Primary in Dr Sasa Milic, Professor, Faculty of Letters, of Montenegro, Montenegro

Abstract In the post Second World War period education gave immense contribution to the social and economical development of Montenegro. It was a generator of social progress for decades, and the educational system itself developed by means of development of elementary school system, founding a great number of common grammar schools and vocational high schools in all Montenegrin towns, and the foundation of the in 1974. The quality of Montenegrin educational system was based on quality of educators, their enthusiasm and willingness to give their best for the quality of the teaching process. However, social crisis which ended with the breakup of Yugoslavia, numerous clashes and wars; economic recession followed by enormous inflation; and the fall of the social system of value negatively affected the educational system of Montenegro. Montenegrin educational system underwent serious change in the last 7-8 years. Curricula were innovated, new textbooks were written, grading system was altered, new and schools built and various important institutions established: the Bureau of Education, Center for and Examination Center. However, we must say that the process of reform still takes its course, and if we desire a truly quality educational system, the process itself will never leave the course. The state of reform, which used to take over the educational system a certain points in Montenegrin past, now turns to be permanent. Even though the reform positively affected certain points of educational system, the results of the international PISA knowledge testing in 2006 proved that students in Montenegro did not acquire quality, functional and permanent knowledge, and that teaching process did not abet problem-solving skills and the development of critical thinking. Key words Reform, democratization, interactive teaching, curriculum, quality, knowledge

Journal of Humanitarian studies and Education - JHStE

Until 1997, Montenegro belonged to the Republican Democracy of Yugoslavia, which consisted of , but then things changed because a new path for the independence of the country had opened. This exact change, which was demanded by the needs of Montenegro as an autonomous country, led to changes in the educational system as well. Some analyzers of the education in Montenegro, but also international organizations and sectors of the educational policy of the country, through analyzing the situation in the educational system, were led to the following “common list” of problems (Gazivoda, 2002; Milić, 2002, 2004; Đukanović, 2006, Osnove, 2003):

1. The weakened social role of school-school is not in the position of helping the student to be absorbed in the society and to satisfy his social needs; as a result, the student is made to search and find on his own the way and the forms of contact with the society out of school. 2. The lack of encouragement of the students from the school’s part for knowledgement and mental progress. As a matter of fact, the quite opposite happens; the school very often discourages the students and causes them negative feelings for itself and the knowledge, in general. In this framework, the educational process is characterized by the strict communication between the teacher and the student, the lack of educational encouragement of the students as well as the creation of apathy and anxiety from the part of the students. 3. The deficient connection between the school and the local community-the relationships between the school and the local community are extremely weak; the local community is absent even from the management of the leadership in the educational institutions. 4. The deficient education of the parents and of other social sectors which take part in the educational process-the cooperation between the parents and the schools is limited down to the parents’ basic update, regarding the students success, and almost the only way of cooperation is their formal and typical meeting. 5. The teachers’ deficient qualification and the lack of motivation for this exact qualification-the teachers’ highest education is not in harmony with the modern views on teaching and learning. To a

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great extent, infertile scientific knowledge is acquired without it being supported by the and the psychology. 6. The teachers’ deficient working autonomy(with the responsibility of the school)-the educators’ deficient grade of qualification inevitably reduces their working autonomy, meaning their real responsibility for the final results of the educational process. 7. The headmasters’ deficient education for the management of the schools-there is no institutional form of the headmasters’ education about modern management, the headmaster of the school is not trained either for the handling of the educational policy and the carrying out of the programmes or the organization of the educational process. 8. The lack of existence of the methodical pluralism in the educational process-the traditional approach, which is reflected through the absolute dominance of the metopic teaching, not concerning the content, the teaching goals or the students’ interests, etc., is dominant in the teaching process. In the latter, the impartment of knowledge is encouraged whereas the students are only passive receivers of knowledge, a fact which leads to the progress of a reproductive form of thought. 9. The overload and the inflexibility of the teaching programmes-the content that needs to be taught to the students is emphasized and not the expected progress of the interaction between the students and the content of the programmes. 10. The low quality of the acquired knowledge and the lack of ability for the full personal and social occupation-the mechanic memorization of the contents is encouraged, whereas other important qualifications, such as independent learning, the solution of problematic exercises and the critical thought, are ingored. 11. The inappropriate way of appraisal-the grading is mainly used for the pointing out of the student’s mistakes and it has the format of a penalty and not of encouragement. 12. The lack of an appropriate system of attendance and realization of the teaching programmes-there is not a full and professionally designed system of organization and institutional appraisal of the teaching programmes, which means that the assesment of the programmes is absent. 13. The lack of appropriate techniques-of material conditions for the realization of the demands of the teaching methods in the country.

