Research Report: Implementation of the Civic Education Subject in The
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IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CIVIC EDUCATION SUBJECT IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOLS RESEARCH REPORT IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CIVIC EDUCATION SUBJECT IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOLS RESEARCH REPORT IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CIVIC EDUCATION SUBJECT IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOLS This report is developed by the Strengthening the multi-ethnic cooperation in municipalities Project, supported by Pestalozzi Children’s Foundation, implemented by Macedonian Civic Education Center (MCEC) in cooperation with the Bureau for Development of Education (BDE). This report is developed by a working group consisted of representatives from: Bureau for Development of Education, municipal official inspector, as well as experts in the field of education. The views expressed in this document belong to the authors and do not necessarily express the views of the Pestalozzi Children’s Foundation. Title: IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CIVIC EDUCATION SUBJECT IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOLS Research report Publisher: Macedonian Civic Education Center (MCEC) Authors: Gorica Mickovska, MA Mitko Ceslarov, MA Ana Mickovska Raleva, MA Field research conducted by: Ajshe Ajrullai Zaneta Conteva, MA Zoran Uzunov Editors: Loreta Georgieva, MA Besnik Ramadani Anica Aleksova, MA Translation: Lingva Ekspert Graphic design: КОМА Printing house: Vinsent Grafika Editions: 30 CIP - Каталогизација во публикација Национална и универзитетска библиотека “Св. Климент Охридски”, Скопје 373.3:37.035(497.7)(047) MICKOVSKA, Gorica Implementation of the civic education subject in the primary schools : research report / [authors Gorica Mickovska, Mitko Ceslarov, Ana Mickovska Raleva]. - Skopje : Macedonian civic education center (MCEC), 2016. - 56 стр. : табели ; 30 см Публикацијата е во рамки на проектот: “Strengthening the multi-ethnic cooperation in municipalities”. - Содржи и: Annex ISBN 978-608-4529-62-0 1. Ceslarov, Mitko [автор] 2. Mickovska Raleva, Ana [автор] а) Граѓанско образование - Основни училишта - Македонија - Извештаи COBISS.MK-ID 102284042 2 CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 11 1. BASIC INFORMATION ON THE PROJECT 13 2. CONCEPTUALFRAMEWORK FOR THE RESEARCH 15 3. METHODS AND INSTRUMENTS FOR DATA COLLECTION 17 4. SAMPLE 18 5. DATA COLLECTION, PROCESSING AND ANALYSIS 20 RESULTS 21 1. CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING THE CURRICULA 23 CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT THE REALIZATION 2. 31 OF THE TEACHING PROCESS 3. CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT THE TEXTBOOKS 37 4. CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT THE TRAININGS 41 CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING THE ACHIEVEMENT 5. 43 OF THE CURRICULUM GOALS ANNEXES 46 3 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CIVIC EDUCATION SUBJECT IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOLS ACKNOWLEDGMENT To all associates that were included in the process of conducting this research, especially the students and the teachers who answered the e-questionnaire and participated in the discussions of the focus groups. 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CIVIC EDUCATION SUBJECT IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOLS 6 PURPOSE OF The collected data was grouped and analysed in accord- THE RESEARCH ance with the questions the research was aimed at ad- dressing. The purpose of the research was to determine the current condition of the instruction for the Civic BASIC FINDINGS Education subject in primary schools in the Republic of Macedonia in terms of planning and realization, in FROM THE RESEARCH order to define specific guidelines for improvement of 1. OPINIONS ON THE CIVIC EDUCATION the quality of the learning and teaching process for the SUBJECT CURRICULA lessons in Civic Education.  According to the students, civic education The research is primarily focused on providing an should be studied because the contents thereof answer to the following questions: would be useful in life. They deem most of the  What are the opinions of the students and the content important (above 70% of the students teachers in terms of the Civic Education subject find 6 out of 7 topics important) and interesting curricula? (4 of 7 topics are found interesting to more than 70% of the students). The content found to be the  How are the instruction and learning processes most interesting is the one pertaining to Human realized for the Civic Education subject? Rights, while the least interesting is the content  What are the opinions pertaining to the textbooks pertaining to Government and International for the Civic Education subject? Humanitarian Law. They think that some of the topics that are deemed uninteresting are still  What kind of trainings would be necessary for the important for learning. teachers who teach Civic Education?  