V E T f o r W e s t e r n B a l k a n s N e w s l e t t e r T h e f i r s t f i v e - d a y t r a i n i n g f o r t e a c h e r s f r o m M o n t e n e g r o w a s h e l d f r o m O c t o b e r 2 4 t o 2 8 1 3 t e a c h e r s a t t e n d e d t h e t r a i n i n g , w h i c h c o n t a i n e d a s m a n y a s 2 6 a s s i g n m e n t s A l o t w a s l e a r n e d , a n d i n t h e c o m i n g p e r i o d t h e t e a c h e r s w i l l s h o w h o w t h e y w i l l a p p l y t h e a c q u i r e d k n o w l e d g e W h a t i s c e r t a i n i s t h a t t h e y w i l l m a k e a n e f f o r t t o s p r e a d t h e a c q u i r e d k n o w l e d g e t o t h e i r c o l l e a g u e s s o t h a t t h e s t u d e n t s w i l l b e n e f i t t h e m o s t W e a p p l i e d t h e r u l e s o f t h e G o l d e n C i r c l e o f E d u c a t i o n - W h y , H o w a n d W h a t a n d d e s i g n e d a p l a n f o r a s h a r e d v i s i o n o f l e a r n i n g a n d e d u c a t i o n i n o u r s c h o o l T h a t w a s o n e o f t h e m a i n c o m m o n g o a l s A s o u r c o a c h e s w e l l n o t e d - o u r h a r m o n y g i v e s u s w i n g s , s o w e f i r m l y b e l i e v e t h a t i n t h e c o m i n g p e r i o d , e v e r y o n e i n t h e s c h o o l t o g e t h e r w i l l a i m t o a p p l y t h e n e w V i s i o n o n l e a r n i n g V o l 0 1 N e w s l e t t e r T r a i n i n g " D e v e l o p m e n t i n S o f t S k i l l s f o r t h e b e n e f i t o f e d u c a t i o n s k i l l s i n V E T " S t u d e n t s A r e n a V I s i o n 2 0 2 2 I N T R O D U C T O R Y V I S I T I N O R D E R T O P R E P A R E S O F T S K I L L S T R A I N I N G 2 6 a n d 2 7 9 2 0 2 2 MONTENEGRIN PERSPECTIVE In or der to better prepare for the announced Soft Skills training, trainers from the Netherlands, Monique Hanekamp and Peter van Engen visited the “Vaso Aligrudić” school for two days on 26. and 27. 9. 2022. After several online meetings, the trainers and school coordinator and project manager Marina Braletić and Danka Markuš agreed on the details and agenda of the visit. On the first day, in addition to g etting to know the school administration, through a one-hour presentation they heard all the necessary information about the educ ational system of Montenegro, not o nly about the educational programs that are implemented in secondary vocational schools, but also about the way they are created and implemented, formal and in formal education, differences between diplomas and certificates, obligations of all parties involved in the education system, etc. Then they spent a little over three hours visiting the vocational and general education classes. They had the opportunity to see how the teachers of the School of Electrical Engineering conduct their lessons, what methods they use in teaching, but a lso talk to the students in order to gather as much information as possible They visit ed the school premises and then they were introduced to the ways of keeping and fulfilling in the T eacher’s Register. It was explain ed to them what all the obligations of the Head teachers are and which of the other teachers. At th e en d of the day, they summar ized their impressions with the scho ol coordinator and project manager and agreed on a few details for the next day. I N T R O D U C T O R Y V I S I T I N O R D E R T O P R E P A R E S O F T S K I L L S T R A I N I N G The second day started with a m eeting with the school pedagogue. In addition to a short presentation, she explained to them in detail what her obligations are and how she fulfills them. They received all the necessary material and answers to all questions. They saw how much administration is filled by teachers and pedagogue. Together with the school coordinator and the project manager, they came to the c onclusion that the presence of the school pedagogue in the training would be of great benefit. As previously agreed at the project management level, the participants of this training will receive certificates. After talking with the pedagogue Selma Šabotić , th ey held a meeting with the students who were involved in the first mobility, who will be involved in t he next, but also with the students who showed interest in this project. According to the agreement, the teachers, the school coordinator and the project manager did not attend this meeting. The students talked ve ry openly about the virtues and flaws of the education they receive at the “Vaso Aligru dić” Electrical Engineering School. After the students, they met 12 teachers who will actually attend the mentioned training. By agreement, the pedagogue joined them. At this meeting, in addition to a brief introduction of themselves, the teachers