OPEN SOCIETYFOUNDATIONS

Warm greetings from the Foundation “Step by Step” team

Centre for Social Initiatives NadezЦентар за социјални иницијативи „Надеж“ Здружение Центар за образовна поддршка „ДЕНДО ВАС“

Association Centre for Educational Support DENDO VAS

Welcome to another edition of our e-bulletin!

On the pages that follow we offer interesting information about the activities implemented by the Foundation “Step by Step” in this period. The online initiative “I want to…”, the publishing of the new picture books in Roma language and trainings for teachers are only a part of those. Read about them bellow and share with your colleagues and friends.

Six Regional Roundtable

Discussions Held

On-line initiative “I want to...”

Five bilingual Picture books

Published

Activities for Parents and Children in the

Community Learning Centres

NR.18 MARCH - JUNE 2017

Centre for Social Initiatives NadezЦентар за социјални иницијативи „Надеж“ Здружение Центар за образовна поддршка „ДЕНДО ВАС“

Association Centre for Educational Support DENDO VAS

k .mrg.otepyspb.stewww ropa.eu/delegas.eu atio//ee ns/ps: forhtt mer-yugoslav-republic-macedonia_en

“ЕЕСТА ЗА ИП И СВ ДЕ НР ТЕ МО ВАО ТИ КРА ОЕ Е ТИЈА РАЗК Т КАЈ РОМИ ПРЕКУ ОБТ И ТЕ „ ЦЗА АЈА ПКН КАУВА НА ЊЕ

he co t ud nnu to rr y ay ..e .nrujo sti seunitnoc

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USAID Readers are Leaders Project

A simple click on one of the titles below will take you directly to the selected content you would like to read first!

R O M A E M P O W E R M E N T A N D AWARENESS FOR DEMOCRACY T H R O U G H E D U C A T I O N

New reading and nt ma meth assessdetcudn co study

Ma th d a en td c lite ura ndcy t corainings sloohcs yraimr p6 r 7 e th no in a

! oo tskW oe o c ba en r le ua trn ic m path gh throu

inenloD morf ner ild U hS c d thip wilom ds at rea

Awareness Raising Campaign on the Importance of Equal Access

to Education or the Roma

THE LEARNING COMMUNITIES OF MACEDONIAfeatured in a book published by the Cambridge Network

The reading and math assessment study using the EGRA (Early Grade Reading Assessment) and EGMA (Early

Grade Math Assessment) instruments set out to accomplish two objectives:

1. to assess whether the project activities contributed to the improvement of reading and math for

second and third grade students;

2. To monitor the reading and math progress of fifth grade students (the group of students tested

each year since they were second grade).

www.stepbystep.org.mk

N E W R E A D I N G A N D

M AT H A S S E S S M E N T

S T U D Y C O N D U C T E D

A student solving math problems from the assessment instrument EGMA in Goce Delcev

primary school in Bitola

The field work of the assessment was conducted in the period between 15th and 31st of May, 2017 for a sample of 3500

second, third and fifth grade students from 70 primary schools in Macedonia in Macedonian, Albanian and Turkish language

of instruction.

The assessments were conducted by 150 representatives from schools (school pedagogues, psychologists and lower primary

school teachers) previously trained on how to administer the standardized assessment tools using a tablet computer.

To assure that the testing procedure in all schools was conducted according to the international standards and rules for

utilizing the EGRA and EGMA instruments, the testing was monitored by observers and project team members who provided

support and advice to the assessors.

The results of the study will be shared with the schools and relevant education institutions in order to explore ways in which

curricula as well as instruction can be modified to facilitate the improvement of students' basic literacy and numeracy skills.

One of the commitments of this project is to create reading standards for Macedonian, Albanian and Turkish language as

well as math standards based on the results of this study, in order to help teachers to monitor students' progress.

The Readers are Leaders Project would like to thank everybody who got involved

in this study, especially school pedagogues, psychologists and teachers as well as

the students, for their contribution in the data gathering process.