Most of the teachers (more than 70%) consider CONDUCTING all of the topics to be important, and think that the students also deem such topics to be THE RESEARCH important. They deem the following topics to The opinions pertaining to the realization of the be more important than the others: Human instruction and learning for the Civic Education subject Rights and Responsibilities, Democracy and Civic Society, Conflict and Media. The same were obtained from the teachers teaching the subject percentage of teachers (70%) consider these and from students who attended the lessons. By means topics to be interesting in general, as well as of electronic questionnaire, answers were obtained that the students find them interesting. The least from 241 teachers from 178 primary schools, and important and interesting topic in their opinion 542 students from the eighth and ninth grade from is: International Humanitarian Law. 44 primary schools1. In addition, data pertaining to  The perception of the teachers in terms of the the quality of the implementation of the curricula and degree to which certain contents in the curricula more detailed explanations were obtained through are important and interesting, is more positive discussions in focus groups: 4 focus groups with 42 than the one of the students. teachers and 5 focus groups with a total of 56 students.  A small percentage of teachers (18%) and The research was conducted in May and June 2016.The students (19%) also have suggestion for new field interviewing of students was organized by advisors contents in the curriculum. Three quarters of the from the Bureau for the Development of Education teachers consider that one lesson is not enough from Skopje and Tetovo and a municipal education for delivering the content. inspector from the Municipality of Strumica, and they  The name of the subject according to both the also managed the discussions within the focus groups. teachers and the students is appropriate for the content. 1 The schools from all regions of the Republic of Macedonia (see: Annex 1 and Annex 2). Seventeen percent (17%) of the surveyed teachers teach in Albanian, and the other 83% teach in the other languages of instruction (Macedonian, Turkish, Serbian). Out of the surveyed students, 68% learn in Macedonian, and 32% in Albanian. 7 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CIVIC EDUCATION SUBJECT IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOLS 2. METHODS FOR CONDUCTING THE 3. OPINIONS REGARDING INSTRUCTION AND SUPPORTING THE TEXTBOOKS THE LEARNING  Textbooks are regularly used during Civic  The curriculum recommends using various Education lessons, while occasionally additional interactive methods. According to the answers materials are also used alongside the textbooks. of the students and the teachers, the curriculum  Sixty one percent (61%) of the teachers consider is methodically versatile, even though the that the textbooks help the students clarify and monologic and the text methods are the learn the contents and the terms comprised ones that are most frequently used. Still, the in the curriculum, while the remaining 39% students answered that the teachers use active consider the textbooks unhelpful. They have methods less frequently than what the teachers pointed out that the structure and the content themselves reported. of the textbooks limit the achievement of all  The majority of the students (60%) find the curriculum goals. lessons in Civic Education always interesting.  Forty percent (40%) of the teachers consider When they ranked the learning methods that that part of the topics and terms/definitions they prefer the most, the ones that were best in the textbooks are obsolete, problematic or ranked were actually the ones most frequently confusing. used in the classes – lectures and group work.  Almost half (47%) of the students consider It indicates that the students are not sufficiently that the textbook is insufficiently helpful for prepared for active learning during the lessons. clarifying and learning the contents and the  Supporting students’ learning through terms studied in class, while 22% of them think explanations of the contents and terms during that it comprises topics, contents, terms and the lessons, according to the teachers, takes illustrations which are inappropriate or wrongly place on a regular and frequent basis, while presented. according to the students it is insufficient and  In practice, the teachers use and need additional irregular, especially in terms of explanations materials, including: manuals for teaching during the following classes. contents, links to internet contents, video  Most of the students (75%) have a feeling materials etc. that the teachers constantly encourage active participation, while the others consider that it is happening only occasionally.  The perceptions of the teachers and the students in terms of whether it is possible to freely express one’s opinion without being criticized are different. Seventy eight percent (78%) of the teachers consider that they always provide such opportunity,