Roadmap on Diversity and Inclusion for the Pre-University Education System in Kosovo

Twinning Programme to Support Implementation of the Kosovo Education Sector Strategic Plan 2011 – 2016 (Twinning No. KS 11 IB OT 02)

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Content

APPREVIATIONSEXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. Introduction2. The aims of the roadmap3. Diversity and inclusion in education 4. Developing an inclusive education system in Kosovo

4.1. Legal framework for development of inclusive education system in the Republic of Kosovo

4.2. Enrolment at different levels in the pre-university education of Kosovo in 2013 -2014 and 2014 -2015

4.3. Levels of education that need particular attention 4.4. Support systems to promote inclusive education4.4.1. Structure and functioning of support services for students with SEN in the

education system in Kosovo4.4.2. Support to students from minority communities 4.4.3. Prevention of dropouts and out-of-school children 4.4.4. Promoting gender equality in education4.5. Teacher training

5. Challenges faced in and a roadmap for diversity and inclusion for Kosovo schools 6. Recommendations combined

Annex 1 Basic conceptsAnnex 2 International treaties and declarations approved by the Republic of KosovoAnnex 3 Administrative Instructions for inclusive and special needs educationAnnex 4 Projects supported to the development of Inclusive Education in Kosovo

Annex 5 Standards for child-friendly schools in KosovoAnnex 6 Index for Inclusion in KosovoAnnex 7 Duties of MED inclusive education officials, support teachers, support

educators and school assistants and instructorsAnnex 8 The main laws relevant to the delivery of education for minorities, including

Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities, outlining the resulting legal obligations for municipal officials

Annex 9 Central and local level institutions responsible for the education of minorities in Kosovo

Annex 10 Training needs on inclusive education

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APPREVIATIONS

AGE Agency for Gender Equality

AOGG Advisory Office on Good Governance, Human Rights, Equal Opportunities and Gender Issues

APTWG Action Plan Technical Working Group for the Implementation of the Strategy for the Integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Communities

BEP Basic Education ProgrammeBSFK Balkan Sunflowers KosovaCASLI Class Assistant and Sign Language Instructor training programme CC Communities Committee CCC Consultative Council for Communities CFS Child-Friendly SchoolCoC Centres of CompetenceCRC Convention of the Rights of the ChildCRIC Committee on Rights and Interests of Communities CSO Cicil Society OrganisationDPEP Department of Pre-university Education PoliciesDSNE Division on Special Needs Education ECMI Kosovo European Centre for Minority Issues KosovoEGRA Early Grade Reading AssessmentEMIS Education Management and Information SystemEU European UnionFSDEK Finnish Support to the Education Sector in Kosovo FSIESK Finnish Support to Inclusive Education System in KosovoGIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH HE Higher Education ICT Information and Communication TechnologyIISC Inter-Institutional Steering Committee for the Implementation of the Action

Plan IT Information TechnologyKAS Kosovo Agency of StatisticsKAPIE Kosovo Association for Promoting Inclusive EducationKEDP Kosovo Education Development ProgrammeKCF Kosovo Curriculum FrameworkKFOC Kosovo Foundation for Open SocietyKEC Kosovo Education CentreKESP Kosovo Education Strategic Plan KPA Kosovo Property AgencyKPI Kosovo Pedagogical InstituteLC Learning CentreMA Municipal Assembly

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MAP Municipality Action PlanMCR Ministry for Communities and Return MED Municipality Education DirectorateMEST Ministry of Education, Science and TechnologyMLSW Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare MOCR Municipal Office for Communities and ReturnsMoH Ministry of Health NGO Non-Governmental OrganisationOCA Office for Community Affairs OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OPM Office of the Prime MinisterOSCE Organization for Security and Co-operation in EuropePRTAN Prevention and Response Team towards Abandonment and Non-RegistrationSDP School Development PlanSEN Special Educational NeedsSGB School Governing BoardTESFA Towards Effective School for ALL ToT Training of TrainersUN United NationsUNDP United Nations Development ProgrammeUSAID United States Agency for International DevelopmentVET Vocational Education and Training

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Twinning Programme to Support Implementation of the Kosovo Education Sector Strategic Plan 2011 – 2016 (Annex 3), funded by the European Union and implemented by Omnia, The Joint Authority of Education in Espoo Region, Finland, in partnership with KulturKontakt Austria, started in March 2014. The overall objective of the programme is to enhance the quality of pre-university education in Kosovo, to encourage inclusive education and promote cultural diversity, dialogue and co-operation. The purpose of the programme is to improve the quality and relevance of education through the implementation of the new Kosovo Curriculum Framework (KCF), capacity building of educators, implementation of quality assurance measures in education, and support for the provision of relevant school supplies and equipment to schools.

Inclusion is one of the main principals of the new Kosovo Curriculum Framework. The roadmap on diversity and inclusion for the pre-university education in Kosovo is one of the activities of the Twinning Programme in supporting the implementation of the KCF. The roadmap considers inclusion as provision of education for all children in their neighbouring schools and same settings and readiness to meet and respond to the diverse needs of all in the classroom.

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The aims of the roadmap are 1) to analyse how the legal framework and support structures built for inclusive education in Kosovo is functioning; 2) to provide an overview of the situation of children with diverse needs in the current education system in Kosovo; 3) to analyse the challenges mainstream schools are facing in developing of an inclusive school; 4) to highlight the areas that need particular attention to promote inclusive education; 5) to provide recommendations on how to proceed in the development of an inclusive education; and to provide guidelines for schools and teachers how to start developing their school and classrooms to become inclusive.

The roadmap is focused on the pre-university education from pre-schools to upper secondary education. Kosovo has shown great willingness and commitment to develop an inclusive education system which provides quality education for all the citizens. This has been shown during the last ten years when the legal framework for the education system has been developed. As a result, there are many aspiring laws, administrative instructions and national strategies giving the structure for the new education system. Despite these positive efforts, children with disabilities, children from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities, and children from poor socio-economical family background have remained the most vulnerable groups for segregation, dropout and even exclusion. The roadmap analyses how the education system in Kosovo is addressing and responding to these diverse needs.

The process towards inclusion in education has been demanding for all actors both at central and at local level. The central level has established a high quality framework for education, and municipalities have been provided the authority to implement new laws, administrative instruction and strategies with action plans. The main challenge at the central level seems to be the lack of communication between different divisions at MEST and between other ministries. In order to create inclusive education and society, communication between different sectors is needed. Municipalities have the responsibility to establish working bodies within the MED, working groups to prepare action and many other plans. The challenges municipalities are facing are related to the lack of finances and human resources to implement the policy.

During last 15 years, there have been various pilot projects (Annex 3) conducted in Kosovo by different donors and organisations to improve the quality of the education system, and as a result there are many good practices learnt, tools, instruments and materials produced for the use education system. However, it seems that many of the activities of various projects did not have the sustainability after ending the project. MEST should strengthen the coordination and evaluation of projects in order to put best experiences learnt into practice.

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Commitment of the whole school staff and the surrounding community members in welcoming all children to school is highly crucial. A teacher in the classroom is the most important person to make inclusive education work. The knowledge, skills and particularly teachers’ attitudes count on how successful the implementation of the policy at the root level will be. Teachers need to be trained and they need all the support from the school management and community members.

The roadmap contains lot of information from different resources and references related to the development of inclusive education in Kosovo during the last 15 years. Therefore, the document serves as a source material for training programmes related to inclusive education in Kosovo.

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1. Introduction

This roadmap is one of the results of the Twinning Programme to Support Implementation of the Kosovo Education Sector Strategic Plan 2011 – 2016 (Twinning No. KS 11 IB OT 02). The three-year project started in March 2014 and is funded by the European Union. The overall objective of the programme is to enhance the quality of pre-university education in Kosovo, to encourage inclusive education and promote cultural diversity, dialogue and co-operation. The purpose of the programme is to improve the quality and relevance of education through implementation of the new modernised curriculum (KCF), launched in 2011, capacity building of educators, implementation of quality assurance measures in education and support for the provision of relevant school supplies and equipment. Components of the programme are the following:

Component 1: Curriculum development and implementation in the classroomComponent 2: Quality assurance in educationComponent 3: School supplies and equipment

The strategic framework “Education and Training 2020” (ET 2020) of the European Commission provides strategic objectives for the European cooperation in education and training. One of the objectives of the ET 2020 is promoting equity, social cohesion and active

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citizenship. Education and training policy should enable all citizens, irrespective of their personal, social or economic circumstances, to acquire and develop skills and competencies needed for their employability and foster further learning, active citizenship and intercultural dialogue. Education and training systems should aim to ensure that all learners - including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, those with special needs and migrants - complete their education, and in order to address inequalities, more efficient, but at the same time, more inclusive and equitable education systems, which give access to quality educational provision are needed. (European Commission.)

According to European Commission, despite the fact that the education and training policy should enable all citizens to benefit from quality education inequalities persist in European education systems. There are large differences between countries in the extent to which family background influences learning outcomes. Students from poor socio-economic backgrounds perform worse at school than their peers in all EU countries. Children from immigrant backgrounds, children with disabilities, and Roma children are among the most vulnerable groups affected. (European Commission.)

In Kosovo challenges have been faced particularly in providing quality education for children with disabilities, children from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities, and children from poor socio-economical family background. Despite the efforts made by the Government of Kosovo by preparing the legal infrastructure to provide quality education for all, these groups have remained the most vulnerable for segregation, poor performance, low and irregular attendance, dropout and even exclusion.

Kosovo is committed to the development of inclusive education system, which is stipulated in the Law on Pre-University Education and in the Kosovo Education Strategic Plan (KESP) 2011-2016 and regulated in many Administrative Instructions and standards. One of the main principals of the Kosovo Curriculum Framework (2011) is inclusion which “refers to the right of every child to have equal access to quality education”.

This document describes the current situation related to the development of inclusion in the education system in Kosovo. It analyses the policy framework for inclusive education, existing structures for and functioning of support services in the education system. It describes challenges schools and teachers in Kosovo are facing when starting to work for inclusion. The document provides recommendations for the system to become more inclusive.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) started piloting of the new curriculum in 10 schools (6 primary and lower secondary, 2 upper secondary and 2 vocational schools) in September 2013. 61 new primary and lower secondary and upper

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secondary schools and 31 vocational schools joined the pilot project and started implementing the KCF in September 2014.

During May – September 2014, the Twinning Project collected data in 61 new pilot primary and lower secondary schools and 19 Municipality Education Directorates (MEDs) to find data of the situation in schools. The aims of the data collection were expected to find out the following:

- what are the conditions in the schools to start implementing the KCF;- what kinds of trainings head teachers and teachers have received and what are their

training needs;- what kind of support schools receive and what is needed for implementing the KCF;- how quality assurance is working at the school level; and- what the needs of equipment, supplies and teaching materials are to implement the

KCF in schools.

Data contained information of the situation of students with special educational needs (SEN) and from minority communities, and of the practices and resources schools have to provide support to students in need. The report on the field visits was presented to the MEST in November 2014.

The framework for the roadmap is based on the policy and other related documents of Kosovo. The functioning of structures and mechanisms created for provision of equal access for quality education are analysed by reflecting to the practices at the root level in schools.

The current situation at the root level in schools has been analysed, based on the data and information captured through visits to new pilot schools, Municipality Education Directorates, to resource centres in Kosovo, MEST authorities from the divisions of Early Childhood Education, Special Needs Education, Vocational Education and Training, Gender Equity and EMIS, representatives of the Faculty of Education of the University of Pristina, and many representatives of various donor organisations and NGOs which have given their valuable information related to the past and current situation and preparation of the roadmap. In addition, several evaluation reports and recommendations provided by various organisations have been an important base for building an overview of the developments and the current situation.

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2. The aims of the roadmap

The aims of the roadmap are as follows:

- To analyse how the legal framework and support structures built for inclusive educa-tion in Kosovo is functioning;

- To provide an overview of the situation of children with diverse needs in the current education system in Kosovo;

- To analyse the challenges mainstream schools are facing in developing of an inclusive school;

- To highlight the areas that need particular attention to promote inclusive education;- To provide recommendations on how to proceed in the development of an inclusive

education;- To provide guidelines for schools and teachers how to start developing their school

and classrooms to become inclusive.

The roadmap contains information captured from various resources and references related to inclusive education and, therefore, the document is recommended to be utilized as source literature in training programmes related to inclusive education in Kosovo.

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3. Diversity and inclusion in education

Diversity is a concept that can be used to differentiate groups and people from one another. In education diversity can be seen as characteristics that can affect the specific ways in which developmental potential and learning are realised, including cultural, linguistic, eth-nic, religious and socio-economic differences.

According to OECD (2010) a successful school system treats diversity as a source of potential growth rather than an inherent hindrance to student performance. It uses the strength and flexibility of its teachers to draw out this potential, and provides them with the appropriate support and guidance to accomplish the task of overcoming inequalities and at the same time harness the benefits that students and teachers from diverse backgrounds bring to classrooms.

The strategic framework for European cooperation in “Education and Training 2020” (ET 2020) notes that education should promote intercultural competences, democratic values and respect for fundamental rights and the environment, as well as combat all forms of discrimination, equipping all young people to interact positively with their peers from

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diverse backgrounds. Educational disadvantage should be addressed through high quality early childhood education, and by promoting inclusive education. (The Council of Europe 2009.)

According to UNESCO (2009) inclusion in education can be seen as one aspect of inclusion in society. It is a process of:

- Addressing and responding to the diversity of needs of all children, youth and adults through increasing participation in learning, cultures and communities, and reducing and eliminating exclusion within and from education.

- Strengthening the capacity of the education system to reach out to all learners re-gardless of poverty, gender, ethnic background, language, disabilities and impair-ments.

As an overall principle, inclusive education should guide all education policies and practices, starting from the fact that education is a basic human right and the foundation for a more just and equal society. It is central to the achievement of high quality education for all stu-dents and the development of more inclusive societies (UNESCO 2009).

According to UNESCO Guidelines for inclusive education (2009), “the success of creating inclusive education as a key to establishing inclusive societies depends on agreement among all relevant partners on a common vision supported by a number of specific steps to be taken to put this vision into practice. The move towards inclusion is a gradual one that should be based on clearly articulated principles that address system-wide development and multi-sectoral approaches involving all levels of society. The barriers to inclusion can be reduced through active collaboration between policy-makers, education personnel and other stakeholders, including the active involvement of members of the local community, such as political and religious leaders, local education officials and the media. “

Inclusive approach implies a shift from seeing a child as the problem to seeing the education system as the problem that can be solved by re-organising ordinary schools through school improvement and a focus on quality to ensure that all children can learn effectively. (UN-ESCO 2009.) Student diversity and individual differences are seen as opportunities for en-riching learning.

Inclusive education requires reconstructing the cultures, structures, practices and methodo-logies used in schools. Inclusive school must offer opportunities and possibilities for a range of working methods and individual treatment to ensure that no child is excluded from parti-cipation in the school. This implies the development of right-based and child-friendly schools which is not only academically effective but also inclusive, healthy and protective of all children, gender-responsive and encourages the participation of the students themselves and their families and their communities. (UNESCO 2009.)

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Schools need to be transformed to cater for all children in the communities and community members are needed to support schools in welcoming all children of the community to schools. Thus support and commitment from teachers, head teachers and community mem-bers is essential to ensure inclusion in the classroom and in learning for all children regard-less of their differences.

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4. Developing an inclusive education system in Kosovo

According to UNESCO (2009) transformation of the education system to more inclusive requires changes in and revision of the national legislation to incorporate notions of inclusive education. International conventions should be signed and ratified and reflected in national legislation and the implementation of policy and laws should be promoted and enforced. In addition, budgetary allocations for inclusive education should be equitable, transparent, accountable and efficient. (UNESCO 2009.)

The Republic of Kosovo is committed to the development of inclusive education system, which is stipulated in the Law on Pre-University Education and in the Kosovo Education Strategic Plan (KESP) 2011-2016. One of the main principals of the Kosovo Curriculum Framework (2011) is inclusion which “refers to the right of every child to have equal access to quality education”.

The Government of Kosovo has made efforts and shown willingness and commitment to transform the education system to achieve the requirements of inclusive education by creating the legal infrastructure for the development of inclusive education system. In the following sub-chapters the legal framework, and the structure and functioning of support systems is presented and followed by recommendations.

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4.1. Legal framework for development of inclusive education system in the Republic of Kosovo

The legal framework for development of inclusive education system in Kosovo is stipulated in legal and sub-legal documents, issued by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) such as:

- The Law on Pre-University Education in the Republic of Kosovo; and several administrative instructions related to inclusive and special needs education (Annex 4);

- The Kosovo Education Strategic Plan 2011-2016 (KESP 2011-2016) and as a part of it The Strategic Plan for Organizing Inclusive Education for Children with Special Educational Needs in Pre-University Education in Kosovo (2010 – 2015);

- The Kosovo Curriculum Framework (KCF); - The Strategy for Integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in Kosovo

2009 – 2015.

In addition, the Law No. 05/L -020 on Gender Equality and the Law No. 03/L-047 on the protection and promotion of the rights of communities and their members in Kosovo have an education component which prescribe the right to education for all.

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The Law on Pre-University Education in Republic of Kosovo approved in 2011 states that “the principle of inclusive education should be applied in the Republic of Kosovo as best practice in accordance with international norms as set out in the UNESCO Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), the Statement of Salamanca (1994), the UN Convention of the Rights of Disabled Persons (2007) and other relevant international conventions or recommendations” (Article 40). The international treaties and declarations Kosovo has recognised are presented in Annex 2.

According to the Law (Article 40.2) the principle of inclusive education means that: - educational and/or training institutions should accommodate all children regardless

of their physical, intellectual, social, linguistic or other conditions and should promote integration and contact between children;

- relevant support should be offered based on pupils’ individual needs; and - separate educational settings or special schools are justified only where after expert

assessment it is considered impractical to enrol a child in a regular municipal school or training institution.

The law authorises municipalities to take measures to support the inclusion of children in municipal schools, including the establishment of resource rooms and adapted classes for pupils with physical and sensory disabilities. Municipalities have the responsibility to provide free, safe, and suitable transport, according to the individual expert assessment, for children with disabilities or learning difficulties attending municipal schools.

During 2011 – 2014 the MEST has launched numerous Administrative Instructions related to the support systems in education (Annex 4).

Law No. 02/L-52 on Pre-school Education (2006) stipulates the principles of preschool education (Article 4) in preschool institutions as follows: a) equality; b) inclusion; c) democracy; d) staff autonomy; e) professionalism and responsibility; f) equal capacities for children and parents, taking into consideration changes between children; g) the right to be different; h) all-inclusive development of children’s personality. According to the Law, pre-school education is the right for all children including those with special needs.

Early Learning Development Standards for Children age 0 – 6 adopted in 2011 constitute the main objectives to stimulate optimal development of children and serve all stakeholders in early childhood. Standards are designed for all children in Kosovo, regardless of gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status their families, cultural diversities, individual characteristics, skills and specific needs. Development and learning standards in early childhood are child-centred and aim to encourage support and create opportunities and a stimulating environment for the optimal development of children and their learning.

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The Kosovo Education Strategic Plan (KESP) 2011 - 2016 has a mission of building a high quality and inclusive system of education based on justice, equity and respect for diversity, contributing to full integration of the communities in the society. KESP recognizes that an inclusive education system is required to reduce barriers to formal school education. The inclusive education strategies, priorities and actions will also be instrumental for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (Annex 2) and the overarching policy of equitable access by 2015. KESP sets the following aspects among the goals for education sector:

- Promotion of inclusiveness in education that is accessible to the socially excluded persons, persons in poverty, persons with disabilities and to those who are educationally disadvantaged or marginalized and to improve educational opportunities for women and girls;

- Promotion of social inclusion as an overarching concept which encompasses the full participation by all people, irrespectively of their social differences (such as gender, ethnicity, social class and disability), in economic, social and cultural life.

The strategic priorities set by KESP contain issues that are directly related to the promoting inclusive education, such as:

- Developing and supporting an inclusive system of education enabling equitable access to quality education;

- Reducing the number of shifts in schools by reducing double shift schools, mostly located in the urban areas by building new primary and secondary schools;

- Developing child-friendly school environments;- Developing and supporting early childhood development services; - Improving the quality of teaching and learning and promoting quality learning

outcomes by defining and helping learners learn what they need to learn and teaching them how to learn;

- Developing information and communication technology (ICT) in all levels and all groups of education.

According to KESP, MEST remains committed to increasing the level of inclusion of children with SEN in mainstream education, in neighbouring schools. Special schools will provide education for children with severe or multiple disabilities. The new role of Support Teacher (Inclusive Education Teacher) has been created in order to support the inclusion of children with SEN in mainstream classes.

The Strategic Plan for Organizing Inclusive Education for Children with Special Educational Needs in Pre-University Education in Kosovo (2010 – 2015) is included in KESP 2011-2016 along with its budget. The vision of the strategic plan is quality education system for all children, taking into account and respecting individual needs, interests and opportunities. In order to reach the vision, five objectives are set:

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1) Early identification and intervention to increase inclusion; 2) Providing and strengthening support mechanisms for inclusive and accessible schools; 3) Undertaking professional development of educational personnel; 4) Improving the physical infrastructure for inclusive schools; and 5) Increasing awareness on inclusive education. The new Strategic Plan for Organizing Inclusive Education for Children with Special Educational Needs in Pre-University Education in Kosovo for 2016 – 2021 will be launched the beginning of 2016.

Index for Inclusion which is an instrument to guide schools through a process of inclusive school development is a part of this Strategic Plan. The materials in the Index assist and support the identification of pathways towards inclusive education by exploring three interconnected dimensions creating inclusive cultures, producing inclusive policies and evolving inclusive practices. (Annex 6.)

The Kosovo Curriculum Framework (KCF) approved in 2011 sets out the vision for developing and implementing a learner-centred and competency-based curriculum in Kosovo integrating and reflecting the fundamental values and principles of human rights, living together, social justice and inclusiveness. One of the three leading principals of the KCF is inclusion, which refers to the right of every child to have equal access to quality education. Guided by this principal the KCF provides customized solutions to address students’ diversity and their special needs in the learning process, contributing in this way to the full development of the learning potential of every child.

The KCF also envisages curriculum solutions by considering students’ needs and providing equal access and quality education to all. The KCF requires alignment with teacher education and training, assessment and school and classroom management.

National Disability Action Plan for the Republic of Kosovo 2009-2011 was prepared with the support of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in collaboration with local persons with disabilities to help the Government of the Republic of Kosovo to create a more effective, sustainable and coordinated policy in the field of the rights of people with disabilities as stipulated in International Conventions for Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The action plan set also the main objectives regarding education as: - creating equal opportunities for persons with disabilities in the educational system;- implementing legislation in the educational field for persons with disabilities;- ensuring an inclusive education system in preschool institutions;

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- creating professional development-programmes on inclusive education for teachers and people involved in educational system and improving competences on disability issues at the municipal level.

The Strategy for Integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in Kosovo, Education Component 2007 – 2017 was adopted by the Ministry of Education in 2007. It has the following goals:

- Promote and strengthen the protection of the rights of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities and their full integration in Kosovar society;

- Develop proper policies and legislation, and ensure that the legislation is in line with international standards of human rights;

- Actively promote the empowerment of democratic institutions and rule of law, especially through dialogue and institution building for the implementation of the rights of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities;

- Support and encourage the work of NGOs that represent the interests of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities, especially cooperation with them, including the Institution of the Ombudsperson;

This strategy was adopted before preparation of the general Strategy for the Integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Communities, 2009 – 2015 and its Action Plan (see below). The strategic objectives and activities presented in the Strategy for Integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in Kosovo, Education Component 2007 – 2017 are included in the education component of the general strategy and its action plan.

The Strategy for the Integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Communities, 2009 – 2015 is a comprehensive strategy aiming at fostering the integration of the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in the key sectors of education, employment and economic empowerment, health and affairs, housing and informal settlements, returns and reintegration, registration, participation and representation, security, police and justice as well as media, culture and information. Gender and anti-discrimination are anchored in all key sectors as crosscutting themes.

The education component of the Action Plan on the Implementation of the Strategy for the Integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Communities, 2009 - 2015 was prepared with the main goal of establishing an inclusive and high quality education system based on fairness, equality and respect for diversity that contributes to the full integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in Kosovo society.

The Strategy contains an analysis of the conditions and the specific challenges faced by Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in Kosovo whereas the Action Plan outlines de-tailed and concrete measures to be taken by relevant central and local level institutions to

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address the challenges identified (Annex 8). The Action Plan contains a timeline and budget-ary estimates for the implementation of the plan.

Standards for child-friendly schools (Annex 5) in Kosovo were drafted in 2012 by the Kosovo Pedagogical Institute with the support of UNICEF to meet the need resulted of changes made in the area of curriculum and to support the goal of establishing effective, healthy, safe and inclusive schools, with an active participation of parents and community. The pur-pose of setting standards for child-friendly schools is

- to provide a document which includes and integrates all components of indicators regarding education equality which affect making a school a child-friendly one, and

- to provide specifying measuring requirements which assist the school and education institutions to raise the participation of all learners in the school life and in the learning process.

Guidelines for implementing the standards have been developed and distributed to municipalities and schools.

Current situation

Despite these efforts of preparing the legal framework with regulations, and standards with action plans to address the needs to make education system more inclusive, the implementation of the policy framework and action plans in practice remains a challenge. Table 1 contains reflections based on the statistics provided by the EMIS (2015) and data collected during visits to MEDs and Twinning pilot schools in 2014 to the KESP (2010) strategic priorities related to inclusion and pre-university education for 2011 – 2016.

Table 1 KESP strategic priorities and situation at the school level in 2014KESP strategic priorities Situation at the school level 2014Developing and supporting an inclusive system of education enabling equitable access to quality education

There are children particularly with disabilities, and from minority communities who do not have access to school or to the curriculum and who therefore are at risk to drop out due to the lack of support.

Reducing the number of shifts in schools by reducing double shift schools, mostly located in the urban areas by building new primary and secondary schools

Despite of the increase in the number of new schools, most of the schools are overloaded and still work in two shifts.

Developing child-friendly school environments

Most of the schools do not meet the requirements of child-friendly-schools set by the Standards for CFS.

Developing and supporting early childhood development services

In 2014 – 2015 the total enrolment in early childhood institutions was 3774.

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Preschools are mainly serving Albanian children. In 2014 – 2015 there were only 50 children (1,3 %) from minority communities enrolled in preschool institutions. The small number of children with special educational needs enrolled are mainly accommodated to special schools.

Improving the quality of teaching and learning and promoting quality learning outcomes by defining and helping learners learn what they need to learn and teaching them how to learn

There are many obstacles for quality teaching and learning starting from the conditions in schools. Overcrowded classrooms, lack of equipment, supplies and materials, lack of support systems have negative effect on the learning outcomes.

Developing information and communication technology (ICT) in all levels and all groups of ed1ucation.

The level of equipment and human capacity related to the use of ICT for education purposes vary a lot in schools but is mainly very limited. Less than half of the schools used ICT in subject teaching. Computers were mainly for management and for teaching the use of computer.

Recommendations

MEST and MED

- To ensure that principals of inclusive education as stipulated in the Law, KESP and KCF are put into practice at all levels of pre-university education;

- To ensure that principals of inclusive education are introduced to all relevant actors, such as staff of MEST, regional inspectors, MEDs, head teachers and teacher trainers (in- and pre-service).

MED

- To work in collaboration with schools, early childhood service providers and NGOs to raise awareness on inclusive education among parents and the community;To monitor regularly that

o the school development plans are prepared with inclusive approach and implemented;

o schools are child-friendly and inclusive;- To revise the budget in order to

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o provide schools with sufficient human and material resources (e.g. optimal teacher-learner ratio, qualified teachers, teaching and learning materials, assistive devices);

o support activities for inclusive school;- To make plans in intersectional collaboration in the municipality to search and bring

to education system all school-aged children who are not attending school.

4.2. Enrolment at different levels in the pre-university education of Kosovo in 2013 -2014 and 2014 -2015

Annual statistics in the education field is provided by the Education Management and Information System (EMIS) of the MEST. Statistics provide information e.g. of the number, gender and ethnical background of students and teachers, and educational institutions. Information is collected by head teachers and provided through MEDs to MEST.

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4.2.1. Challenges in data collection

Due to inadequate monitoring mechanism EMIS has been facing challenges in collecting reliable data of students with special educational needs, out-of-school children and dropouts in the education system.

