The testimony of  Marcel Voorhoeve, an inspiring man operating in the education field in the Netherlands

Interview with Marcel Voorhoeve and the qualification for refugee teachers to teach in the Netherlands.

After spending most of his life as a teacher of mathematics and physics and deputy headmaster of a secondary school, Marcel Voorhoeve founded the organization DVDK (Docentvluchteling voor de Klas) or “Teacher refugee for the Classroom”.

In collaboration with the Dutch Association of Mathematics Teacher and VluchtelingenWerk Nederland (the Dutch Council for Refugees), the volunteers of DVDK are working to ensure that refugee teachers are able to carry out their profession also in the Netherlands.

On the occasion of the Education Day 2023, Broken Chalk decided to talk with Marcel Voorhoeve about his experience, the creation of DVDK and the suggestions he would give to others who might want to get involved in the promotion of the “teaching of refugee teachers”.

 

Can you tell me about your background?

“I was born in the South, in Maastricht, my age is 67 at this moment, I have been studying in the Utrecht University mathematics and physics. It was a five years study and after that it was possible to get the license in order to be a teacher. Then I started to look for a job in education, which was not quite easy at that time… Finally I got one in Utrecht, I became a teacher at a Roman Catholic school and I started teaching physics”.

After that, Marcel became a math teacher and in the middle of the 1980s, with the development of computers, he also started to give informatic classes. According to him, it was a quite interesting time for the educational system, as new ideas about how to teach mathematics were emerging.

“At Utrecht university the department was developing new ideas about mathematics education. For several projects our school was an “experimental school” and it was very interesting also for me because it allowed me to develop as a good teacher”.

“In a lot of countries mathematics is something you have to learn and to do, but doing is the most important thing… This approach doesn’t help very much in developing your own thinking, which is only possible when you have time to try things by yourself, obviously with the help of a good teacher.”

 

After being a teacher for the majority of his life, the last 15 years of his career Marcel was a member of the board of the school. Finally, the last four years before stopping to work, he was teaching at the University of Applied Sciences in Amsterdam at the teacher training department. He found himself back teaching mathematical subjects, in particular statistics, and the didactics of mathematics to young students who wanted to become math teachers.

 

How did you come up with the idea of DVDK?

“I stopped working three years ago, around the beginning of Corona time, but I liked my work very much. My partner and I started to travel for a moment…. In the month of January, after Christmas, I was thinking about what I could be doing. Waiting for the next trip was not satisfying to me”.

 

One day, Marcel decided to go to Plan Einstein, a place developed by the municipality of Utrecht and VluchtelingenWerk Nederland, an organization which is helping refugees for the reception and integration in the city. By talking with an employee, Marcel was introduced to a Turkish refugee who was a math teacher in his country and really wanted to be teaching again. The only problem was that he knew nothing about the Dutch language and about mathematics teaching and the school system in Holland.

“We became friends, I helped him with language, to understand the educational system. Then he told me that he was a member of a Whatsapp group of about 100 math teachers from Turkey that fled from their country because they had a problem with the political developments in Turkey and they had no possibility anymore to be teaching there.”

At the same time, Marcel explained,  Holland is affected by a highly problematic  shortage of math teachers.

This creates a paradoxical situation: in a country with fewer and fewer teachers, there are competent refugee teachers who may be able to help the host community and at the same time exercise the profession they love and have chosen.

The idea of DVDK came from this paradox. With the help of the Foundation of Maths Teachers in Holland and the organization VluchtelingenWerk Nederland, Marcel started a project with the aim of helping teachers from abroad become teachers in the Netherlands.

 

“In theory all those refugees from Turkey are allowed to teach in our schools as they have a license compatible with the Dutch education system. However, of course the language is problematic, also the Dutch educational system and even the way mathematics is taught in Holland differs enormously from Turkey, Iran or Syria… We heard a lot from these math teachers, who were not happy with the existing projects at other universities, and we thought that we could think about a good idea to make it better.”

“We made a plan, that we sent it to the ministry of education, about a good structured way of helping refugees from abroad starting at the moment they arrive in Holland, helping them to value their certifications and licenses in Holland, and preparing them to become a teacher in a fast and enduring way.”

In February 2022, a  group of 15 teachers, 13 math teachers and two IT teachers started a course at University of Applied Sciences in Utrecht, based on the ideas of DVDK.

(Picture: Two IT  teachers are instructed by their teacher in didactics of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

 

How does DVDK work practically?

According to DVDK trainings about the language, didactics and the school system in Holland are only one part of what DVDK is doing, called “Period Two”.

In fact, he stressed how these refugees coming to the Netherlands have an urgent need for a phase that must precede this type of training.

“These refugees when they come to Holland should know the language before they can start this Period Two. We want to start immediately after they have their status or sometimes even before they are getting the status. In the asylum centers they are not allowed to do a course or to practice the Dutch language… This is terrible and demotivating. Of course there are of course and actions volunteers organize but at this moment no structured help for asylum teachers. A fast start will help these refugee teachers to make a motivating beginning with investigating and developing things for their new future.”

“Our idea, and we call it Period One, is that when a teacher from abroad is coming to Holland, it is necessary to offer something to this person. We think that it is very important to do it from the beginning because this gives the possibility that refugees can be motivated to do good things for their own lives.”

(Picture: In June 2022 the team of Hogeschool Utrecht and members of the projectgroup DVDK (Docentvluchteling voor de Klas) congratulated the participants with their first part of the course)

In addition, according to Marcel, it is also necessary to provide an orientation about what education in Holland concretely means, because refugees may have little or no idea of what it means to be a teacher in the Netherlands.

“We also think that it is really important to begin practicing the language a little bit. We developed a kind of website where we offer Dutch lessons. In addition, the tasks, exercises and content in these lessons are profession orientated, so the context and tasks are linked to the profession of the teacher. This design highly motivates the refugees. A lot of teachers are really teachers by heart and giving them the possibility to attend these lessons is also a way of saying to them that they are welcome in our country and math community and that we want to help them.”

In this sense DVDK is the only organization of the country having developed ideas and materials in this first period.

Finally, Marcel told me about the Third Period of the training. This final part has to be put into practice  when math teachers start to have their first job as a lot of coaching is still needed.

“Even when the language is quite ok, and even when the didactics is fine, the teacher will have to develop him or herself in the new school context and needs a lot of help. In particular for the language, for instance when feedback on writing emails or letters to parents or on designing a good task or test for students…”

 

If you had to give advice to other people in the field of education, which are the main difficulties that need to be overcome and how to do it?

“Several things… First of all, the participants should spend a lot of time, which is possible when you truly believe in the idea and when you have a group of persons and organizations who also believe in the idea. It is also important to have good cooperation. I can say that with the people that are now involved in the project, we actually became some kind of friends. This also helps to deal with the ups and downs which a project always meets.