presente d not only their expectations from the training, but also the problems they face during the imp lementation of teaching, as well as the positive aspects of their profession. This meeting was of great importance for the trainers to prepare for the training. The main conclusion of the meeting is that all participants are looking forward to the training with great enthusiasm. R E F L E C T I O N A s o n e o f t h e m o s t i m p o r t a n t g o a l s o f t h e t r a i n i n g i s t h e d i r e c t i m p l e m e n t a t i o n o f e v e r y t h i n g l e a r n e d , b u t a l s o t h e s p r e a d o f k n o w l e d g e t o o t h e r c o l l e a g u e s , i t w a s a g r e e d t h a t a t t h e e n d o f t h e t r a i n i n g , a l l t e a c h e r s w i l l b e g i v e n t h e t a s k o f p r o v i d i n g e v i d e n c e o f t h e i m p l e m e n t a t i o n o f t h e l e a r n e d s k i l l s i n a c e r t a i n p e r i o d o f t i m e , a n d a f t e r t h a t , w i t h t h e s u p p o r t o f t h e p e d a g o g u e , t r a n s f e r k n o w l e d g e t o o t h e r c o l l e a g u e s a b o u t e v e r y t h i n g l e a r n e d U p o n c o m p l e t i o n o f t h e t a s k , t h e y w i l l b e p r e s e n t e d w i t h c e r t i f i c a t e s o f c o m p l e t e d t r a i n i n g D i s c u s s i o n s w e r e i n i t i a t e d w i t h t h e V E T C e n t e r a b o u t t h e r e c o g n i t i o n o f c e r t i f i c a t e s t h r o u g h t h e C a t a l o g f o r T e a c h e r T r a i n i n g a p p r o v e d b y t h e N a t i o n a l B o a r d o f E d u c a t i o n , i n o r d e r t o e x t e n d t h e t e a c h e r s l i c e n s e The second day ended with an online meeting of the trainers, school coordinator, proj ect manager, Advisor for international affairs fr om Landstede Udo Lut and the main project coordinator Bodil Mygid Mad sen from the SOSU center from Denmark. Bodil and Udo rec eived all the information about the visit and the date s of the training were agreed – from October 24. to 28. The general conclusion is that this visit was of great importance for the best possible preparation of the training organization both for partners from the Netherlands and for partners from Montenegro. Due to the school excursion with the graduating students, during the two days of the visit, th e school director Ersan Spahić was absent, but because their fligh t was at t he afternoon, the trainers managed to meet the director on th e th ird day. At the meeting, the y discussed very important topics s uch as th e dir ector’s e xpectations not only from the training itself but also from the im plementatio n of the acquired knowledge that should follow after the training. His main expectation from the training is to spread the acqu ired knowledge to as many teachers as possible, and the main expectation of the project itself is to be the initiator for many similar projects in the coming years. I N T R O D U C T O R Y V I S I T I N O R D E R T O P R E P A R E S O F T S K I L L S T R A I N I N G 2 0 2 2 R E P O R T T H E F I R S T D A Y 2 4 1 0 2 0 2 2 R E P O R T O F T H E F I R S T D A Y O F T H E T R A I N I N G The first day of tra ining titled “Training soft Skills” took place at Electrical Engineering School”Vaso Aligrudic” in Podgorica on the 24th October 2022. Project attendance are teachers from the school and pedagogist. The trainers are Monique Hanekamp and Peter van Engen from Netherlands. The explanation of the program and goals of the training At the beginning o f the meeting our trainers Moinique and Peter gav e as more details about the program and the goals of the training. Participants had pre-training asignment, they should prepeared creative presentation about themselves, so in second assignment tea chers presented their presentations whi ch helped participants learned more about each other. The expectations that we have of the training They also asked participants to s hare their expectations regarding training through web fo rm called on menti.com address. The task consisted in filling out an online questionnaire about what our expectations are from this training, what we expect in a profe ssional sense, then what personal expectations we have and what is the best thing we think we will get from this training. All the answers were shown on the board in the form of a mentimeter, which we then discussed. Introduction about a vision of education After com pleting previous task, the participants were introduced to the meaning of education in the systems w e have and had the oppo rtunity to learn more about the vision of Landstede as a whole. The train ers briefly presented their school and their educational system through one