concept of vocational education and training in serbia - vet reform ...

teacher’s contact hours at weekly and annual level, different way of assessment of results of workboth of teachers and students, and a permanent need for professional improvement of teachersthrough training.The structure of the curriculum is not unique for all educational profiles. It differs withinapprenticeship profiles, three and four years profiles, so that the organisation of the educationalprocess cannot be the same – it must meet the demands of each single educational profile.Outcomes in vocational educationThe main characteristic of vocational education, i.e. the curriculum implemented therein,is the outcomes orientation. The outcomes are clearly and unequivocally defined - knowledge,skills and attitudes (work competencies) that are achieved after a specific programme, i.e.education and learning process. Defined in that manner, they form the basis for planning,organization and the realisation of vocational education and the evaluation of achievements andof the whole education and training process. The outcomes induce teachers and students to sharethe responsibility for educational achievements, providing both groups with a clear idea of whatthey could expect after the completion of a specific programme, i.e. the education and learningprocess.The education process always results in some kind of outcomes but their nature is oftenvague and undefined. In vocational education as well, programmes with inadvertent, inadequateand imprecisely defined outcomes are not rare and this results in the “production” of people withformally recognised qualifications but who lack some elementary work competencies that theyare expected to possess.A significant difference exists between the simple “production” of outcomes and outcomeorientededucation. In outcome-oriented education, the outcomes are defined prior to theeducation process and are known to teachers and students who during the learning processreceive the necessary support in the form of an adequate and thoroughly thought throughapproach to achieving outcomes. This means that the outcomes determine and define theeducation and learning process and that the school and the institution whose curricula are basedon outcomes should:• Identify the outcomes of a specific programme, explain them and make themcompletely public and let them be known to all interested population;• Elaborate ways of education and learning organization through which the outcomes areachieved, i.e. through which students can be successful in achieving the outcomes;• Define standards of achievements in subjects, subject areas and modules.Specification of outcomes:KnowledgeProvides students and adults with knowledge andskills necessary in further education, for personaldevelopment and for life long learningSkillsPromotes students’ and adults’Development as individuals and activemembers of the society.Provide development of learning skills.AttitudesProvide students and adults withknowledge, skills and work competencynecessary for employment or for selfemployment.27