Difficulties in collecting data of students with special educational needs are due to the lack of mechanism at the school level to collect data, and knowledge and skills to identify special educational needs. In some cases students with spectacles have been identified as students with special educational needs. Currently MEST with the support of Save the Children is preparing a formula for identification and data collection of students with SEN in schools.

Reports (OSCE 2012, KPI 2014) related to school dropouts and non-attendance show that there is a lack of data and the ones that are available are highly unreliable. The concept “out-of-school children” is not even defined in the education policy documents in Kosovo. Some of the main problems with data collection of dropouts and non-attendance indicated in these reports are:

- lack of data collection and accountability mechanism for those who are in charge of collecting and reporting data on dropout students;

- problems with data-matching of those collected at schools compared to the departments of education at the local level;

- lack of data collection on reasons for school dropout; - lack of possibility of disaggregating the existing data by gender and ethnicity or

community;- lack of system in place for the identification and collection of data on children who

have never been in school; and- lack of robust system for the management of student absenteeism.

4.2.2. The enrolment in 2013 - 2014 and 2014 – 2015

The total enrolment based on the EMIS statistics at different education levels of the pre-university education during 2013 – 2014 and 2014 – 2015 is presented in the Table 2 and the number of teachers in the Table 3.

Table 2. Number of students in pre-university institutions in 2013 - 2014 and 2014 – 2015Level 2013 – 2014 2014 – 2015Preschool education (age group children from 0 up to 5 years

3773 (M1932, F 1841)

3774(M1960, F1814)

Pre-primary (age groups 5-6 years)

21383(M11119, 10264)

22154(M11406, F10748)

Primary and lower secondary 278608 273649

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(Grades 1 – 9) (M144335, F134273)(M141168, F132481)

Upper secondary (Grades 10 – 13)

99578(M53220, F46358)*Vocational 54892 (M32990, F21902)* Gym. 44686(M20230, F24456)

83743(M44385, F39358)*Vocational 41940(M25758, F16182)*Gym. 41803(M18627, F23176)

Total 403342(M210606, F192736)

383320(M198919, F184401)

Table 3. Number of teachers in the pre-university education system in 2013 – 2014 and 2014 – 2015

Level 2013 – 2014 2014 – 2015Preschool education (age group children from 0 up to 5 years

525 (M2, F523) 528 (M2, F526)

Pre-primary, primary and lower secondary

17356 (M8499, F8857) 17594 (M8455, F 9139)

Higher secondary (Grades 10 – 13) 5441 (M3361, F2080) 5358 (M3277, F2081)Total 23322 (M11862, F11460) 23480 (M11734, F11746)

The number of students from 2013 – 2014 to 2014 - 2015 has decreased with 20022 students and the number of teachers has increased with 158 teachers from 23322 in 2013 – 2014 to 23480 in 2014 – 2015.

The number of mainstream school and satellite schools and the student – teacher ratio in 2014 -2015 are presented in Table 4.

Table 4. Number of mainstream schools Education level Schools in total Satellite schools Student – teacher ratioPreschools 43 7 9,7Primary and lower secondary 985 352 16,4Upper secondary 119 16 15,6Total 1147 375

Student – teacher figures in statistics (Table 4) do not give the right picture of the class size because 1) there is a large number of satellite schools which are small schools under the administration of bigger “mother schools” and usually have a small number of students, 2)

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there are classes for students from minority communities with only a few students per class, and 3) schools in villages tend to have a small number of students.

Data collected in 61 schools by the Twinning project in 2014 showed that there are classes with 2 – 10 students coming from minority communities and studying in their own language. On the other hand in big municipalities there were upper secondary school classes with more than 40 students.

4.2.3. Gender of the students and teachers in the pre-university education

The Table 5 presents the gender of students and the Table 6 the gender of teachers at different education level in 2014 - 2015. The attendance of girls is 3 – 4 % smaller at preschool, pre-primary and primary and lower secondary levels. In vocational schools there are 61,4 % boys. Only in gymnasiums the enrolment of girls (55,4 %) is significantly bigger than the enrolment of boys.

Table 5. Gender of students at different education level in 2014 - 2015Education level Total Male % Female %Preschool 3774 1960 52 1814 48Pre-primary 22154 11406 51,5 10748 48,5Primary and lower secondary 273649 141168 51,6 132481 48,4Upper secondary (Total)* Vocational* Gymnasium

837434194041803

4438525758 18627

5361,444,6

393581618223176

4738,655,4

Total 383320 198919 51,9 184401 48,1

Table 6. Gender of teachers at different level in 2014 - 2015Education level Total Male % Female %Preschool 528 2 0,4 526 99,6Pre-primary, primary and lower secondary

17594 8455 48,1 9139 51,9

Upper secondary

5358 3277 61,2 2081 38,8

Total 23480 11734 50 11746 50

There are more or less same amount of male and female teachers in the pre-university education but there are big differences at preschool and upper secondary levels. Preschool education is dominated by female teachers when only two males are working in preschool institutions in whole Kosovo. At pre-primary and lower secondary education there are slightly more female teachers. At upper secondary level most of the teachers are males.

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4.2.4. Ethnical background of students and teachers in the pre-university education

Table 7. Number of students and teachers by ethnical origin in pre-university education in 2013 – 2014 and 2014 – 2015.

Ethnical origin

Students 2013 – 2014

Students 2014 – 2015

Teachers2013 – 2014

Teachers2014 – 2015

Albanian 388032 368071 22685 22816Serbian 405 622 - -Turkish 2561 2716 181 193Bosnian 4598 4334 423 436Goran 643 667 6 7Ashkali 4205 4177 8 7Roma 2056 1918 6 7Egyptian 788 772 7 6Croatian 43 31 6 8Other 11 12In total 403342 383320 23322 23480

Note that due to the parallel education system, most of the municipalities have not provided information about Serbian students enrolled in schools.

Statistics on the ethnical structure of children / students in the pre-university education in 2014 – 2015 show that 96 % of all students are Albanian. At different educational levels eth-nical background of students show the following:

- in the preschool education 98,7 % of the children are Albanian and 1,3 % are other ethnic groups;

- in pre-primary education 96.3 % are Albanian and 3.7% are other ethnic groups;- in primary and low secondary education 95.5% are Albanian, 4.5% are other ethnic

groups; and - in high secondary education 98 % are Albanian, 2 % are other ethnic groups.

There are 23480 teachers in the pre-university education and 22816 (97%) of them are Al-banians. From the remaining 664 (3 %) teachers representing other ethnical backgrounds:

- 436 are Bosniaks working in municipalities of Prizren (243), Dragash/Dragaš (75), Peja/Peč (71), Istog/Istok (19), Mitrovicë/Mitrovica (14), Prishtina/Priština (13) and Lipjan/Lipljan (1).

- Turkish teachers (193) are working in municipalities of Prizren (109), Mamusha/Mamuše (38), Gjilan/Gnjilane (23), Prishtina/ Priština (20) and Mitrovica/ Kosovska Mitrovica (3).

- Croatian teachers (8) are working in the municipality of Lipjan/Lipljan. - Roma teachers (7) are working in Prizren (4), Gjilan/Gnjilane (2), and in Klina (1).

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- Ashkali teachers (7) are working in Suhareka/Suva Reka (2), municipalities of Ferizaj/Uroševac, Klina, Peja/Peč, Shtime/Shtimlje and Vushtrri/Vučitrn have just one Ashkali teacher.

- Egyptian teachers (6) are working in Gjakova/Djakovica (3), one in Klina, Peja/Peč and Rahovec/Ohraovac.

- Goran teachers (7) are working in municipalities of Dragash/Dragaš (2), Peja/Peč (2) and Prizren (3).

4.2.5.Number of students with SEN in the education system in 2013 -2014

There are 5 special schools working within Resource Centres and a special school Shpresa with a total enrolment of 455 (M257, F 188). The Table 8 shows the number of students with SEN accommodated at different levels and settings in 2013 – 2014 and in special schools in 2014 – 2015.

The data for 2014 – 2015 provided by EMIS does not contain the number of students in attached classes and those in mainstream classrooms supported by itinerant teachers. This is due to decentralisation process in the beginning of 2014 when attached classes were transmitted from the administration of MEST to municipalities. Unlike before the decentralization, schools have received equal funding of 23 Euros per student per year for all students, including those with SEN in attached classes. These together, with the lack of skills to identify students with SEN are apparently the main reasons why schools have not provided data of students with SEN.

Table 8. Number of students with SEN at different levels and educational settings in 2013 – 2014, and in special schools in 2014 – 2015

Levels Special schools(2013 -2014)

Attached classes (2013 -2014)

Supported in regular schools(2013 – 2014)

Total(2013 -2014)

Special schools (2014 – 2015)

3-4 years 12 19 0 31 104-5 years 0 10 0 10 35-6 years 25 15 18 58 39Grade 1 24 69 38 131 29Grade 2 39 41 21 101 24Grade 3 27 43 43 113 27Grade 4 40 57 36 133 34Grade 5 30 64 29 123 23Grade 6 41 46 26 113 32Grade 7 20 53 19 92 40Grade 8 22 52 9 83 25Grade 9 27 57 9 93 21Grade 10 38 0 1 39 50

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Grade 11 54 0 0 54 37Grade 12 62 0 1 63 51Grade 13 2 0 0 2 -Total 463 526 250 1239 445

The enrolment of special schools functioning in resource centres decreased in one year (2013 – 2014 and 2014 -2015) with 18 students.

In 2013 – 2014 the total number of students in special schools and attached classes was 989. The number of students supported in mainstream schools (250) includes those students who were supported by itinerant and support teachers. Most of the students with learning difficulties such as in reading, writing and mathematics remain without identification and support in schools.

Table 9 shows the number of students according to the type of special educational needs in 2013 – 2014 and 2014 – 2015 according to EMIS.

The Table 9. The number of students according to the type of SEN in 2013 – 2014 and 2014 -2015.

Type of SEN 2013 – 2014Special schools and attached classes

2014 -2015Special schools

Intellectual impairments 691 152Hearing impairments 103 40Visual impairments 86 65Physical impairments 32 2Multiple disabilities 286 140Communication disorders 6 16Autism 26 25Difficulties in learning 6 5Total 1239 445Note that the 2014 – 2015 figures do not contain information of attached classes.

In spring term 2015 DSNE / MEST asked municipalities to provide data on the number of students with SEN enrolled in grades 1 – 9 in mainstream schools in 2014 - 2015 in order to prepare budget for schools. Data gained (presented in the Table 10) contain also information of the students’ ethnical background (Albanian or other ethnical background).

Table 10. Students with SEN according to the type of SEN and with ethnical background in grades 1 – 9 in 2014 – 2015 (data collected by DSNE in 2015)

Students with Albanian Other ethnical background

Total in regular classes and grades 1 – 9

Intellectual impairments 1304 74 1378

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Hearing impairments 222 15 237Visual impairments 939 64 1003Physical impairments 389 25 414Multiple impairments 452 29 481Autism 127 7 134Communication disorders 80 22 102Total 3513 236 3749

The data presented in Table 10 does not contain information from Serbian schools.

The data collected does not include students with difficulties in learning such as in reading, writing and mathematics and those who drop out due to special educational needs.

Data of children with disabilities who have never attended school is also missing. Two groups of children with disabilities are missing from the education system in Kosovo: children with severe intellectual and multiple disabilities, and deaf-blind children. MEST is currently working on preparing guidelines on teaching according to activity area, which will help the accommodation of children with severe intellectual and multiple disabilities. The number of deaf-blind children in Kosovo is unknown.

4.2.6. Statistics on dropouts

Annual EMIS statistics for 2014 – 2015 do not contain data of dropouts. Drop-out rates for 2013 – 2014 for students from different ethnical backgrounds are presented in Table 11. It shows that the biggest drop-out rates are among Roma, Egyptian and Ashkali students. It must be emphasised, as reported before, that according to the OSCE (2012) and KPI (2014) reports data related to school dropouts and non-attendance show that there is a lack of data and the ones that are available are highly unreliable.

Table 11. Drop-out rates for 2013 – 2014 for students with their ethnical backgroundsGrade Albanian Turkish Bosnian Ashkali Roma Egyptian Total1-9 187 0 1 60 90 16 35410-13 1033 2 16 1 0 2 1054Total 1220 2 17 61 90 18 1408Total enrolment

388032 2561 4598 4205 2056 788

Drop-out % within the ethnical group

0,31 0,07 0,36 1,45 4,37 2,28

Note that the data does not include Serbian drop-outs. There were no Gorani and Croatian drop-outs or the data was missing.

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4.2.7. Social and family status of students

In 2014 – 2015, more than 10 % of all students come from families with social assistance of with one parent. 418 students (0, 11 %) of the students have no parents at all. (Table 12.)

Table 12. Social and family status of students at different education level

Educational level Families with social assistance

One parent family No parents

Preschool and pre-primary

1225 (M686, F539)

140(M50, F90)

15(M14, F1)

Primary and lower secondary

27396(M14492, F12904)

5989(M3101, F2888)

304(M126, F178)

Upper secondary 3409(M1874, F1535)

2436(M1293, F1143)

99(M43, F56)

Total 32030 (M17052, F14978)

8565(M4444, F4121)

418(M183, F235)

% of the total enrolment (383320)

8,4 % 2,23 % 0,11%

Recommendations

MEST

- To strengthen the collaboration within MEST and with municipalities to improve statistical data on out-of-school children, children with SEN in and out of the education system and dropouts. Municipality assessment teams will provide useful information regarding students with SEN.

- To ensure that early identification of SEN is functional and support provided already at early childhood education and at pre-primary and primary education;

- To ensure that the transition phases from home / early childhood education to pre-primary / primary education and also from lower secondary education to upper secondary / vocational education is well prepared for students with SEN.

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4.3. Levels of education that need particular attention Levels of education in the education system of Kosovo that need particular attention are pre-school and vocational education and training which both have their own particular challenges related to inclusion and access as presented below.

4.3.1. Pre-school educationPre-school is regulated by the Law on Pre-University Education in Republic of Kosovo (2011), the Law No. 02/L-52 on Pre-school education (2006), and the Kosovo Curriculum Framework (2011). Pre-school education consists of pre-school education for age groups of 0 – 5 and pre-primary education for age groups of 5-6.

In 2014 -2015 there were 43 public pre-school institutions serving 3774 children (Table 14). Number of teachers was 528 (M2, F526). Compared to the previous year the enrolment has remained more or less the same. In pre-primary education the enrolment has slightly increased in 2014 – 2015.

Pre-primary level has been an optional preschool programme which has been offered in most of the primary schools in Kosovo. In 2014 – 2015 there were 22154 children in pre-primary education. In 2015 – 2016 pre-primary education will become compulsory.

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The annual EMIS statistics for 2014 – 2015 show that in Prishtina/Priština, Prizren and Gjakova/Djakovica there are private pre- and pre-primary institutions which in 2014 – 2015 were catering in total 251 preschool children and 66 pre-primary school children. In addition there are private preschool institutions which are in the process to be licensed by MEST and information of their enrolment is not included in annual statistics. According to the Division for Preschool education at MEST, there are more than 2000 children enrolled in these private institutions.

Table 13. Enrolment in public preschool and pre-primary education in 2013 – 2014 and 2014 -2015Level 2013 – 2014 2014 – 2015Preschool education (age group children from 0 up to 5 years

3773 (M1932, F 1841)

3774(M1960, F1814)

Pre-primary (age groups 5-6 years) 21383(M11119, 10264)

22154(M11406, F10748)

The pre-school education by Law is the right for all children. However, Kosovo has the lowest rate of pre-school attendance compared to other countries of Western Balkan (KEC 2014).

Municipalities have the responsibility for organising pre-school and pre-primary education. According to KPI (2014) there are slight differences among practices of different MEDs with regard to the enrolment of children in pre-school education. Most of the seven municipalities which were involved in the KPI study, conducted in 2013 – 2014, have included activities for inclusion, supervision and organization of pre-school education in their annual plans, such as training of educators responsible for inclusion, supervision of children’s enrolment in pre-primary grades with information of age, gender and ethnical background. However, all annual plans lack operational action plans aiming at increasing the enrolment in pre-school classes. Interviewed MED officials had justified the lack of plans and activities on budgetary constraints and plans related to pre-primary education that it was not compulsory.

The main challenges faced and some solutions in the field of early childhood education are:1) Lack of space as the biggest problem. - Currently there are only 43 public early childhood institutions, in Prishtina/Priština 8

and in Gjilan/Gnjilane 3, and other municipalities have just one except seven new municipalities which do not have any.

- Lack of space is a problem particularly in bigger municipalities. E.g. in Prishtina/Priština there can be 50 children applying for one place. On the other hand

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there are preschool institutions in smaller municipalities which could enrol more children that there are applicants.

- Lack of space has a discriminatory impact on families, because since preschool is not obligatory particularly big municipalities have set criteria of giving priority to children whose parents are employed.

2) Poor socio-economic status of families- There is a monthly fee to be paid by parents in preschools (ages 0 – 5).- Big families and unemployed mothers are often the reasons for not sending a child

to preschool.- Division of Preschool education has been raising awareness on the importance of

early childhood education among parents. 3) Lack of equal qualification of early childhood educators and particularly lack of

qualified educators, particularly for ages 0 – 3;- Educators for ages 0 – 3 have medical nursery training background, and educators

for ages 3 – 5 have BA in early childhood education.- Educators for ages 0 – 3 have medical nursing training background.- MEST and FoE have addressed this problem and in 2014 FoE started the BA level

training on educators for ages 0 – 3. There are currently 100 students in this a four-year programme.

4) Lack qualified educators to identify special educational needs and to work with children with SEN; and

5) Lack of support systems.

Early childhood is the stage where education can most effectively influence the development of children and help reverse disadvantage (EURLex 2011). Therefore, early childhood education is particularly needed for children coming from socially disadvantaged families. Early childhood education has shown to be an important way to reduce early school leaving, close the gap in social development and numeracy and literacy achievements between children from socially advantaged and disadvantaged backgrounds, break the cycle of low achievement and disengagement that often leads to drop-out and transmission of poverty from one generation to the next. (EURLex 2011.)

Children with developmental delays and disabilities would benefit from early childhood education where they could, at early age, develop skills (e.g. social, motor, cognitive, communication) needed later in school. Early childhood education offers potential for greater inclusion of children with SEN paving the way for their integration in mainstream schools (EURLex 2011).

EMIS statistics for 2014 -2015 show the number of pre-school students with SEN enrolled in special schools and not in mainstreaming. In special schools the enrolment of children at the age group of 3 – 5 years is 13, and in pre-primary 39. According to EURLex (2011) there is

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clear evidence that universal access to quality early childhood education and care is more beneficial than interventions targeted exclusively at vulnerable groups.

The enrolment of children from minority communities in preschools is extremely low. In school year 2014 -2015 there were 50 children from minority communities enrolled in public preschool institution and as an example there were only 5 Romani children included. (EMIS 2015.)

Despite the depressive statistical data, there are good examples among municipalities on how to ensure access to early childhood education for children with disadvantaged background and with disabilities. One of these good examples is the municipality of Prishtina/Priština which, in providing access, has given priority to children with single mothers and poor families, children with disabilities and special needs.

One of the challenges in preschool education is related to the gender balance among the staff members. There are only two men working as preschool teachers in whole Kosovo. Children, particularly those who come from families without a father, need role models which male teachers in preschools could provide.

Early Learning Development Standards for Children age 0 – 6

Early Learning Development Standards for Children age 0 – 6 adopted in 2011 provide a framework for preschool education to stimulate optimal development of children and serve all stakeholders in early childhood. Standards are designed for all children in Kosovo regardless of gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status of their families, cultural diversities, individual characteristics, skills and specific needs. Development and learning standards in early childhood are child-centred and aim to encourage support and create opportunities and a stimulating environment for the optimal development of children and their learning.

MEST in collaboration with UNICEF has trained all preschool educators in using the standards. This year the training for pre-primary teachers starts. The usage of standards is a part of the MEST licensing system of educators. Educators have to prepare a portfolio of the work they have done related to standards and send it to MEST. A group of trained experts do the assessment of portfolios and if someone fails in implementation, support is provided by these experts. In March 2015 certificates were provided for 218 educators. Community centresWith the support of Save the Children, Balkan Sunflowers Kosova and Swiss Caritas, around 20 community centres have been established particularly in rural areas in 7 regions. These community centres serve children ages 3 – 6. Children stay in the community centres 2 – 3 hours per day. Community centres were funded by donors for the first three years. Currently municipalities are administrating them.

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Save the Children has been supporting early childhood education in Kosovo particularly in the field of SEN (Annex 4).

Recommendations

MEDs and preschool institutions

- To improve conditions for quality pre-school education for all and particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, with developmental delays and disabilities;

- To build and establish more preschools in order to provide access for all children;- To raise awareness among parents and communities about the importance of early

childhood education;- To facilitate the transition of children between family and preschool, and between

preschool and pre-primary;- To improve the gender balance among staff.

4.3.2. Vocational education and training (VET)

Vocational Education Division of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology presents the administrative and vocational component of the higher secondary education. The Vocational education and training in Kosovo is regulated by the following Laws and strategies:

- Law No.04/L-032 on Pre-University Education (2011);- Law No. 04/L-138 for Vocational Education and Training (2013);- Law No. 04/L-143 on Adults Education and Training (2012); - Kosovo Education Strategic Plan 2011 - 2016 (2011); and - Strategy for Improvement of Professional practice 2013 – 2020 (2013); and - Draft Strategy for Career Guidance for 2015 - 2018.

The principals for the vocational education and training set in the Law for Vocational Education and Training (2013) are: 1) inclusion; 2) access, transfer and progress; 3) theoretical learning and professional practice; 4) current and future needs of the economy; and 5) supporting career development as integrated part of lifelong learning.

4.3.2.1. Enrolment in VET

According to EMIS, in 2014 – 2015 the total enrolment in VET institutions was 41940 which is around 50 % of the enrolment in upper secondary education. The enrolment in VET schools has been increasing during last years. In 2013 – 2014 the VET enrolment at upper secondary level was 55 % of the total enrolment (Table 14) and in 2012 – 2013 almost 60 %.

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Table 14. Number of students in vocational education institutions in 2013- 2014 and 2014 – 2015Level 2013 – 2014 2014 – 2015Upper secondary total (Grades 10 – 13)

99578 83743

Vocational Higher secondary (Grades 10 – 13)

Vocational 54892 (M32990, F21902)

Vocational 41940(M25758, F16182)

% of the VET students in up-per secondary education

55%(M33 %, F 22%)

50 %(30,7 %, F19,3 %)

4.3.2.2. Challenges faced in VET related to inclusion

In 2013 Gashi A. & Serhati J. conducted a study related to the vocational education and training aiming to deepen the understanding of the barriers and opportunities for building inclusive and equitable vocational education system in Kosovo. The study revealed that several policies aim at promoting inclusive vocational education, but there are implementation barriers presented below:

- The legislation and strategic priorities set by MEST are not interlinked with those of other line Ministries and do not respond effectively to the economic situation;

- Some recent reforms have not yet been implemented, so their impact is not yet known (i.e. the role of National Qualifications Framework and Accreditation system in providing a flexible and equal system for all).

- The mechanisms created by national level policy makers do not correspond to the capacities available at the local level and in schools (i.e. the administrative order adopted for preventing dropout at schools requires additional financial resources for prevention and response teams within schools, while the new responsibilities devolved to municipalities lack capacities to deal with them).

- Some of the opportunities available to vocational schools are not being used effectively (e-learning to meet the needs of disabled students, textbooks to all with no extra costs and other measures are not adequately used by schools, and the role of practice firms in providing opportunities to different marginalized groups).

According to Gashi A. & Serhati J. (2013) challenges that VET schools in Kosovo have been facing are as follows:

- Poor infrastructure, poor image, and low attractiveness to young people. - Vocational education is seen as a less desirable choice for students and many

students choose vocational schools after having failed to enroll in general education. - Students in vocational schools originate from poor socio-economic backgrounds,

which imply that they are at risk of social exclusion.

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- Teachers in VET schools lack pedagogical training which has affected negatively to the quality of the education.

- VET graduates are not adequately prepared for the labour market because schools are poorly equipped, provide only limited opportunities to learn practical skills, and few opportunities for placement at local enterprises for the professional practice of students.

- VET schools are less likely to select girls, students with disabilities and students with learning difficulties.

- VET schools may be less effective in providing employment opportunities for girls; - Employment opportunities for persons with disabilities and those with learning

difficulties are even more difficult than for others. - There is not any formal system for tracking within the schools, which offers equal

opportunities to all groups of students.

4.3.2.3. Current gender balance in VET

The existing 138 VET programmes draw more males than females. According to EMIS, in 2014 -2015 the total enrolment in VET schools was 41940 and 61, 4 % of students were males and 38,6 % females. It must be noted that at the same time 55, 4 % of the students in general upper secondary education are female.

Färnsveded U. et al (2014) suggested that “vocational schools seem divided by stereotypical professions for women and men, without institutional intentions to break these patterns”. The Vocational Education Division at MEST has addressed this problem by organising various events to motivate girls to apply to vocational education in 2015.

4.3.2.4. Current situation of students with SEN in VET

The education path for students with SEN often stops during or after finishing the compulsory education. In compulsory education students with SEN are mainly enrolled in attached classes or special schools and there is not any proper linkage to continue education to vocational education programmes.

There are five special schools in the existing resource centres providing training programmes for students with disabilities (see Chapter 4.4.1.5.) .In 2014 - 2015 the total number of students in these special vocational training programmes was 138. In regular VET schools there is unknown number of students with disabilities or learning difficulties, but they are not provided any support (EU KOSVET V, 2011). According to Gashi A. & Serhati J. (2013.), regular VET schools have not been prepared for providing education for students with disabilities and learning difficulties because of the following reasons:

- teachers are not trained to meet special educational needs in the classroom; - the infrastructure sets limitations for access for persons with disabilities; and

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- there are not suitable programmes for students with SEN and places for profes-sional practice for them.

4.3.2.5. Students from minority communities in VET

Drop-out rates among students from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities are high throughout the compulsory education, and only a small number of children from these communities continue into secondary schools. Drop-out rates are especially high among girls, as a result of early marriages and deeply-entrenched perceptions of gender roles.

4.3.2.6. Recommendations proposed by Gashi A. & Serhati J. in 2013

Gashi A. & Serhati J. proposed the following actions for schools:

1) Schools should develop specific plans to attract students with disabilities and learning difficulties in profiles that suit these two groups, and to place these students in suitable companies for professional practice.

2) Career guidance services should serve better students with disabilities, from minority groups and girls.

3) Schools should focus their efforts to prevent dropout on the first level of vocational schooling or the 10th grade.

4) Teachers should be better trained in student-teacher relationships and in dealing with socially excluded students.

In order to improve the employment opportunities for disadvantaged groups at the labour market Gashi A. & Serhati J (2013) recommended that:

1) Municipalities should analyse local labour market needs and understand the potential for employment of students with special needs and disabilities and ethnicities;

2) Practice firms should better address individual student needs; 3) Schools should better promote the profiles and degrees they offer and local job

opportunities;4) Schools should provide mentoring and coaching for the practical part of the

vocational schooling to both promote but also address the inclusiveness in the education experience;

5) With the support of donors, NGOs dealing with issues of social exclusion should cooperate with vocational schools and address their specific needs, and

6) Schools and the system itself should encourage more the business associations to offer placements in companies for vocational students from disadvantaged groups.

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4.3.2.7. Addressing the challenges

MEST has addressed the challenges faced in the vocational education and training and with the support of donor funded projects it has been making efforts to amend the situation.

Five Centres of Competence (CoC) have been established partly with the support of the Support to Vocational Education and Training Reform in Kosovo - KSV/015 project (Annex 3), the Embassy of Norway and Lux Development. The CoCs' provide vocational education and training for youngsters, work closely with private companies to develop hands on and "work-based" learning opportunities for VET students, and offer in-house training and life-long-learning services for businesses. The KSV/015 project has been supporting the construction and equipment of the CoCs and including curriculum development with the respective training of trainers and capacity building of CoC staff.

Social Inclusion in Vocational Education and Training (SIVET) project (Annex 3) implemented in five VET schools in 2011 – 2013 supported the MEST to implement social inclusion in VET and support an equal access to vocational education and training for all. The project aimed at creating preconditions for a child friendly, inclusive school environment and school climate, and focused on teacher training, creating an inclusive school climate and equipping model clasrooms to facilitate inclusive teaching and learning.