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Taking into account the above problems of the educational system in Montenegro, the suitable governmental instruments(the , the Ministry of Education and Science, the Council of Educational Changes), almost with one assent, adapted the document of strategical importance, with the title “Book of changes of the educational system in Montenegro”, according to which, the main directions and the beginning of changes in the education were standardized. As one of the basic principles of the educational reformation was thought to be “the principal of decentralization”, which had as its beginning the acceptance that the educational system in Montenegro is concentrative to a great extent and this stands as a serious obstacle for Montenegro’s modernization. This decentralization of the educational system gives the opportunity to school to work as an autonomous unit, the leadership to be democratic, to change the personal relationships and to accept the students as personalities-colleagues (Delibasic, 2005). This principal leads to the allowance of responsibilities in the deciding process, as regards the education between the appropriate Ministry and the institutes of the country, the local community, the citizens, the parents, etc. “In this way, the responsibility moves from the centre (country) to the educator’s conscientiousness and to his professional responsibility for the work of the decentralized educational system.” (“Book of Educational Changes”, 2001). In addition, “the principle of the same opportunities”, which means the same prerogatives in the education with quality for all the citizens, with no regard to any relative personal characteristic of them, has a great importance in the educational system of Montenegro, as a multinational society. Through the application of “the principle about the prerogative of choice according to the individual qualifications”, an important step towards the educational system to be democratic is attempted. The individual approach to the teaching process is concerned an educational approach that takes into account the child’s qualifications in this process and is based on the condition that there are not children who are involved in the educational activity in the exact same way. “In order for the students to move on, according to their abilities, and for their special interests to be satisfied at all levels of the educational system it has to exist the ability of their choice and in the framework of every class the offer of a variety of contents, methods and forms of work.” (“Book of Educational Changes”, 2001). Montenegro, as a European country, is determined to establish as one of the educational principles “the principle of the application of European criteria”. The respect and the full realization of this

55 | P a g e Primary Education in Montenegro principle is going to insecure the functional connection of our educational system with the systems of progressed European countries, the appraisal of students and teachers, as well as the reconstruction of the cooperation among the institutes of the highest education. Also, “the principle of the application of the quality system”, which is going to give the opportunity to be created for the first time in Montenegro a reliable control system of the working quality in the educational system, has a direct relation with the previous principle. Through the realization of this principal, the reconstruction of the systems of internal and external assessment of the quality of the educational activities in the country is predicted. A society in transition, like this of Montenegro, has to pay extra attention to its human dynamic, and as a result this reformation also sets “the principle of progress of the human dynamic” as one of the fundamental principles. The main admittance of this principle is that education forms the best investment for the biggest development of the human abilities and that it greatly influences the progress of competition, the creation of new working positions and the social steadiness. Montenegro expresses its European direction in its educational reformation also through “the principle of through-life education”, in this way respecting one of the central issues of E.E. The former position is that the principle of the through-life education is a fundamental principle of education and forms a condition not only for the progress of the individual’s personality and his social emancipation but also for the cultural and economic progress of the country. One of the most important characteristics of the educational system in Montenegro is strictness, which is going to be reduced through the realization of “the principle of flexibility”. The respect of this principle means that the whole educational system should be flexible (flexible educational policies, open teaching programs, freedom of action in schools and to teachers, etc.). Agreeable to the previous principle is also “the principle of competition” which is related to the vertical and the horizontal connection of the educational system and secures the smooth transition in the school programs depending on the type of school. Apart from this, the perfect connection of all the levels of the educational system, from education to University, is regarded as essential. The observations that were about the relations of the educational system with the students’ age and level of progress, formed “the principle of the approach of programs according to the level of education”; a principle which is concerned to be one of the most important needs of the educational reformation. In this framework, it is underlined that the programs and the teaching plans

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should be a logical sum and not a sum of disconnected contents. The multinationality and the multireligiousness that characterize Montenegro is also expressed through “the principle of through-culture”, which is regarded as the fundamental principle of the reformation of the educational system of the country. The respect of this principle aims at the creation of an educational system that is going to fully respect the national, religious, social and other distinctiveness. Finally, “the principle of gradual import of changes” has as a goal the right educational preparation, the check of the conditions and the assessment of the results that these changes caused.