video. They also played a very creative animated video about the education system throughout history, emphasizing the n eed to chang e this state in education systems. Their presentation was instructive, fun and we liked it. After their presentation we had a break for lunch. R E P O R T O F T H E F I R S T D A Y O F T H E T R A I N I N G Categorizing and merging the different opinions In the fourth task, each particip ant needed to answer on seven questions about their interpretation of an educational vision through making hexagons . First independently where we all honestly answer 7 questions, wrote it on little hexagons papers and put them on different tables, depends on question, then we combined common items and assembled a hexagon from those items (the main item in the middle, surrounded by other items that complete it) and came to common ideas and visions. Through expresing different opinions, agreements and disagreements, discussing it, we came to joint vision. The goal of the game is to determine priorities, strengthen team c ohesion, joint actions and applying these visions in implementation of teaching. Feedback game After a short brea k, we continued with education in a fun style in t he form of anoth er card game. Fifth task was about expressing our opinions about our colle agues th rough card. Finding a card with traits that we feel describe our colleagues is a nice way to bond between ourselves. W e rarely have the o pportunity to give each other compliments or express p ersonal opinions about each other, so, for a change it's n ice to hear what your colleagues think about you and why. R E P O R T O F T H E F I R S T D A Y O F T H E T R A I N I N G E v a l u a t i o n For t he last activity in the sixth task participants played another game wit h a dice in which everyone from the group should answered in one question from th e list about first day of the training as a retrospective. The most challenging question was number 2 , about which we thought a lot. That was to give one tip about this meeting In the last sessio n trainers make groups for writing reports about tra ining eac h day. It was a fun and productive day and we look forward to tomorrow`s new challenges. 2 0 2 2 R E P O R T T H E S E C O N D D A Y 2 5 / 1 0 / 2 0 2 2 R E P O R T O F T H E S E C O N D D A Y O F T H E T R A I N I N G Host: Electrical Engineering School ”Vaso Aligrudic” in Podgorica Date: 25/10/2022. Attended by: 11 teachers and school pedagogist teachers Trainers: Monique Hanekamp and Peter van Engen from Netherlands. CHECKING-IN “Checking-in” by answering the questions displayed on the spinning wheel was used as a warm-up activity for the upcoming sessions. EVALUATION OF THE VISION The prot otype of a learning vision of “Vaso Aligrudic” was presented by Peter and key features were discussed. The first impressions of the teachers were very positive, and it was concluded that it presented a great summary of the conclusions and ideas that the participants came up with during th e first day of the training. The visual reference of the prototype to the school’s logo was considered very appropriate. Yet, it was conc luded that the vision still needed some polishing-up, in terms of terminology and possible merging of the given element. The teachers remarked that the section Dreams should also be pointed out in the prototype, since it is directly related to setting up the identified goals. THEORY OF PEDAGOGICAL RELATIONSHIP The session led b y Monique started off by discussing the personal examples that the participants shared re lated to their pedagogical relationship with their teachers. Several elements related to building a good p edagogical relatio nship in a school were addressed: the importance of a good relationship, motiv ation, cooperatio n, and the teacher’s role. Two video clips were presented that triggered answers to the questions what/why/ how / of the importance o f improving the relationships with the students. The Pygmalion E ffect was mentioned as an examp le of how to boost students’ confidence. The follow-up activity set for further thinking: Teach what you preach. R E P O R T O F T H E S E C O N D D A Y O F T H E T R A I N I N G MOTIVATION THEORY Upon watching the video on SDT, three pillars of the Self-Determination Continuum were discussed (autonomy, competence and relatedness). The chart rep resenting the stages and elements of motivation was analyz ed and viewed through the prism of the examples from the teachers’ professio nal experience in the classroom. Group assignment followed. Each group was presented a situation from the teach ing practice in our school (prepared by the pedagogist Selma), and the members of each group were asked to