The SIVET project developed teacher training programmes on inclusive education, which were recognised and accredited by MEST. Model classrooms of pilot schools were equipped to facilitate implementation of inclusive teaching and learning methods, and five teachers in each pilot schools who were trained on inclusive teaching and learning methodologies disseminated the knowledge to other teachers at own schools (plans to disseminate to other VET schools in Kosovo). Schools developed and adopted their own school regulations on inclusion.

There was overall high satisfaction for the results of the project among school management, teachers, students and parents with results of using the new methodolgy in class. The learning results and attendance improved, students were more motivated in learning and there was more time for teachers to allocate to students with any kind of difficulties in learning. SIVET developed rrecommendations to foster inclusive education in VET, and recommendations to draft administrative instruction on inclusive education in VET.

MEST has started pedagogical training of all VET teachers in 2015. This training will be a part of the Master Degree Programme developed by the Faculty of Education in the University of Pristina in collaboration with MEST for the future VET teachers. The Master Degree Progamme will start in 2016 – 2017.

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ALLED – Aligning Education with Labour Market Needs – project (Annex 3) started in February 2015. The project strengthens the quality and relevance of education programmes and the link between education and the labour market as a precondition for employability and economic development. It seeks to advance cooperation and dialogue between education institutions and social partners. It focuses on aligning education with labour market needs in three sectors: agriculture, machinery and food-processing.

The three main targeted results are as follows (activities in Annex 3):

1. Strengthen the link between Higher Education (HE) and labour market needs through the development, modernisation and quality reform of HE programmes to meet labour market needs;

2. Ensure that the NQF is successfully implemented with validated qualifications offered by accredited institutions at Levels 2-5 of the framework;

3. Improve the quality of practical and applied teaching and learning in vocational education and training (VET) schools/institutions in core occupational sectors relevant to labour market needs.

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4.4. Support systems to promote inclusive education

In order to create inclusive education system, the main focus should be on what is happening in the mainstream classrooms and how to support mainstream teachers to include and meet the diverse needs in the classroom.

The following sub-chapters present the structure and functioning of support services for students with SEN, an overview of the actions made to provide quality education for students from minority communities, actions made to prevent dropouts and to find out-of-school children, how gender equity is embedded in the education system, and an overview to the current teacher training system is facing the needs of teachers in inclusive classrooms and schools. The functioning of services is analysed and some recommendations for the improvement of the system are provided.

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4.4.1. Structure and functioning of support services for students with SEN in Kosovo

According to the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education (1994), translating the vision of inclusive education into practice requires creating educational policies, pedagogical practices and learning environments that include all children. Inclusion goes forward parallel with the ability to provide support services for children with special educational needs (SEN) in their regular, neighbourhood schools.

During last 15 years, with the support of many donors (Annex 4) the Ministry of Education, Science and Technologies has been developing a system to provide access and support to children with SEN. Many positive developments have been achieved starting from the legislation and establishment of services and mechanism to provide support for students with SEN.

According to the Law on Pre-University Education (Article 39), a child has learning difficulties if the child has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of that age; or if the child has a disability which either prevents or hinders him or her from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for children of his or her age in educational and/or training institutions.

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This chapter describes the structure and functioning of the support systems as presented in the Law and Administrative Instructions, and provides recommendations on how to improve the services.

Figure 1 illustrates how support services for meeting SEN is organised in the pre-university education in Kosovo.

Figure 1 Support services for special educational needs

In MEST, the Division of Special Needs Education (DSNE) operates within the Department of Pre-university Education Policies (DPEP) and consists of four experts and one administrator. DSNE is responsible for the:

- Developing policies for inclusive education, with special emphasis on children with special educational needs;

- Planning and management of the budget for special needs education;- Management of the staff working with children with special educational needs in

Resource Centres;- Coordination and planning of the activities in the field of inclusive education with

institutions, municipalities an various local and international organisations;- Monitoring and progressing of the work in the RCs, including pedagogical planning,

support services, planning of the budget and identification of needs for supportive advice;

- Promoting for inclusive education through concrete actions that ensure increased participation of children with SEN at all levels of pre-university education, with a special focus on children who are outside the education system;

- Monitoring of the quality of education process provided to the students with SEN at all levels of pre-university education;

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- Cooperation and coordination with various local and international organisations regarding activities and initiating programmes and projects that will improve the state of education with special needs and also promoting inclusive education.

Municipality Education Directorates are administrating the work of school in the municipality. Municipalities in Kosovo have full and exclusive powers in the provision of public pre-primary, primary and secondary education, including registration and licensing of educational institutions, recruitment, payment of salaries and training of education instructors and administrators. (Law Nr. 03/L-040 on Local Self-Government, Article 17.)

In the beginning of 2014 as a result of the decentralisation process, administration of attached classes (special classes located in mainstream school premises) was handed over from MEST to municipalities. Before this decentralization process, school with attached classes received funding for attached classes from MEST. After decentralization, MEDs have provided funding for schools according to enrolment and therefore students with SEN even in attached classes remained without any extra funding. MEDs continue to provide transportation for students with SEN.

4.4.1.1. Services at the MED level

Inclusive education officers

28 municipalities have nominated inclusive education officers by 2015 and job description for them has been prepared by DSNE of MEST (Annex 7). Officers have been supported by DSNE by ongoing trainings related to the field of inclusive / special needs education, implementing the Law, KESP, Administrative Instructions etc. Inclusive education officers have regular meetings with DSNE to get advice and support and share information of experiences.

Municipality professional assessment teams

The Law on Pre-university Education (Article 41) stipulates that each municipality alone, or in cooperation with other municipalities shall establish an expert assessment and support team for special educational needs to provide external support to educational and/or training institutions, and to provide counselling and guidance to teachers, pupils and

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parents. So far, 28 municipalities have established assessment teams. DSNE has developed and provided an instrument with guidelines for the use of municipality assessment team and assessment teams have been trained on the usage of the instrument.

Administrative Instruction No. 07/2012 on Professional Assessment of Children with Special Educational Needs determines the procedure how professional assessment of children with special educational needs is conducted.

The professional assessment shall, in line with the principle of inclusive education and taking into account the wishes and opinions of parents, consider and determine whether the pupil requires special educational provision and what type of teaching should be provided. Professional assessment of children includes preschool institutions, all classes of regular schools, resource centres, hospital special schools, educational and rehabilitation centres of NGOs.

The aims of the assessment are: - to assess the abilities, interests and needs of the child; - to give recommendations on teaching methods, aids, and other accommodations

necessary for the child’s learning and well-being; - to define needs for special equipment needed in learning; and- to give recommendations on the placement of the pupil.

Request for professional assessment may be initiated by a parent / legal guardian, school principal with the request of a teacher, MED officer for inclusive education, medical experts, and director of Municipal Centre for Social Work. The request for assessment must be delivered to MED.

Structure of the assessment team is:- MED official for inclusive education- Psychologist- Social worker- Inclusive (support) teacher- Teacher of Resource Centre- Rehabilitation specialist depending on the type of special need is involved.

Parent / guardian must be present and consulted during the time of assessment.

Individualized Education Plan (IEP) will be compiled after decision for special needs education is done by the assessment team. Assessment team can give recommendations for the content of IEP. Review of each decision must be done at least once per year.4.4.1.2. Support at the school level

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There are 69 attached classes with students mainly with sensory, intellectual, physical and neurological disabilities in whole Kosovo with 526 students in 2013 - 2014. Attached classes are located in premises of mainstream schools and teachers of attached classes are qualified special teachers.

According to the Administrative Instruction (No. 24/2014), attached classes are to be transformed in resource rooms and attached class teachers to work as support teachers. Resource rooms should provide the following services:

- To support students with SEN in regular classrooms;- To provide individual support to students with SEN;- To produce teaching materials for students with SEN;- To support teachers working with students with SEN;- To organise inclusive activities inside and outside of the school;- Planning, counselling and assessments of Individualised educational plans (IEPs);- Meetings with parents and various NGOs.

The role of support teacher is:- To observe in regular classes in collaboration with class teachers to identify students

with SEN, particularly in transition phases;- To support students with SEN and learning difficulties in regular classes;- To plan and organise teaching in classes with students with SEN in collaboration with

the class teacher;- To work individually with the student with SEN when necessary;- To compile the IEP in collaboration with the class teacher, parent and when possible

with the student;- To make sure that IEPs are evaluated and reviewed regularly;- To advise and assist regular teachers on how to work with students with SEN and

how to manage an inclusive classroom;- To combine alternative teaching materials with regular teachers for teaching

students with SEN;- To assist to raise awareness among the school staff on inclusion;- To assist the management of the school to accommodate students with SEN;- To co-operate with Resource Centres (RCs) in order to transfer students from RCs to

regular schools and support students with SEN in the integration process;- To co-operate with RCs to provide adequate teaching methods and materials and

support to students with SEN;

In the case there are two or more attached classes in the school and there is no need for more than one support teacher, MED may decide to transfer the support teacher in the other school in the municipality.

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Support teams

Administrative instruction No. 24/2014 stipulates that schools have to establish support teams to support the transfer of students from attached classes into the regular class. The support team consists of the following members:

- Head teacher;- Attached class and support teacher;- Psychologist or pedagogue or a teacher with training on inclusive education.

Attached class teacher assesses the students who are ready for a part or full-time integration in the regular class. After discussion in and with the decision of the support team, the head teacher prepares a written decision on integration into the regular class. Integration is recommended to start in skills subjects, arts and physical education but the support team has the final decision if the student can be integrated in other subjects or be fully integrated. The progress of the student with SEN in the regular class must be followed up by the support teacher, attached teacher and class / subject teacher in order to support if challenges are faced in adaptation or in learning.

Individualised educational plans (IEPs)

The Law on Pre-University Education (Article 41) determines that the content of tuition for pupils with special educational needs shall be set out in individual education plans (IEPs). The procedure for implementation and assessment of IEP is regulated in the Administrative Instruction No. 18/2013 on the use of Individual Education Plan with the following content:

- Definition of the IEP;- Defines which students have the right for an IEP;- Defines what an IEP must contain;- Defines how an IEP must be reviewed and assessed;- Defines how students with IEPs must be assessed.- Identification and maintenance of the documentation;- Monitoring of the use of IEPs.

Guidelines for individualised educational plans were published by MEST in 2011 and an instrument for monitoring the IEP implementation has been developed. MEST with the support of donor projects and resource centres have trained hundreds of teachers in the usage of IEP, and regional inspectors and head teachers of schools with attached classes have been trained to monitor the usage of IEPs.

4.4.1.4. Current situation

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During last years, the number of attached classes has decreased from 73 to 69. Unfortunately, most of the municipalities with attached classes tend to accommodate students with disabilities and SEN in attached classes. According to MEDs and schools, this is due to the limited knowledge and skills among regular class teachers to manage classrooms with students with SEN.

Even though most of the attached classes are functioning in the same building with mainstream classes there is hardly any communication with students from regular classes. Students in attached classes are packed in the same classroom despite their age or special needs caused by the disability, and in addition curriculum differentiations are hardly possible because there are not any school assistants available. As a result, it can be noted that that attached classes strengthen the segregation of students with SEN, function mainly as storages for students with disabilities and do not present any quality education.

The plan to transform attached classes into resource rooms mean that students from attached classes will be transferred to mainstream classroom. The current learning conditions in attached classes give a good reason for it but in order to avoid even worse situation in the regular classrooms when accommodating students with disabilities, preparations must be done properly meaning that teachers of regular classes must be trained to manage inclusive classroom and support services must be available for students with SEN and their teachers. Students must be accommodated in age-appropriate grades.

There are only 37 support teachers appointed, 9 working at the preschool level and 28 in primary schools, and thus the role of resource rooms and support teachers have remained unknown for most of the schools in Kosovo. Since 2009 with the support of Save the Children and FSIESK 20 inclusive schools including 9 preschools have been established. In these schools all staff members have been trained on inclusive education, didactic materials have been provided, supplies and equipment (computers and laptops) provided and support teachers have been hired. Index for Inclusion (Annex 6) was introduced in most of these schools and 7 primary and lower secondary schools and 7 preschools are still using it as a tool to develop the school to become more inclusive. Despite efforts to make teachers familiar with individualised educational plans, IEPs are still mainly unknown in schools and in use systematically only in special schools and attached classes. Particularly teachers in mainstream schools need to get training on how to prepare and use IEPs including planning individual curriculum differentiations.

One of the inclusive schools is primary and lower secondary lower school “Rexhep Elmazi” in Gjilan/Gnjilane, which is a good example of a Kosovar school which has created good learning environment for students with SEN. The good practices for including students with SEN developed in the school are presented in below.

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Inclusive school “Rexhep Elmazi” in Gjilan/Gnjilane is showing good practices for including students with disabilities

- The management of the school is very positive on inclusive education approach and is making all possible efforts to support students with SEN;

- 24 students with disabilities and additional number of students with difficulties in reading, writing and mathematics are enrolled ad supported;

- 16 of students with disabilities are studying in mainstream classrooms and supported by the support teacher;

- One attached class with 8 students with intellectual impairments and deafness;- In the attached class 2 Sign language interpreters hired by MED;- Support teacher providing individual support to students with SEN and co-teaching

with class and subject teachers;- IEPs in use and parents involved in preparation of IEPs; - Municipality assessment team is supporting the school;- Most teachers have been trained on special / inclusive education by Finnish projects

since 2000 and attitudes of all teachers are positive for inclusion and supporting students with SEN.

Recommendations

MEST

- To empower municipality assessment teams by providing sufficient training for them;

- To plan how to increase the number of support teachers in schools byo preparing Administrative Instruction for support teachers in all schools (not

only schools with attached class) including instructions for establishment of resource rooms and support teams;

o planning and implementing in-service and pre-service training courses for support teachers in collaboration with the KPI and FoE;

o guiding MEDs to use the existing human resources to work as support teachers particularly in schools with decreasing number of students;

- To follow up that the transformation of the attached classes into resource rooms is well prepared in advance. The focus must be in empowering the class and subject teachers to welcome students with SEN. The following should be kept in mind:

o Students in attached classes must be accommodated in age-appropriate classes;

o Class and subject teachers must be trained and prepared well to manage an inclusive classroom and to meet the needs of students with SEN;

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o Teachers need to be trained in the use of IEPs and in the differentiation of the curriculum (content, teaching strategies, materials and assessment);

o Support provided to the student with SEN and class / subject teachers must be properly planned before accommodating the student with SEN into the regular class.

- To organise continuous trainings for teachers at all levels of pre-university education on the usage of IEPs, and to follow up and monitor the usage and quality of IEPs.

MEDs- To ensure that principals of inclusive education as stipulated in the legal framework

of Kosovo are implemented in the municipality;

- To ensure that municipality inclusive education officer has been nominated;- To support the work of inclusive education officer to coordinate and provide support

to schools;

- To ensure that municipality assessment teams have been established, trained and collaborating with schools;

- To mobilize municipality assessment teams to work with schools to identify students with SEN and provide reliable data for EMIS on the number of children with SEN in or out of school;

- To ensure that head teachers are trained to manage an inclusive school and teachers trained to manage an inclusive classroom by organising continuous trainings on inclusion;

- To transform attached classes into resource rooms and to prepare the transformation process well to ensure that class and subject teachers are trained to manage inclusive classroom and meet the needs of SEN in the classroom; and to ensure that sufficient support is provided for students with SEN and their teachers;

- To provide schools with support teachers and resource rooms. Support teachers and resource rooms are needed in all schools, not only in those with attached classes. MEDs could start with one of the following options: 1) Depending on the number of schools in the municipality to hire 1-3 “travelling”

support teachers to work in the municipality to support schools; 2) To establish resource rooms in all schools where “travelling” support teachers

can provide individual / small group support; 3) To transform some schools to resource schools or “cluster centres” to provide

professional support and materials to other schools in the municipality. Establishment of the cluster centre requires the following:

a. Hiring of support teachers in the cluster centre; b. Training of teachers in order to acquire knowledge and skills on how to

manage an inclusive classroom and support students with SEN;

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c. Budget allocations to produce and provide learning materials for the use of schools.

These schools should preferably be the current inclusive schools, and KCF pilot schools which are supported by the Twinning project and where Kosovo Pedagogical Institute and Twinning project have been building capacity among teachers and management. Municipalities with decreasing number of students could use particularly class teachers to work after being trained as support teachers. MEST in collaboration with KPI and FoE should plan how to train these teachers to work as support teachers.

- The role of support teachers must be clarified to head teachers and teachers in mainstream schools. Co-operative teaching between teachers and support teacher should be strengthened and teachers trained on collaborative teaching methods;

- To organise continuous trainings for teachers at all levels of pre-university education on the usage of IEPs, and to follow up and monitor the usage and quality of IEPs.

4.4.1.5. Resource centres

Functioning of resource centres and special schools are determined by the Law on Pre-University Education (Article 42) and Administrative Instruction No 23/2013 on Resource Centres. According to the Law the Ministry may establish and maintain resource centres, special schools and other units providing special education for children with severe or multiple disabilities or learning difficulties who are assessed as being unable to be educated in municipal schools or public training institutions. Resource centres and other special units established shall provide, within available resources, assistance on request to educational and/or training institutions educating pupils with learning difficulties.

Resource centres are functioning directly under the administration of MEST. The Ministry shall provide free, safe, and suitable transport, or arrange suitable residential care, according to individual expert assessment, for children attending resource centres, special schools, and other units established under this part.

Resources centres are functioning 1) as special schools for students with severe and multiple disabilities and providing accommodation in dormitories for those in need; and 2) as support services to provide support to mainstream schools in teaching students with SEN. Special school and support services co-operate closely to exchange information, knowledge, expertise, research and resources.

There are five resource centres in Kosovo and each of them with a specific field of specialisation:

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- RC Xheladin Deda in Peja/Peč for teaching and services for students with visual impairments;

- RC Mother Teresa in Prizren for teaching and services for students with hearing impairments;

- RC Perparimi in Prishtina/Priština for teaching and services for students with intellectual impairments and developmental delays;

- RC Lef Nosi in Prizren for students with intellectual impairments and developmental delays; and

- RC Nena Teresa in Mitrovicë/Mitrovica for students with intellectual impairments and developmental delays.

Each of the RCs is determined to serve certain zones in order to provide services for whole country. The educational levels special schools are working on:

- Pre-primary education grade (level 0);- Primary education, grades 1-5;- Lower secondary education, grades 6-9;- Upper secondary education, grades 10-12; and - Non-formal education based on the specialization of the school.

According to the Administrative Instruction, the target group of non-formal education consists of students who have exceeded the school-age and who should have access to special programmes to complete the compulsory education. These may be over-aged students who are already registered in the RC, children who are enrolled for the first time in school or children that are identified outside the school system, or children that are already enrolled but whose schooling has been interrupted by health reasons. Unfortunately, non- formal education has not yet been provided in Resource Centres.

Resource centres provide also vocational training. The training programmes are follows:- RC Përparimi in Prishtina: Agriculture- RC Nena Tereza in Mitrovica: Machinery and carpentry, and tailoring- RC Nena Tereza in Prizren: Metal Works, carpentry, and textile and fashion

design- RC Xheladin Deda in Peja: Business and business administration and information

technology - RC Lef Nosi in Prizren: Agriculture and Arboryculture

Services provided by RCs stipulated in the Administrative Instruction No 23/2013 on Resource Centres are as follows:

1) Duties of Special Schools- Provision of teaching for children with severe and multiple disabilities;

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- Preparation of special educational needs programmes for students in the school;- Preparation of IEPs for students;- Provision of programmes with other educational institutions for non-formal

education for persons with disabilities that have exceeded the school age;- Provision of rehabilitation services according to the specialization of the school;- Assessment of students’ needs;- Planning of the transition phase of students; - Co-operation with parents and relevant institutions;- Organising of safe and efficient transportation for students;- Provision of accommodation for students in dormitories, organising of activities

outside the school;- Provision of daily meals for students in RC.

2) Duties of Resource CentresResource Centres provide services to regular schools related to the teaching and learning of students with SEN. Each RC have nominated a co-ordinator for support services, hired itinerant teachers and established teams for technical support as follows:

- A pedagogical assessment team;- A rehabilitation team; - A team for compiling teaching materials;- A training teams; and - A team for special services according to the needs of RC.

Duties of support services: - Identification and assessment of children including out of school and pre-school

children;- Support to pre-school institutions, regular schools and parents;- Support to students and teachers in regular schools by itinerant teachers;- Development, compiling and distributing of support materials for students;- Provision of advice for teachers in regular schools to teach students with SEN;- Organising of accredited courses for teachers with students with disabilities and

difficulties in learning;- Provision of short courses for students from regular schools who are in need for

alternative techniques for learning, assessment and rehabilitation or in need for support in transition period;

- Pedagogical assessment of students with disabilities and learning difficulties in schools;

- Provision of support and teaching equipment for students with disabilities and learning difficulties;

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- Co-operation with NGOs that deal with persons with disabilities to identify children with disabilities and learning difficulties;

- Networking other RCs to cover all territory of Kosovo;- Co-operation with multi-professional municipality teams regarding to the placement

of the child with disability and learning difficulties and support needed- Organising of awareness raising campaigns on inclusive education for parents and

community members;- Co-operation with support and attached class teachers in co-ordination of support

for students with disabilities and learning difficulties;- Conducting of research and publishing of results regarding teaching methods and

techniques;- Keeping and updating record on the data of support provided to regular schools,

preparing regular reports on the work done.

The resource centres have three main functions: - To provide support to other schools;- To produce teaching and learning materials for the use of schools with students with

SEN in mainstream schools; and - To provide trainings for teachers of mainstream schools.

Itinerant teachers

Currently there are 9 itinerant teachers working in 5 Resource Centres. Duties of itinerant teachers are stipulated in the Administrative instruction No 23/2013 on Resource Centres as follows:

1. Support to students in regular schools including identification of needs; 2. Form of support is decided within the support group of RC;3. Compiling working plans and reports;4. Weekly meetings in RC and meetings with other RC itinerant teachers in every three

months;5. 40 hours of weekly work contains 10 hours travelling, 10 hours of preparation of

materials and 20 hours of support to students.

Job description for itinerant teachers is prepared by DSNE, MEST (Annex 7). According to the data collected by DSNE, MEST in 2014 – 2015 seven itinerant teachers of 5 resource centres supported 155 students in mainstream schools.

Transfer of the student from special school to mainstream school

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Integration process from RC to regular schools is regulated by the Administrative Instruction on resource centres (No 23/2013) as follows:

- If the assessment team in RC has assessed that the child could be involved in regular school, the RC is obliged to initiate and develop the procedure for inclusion of the child;

- Integration can be partial when student attends the school most of the teaching hours or fulltime when integration is done in close collaboration with the parent and regular school.

Resource centres as training providers

MEST has authorized resource centres to provide for 16 training programmes (see the Table 15).

Table 15. Accredited training programmes provided by resource centresAccredited training Dr.

Xheladin Deda, Peja/Peč

Mother Teresa, Prizren

Perparimi, Prishtina/Priština

Lef Nosi, Prizren

Mother Teresa, Mitrovica/Kosovska Mitrovica

Individualised Educational Plans

X X X (also in Bosniak)

X

Teaching and learning material production

X X

Teaching methodology XInclusive education XField of SEN and characteristics on working with students with SEN

X

Children with autism XInclusion and learning environment for inclusion

X

Characteristics of and teaching strategies for children with SEN

X

Learning difficulties XLearning Braille XCharacteristics of children with visual impairments

X

Early intervention X

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Training on orientation and mobility

X

Using ICT for the Blind XTESFA training XAdvanced TESFA training X

The resource centres with their area of specialization, number of students in special school and supported in mainstream classrooms, number of teachers and itinerant teachers and number of training days provided for teachers of mainstream schools and parents are presented in the Table 16.

Table 16. Information of Resource Centres in 2014 – 2015 provided by DSNE, MEST Resource Centre

No of students in special school

No of students supported in mainstream by itinerant teachers2014 -2015(data collected by DSNE, MEST)

No of teachers

No of itinerant teachers

No of training days provided

Xheladin Deda, Peja

34 36 37 2 No trainings this year

Mother Teresa, Prizren

79 36 21 1 12 days30 teachers

Perparimi, Prishtina

134 35 34 2 35 days108 teachers

Lef Nosi, Prizren

87 33 16 2 6 days58 teachers

Mother Teresa, Mitrovica

68 15 17 2 11 days75 teachers

In total 402 155 125 9

As an example of a resource centre which has developed good practices to provide support for mainstream schools is the Lef Nosi resource centre in Prizren. The special school within

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the resource centre has specialised in teaching children with intellectual and neurological impairments such as autism. The resource centre provides services to students, teachers and parents. The resource centre

- provides trainings for students with SEN and their teachers in mainstream schools (accredited trainings: Use of IEP, activity areas, autism, TESFA, use of IEP and autism in Bosniak);

- has established a team to produce materials which is responding to the request of teachers of mainstream schools (e.g. for subjects teaching, letters, to develop fine motor skills, picture communication materials);

- has established a pedagogical assessment team to assess all students of the special school in every six months to identify if integration to mainstream is possible;

- is working on the awareness raising in Prizren; and

- is co-operating with the Albanian special school in Shkodra.

4.4.1.6. Sign language and Braille System

The Law on Pre-University Education in its Article 43 stipulates norms for the use of Sign language and Braille system as follows:

- Pupils and children who have sign language as their first language shall receive tuition both in the use of sign language and through the medium of sign language.

- The Ministry may decide that teaching through the medium of sign language and in the use of sign language shall be provided at a different location than the pupil’s normal institution.

- Partially sighted and blind pupils have the right to instruction in the use of Braille and necessary technical aids. Such pupils have also the right to necessary orientation and mobility instruction in connection with movement at school, to and from school and at home.

- Before instruction in sign language, Braille or orientation and mobility instruction or training is given under the present section, an assessment of the pupil’s disability and access needs shall be made by the municipal expert assessment team established under this law.

4.4.1.7. Deaf education

Kosovo Association of Deaf (KAD) with the support of the Finnish Association of Deaf (FAD) carried out a two-year Class Assistant and Sign Language Instructor training programme (CASLI) with 120 ECT contracted and co-funded by MEST. As the result, 15 Deaf Sign language trainers and school assistants were certificated by MEST in May 2015 and 10 of

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them will start their work in the beginning of 2016. In addition Curriculum for Sing language training as a foreign language for adults with 60 ECT has been developed.

Further plans for Deaf education include developing of criteria both for teacher qualification and implementing of Deaf education with inclusive education perspective. The teacher qualification criteria include 60 credits in Kosovar Sign Language and training in bilingual teaching method (the training package will be developed and implemented later). The criteria in implementing of Deaf education with inclusive education perspective define the framework for inclusive education for the Deaf. The two criteria are separate, although close to each other. Bilingual education for Deaf students requires developing of a curriculum and training programme on “Sign language as mother tongue” with native Sign language persons as trainers. CASLI and other training programmes related to Deaf education will be accredited in the University of Prizren. Moreover, trained native Sign language persons as experts need to be included in evaluating of Deaf education and teachers’ and Deaf pupils’ sign language competence. Recommendations

MEST

- To strengthen the capacity of resource centres to provide effectively quality support to mainstream schools;

- To mobilize resource centres to start systematic training of all schools on inclusive education. Resource centres are authorized by MEST to provide 16 accredited courses on inclusive education, special educational needs, usage of IEPs and other related topics for schools, parents and community members.

- To plan how to create a school assistant system with training in Kosovo;- To understand the specific role of Deaf students in the education system, they

represent a linguistic minority group and their learning results are entirely depended on the language of instruction. They need a learning environment with rich sign language in order to gain good results. Deaf students should have their own classes with the teacher who is fluent in sign language or in the case of inclusion, a full time sign language interpreter or assistant should be provided.

Resource centres

- The enrolment in special school should decrease and more focus should be paid on providing services to mainstream schools;

- To hire or nominate more itinerant teachers to contribute more to mainstream schools;

- To involve all teachers of RCs to provide support to teachers and students in mainstream schools;

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- To make RCs more visible in the education system; schools and teachers need to know what kind of services they can expect and get from resource centres;

- To collaborate more with mainstream schools and mobilize itinerant teachers to work effectively and communicate with regular schools in order to find and provide support to students with learning difficulties / disabilities and their teachers in regular schools;

- To strengthen the role of resource centres as support service provider (support to mainstream schools, production and provision of teaching / learning materials); currently most of resource centres are mainly functioning as special schools;

- To mobilize trained teachers to start systematic trainings of all schools on inclusive education and how to deal with SEN in mainstream classrooms. Resource centres have 16 accredited courses which they can provide for teachers, parents and community members;

- To collaborate with teacher training in order to provide internships of teacher students in schools.