Legislation of the educational sector in Montenegro

According to the strategical directions of the reformation of the educational system in Montenegro, in 2001 the Government of Montenegro decided about the need for reconsideration of the legislation in the educational sector. The Ministry of Education and Sciences then created groups of experts which designed the texts of the new laws, during the following year. The design of the new educational legislation occurred with the support of the representatives of the European Service of Educational Ανασυγκρότησης and experts from Slovenia, the experience of whom were of great importance, since Slovenia has got an analogous educational system and had been for many years at the stage of realization of its new educational system. In November of 2002, the institutes the following laws: the General Law about education, the Law about preschool education, the Law about gymnasiums, the Law about and the Law about adults’ education. For the biggest possible transparency in the process of the establishment of the new laws, all of them were publically discussed with the participation of many educators, students, parents, educational sectors and international experts. This new educational legislation expresses not only the experiences but also the visions of the modern European school in combination with the experiences of the educational tradition of the country as well as the strategical directions and goals of the educational reformation, which aim at the creation of a democratic and open society, which is based on the country of justice, the harmonic multinational coexistence and the toleration and understanding among the citizens.

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The new educational legislation in Montenegro was created according to the new creation models of the educational laws, having as a main law “the General Law of Education”, according to which, all of the matters that are common for all the levels of education, from the preschool education to the University, were settled. Apart from the principle of the democratization these laws are based on the principles of autonomy, αποπολιτικοποίησης, flexibility, transparency, quality and decentralization. These principles secured at a great extent the transmission of responsibilities from the Ministry of Education and Sciences to the special councils (Council of General Education, Council of Special Education, and Council of Adults’ Education) as well as to newly established institutes (Institution of Schools, Centre of Special Education, and Centre of Examination). The needs but also the efforts for real modernization the educational system in Montenegro and its coordination with the European criteria are expressed through the relative articles of the new Legislation: “The education aims at 1) the assurance of the potential for the individual’s multiple education, not depending on the sex, age, social and cultural background, nationality, religion, and psychological state, 2) the fulfillment of every individual’s needs, interests, desires and aspirations, in the framework of his through-life education, 3) the assurance of choice of the educational system at all levels of education, 4) the progress of consciousness, the need and ability for the assurance of human prerogatives, country of justice, the natural and social environment, the acceptance of multinationality and the differences, 5) the progress of consciousness for the governmental existence of Montenegro, 6) the assurance of each individual’s ability to participate, based on his own abilities, in all the offered working levels and in a variety of other activities, 7) the progress of consciousness of national existence, culture, history and tradition of the country, and finally 8) the contribution of education in the process of European completion.

Management of the educational system

The educational policy is practiced by the Parliament and the Government of Montenegro through the Ministry of Education and Sciences which is responsible for the standardization of the governmental policy in the sector of education, the organization and funding of education, the establishment and the leadership of educational institutions in relation to the governmental property and the realization of

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the legislated educational framework at all levels. The most important change in the leadership of the educational system and in its decentralization occurred in the sector of the educational inspection, which was actually transformed into a rather counseling service. With the further decentralization of the leadership of the educational system as a goal, the following counseling sectors came into existence: the Council of General Education, the Council of Elementary Special Education and the Council of Adults’ Education. These councils decide about issues that concern: the goals of education, the content of the programs, the criteria and the content of knowledge, the approval of books and of educational material and other relative issues that concern the function of the educational institutions. Additionally, the councils suggest to the Minister the realization of suggestions about the technical matters and these of the management of the educational organization which concern the school spaces, the equipment and the teaching material at schools. Decentralization in this sector occurred through the establishment of three sectors: the Institution of Schools, the Centre of Special Education and the Centre of Examination. The main mission of these sectors is the realization of the educational policy as well as the upgrade of the working potential of the educational staff. In contrast with the progress of the newly established sectors and the counseling services for the decentralization of the educational system, the changes continue to play a typical rather than a basic role due to the fact that the responsible Ministry continued to put pressure upon the process of taking decisions of the above sectors with its tendency to maintain the control on the current educational system.