discuss finding solutions for the identified problems in a manner that would address the students’ needs. The participants shared great ideas. Video “The Wisdom of Geese ” was shown in the end of the session, a s a reminder and summary of the benefits of team work. T E A M B U I L D I N G After busy, interactive and productive morning, sessions, the participants and trainers had numerous team buildin g activities as well as a lunch break in an outdoor campsite near Podgorica. The school principal was present as a guest at this stage. Various c ollaborative tasks, games and workshops were carried o ut succe ssfully, in an exce llent mood. Holding the stick as a team, trying to untie a “human knot”, awarding medals to colleagues/identifying their strengths, racing to pop each o ther’s balloons, blindfolded walking , etc. reminded us of many essential featu res of teamwork (trust, confidence, active listening, self-reflection, leadership, problem-solving...). R E P O R T O F T H E S E C O N D D A Y O F T H E T R A I N I N G R E F L E C T I O N L a s t a c t i v i t y o f t h e d a y c o n s i s t e d o f r e f l e c t i n g u p o n w h a t h a d b e e n d o n e s o f a r a n d w h a t w e l e a r n e d W e w r o t e o u r i d e a s / t i p s / c o n c l u s i o n s / q u e s t i o n s o n p a p e r p l a n e s a n d l e t t h e m f l y T h e t r a i n e r s s h a r e d t h e i r f e e d b a c k a s w e l l O v e r a l l c o n c l u s i o n o f b o t h t e a c h e r s a n d t r a i n e r s w a s t h a t i t w a s a g r e a t , i n t e r a c t i v e , e x c i t i n g , a n d e n g a g i n g d a y ! 20 22 REPORT Date: 26.10.2022. The training started with an exercise in which the participants had to draw an emoticon and thus show how they feel and then explain why they feel that way. After a short break, we continued with education in a fun style in the form of another card game. Fifth task was about expressing our opinions about our colleagues through card. Finding a card with traits that we feel describe our colleagues is a nice way to bond between ourselves. We rarely have the opportunity to give each other compliments or express personal opinions about each other, so, for a change it's nice to hear what your colleagues think about you and why. After the task being completed each gro up had a discussion sessionin order to wrap up activity. The third day of training titled “Training soft Skills” took place at Electrical Engineering School”Vaso Aligrudic” in Podgorica on the 26th October 2022. Project attendance are teachers from the school and pedagogist. The trainers are Monique Hanekamp and Peter van Engen from Netherlands. Start of the day The most important issue of the activity is to show and point out how and why encourage and support is important in given situation, so that we had a video ‘Ray Charles goes blind and calls for help’. Group had so many different and great opinions about the video. We all were talking about how to find appropriate way to support our students, how to facilitate students and give them all possible autonomy they could get. To support the idea we have all been given several methods, and all of us had different perspective and approach to complete it. Feedback Feedback activity was one of the many activities we had. We were discussing about the importa nce of feedback, in both ways, students to teacher and vice versa, the way we are giving and receiving it. The aim was to improve current situation in classes. We learnt that positive and negative feedback should be in a 3:1 ratio. After discussion we had the tower game again and to assess these 4 fields: content/task, approach/strategy, learning mode/mood and quality. The aim of this activity was to show direct feedback between student and teacher in these fields mentioned above but this time without obser ves. Didactical coaching The session starts with basic points about didactic coaching, some tips and activities. The main activity was to write as many usages of paper clip we can remember. After completing activity we made a conclusion how much didactic coaching have positive inf luence on the learning process. website learningpit.org, where we could see the process of learning step by step, analyzing and correcting mistakes in order to compete the task. We were given a task to come up with a solution by brainstorming, by making mistakes and using step by step methodology in order to come to a required solution. The last task was to evaluate the whole day answering the questions that were marked in different colors using M&M candies. The winner of our little paper clips game, started on Monday, was Jelena Babi ć Learning pit Peter has shown us a short video from a new