4.4.1.8. Particular areas of education to be developed in the field of SEN

1. Difficulties in reading and writing

Reading and writing skills are basic skills for further learning. Estimates on the prevalence of difficulties in reading and writing vary according to the criteria used in defining reading and writing difficulties. According to Niilo Mäki Institute, around 5 % of the students have such difficulties in reading and writing that it causes severe problems in learning.

One of the biggest challenges in schools in Kosovo is that students with difficulties in reading and writing are mainly being without identification and thus support. Despite attempts to address this problem by Finnish projects FSDEKII and FSIESK, and USAID (described below) the problem still remains unsolved.

In co-operation with Niilo Mäki Institute in Finland, FSDEK II in 2007 – 2008 developed a tool for individual assessment of skills in reading and writing and in 2011 – 2012 FSIESK de-veloped a tool for group assessment of reading and writing skills for the context of Kosovo. In 2011 – 2012 FSIESK conducted an intervention study on reading and writing difficulties in 8 schools with around 1700 students. Four of the schools worked as model schools, which were supported by training teachers to use the screening tool, produce alternative learning materials to organise remedial teaching and establishing reading clubs in the school. The other four schools worked as control schools. The results showed that support provided through reading clubs is effective for learners having difficulties in reading and writing. The NGO “Kosovo Association for Promoting Inclusive Education” has continued this support

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after FSIESK was finished and is currently in the process of starting to support 34 Twinning pilot primary schools.

In 2012, USAID’s Basic Education Programme developed the Early Grades Reading Assessment (EGRA) tool in Albanian which enables teachers to diagnose the strengths and weaknesses of individual students. The EGRA is a simple individual test of reading ability, designed to be administered in grades 1-3. It contains sub-tests for phonemic awareness, letter name/sound knowledge, familiar word reading, unfamiliar word reading, oral reading fluency and reading comprehension, listening comprehension and dictation.

In 2012 USAID conducted “Early Grade Reading Assessment” (EGRA) baseline study in 40 schools - rural and urban – in Kosovo in 2012. 800 randomly selected students from the grade 2 were tested in the end of the school year. In 2013 teachers were trained and provided with materials: reading books for grades 1 and 2, “minibooks” that students are able to cut, clip, draw, colour and read, and “bigbooks” that can be used for the whole group teaching. The second testing was conducted in 2014. The results of the studies showed that by the end of grade 2:

- there are very few non-readers in Kosovo public schools; - almost all students have basic phonemic awareness and knowledge of letter-sound

correspondence;- most students have a reasonable level of decoding skills, and some sight vocabulary;- about half of all students tested did not achieve an acceptable level of oral fluency

for their grade level; - about four out of ten could only answer reading comprehension questions at the

very lowest level, retrieval of explicitly-stated information. - about a third of students read at a satisfactory level, and a quarter had a sufficient

level of sight vocabulary, decoding skill, oral fluency and comprehension to suggest that they could be on their way to achieving the desired level;

- about four in ten were at clear risk of failing to achieve the required basic level of proficiency.

According to the results of the study, it seemed likely that the teaching must bear significant responsibility for the situation. Some teachers at least were putting a great deal of emphasis on basic decoding skills and on dictation-like tasks, but much less on developing fluency and comprehension.

2. Education of Deaf Blind

Deaf blindness is a combination of vision loss and lack of hearing. Most Deaf Blind individuals are retaining a degree of hearing and/or visual capacity but children who are without either residual sight or hearing or who are born Deaf Blind learn only from what they do. In every case Deaf blindness causes severe communication and other

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developmental and educational needs and Deaf Blind children cannot be accommodated in special education programmes solely for children with deafness or children with blindness. A special Deaf Blind education is required in order for them to be able to communicate with others and learn. Kosovo education system is not prepared for the education of the Deaf Blind children.

Deaf Blind Education http://www.deafblindinfo.org

3. Education of the children with multiple and severe intellectual disabilities

Children with combination of multiple and severe intellectual disabilities are missing from the education system in Kosovo. They are children whose cognitive capacity is not sufficient for learning any subjects and they need specialized and individual daily care. However, they have the right for education and through individually planned activity area learning programmes they can learn motor, social, and cognitive, communication and daily living skills.

A small special school “Shpresa” only with two classrooms in Shtime/Shtimlje is located next to the Shtime institution for persons with intellectual impairments. Two teachers are working with 14 students with severe intellectual impairments. Students come from very poor and mainly one parent families of the neighbouring community. The school is struggling with very limited human and material resources. There are no school assistants and teachers spent their time trying their best just to keep students calm and take care of their safety. Students are kept in the school without proper training programme. Currently DSNE is together with the school trying to improve the situation but due to the financial limitations it is difficult to implement the planned improvements.

Currently DSNE is preparing a curriculum for teaching according activity area which will be individually tailored to the needs of each student. Education of children with multiple and severe intellectual disabilities always requires individual assistance. Therefore, when planning teaching according to activity areas, also planning on how to organise school assistants for these students is needed.

4. School assistants

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The MEST has launched Administrative Instruction on Criteria’s for Election of Assistants and Instructors for Inclusive Education and their Obligations (AI No.12/2012) which contains description of roles and responsibilities of school assistants, and duties of school and sign language assistants and instructors. (Annex 7). However, with very few exceptions there are no school assistants in schools in Kosovo, and there is an urgent need to develop a system for training and employment of school assistants. In below experiences of the employment and training of school assistants in Finland are described.

The school assistants have an important role in the inclusive education system. In Finland the importance and valuing of their work can be seen in the increasing employment number of school assistants during last 15 years, and in the efforts of the National Board of Education of Finland in creating a high quality competence-based training and qualification system for school assistants.

Today most of the primary and secondary schools have school assistants in Finland. In the City of Espoo in 2014 – 2015 there were 576 school assistants and 25020 students. School assistants are working at all education levels in mainstream classes, special classes, preschool institutions and morning and afternoon clubs which are mainly for 1 st and 2nd

graders.

The main goal of the work of school assistants is to assist and support the student during the learning process. The work includes all kinds of tasks which make education accessible and available for a variety of students.

School assistants are working at all levels of education and most of the primary and secondary have at least one school assistant. Their job description vary a lot depending on the level of education and type of setting (mainstream or special) they are working in, and the type of vacancy they are employed for. School assistants can be employed as general assistant in the classroom or school and as personal assistant. General assistants support all of those students in the classroom who need support during the lesson. They can be serving only one class or they can work during the day in several classrooms depending on the needs. Personal school assistant supports only one student who is entitled for assistance. These students may have multiple disabilities or disability that causes such challenges for learning that assistance is needed. Students with personal assistance usually need support most of the time and in most of the activities in school.

The job descriptions and common practices related to school assistant vary from school to school, vacancy to vacancy, and classroom to classroom because the needs of schools always depend on the current and diverse needs of students in the school and in the classroom. The co-operation and division of work between the teacher and the school

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assistant vary and it is agreed case by case between the teacher and school assistant. The good co-operation and communication between the school assistant and the teacher is important for successful learning experiences and results in the classroom. The education of school assistants in Finland

The education of school assistants in Finland is regulated and monitored by the National Board of Education which has provided the national curriculum with main professional qualifications, competences and criteria for assessment. The qualifications as generally in the adult education in Finland are competence-based.

The national curriculum of the vocational qualification for school assistants consists of 4 modules as follows:- Working as a professional;- Support to the growth and development;- Support and guidance in learning; and - Support to students with SEN.

Each of the modules contains theoretical studies and practical training in the field. In the end of each module the evaluation of competences takes place in an authentic setting (mainstream schools classes, special classes, early childhood education institutions, morning and afternoon clubs) where qualifications acquired are presented to an evaluation team. The evaluation team consists of three members: a representative of the management of the institution, a teacher or a qualified school assistant, and a representative of the training institute. The National Board of Education regulates and monitors the evaluation, provides and keeps record of the certificates for school assistants.

The qualified school assistants can continue their qualifications for the specialist qualification, which contains two compulsory parts and one out of three optional modules as follows:

Compulsory modules1) Supporting and promoting the well-being and participation2) Coordination and development of guidance for schooling and the morning and

afternoon activities; and

Optional modules (one of them): 3) Functionality and creativity in guidance of children and youth;4) Guidance in leisure time activities of children and youth;5) Working in the multicultural environment

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Vocational institutions are providing preparatory training for school assistants but the final evaluation of competences is done by the evaluation team. The preparatory training for school assistants takes about one year full-time studying. Another possibility is to get qualifications through apprenticeship contract when 80 % of the preparations for acquiring qualification are obtained at an authentic working place and 20 % provided by the vocational institute. The final evaluation of qualification is conducted as described above.

Individual study plans are made for each student and thus, individual progress is made possible. This means that competences gained through the working experience and / or previous studies in the field are recognized and a candidate can show her / his competences and qualifications without any preparatory training.

There are also many practical nurses working as school assistants and their educational background (3 – 4 years) is considered acceptable qualification for school assistance.

Recommendations

MEST, MEDs and schools

- To start focusing on how to deal with difficulties in reading and writing in schools; - To train class teachers how to use tools to assess reading and writing skills of

students, how to identify and support students with difficulties in reading and writing;

- To utilize good results and experiences gained from reading clubs.

MEST and resource centres

- To organise teaching according to activity areas for students with multiple and severe intellectual disabilities by training teachers and allocating human and material resources for teaching; students who are learning according to activity areas need in most cases personal school assistant, special equipment and assistive devices. Assistance of and collaboration with local NGOs would be useful in preparations and in implementation of teaching according to activity areas;

- To plan in collaboration with MEST how to organise education of the Deaf Blind;- To plan and organise education of the Deaf-Blind children.

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4.4.2. Support to students from minority communities

The Law No. 03/L-047 on the protection and promotion of the rights of communities and their members in Kosovo (Article 1.4.) defines communities as national, ethnic, cultural, linguistic or religious groups traditionally present in the Republic of Kosovo that are not in the majority. These groups are Serb, Turkish, Bosnian, Roma, Ashkali, Egyptian, Gorani, Montenegrin, Croatian and other communities. Further the Law stipulates that members of the majority community in Kosovo living in a municipality where they are in minority are entitled to enjoy the rights listed in the Law.

4.4.2.1. The legal framework for education for children from minority communities

The rights of students from communities related to education is stipulated in the Constitution (2008) and the delivery of education for minorities in the Republic of Kosovo is regulated in several laws which are presented in the Annex 8, and Administrative Instructions issued by the Government. Also the Kosovo Education Strategic Plan 2011–2016 foresees measures to be taken to increase the participation of communities in the education system at all levels.

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The Law (No. 03/L-047) on the protection and promotion of the rights of communities and their members in Kosovo defines the special rights of Kosovo communities with regard to their identity, use of languages, media, culture, religion, education, health, economic and social opportunities, and their political representation. The Law states that all persons belonging to communities shall have the right to receive public education at all levels in one of the official languages of Kosovo of their choice, and they are entitled to pre-school, primary, secondary public education in their own language, even if it is not an official language. (Article 8.1.)

Further, the Law (Article 8.1.) envisages that the government establishes reasonable thresholds for establishing specific school classes operating in community languages to ensure that all community members can access education in their own language. In municipalities where this threshold is not met, the government should offer alternatives to facilitate education in a community’s own language, and should also provide higher education and professional training programmes in all community languages, in addition to other measures specified.

Article 8.7. states that the Government of Kosovo shall establish integrated curricula in community languages that are not an official language, as well as education standards for all aspects of education and shall monitor and enforce the quality of the delivery of education in community languages. In addition the article states that communities shall be entitled in cooperation with the Government to generate educational modules concerning their own culture, history and traditions.

The Kosovo national educational curriculum shall cover the history, culture and other attributes of communities traditionally present in the country to foster the spirit of respect, understanding and tolerance among all communities in Kosovo, and community representative organizations shall be consulted in the process of designing such a curriculum (Article 8.12).

The following Administrative Instructions have been issued by MEST: - AI No. 37/2009 on the Independent Commission for Review of Teaching Materials in

Serbian Language; - AI No. 7/2010 endorsing the Romani curriculum within the Kosovo institution’s

education system;- AI No. 07/2010 on Implementation of the Reviewed Work Programme for the

Subject: Roma Language with Historic and Cultural Elements; - No. 22/2013 The Maximal Number of Students per Class and the Report Teacher-

Student.

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4.4.2.2. Education of students from minority communities

In Kosovo students from Serbian communities are enrolled within a parallel system in schools which teach in the Serbian language, follow the Serbian curriculum and use Serbian textbooks produced and approved by the Ministry of Education of Serbia. Learning materials used by Serbian students in Kosovo are not necessarily tailored to the needs of Serbian communities living in Kosovo, and the structure of the Serbian curriculum is completely different from the Kosovo curriculum. The situation is not facilitating the inclusion of students from Serbian communities in Kosovo. (EU Assistance to Kosovo.) Students from Montenegrin communities also follow the Serbian curriculum system and attend classes in the Serbian language (OSCE 2010).

In order to fulfill the Law and right of members of minority communities for education in their own language, municipalities have established as stipulated in the Law (Article 8.1.) specific classes or schools operating in community languages. Bosnian students are often integrated in Albanian classes but in many municipalities they have classes and schools of their own. Croatian students come mainly from the municipality of Lipjan/Lipljan and they are enrolled in their own classes with their own Croatian teachers. Turkish communities are mainly located in municipalities of Prizren, Mamusha/Mamuše, Prishtina/Priština and Lipjan/Lipljan, and education is provided in Turkish schools or classes.

Most of the members of the small Gorani community live in the southern municipality of Dragash/Dragaš. Majority of them consider Gorani as their mother tongue but there are others who claim Serbian or Bosnian as their official language. Gorani students, due to their small number, generally integrate into the Kosovo education system, either in the Bosnian language, where these classes exist, or more rarely, in the Albanian language. The majority of Gorani in the Dragash/Dragaš municipality prefer to enroll their children in Serbia-run schools where instruction is in the Serbian language, which affords greater opportunities for enrolment in Serbian Universities. (OSCE 2010.)

The Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities are mostly concentrated in municipalities of Gjakova/Djakovica, Fushë Kosova/Kosovo Polje, Prizren, Peja/Peč and Ferizaj/Uroševac. The largest part of the Roma community lives in Prizren municipality; the Ashkali community is more concentrated in the municipalities of Fushë Kosova/ Kosovo Polje and Ferizaj/Uroševac, and an overwhelming part of the Egyptian community lives in the municipalities of Gjakova/Djakovica and Peja/Peč. (OSCE 2010.) Students from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities primarily attend Albanian-language schools, but also in classes or schools with Turkish, Bosnian and Serbian as language of instruction. (Government of Kosovo 2008). Most of the Ashkali and Egyptians in Kosovo consider Albanian as their mother tongue. Members from the Roma community are generally Romani and/or Serbian speakers and a smaller proportion speaks Albanian. The language

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used in schools remains a challenge for children having Romani as their mother tongue since there are no schools in which Romani is used as language of instruction or where it is possible to learn Romani

Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians belong to the most disadvantaged communities in Europe (Government of Kosovo 2008), and despite the right to equal access to education for all in Kosovo, children from these communities have remained most vulnerable for dropout and segregation from and in the education system. This chapter focuses on the efforts aiming to improve the situation of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians in the education system in Kosovo.

4.4.2.3. Challenges faced in the education of children from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities

Difficulties of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in general and also related to access to education increased during the developments of the 1990s and by the war in Kosovo, as a result of which there was displacement of population both internally and out of Kosovo. These communities have been linked to their socio-economic status and with the phenomenon of marginalization, discrimination and segregation. (Government of Kosovo, 2008.)

The situation of children from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in the education system in Kosovo has been characterized by low attendance in compulsory education, high drop-out rates particularly among girls; low participation in higher education and university, particularly among girls, discrimination faced by students, lack of teachers of Romani, Ashkali or Egyptian communities; and lack of quality learning materials in their mother-tongue. Factors behind these challenges have been analyzed by the European Centre for Minority Issues Kosovo (2012) with some added reflections on the situation in 2015 as follows:

1) Low attendance and irregular attendanceThe major challenges in the education of children from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities are low and irregular attendance in compulsory education. It is resulted of the poor social-economic status of their families. Parents are often unable to finance costs related to education, such as books and other school materials, appropriate clothing and food, and many children are forced to work to support their families, often on the streets. In addition harassment, discrimination and difficulties with the language used in schools prevent children going to school. Low and irregular attendance in compulsory education affect children’s performance and often lead to drop-out from school.

In order to amend the situation the MEST in collaboration with NGOs has provided over 500 scholarships per year for students at secondary education level.

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2) High drop-out ratesDrop-out rates among children from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian children are high throughout primary education and particularly on 5th and 6th grades. In addition, only a lower number of children from these communities continue into secondary school and, thus number of students of these communities in universities is very low. Drop-out rates are especially high among girls, as a result of early marriages and deeply-entrenched perceptions of gender roles.

3) Late enrolment and segregation in classroomsMany children from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities are not enrolled in school at the age of 6 or they start late missing first months of the school year. Late enrolment makes it difficult for them to catch-up with classmates. Late enrolment of children from can be attributed to many factors:

- parents’ lack of awareness of enrolment procedures; - missing birth certificates required for registration; - parents’ lack of understanding of the importance and value of formal education due

to their own low educational level; - lack of perspectives for improved living conditions; - socio-economic reasons; and- fears of discrimination and harassment in schools.

Children from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities are often segregated in their own separate classes and kept there throughout their education, which has negative impacts on the chances of socio-economic success, school performance and affinity with mainstream society, integration and stereotypes. According to ECMI Kosovo (2012) “cases of segregation have been repeatedly identified, pointing to a chronic, and not incidental, phenomenon” and in many cases both education professionals and parents from communities lack of understanding of what discrimination means and of the negative effects of segregation.

4) Poor performance and reduction in standardsIrregular attendance, late enrolment and segregation hamper the performance of many Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian children at school which later can lead to dropouts. Students often have a poor home study environment and they lack of parental support for homework. Language of instruction used in schools frequently poses an additional barrier particularly for Roma children and children whose families were repatriated or forcibly returned from Western Europe and who speak the language spoken in their former host country.

In schools the poor academic performance of students from these communities is often tolerated and students continue their education without meeting the standards applied to

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the majority. The lowering of standards encourages segregation, popularizes the perception that students from minority communities are unable to perform as well as their peers, and damages their self-confidence. (ECMI Kosovo 2012.)

5) Lack of education and materials in the Romani languageWhen children cannot access primary education in their mother tongue, they are in a disadvantaged position, which has an impact on their academic performance and can lead to dropouts. This is the case particularly among most of Roma students. The curriculum on Romani language, history and culture for grades 2 - 9 of the primary schools has been developed, but it is not implemented in all schools with Roma students. In addition, there is lack of textbooks and trained teachers. MEST has addressed the problem and it is currently expanding teaching in Romani.

6) Lack of adequate community representation in school staffThe diversity in schools is not reflected in the staff. In 2014 - 2015 in Kosovo there were only 50 teachers representing minority communities, 20 of them from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities. Lack of community representation in the school staff affects children’s perceptions of their belonging in schools, limiting their inclusion and integration.

4.4.2.4. Efforts to improve the education of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities

In order to address challenges faced by and to ensure and guarantee the right for education for persons from the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities, the Government of Kosovo has issued the following strategies and action plan:

- Strategy for Integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in Kosovo. Education Component 2007-2017 adopted in 2007;

- Strategy for the Integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Communities in Kosovo, 2009 -2015 adopted in 2008; and

- The Republic of Kosovo Action Plan on the Implementation of the Strategy for the Integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Communities, 2009-2015.

The Strategy for Integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in Kosovo. Education Component 2007-2017 was adopted by the Ministry of Education before the general strategy and its action plan were prepared and adopted. However, the strategic objectives and activities set in the strategy for 2007 – 2017 are included in the education component of the general strategy and its action plan.

The Strategy and its Action Plan aim at fostering the integration of the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in the key sectors of education, employment and economic empowerment, health and affairs, housing and informal settlements, returns and reintegration, registration, participation and representation, security, police and justice as

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well as media, culture and information. Gender and anti-discrimination are anchored in all key sectors as crosscutting themes.

The Strategy contains an analysis of the conditions and the specific challenges faced by Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in Kosovo whereas the Action Plan outlines detailed and concrete measures to be taken by relevant central and local level institutions to address the challenges identified. The Action Plan contains a timeline and budgetary estimates for the implementation of the plan.

The main goals of the Strategy for the Integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Communities, 2009-2015 are as follows:

- Promote and strengthen the protection of the rights of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities and their full integration in Kosovar society;

- Develop proper policies and legislation, and ensure that the legislation is in line with international standards of human rights;

- Actively promote the empowerment of democratic institutions and rule of law, especially through dialogue and institution building for the implementation of the rights of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities;

- Support and encourage the work of NGOs that represent the interests of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities, especially cooperation with them, including the Institution of the Ombudsperson.

The main goal of the education component of the Action Plan on the Implementation of the Strategy for the Integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Communities, 2009-2015 is to establish an inclusive and high quality education system based on fairness, equality and respect for diversity that contributes to the full integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in Kosovo society.

The strategic objectives set in the education component of the Action Plan are as follows: Objective 1: Significant improvement of participation in education system and of the quality of education for members of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities;Objective 2: Prevention of discrimination and segregation in the Education System;Objective 3: Qualitative and efficient cooperation among relevant institutions and organizations towards the education of members of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities;Objective 4: Raising the awareness of communities and stakeholders to support the education of members of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities.

Ministries at the central level are responsible for the development and adaptation of legislation, policies and strategies. The Action Plan identifies the Ministry of Education,

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Science and Technology (MEST), the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (MLSW) as the three key institutions responsible for the implementation of the goals envisaged in the education sector. These ministries are responsible for promoting an inclusive and high quality education system based on fairness, equality and respect for diversity, thus contributing to the full integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in society. (OSCE 2012.) Central level bodies and mechanism responsible for the minority issues are presented in Annex 9.

At the local level municipalities have the responsible to put policies and strategies into practice, and thus municipal officials are the key actors responsible for designing, implementation and monitoring the Municipality Action Plan (MAP) of the Strategy. The local level institutions, bodies, actors and mechanism dealing directly or indirectly with the delivery of education of minority communities are presented in the Annex 9.

4.4.2.5. Manual for municipal officials to improve the delivery of education for the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities

In 2012 the European Centre for Minority Issues Kosovo (ECMI Kosovo) with the support of UNICEF developed a manual for municipal officials to improve the delivery of education for the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities within their municipalities. The manual offers practical, concrete and step-by-step guidance and information on how to develop, operationalise and implement the Municipal Action Plan (MAP) on the Implementation of the education component of Strategy for the Integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Communities. The manual is built on the experiences, lessons learned and good practices identified from the implementation of the project “Improving the Delivery of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Education in the Municipality of Fushë Kosovë/Kosovo Polje in 2011 – 2012. (ECMI Kosovo 2012.)

The Manual guides the process through six key steps:- STEP 1: Defining specific objectives and activities - STEP 2: Specifying measurable indicators - STEP 3: Budgeting activities - STEP 4: Specifying responsibilities for each action - STEP 5: Defining and adapting timelines - STEP 6: Designing a monitoring and evaluation plan

In addition the manual contains a series of useful templates and tools to support municipal officials in their work to improve the delivery of education for children from the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities. The Manual can be employed as a capacity-building tool by municipalities and other organizations supporting the delivery of education for children from the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities. (ECMI Kosovo 2012.)

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4.4.2.6. Reports of the implementation of the Strategy and its Action Plan

Several reports (OSCE 2011, ECMI Kosovo 2012 and KEC (2014) on the implementation of the Strategy and its Action plan published have not given a positive picture of the progress in the implementation of the strategy.

In 2011 the OSCE reported that significant obstacles remain for the full implementation of the Action Plan, mainly due to lack of full political engagement, insufficient allocation of resources and lack of adequate communication between central and local level institutions which left municipalities remain uninformed about their responsibilities. At the local level, positive steps towards fulfilling the goals outlined by the Action Plan were taken particularly in municipalities where civil society actors rather than municipalities took the lead role in drafting local action plans involving communities’ representatives, media, and municipal officials. Civil society actors also co-operated and supported municipal officials to conduct campaigns aimed at increasing school attendance of Roma, Ashkali or Egyptian students. Good experiences in providing additional support, such as tutoring, catch-up or language classes have been gained, but they are rare and mainly carried out by NGOs (ECMI Kosovo 2012).

In 2012 ECMI Kosovo noted that in municipalities where MAPs had been adopted, implementation was frequently unsatisfactory or deficient due to their insufficient operationalisation, absence of budget allocation and/or monitoring and evaluation. Therefore, according to EMCI Kosovo “for a MAP to become a meaningful guiding tool that can contribute to ensuring proper implementation and achieving concrete results, it is crucial that it is linked to the central level documents and duly operationalised: activities must be detailed and adequately budgeted, and responsible actors defined, as well as realistic timelines and indicators for the purpose of monitoring and evaluating implementation.”

In 2014 the Kosovo Education Center prepared brief analysis of the problems that the education system in Kosovo is facing at all levels. The analysis focused on activities, policies and priorities implemented over during 2013 – 2014 and had the inclusion of communities in education system as a cross-cutting issue. KEC reports that “so far little progress has been seen because of problems such as: lack of budget, limited cooperation in local and central levels and insufficient coordination of all parties”. The main challenges identified by KEC are as follows:

- economic factors including extreme poverty;- administrative obstacle in enrolling children, especially those returning from the

region or from western countries;- a significant need to train teachers on prejudice and discrimination because of a big

number of reported cases of the negligent approach towards students of Rom, Ashkali, and Egyptians communities (ECMI 2012);

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- despite the progress made in the last ten years, the number of children from Roma, Ashkali, Egyptian communities not attending compulsory education is still too high, whereas participation in upper secondary education is concerning;

- a very small number of children from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities attend pre-primary education;

- even though there is the quota for the students, the number of students from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities is still very low;

- MEST manages a scholarship fund for Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian communities, but most of this fund is from external donors than from the government of Kosovo.

4.4.2.7. Ethnical origin of students

As presented in the Chapter 4.2, 96 % of all students in the pre-university education in 2014 - 2015 were Albanian. At different educational levels ethnical background of students show the following:

- in the preschool education 98,7 % of the children are Albanian and 1,3 % are other ethnic groups;

- in pre-primary education 96.3 % are Albanian and 3.7 % are other ethnic groups;- in primary and low secondary education 95.5% are Albanian, 4.5% are other ethnic

groups; and - in high secondary education 98 % are Albanian, 2 % are other ethnic groups.

The table 17 shows the number of students by ethnical origin at different levels in pre-university education in 2013 – 2014 and Table 18 in 2014 -2015. Tables show that there has not been any significant improvement related to the enrolment and integration of Roma children.

Table 17. Number of students by ethnical origin at different levels in pre-university education in 2013 – 2014 Ethnical origin

Preschool Pre-primary Primary and lower secondary

Upper secondary

Total

Albanian 3737 20644 266147 97504 388032Serbian 14 10 381 405Turkish 8 109 1876 568 2561Bosnian 10 243 3224 1121 4598Goran 69 566 8 643Ashkali 218 3766 221 4205Roma 4 43 1945 64 2056Egyptian 35 663 90 788Croatian 12 31 43

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Other 9 2 11In total 3773 22154 278608 99578 403342

Table 18. Number of students by ethnical origin at different levels in pre-university education in 2014 - 2015 Ethnical origin

Preschool Pre-primary Primary and lower secondary

Upper secondary

Total

Albanian 3724 21334 261468 81545 368071Serbian 28 14 385 195 622Turkish 10 194 1842 670 2716Bosnian 7 227 3141 959 4334Goran 75 587 5 667Ashkali 200 3766 211 4177Roma 5 77 1785 51 1918Egyptian 28 642 102 772Croatian 5 26 31Other 7 5 12In total 3774 22154 273649 83743 383320

In school year 2014/2015, there were 6867 students from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in all levels of pre-university education which is 1,81 % of the total enrolment.