Secondly, DVDK investigated whether the structure of the project is also applicable for other subjects. We discovered that also teachers of physics, chemistry, technics and informatics because of the lack of teachers also need creative ideas to  recruit new teachers. They intend to connect and this means that DVDK will expand and really contribute to providing an increasing number of good teachers. This is an example of our policy: involve as much as organizations and participants with the goal to make as much expertise available as possible. And, thirdly, there is a lot of expertise and ‘power of people’ available. Expertise in language didactics (CLIL), in math didactics especially for  teachers, in coaching of teachers from abroad, etc. DVDK is happy with the contribution of universities and especially the Hogeschool Utrecht who educated our first group. And now we are waiting for our Ministry of Education. Our efforts resulted in the commitment of our new minister to a structured   approach and the financial needs. Our voluntary work will go on!”

(Picture: Group of 15 teacher-asylants who started a course at Hogeschool Utrecht in February 2022)

Mustafa Simsekler and the Little Engineers Academy

An interview with an inspiring young man from Turkey about his involvement in the education field.

We are in a cultural centre in the city of Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Mustafa Simsekler is surrounded by around twenty children aged between three and ten years old and their parents. In just an hour, as part of its educational robotics workshops, his goal is teaching them how to build the “fastest car model”.

In the middle of a set of batteries, motors and coloured cards, one can clearly perceive the smiles of these children and their parents, who almost seem to be having as much fun as their children.

Little Engineers Academy

His organization is called “Little Engineers Academy”. It consists of a series of robotics workshops during which children can develop not only their hand and production skills, but in particular their ability to be real problem solvers.

I have talked with Mustafa to know more about his story and the functioning of his organization.

 

Can you talk to me about your background?

“I studied Electrical and Electronics Engineering in Italy and I did another bachelor’s degree in law in Turkey. I also did a masters in Robotics and children brain development.

Then I worked for Boeing aircraft company in the United States, in three different places: Los Angeles, Boston and Seattle. Then I worked in Chile and my last job was in France. I was working for NATO doing research. Then I came back to Turkey where I also worked for the Turkish Air force.”

 

And then what happened?

In 2016, they fired me because we were not doing what the government was asking and I was against the Turkish Syrian possible war, the government did not like it. So, I lost my job. The government started to paint us as terrorists, my brothers went to prison, they all lost their jobs and one of them was banned from university…My father couldn’t handle it and he died. It was hard for us and at that time there was this pressure from the government… It was at that moment that I founded this company, “Little Engineers Academy”, 7 years ago.

With my colleagues we tracked the academic work that was available on brain development of children and this company became so famous in Turkey. We are basing our trainings on “the game”. In fact, also the children have a job and their job is solving a game. In these workshops we only suggest to children games without laptops, phones or any kind of screen because they are very harmful in early childhood.

 

Little Engineers Academy

 

Why did you have to flee Turkey?

I founded this company in Turkey, where it became so famous that we had almost 20 workers. However, after a while the Turkish government asked for consultancy from us, they gave me a 6 years judgment, they were considering me as a terrorist.

So, one day I decided to flee, I started to swim from Turkey at 12 and I was in Greece at 6.

Then I went to Italy, because I had some ID card from my study period, and finally I came to the Netherlands, in 2021, it’s almost 15 months since I have been here.

I came here as a refugee and I was in a camp, and at that time it seemed to me so awkward to just spend my time sleeping in a bed so I started giving lessons to children in the camp. I began to do some voluntary jobs and at the time I also had a contact with Utrecht’s mayor Ms. Sharon Dijksma who really helped me find some subsidies. I started giving lessons all around the Netherlands and I am currently giving classes in 14 different places in the country. Even if other high-tech companies offered me higher salaries, I am really happy with my job, I want to do something with children so that’s why I chose this way. It was also a way to say thank you to this country.

 

How does your workshop work?

So, in general, all the robotic companies are using ready materials and solving ready programs and they are all dependent on screens which are really harmful for children at an early age.

Our aim is to give children only the motor and batteries, as all the other materials come from nature and can be found everywhere. For example, we are making some robots from the roots, stones, chestnuts…Children can do robotics from everything, they don’t need extra materials. And we are also doing something that they are really going to use in their homes, airplanes, bedroom lamps…

Right now, we trained 1000 children in the Netherlands and more than 6000 children in the world. This education program is working in the United States, in the United Kingdom, in the Netherlands and Turkey.

Our objective is to teach them how to solve problems, not about coding or programming. People think about coding or programming as a goal, but it’s not the goal, it is brain development, helping them develop the ability to solve problems. This is because we don’t know in the future which issues and technologies, they are going to face but we know that they will have problems in their life…If you are a good problems solver in your life, in every occasion, when they you are stressed or criticized by others, you will have the ability to make the right decisions.

Little Engineers Academy

By Serena Lucia Bassi

 

Summary 2022 Enlargement package Bosnia and Herzegovina. A focus on the educational issues.

Freedom of expression and non-discrimination

According to the 2022 European Commission Enlargement Package in relation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, no progress was made in adopting countrywide human rights and anti-discrimination strategies. The 2009 law on the prohibition of discrimination is still not applied effectively in Bosnia Herzegovina. In addition, disputes over education continue and systemic solutions for ensuring inclusive and non-discriminatory education are not yet in place. In particular, the common core curriculum is not completed or applied throughout the country, and the availability of teaching in the national groups of subjects remains limited. Furthermore, no progress was made in eliminating the practice of ‘two schools under one roof’ and the name of the Bosnian language is not recognised in schools in the Republika Srpska entity, leading to recurrent school boycotts. Finally, persons with disabilities remain among the most vulnerable groups and continue to face hurdles to access education, healthcare and social assistance. The report underlines how the issue of accessibility to public buildings needs to be addressed in a systematic manner.

Education as a service for refugees and migrants

Some progress has been made in providing essential services to refugees and migrants, in cooperation with humanitarian partners. However, the actions in practice are still limited. A 2021 national report underlines for instance how only the Una-Sana and Sarajevo cantonal authorities provide access to legal guardianship and facilitate access to education for unaccompanied children.

Education in relation to the labour market

The European Commission states that one of the reasons of the persistence of high unemployment in the country is a mismatch of education curricula with the labour market needs. In order to support long-term growth, Bosnia and Herzegovina should in particular improve the quality of education and training, in particular by accelerating the modernisation of curricula with a view to better alignment with labour market needs.

Education and innovation section

Investment in education remains inadequate, highly fragmented and poorly coordinated, leading to varied standards within the country.

According to the European Commission, public spending on education accounted for some 4% of GDP in 2020. When adding private spending and support by foreign donors, the overall amount stands at nearly 5% of GDP. Despite this significant spending, in particular when taking into account the number of students, it is underlined that the system fails to provide the country’s labour force with the skills and knowledge necessary for a smooth integration in the labour market. Furthermore, the insufficient coordination leads to a lack of common standards for various levels of education, as well as in differences in the quality of teachers’ training and performance evaluation.