Funding of the educational system

The educational system of Montenegro, from the preschool to the highest level, is funded to a great extent from the governmental budget, whereas a smaller part is funded from the governmental budget and τους συλλόγους as well as from the salary of the employers for the conduct of the practiced exercise of the students, from the offering of goods and of other services. A part of the non stable income which is received by the educational sectors concerns the funding and the budget of various progressive programs which are realized in the educational system. An exception from the above, are the preschool institutions, which receive an important percentage from the usual monthly payment of the parents

59 | P a g e Primary Education in Montenegro which is 50% of the total spending of the child’s staying at the . The teachers’ salaries, the spending on materials for schools, the supply of teaching materials and the constructions and renovations of the school buildings are funded from the governmental budget. Also, the local management sectors, according to the legislation and to the agreement about the division of responsibilities between Government and Municipality. The private schools that follow the current programs of the public schools could also be funded from the governmental budget or the local management’s budget, whereas the conditions for their funding are predicted by the Law.

The Education in Primary School

Apart from the above discussed principles of the reformation of the educational system in Montenegro, we state that it is demanded for the primary education:

-to be free and obligatory for all the children

-to be priority the quality of knowledge and not the amount -to offer to all the children the potential of success in education

-to be involved in the progress of all the sides of the individual’s personality

-to be based on the principles of cooperation of students, teachers and parents -and to secure the teachers’ independence

The reformatted primary school, apart from the assurance of general education to all population, at the same time ought to fulfill the following goals:

-the progress of critical thought, independence and interest for new knowledge as well as auto education -the acquirement of general knowledge and critical thought that secure independent, effective and creative dealing of the social and natural environment

-the acquirement of knowledge about the basic laws of nature, the progress of society and of human health

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-the assurance of the progress of the student’s personality according to his abilities and the rules of progress

-the education about the respect for national virtues, the history and culture of the country as well as about the respect for the cultural and other distinctiveness of foreign countries and finally -the progress of the potential for the participation in a democratic society.

According to the educational reformation, the length of Primary School was extended from 8 to 9 years and it progresses in 3 cycles (each cycle has got a 3 year length) which are in harmony with the stages of the child’s progress. Children start Primary School a year before, meaning that 6-year- old children, according to the calendar year, enroll in the first grade. The Law also predicts the possibility of postponement of the child’s enrollment for a year, if there are appropriate excuses for the postponement. In the first cycle, the teaching of all courses is achieved by a teacher, whereas in the first grade (the estimated children’s age is 6 years old) the teaching is achieved also by the cooperation between the teacher and a preschool teacher, with a half time work. As a result, the innovation in the educational system of Montenegro is also the cooperation between the teachers and the preschool teachers, which was established in order for the children’s socialization and adjustment to school and the promotion of the individual teaching to be achieved in the best way. During the second cycle, qualified teachers are integrated for specific courses. In the fourth grade, the teaching of a foreign language is achieved by the teacher of foreign languages, whereas the teacher of the class continues to teach the other courses. In the fifth grade, the teachers of specialness also teach the courses of painting, music and gymnastics. In the sixth grade, the teaching is organized in sectors, meaning in groups of courses. In the third cycle, the teaching is exclusively achieved by qualified teachers. In the first cycle, the weekly courses are 20, 26 in the second and 30 in the third one. An important characteristic for the organization of the course and the teaching is also the teacher’s capability to define on his own the length of the course of teaching according to the students’ abilities and interests and as a result the course may last less or more than the usual 45 minutes. In the rest of the grades (from the fifth to the ninth), the course lasts 45 minutes. In addition, important for the flexibility of the program is also the fact that the plan and the program of the teaching framework has been defined and it consists of: a) courses which are obligatory for all children –