4.4.2.8. The Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Communities in Kosovo Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS)

In 2013 - 2014 by The Kosovo* Agency of Statistics supported by UNICEF carried out the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Communities in Kosovo Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), as part of the global MICS programme. The global MICS programme was developed by UNICEF in the 1990s as an international household survey programme to collect internationally comparable data on a wide range of indicators on the situation of children and women. MICS surveys measure key indicators that allow countries to generate data for use in policies and programmes, and to monitor progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other internationally agreed upon commitments.

The Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Communities in Kosovo MICS provides - up-to-date information for assessing the situation of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian

children, women and men as well as to provide data for monitoring the existing strategies and action plans on the inclusion of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities.

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- data for designing future programme interventions and support evidence based planning of Kosovo institutions.

- data to inform Kosovo’s EU aspirations and planning in the EU enlargement process while contributing to improved quality in statistics, data collection, management and monitoring systems

The Table 19 provides information of the attendance to early childhood education, support for learning at home, children’s books and toys available, inadequate care and general development of children age 36 – 59 months from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities.

Table 19. Child development among Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities based on the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Communities in Kosovo MICS statistics (2014)

Indicator name Description ValueAttendance to early childhood education

Percentage of children age 36-59 months who are attending an early childhood education programme

16.1

Support for learning Percentage of children age 36-59 months with whom an adult has engaged in four or more activities to promote learning and school readiness in the last 3 days

40.7

Father’s support for learning

Percentage of children age 36-59 months whose biological father has engaged in four or more activities to promote learning and school readiness in the last 3 days

7,0

Mother’s support for learning

Percentage of children age 36-59 months whose biological mother has engaged in four or more activities to promote learning and school readiness in the last 3 days

20,5

Availability of children’s books

Percentage of children under age 5 who have three or more children’s books

6,0

Availability of playthings Percentage of children under age 5 who play with two or more types of playthings

68,6

Inadequate care Percentage of children under age 5 left alone or in the care of another child younger than 10 years of age for more than one hour at least once in the last week

12,5

Early child development index

Percentage of children age 36-59 months who are developmentally on track in at least three of the following four domains: literacy-numeracy, physical, social-

77,2

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emotional, and learning

4.4.2.9. Good practices gained through projects on supporting the education of minority communities

A number of local and international non-governmental organizations have been supporting the education of children of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities through several programmes which are presented in the Annex 3. KEC (2014) notes that these organizations operate independently from the formal education system and are totally depended on donations, which puts their sustainability at risk. However, the contribution of the projects is remarkable because they have produced numerous training materials, evidence-based good practices, and manuals and tools to work with. The main donors / actors in this field have been Save the Children, UNICEF, OSCE, EMCI Kosovo, Council of Europe and many local NGOs such as Balkan Sunflowers, Iniciativa 6 and the Ideas Partnership. Projects are presented in the Annex 3 and some of the good practices gained through these projects are presented below.

The Strategy Advocacy Programme implemented by the Balkan Sunflowers aims to increase the awareness and capacity of municipal officials on the implementation of the "Strategy for the Integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities" in 9 municipalities. The project aims also at improving the cooperation among NGOs, CSOs and other stakeholders working with Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities, in order to empower citizens and civil society to actively participate in the policy and decision-making process regarding to the Strategy at local level.

School mediators - Belong to the communities where they work, they have easier access to families

than any other social worker; - Main tasks are:

o ensuring children enrolment in school;o preventing interruption of their school attendance;o individualizing problems pupils may face regarding their schooling;o putting remedy actions in place; and mediating among families, schools and

municipal administrations. - Currently school mediation programmes serve more than 1200 children.- Kosovo School Mediation Training Manual published by Balkan Sunflowers in

cooperation with the OSCE aims at normalizing the figure of the school mediator in the context of Kosovo.

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The study “Role of Mediators in the integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in the education system”

The study “Role of Mediators in the integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in the education system” was conducted by the Kosovo Pedagogical Institute, with the support of the Council of Europe (CoE) and Balkan Sunflowers Kosova (BSFK) in 2014.

The overall purpose of the study was to provide easily accessible and understandable information on the current work and potential role of education mediators with regard to the situation of children from the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities, in terms of school dropout, repatriation, discrimination, segregation, as well as the cooperation of interested parties in these aspects.

The specific goals of the study were as follows:

- Provide crucial information on the background of the education mediation programme;

- Describe the role, activities and work modalities of education mediators;

- Offer testimonies on the impact of the work of mediators on school attendance and dropout reduction;

- Reflect the viewpoints of stakeholders in relation to the results and practices of cooperation with the mediators in school attendance and dropout reduction;

- Issue recommendations on the possibilities to advance the role, support and cooperation of education mediators in order to enhance the education position of the children of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in the future. (Zylfiu H. et al 2014.)

The mediation programme carries out its assistance activities in two modalities:

1) activities in the learning centres, and

2) mediation activities at school, in the family and community aimed at providing support to increase access to education for children of the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities through awareness raising on the importance of timely enrolment in school, improvement of attendance and prevention of school dropout.

The study report recommends that in order to turn education mediation into a sustainable

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mechanism that supports the integration of the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities into the education system of Kosovo, that:

- MEST should issue an administrative instruction to regulate the position, role, tasks and responsibilities of the mediators, as well as to define the roles and tasks of MEST, MED and schools in order to provide to support and cooperation with education mediators; and

- MEST and MED should institutionalize the profile of education mediators as presented in the study report by incorporating them into the structure of school and municipal supporting staff.

Mozaik (Annex 3) - A unique model of bilingual and multicultural education of pre-school children; - The Mozaik philosophy is to socialize children into a multicultural environment at the

earliest possible age, to teach tolerance and respect for a diversity of cultures, and to help different ethnic communities collaborate and communicate with each other.

Learning centres (LCs) in Kosovo: - Learning centres are developed with self-initiative of organizations and they offer

additional classes for Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian children for pre-school and primary levels. The role of LCs has been to foster community empowerment and support Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian integration in Kosovo society in general. They have provided an alternative model of development and education of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian children, youth and families.

- The first LCs were established more than ten years ago. Currently there are more than 40 learning centres run by 12 NGOs centres in 15 municipalities serving more than 2700 children.

- Services offered by LCs (depending on the LC): After school classes, leisure activities, programmes, and working as “Community centres”

- Most of LCs are funded by international donors, except the small number of LCs which have a Memorandum of Understanding with municipalities to cover costs up to 7000 Euros per year. LCs hold monthly coordination meetings to exchange information on best practices and common challenges, and plan together.

- Currently MEST with the support of ACCESS (see Annex 3) and in collaboration with NGOs has established a working group to draft Administrative Instruction on the role of LCs.

The Ideas Partnership initiated the following

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- Recruitment of community advocate from the district to be the bridge and to strengthen the relationship between families and school; and to support children getting to mainstream school and staying there;

- Volunteer workers from communities; - Catch-up classes for out-of-school children and dropouts to catch-up in order to be

enrolled at school; - Saturday afternoon classes for children to give them skills, a bit fun and a healthy

snack and to get them off the streets for an hour or two;- Collection and distribution of clothes and shoes.

ACCESS project has been contributing to the training, development of training programmes and materials as follows:

- Training methodology within “Social Inclusion Programme” and implementation in 11 pilot schools. 6 ToT from the staff of Kosovo Pedagogical Institute trained and 66 teachers trained.

- Pedagogical materials for “Additional Classes for Returnees”. Teachers trained and ToT in preparations.

- Teacher training module for the Romani Language classes.- Development and implementation of training for staff of Learning Centres (LC). - Six months training on Mediation skills and 4 months training on Social Inclusion.

Recommendations

MEST

- Planning for the new Strategy for the Integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Communities in the Republic of Kosovo 2016 – 2021 must be done in close collaboration with municipalities, and activities and their concrete actions must be achievable and thus provided with funds.

- MEST should issue an administrative instruction to regulate the position, role, tasks and responsibilities of the mediators, as well as to define the roles and tasks of MEST, MED and schools in order to provide to support and cooperation with education mediators;

- MEST and MED should institutionalise the profile of education mediators as presented in the study report by incorporating them into the structure of school and municipal supporting staff.

MEDs- To implement the education part of the Strategy for the Integration of Roma, Ashkali

and Egyptian Communities in the Republic of Kosovo 2016 – 2021 and Action Plan as planned;

- To provide access to preschool for children from communities;

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- To raise and support schools to raise awareness in the municipality and communities about the right and importance of education for all, about registration and enrolling of children in school on time etc.

- To provide training and pedagogical materials for teachers;- To utilise experiences gained in various projects and put them in practice.

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4.4.3.Prevention of drop-outs and out-of-school children

By Law on pre-university Education (Article 15), the attendance of students throughout compulsory education is the responsibility of parents and it shall be an offence for a parent of a child of compulsory school age either:

- to fail to enroll such a child in a school which is either a municipal school, a training institution, a special school or a licensed private school appropriate to the child’s age and level of study; or to fail to make alternative arrangements for the education of the child which are approved by the Ministry.

- to fail without reasonable cause, defined as sickness or other unavoidable cause, to ensure his or her regular attendance at the educational institution at the times determined by the governing board for the commencement of sessions.

According to the Law, if a pupil with no reason fails to enroll, fails to attend or interrupts compulsory education, his or her parents shall be punished for violation if the absence is a result of deliberate action or negligence by the parents. In order to promote attendance and reduce drop-out, a municipality shall arrange safe and efficient transport for pupils in compulsory education to attend school. Law also stipulates that to assist municipalities and educational and training institutions to deal effectively with drop out, and secure attendance, the Ministry shall prepare and issue guidance.

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Administrative instruction (19/2012) on Establishment and enforcement of teams for prevention and response toward abandonment and non-enrolment (TRPAN) in compulsory education were prepared to prevent and respond to regular school dropout and non-enrolment in compulsory education. Administrative Instruction defines an abandoner as:

- a student who interrupts the education before the compulsory education by law;- a student who after completion of compulsory education continues education, but

interrupts it before the aimed end; and - a child or young who is not enrolled in school and does not attend compulsory

education by law.

Respondents of the study “Out-of-school children in Kosovo” conducted by KPI (2014), identified three common individual characteristics for children or adolescents who were out-of-school or who had dropped out: they tend to be children from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities, they were enrolled in school late and they obtained low achievement grades. Social characteristics identified were as follows:

- they come from poor families;- they often have to work to support themselves or their families;- they often have a family tradition of dropout or high level of school absenteeism;- they often come from families with a history of substance abuse and/or lack of

parental care; and - they often do not live with parents or dwell in a single-parent household.

According to Administrative Instruction (19/2012), TPRAN is to be established at the municipality and school level. The team at the municipality level consists of 9 members (representatives of teachers, school TRPAN, experts from institutions and civic society) and should have meetings every three months. The team at the school level consists of 5 regular members: representatives of students, parents and teachers and additional experts when needed.

Duties of the team at the school level are as follows: - To raise awareness and communication within and outside of school with aim to

reduce and to prevent school dropout and to raise enrolment number of students in school;

- To develop a strategy at the school level and a work plan against dropout and non-enrolment of children and adolescents in school;

- Coordination of activities inside and outside of the school, e.g. teachers’ training, meetings with parents, work with community;

- Special care TRPAN will provide to children with SEN and other vulnerable groups who abandon compulsory education.

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The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) mission in Kosovo conducted a research on school dropouts in Kosovo in 2011. The key findings of the study showed a significant lack of reliable, official data relating to school dropouts, largely due to inadequate monitoring mechanisms by schools and other responsible institutions. Aiming to raise awareness among key stakeholders on the need to strengthen their efforts to track school attendance and reduce dropouts, especially among vulnerable groups, the OSCE recommended relevant stakeholders to fully implement the legal and policy framework governing the right to education – including the Action Plan against School Abandonment 2009–2014. (OSCE 2012.)

Recommendations were the following:MEST

- Ensure implementation of the legal obligations of local education institutions to collect accurate qualitative and quantitative long-term data on dropouts, disaggregated by gender, community and any other relevant categories.

- Require the use of an education management information system in all Kosovo curriculum schools, with clear and direct standards about how schools should track dropouts.

- Ensure that school transfers and other reasons for students leaving school are properly and accurately recorded in all cases.

- Provide guidance to municipal departments of education on how to implement the data collection requirements and other elements of the Action Plan against School Abandonment.

MEDs - Work closely with all school directors to monitor school dropouts and attendance

rates on a regular basis and systematically report to the MEST. - Co-operate with both the MEST and with all school directors to raise awareness

about and implement the data-collection guidelines in the Action Plan against School Abandonment.

- Pro-actively investigate and remedy cases of non-enrolment in schools, including by tracking the attendance of school-age children in the respective municipalities.

School directors and teachers: - Proactively monitor the occurrence of and reasons for non-attendance and dropouts

on a daily, monthly and yearly basis – as well as within the school year cycle – and report those findings to the municipal departments of education each semester with data disaggregated by gender, community and any other relevant categories.

- Proactively seek out absent students and their parents to identify the factors behind a child’s absence from school and encourage attendance.

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International and non-governmental organizations: - Encourage and support Kosovo institutions to promptly and effectively monitor and

combat dropouts, and to improve their capacities to track and respond to attendance gaps between different segments of the population.

In 2013 Kosovo Pedagogical Institute (KPI) with the support of UNICEF conducted a baseline study on out-of-school children in seven municipalities and 14 schools. According to the results of the study, PRTANs are not established in all municipalities nor in schools and when established they did not have any action plan on how to prevent and response drop-out and non-enrolment. In addition, KPI reports that MEDs and schools have not established effective intervention and accountability mechanisms to monitor, inform and report on out-of-school children, absenteeism, dropout and discriminatory incidents. Particularly identification and data collection of children who have never been enrolled in school is missing.

Based on the findings and conclusions of the study, KPI provides recommendations with orientation plans for the:

- Establishment and functioning of PRTANs;- The identification of out-of-school children;- Intervention mechanisms for out-of-school children and prevention and response to

dropout;- Training school teams in implementation of standards for child-friendly schools;- Enrolment of children in pre-primary education and Grade 1; and - Increasing the time spent in school during the day.

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4.4.4. Promoting gender equality in education

Gender issues in education are stipulated in following documents: - Kosovo Education Strategic Plan 2011 -2016 (2011)- Law No. 04/L –032 on Pre-university Education (2011)- Law No. 05/L -020 on Gender Equality (2015)- Law No. Law No. 05/L-021 on the protection from discrimination (2015)

Kosovo Education Strategic Plan 2011 -2016 (2011) promotes social inclusion as an overarching concept which encompasses the full participation by all people, irrespectively of their social differences such as gender, ethnicity, social class and disability in economic, social and cultural life.

One of the purposes of the Law No. 04/L –032 on Pre-university Education (2011) is to prepare the pupil for a responsible life in the spirit of good understanding, peace, tolerance, gender equality and friendship with members of all communities in the Republic of Kosovo (Article 2.5). In planning, managing and delivering the system of pre-university education, the Ministry, municipalities and educational and/or training institutions shall have regard to the internationally-accepted norms of Education for All (EFA), the rights of the child, the

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protection of vulnerable groups within society and the promotion of gender equality (Article 3.5).

The purpose of Law No. 05/L-021 on the protection from discrimination (2015) is to establish a general framework for prevention and combating discrimination based on nationality, or in relation to many issues including sex, gender, gender identity and sexual orientation in order to implement the principle of equal treatment.

The purpose of the Law on gender equality (2015) is to guarantee, protect and promote equality between genders as a basic value of democratic development of society. It determines the general and specific measures to ensure and protect the equal rights of men and women, and defines the institutions responsible and their competencies.

Article 20 of the Law on gender equality deals with the prohibition of gender discrimination and unequal treatment by stating that discrimination on the basis of sex within educational institutions at all levels is prohibited, including access to education, admission process, access to services, facilities and benefits such as, scholarships, evaluation results, obtaining scientific degrees and titles, access to vocational training, education, sports and other fields. The following actions shall constitute discrimination based on sex:

- any gender based restriction, or barriers in the creation of necessary facilities, to be educated in public or private institutions which offer education or other qualification and training services;

- different opportunities for men and women in the selection of a special study, training or graduation, and with regards to duration of classes unless justified by a legitimate aim and the means of achieving that aim are appropriate and necessary.

The Law on gender equality applies to men, women and persons who have a protected characteristic of gender identity or sex determination, and guarantees equal opportunity and treatment in public and private areas of social life, including education (Article 2).

4.4.4.1. Institutions responsible for implementation of gender equality in education

The Law on gender equality (2015) states different institutions responsible for gender issues as follows:

- Public institutions shall take temporary special measures in order to accelerate the realization of actual equality between women and men in areas where inequities exist including equality in education (Article 6).

- The Agency for Gender Equality (AGE) is an Executive Agency which acts within the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) and is mandated to coordinate the preparation of the Kosovo Programme on Gender Equality, monitor its implementation and report annually to the Government on its implementation (Article 11).

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- All Ministries and municipalities shall be obliged to appoint the relevant officials for gender equality with sufficient professional capacity and allocate sufficient resources from the budget, to coordinate implementation of the provisions of this law (Article 12).

- Ombudsperson is an equality institution that handles cases related to gender discrimination, in accordance with procedures established by the Law on Ombudsperson (Article 13).

MEST has appointed an official to work with gender equality and a working group for gender issues in education was established by MEST in 2011. The working group is mandated to identify gender issues in basic education and other educational levels, which seek action and to coordinate with different partners that address issues with interest for this field.

Roles and responsibilities of the working group:- To work with different stakeholders that address gender issues in education, to

identify key issues which should be treated through years;- To coordinate joint efforts with different partners;- To make periodical reviews of institutional interventions (responses) and others

regarding with gender issues; and - The publication of annual efforts / results with recommendations for the next year.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) is responsible for ensuring equal access for girls and boys to obligatory education, and Municipal Education Directorates are mandated to allocate sufficient funds for free transport, enabling all students to attend. Teachers in classrooms have the responsibility to ensure gender equality in the classroom and education of gender equality as stipulated in the law.

4.4.4.2. Functioning of legal framework and institutions responsible for gender equality

The Kosovo Country Gender Profile (Färnsveden U et al. 2014) presents results of the study conducted in 2014 with the aim to analyse gender differences at all levels with regard to the national framework, key actors, rule of law, justice, human rights, politics, the socio- economic situation, gender-based violence, and other sectors. According to the report, Kosovo has a fairly comprehensive legal framework and several mechanisms in place towards gender equality but implementation of strategies and action plans remains a challenge for several reasons, such as:

- Strategies seldom receive sufficient funding for implementation;- Government institutions at all levels tend not to understand how to mainstream

gender within their work;

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- Gender equality officers within ministries and municipalities are marginalized; few are ever involved in programmatic planning, budgeting, impact assessments, and/or analysing draft laws or policies from a gender perspective;

- Other actors like women’s CSOs are rarely consulted by international stakeholders active in Kosovo when setting priorities.

(Färnsveden U et al. 2014.)

The report states that even the AGE faces challenges including poor understanding among institutions that “gender” refers to women and men and how to mainstream gender in their work; insufficient staff in the legal division; an insufficient budget for carrying out its mandate, particularly research; and ministries not taking reporting responsibilities seriously, including providing gender disaggregated data. (Färnsveden U et al. 2014).

4.4.4.3. Current gender balance in education

The last census in 2011 showed that almost 50 % of the population of Kosovo are females. (KAS 2011). In 2012 The World Bank reported that in Kosovo “females are underrepresented at every level of education but university. The biggest gender disparity in enrolment occurs at the upper secondary special and upper secondary education levels.” (The World Bank 2012.)

The latest EMIS statistics show that the situation related to gender disparities has changed.In 2014 -2015 the total enrolment in pre-university education was 383320 with the gender balance 51,9 % males and 48,1 % females. In the Table 20 the gender of students at different education levels in 2014 – 2015 is presented. It shows that the attendance of girls is 3 – 4 % smaller at preschool, pre-primary and primary and lower secondary levels. The biggest gender disparities in enrolment occur in general upper secondary and vocational upper secondary education. The enrolment of males in upper secondary education is 53 % of the total enrolment. In general upper secondary schools the enrolment of males is only 44,6 % of the total enrolment and at vocational level 61,4 % .

Table 20. Gender of students at different education level in 2014 - 2015Education level Total Male % Female %Preschool 3774 1960 52 1814 48Pre-primary 22154 11406 51,5 10748 48,5Primary and lower secondary 273649 141168 51,6 132481 48,4Upper secondary (Total)* Vocational* Gymnasium

837434194041803

4438525758 18627

5361,444,6

393581618223176

4738,655,4

Total 383320 198919 51,9 184401 48,1

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It seems that females rather select general upper secondary school than VET school. One of the reasons for the gender imbalance in vocational schools is the fact that vocational schools have been offering more (71 %) courses for men than women (Färnsveden U et al. 2014).

Females are still underrepresented at the upper secondary level. In 2012 the World Bank suggested that “with the majority of the population living in rural areas, this could potentially be explained by such factors as a) low perceived returns to female education in rural areas, b) economic hardship, and c) prohibitive distance to upper secondary educational institutions, which can play an important role in rural areas”.

Gender of teachersTable 21 shows the gender balance of teachers in the pre-university education. There are more or less same amount of male and female teachers in the pre-university education but there are big differences at preschool and upper secondary levels. Preschool education is dominated by female teachers as there are only two male teachers working in preschool institutions in whole Kosovo. Male role models in preschools are needed since around 11 % of the children at pre-school level come from families with no father.

At pre-primary and lower secondary education there are slightly more female teachers and at upper secondary level most (61,2 %) of the teachers are males. EMIS statistics do not provide specific information if teachers at upper secondary education are working for general or vocational education.

Table 21. Gender of teachers at different level in 2014 - 2015Education level Total Male % Female %Preschool 528 2 0,4 526 99,6Pre-primary, primary and lower secondary

17594 8455 48,1 9139 51,9

Upper secondary

5358 3277 61,2 2081 38,8

Total 23480 11734 50 11746 50

4.4.4.4. Challenges in promoting gender in education

Disadvantaged groups

Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian girls and women have among the lowest levels of education, often due to insufficient teachers of their ethnicity, lack of textbooks, violence and discrimination in school, security concerns, insufficient family finances, home care duties,

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and early marriage. In addition girls with disabilities also lack access to education, as parents tend to isolate them at home.“ (Färnsveden U et al. 2014.)

Gender in drop-out rates

In the 2008 - 2009 academic year, females accounted for 55 percent of dropouts in basic education (The World Bank 2012). According to the Kosovo Country Gender Profile (Färnsveden U et al 2014) until 2009 more girls dropped out of upper secondary school but since then the situation has changed and in 2014 more than 70% of drop-outs were boys. (Färnsveden U et al. 2014.)

However, drop-out rates among children from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities remain high and particularly among girls from these communities, as a result of early marriages and deeply-entrenched perceptions of gender roles.

4.4.4.5. Addressing gender disparities in education

According to the World Bank (2012), “addressing gender disparities in Kosovo will require action on several fronts, including enhancing education and skills, improving health outcomes, creating more jobs, strengthening employment services, and removing the barriers that hinder women’s participation in entrepreneurship and access to leadership positions.” The World Bank suggested the following solutions:

- Increasing school enrolment rates;- Improving the relevance and quality of education, - Developing second-chance education opportunities for adults whose studies were

interrupted by the war will improve employment outcomes for both men and women.

It will also be important to better understand and address specific constraints to female education. Potential measures may include:

- reducing distance to schools;- raising awareness about the benefits of education for females; and - introducing conditional cash transfers for girls from poor families.

(The World Bank 2012.)

4.4.4.6. Education of gender equality in Kosovo

The Article 21 of the Law on gender equality stipulates education of gender equality in schools as follows:

- Teaching aids used shall be based on gender equality and gender equality education should be included in school curricula at all levels.

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- Preparation, adoption and implementation of educational programmes - education, drafting materials, textbooks and reviewing existing materials and textbooks should be done by including gender perspectives and eliminate negative stereotypes, prejudices, traditional practices and other practices that are contrary to the principle of gender equality.

- Incorporation into school curricula education and training activities aimed at sensitizing young people about gender equality and preparing them for democratic citizenship.

- Equal inclusiveness of women and men in professional and non-professional education training and counselling for those professions which are traditionally considered only for women and only for men.

MEST is responsible for ensuring that curricula and teaching practices are gender sensitive, and for developing curricula relating to gender equality. Schools and teachers play important roles in attending to diverse girls’ and boys’ unique learning needs. ” (Färnsveden U et al. 2014.)

4.4.4.7. Programmes promoting education of gender equality

The BEP - Basic Education Programme (Annex 3) has integrated gender in all aspects of its programmes. The project has produced a large number of guidebooks and materials for teachers, head teachers, students and parents including gender sensitiveness in material production. In audits of the mini-books series and the early grades readers were carried out to ensure gender inclusive language, a balance of female and male main characters, and avoidance of gender stereotypes. BEP produced a checklist for teachers’ self-assessment on gender equity in the classroom, and a checklist for selecting gender-neutral books. USAID has trained 59 master trainers who since September 2014 have carried out numerous school based professional development and management trainings on inclusion and gender issues.

Since September 2014 followed by the request of the Prime-Minister’s Office, USAID has included issues related to the rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Trans-sexual (LGBT) in all their activities. Four officials from MEST have been trained in the field and materials related to LGBT have been provided to head teachers for awareness raising. Trainings conducted by master trainers since September 2014 have involved not only gender but also LGBT issues.

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4.5. Teacher training

Pre-service and in-service teacher training

Teachers and attitudes they hold in relation to inclusion are most crucial to make inclusive education work. All teachers need to be trained and equipped with the appropriate attitudes, values and skills to manage an inclusive classroom and teach students with diverse needs.

Pre- and in-service teacher training should aim to prepare mainstream class teachers for inclusive education. The teacher training should provide knowledge that makes the theory and rationale for inclusive education clear, as well as practical experiences in implementing inclusive education including differentiations related to strategies, content, materials and assessment.

Teacher training should prepare teachers for using on-going assessment as a tool for their work. It should guide them in setting clear and concrete learning goals and using results of assessment as the basis for planning future learning experiences for all pupils. In particular, training should provide teachers with the information and tools to effectively develop the relationship between an IEP and on-going assessment.

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Screening and assessing the needs for support of students with SEN should occur as early as possible in their school careers. In order for this to take place, teachers should be trained to observe and to conduct screening assessments of students in their classrooms, and to use screening tools and interpret the results of assessment. They must be provided with guidance materials to assist them to identify students with SEN. (Mitchell 2008.)

Current situation

Pre-service teacher training in the Faculty of Education at the Bachelor Degree level including training for preschool and primary school teachers provides three courses related to special needs / inclusive education: one obligatory course on “Special needs education” and two selective courses, “Learning difficulties” and “Logopedics”. The Master Degree level contains only one course named “Inclusive education”.

Department of Pedagogy at FoE provides BA level training courses on “Special pedagogy” and “Learning difficulties” for educators, and in MA level a course on Inclusive Education.

FoE is planning to start MA programme on inclusive education with 60 ECTS in 2016. The target group is educators, class teachers and pedagogues.

Subject teacher students from other faculties have remained without any training on special needs / inclusive education. In October 2015 there will be following changes in the teacher training programmes:

- All subject teachers have their subject specific training in their own Faculty but in order to become a teacher they have to do their MA degree in education at the FoE;

- Early childhood educators have to complete their BA.

The existing courses are focused mainly on special educational needs and a shift from special needs to inclusive approach is needed. Courses on inclusive education are needed to understand what inclusive education about and it should be ensured that inclusive education approach is embedded in all teacher trainings including subject teacher training in order all teachers to be equipped with knowledge and skills on how to manage an inclusive classroom.

In inclusive classrooms teachers have to deal with different learning styles, special educational needs, and different cultural backgrounds of students.

The Faculty of Education has been providing in-service training to upgrade teachers with the Bachelor Degree. As part of these studies FoE has been providing a course on inclusive education.

FoE has developed MA programme for VET teachers which will start in 2016 - 2017.

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Trainings needed

Training of support staff

Inclusive education system need support staff, such as support teachers, itinerant teachers and school assistants. Their training could be provided as in- and pre-service training at the FoE. Advanced in-service trainings are needed for teachers of resource centres.

Professional development training

Professional development (PD) training programme on inclusive education that was implemented by the Finnish projects in 2000 – 2012 could serve as a base for the development of in-service training programmes. During 2000 – 2012 five groups of around 35 education professionals in each group were trained. The PD training consists of 60 credits. Each trainee participated the PD course for five days each month for 1,5 years. The PD training has been accredited by MEST. The modules of the PD training could be provided also as independent short training courses.