In addition, teaching curricula continue to be outdated and are still not sufficiently aligned with the country’s needs. The results of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s participation to the 2018 PISA study indicate that the students’ performance ranks well below the OECD average, which is a clear impediment for the country’s competitiveness and growth potential. Unfortunately, Bosnia and Herzegovina refrained from participating in the follow-up study.

Furthermore, spending on research and innovation is limited and impeded by the low degree of cooperation and coordination among the various levels of government, leading to a low efficiency of the overall system.

Finally, the absence of an efficient funding system is another factor preventing the country’s innovation policy from achieving better results for the funds spent. The country’s research capacities remain limited, while brain drain continues, most notably in the health, medical, and IT sectors with no systematic measures having been introduced so far to address the issue.

Equal treatment men and women

The principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and social policy is regulated by the laws on gender equality and antidiscrimination, and by the entity-level labour laws. These laws contain provisions on gender equality covering different areas (employment, education, training and professional qualification) but in practice the enforcement of non-discrimination legislation remains low.

Education and Culture

The European Commission states that Bosnia and Herzegovina is at an early stage of preparation in the area of education and culture. It is stated that there was no specific progress in the area, with Bosnia and Herzegovina failing to participate in 2021 PIRLS or 2022 PISA. In particular, a fully functional system of accreditation of higher education institutions and in particular study programmes is still lacking.

According to the European Union, Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to align legislation at all levels of government with the framework laws on education, and ensure application of the common core curriculum based on learning outcomes. Social inclusion at all stages of education needs to be ensured. Youth strategies across the country should be developed and implemented. Finally, the European Commission provides specific recommendations to Bosnia and Herzegovina:

→ to extend and update the action plan for the national qualification framework (NQF) and establish an inter-sectoral commission for NQF;

→to ensure a fully functional system of (re-)accreditation of higher education institutions and study programmes across the country;

→ to ensure continued participation in international assessment studies and implementation of findings to improve PISA results.

Furthermore, in the specific area of education and training some other issues have to be underlined. First of all, education should be provided to children with special needs, particularly in terms of ensuring the necessary infrastructure, provisions, transportation and school assistants to support both children and teachers. Secondly, the absence of a mechanism to systematically measure or monitor the quality of education inputs, outputs, or outcomes needs to be taken into consideration. Finally, the European Commission underlines the lack of common standards for the different levels of education, as well as in teacher training and performance evaluation.

 

Written by Serena Bassi

Image Source : https://www.socialistsanddemocrats.eu/newsroom/we-must-not-let-ethno-nationalists-play-fire-bosnia-herzegovina-eu-must-be-more-active

 

Educational challenges in Sweden – Is the grass of education always greener in Scandinavia?

Sweden enjoys a great reputation in the world not only in the category of education, but also for its economy and successful implementation and execution of the duties of a welfare state. Sweden is known to be regulated very clearly and successfully. It is applauded for being one of the countries with the best regulatory mechanisms for the refugee crisis and immigration and to be one of the pioneers in handling the climate crisis. But is Sweden truly as imperceptible in terms of education as is assumed? Which educational challenges is Sweden facing?

General information

Swedish student are attending school compulsorily for 10 years. School is government funded, e.g. through taxes. Therefore, every child has the possibility to attend school. Access to education is high.[1] Students attend the following school stages: ”förskoleklass (‘preschool year’ or year 0), lågstadiet (years 1-3), mellanstadiet (years 4-6) and högstadiet (years 7-9).” [2] These are the compulsory years. A highschool education, gymnasium, which is attended from years 10-12 is possible, but not compulsory. The higher education system is divided into universities and högskola. Högskola can be compared to university college.

Considering the International school awards, the international school Sigtunaskolan Humanistiska Läroverket won an environmental award in 2021. This was announced by ISC Research.[3] Both Sweden’s investment in education in financial terms and the study outcome in terms of reading performance are above the OECD average, a benchmark created by PISA. This means that the Swedish government puts sufficient focus on education and that the financial input and educational output align.[4] According to the HMRI Rights Tracker, “on the right to education, Sweden is doing 86.0% of what should be possible at its level of income (measured against the income adjusted benchmark).” [5] With this, Sweden finds itself in the top 10 countries with the highest score in the category “right to education”. The leading country is Singapore with 96.5 percent. Finland, Sweden’s neighboring country, is ranked in 7th place.

Quality of university education

In total, Sweden established 50 institutions of higher education on its land.[6] According to the QS World University Ranking 2022, six Swedish universities are among the top 200 universities worldwide, the best ranked being Lund University coming in place 89, scoring 60.1 overall. Lund University is followed by KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Chalmers University of Technology. Two other universities are ranked by the QS Ranking within the top 200 universities worldwide, the remaining 45 universities are not mentioned. The worst ranked university on the QS World University Ranking 2002 is Umeå University, scoring 30.5.[7]

Migrated students and the issues they face

Sweden is a country with large numbers of immigration. 14.4% of Swedish citizens are, as of 2009, born in other countries, and therefore immigrated to Sweden.[8] The PISA report recommends Sweden to have a closer focus on the needs of those with an immigration background, who make up more than 5 percent of their attending students. As immigrant students have it much harder to obtain high study results, there should be extra support for this demographic of students.[9] The gap in study performance between those born in Sweden and those whose families immigrated to Sweden is significant: 27% less students from immigration backgrounds are able to achieve high levels in the PISA testing. Furthermore, anxiety is also much higher amongst those students who are not born in Sweden.[10] Furthermore, almost one in two immigrant students in Sweden finds themselves at a disadvantage.[11] The gaps in performance and dedication to study remain big between those who were born in Sweden and those who immigrated. Even though Sweden has taken significant steps towards creating equal opportunities for those who seek refuge and more opportunities in the Swedish country and making relatively open immigration policies, there still is a lot of work that needs to be done. Seen on a global scale, the chances of those with low study performance due to socio-economic background attending the same school as those with high study performance is relatively high. It is stated that “disadvantaged students have at least a one-in-five chance of having high-achieving schoolmates”. [12] When asked if they believe that their intelligence cannot be affected, which is a question asked by PISA to find out if students have a will to improve their learning capacities and knowledge, more than 60 percent of students disagreed with this statement in 2018. This means that they believed that their own actions could affect their intelligence. Yet, there was a negative difference between immigrant and non-immigrant students.[13]

However, there are serious efforts to include those students from other countries into the Swedish educational system. They receive the right to study at the same schools as Swedish students and there is more focus being set on integration. Students who are originally from other countries also have the right to tutoring in their mother tongue if enough students with the same mother tongue are in their vicinity.[14] This indicates that the Swedish government also takes steps to accommodate those who are not native in the Swedish culture and language.