USAID

Readers are Leaders Project Reading and Math

for Intellectual Growth

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The Readers are Leaders Project would like to thank everybody who got involved

in this study, especially school pedagogues, psychologists and teachers as well as

the students, for their contribution in the data gathering process. N R . 1 8 M A R C H - J U N E 2 0 1 7

In the last trimester of the school year, project conducted 13 trainings for math teaching techniques “Math +” trainings and 13 trainings for language teaching techniques “How to read, learn and have fun” for representatives from 76 primary schools. All of these trainings were based on presenting a plethora of innovative language acquisition and math skills teaching techniques.

www.stepbystep.org.mk

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“New ideas that are easy to use. Learning through activities, sharing and cooperation. “ – participant of the “Math +” training in PS “Krste Petkov Misirkov” – Gevgelija

“This training was an excellent opportunity to share experiences, ask questions, cooperate and reflect.“ – participant from the “How to read, learn and have fun” training in PS “Bitolski Kongres” – Cair

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MATH AND LITERACY TRAININGS CONDUCTED IN ANOTHER 76 PRIMARY SCHOOLS

www.stepbystep.org.mk

In order to improve the cooperation between teachers and parents and to

demonstrate an integrative approach in learning math and reading, the

picture book creation workshops continue. During April and May we held

creative workshops in 42 primary schools with Macedonian, Albanian and

Turkish language of instruction. The products created during these

workshops are books on math topics through

which children not only learn to read but to

count, add, subtract or compare numbers.

“The interesting materials at our disposal and

the positive atmosphere at the workshop

provoked our creativity and the production of

picture books which children will love to read.” –

participant from PS “Gjorgji Sugarev” – Bitola

US DIPLOMAT READS WITH CHILDREN FROM DOLNENI

Edward Gonzales, General Development

Office Director at USAID Macedonia, joined

us for a visit of the satellite school of PS

“Gjorce Petrov” in the village of Sekirci,

municipality of Dolneni, where he read

picture books with the students. Mayor of

the Municipality of Dolneni Bose Miloseski,

the school staff, parents and local media also

joined to express their support. We all

enjoyed this educational event very much!

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WE CAN LEARN MATH THROUGH PICTURE BOOKS TOO!

During this period we visited central and satellite schools in the Tetovo

and Jegunovce region, Bitola, Berovo and Struga. We continue to uphold

our commitment to visit schools that don't have a nearby library.

Magic Literacy Van in PS “Krste Petkov Misirkov” – Bistrica, Bitola

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aroy ue nn dr u to hj es t ci os ue ntu rni y.t ..noc

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For additional questions regarding the activities of the

USAID Readers are Leaders Project,

please contact Ana Dimovska, Information and Communication Officer,

through e-mail: ana@stepbystep.org.mk

or cell: 072/ 307-321

If you want the Magic Literacy Van to visit yours school or

your local community, contact us on 02/3077 – 900 or email us

at daniel@stepbystep.org.mk

or cell: 072/ 307-328

With the aim of strengthening cooperation and information exchange on

local and national level, the project partners initiated a campaign for raising

the public awareness on the importance of promoting equal access to

education for the Roma. It is being carried out in cooperation with civil

society, schools and local authorities between March and June 2017. Through

this camping we strive to:

Ÿ highlight the vulnerability of Romani children in regard to accessible opportunities for early

education and development;

Ÿ remind policy-makers on the need to take into account the needs of Roma in the design of

policies and allocation of resources;

Ÿ sensitize service providers to the special needs of Romani women and children; and

Ÿ inform Romani families and communities on services and education opportunities, and on

their benefits.