Training of the teacher training staff

In order to deliver effective programmes attention must be paid also to the qualifications and skills of teacher educators in the field of inclusive education.

Connecting teacher training with schools

It is higly important that teacher students are introduced to the reasearch methods on education. They need to learn how to collect and analyse empirical data from the field. As a good example of this kind of practices is the following assignment for BA students at FoE in Prishtina .

Students of the FoE in University of Prishtina/Priština were sent to schools in their own hometowns to monitor classes with the focus on difficulties in learning. As a result within a year students had identified more than 2000 students with learning difficulties. The professor from FoE paid student monitoring visits to these schools and during these visits gave practical solutions and methods to teachers on how to deal with learning difficulties in the classroom. Official assessment procedures organized by the MEST are long-lasting, and thus schools can benefit from teacher students on-the-job trainings.

Recommendations

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Teacher training

- To provide opportunities and trainings for teacher trainers (including subject teacher trainers) to become familiar with and include inclusive education approach in all trainings;

- To reorient and align teacher training programmes (both pre-service and in-service) to inclusive education approach in order to build pedagogical capacities of teachers to meet diverse needs in and manage an inclusive classroom;

- To provide training courses on the principals and practices of inclusive education for all education professionals (early childhood educators, class and subject teachers);

- To ensure that inclusive education approach is embedded in all subject training programmes for teacher trainees;

- To provide training on curriculum differentiation, assessment and screening in inclusive classroom;

- To provide training on the usage of IEPs; - To train more educators and teachers from minority communities; - To prepare training programmes for teachers to work as itinerant and support

teachers;- To prepare a training programme for assistants.- To collaborate with municipalities and schools in order to find provide internships of

teacher students in schools.

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5.Challenges faced in and a roadmap for diversity and inclusion for Kosovo schools

According to the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education (1994), translating the vision into practice requires creating educational policies, pedagogical practices and learning environments that include all children. Inclusion goes forward parallel with the ability to provide support services for children when needed in their regular, neighbourhood schools.

Despite the positive results achieved in Kosovo by developing the legal infrastructure for inclusive education as presented in the previous chapter, challenges remain in translating the vision of inclusion set in the Law and other educational documents into pedagogical practice at municipal and school level.

A starting point for developing inclusion in education is to identify all the barriers in the environment, attitudes and the way the school is organised and functioning. The situation analysis made in 2014 by the Twinning Programme in 61 pilot school in 2014 showed that there are many challenges schools are facing in starting to implement KCF and inclusion as one of its leading principals. These challenges are described below.

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Challenges faced in Kosovo schools

Attitudes, awareness and knowledge

1) Lack of knowledge and training on inclusive education. Head teachers and teachers are not familiar with the concept of inclusion. The concept “student with special educational needs” is referred to students with physical, visual, hearing and intellectual impairments. Training is needed in order to head teachers manage an inclusive school and teachers to manage inclusive classrooms.

2) Attitudes towards diversity in schools and in surrounding communities seem to be still mainly negative. Some of the head teachers of schools where there are not any students from minority communities showed being proud of being a culturally homogenous school, or particularly in upper secondary schools not having any students with SEN. As an example of the negative attitudes in the community, one of the pilot schools wanted to establish an attached class in the school in order to accommodate students with disabilities in the school but because the community members did not want to have “such category of children” in the school, no attached class was established and children with disabilities remained without access to school.

Access

3) Students from minority communities are in most of the schools integrated in mainstream classrooms. The language of instruction and learning is mainly Albanian which causes difficulties for students particularly from Roma communities in learning, and learning difficulties easily lead to dropout. Teachers are not trained to meet cultural diversity in the classrooms, and students from minority communities in most of the schools do not get any additional support. In some schools there are local NGOs providing support particularly to students from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities.

4) Students with special educational : The number of students with disabilities in 61 pilot schools is only 0,4 % of the total enrolment and most of these students are segregated in attached classes. The number of students with learning difficulties such as difficulties in reading, writing and mathematics is unknown. These students are not identified and they do not receive any additional support.

5) Access to school: The small number of students with SEN compared to other countries (in Finland around than 22 % of students receive special educational support) tells that either students with SEN are not identified in schools or children

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with disabilities are missing from schools. The number of children with disabilities having no access to school is unknown.

Identification of SEN and support

6) Identification of and support to students with SEN: Identification of and support to students with SENs is lacking in most of the schools. Schools have no means to identify special educational needs and prepare programmes and plans for the individual support. Teachers lack knowledge, skills and support to identify and support students with diverse needs.

7) Municipality assessment teams are newly established and not yet functional except municipalities of Ferizaj/Uroševac and Gjilan/Gnjilane. Schools are not aware of the existence and availability of services of assessment teams.

8) Access to curriculum: Curriculum differentiations are not in use in schools. All students in the classroom are following the same curriculum content and strategies and thus, students with SEN have not proper access to the curriculum and learning.

9) Individualised educational plans (IEPs): IEPs are in use only for students in attached classes or special schools. Teachers in regular schools are not trained nor familiar with the use of IEPs.

10) Assessment : Due to the lack and use of IEPs and alternative assessment strategies, students with SEN are assessed equally with all others without paying attention to their individual needs. This causes repeating the class and leads easily to dropping out.

11) Support systems missing: Support systems particularly to students with SEN is unorganised. School assistants, support teachers, pedagogues, psychologist and health care professionals are with some exceptions missing from schools. One of the pilot schools has created a system inside the school to provide support to students with SEN and their teachers. External support is missing from most of the schools. Itinerant teachers from resource centres have not been visiting schools and multi-professional teams are functional only in two municipalities.

Physical environment

12) School buildings are not accessible for students with disabilities. Many schools have built ramps for students with physical difficulties but otherwise not much has been done in schools to create barrier free learning environment for all.

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13) Infrastructure and maintenance of schools: School buildings cause many problems: most of the school budget is spent in heating, roofs are leaking, classrooms are hot in summer and cold in winter, problems with humidity, floors in some schools are worn out and even dangerous. Running water and waste water tubes are missing from one school. The poor hygienic level of toilets and Turkish toilets cause that toilets are inaccessible for students with physical and visual impairments.

14) School space: Overcrowded schools and working in two shifts hamper the functioning of schools. Lack of space is a common problem is schools even though schools are mainly working in two shifts. Working in two shifts makes organising classrooms, managing and maintaining the school, and thus implementing the KCF challenging.

15) Overcrowded classes have direct effects to the teaching methods, learning process and outcomes. In bigger towns there are primary and lower secondary schools with average more than 30 students and upper secondary schools up to 48 students per class.

16) Classrooms: A typical classroom contains tables for two students and chairs which are traditionally located in rows. In many schools tables and chairs are worn out. Walls are mainly empty and there is lot of echo in the classrooms as well as in mainly large school corridors. Most of the classrooms are with large windows and without curtains which makes classrooms very hot in summertime. Blackboards are often in bad shape or made of material they cannot be properly used.

Teaching and learning

17) Teaching and learning materials: KCF emphasizes a student-centred and competency-based perspective which requires that teaching and learning materials and resources motivate learners and stimulate their progress in a meaningful way. Textbooks are considered as valuable learning resources, but learner’s access to information should not be restricted to textbooks alone (KCF, p.56). Teachers should use variety of learning resources such as: alternative subject textbooks within a curriculum area; materials created by teachers themselves; ready-made resources from available web sites; e-learning platforms; e-libraries; and different resources from daily life.

Currently even basic teaching and learning materials are mainly missing or out of date in most of the classrooms. Lack of equipment and supplies affect negatively to the strategies used for teaching and learning and thus learning outcomes. For students with disabilities there are no assistive devices available.

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18) Limited teaching strategies: Teaching strategies in use are limited due to the lack of space, materials, equipment, supplies and training.

Roadmap on diversity and inclusion for Kosovo schools

In inclusion it is the responsibility of the regular system to educate all children, and thus there is a need for schools to change in order to meet the diverse needs of all students. The transformation requires modifications in content, approaches, structures and strategies used in the school and classroom. The management of the school has to be committed to the transformations. Teachers have an important role since in inclusive schools they find ways to know their students, to identify their diverse needs, to appropriately differentiate the curriculum and assessment practices, and to provide appropriate support according to all students’ needs. Teachers need to be well prepared and trained to manage an inclusive classroom with diverse needs. The support from the surrounding community is needed to include all the children from the neighbourhood.

As a starting point there is a need for a common vision of the inclusive school which covers all children of the appropriate age range. Awareness raising and training among the school staff, parents and community members is needed to make everyone understand the importance of education for all, rights of every child to education and the development of the school to become inclusive. Everyone need to be aware and committed to the common vision. Other elements needed for development are related to the identification, access to school, changes in the school, access to the curriculum, changes in the classroom, resources and support. These elements for inclusive school are presented in the Figure 2 and the Table 21 contains ideas what schools could do in order to develop these elements. In the end of the chapter, recommendations for schools are provided.

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Figure 2 Elements for inclusive school

Table 21. What schools can do to develop elements to make school more inclusive

What is needed? What to do?Awareness - Awareness raising in the school and in the community

on the o Rights of all children to educationo Rights of persons with disabilitieso Laws and other documents stipulating these

rightsKnowledge - Principals of inclusive education

- How to manage inclusive education- Head teacher and teachers participating to in-service

trainings - Information shared and trainings organised for the

members of School Governing Board, parents and community members

Commitment - The whole society, community, school, management, teachers, parents need to be committed.

Community involvement

- Community members active in developing and supporting the school

- Parents are actively supporting the development of the school

- Minority groups are participating to the development of

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the schoolIdentification - Situation analysis in the community of school-aged

children having no access to school- Identification of students with special educational needs - Municipality assessment teams to support in

identificationAccess to school - Facilities for all children to have access to school;

- Provide physical access including ramps, adapted toilets and adequate space for wheelchairs, classes with children with physical disabilities should be located in ground floor rooms.

- Transportation provided for those in need.Changes in the school - Ensure the physical accessibility

- Support services available- Resource rooms with support teachers- Standards for child-friendly school implemented

Access to the curriculum

- Access to learning for all- Curriculum differentiations implemented including

adaptations of the content, strategies of teaching, materials and assessment

- Use of IEPs when needed.Changes in the classroom

- Creating an inclusive classroomo Classroom climate: respect, understanding,

motivating and stimulatingo Supporting positive self-esteem of everyone o Arrangements to optimal learning environmento Planning and implementing the lesson to serve

diverse needs (e.g. learning styles, language used, cultural and gender differences in materials)

o Optimal assignments for everyoneo Responses expected for learners, time

management and transitions o Support in the classroomo Managing behaviour in the classroom

- Differentiations of instructional content, strategies, materials, and learning assessment practices.

- Various teaching and learning methods in use- Equipment, supplies, assistive devices available

Resources - Sufficient human and material resources available in the school;

- Optimal teacher-student ratio - Qualified teachers- Support teachers- Support team in the school established - School assistant (hopefully in the future)

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- Equipment, supplies, assistive devices availableSupport - Internal support: support team, support teachers,

reading clubs, language clubs, volunteers- External support: itinerant teachers, municipality

assessment teams, NGOs, community members.

Recommendations

Schools:

- To raise awareness of the whole school staff on inclusive education and on the legal framework on inclusive education in Kosovo (law and other policy documents);

- Commitment of the management and whole school staff to implement inclusive education and to welcome all children to school;

- To prepare School Development Plans with inclusive education approach;- To make teachers participate trainings on inclusive education and to organise school-

based trainings on inclusive education;- Information shared on inclusion to the members of School Governing Body, parents

and community members;- To involve community members including parents of students from minority groups

and special educational needs in the development of inclusive school;- To organise awareness raising events on inclusive education in the community;- To conduct situation analysis in the community to find school-aged children not

attending to school;- To ensure a child-friendly environment where every student can feel physically safe,

emotionally secure and psychologically enabling;- To ensure that sufficient human and material resources are available in the school

(e.g. optimal teacher-learner ratio, qualified teachers);- To arrange classrooms to be more learner-centred and child-friendly (optimal class

size, use of various teaching and learning materials and methods, differentiations, assessment practices, use of ICT, supplies, assistive devices);

- To establish support systems for students and teachers (support teams, support teachers, attached class teachers, itinerant teachers, municipality assessment teams, assistants);

- To establish resource rooms with support teachers in the school; - To identify students with learning difficulties / special educational needs; - To identify students with difficulties in reading and writing and establishing reading

clubs to support them;- To identify at early stage students at the risk of dropping out followed by analysis of

the factors and conditions that constitute the situation;- To invite the community members to support students who are about to drop out

because of the poor socio-economic status of the family;

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- To provide support for students from minority groups.

5. Recommendations combined

Recommendations for MEST

- To ensure that principals of inclusive education as stipulated in the Law, KESP and KCF are put into practice at all levels of pre-university education;

- To ensure that principals of inclusive education are introduced to all relevant actors, such as staff of MEST, regional inspectors, MEDs, head teachers and teacher trainers (in- and pre-service);

- To ensure that early identification of SEN is functional and support provided already at early childhood education and at pre-primary and primary education;

- To ensure that the transition phases from home / early childhood education to pre-primary / primary education and also from lower secondary education to upper secondary / vocational education is well prepared for students with SEN;

- To empower municipality assessment teams by providing sufficient training for them, and to strengthen the co-operation of assessment teams with schools;

- To plan how to increase the number of support teachers in schools by

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o preparing Administrative Instruction for support teachers in all schools (not only schools with attached class) including instructions for establishment of resource rooms and support teams;

o planning and implementing in-service and pre-service training courses for support teachers in collaboration with the KPI and FoE;

o guiding MEDs to use the existing human resources to work as support teachers particularly in schools with decreasing number of students;

- To follow up that the transformation of the attached classes into resource rooms is well prepared in advance. The focus must be in empowering the class and subject teachers to welcome students with SEN. The following should be kept in mind:

o Students in attached classes must be accommodated in age-appropriate classes;

o Class and subject teachers must be trained and prepared well to manage an inclusive classroom and to meet the needs of students with SEN;

o Teachers need to be trained in the use of IEPs and in the differentiation of the curriculum (content, teaching strategies, materials and assessment);

o Support provided to the student with SEN and class / subject teachers must be properly planned before accommodating the student with SEN into the regular class;

- To start focusing on how to deal with difficulties in reading and writing in schools; to train class teachers on 1) how to use screening tools to identify difficulties in reading and writing, and 2) how to support students with difficulties in reading and writing; good results and experiences gained from reading clubs should be utilized.

- To strengthen the capacity of resource centres to provide effectively quality support to mainstream schools;

- To mobilize resource centres to start systematic training of all schools on inclusive education. Resource centres are authorized by MEST to provide 16 accredited courses on inclusive education, special educational needs, usage of IEPs and other related topics for schools, parents and community members.

- To organise continuous trainings for teachers at all levels of pre-university education on the usage of IEPs, and to follow up and monitor the usage and quality of IEPs;

- To plan how to create a school assistant system with training in Kosovo;- To organise teaching according to activity areas for students with multiple and

severe intellectual disabilities by training teachers and allocating human and material resources for teaching; students who are learning according to activity areas need in most cases personal school assistant, special equipment and assistive devices. Assistance of and collaboration with local NGOs would be useful in preparations and in implementation of teaching according to activity areas;

- To understand the specific role of Deaf students in the education system, they represent a linguistic minority group and their learning results are entirely depended on the language of instruction. They need a learning environment with rich sign

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language in order to gain good results. Deaf students should have their own classes with the teacher who is fluent in sign language, or in the case of inclusion, a full time sign language interpreter or assistant should be provided.

- To plan and organise education of the Deaf-Blind children;- To strengthen the collaboration within MEST and with municipalities to improve

statistical data on out-of school children, children with SEN in and out of the education system and dropouts. Municipality assessment teams will provide useful information regarding students with SEN.

Recommendations for MEDs

- To ensure that principals of inclusive education as stipulated in the legal framework of Kosovo are implemented in the municipality;

- To plan and manage the effective implementation of the KCF with its leading principal of inclusion at the municipality level;

- To ensure that principals of inclusive education are introduced to all relevant actors, such as staff of MEDs, head teachers and teachers;

- To ensure that municipality assessment teams have been established and inclusive education officer nominated;

- To plan and manage the process towards inclusive education in the municipality and support the work of inclusive education officer to coordinate and provide support to schools;

- To work in collaboration with schools, early childhood service providers and NGOs to raise awareness on inclusive education among parents and the community including awareness raising activities;

- To improve conditions for quality pre-school education for all and particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, with developmental delays and impairments.

- To ensure that head teachers are trained to manage an inclusive school and teachers trained to manage an inclusive classroom by organising continuous trainings on inclusion;

- To transform attached classes into resource rooms and prepare the transformation process well, to ensure that class and subject teachers are trained to manage inclusive classroom and meet the needs of SEN in the classroom; to ensure that sufficient support is provided for students with SEN and their teachers;

- To provide schools with support teachers and resource rooms. Support teachers and resource rooms are needed in all schools, not only in those with attached classes. MEDs could start with one of the following options: 1) Depending on the number of schools in the municipality to hire 1-3 “travelling”

support teachers to work in the municipality to support schools;

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2) To establish resource rooms in all schools where “travelling” support teachers can provide individual / small group support;

3) To transform some schools to “cluster centres” to provide professional support and materials to other schools in the municipality. Establishment of the cluster centre requires the following:

a. Hiring of support teachers in the cluster centre; b. Training of teachers in order to acquire knowledge and skills on how to

manage an inclusive classroom and support students with SEN; c. Budget allocations to produce and provide learning materials for the use

of schools. These schools should preferably be the current inclusive schools, and KCF pilot schools which are supported by the Twinning project and where Kosovo Pedagogical Institute and Twinning project have been building capacity among teachers and management. Municipalities with decreasing number of students could use particularly class teachers to work after being trained as support teachers. MEST in collaboration with KPI and FoE should plan how to train these teachers to work as support teachers.

- The role of support teachers must be clarified to head teachers and teachers in mainstream schools. Co-operative teaching between teachers and support teacher should be strengthened and teachers trained on collaborative teaching methods.

- To monitor regularly thato the school development plans are prepared with inclusive approach and

implemented;o schools are child-friendly and inclusive;

- To revise the budget in order to o provide schools with sufficient human and material resources (e.g. optimal

teacher-learner ratio, qualified teachers, teaching and learning materials, assistive devices);

o support activities for inclusive school;- To mobilize municipality assessment teams to work with schools to identify students

with SEN and provide reliable data for EMIS on the number of children with SEN in or out of school;

- To start focusing on how to deal with difficulties in reading and writing in schools; to train class teachers on 1) how to use screening tools to identify difficulties in reading and writing, and 2) how to support students with difficulties in reading and writing; good results and experiences gained from reading clubs should be utilized.

- To provide training for all teachers on the usage of IEPs, and to follow up and monitor the usage and quality of IEPs;

- To make plans in intersectional collaboration in the municipality to search and bring to education system all school-aged children who are not attending to school;

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- To ensure that the transition phases from home / early childhood education to pre-primary / primary education and also from lower secondary education to upper secondary / vocational education is well prepared for students with SEN;

Recommendations for teacher training

- To provide opportunities and trainings for teacher trainers (including subject teacher trainers) to get familiar with and include inclusive education approach in all trainings;

- To reorient and align teacher training programmes (both pre-service and in-service) to inclusive education approach in order to build pedagogical capacities of teachers to meet diverse needs in and manage an inclusive classroom;

- To provide training courses on the principals and practices of inclusive education for all education professionals (early childhood educators, class and subject teachers);

- To ensure that inclusive education approach is embedded in all subject training programmes for teacher trainees;

- To provide training on curriculum differentiation, assessment and screening in inclusive classroom;

- To provide training on the usage of IEPs; - To train more educators and teachers from minority communities; - To prepare training programmes for teachers to work as itinerant and support

teachers;- To prepare a training programme for assistants;- To collaborate with municipalities and schools in order to find provide internships of

teacher students in schools.

Recommendations for resource centres

- The enrolment in special school should decrease and more focus should be paid on providing services to mainstream schools;

- To hire or nominate more itinerant teachers to contribute more to mainstream schools;

- To involve all teachers of RCs to provide support to teachers and students in mainstream schools;

- To make RCs more visible in the education system; schools and teachers need to know what kind of services they can expect and get from resource centres;

- To collaborate more with mainstream schools and mobilize itinerant teachers to work effectively and communicate with regular schools in order to find and provide support to students with learning difficulties / disabilities and their teachers in regular schools;

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- To strengthen the role of resource centres as support service provider (support to mainstream schools, production and provision of teaching / learning materials); currently most of resource centres are mainly functioning as special schools;

- To mobilize trained teachers to start systematic trainings of all schools on inclusive education and how to deal with SEN in mainstream classrooms. Resource centres have 16 accredited courses which they can provide for teachers, parents and community members;

- To start with the programme on Teaching according to activity areas for students with multiple and severe intellectual disabilities after having teachers trained, and to ensure that human (trained teachers, school assistants) and material (specific equipment and assistive devices) resources are available;

- To plan in collaboration with MEST how to organise education of the Deaf Blind;- To collaborate with teacher training in order to provide internships of teacher

students in schools.

Recommendations for schools:

- To raise awareness of the whole school staff on inclusive education and on the legal framework on inclusive education in Kosovo (law and other policy documents);

- Commitment of the management and whole school staff to implement inclusive education and to welcome all children to school;

- To prepare School Development Plans with inclusive education approach;- To make teachers participate trainings on inclusive education and to organise school-

based trainings on inclusive education;- Information shared on inclusion to the members of School Governing Body, parents

and community members;- To involve community members including parents of students from minority groups

and special educational needs in the development of inclusive school;- To organise awareness raising events on inclusive education in the community;- To conduct situation analysis in the community to find school-aged children not

attending to school;- To ensure a child-friendly environment where every student can feel physically safe,

emotionally secure and psychologically enabling;- To ensure that sufficient human and material resources are available in the school

(e.g. optimal teacher-learner ratio, qualified teachers);- To arrange classrooms to be more learner-centered and child-friendly (optimal class

size, use of various teaching and learning materials and methods, differentiations, assessment practices, use of ICT, supplies, assistive devices);

- To establish support systems for students and teachers (support teams, support teachers, attached class teachers, itinerant teachers, municipality assessment teams, assistants);

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- To establish resource rooms with support teachers in the school; - To identify students with learning difficulties / special educational needs; - To identify students with difficulties in reading and writing and establishing reading

clubs to support them;- To identify at early stage students at the risk of dropping out followed by analysis of

the factors and conditions that constitute the situation;- To invite the community members to support students who are about to drop out

because of the poor socio-economic status of the family;- To provide support for students from minority groups.

112

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UNESCO. 2000. The Open File on Inclusive Education Support Materials for Managers and Administrators. www.unesdoc.unesco.org

UNESCO. 2001. Understanding and Responding to Children’s Needs in Inclusive Classrooms: A guide for teachers. www.unesdoc.unesco.org

UNESCO. 2004. Changing Teaching Practices: Using curriculum differentiation to respond to students' diversity. Author: Perner, Darlene. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001365/136583e.pdf

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UNESCO. 2004. Embracing diversity: Toolkit for creating inclusive, learning-friendly environments. Bangkok: UNESCO: Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education.

UNESCO. 2005. Guidelines for Inclusion: Ensuring Access to Education for All, Paris.

UNESCO 2009. Policy guidelines on inclusion in education. Paris: UNESCO.

The UN convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 2007.

The World Bank. 2012. Kosovo: Gender Gaps in Education, Health and Economic Opportunities. Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Unit Europe and Central Asia Region.

http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2013/08/01/000442464_20130801

Zylfiu H., Mehmeti S. & Mekolli S. 2014. Role of mediators in the integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in the education system. A study on education mediators’ work throughout 2013. Study report.

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Annex 1Basic concepts

Abandoner as defined in the AI No. 19/2012 is- A student who interrupts the education before the compulsory education by law.- A student who after completion of compulsory education continues education, but

interrupts it before the aimed end;- A child or young who is not enrolled in school and does not attend compulsory

education by law.

Attached classAttached class is a term used in Kosovo for a special class located in premises of mainstream school. Students are with special educational needs and teachers working in attached classes are qualified special teachers.

Child-friendly schoolA child-friendly school is a school providing quality education to all children, by addressing all issues that have an impact on the welfare, the rights and friendly environment during the learning process for every child. In child-friendly school the child is at the centre of attention in all activities being organized and implemented at the school. The concept is based on the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC).

CommunitiesThe Law No. 03/L-047 on the protection and promotion of the rights of communities and their members in Kosovo (Article 1.4.) defines communities as national, ethnic, cultural, linguistic or religious groups traditionally present in the Republic of Kosovo that are not in the majority. These groups are Serb, Turkish, Bosnian, Roma, Ashkali, Egyptian, Gorani, Montenegrin, Croatian and other communities.

Curriculum differentiationCurriculum differentiation is the process of modifying or adapting the curriculum according to the different ability levels of the students in one class. Differentiations can be made by changing the content, methods for teaching and learning content and, the methods of assessment.

Disability‘Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.’ (The UN convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2007)

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Disability can be seen as an interaction between the person and his or her environment. Interventions and actions aimed at enabling people with disabilities to participate in all spheres of life must therefore move beyond the traditional concept of rehabilitation and medical treatment. Enabling people to participate in social life can largely be achieved by addressing the barriers that hinder persons with disabilities in their day-to-day lives.

Diversity Diversity is a concept that can be used to differentiate groups and people from one another. In education diversity can be seen as characteristics that can affect the specific ways in which developmental potential and learning are realised, including cultural, linguistic, ethnic, religious and socio-economic differences.

Gender equalityGender equality means equal visibility, empowerment, responsibility and participation for both women and men in all spheres of public and private life, and an equal access to and distribution of resources between women and men. (European Council 2013.)

IntegrationIntegration refers to the education of students with SEN who are being placed in mainstream education setting with some adaptations and resources, but on condition that the student can fit into the existing structures and environment in the school. It may include part-time studying in regular classes for only part of the school day, often for the less ‘academic’ subjects but most of the time spent at school is placed in a special class. In some countries, integration is seen as a transitional arrangement before full inclusion is implemented.

Inclusion and inclusive educationInclusion is a process of strengthening the capacity of the education system to reach out to all learners regardless of poverty, gender, ethnic background, language, disabilities and impairments. As an overall principle, it should guide all education policies and practices, starting from the fact that education is a basic human right and the foundation for a more just and equal society. Inclusive education requires reconstructing the cultures, structures, practices and methodologies used in schools. Schools need to be transformed to cater for all children in the communities and community members are needed to support schools in wel-coming all children to schools. (UNESCO 2009.)

SegregationIn education students with special educational needs are segregated when they are accommodated in segregated education settings such as special schools and special classes.

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Learning difficultiesA child has learning difficulties if the child has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of that age; or if the child has a disability which either prevents or hinders him or her from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for children of his or her age in educational and/or training institutions. (Law on Pre-University Education, Article 39)

Special educational provision‘Special educational provision’ for a child means educational provision which is additional to, or otherwise different from, the educational provision made generally for children of his or her age in educational and/or training institutions established in the municipality. Special educational provision is not limited to children with learning difficulties but also extends to particularly gifted children who may require modifications in the normal pattern of progress through the system of compulsory education, including the curriculum. (Law on Pre-University Education, article 39.)

Social inclusionSocial inclusion encompasses the full participation by all people, irrespectively of their social differences (such as gender, ethnicity, social class and disability), in economic, social and cultural life (KESP 2011 -2016)

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Annex 2

International treaties and declarations recognised by the Republic of Kosovo

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

- Ensures the right to free and compulsory education for all children.

http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr

Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons (1975)

- Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons (1975) defines the term "disabled person" as any person unable to ensure by himself or herself, wholly or partly, the necessities of a normal individual and/or social life, as a result of deficiency, either congenital or not, in his or her physical or mental capabilities.

- Disabled persons have the right to --- education, vocational training and rehabilitation, aid, counselling, placement services and other services which will enable them to develop their capabilities and skills to the maximum and will hasten the processes of their social integration or reintegration.

- Disabled persons are entitled to have their special needs taken into consideration at all stages of economic and social planning.

- Disabled persons have the right to live with their families or with foster parents and to participate in all social, creative or recreational activities. No disabled person shall be subjected, as far as his or her residence is concerned, to differential treatment other than that required by his or her condition or by the improvement which he or she may derive from. If the stay of a disabled person in a specialized establishment is indispensable, the environment and living conditions therein shall be as close as possible to those of the normal life of a person of his or her age.