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80% of the total number of courses, b) courses by choice – 20% of the total number of courses. In this way, educators, schools and parents as well as the local managements have the capability of the participation in the choice of the content/subjects of teaching for the children of the Primary school. The obligatory courses in the Primary school are: the mother tongue, the foreign languages, mathematics, music, painting, gymnastics, geography, history, biology, science, chemistry, the citizen’s education and the computer literacy. In the areas where the language of Montenegro is not the outvoting mother tongue and is being taught as a non mother one, the problem of overburdening the children with too many courses was solved with the reduction of the number of courses from the sectors which are chosen by the special groups of teachers of the primary schools in the . New teaching programs were created based on the open program, in which the content of learning the language is not predicted in detail, but its goals, a fact that gives the analogous freedom to the teacher to choose the content and his way of teaching. For the first time in the history of the educational system in Montenegro also the courses of choice were suggested to the primary schools, which are studied in the third cycle, meaning in the seventh, the eighth and the ninth grade. The students choose courses from these that are suggested by the school, so as to cover the 20% of the total number of courses. A more flexible approach was secured also with the introduction of the extension of staying (all day school) for the students of the first and the second cycle. The guarding of students is secured in the framework of the all day school and various athletic, cultural, artistic and educational activities are performed. In the old educational system emphasis was given to the content of teaching the courses to the children, whereas in the new system a student-centered approach is demanded, in what they ought to learn at school, in the way they will learn it and in which knowledge and abilities they ought to acquire. As a result, in the creation of the programs and in the preparation and also the realization of the educational procedure, the pedagogic approach depending on the goals is demanded, meaning that the starting point of the educator in the preparation of his teaching should be the goals and not the content of his teaching and for this reason he plans and programs not his own activities, but these of his students. This approach basically encourages the teaching in the class and allows different ways of communication (individual work, work per pairs, small and big teams, etc).

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As a result, the program (curriculum) for the first grade of the Primary school in Montenegro is based on the children’s needs and on the fact that the play is considered as the most suitable form of “teaching” for the children of this age. The expertisers who worked on the program (curriculum) took into consideration the influence of the play in the knowing, emotional, social progress of the children (Novovic 2008). The most important but also the most difficult changes occurred in the so-called sector of the dynamic procedure in the education at school. The educational staff’s education aimed at the progress of communication between students and teachers and at the reduction of the typical forms of cooperation. The changes in the appraisal of the students and the introduction of the continual grading occurs in the framework of the established educational activities, aims at the creation of a continual, fair and representative image of the students’ abilities, at their progress and at the creation of a high quality level of their knowledge. In the first grade of Primary school the descriptive grading has been introduced, in the second cycle the descriptive and the arithmetical grading are used, whereas in the third cycle there is only the arithmetical one (from 1 to 5). The arithmetical grading is gradually introduced so as for the students to realize what each grade means. The examination of the students’ knowledge with exercises out of the obligatory material (general examinations of the cycle) which is organized in the end of the educational cycles (meaning in the end of the third, the sixth and the ninth cycle) consists an innovation in the educational system. These examinations are obligatory and have as a goal to inform the students, the parents and the pedagogical sectors, etc. about the level of the students’ knowledge. Also innovation consists the fact that in all the first 5 grades the repetition of classes consists an exception and applies only to cases of the students’ long absence from the school or in case of very low level of acquirement of knowledge. An important innovation of the educational system in Montenegro is also the co-collective education – the education of children with special needs in the normal educational institutions. For this innovation’s promotion the following occurred:

 Education of the educational staff in the area of co-collective education, designing of individual educational programs,  Creation of groups of expertise (educators, psychologists, logo therapists, qualified educators for the blind, the deaf, etc.).  Architectural adjustment of buildings.

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The potential of the children’s education at their parents’ home consists an innovation in the educational system of Montenegro. According to this legislated prediction, the parents have the right to hire and employ whoever they consider an expertise for their child’s education. This right is given to all parents, but it is considered that they will make use of it mainly the parents of children who cannot attend the regular attendance at school due to health reasons. In any case, in the framework of this education the Ministry trying to prevent possible negative consequences on the child’s progress, created a committee for the evaluation of the educational program of these children, of the professional qualities of the individuals who are hired by the parents for their education, as well as the place that this specific education occurs. Also, the Law predicts the examination of the child’s knowledge at the end of the school year, so as for the quality of the offering educational services of the child to be reassured. In case that the child’s school performance is found to be at a low level, the committee decides for the continuity of the child’s education at school. A regards the number of students per class, in the educational system of Montenegro the minimum limit of students per class is not defined, but the maximum one (30 and in special cases 32 students). As regards the mixed classes (co-teaching), the combination ought to occur depending on the studying cycle, meaning the students of the three grades and their number is defined by law. Aiming at the adjustment of the educational system in the European educational systems, special attention is given to the learning of foreign languages. The English language is introduced as obligatory in the fourth grade, but schools have the right to organize, depending on the children’s and their parents’ interest, the courses of the English language from the first grade. The second foreign language is introduced in the third cycle of the Primary school, meaning the sixth grade. Usually, the Italian, the French, the German and rarely the Spanish are studied as a second language. Although in our country, such as in many countries of the area, there is the tendency of the gradually increasing church’s influence on the educational policy and the effort for the entering of the religious subjects at schools, the official view is: “According to the main arrangements of the constitution, Montenegro is defined as a country of citizens in which the religious communities are different from the reign. The religious communities have the right to establish religious schools in which the religion and some of the religious ceremonies are studied. The realization of the right of the religious liberty, as an established human right, is not

