Suchergebnisse

The reform processes in the Republic of Macedonia are in accordance with the modern tendencies and technological changes and they make efforts to draw the Macedonian educational system near to the educational systems of the European states, members of the European Union. Therefore, the external assessment, which is a well-established practice in the educational systems of the developed countries, is considered as an important step, that would improve the education and especially the students' assessment. From its beginning in 2010 until now, the external assessment in the Republic of Macedonia does not stop to surge the public opinion. Teachers, students, parents, professionals, they all have different opinions and attitudes regarding the need of external assessment, and it seems that the negative ones are dominant. The paper wants to exploit exactly these negative opinions and attitudes of the teachers, students, parents and professionals. In addition, the paper shows the negative influence that external assessment has on them. Bearing this in mind, a research that has quantitative and qualitative paradigm and descriptive design was conducted. The sample consists of 200 participants from the Republic of Macedonia. Survey and a questionnaire were used as a technique and instrument of the research. The methods for processing the data and gaining scientifically based conclusion were analysis, comparison and synthesis. The research shows that all participants, without exception, have negative attitudes towards the external assessment. Among other reasons, the validity and objectivity of the indicators for quality of the students' achievements are stressed out. This, on the other side, is an undisputable argument that the state should reconsider the existence of this concept.

The role of television as a medium today is multifold, and, to a great extent, enlarged. The television apparatus are present in every household and through them, various kinds of cultural, political, scientific, educational and fun contents is being placed that influence the viewers, most likely the young population, that is, children in elementary schools. With that, what is of utmost importance is the existence of the educational programs, because they have an educational meaning and influence the psyche-physical development of the personality of the children. In that sense, what is of even bigger importance is the Macedonian language that is being used in those educational programs because the students are "challenged" to perfect and cultivate their oral and written expression and to develop and affinity towards the standard Macedonian language so that they can develop into personas that will answer the needs of modern living with high moral conscience about the significance of the Macedonian language. Because of that, the proper expression of the host in the educational programs in the spirit of the norms of the standard language is one of the pre-conditions for proper acquisition of the modern Macedonian language with the children in elementary schools. The aim of the paper is to analyze the educational programs broadcasted on the local television stations in Bitola, from the point of view of the language uttered by the host so that it can be program whether the host uses the Macedonian modern language and if there is an influence of the dialect of the host, which can have a negative effect on the acquisition of the norms of the Macedonian language with the children in elementary schools. In the same time, through informal conversations with the editors of the television stations the real state of things will be presented, i.e. the insufficient presence of the educational programs on the air of these television stations and the reasons for that situation, as well as the need of the existence of such programs in regards to the positive effects that they have for the development of the children in elementary schools.

Volunteers from the International Reading Association (IRA) participated in the teacher education component of Macedonia's Secondary Education Activity, an initiative to reform vocational/technical education (VET), funded from 2004 to 2008 by USAID. Volunteers offered professional development to VET teachers using a trainer-of-trainers model, designed to create more interactive classrooms characterized by critical thinking and collaboration. The three authors–the initial lead volunteer, a Fulbright scholar, and a project participant–assess the sustainability of the component's goals by examining the interactions during project implementation of potential Macedonian change agents, including its Ministry of Education, within the context of institutional stability/change and power relationships. They also report findings from a post project survey of project participants. While the authors identify political, social, and economic structural weaknesses that hampered widespread sustainability of project goals, they also note important positive effects on certain teachers who participated in IRA's professional development component.