Study visit of the colleagues from Armenia to Serbia
2-6 December 2019
Nansen Dialogue Centre Serbia in cooperation with the organisation Wоmen for Development from Armenia is jointly implementing cross-regional project: «Exchange of Best Practice on Peace Education in Armenia and Serbia“, within Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflicts (GPPAC).
The first activity of this project was the study visit of three representatives of Women for Development and one representative of the National Institute for Education from Armenia to Serbia, which took place from 2nd to 6th December 2019.
The main goal of the project is to contribute to the creation of safe school environment in Serbia and Armenia by fostering regular and responsible participation of parents in the work of the school. Responsible parents, students and teachers create safe school environment.
Specific goals of the project are:
- To exchange examples of good practice among teachers from the two states;
- To create new approaches and programmes for active participation of parents in the work of the school;
- To bring back the sense of belonging to a community, to develop responsibility among students and parents alike;
- To train the teams of teachers who will implement the programme of cooperation with parents.
During the study visit, the colleagues from Armenia visited the following schools; Jan Čajak Primary School in Bački Petrovac, Sveti Sava Grammar School in Belgrade and Miroslav Mika Antić Primary School in Belgrade. The colleagues were following Civic Education classes in these schools and spoke to the colleagues about different ways of implementing Education for Peace in schools in Serbia and in Armenia, and were discussing the potentials of future cooperation.
Peer mediators at Jan Čajak Primary School presented their work on peaceful conflict resolution, explaining benefots peere mediation brought to them personaly. The short workshop on Peace Education was held for teachers from several schools. The mayor of Bački Petrovac and associates hosted the meeting with the delegation of guests and school’s representatives. They supported cross-regional initiative and are interested to provide financial support for continuation of cooperation, also to explore possibilities of cooperation with the municipality of Gymri.
Civic Education class on Media Manipulation and Fake News held at Sveti Sava Grammar School attracted great attention and was followed by a meeting with teachers and school pedagogue in which plans for future cooperation were presented.
At Miroslav Mika Antić Primary School, Armenian colleagues followed two classes of Civic Education for lower and upper grade pupils. Differences and Similarities between Armenia and Serbia was the theme of the class for lower grades. Pupils had a chance to learn more interesting details and facts about Armenia in direct communication with the guests. Parents actively participated in the class for upper grade pupils. Discussion among the guests, teachers, parents and pupils continued after the classes. „Connecting Classrooms“ as a model of
cooperation, connecting pupils and teachers via internet and joint professional development trainings were proposed as possible ways of future cooperation.
The final activity of the study visit was the internal meeting of NDC Serbia representatives and Women for Development representatives. The necessity to actively search for funds was confirmed, some possibilites for fundraising for activities in 2020 were discussed and the agreement to sign memorandum of understanding was reached. Apart from the activities that were planned (study visit of the delegation from Serbia to educational institutions in Armenia; creation of programmes for improving cooperation with parents and training seminars in Serbia and Armenia), the additional proposal was to create a handbook based on the programme for cooperation between teachers and parents.
These proposals of the teachers were included in the plan for the next phase of the project: connecting schools, connecting pupils/students through Education for Peace programmes and small projects of student enterpreneurship; strenghtening cooperation with local self-governments and connecting municipalities from Armenia and Serbia.
In cooperation with GPPAC representatives, project coordinators will revise the project for 2020 and be engaged in the fundraising efforts.
Tatjana Popović, In Belgrade, NDC Serbia director 11,12.2019.