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doubted, as it is established by the constitution and this right is not given freely by any document concerning the introduction of the religious subjects to schools”. (Damjanovic, 2008)

Discussion – most important educational issues.

The most important educational problems which concern today Montenegro are summed up as following:

 The lack of encouragement and motivation of the educators (upgrading of the teaching profession, salaries) – The appropriate ministry adopted in 2005 “The Rule about upgraded educators’ titles” which aimed at the encouragement of the educational process at schools and at the recognition of those educators who struggle for their personal professional progress and the quality of their teaching. However, until today this rule has not been applied into action. The Ministry excused the non application of this rule, because of the need for its further analysis, but it seems that the main reason was in reality the inefficient encouragement and supply of motivation towards the educators, as well as the lack of token estimate for the increase of the educators’ salaries according to their upgraded titles (teacher – mentor, teacher – counselor and teacher – searcher). In any case we have to take into account that the “the financial position of the educators affects in an important way also the quality of their teaching and their activity with the introduction of innovative activities in the class” (Damjanovic, 2008). In contrast to the estimations of the under-Secretary of Education and Sciences of Montenegro (mr. Damjanovic) from 2001, the facts show that the educators’ salaries were not importantly increased to date and that this consists an important obstacle for the realization of the same reformation in the future.  Inefficiently progressed expertise program of the educators (as regards the time and the program) – One of the great changes of the educational reformation occurred in the sector of the educators’ expertise. Although many educators underlined the importance of the educational types which already existed in Montenegro (Gvozdenovic, 2002), the appropriate Ministry almost fully modified the way of the educators’ expertise and it reduced it 65 | P a g e Primary Education in Montenegro

in only 3 days with seminars of expertise for the application of modern teaching methods. In this way, the Ministry directly reduced the potential of the educators’ professional capabilities progress for the promotion of innovative solutions in our educational system.  Delinquency in the area of the educators’ education – The appropriate Ministry importantly distanced itself from its primary positions on the importance of the educational staff’s professional expertise. Every relative studying on the results of the professional expertise consists proof that “only insisting, punctual and perennial effort can lead to the renovation of the educational system and its acceptance from the part of the educational staff and generally of the system” (Milic, 2002). In contrast to this fact, the Ministry did not put any emphasis-as it should-on the educational staff’s regular education, but on the contrary, drastically reduced the educational procedure to a three-day interteaching education. Also, it almost fully cancelled the external professional expertise with the form of seminars and introduced the internal expertise to the level of school which is in fact a form of intereducation at the same school. Indeed, it is worth emphasizing the fact that the Ministry “inspired” the relative idea from the program of Thailand known as “child friendly school” for the realization of such an internal expertise of teachers in the framework of the educational institutions.  The number of the preservative teachers who do not accept the changes is important – A lot of educators obviously have traditional/preservative consciousness and are skeptical towards every innovation and change of the current situation (Damjanovic, 2001). As a matter of fact relative studies confirm the lack of the educators’ readiness for the changes: “The educators of the Primary School consider the education and the teaching as an advantage of children and youths and not of adults” (Todorovic, 2002).  Inappropriate explanation of the reformation- The introduction of the descriptive grading and the relative relaxation of the students as regards their strict arithmetical grading, definitely consist good reformative solutions, but the studies show that the descriptive grading is realized in a typical enough way and the educators do not accept it with pleasure. “In the evaluation of the descriptive