Performance

On the PISA  report 2018 [15], Sweden’s general educational performance ranks at place 11. It is the 5th best country according to study performance in Europe. The PISA test examines students’ academic abilities in three disciplines: reading, mathematics and science. Students performace is measured in points and divided into 6 levels, level 1 being level 1a and 1b. In all three categories, Sweden scored in level 5, together with many other European states, such as Germany, Ireland and Switzerland.[16] Sweden’s study performance has been increasing in between the tests from 2015 to 2018.[17] Even though the trend was negative, now the curve is flattening, which means that the negative developments in reading performance are slowly coming to an end. It also shows that the investment in education, which is over OECD average, also leads to reading results higher than average. Students in Sweden scored 505 points on the reading test, the OECD average being 487 points and the maximum 555 points.[18]

New trends- Prepping being taught at schools

As a result of new developments, preppin is now being taught at Swedish highschools. Out of fear of a Russian military attack, not only private courses, but also public schools teach how to prepare for an emergency of this nature. There remains a possibility that Russia might settle its military on the Swedish island Gotland to be in a better position to attack and possibly annex the Baltics. Risk managers are giving classes at Swedish schools to inform the students about possible dangers and how to prepare for them. In these classes, students are taught how to prepare not only for the Russian invasion, but also for other catastrophes that could be a result of climate change or other global influences. [19]  Sweden has already been focusing energy on teaching prepping since 2017, which had been intensified by the Covid 19 pandemic.[20]

Conclusion

To conclude, Sweden enjoys a good reputation for its education for a reason. The financial input is high, and the study performance has been increasing as well. Sweden has been successful at fixing its issues with decreasing performance and is slowly bringing this trend to an end. However, Sweden faces multiple immigration gap related issues. There should be a stronger focus at aligning the needs of immigrated and native-born students.

Written by Vivien Kretz

 

Image Source: Photo by Mark König on Unsplash

Bibliography

 

Bergmark, & Hansson, K. 2021. “How Teachers and Principals Enact the Policy of Building Education in Sweden on a Scientific Foundation and Proven Experience: Challenges and Opportunities.” Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 65(3), 448–467. https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2020.1713883.

Borgonovi, Francesca. 2019. “Reducing the Immigrant Gap in Education: What Sweden Can Learn from Other Countries.” OECD Education and Skills Today, February 1, 2019. https://oecdedutoday.com/reducing-the-immigrant-gap-in-education-what-sweden-can-learn-from-other-countries/.

Forsberg, E., Hallsén, S., Karlsson, M., Bowden, H. M., Mikhaylova, T., & Svahn, J. (2021). “Läxhjälp as Shadow Education in Sweden: The Logic of Equality in “A School for All.’” ECNU Review of Education, 4(3), 494–519. https://doi.org/10.1177/2096531120966334.

 

DW Documentary, dir. 2022. Preppers: Sweden Bracing for the Worst | DW Documentary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LRsZ6TUCCA.

 

Eurydice. 2022. “Sweden.” European Commission. 2022. https://eurydice.eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-education-systems/sweden/sweden.

 

Golding, Yo. 2021. “ISC Research Announces Winners of International School Awards.” Independent Education Today, January 18, 2021. https://ie-today.co.uk/news/isc-research-announces-winners-of-international-school-awards/.

Olsson, Emelie, 2021. Understanding swedish prepping : a mixed-method study on resilience, trust, and incentives to prepare for crises. Second cycle, A2E. Uppsala: SLU, Dept. of Urban and Rural Development.

Persson, Magnus. 2022. “Crossing a Social Demarcation Line: Students Experience Friction in the Transformed Swedish Higher Education System.” International Studies in Sociology of Education 0 (0): 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/09620214.2022.2125039.

“Publications – PISA.” n.d. Accessed September 30, 2022. https://www.oecd.org/pisa/publications/pisa-2018-results.htm.

“QS World University Rankings 2022.” n.d. Top Universities. Accessed November 16, 2022. https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2022.

Schleicher, Andreas. 2019. PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations, 23. OECD Publishing. OECD Publishing.

 

Study in Sweden. n.d. “Universities in Sweden.” Study in Sweden. Accessed November 16, 2022. https://studyinsweden.se/universities/.

“Sweden – OECD Data.” n.d. The OECD. Accessed November 27, 2022. http://data.oecd.org/sweden.htm.

 

“Sweden – the World’s Best Education System?” 2018. Simply Learning Tuition (blog). September 28, 2018. https://www.simplylearningtuition.co.uk/advice-for-parents/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-swedish-education-system/.

Swedish Refugee Law Centre. 2022. “Access to Education.” Asylum Information Database | European Council on Refugees and Exiles (blog). 2022. https://asylumineurope.org/reports/country/sweden/reception-conditions/employment-and-education/access-education/.

 

Sources

 

[1] “The Swedish School System.” 2021. Sweden.Se. November 30, 2021.https://sweden.se/life/society/the-swedish-school-system.

[2] “The Swedish School System.” 2021. Sweden.Se. November 30, 2021.https://sweden.se/life/society/the-swedish-school-system.

[3] Golding, Yo. 2021. “ISC Research Announces Winners of International School Awards.” Independent Education Today, January 18, 2021. https://ie-today.co.uk/news/isc-research-announces-winners-of-international-school-awards/.

[4] Schleicher, Andreas. 2019. PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations, 23. OECD Publishing. OECD Publishing.

[5] “Sweden – HRMI Rights Tracker.” 2019. Accessed November 14, 2022. https://rightstracker.org.

[6] Study in Sweden. n.d. “Universities in Sweden.” Study in Sweden. Accessed November 16, 2022. https://studyinsweden.se/universities/.

[7] “QS World University Rankings 2022.” n.d. Top Universities. Accessed November 16, 2022. https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2022.

[8] “Sweden – OECD.” n.d. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://www.oecd.org/migration/integration-indicators-2012/keyindicatorsbycountry/name,218347,en.htm.

[9] Schleicher, Andreas. 2019. PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations, 18. OECD Publishing. OECD Publishing.

[10] Borgonovi, Francesca. 2019. “Reducing the Immigrant Gap in Education: What Sweden Can Learn from Other Countries.” OECD Education and Skills Today, February 1, 2019. https://oecdedutoday.com/reducing-the-immigrant-gap-in-education-what-sweden-can-learn-from-other-countries/.

[11] Schleicher, Andreas. 2019. PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations, 27.  OECD Publishing. OECD Publishing.

[12] Schleicher, Andreas. 2019. PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations, 20.  OECD Publishing. OECD Publishing.

[13] Schleicher, Andreas. 2019. PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations, 36. OECD Publishing. OECD Publishing.

[14] Swedish Refugee Law Centre. 2022. “Access to Education.” Asylum Information Database | European Council on Refugees and Exiles (blog). 2022.

[15] Schleicher, Andreas. 2019. PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations. OECD Publishing. OECD Publishing.

[16] Schleicher, Andreas. 2019. PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations, 5-8. OECD Publishing. OECD Publishing.

[17] Schleicher, Andreas. 2019. PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations. 10. OECD Publishing. OECD Publishing.

