
"Children are not used to cooperating, and that must be improved. It is important to improve reading literacy. Everything stems from that. Children do not even read the task to the end," said Radović.
She emphasized the importance of digital and IT literacy, and added that it would be necessary to include PISA tasks in Montenegrin textbooks.
"Our textbooks are out of date. Changes are happening on a global level," said Radović.
Editor at the Institute for Textbooks and Teaching Aids Nadja Durković she said that 2015 was a crucial year for reading literacy.
"Since then, we have realized that we have a tool," said Durković.
She pointed out that PISA is important for Montenegro, but that it is not the only one relevant for the development of education.
She emphasized that reading is crucial for the development of an individual. Durković believes that parents, together with their children, must work on their reading abilities.
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