- Disabled persons shall be protected against all exploitation, all regulations and all treatment of a discriminatory, abusive or degrading nature.

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/RightsOfDisabledPersons.aspx

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)

The Convention (Article 23) stipulates the right of disabled children to enjoy a full and decent life, in conditions which ensure dignity, promote self-reliance, and facilitate the child's active participation in the community. It states that a child with disability should have effective access to and receive education, training, health care services, rehabilitation services, preparation for employment and recreation opportunities designed in a manner

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conducive to the child's achieving the fullest possible social integration and individual development, including his or her cultural and spiritual development.

Article 29 on education states that the education of the child shall be directed to the development of the child's personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest. In addition it emphasized the development of respect for the child's parents, his or her own cultural identity, language and values, for the national values of the country in which the child is living, the country from which he or she may originate, and for civilizations different from his or her own. The child should be prepared for responsible life in a free society, in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of indigenous origin.

http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx

The World Declaration on Education for All, Jomtien Thailand (1990)

The World Declaration on Education for All (EFA) reaffirmed the notion of education as a fundamental human right and urged countries to intensify efforts to address the basic learning needs of all. In order to realise this aim, a broad coalition of national governments, civil society groups and development agencies such as UNESCO and the World Bank committed to achieving six specific education goals:

- Expand and improve comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.

- Ensure that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, those in difficult circumstances, and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete, free, and compulsory primary education of good quality.

- Ensure that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equit-able access to appropriate learning and life-skills programmes.

- Achieve a 50% improvement in adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults.

- Eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieve gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls’ full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality.

- Improve all aspects of the quality of education and ensure the excellence of all so that recognised and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills.

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/edu-cation-for-all/the-efa-movement/jomtien-1990/

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The Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (1993)

Rule 6 on Education stipulates that states should recognize the principle of equal primary, secondary and tertiary educational opportunities for children, youth and adults with disabilities, in integrated settings. They should ensure that the education of persons with disabilities is an integral part of the educational system and it should be provided in “integrated settings” and in the “general school settings.”

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/dissre00.htm

Salamanca Statement (1994)

Salamanca statement was the first international treaty that supported a human rights perspective in education by stating that inclusion and participation are essential to human dignity and the enjoyment and exercise of human rights.

- “… schools should accommodate all children regardless of their physical, intellectual, social, emotional, linguistic or other conditions.“ This should include disabled and gifted children, street and working children, children from remote or nomadic populations, children from linguistic, ethnic or cultural minorities and children from other disadvantaged or marginalised areas or groups.”

The statement proclaims that- Every child has a fundamental right to education and must be given the opportunity

to achieve and maintain acceptable levels of learning;- Every child has unique characteristics, interests, abilities and learning needs;- Education systems should be designed and educational programmes implemented to

take into account the wide diversity of these characteristics and needs;- Those with special educational needs must have access to mainstream schools which

should accommodate them within a child-centred pedagogy capable of meeting these needs;

- Mainstream schools with this inclusive orientation are the most effective means of combating discriminatory attitudes, creating welcoming communities, building an inclusive society and achieving education for all. Moreover, they provide an effective education for the majority of children (without special needs) and improve the efficiency and ultimately the cost-effectiveness of the entire education system.

http://www.unesco.org/education/pdf/SALAMA_E.PDF

Dakar World Education Forum (2000) Framework for Action

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The Dakar World Education Forum re-affirmed the vision of the World Declaration on Education for All (Jomtien 1990), supported by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Forum made a commitment to the attainment of the following goals:

- expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children;

- ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality;

- ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programmes;

- achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults;

- eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls’ full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality; and

- improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills.

http://www.unesco.org/education/wef/en-conf/dakframeng.shtm

The UN Millennium Developmental Goals, MDGs (2000)

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were established following the UN Millennium Summit in 2000 and the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. The Millennium Development Goals by 2015 are:

1. To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger2. To achieve universal primary education3. To promote gender equality and empower women4. To reduce child mortality5. To improve maternal health6. To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases7. To ensure environmental sustainability8. To develop a global partnership for development

http://www.who.int/topics/millennium_development_goals/about/en/

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2007)

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The United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2007 is an international treaty that identifies "the rights of persons with disabilities as well as the obligations on States Parties to the Convention to promote, protect and ensure those rights. It recognizes that disability is an evolving concept and that disability results from the interaction of persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinders their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.

The convention proclaims that all members of society have the same human rights including civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. It also states that "all persons with disabilities have the right to be free from discrimination in the enjoyment of their rights. This includes the right to be free from discrimination on the basis of disability, but also on any other basis such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status".

Article 8 on Awareness-raising calls States Parties to adopt immediate, effective and appropriate measures: - To raise awareness throughout society, including at the family level, regarding

persons with disabilities, and to foster respect for the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities;

- To combat stereotypes, prejudices and harmful practices relating to persons with disabilities, including those based on sex and age, in all areas of life;

- To promote awareness of the capabilities and contributions of persons with disabilities.

Article 24 of the convention states the right of persons with disabilities to education without discrimination and on the basis of equal opportunity and assurance of an inclusive education system at all levels and lifelong learning. The right for education requires that - Persons with disabilities are not excluded from the general education system on the

basis of disability, and that children with disabilities are not excluded from free and compulsory primary education, or from secondary education, on the basis of disability;

- Persons with disabilities can access an inclusive, quality and free primary education and secondary education on an equal basis with others in the communities in which they live;

- Reasonable accommodation of the individual’s requirements is provided; - Persons with disabilities receive the support required, within the general education

system, to facilitate their effective education; - Effective individualized support measures are provided in environments that

maximize academic and social development, consistent with the goal of full inclusion.

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Persons with disabilities have the right to learn life and social development skills to facilitate their full and equal participation in education and as members of the community and in order to ensure the realization of the right appropriate measures must be takes including: - Facilitating the learning of Braille, alternative script, augmentative and alternative

modes, means and formats of communication and orientation and mobility skills, and facilitating peer support and mentoring;

- Facilitating the learning of sign language and the promotion of the linguistic identity of the deaf community;

- Ensuring that the education of persons, and in particular children, who are blind, deaf or deaf blind, is delivered in the most appropriate languages and modes and means of communication for the individual, and in environments which maximize academic and social development;

- To employ teachers, including teachers with disabilities, who are qualified in sign language and/or Braille, and to train professionals and staff who work at all levels of education.

http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/conventionfull.shtml

Annex 3

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Projects supported to the development of Inclusive Education in Kosovo

During last 15 years there have been numerous donor funded projects aiming to improve the quality of the education system. In this Annex projects related to inclusive education

Finland

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland supported the Education Sector in Kosovo particularly in the field of special and inclusive education during 2000 – 2013 through four projects with the total amount of 8.5 million euros. These programmes with main results were the follows:

The first phase “Finnish Support to the Education Sector in Kosovo (FSDEK)” started the efforts and activities to foot the inclusive / special needs education in the education system in Kosovo in 2000 - 2003. During this project around 35 education professionals participated to an extensive Professional Development (PD) training on special education. In addition around 20 trainers were trained in the TESFA (Towards Effective School for All) trainers training. With the support of the project the establishment of attached classes started.

The second phase “Finnish Support to the Education Sector in Kosovo FSDEK II” was implemented in 2004 – 2008. The project was focused on institutional capacity building and professional development in the field of inclusive / special needs education. The overall objective of the project was to contribute to educational reform in Kosovo through the development of an inclusive education system that will be a benefit to all learners experiencing barriers to learning and models respect and peaceful co-existence among all. The project purpose was to make inclusive education philosophy central to all professional development programmes for teachers by ensuring that all teachers in Kosovo are better trained to teach children with special educational needs, and hence increase inclusivity in Kosovo schools.

As a result of the support provided to the MEST: - 3 Professional Development courses with around 105 participants were carried out.

Each PD course last 1,5 years and participants were trained every month for 5 days;- Around 1000 teachers all around Kosovo participated to the TESFA training on

inclusive education; - Resource Centre reform to transform special schools to function as resource centres

started in 3 former special schools, project hired the first 6 itinerant teachers to work in resource centres and support mainstream schools;

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- An awareness raising campaign with the aim of raising awareness and knowledge on disability issues and inclusive education was conducted for three months all around Kosovo; and

- An Anthology “Development of Inclusive Education in Kosovo – Challenges and Outcomes” with experiences gained during 2000 -2008 was published.

As a result of the support provided to the Faculty of Education:- 13 students graduated from the Master’s Programme on Inclusive Education which

was implemented in collaboration with the University of Prishtina/Priština and the University of Jyväskylä in Finland;

- Development of three pre-service teacher training courses was supported: 1) Special Needs Education with methodology (mandatory for all FoE students); 2) Learning difficulties (optional course); and Elements of Logopedics (optional); and

- A learning centre with library, ICT equipment, conference and research facilities were established at the FoE of University of Prishtina/Priština.

- 3 conferences in the field of professional development in collaboration with KEDP were organised;

- 16 staff members received support to participate to international conferences and thereby have opportunities to create international professional networks; and

- Support to publishing several manuscript written by PU professors.

The third phase “The Finnish Institutional Support to Kosovo Ministry of Education, Science and Technology” programme was supported by the University of Jyväskylä in 2009 – 2010. This programme continued the contribution of previous programmes including e.g. continuation of the PD programme. The project supported the MEST in preparations of the national guidelines of Individualised Educational Plans and in expanding of the resource centre reform that had started during the FSDEK II.

The fourth phase of the Finnish support was the “Finnish Support to Inclusive Education System in Kosovo” (FSIESK) was a two-year project implemented in 2011 - 2013. Project was designed to support the implementation elements of Inclusive Education in Kosovo Education Strategic Plan (KESP) 2011 - 2016 and Strategic Plan for Organizing Inclusive Education for Children with SEN in Pre-University Education in Kosovo 2010 – 2015. Main results of the project were as follows:

- An intervention study on reading and writing difficulties was conducted in 8 schools, four of them as model schools which were supported by establishing reading clubs in the school, and four control schools with around 1700 students. The results of the study showed that support provided through reading clubs is effective for learners having difficulties in reading and writing. A group assessment tool for reading and writing was developed for the context of Kosovo.

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- Administrative Instruction on IEP usage was published by MEST in four languages: Al-banian, Serbian, Bosnian and Turkish and a course on the usage of IEP was accred-ited by MEST, trainings organised for around 200 participants, a group of RC teachers were trained to work as trainers of IEPs.

- 8 FSIESK training courses were accredited by MEST: 1) Behavioural difficulties; 2) Reading difficulties; 3) Toward Effective Schools for All (TESFA); and 4) Individualised Educational Plan (IEP); 5) Teaching based on activity areas; 6) Teaching Children with Autism; and 7) Building a Support Network for LSEN; and 8) IEP; and trainings with 20 topics and 64 training days with more than 883 participants representing profession-als at all levels of the education system and staff members of health and social wel -fare departments from municipalities.

- Administrative Instruction for Resource Centres (RCs) was drafted; functioning and increasing of capacities of RCs was strengthened; and trainings for the RC staff mem-bers with the following topics: 1) Development of Support Network for Children with SEN for RC management and itinerant teachers; 2) How RCs can work as service providers to mainstream schools; 3) New learning and teaching methodologies; 4) IEP usage; 5) Material Production for Augmentative and Alternative Communication; 6) A tailored trainings to RCs; 7) Teaching autistic children; and 8) as a new initiative in Kosovo, FSIESK provided trainings and workshops on teaching according to activity areas in order to improve the education of children with severe intellectual and mul -tiple disabilities.

Kosovo Association for Promoting Inclusive Education (KAPIE) carried out a project Support to Inclusive Education Reform in 2014 – 2015. The overall objective of the project financed by the Finnish Embassy in Prishtina/Priština was to strengthen the support system and increase inclusion of children with disabilities and learning difficulties. Specific objectives were to raise awareness and capacities of Municipal education authorities to organize the support system for children with disabilities and strengthen the skills of teachers to address the various needs of children with disabilities, learning difficulties and reading and spelling difficulties in mainstream settings.

The project supported 4 model primary mainstream schools in 2 municipalities in making them more inclusive. Teachers in model schools were trained on inclusive education, how to use individual educational plans, how to use assessment reading and spelling tools and how to produce alternative materials to organize remedial teaching for students with difficulties in reading. Schools were supported to establish and organize ‘Reading Clubs’ for students with severe reading and spelling difficulties. Teachers were trained on the principals of inclusive education and on how to use Individual Educational Plans.

In addition project supported MEST in developing the manual in Teaching based on Activity Areas, raising capacities of MED-s in the field of inclusive education, training IEP trainers on

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the usage of IEP, and training attached class teachers in producing and using alternative learning materials for students with SEN.

KAPIE has started the second phase of the project “Support to Inclusive Education Reform 2015-2016” which aims to:

- Strengthen the skills of teachers to address the various needs of children with disabilities in mainstream setting and to create good practices and provide practical tools to teachers in supporting students with reading and spelling difficulties.

- To support 34 primary schools to create good practices in supporting children with reading and spelling difficulties including training teachers on reading and spelling difficulties and establishment of reading clubs.

- To support MEST in the field of teaching based on activity areas, in raising capacities of MED-s in the field of IE, in drafting the 5-year strategy for SEN children and in organizing a conference in inclusive education.

The 34 pilot schools selected for the project are pilot primary and lower secondary schools of the Twinning project.

UNICEF

UNICEF has been supporting MEST to develop Early Learning Development Standards for Children age 0 – 6, and Standards for Child-Friendly Schools in Kosovo.

Early Learning Development Standards for Children age 0 – 6 were launched in 2011 and after that all educators in Kosovo have received an in-service training programme with 6 modules which was carried out in 7 days. Standards can be used by anyone who is inter-ested in early childhood development.

In 2012 UNICEF in collaboration with MEST and Kosovo Pedagogical Institute developed Standards for Child-Friendly Schools in Kosovo to meet the need resulted of changes made in the area of curriculum and to support the goal of establishing effective, healthy, safe and inclusive schools, with an active participation of parents and community. (Annex 5.) In addition a set of tools for external and self-assessment for measuring the performance of the school has been drafted and will be piloted. The tool emphasizes inclusion in the performance of the school.

Under the framework of the project “Implementation of Child-Friendly School Standards – Towards inclusive schools”, UNICEF in collaboration with KPI carried out a baseline study related to out-of-school children in Kosovo in 7 municipalities and 14 schools in 2013. During the project municipalities were assisted in analysing the profile of dropout children. As a result 6 municipalities have prepared action plans to prevent dropout.

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UNICEF is building capacity among the staff of EMIS at MEST to use, plan and disseminate educational data collected.

Save the Children

Save the Children has been working in Kosovo since 1999. It has been promoting inclusive education and contributing to a higher quality education for all with a particular focus on preschool, pre-primary and primary education and education of children from marginalised groups. It has been focused on addressing the legislation and policies, advocacy and mobilization of civil society and parents of children with SEN and also in building capacities for improvement of qualities in education.

Save the Children has supported training of educators for new methodologies and establish-ment of 4 regional resource centres, where 514 preschool educators were trained to work with children with special needs.

The Education programme to promote Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) with the aim to increase awareness on the importance of ECCD and continue to work with partners in focusing on key areas for interventions has been implemented in several kindergartens and primary schools in 9 municipalities of 7 regions.

Save the Children project “Promoting Education for Children with Special Needs” aimed to: - Raise awareness of the rights of children with special educational needs by

establishing a self-sustaining advocacy body that encompasses local NGOs such as Handikos and parents’ associations, including children themselves.

- Support community-based rehabilitation practices in 8 Handikos Community Based Rehabilitation centers, aiming to stimulate and advance the physical and psychosocial abilities of hundreds of children with special needs.

- Develop and increase pre-school institutions' and primary schools' capacities to implement inclusive education practices and services for all children especially children will special educational needs.

- Enhance awareness of the parents of children with special educational needs on the right/duty to enroll their children in the pre-school institutions and pre-primary/primary school, and to reinforce the involvement of educational institutions, other relevant sectors, as well as civil society members, so as to ease the overall process of inclusive education.

- Support training of teachers, educators, school directors, professional resource teams and workers at the formal and non-formal levels on inclusive education methodologies.

- Establish Project Resource Teams made up of different professional backgrounds to support and advise the inclusive educators and teachers in implementing the Inclusive Education projects.

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- Provide different didactic materials, intelligent toys-appropriate early childhood develop materials in order to assure that children have access to quality education facilities, while enabling the educators to conduct smoothly various activities and improving the learning process.

- Improve access for children with special needs by intervention on rehabilitation of different structures in preschool institutions.

https://kosovo.savethechildren.net/what-we-do/education

The Index for inclusion was adapted to the context of Kosovo in 2007 by Save the Children and it has been included in the Strategic Plan for Organising Inclusive Education for Children with Special Educational Needs in pre-university Education in Kosovo 2010-2015 as part of KESP 2011-2016. (Annex 6.)

USAID

1) Basic Education Programme

The five-year Basic Education Programme (BEP) funded by the USAID and the Government of Kosovo started in 2010. The main goal of the project is to improve the Government of Kosovo’s institutional capacity in the education sector and improve the quality of primary education. The motto of the project is “Developing students’ 21st Century skills with schools and communities”. To this end, BEP seeks to improve the capacity of Kosovo’s schools to provide relevant skills for its students. The project includes three components:

- Enhance School Management Capacities in the Decentralized Environment;- Strengthen the Assessment of Learning Outcomes; and- Improve In-service Teacher Professional Development

BEP works to improve reading skills in students and to ensure equitable access for all citizens regardless of gender, sexual orientation or ethnicity. The project has produced a large number of guidebooks and materials for teachers, head teachers, students and parents.

2) Reading assessment

USAID started “Early Grade Reading Assessment” (EGRA) study in 40 schools - rural and urban - in 2012. 800 randomly selected students from the grade 2 were tested in the end of the school year. The second testing with 796 students was conducted in 2014, and the final testing will take place in 2015. Teachers were trained and provided with materials: reading books for grades 1 and 2, “minibooks” that students are able to cut, clip, draw, colour and read, and “bigbooks” that can be used for the whole group teaching. The results of the

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study are expected to show how these additional materials used in teaching reading can improve results in reading skills.

3) Inclusion

USAID has numerous school based professional development trainings carried out by 59 master trainers who are experts from different fields, and management trainings for head teachers. Issues related to inclusion and particularly related to gender issues have been involved in all of these trainings and materials produced. BEP produced a checklist for teachers’ self-assessment on gender equity in the classroom, and a checklist for selecting gender-neutral books.

Since September 2014 followed by the request of the Prime-Minister’s Office, USAID has included issues related to the rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Trans-sexual (LGBT) in all their activities. Four officials from MEST have been trained in the field and materials related to LGBT have been provided to head teachers for awareness raising. Trainings conducted by Master trainers since September 2014 have involved not only gender but also LGBT issues.

In addition USAID has the approach of working with minority communities in all of their activities including material production and publications. Two of the master trainers represent minority communities.

4) Formative assessment trainings

USAID has been running a training programme on formative assessment which soon has reached all teachers of Kosovo. Standards for formative assessment have been produced as well as booklets.

GIZ

GIZ has been implementing the Capacity Development in Basic Education (CDBE) project in Kosovo (2010 – 2018) commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. The project aims to improve the quality of basic education in six pilot municipalities in the areas of education management, teachers’ professional development and the inclusion of future-oriented subjects in the curricula of state schools. As part of the activities for education management, head teachers and municipal education directorates are supported in raising awareness about the importance of inclusion.

EU/Council of Europe

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Twinning Programme to Support Implementation of the Kosovo Education Sector Strategic Plan 2011 – 2016 (Twinning No. KS 11 IB OT 02) funded by the European Union and implemented by Omnia, The Joint Authority of Education in Espoo Region (Finland) in partnership with KulturKontakt Austria started in March 2014 and will last nearly three years.

The overall objective of the programme is to enhance the quality of pre-university education in Kosovo, to encourage inclusive education and promote cultural diversity, dialogue and co-operation. The purpose of the programme is to improve the quality and relevance of education through the implementation of the new modernised curriculum (KCF), capacity building of educators, implementation of quality assurance measures in education and support for the provision of relevant school supplies and equipment to schools. Components and main activities of the programme are as follows:

Component 1: Curriculum development and implementation in the classroom- Piloting and implementation of the new KCF and core curriculum- Increasing teaching competency in accordance with KCF - Strengthening co-operation and connectivity in the Kosovo pre-university education

sector.

Component 2: Quality assurance in education- Support to the development of a quality assurance system based on EU good

practices- School-based quality assurance - Effective monitoring mechanisms and instruments.

Component 3: School supplies and equipment- Analysing and developing learning environments to support the KCF - Procurement to support the KCF - Monitoring and supporting the supplies and equipment delivery and usage.

The project cooperates closely with MEST, MEDs, schools, and other authorities and organizations relevant for the Kosovo education field. Since inclusion is one of the main principals of the KCF, inclusion is embedded in all activities of the programme.

EU support to Teacher Training and Capacity Building for Municipalities and School Directors

The EU-IPA 2009 funded project “Teacher Training and Capacity Building for Municipalities and School Directors” was implemented by GIZ. The project supported the Kosovo government’s efforts to improve the design and delivery of in-service teacher training and capacity building for school directors in Kosovo.

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The overall objective of the project was to strengthen and improve the quality of education through development of sustainable system of comprehensive teacher training, notably in-service teacher training, in primary and secondary education including VET and to provide basic management training for School Directors in order to improve management capacities at school, local and municipality level.

The programme set out proposals for the design of a school-based teacher professional development programme to improve practice in selected schools in Kosovo. It aimed to build the capacity of teacher educators working at the municipal and school level to enhance the quality of the teaching and learning, and was part of a wider Teacher Training and Capacity Building for Municipalities and School Directors project.

http://www.kosovoprojects.eu/en/content/teacher-training-and-capacity-building-school-directors-kosovo

Making schools more accessible for children with disabilities - EU funding for the construction of mainstream school buildings

The main reasons for exclusion from mainstream schools for children and students with disabilities are lack of accessible school buildings and learning materials, and lack of awareness about promotion of inclusive education among school directors, teachers, students and parents. EU funded projects have been addressing these needs by funding for the construction of mainstream school buildings which must comply with disability access standards and thus facilitating access of children with disabilities to schools. The EU has also been supporting adapting the teaching process and adapting ICT equipment to special needs schools in Kosovo. And it is promoting mainstream disability access to education through design and development of an accessible, inclusive new curriculum, plus training modules for the ‘core’ qualifications.

http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/kosovo/documents/press_corner/education_for_the_future_en.pdf

The two-year EU Twinning Project against Homophobia and Transphobia project lead by the Austrian Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights and supported by the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare started in March 2014. The project complements Finnish bilateral support to LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) NGOs in Kosovo.

The project aims at tackling homophobia and transphobia as one face of discrimination that weakens every society’s core values: equality and the protection of human dignity and human rights. On the path to an inclusive society, it is crucial to have anti-discrimination legislation amended, policies implemented and the awareness raised among relevant

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stakeholders who hold the power to change society and foster social cohesion. All activities of the project seek to strengthen the professional attitude of relevant stakeholders and authorities in acknowledging that humans are “normally different“.

Main activities of the project are follows:- Providing analysis and recommendations to overcome gaps in the anti-discrimination

legislation and institutional structures regarding the grounds of sexual orientation and identity.

- Supporting the development of a permanent, neutral and independent monitoring and evaluation system regarding respect, protection and promotion of equal treatment of LGBT persons.

- Capacity building for Kosovo authorities: fostering professional standards in dealing with a diverse society and especially LGBT persons.

- Trainings on awareness raising for professionals to strengthen their knowledge and skills in promoting anti-discrimination and equal treatment within their professional peer group (administration, judiciary, police, education)

- Sharing knowledge, experience and creating a communication strategy tailored to the needs as found in Kosovo. Involving journalists and media representatives in the quest for the use of inclusive language in Kosovo media especially concerning LGBT issues.

- Improving access for the LGBT community to legal and psychological counselling in partnership with civil society partners.

- Supporting the strategic work of the national Advisory and Coordination Group for the Rights of the LGBT Community to support an active, fruitful, partnership-oriented and sustainable network of government, civil society, the international community and regional stakeholders.

http://bim.lbg.ac.at/en/kosovo-project-against-homophobia-and-transphobia-twinning

Projects and donors supporting the education of minority communities

UNICEF

UNICEF has contributed to

- the development of Standards for Child-Friendly schools, - project “Improving the Delivery of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Education”

implemented in Fushe Kosova/Kosovo Polje in 2011 – 2012, - Manual for municipal officials to improve the delivery of education for Roma, Ashkali

and Egyptian communities (ECMI Kosovo 2012); - The Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Communities in Kosovo Multiple Indicator Cluster

Survey (MICS) carried in 2013 - 2014 by The Kosovo Agency of Statistics.

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o The global MICS programme was developed by UNICEF in the 1990s as an international household survey programme to collect internationally comparable data on a wide range of indicators on the situation of children and women.

o MICS surveys measure key indicators that allow countries to generate data for use in policies and programmes, and to monitor progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other internationally agreed upon commitments.

o This MICS provides 1) up-to-date information for assessing the situation of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian children, women and men as well as to provide data for monitoring the existing strategies and action plans on the inclusion of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities, 2) data for designing future programme interventions and support evidence based planning of Kosovo institutions, 3) data to inform Kosovo’s EU aspirations and planning in the EU enlargement process while contributing to improved quality in statistics, data collection, management and monitoring systems

Save the Children: Promote Inclusive Education for all children, including children from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities, and poor children

Save the Children has focused on gaining access and quality education for age groups of 5 to 14 years. It has been promoting education of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities and poor children through a programme which aims to:

- Raise awareness about the importance of education among the Roma Ashkali and Egyptian communities and other marginalized groups, teaching communities how to support their children and engage with the schools.

- Capacity building of institutions and the community, helping them become more culturally sensitive and inclusive in their approach and outreach to the RAE communities and other marginalized groups.

- Establish mechanisms for the identification of out of school children in cooperation with local NGOs and other partner organizations through door to door visits.

- Support of school management processes and provide training of teachers on quality inclusive education methodologies.

- Enrichment classes and activities, aiming to reduce barriers to learning and support diversity, fostering child participation, extra-curricular and supplementary classes, peer-to-peer support and child school links, bringing multi-cultural children together through art, music, drama, and sports.

- Carry out advocacy work for increased resource allocation by municipal authorities to support inclusive education methodology, through Index for Inclusion.

- Advocate and increase awareness on the importance of investment in Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD).

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- Support an Early Childhood Development center for ages 3-6 year old in the municipality of Mitrovicë/Mitrovica for children and their parents from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities.

https://kosovo.savethechildren.net/what-we-do/education

The “Mozaik” Project

Save the Children implemented a Mozaik project in five public preschools in Prizren, Obiliq/Obilič, Peja/Peč, Prishtina/Priština and Kamenicë/Kamenica. Mozaik is a unique bilingual and multicultural model for pre-schools. The project had two main components: introducing a bilingual approach in kindergartens and developing a child-centred pedagogical approach that includes age-appropriate training in conflict-resolution skills aimed at children. The Mozaik philosophy is to socialize children into a multicultural environment at the earliest possible age, to teach tolerance and respect for a diversity of cultures, and to help different ethnic communities collaborate and communicate with each other.

A total of 173 children from age groups 3-5 from Albanian, Serbian, Bosnian and Turkish communities were enrolled in six Mozaik groups, providing access to qualitative inclusive education. 12 educators were trained in specific topics for a multicultural and bilingual pedagogical approach. The Mozaik programme was accepted by MEST as a new education model in Kosovo and MEST is currently financing the implementation of the programme in three of the previously implemented kindergartens located in Obiliq/Obilič, Peje/Peč and Prishtina/Priština.

https://kosovo.savethechildren.net/what-we-do/education

Inclusive Education for Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian community

Save the Children together with strategic partner NGO “Iniciativa 6” teaches communities how to support their children and be engaged with the schools therefore increase rates of school attendance and educational attainment of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian children's.