[18] Schleicher, Andreas. 2019. PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations, 23. OECD Publishing. OECD Publishing.

[19] DW Documentary, dir. 2022. Preppers: Sweden Bracing for the Worst | DW Documentary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LRsZ6TUCCA.

[20] Olsson, Emelie, 2021. Understanding swedish prepping : a mixed-method study on resilience, trust, and incentives to prepare for crises. Second cycle, A2E. Uppsala: SLU, Dept. of Urban and Rural Development.

Albania’s Enlargement Package: Education as a Keystone for Accession to the EU

As Albania continues its path of accession to the European Union (EU), the European Commission annually assesses its readiness for full EU integration. This process is called the enlargement package and is ongoing for all of the Western Balkans and Türkiye regions. In the 2021-22 enlargement package, the European Commission pledged to accelerate the integration of the Western Balkans as a whole, including Albania. The European Commission’s Albania 2022 Report (hereafter, “the Report”) details Albania’s many positive reforms, but also identifies many areas that are still below EU standards. Several of these areas affect and interact with education policy; some even explicitly derive from the Albanian education system. With a critical lens focused on education and human rights, this article will summarize and explore the Report’s findings and recommendations on Albania. Firstly, this article will focus on Albania’s readiness for EU accession before diving into the primary political and economic concerns.

Secondly, the education system as described in the Report, including its shortcomings regarding COVID-19, technological capacity, and minority incorporation. Finally, the current state of the rights of the child in Albania will be discussed.

 

Context

  1. Political Concerns

Many areas of the Report may not directly impact education or human rights but are still worth noting to contextualize Albania’s current political climate. Overall, the Report finds that Albania is “moderately prepared” for integration. The Parliamentary elections in 2021 revealed significant internal conflicts within the largest opposition party (DP) as well as the gridlock that characterizes the Albanian Parliament. The Report notes that these untimely and unfortunate barriers to consensus resulted in Parliament delaying and even abandoning certain reforms that would have furthered EU criteria, notably including electoral reform. Ultimately, the Parliament found common ground on several critical issues, passing nine laws aimed at EU integration.

 

Albania is also suffering from economic and political consequences associated with the triple shock of the 2019 earthquake, the COVID-19 pandemic, and, more recently, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. In particular, public administration remains in disarray as the establishment of agencies subordinate to the Prime Minister without a comprehensive framework detailing their purpose and limits raises questions concerning the standards of public administration. Nonetheless, Albania is making progress in public administrative reform, anti-corruption reform, the fight against organized crime, judicial reform, and migration. Although it is moderately prepared in economic criteria and competitive growth, it is still below EU standards and struggles to manage fiscal policy. This is a special concern given that Albania needs to generate and appropriately manage a more diversified revenue in order to implement the large expenditures necessary for adequate public and social services, as further explored below.

 

  1. Economic Concerns: Educational Funding and Employment

The Report notes that Albania is not fully prepared for the competitive pressure of the EU job market, but it is making advancements to this effect. Albania made progress through the National Strategy of Education and Action Plan 2021-2026, but a lack of financing has impeded this Plan—only an estimated 3.6% of GDP was directed toward this Plan. The funding of education is significantly below Albania’s needs. The allocated budget for the main ministries responsible for education, among other social services, remains below 1% of GDP. Individual schools lack financial autonomy and remain vulnerable to corruption. Anti-corruption measures that have recently resulted in criminal prosecutions of some high-level officials have had little effect on social services, including healthcare and education.

 

These financial issues are particularly acute because Albania heavily lacks human capital. Notably, human capital acquisition continues to be stifled by skill and education gaps, especially in technological and entrepreneurial know-how. This area is a blend of skilled labor and academic theory, and thus an area that would require greater communication and collaboration between the discrete institutions within the broader education system. The Report notes that “[e]fforts are still needed in the development of innovative policies aimed at promoting better links between academia, industry and government….” Albania is engaged in many projects to further human capital acquisition, including the Horizon 2021 program, the EUREKA network, and the “EU for Innovation” Tirana project, but few are producing results. The Report emphasizes that Albania will not be able to accede to the EU without improving its human capital gains. Among other reasons, the Albanian job market in its current state would be shocked after integration by the high human capital present in other EU countries. The resulting shocks would depress the employment of native Albanians and incentivize native Albanians to seek education in other EU member states.

 

Graduates and post-graduates in Albania are entering a recovering job market. Employment growth is steadily advancing after the COVID-19 economic downturn. However, the gender gap in employment remains wide. Structural changes in the labor market also reflect the increased need for graduates with higher education; the unemployment rate of tertiary educated persons dropped markedly, while it increased for workers with primary education and persons 15-24. These market distortions incentivize young people and other primary-educated people to seek higher education in order to increase their value in the job market. This dynamic is already taking shape, as the share of people aged 20-24 in tertiary education programs has increased from 12.3% in 2016 to 14.9% in 2022. However, as more young people seek an academic lifestyle, fewer seek vocational training, leading to shortages in skilled labor. These shortages contribute to higher pay for skilled laborers, thus incentivizing young people to seek labor-intensive jobs. These two competing incentives—the first for higher education and the second for skilled labor—create skill mismatches in Albania’s labor market as some workers with higher education are seeking more lucrative jobs in skilled labor, and vice versa.

 

Many youths without skills or education continue to struggle; the percentage of young people neither employed nor in education or training was 26.1% in 2021. To attempt to give direction to many of these young people, Albania created the Youth Guarantee scheme to give advice to and coordinate opportunities for floundering Albanian young people. In February 2022, the Parliament established an inter-ministerial working group to oversee the implementation of the Youth Guarantee scheme, including by allocating human and financial resources seconded from the ministries themselves. The Report again emphasizes the importance of incorporating these youth into the formal job market either through education or skills training in order to build human capital in anticipation of EU accession.

Tiran Univercity
Polytechnic University of Tirana – Source Wikipedia

The Education System

  1. Basic Characteristics and Current Initiatives

In 2021, Albania implemented a new competence-based curriculum for the grades 1-12 pre-university education system. Of 286,486 students currently enrolled, 260,953 received free textbooks under this new initiative. For reference, 158,528 students are in primary education, and 127,958 are in lower secondary education. The simultaneous attempt at preschool reform was not successful, however. Due to a lack of resources, the new policies passed for preschools could not be implemented. The Report notes that partnerships with local authorities are essential to ensure cooperation and avoid disrupting the everyday goings on in schools as new standards begin.

 

Albania’s Vocational Education and Training (VET) system is also being revised. Participation in the VET scheme remains low, with only 17.7% of upper secondary students enrolled in 2021 (18,279 out of a total of 103,467). In 2017, Parliament adopted a VET Law that established the National Agency for VET and Qualifications and attempted to standardize VET programs. The implementation of this Law is not yet complete, however. The National Agency requires further organizational clarification, especially in the human resources department. Legislation regarding VET providers is also lacking. The Report states that Parliament must adopt a law guaranteeing the financial autonomy of VET providers in addition to the Optimisation Plan endorsed by Parliament and VET providers in 2020. Both legislative efforts would require certain standards of learning and training, organizational strategies, functions, and activities from VET providers while simultaneously allowing them the independence to determine how to achieve these measures. In other words, these legislative efforts would regulate the VET providers while ensuring their discretionary rights and privileges. The Report states that this VET scheme must be implemented by 2023 to ensure the modernization of the VET.