Centre for Social Initiatives NadezЦентар за социјални иницијативи „Надеж“ Здружение Центар за образовна поддршка „ДЕНДО ВАС“

Association Centre for Educational Support DENDO VAS

Roundtable discussion in Prilep with representatives of the NGO sector, schools and local media

SIX REGIONAL ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS HELD

www.stepbystep.org.mk 6/10

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ROMA EMPOWERMENT AND AWARENESS FOR DEMOCRACY THROUGH EDUCATION

Awareness Raising Campaign on the Impor tance of Equal Access to Education or the Roma

OPEN SOCIETYFOUNDATIONS

EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAM

Roma Parenting Support Projects

Six roundtable discussions were held as part of the campaign in Skopje, Tetovo, Kumanovo, Prilep and Bitola, in cooperation municipalities Gorche Petrov and Kumanovo, the St. Clement of Ohrid University Library – Bitola and the nongovernmental organisations Sonce – Tetovo, KHAM – Kumanovo, Pomos za siromasni i hendikepirani – Prilep and Sumnal - Bitola. Although these are not the first meetings organised of this kind, it was nevertheless encouraging to see the huge interest and open discussion about local level challenges by the present civil society representatives and teachers, pedagogues, psychologists and directors from schools attended by Roma students in all five locations. The main conclusions from the roundtable discussion include:

Ÿ Segregation should be combated consistently; there are positive examples, especially in Kumanovo, of schools enrolling Roma students although they are not in their catchment areas so as to avoid the creation of segregated schools with high Roma student intake, which could be followed by other municipalities. There is evidence of decrease in the number of Roma students attending special classes, also in Kumanovo.

Ÿ Instruction should be individualized to ensure that Roma students master curricular requirements. A promising approach could be the development of individual learning plans for slow learners, based on the current practice used for mainstreaming children with disabilities. In particular, schools should organize tutorship support and supplementary instruction, and NGO-run community learning centres are proving excellent services; their state funding could be explored.

Ÿ Insufficient parental involvement, low parental education attainment and students' irregular attendance contribute to lower student achievements. Schools and NGOs should step up their work and cooperation with families.

Ÿ Emigration, low achievements and lack of understanding of the importance of education have caused a significant number of Roma children to drop out of school. In the catchment area of the Prilep Dobre Jovanovski primary school, over 370 out-of-school Roma children have been identified through efforts of staff. Current solutions for second chance education require students to spend 4 months in formal education to compensate for every year of schooling they have missed out. This opportunity is rarely resorted to by both children and adults, which means that novel solutions are necessary that would take into account needs, lifestyles and time available to Roma, as well as their prior knowledge. This problem is expected to increase if and when larger groups of migrant asylum seekers return from Western European countries.

Centre for Social Initiatives NadezЦентар за социјални иницијативи „Надеж“ Здружение Центар за образовна поддршка „ДЕНДО ВАС“

Association Centre for Educational Support DENDO VAS

www.stepbystep.org.mk

REGIONAL ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS HELD

The main messages we take from these meetings are: the willingness to work towards betterment of the education status of and opportunities for Roma children is impressive, and society in general should aim at changing the discourse around education of Roma, moving away from the current problem-based focus to a progress-based approach, based on transparency, accountability and good practices.

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OPEN SOCIETYFOUNDATIONS

EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAM

Roma Parenting Support Projects

www.stepbystep.org.mk

Reading and learning resources in the Romani language are

very scarce. In addition, many Roma children have no or

inadequate command of the Macedonian language, which is

the language of school instruction, when starting primary

school. To improve their competence in both the Romani and

Macedonian language, the Project selected five picture books

from the Our First Library collection, already published in

Macedonian and Albanian language through the USAID funded

Readers and Leaders Project and translated them into Romani.

They are already available electronically in our electronic

library,, and will be distributed to primary schools educating

Roma students and to civil society organisations working with

Roma children.

We hope that these resources will help parents and educators

working with Roma children in their efforts to improve their

language competences before starting school and in the

process of early literacy.