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grading, the 37% of the teachers have a positive view and believe that it burdens and discourages less the student, whereas the 63% underline the difficulties and believe that the descriptive grading burdens the teacher, that it is imprecise and it is not in harmony with the goals of the program and the daily evaluation as it is written down in the calendar of the class and in the official book of documents” (2006). Also, the results of the studies are almost the same and confirm that most of the educators believe that the descriptive grading does not motivate the students at their school performance and at the progress of their competitive spirit and emphasize that the parents do not consider descriptive grading as “grading”, as a result also the parents’ education is essential (Kujovic, 2008).  Inaccurate priorities – Although, in our country we agree about the importance of computer literacy in the progress of the society, we believe that the Ministry of Education and Sciences defined with no reason the supply of the analogous equipment (of computers) as the first priority for the reformation of the educational system and collected the funding for the reformation for this goal. On the other side, we believe that in our educational system has not yet developed the consciousness about the importance of other teaching helping techniques for the achievement of learning through the interaction. As a result, in our school classrooms one yet points out the small amount of educational toys, geographical spheres and maps, etc. Also, the Ministry doubts one of the best reformative regulations – the team work between teachers and preschool teachers in the first grade of primary school which in fact “threatens” with its abolishment.  Inefficient preparation of the realization of the co-descriptive education – The pilot programs of the co-descriptive education in the educational system of Montenegro are realized from 2004 in the preschool institutions and in 10 Primary schools. Although the results of this application in the educational institutions are satisfactory, important problems were presented in the extension of the idea of the co-descriptive education in the whole educational system and especially in higher grades of Primary School and of schools of middle education. The cause for this situation is mainly the inefficient expertise of the educational staff for the acceptance of children with special needs, as well as the fact that

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the appropriate Ministry in many cases did not respect the needs of educational institutions which have children with special needs (building facilities and limitation of classes and of teams of education which welcome these students). This position is confirmed also by the study of the institution of school which emphasizes the inefficient educators’ preparation for the co- descriptive education. “In contrast to the fact that most teachers totally agree that the new educational programs are adjusted to the age and to the individual abilities of the students, almost the 1/5 believes that these do not supply enough capabilities for the integration of the children with special needs to the educational procedure. One of the main reasons for this disagreement is pointed out in the fact that the individual educational programs do not consist yet an everyday practice” (2006).

Conclusions

 Consequently, it has to initially be stated that the educational system of Montenegro changed importantly during the last 8 year period, innovative educational programs and teaching plans were introduced, new books were printed, a new model of students’ evaluation was applied, a lot of new buildings (kindergartens and schools) were built, new system institutions were created, such as the Institution of schools, the Centre of Special Education and the Examination Centre. However, we should emphasize that the reformative procedure is still in progress and that if we really wish for an educational system of quality this procedure will never end. The reformative situation which concerns the limited time of some years in the past now becomes a permanent situation. “There are three undeniable facts which the education needs to take into account in our days, on the doorstep of the 21st century: the importance of multiculturalism, the global dimension of the educational problems and the impressive speed of the technological progress. These three facts change the nature, the format and the targets of the educational system in the whole world” (Harrera&Mandic, 1989). All these of course concern also the educational system of our country.

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 The second important consequence is the knowledge that the “solutions” for the educational reformation cannot be transferred by the foreign educational systems (Slovenia, Finland, Hungary, etc) with the sense of its copy, but that, on the contrary to the need for harmonization of our educational system with the educational systems of the European countries, initially is demanded the harmonization of the reformation with the needs of our educational system itself and with the specialties of Montenegro as a country:  A country with a relative multicultural, multinational and multireligious presence,  A country which is in a transitional process, with a non satisfactory level of living, with lack of industrial production, with the dominance of tourism and of agriculture as main fields of economy, with a relatively small percentage of population which has studied in the highest education (only 8%), etc.  The third important conclusion concerns the results which concerned the 15-year-old children of Montenegro in the international knowledge examinations of PISA in 2006, when, out of a total of 67 countries, Montenegro gained the 48th position - a fact that reassures that the quality, the function and the duration of our students’ knowledge is not at a satisfactory level and that it is not satisfactorily encouraged the creation of the abilities of solving problems and of critical thinking in our schools.  Finally, we agree with the popular German educator Hermun van Hentig’s view, who states that “the school reformation should be amplified (meaning to become more innovating) and that the school should become the place of life where important experiences are acquired for the existence of this world, in the catalogue of the 10 most basic disadvantages of the educational reformation (Hentig, 1997).

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