 

  1. COVID-19

2021-2022 was a “year of adjustment and planning” after the shocks caused by the 2019 earthquake and the COVID-19 pandemic. The earthquake sent the education system into immediate turmoil as 21,000 children from 11 municipalities were forced to move to host schools or temporary facilities. Students attended classes in shifts, thereby straining already scarce resources, negatively impacting the quality of teaching, and negatively affecting students’ capacity to absorb information amid a stressful and constantly changing environment. 87 schools damaged by the earthquake have returned to normal operations. The problems derived from the earthquake are distinct from the problems that arose under COVID-19, but both exposed the same skills and resource gaps in the education system.

 

Already struggling with remote, hybrid, or part-time school due to the earthquake, teachers and students were forced to revert to fully online methods for which they were not prepared. Prior to the earthquake, most teachers had never even received IT training, much less training on how to effectively teach an entirely digital class—many were technologically illiterate. Albania began training 2,362 teachers on digitization in 2021, but this excluded the majority of a total of 30,000 teachers in need. This skills gap was compounded by a lack of digital resources available to both teachers and students for a free or reduced cost. Albania provides only one computer per 26 students, which is inadequate to ensure that all students have access to digital education. The Report compares this to the EU average of one computer per five pupils. As a result of these complications, enrollment rates 2019-2021 dropped considerably to 72.9%. Even more concerningly, enrollment in preschool education for children aged five to six decreased by 9%. The Report states that even as the COVID-19 pandemic eases, the government should continue to provide digital training to teachers and technological literacy courses to students in anticipation of a future emergency.

 

  • Minority Incorporation

On the flip side, changes to the education system related to the COVID-19 pandemic have generated increased inclusion of vulnerable populations, most notably Roma and Egyptian minorities. These groups suffer from a lack of access to certain socioeconomic benefits, lower income levels, and structural barriers to upward mobility. Strategies such as distance learning, remote teaching, and part-time education aligned with these groups’ needs by leaving room for flexibility in scheduling. This allowed parents of lower school children to guarantee their children’s quality of education even while struggling with the economic downturn. Similarly, this allowed older students to maintain their employment and living standards while simultaneously accessing higher education. As COVID-19 has dissipated, schools have reduced many of these measures. The enrollment rates of Rome and Egyptian children in pre-university and early childhood education have dropped. Inclusion efforts include scholarships, free textbooks, complimentary transportation, and part-time education programs. Measures that, in theory, facilitate Roma and Egyptian access to universities, such as a quota system and fee waivers for university applications, are generally not enforced in practice.

 

Nonetheless, the Report emphasizes that the inclusion of vulnerable populations within the Albanian education system is lacking. Some schools continue to segregate Roma and Egyptian children, resulting in a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights in May 2022 ordering the Ministry of Education and Sports to implement desegregation policies. Roma and Egyptian graduates are systematically discriminated against in the workforce as well. The low employment rate of these groups worsened due to COVID-19, health insurance coverage for these groups is sparse, and the digitization of many public services during COVID-19 (including healthcare and employment) impeded technologically illiterate members of these groups from accessing much-needed protection.

 

Ethnic minorities are not the only groups discriminated against in public service delivery, however. The Report notes that “no progress” has been made with regard to the incorporation of disabled persons in the Albanian education system. Already scarce resources are simply not being allocated to solve this problem. Teachers and other educational professionals receive slim to no training on the complex challenges and functional strategies of including disabled persons, alternative methods of teaching, or early detection of disability. Those teaching assistants qualified to assist disabled students are very few and not sufficiently dispersed throughout educational institutions. The Report highlights that “additional efforts are also needed to shift from a system with dual education towards a system where children with disabilities are integrated into inclusive mainstream schools.”

 

Written by Rowan Scarpinoagainst LGBTIQ persons is also rampant in Albania. A lack of knowledge and awareness about queerness and queer rights, especially in rural areas, drives high levels of intolerance. Physical aggression and hate speech, particularly on social media against LGBTIQ people are routine. This creates a hostile environment for LGBTIQ students in schools, thus disincentivizing them from engaging with the curriculum or creating bonds with teachers and other students. Further, discrimination prevents LGBTIQ students from fully accessing future educational opportunities, such as higher education, thus depressing their capacity to enter high-paying employment. Generally, LGBTIQ persons face discrimination in public services, including barriers to healthcare and housing. Albania lacks legislation authorizing cohabitation or same-sex marriage, thus perpetuating the social stigmatization of LGBTIQ persons. In November 2021, Albania did implement a new 2021-2027 action plan for LBGTIQ persons. However, Parliament has failed to implement the policies associated with this plan due to a lack of financing and political will. The Report stresses that Parliament must enact this action plan and other inclusive policies in order for Albania to meet EU criteria governing fundamental rights and freedoms.

 

Rights of the Child

Albania ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992 and has since implemented a legal framework protecting children. The Report notes that progress continues in institutional capacity-building to effectively execute the Convention. However, malnutrition and physical activity continue to be critical issues for children and pregnant women in Albania. The Report recommends that Albania develop a national nutrition plan that includes an awareness campaign in schools and community centers. Additionally, Albania remains a “country of origin, transit, and destination” of human trafficking. Institutionalized and minority children, including Roma and Egyptians, are more vulnerable to trafficking than adults or their peers. Fortunately, the number of Albanian victims significantly decreased in 2020-2021, but this may be due only to border closures associated with COVID-19.

 

The Report also finds that “the practice of child marriage still exists, and is primarily driven by gender inequality, poverty and social exclusion.” Because of a lack of official data, it is unclear how prevalent child marriage is, but laws protecting adolescents from child marriage are clearly ineffective or applied inconsistently. To remedy this fundamentally abusive practice, the government addressed child marriage in the national policy framework in 2021 for the first time in history. It continued to prioritize the issue by enacting the 2021-26 National Agenda for the Rights of the Child. Further, the Albanian National Deinstitutionalization Plan allocated funds to develop childcare services as an alternative to institutionalized social care, which has violated and exploited children. Despite this progress, violence against children, especially sexual violence, remains a problem. Child Protection Units received 2,389 cases of children in need of protection in 2021; a large amount made even more difficult by the lack of child protection workers. Albania needs programs and legal frameworks that prioritize social work and incentivize students to become social workers.