O n - l i n e i n i t i a t i v e “ I w a n t t o . . . ”

Within the campaign, from 29 May to 20 June, we are organising an on-line initiative “I want to...” This initiative presents and

communicates the sincere messages and wishes that children and family members from Gorche Petrov and Shuto Orizari who are

involved in the Project shared with us; they represent universal desires and needs for better education, clean environment, healthy

food and dependable income. The aim of this initiative is to sensitise the general public as to the needs of Roma, and to reiterate that

Roma, although often discriminated against because of the low education attainment and social status, have nevertheless the same

needs, wishes and desires. The “I want to…” messages shared by participating children and adults include “I want to be an English

teacher when I grow up.”, “I want to breathe fresh air!” or “I want to have my own room.” Follow the initiative on our Facebook page.

Five bilingual Picture books Published

Centre for Social Initiatives NadezЦентар за социјални иницијативи „Надеж“ Здружение Центар за образовна поддршка „ДЕНДО ВАС“

Association Centre for Educational Support DENDO VAS

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OPEN SOCIETYFOUNDATIONS

EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAM

Roma Parenting Support Projects

www.stepbystep.org.mk

Activities for Parents and Children in the Community Learning Centres

For more information regarding the Project for Roma Empowerment and Awareness for Democracy through Education, contact Elena Mishik, Programme Manager, through e-mail:

elena@stepbystep.org.mk or visit the website of the EU Delegation

Activities with children at preschool and at primary

school age and with their families are continuing in the

community learning centres - Dendo Vas in Gorche

Petrov, and Nadez in Shuto Orizari. Here are some:

To celebrate the Erdelezi traditional festival, children

from the Nadez CLC, together with their parents and

educators created flowers and other decorations that

carry the message of the beginning of Spring and

celebration of this most important Roma festival. A small

picnic was organised in the yard of the CLC, which is the

traditional way of marking the fourth day of festivities.

The Dendo Vas organised a creativity workshop on the

topic of Healthy Food, attended by parents and children.

In addition, both CLCs organised information sessions

presenting various administrative forms and templates

required for accessing rights related to citizenship,

housing, employment, health, education and social

protection. The aim was to enable Roma woman and

girls to fill in required administrative forms.

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OPEN SOCIETYFOUNDATIONS

EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAM

Roma Parenting Support Projects

www.stepbystep.org.mk

In March 2017, the Leadership for Learning: The Cambridge Network published a book titled “Empowering

teachers as agents of change: a non-positional approach to teacher leadership” edited by Dr. David Frost who is

one of the founders of the Teacher Leadership methodology, the backbone of the work structure of the learning

communities in the current project. The book consists of three sections: stories of practitioners who have

conducted a development project in their schools; frameworks of support for teacher leadership and

perspectives from policy and research. This book also features an article by Majda Joshevska and Suzana

Kirandziska titled “The Rise and rise of teacher leadership in Macedonia” which explains how the learning

communities have been facilitated to use the teacher leadership methodology.

The article follows the development of this methodology in the country as complementary to traditional in-service professional development of teachers. Since its beginnings in 2009 the methodology has expanded exponentially and has been incorporated in various projects, reaching hundreds of teachers in the country. The article explains the prospects of this professional development platform to serve several purposes:

Ÿ Enhance professionality and learning cultures in schools

Ÿ Allowing the legacy of trainings and seminars to be absorbed, modified and embedded in the specific school context

Ÿ Increased sense of ownership and self-efficacy beliefs

Furthermore, in the article it is argued that this kind of teacher-led initiatives are actually the beginning of a movement to position teachers in the decision–making process from which they have been excluded for much too long.

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THE LEARNING COMMUNITIES OF MACEDONIAfeatured in a book published by the Cambridge Network

Foundation for Education and Cultural Initiatives “Step by Step” – Macedonia Blvd. Partizanski Odredi nr.72a, 1000 Skopje Tel: + 389 2 30 77 900 and +389 72 307 327

www.stepbystep.org.mk

The book is available at and under its original title in English: www.amazon.co.uk www.amazon.comEMPOWERING TEACHERS AS AGENTS OF CHANGE: A NONPOSITIONAL APPROACH TO TEACHER LEADERSHIP