 

Conclusion

Overall, Albania could advance its moderate level of preparation in most EU accession criteria to the next level by increasing its focus on education. In order to meet economic standards, for example, skills and resource gaps must be remedied through higher and vocational education. Similarly, in order to meet standards relating to respect for fundamental rights and freedoms and social cohesion, Albania must increase the incorporation of minorities into society and formal markets, which begins with the incorporation of minority and migrant children into education. The list goes on; the areas in which Albania is most unprepared for EU accession, including public administration and economic competitiveness, all negatively impact the education system and yet can be solved through increasing funding, awareness, and participation in the education system. In preparation for the next enlargement package report, Albania should engage in educational reform to accelerate its preparedness for EU integration.

 

 

Written by Rowan Scarpino

References

European Commission. (2022). (rep. num. SWD(2022) 332). Albania 2022 Report. Brussels, Belgium.

Summary of North Macedonia 2022 Report

Accompanying document Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions

Writer: Paul Schamp

Editor: Olga Ruiz Pilato

 

  • Despite improvements in the legal framework, action to provide equal access to education for children with disabilities is at an early stage.
  • More work and legislation are required for the protection of educational rights of boys and girls in educational-correctional facilities
    • Boys in juvenile educational-correctional facility near Tetovo did have access to education between September 2021 and June 2022, but conditions have improved.
    • Girls in the educational-correctional facility in the female ward of Idrizovo prison have not had appropriate education for a year. Legislation should be amended to find long-term solutions for educational-correctional measures for girls.
  • Progress in Roma inclusion through Roma inclusion strategy 2020-2030
    • Strategy does not address participation, empowerment and capacity-building
    • No systematic response to address street children
    • No measures taken to prevent irregular attendance of Roma children in primary education, and no measures to reintegrate students who are not enrolled or who have left without completing it.
    • Segregation in schools remains high
  • The education of asylum-seeking children in primary schools needs improvement
    • Additionally, no systematic Macedonian language and extracurricular classes are offered to foster an easy transition between education levels, older children continue to miss education opportunities due to these gaps.
  • Improvements in reforming education curricula and reducing skills mismatches is hampered by lack of funding and capacity
    • Progressed well in terms of number of people with higher educational attainment, however curricula are not well suited to equip graduates with necessary skills to match labor demand
    • State financial support is insufficient
    • Coordination between education sector and businesses is weak
    • Public spending on education and training amounted to 3.3% of GDP in 2020 compared to an average of 3.75 of GDP in the past five years. However, it has increased to 3.76% of GDP in 2021.
      • This is below the EU level of 5% and below peer-country averages
    • Education spending is inefficiently distributed between municipalities on account of outdated formulas for redistribution of public education funds
  • In 2022, care and education are delivered in 77 public and 30 private kindergartens
  • North Macedonia is moderately prepared in the area of education, but limited progress was made in the reporting period
    • Still impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic
    • Implementation of the 2018-2025 education strategy is slow
    • Slow development of a proper monitoring system
  • Recommendations from last year’s report were only partially addressed. In particular, North Macedonia should
    • Adopt the vocational education and training (VET) law and establish and operate the regional VET centers.
    • Finalize and adopt the law for adult education
    • Improve access to quality education for all, in particular children with disabilities and Roma children
  • Enrollment remains low
    • Only 45% of children from 3-6 years of age in North Macedonia were enrolled in licensed childhood education institutions (2020-2021)
      • Slight improvement to the previous year.
    • Enrollment in higher education remains low. The number of students enrolled in the first year of studies has been declining in the last 3 years
    • However, the number of ROMA students enrolled in higher education rose from 46% to 52% in the last three years.

Cover image : https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng/Areas/North-Macedonia/North-Macedonia-new-premier-new-European-perspectives-215366

Educational Highlights on Serbia’s Report in the European Union’s 2022 Enlargement Package

This document is a summary of the accompanying document Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on Serbia’s 2022 Report.  

Serbia remains at a good level of preparation in education and culture, according to the 2021 report by the Council for Eastern European Development (CEDR). Some progress was made on the implementation of last year’s recommendations. The COVID-19 pandemic somewhat disrupted the organization and quality of instruction at all levels of education. Serbia’s government has been urged to make significant improvements in the quality and scope of non-formal education and care for children, and has ensured full compliance with the policy and institutional framework for quality assurance in higher education by the European Quality Assurance Commission (ENQA).

Mechanisms to track the implementation of the new education strategy through 2030 and the associated action plan have been developed in the domain of education and training. Negative demographic trends and emigration have contributed to the ongoing decline in the student population. Pre-university enrollment and completion rates remained strong. While the enrollment rate for preschool education that is required for all children aged 6 months to 6.5 years declined from 97.4% in 2019 to 96.4% in 2020, the overall coverage of children with preschool education decreased from 57.4% to 55.5% year over year. In order to provide equal preschool education to the most disadvantaged children, more work is required to improve governance and increase the scope and quality of services and infrastructure. Early school exit rates were 6.3%, and participation in lifelong learning was 4.8% in 2021.

Public spending on education stood at around 3.5% of GDP in 2020, below the EU average of 4.7%. Preprimary school enrolment remained around 64% in the 2020/2021 school year. Higher education attainment in the population aged 25-34 stood at 32.6% in 2020. New certification requirements are being adopted slowly, and they are also being updated. Under both upper secondary and higher vocational education and training (VET), efforts have been made to expose students to work-based learning. Participation rates in life-long learning are traditionally low (4.8% in 2021). Furthermore, from 20% in 2020 to 16.4% in 2021, the proportion of young people (15-29 years old) who are not in employment, education, or training (NEET) declined.

The hybrid education model put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic is still in use, although it is only applied when it occurs. To bridge learning gaps brought on by digital exclusion, further measures are still required. The creation of the school management information system has advanced, although consolidation is still needed.

There has not been any noticeable improvement in the low enrollment in general secondary vocational education and training (VET), and as such, Serbia should keep modernizing and simplifying the requirements for certifications to increase the significance of VET and to accelerate the institutional, financial, and logistical preparations for the introduction of final exams in secondary school. On the another hand, at all educational levels, there has been a significant improvement in the access and involvement of disadvantaged students. The effort against segregation and dropout rates needs to be improved, especially locally. Additional work is required to provide instructional resources and equip instructors to promote student competency in gender equality and sexual abuse.

The Serbian national accreditation body is eligible to reapply for renewed membership of ENQA following its suspension in early 2020. The attainment of tertiary level qualifications for persons aged 30-34 (ISCED levels 5-8) remained at 33% in 2020, still below the EU target of 40%. The sector remains vulnerable to corruption.

It is necessary to reinforce the institutional structure outlined in the national qualifications framework (NQF). The acceptance of qualification requirements is accelerating, but it could do so much more quickly with a bigger emphasis on higher education. Two rulebooks were approved in December 2021 and February 2022 with the goal of facilitating adult education provider accreditation. Additionally, regarding the competitiveness and inclusive growth, Serbia is required to pay close attention to making sure that the institutional framework for quality assurance in higher education fully complies with ENQA’s guidelines in the upcoming term, as well as to upgrading pertinent IT systems.

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS), and the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) were among the international assessments in which Serbia continues to take part in 2021 and 2022, respectively. In 2022, trends in the international computer and information literacy study (ICILS), the teaching and learning international survey (TALIS), and the international mathematics and science study (TIMSS) were conducted. Additionally, Serbia is successfully implementing the new cycle of the Erasmus+ programme, including the new DiscoverEU component. Overall, Serbian institutions are participating in more than 550 projects (decentralized actions) granted in 2021. In total, around 1900 mobilities of students, staff and pupils are planned to take place in the framework of these projects.

The Serbian Ministry of Education has made significant progress in preparing and printing textbooks in minority languages for use in primary schools. The monitoring of curricula for teaching Serbian as a non-mother language in pilot schools is ongoing. Several recommendations aimed at improving the teaching of Serbian in schools were issued to the ministry.

Serbia has made some progress in coping with market dynamics and competitive pressure within the EU and is only partly equipped. The structure of the economy continues to advance, and there is still a high level of economic integration with the EU. The quality and applicability of education and training, however, still fall short of the demands of the labor market, notwithstanding considerable advances. After years of underinvestment, public investment has continued to rise with the goal of addressing critical infrastructure shortages. There are still many difficulties that small and medium-sized businesses must overcome, such as an unfair playing field when compared to big businesses and foreign investors. The advice received last year has been partly adopted.

Summarised by Emine Bala & Edited by Olga Ruiz Pilato 

References

Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations. (2022). Serbia Report 2022. Retrieved October 17, 2022, from https://neighbourhood-enlargement.ec.europa.eu/serbia-report-2022_en

Cover image by Ivan Aleksic on Unsplash.

Universal Periodic Review of Serbia

  • This report has been prepared by Broken Chalk to contribute to the 4th Universal Periodic Review [UPR] of Serbia. Broken Chalk is an Amsterdam-based NGO focused on human rights violations in the field of education. Since the organisation’s main mission is to fight inequalities and improve the quality of education worldwide, this report focuses on human rights specifically with regards to education.
  • The report will firstly explore the main problems in the educational field in Serbia, including information on what recommendations Serbia received in the 3rd cycle UN UPR review in 2018 and what actions they have taken to improve education. It offers a comprehensive set of recommendations for Serbia based on experience, research and best practices that can help the country to further improve human rights in the educational sphere.
  • Serbia was last reviewed in 2018, during the 3rd UPR cycle, where it received 190 recommendations and supported 175 of those. 8% of the recommendations focused on quality education, Goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals [SDG]. In addition, 41% of the recommendations dealt with justice and strong institutions (SDG 16), 17% with gender equality (SDG 5) and another 17% with reducing inequalities (SDG 10). These can all be linked to education and ensuring human rights in that field.
  • In February 2021, Serbia submitted a voluntary midterm report to illustrate its improvement and progress on human rights and the implementation of the 3rd cycle recommendations.
  • Serbia ranked 63rd out of the 191 participating countries on the Human Development Index in 2021, thereby classifying as “very high” on the human development classification.[i] According to the Human Rights Measurement Initiative’s tracker, Serbia is doing 89% of what it could possibly do when it comes to ensuring the right to education considering the country’s level of income.[ii]

by Olga Ruiz Pilato & Réka Gyaraki

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43rd_Session_UN-UPR_Country_Review_Serbia

[i] United Nations. (n.d.). Human Development Index Serbia

[ii] Human Rights Measurement Initiative Rights Tracker. (n.d.). Serbia

Cover image by Terry Feuerborn on Flickr.

Universal Periodic Review of Liechtenstein

  • This report was drafted by Broken Chalk to contribute to the fourth Universal Periodic Review [UPR] of Liechtenstein. Broken Chalk is an Amsterdam-based NGO focused on human rights violations in the field of education. Since Broken Chalk is an organization fighting inequalities and improving the quality of education worldwide, this report focuses on human rights, especially with regard to education.
  • This report first explores the main issues in education in Liechtenstein, the recommendations Liechtenstein received in the last review and its progress since 2018. Then, Broken Chalk offers some practical recommendations to Liechtenstein to further improve human rights in education.
  • In the last UPR cycle of 2018, Liechtenstein received 126 recommendations, out of which it accepted 84. Out of these recommendations 6%, meaning 4 recommendations, were linked to the 4th goal of the Sustainable Development Goals [SDG], namely ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all.[i]
  • Quality education is a vital pillar of society: it enables long-term growth and development, helps minorities and foreigners’ integration, and shapes future society.
  • The HMRI Rights Tracker of the Human Rights Measurement Initiative assesses how well a country could be using its financial resources when it comes to multiple factors. These factors include quality of life, one subsection being education, safety from the state, and empowerment. Unfortunately, there is no available data about Liechtenstein on the HRMI Rights Tracker. Therefore, one cannot assess if Liechtenstein’s performance in education is rated ‘very bad’, ‘bad’, ‘fair’ or ‘good’.[ii]

by Vivien Kretz

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43rd_Session_UN-UPR_Country_Review_Liechtenstein

[i] “OHCHR | Universal Periodic Review – Liechtenstein.” n.d. OHCHR. Accessed September 26, 2022.

[ii] “Liechtenstein – HRMI Rights Tracker.” n.d. Accessed September 27, 2022. https://rightstracker.org.

Cover image from Adam Stone on Wikimedia Commons.

Universal Periodic Review of Luxembourg

  • This report has been drafted by Broken Chalk to contribute to the 4th cycle, 43rd session of the Universal Periodic Review [UPR]. Since Broken Chalk is an organization aimed at fighting inequalities and improving the quality of Education worldwide, this report will focus on Education.
  • First, the report brings attention to the main issues in which Luxembourg could improve in regard to the Right to Education. Secondly, the report individuates some topics that could be tackled through Education. In doing so, Broken Chalk will commend Luxembourg for the efforts made and actions taken to improve Education and to use Education to bring awareness to other human rights topics. Lastly, in view of the points raised, Broken Chalk would like to offer a few recommendations to Luxembourg to continue improving in the field of Education.
  • In the last review of Luxembourg of 2018, the state received 149 recommendations, 7% of which were linked to the 4th goal of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)[i], namely ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all.
  • Luxembourg has stated that it believes the indivisibility of human rights to be a core principle, underlining that economic, social and cultural rights – among which there is the right to Education – are pivotal in guaranteeing the well-being of all. Luxembourg further expresses its commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.[ii]

[i] United Nations Human Rights Council. (2018, January). Universal Periodic Review – Luxembourg, Infographic

[ii] Luxembourg. (2017, November 13). National report submitted in accordance with paragraph 5 of the annex to Human Rights Council resolution 16/21 – Luxembourg, para. 3

by Francisca Orrego Galarce

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43rd_Session_UN-UPR_Country_Review_Luxembourg

Cover image by Jebulon.