Initiative 6

Initiative 6 is a non-governmental organization, which was established in 2003. Since the foundation it has been committed to improving the situation of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in the field of education, children’s rights, health and other fields interest for Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities. It has experience in formal and informal education and it has contributed to the increasing number of children of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities involved in pre- primary, primary , secondary and university education; reducing dropout; community awareness e.g. about the importance of education and respect for children’s rights. It took part to the development of the Strategy for the

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Integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian and in drafting the Action Plan for the Integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in Prizren.

http://rae-edu.net/iniciativa-6

Balkan Sunflowers Kosova

Balkan Sunflowers Kosova (BSFK) is an international grassroots organisation, founded in 1999 to aid the Kosovar refugees. BSFK have been running several education programmes aiming at the successful integration of Roma Ashkali and Egyptian communities since 2003. Among these programmes are e.g. the Learning Centers Network, School Mediation programme, Strategy Advocates programme, the Partnership for Reconciliation through Early Childhood and Development in Europe and Support to Minority Broadcasting in Kosovo, Kosovo Census Awareness.

1) Learning Centres Network project started in 2008 with the total number of 5

Learning Centers - Fushë Kosovë / Kosovo Polje, Gračanica / Graçanicë, Shtime / Štimlje, Plemetina and Obiliq/Obilič. Learning centres provided support to younger children to learn and succeed in school. Programmes were conducted in Albanian and Serbian languages and were facilitated by trained staff and volunteers mostly belonging to Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities. Around 50 volunteer youth from the minority communities were working 2 to 3 hours per day as tutors to help the younger children learn and succeed in school. Around 500 children per day participated to the activities of Learning Centers for preschool, language club, homework help, enjoyment and support, lunch, school materials. The Learning Centers served more than 100 000 hot meals to children annually and children received hundreds of school books.As results of the activities of Learning Centres the enrolment of the students from minority communities increased and the number of children from the communities quitting school fell dramatically. Children became more confident. They had their homework completed, and they were more active in the classroom and at home to show what they have learned. In addition the number of minority children registered for preschool increased as a result of parents’ better understanding the value of preschool.

In the process, also the youth who were working as volunteers benefitted. They developed self-esteem, a powerful sense of belonging, a realization that they can accomplish something, and heart-felt satisfaction in the younger children’s development, which they were a part of. They received school books and materials, a small stipend, some fun activities, and a lot of training. They were also improving their own school work and becoming more motivated as well. These youth are role

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models for children, their peers, and the community. 6 of them are now studying in the university.

2) School Mediators Programme was established in 2010 and supported by the OSCE, People in Need / Czech Development Agency, the Netherlands Embassy and the Royal Norwegian Embassy. The project aims at increasing access to education for children from disadvantaged communities, particularly from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities by encouraging enrolment and preventing children dropping out of school.

The programme supports the work of 15 school mediators in ten municipalities and 35 schools in Kosovo. Mediators have been trained by education experts and since they belong to the communities where they work, they have easier access to families than any other social worker. Mediators’ main tasks are: ensuring children enrolment in school, preventing interruption of their school attendance, individualising problems pupils may face regarding their schooling and put remedy actions in place, and mediating among families, schools and municipal administrations.

BSFK in cooperation with the OSCE has published a Kosovo School Mediation Training Manual, which aims at normalizing the figure of the school mediator in the context of Kosovo.

3) The Strategy Advocacy Programme aims to increase the awareness and capacity of municipal officials on the implementation of the "Strategy for the Integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities" in 9 municipalities. The Strategy was approved in 2008 by the Government of Kosovo and followed by its Action Plan. The project aims also at improving the cooperation among NGOs, CSOs and other stakeholders working with Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities, in order to empower citizens and civil society to actively participate in the policy and decision-making process regarding to the Strategy at local level.

http://www.balkansunflowers.org/

The Ideas Partnership established in 2009 has been providing support to children and families of minority communities in Fushë Kosova/Kosovo Polje. In 2012 with its support 120 children from Fushë Kosova/Kosovo Polje registered for school who would not otherwise have been, and helped many of them stay there. Activities of the Ideas Partnership projects include e.g.:

- Catch-up classes to give children remediated teaching and get them ready to start school

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- Recruitment of community advocate from the district to be the bridge between families and the school and to strengthen the relationship between the two; and to support children getting to mainstream school and staying there;

- Volunteer workers from communities- Saturday afternoon classes for children to give them skills, a bit fun and a healthy

snack and to get them off the streets for an hour or two. - Collection and distribution based on need of clothes and shoes- Art and dance sessions for children- Lessons for those who can’t go to school

http://theideaspartnership.org/

EU / Council of Europe support to the education of children from minority communities

“Enrolment and Registration of RAE Children in Primary Education in Kosovo” supported by EU was launched in 2010. The project aimed to increase awareness among RAE communities about the importance of education and to increase the enrolment of RAE children.

The EU/CoE project on “Interculturalism and the Bologna Process”, implemented in the period between 2008 and 2011, with the support of the Council of Europe, and in cooperation with MEST and the local and international institutions operating in Kosovo. The overall objective of this project was to set up sustainable conditions for strengthening intercultural understanding among all communities in Kosovo based upon human rights and intercultural education in a lifelong learning perspective compatible with European standards or best practice. The project purpose was to support primary, secondary and higher education reforms in Kosovo conducive to intercultural awareness and understanding, taking account of European standards and best practice and further facilitate the de facto integration of Kosovo into the Bologna Process.

The project supported seven core areas of the Council of Europe’s work in education: legislation, education for democratic citizenship, teacher training, the teaching of Roma culture, history teaching, language policies and higher education. The project focused on

- Capacity building (training of relevant authorities in charge of education reform processes e.g. curriculum developers for history, education for democratic citizenship, languages, etc.

- Teacher training (training teacher trainers to provide cascade trainings e.g. teaching multiculturalism through history and citizenship and human rights education

- European standards and elements of the best practice (e.g. European Framework of Reference in Language learning, CoE recommendation on History teaching in 21st century, Bologna process documents, etc.

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http://ibp-kosovo.org/?cid=2,2

“Regional Initiative for Inclusive Education” project implemented by the Council of Europe in seven Balkan countries started in autumn 2012. In Kosovo the project is implemented in 7 schools (3 primary and lower secondary, 2 upper secondary and 2 VET schools). The three-year programme proposes to enhance social cohesion in the region by promoting inclusive education and training. It aims to promote the concept of inclusive education, as well as relevant policies and practices in the formal education system at pre-university level in the Western Balkans through awareness-raising, mutual learning and capacity building measures.

Pilot projects being implemented throughout the region are at the centre of the project and forming the basis for awareness campaigns and networking activities. The key issue is how to move from the pilots to overall reforms and the programme will propose efficient mechanisms in place to ensure this. http://www.coe.int/t/democracy/migration/jp-eu-education_en.asp

Increasing access to education and intercultural understanding: EU/CoE support in the field of education to forced returnees and to Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in Kosovo (ACCESS) project started in July 2013 and will be implemented until the end of 2015. The objective of the project is to ensure higher social cohesion and confidence between communities and promotion of socioeconomic development of disadvantaged returnee and RAE communities by supporting active measures for the integration and inclusion of RAE communities in Kosovo into education and into schooling in particular.

Expected results of the project are as follows:1. Enrolment in schools and regular attendance of school-age returnee children and of

disadvantaged minority children in general, with special attention to Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians;

2. Increased capacity of the education system to ensure higher chances for school achievement of returnee children and RAE children;

3. Improved status of Romani language as a subject in Kosovo schools;4. Integration of returnee children among peers in school and in local community;5. Policy review and improvement of the education policies on Roma, Ashkali and

Egyptian and on forced returnees.

Achievements by June 2015 have been as follows:- Development of training methodology within “Social Inclusion Programme” and

implementation in 11 pilot schools. o 6 ToT from the staff of Kosovo Pedagogical Institute trained.

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o 66 teachers trained. o 11 school received grants to carry out school development plans.

- Development of pedagogical materials for “Additional Classes for Returnees”. Teachers trained and ToT in preparations.

- Development of the teacher training module for the Romani Language classes.- Development and implementation of training for staff of Learning Centres (LC).

o Six months training on Mediation skills and 4 months training on Social Inclusion

- Two studies conducted on Mediation Programme (published in Feb. 2015) and on Impact of Learning Centres (to be published in Sept. 2015).

- Coordination meetings with NGOs running learning centres and establishment of a MEST- NGO working group to draft Administrative Instruction on the role of LCs.

Other support provided by EU: The EU has provided €1 million for implementation of the RAE Strategy of Kosovo which is supporting the creation of 6 learning centres for RAE children and scholarships for RAE students for secondary and tertiary education.(http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/kosovo/documents/press_corner/education_for_the_future_en.pdf)

Projects supporting inclusion in the vocational education and training

SIVET – Social Inclusion in Vocational Education and Training

The SIVET project financed by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education and Women´s Affairs and implemented by KulturKontakt Austria, supported the MEST to implement social inclusion in VET and to support an equal access to vocational education and training for all. The project was implemented in five pilots schools – both urban and rural – in two phases during 2011 – 2013.

The project aimed at creating preconditions for a child friendly, inclusive school environment and school climate. The components of the project were 1) Teacher training, 2) Creating an inclusive school climate; and 3) Equipping model clasrooms to facilitate inclusive teaching and learning. The results of the project were as follows:

1. Accreditation of the teacher training programme by MEST and recognition of SIVET trainings as further education necessary for proloning the teacher license.

2. 25 teachers (Albanian and English language, and mathematics) trained in inclusive teaching and learning methodlogies. High overall satisfaction of school management, teachers, students and parents with results of using the SIVET methodolgy in class: better learning results, better attendance, more motivated students in learning and

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more time for teachers to allocate to students with any kind of difficulties in learning.

3. School Regulation on inclusion by each five pilot schools developed and adopted. 4. Materials such as leaflets and posters promoting inclusion by each school developed;5. Equipping of model classrooms of pilot schools to facilitate implementation of

inclusive teaching and learning methods6. Dissemination of knowledge to other teachers at own schools and planned

dissemination to other VET schools in Kosovo.7. Recommendations to foster inclusive education in VET developed;8. Recommendations for drafting administrative instruction on inclusive education in

VET developed.

ALLED – Aligning Education with Labour Market Needs

The ALLED project (February 2015 – September 2017) financed by the EU and Austrian Development Cooperation strengthens the quality and relevance of education programmes and the link between education and the labour market as a precondition for employability and economic development. It seeks to advance cooperation and dialogue between education institutions and social partners. It focuses on aligning education with labour market needs in three sectors: agriculture, machinery and food-processing.

The three main targeted results and their activities are as follows:

1. Strengthen the link between Higher Education (HE) and labour market needs through the development, modernisation and quality reform of HE programmes to meet labour market needs;

a. Assessment of labour market needs and analysis how to adapt HE and VET programmes according to the labour market

b. Modernisation of two higher education programmes from priority sectors, based on labour market needs

c. Development of teacher training programmes for VET teachersd. Improvement of labour market orientation of diploma supplement e. Capacity development in the field of pre-service teacher training

2. Ensure that the NQF is successfully implemented with validated qualifications offered by accredited institutions at Levels 2-5 of the framework;

a. Development of sector profiles showing the demand for qualifications at various levels

b. Development of local capacities for developers of occupational standards, developers of qualifications and teachers that translate them into curricula

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c. Development of local capacities for quality assurance and of validation processes, review and evaluation of occupational standards and qualifications

d. Development and piloting of labour market relevant programmes in VET institutions (schools and adult training centres), including qualifications for people with special educational needs, in particular those with learning difficulties

e. Evaluation of the effectiveness of the operation of quality assurance arrangements for VET qualifications

3. Improve the quality of practical and applied teaching and learning in vocational education and training (VET) schools/institutions in core occupational sectors relevant to labour market needs.

a. VET teacher training and capacity building for teachers of VET practical subjects (“trainers/instructors”)

b. Equipping selected schools c. Development of training and learning materials for student centred learning d. Practical training on use of VET equipment

Support to Vocational Education and Training Reform in Kosovo (KSV/015)

The KSV/015 project (2009 – 2017) financed by the Government of Luxemburg supports the MEST in piloting the VET sector reform in two of the five Centres of Competence (CoC). The project concentrates on the establishment of the CoCs for health care in Ferizaj/Uroševac and for trade and commerce in Prizren.

The CoCs' will provide VET in secondary education, work closely with private companies in their respective sectors to develop hands on and "work-based" learning opportunities for VET students, and offer in-house training and life-long-learning services for businesses.

The project supports the construction and equipment of the CoCs and includes curriculum development with the respective training of trainers and capacity building of CoC staff.

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Annex 4

Administrative Instructions for inclusive and special needs education

No. 24/2014 The Conversion of Attached Classes in Resource Rooms

http://www.masht-gov.net/advCms/documents/24_2014_UA_1.pdf

No. 26/2013 Selection of Employees for Provision of Professional Services in Pre-University Instructive-Education Institutions (Includes psychologists, pedagogues etc…)

http://www.masht-gov.net/advCms/documents/26_2013_UA.pdf

No. 18/2013 The use of Individual Education Plan

http://www.masht-gov.net/advCms/documents/18_2013_UA.pdf

No. 22/2013 The Maximal Number of Students per Class and the Report Teacher-Student

http://www.masht-gov.net/advCms/documents/22_2013_UA.pdf

No. 23/2013 Resource Centres

http://www.masht-gov.net/advCms/documents/23_2013_UA.pdf

No. 26/2012 Personnel qualifications working with Students with Special Education Needs

http://www.masht-gov.net/advCms/documents/UA_26_2012_new.pdf

No. 12/2012 Criteria’s for Election of Assistants and Instructors for Inclusive Education and their Obligations

http://www.masht-gov.net/advCms/documents/UA_12_2012_new.pdf

No. 07/2012 Professional Assessment of Children with Instructive- (should be Special) Educational Needs

http://www.masht-gov.net/advCms/documents/Udhezim_administrativ_07_2012_anglisht.pdf

No. 19/2012 Establishment and enforcement of teams for prevention and response toward abandonment and non-enrolment in compulsory education

http://www.masht-gov.net/advCms/documents/UA_19_2012_new.pdf

No. 7/2011 Creating and Strengthening of Teams for Prevention and response toward Abondonment and Non-registration in Compulsory Education

http://www.masht-gov.net/advCms/documents/07_UA.pdf

Annex 5

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Standards for child-friendly schools

A child-friendly school (CFS) is a school providing quality education to all children, by addressing all issues that have an impact on the welfare, the rights and friendly environment during the learning process for every child. The CFS is a comprehensive approach which relates all aspects of reforms in education and which puts the child at the centre of attention in all activities being organized and implemented in the school. The concept is based on the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC). (Standards for Child-Friendly Schools, 2012.)

Standards for Child-Friendly Schools in Kosovo were drafted in 2012 by the Kosovo Pedagogical Institute with the support of UNICEF and MEST to meet the need resulted of changes made in the area of curriculum and to support the goal of establishing effective, healthy, safe and inclusive schools, with an active participation of parents and community.

The purpose of setting standards for child-friendly schools is - to provide a document which includes and integrates all components of indicators

regarding education equality which affect making a school a child-friendly one, and - to provide specifying measuring requirements which assist the school and education

institutions to raise the participation of all learners in the school life and in the learning process.

CFS standards work as an instrument for self-appraisal of the school’s performance. Based on the standards schools should time to time conduct detailed analysis of the advantages which should be maintained and strengthened further and aspects in the school that need to be improved.

Standards of the CFS combines the principles and dimensions of child-friendly schools which can be found in various documents of Republic of Kosovo (e.g. Kosovo Constitution, Law on Pre-University Education, KESP 2011-2016 and KCF) through six dimensions which, if taken all together, provide an overview of quality education for all children, and serve as a framework for action for development of child-friendly school.

Standards of CFS consists of six dimensions: (1) Inclusive education; (2) Effective teaching and learning; (3) Health, environment and safety; (4) Democratic participation; (5) Gender equality; and (6) Cultural diversity. These dimensions are set specifically subject to the needs of the society. Each dimension involves 2 – 4 standards which are general statements to define the expectations of what should be achieved in education. Standards are used for assessing and self-evaluating the progress and effectiveness in the school.

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Each standard contains indicators which are actions, apparent and measurable behaviours that are used for assessing the progress and accomplishment of standards. They describe what should the school have or do in order to reach the standards. Indicators for each standard are organised in three components: management and leadership, school capacity and curriculum of teaching process.

Standards for Child-Friendly Schools are accompanied with a Guidebook with assessment instrument. After the assessment in the school which is done by a team of teachers, students, parents and a member of the School Governing Board, school prepares action plans with selected standards to improve the school to become more child-friendly.

Standards and Guidebook for CFS have been distributed to MEDs and schools.

http://www.masht-gov.net/advCms/documents/Standards_for_child_friendly_schools.pdf

Annex 6

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Index for Inclusion in Kosovo

Index for inclusion is a set of materials which guide schools through a process of inclusive school development. The materials assist and support the identification of pathways towards inclusive education by exploring three interconnected dimensions creating inclusive cultures, producing inclusive policies and evolving inclusive practices.

The Index can be used in schools 1) to adopt a self-review approach to analyse their cultures, policies and practices and to identify the barriers to learning and participation that may occur within each of these areas, 2) to decide their own priorities for change and to evaluate their progress, and 3) as an integral part of existing development policies, encouraging a wide and deep scrutiny of everything that makes up a school's activities.

The Index is based on the social model of disability. It builds on good practice, and then organises the Index work around a cycle of activities which guide schools through the stages of preparation, investigation, development and review. It contains indicators and guidance to help schools in reducing barriers to learning and participation whereby schools review all aspects of their situation in the context of obstacles to learning and participation, establish consequent priorities for development, and work to implement them in partnership with the community.

The Index for Inclusion has been adapted to the context of Kosovo in 2007 by Save the Children and it is included in the Strategic Plan for Organising Inclusive Education for Children with Special Educational Needs in pre-university Education in Kosovo 2010-2015. Currently 7 preschools and 7 primary and lower secondary schools are applying Index for Inclusion.

The publication “Index for Inclusion – facts and opinions” presents:- the process of implementation of the Index in pre-schools institutions and schools;- good practices gained by teachers, students and parents from the implementation of

the Index;- institutional changes, changes in teachers attitudes and work and changes in school

activities that use of Index has caused;- recommendations from teachers, students and parents for further implementation; - challenges faced when implementing the Index; and - recommendations for extending the use of Index in the education system in Kosovo.

Annex 7

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Duties of MED inclusive education officials, support teachers, support educators and school assistants and instructors

Main duties of an official for inclusive education in municipalities

- To implement the MEST policies on education of children with special educational needs;

- Together with the Director of the Municipal Department of Education to develop a comprehensive policy for various activities that are in harmony with the policies of the Ministry for education of children with special educational needs;

- To supervise and co-ordinate the work of all teachers working with children with special educational needs and their activities in the respective areas;

- To coordinate and plan the activities of municipal team for assessment and support; - To assist in increasing the participation of children with special educational needs at

all levels of pre-university education with special focus on children who are outside the education system;

- To coordinate and collaborate with Special Schools / Resource Centres and other institutions to create conditions for inclusion of children with special educational needs in the education;

- To work on preparation of plans, based on policies and strategies for monitoring and promotion of inclusive education at municipal level;

- To coordinate the work with inclusive schools and attached classes operating within mainstream schools to create suitable conditions for education of children with special educational needs;

- To plan and coordinate professional training for teachers in the area of inclusive education;

- To monitor the quality of the education process of children with special educational needs at all school levels;

- To cooperate closely with the Special Education Unit in MEST;- To collaborate with various local organizations and international for promotion of

inclusive education, especially with organizations of persons with disabilities;- To initiate programmes and projects that will improve the situation in the education

of children with special educational needs and promotes inclusive education by partnering with other municipalities, schools and NGOs;

- To plan and coordinate the process of identification of children with special educational needs; and

- To take care of organizing appropriate transport for children with special educational needs.

Duties and role of support teachers

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- To observe mainstream classes in collaboration with class teachers of lower level students (especially transitional phase from pre-primary classes to the first grade and from the fifth grade to the sixth grade) to identify children with special educational needs;

- To support students who have special educational needs and learning disabilities in regular classes;

- To plan and organize co-teaching with teachers teaching in mainstream classes where there are students with special educational needs;

- When there is a need for individual work with a child and it is deemed as necessary, to work individually with the child outside the group;

- To develop individual education plan in cooperation with mainstream teachers, parents and other members of the IEP team, and when it is possible, with the student with special education needs;

- To ensure that individual education plans for students with special educational needs are reviewed and evaluated at regular intervals and revised from time to time, if needed;

- To advise and assist mainstream teachers on how to work with children with special educational needs and how to manage inclusive classrooms;

- To develop alternative teaching materials with mainstream teachers that will be used in teaching students with special educational needs;

- To assist in raising awareness of the school staff for the process of inclusion; - To assist the school principal and other management staff for accommodation of

children with special needs; - To cooperate with Resource Centers for integration of students with special

educational needs from resource centers to mainstream school, to prepare and support the process of integration into the main stream classrooms;

- To cooperate with the attached class teacher in the schools where he/she works and plan together to support students with special educational needs who are in mainstream classes. In cooperation with the attached class teacher to integrate those students who are ready for integration, from attached classes to mainstream classes;

- To cooperate with Resource Centers about working methods, educational materials and necessary support for children with special educational needs depending on the specific needs of children; and

- To plan on weekly and monthly basis and reports to the director of the school where he works.

Duties and role of a support educator (pre-school)

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- To observe groups of pre-school children in collaboration with educators and groups of teachers to identify children with special needs;

- To support children with special needs according to age groups;- To plan and organize joint activities with educators of groups where there are

children with special needs; - When there is a need for individual work with a child and it is deemed as necessary,

to work individually with the child outside the group;- To develop individual education plan in cooperation with educators in the

mainstream system, parents and other members of the IEP team;- To ensure that individual education plans for children with special needs are

reviewed and evaluated at regular intervals and revised from time to time if needed;- To advise and assist teachers in the mainstream education on how to work with

children with special needs and how to manage the work with the whole group; - To develop alternative materials with other educators that will be used in work with

children with special needs;- To assist in raising awareness of the pre-school institution staff for the process of

inclusion; - To assist the director of the pre-school institution and other management staff for

accommodation of children with special needs; - To cooperate with Resource Centers about working methods, educational materials

and necessary support for children with special needs depending on the specific needs of children; and

- To plan on weekly and monthly basis and reports to the Director of the pre-school institution.

Duties of school and sign language assistants and instructors in inclusive education as stipulated in Administrative Instruction No. 12/2012: To work professionally in co-operation with colleagues and parents to plan the support for the achievement of objectives of the student;

- To support to the teacher in preparation and implementation of the curriculum to achieve objectives for quality education in level of primary and low secondary education;

- To identify learning styles of students, to use various techniques and to report of the observations of the student achievements to the teacher and parents;

- To monitor and to keep notes on student achievement;- To organise extracurricular leisure activities and to care for the well-being of

students during these activities;- To help in preparation of didactic materials.

The role of the assistant of the students:- To provide technical help to the child with SEN, teacher and class entirely according

to the needs;- To help in writing, reading, exercise, explanations, preparation of the bag, mobility

etc.- To bring the student to school, to help while walking and according to the need,

supports the student with wheelchair or unable to move by him/herself;

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- To write down learning units, key words, new concepts or actions in mathematics if / when necessary;

- To support in implementation of practical work according to teacher’s instruction and based on the student’s need.

The role of the sign language assistant:

- To support the teacher through sign language;- To support the individual work of students or small groups in their learning in the

range of situations inside and outside of the school;- To support the work of teachers;- To plan together with teachers according to the students’ needs;- To provide sign language teaching for students when required;- To support the development of sign language among staff;- To take part in development of learning materials for students.

The role of sign language instructors:- To teach teachers, students and educators for the use of sign language;- To support and teach teachers and students the use of Braille.

The role of instructor for mobility and daily skills:- To teach mobility skills for Blind students;- To teach all day activity skills for students with visual problems; - To prepare students for better and successful integration in the society.

Annex 8The main laws relevant to the delivery of education for minorities

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Applicable laws relevant to education

Articles and actions for municipal officials required to fulfill legal obligations

Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo

Art. 124.6: Municipalities bound to respect the Constitution and laws- Be aware of the obligations prescribed by the Constitution

and relevant judicial application.Art. 5: Official languages

- Be aware that the official languages of the Republic of Kosovo are Albanian and Serbian.

- Be aware that Turkish, Bosnian and Romani languages may have the status of official languages at the municipal level or may be in official use at all levels as provided by law.

Art. 47: Right to education- Ensure that every child in your municipality receives free

basic education. Ensure that every child in your municipality enjoys equal opportunities in accordance with their specific abilities and needs.

Arts. 59.2-59.4: Specific education rights for minorities- Ensure that every child in your municipality receives

education in one of the official languages of his/her choice. - Ensure that every child in your municipality receives pre-

school, primary and secondary public education, in their own language to the extent prescribed by law.

Law on the protection from discrimination Law No. 05/L-021

Art. 1 Purpose- Establish a general framework for prevention and combating

discrimination based on nationality, or in relation to any community, social origin, race, ethnicity, colour, birth, origin, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, language, citizenship, religion and religious belief, political affiliation, political or other opinion, social or personal status, age, family or marital status, pregnancy, maternity, wealth, health status, disability, genetic inheritance or any other grounds, in order to implement the principle of equal treatment.

Art. 11: Institutional mechanisms for protection from discrimination in the Ministries and Municipalities

- Assign the appropriate unit or official to coordinate and report on the implementation of the Law.

Law No. 05/L -020 on Gender Equality

Art. 20: Prohibition of Gender Discrimination and Unequal Treatment

- Discrimination on the basis of sex within educational institutions at all levels is prohibited, including access to education, admission process, access to services, facilities and benefits such as, scholarships, evaluation results, obtaining scientific degrees and titles, access to vocational training, education, sports and other fields.

Art. 21: Education of Gender Equality - Ensure that teaching aids used shall be based on gender

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equality and gender equality education should be included in school curricula at all levels.

- Prepare, adopt, implement and review the existing educational materials and textbooks by including gender perspectives and eliminate negative stereotypes, prejudices, traditional practices and other practices that are contrary to the principle of gender equality.

- Incorporate into school curricula education and training activities aimed at sensitizing young people about gender equality and preparing them for democratic citizenship.

- Ensure equal inclusiveness of women and men in professional and non-professional education training and counselling for those professions which are traditionally considered only for women and only for men.

Law on the Use of Languages Law No. 02/L-37

Arts. 19-24: Use of languages in education- Ensure appropriate teaching in the person’s chosen official

language. Where a person’s chosen official language is not used by any school as the language of instruction, make efforts to ensure appropriate teaching in their chosen official language.

Law on Local Self Government Law No. 03/L-040

Art. 17: Municipalities’ own competencies in education- Exercise full and exclusive powers in the provision of public

pre-school, primary and secondary education, including registration and licensing of educational institutions, recruitment, payment of salaries and training of education instructors and administrators.

Art. 4: Responsibilities of the municipalities - Implement policies and practices to create appropriate

conditions enabling all communities to express, preserve, and develop their national, ethnic, cultural, religious, and linguistic identities.

Law on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Communities and their Members in Republic of Kosovo Law No. 03/L-047 (amended by Law No. 04/L-020)

Art. 8: Communities’ rights in education - Provide pre-school, primary and secondary public education

in one of the official languages chosen by communities or in their own language, even if not official language.

- Ensure that curricula and textbooks cover the history, culture and other attributes of communities.

Law on Pre-School Education Law No. 02/L-52

Art. 5: Language - In places of mixed population, provide pre-school education

in minorities’ languages, in accordance with the law.Law on Pre-University Education in the

Art. 40: Inclusive education - Schools and other training institutions must respect the

principle of inclusive education by accommodating all

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Republic of Kosovo Law No.04/L –032

children regardless of their physical, intellectual, social, linguistic or other conditions; and promoting integration and contact between children.

Art. 3.5: Functions and responsibilities of the Ministry, municipalities and educational/training Institutions

- Respect and promote community rights and their members as set forth by the Constitution and applicable law.

- Foster knowledge of the culture, history, and language of all communities.

Art. 39: Special Educational Needs- A child is not to be taken as having a learning difficulty solely

because the language, or form of the language, in which he or she is taught is different from a language, or form of a language, which has at any time been spoken in his or her home, or because he or she belongs to a particular community; in such cases the municipality shall ensure that efficient support in the language of instruction is provided to the child.

Law on Education in the Municipalities of the Republic of Kosovo Law No.03/L-068

Art. 4: Responsibilities and competencies of the municipalities in education

- Provide public pre-school, primary and secondary education, including registration and licensing of educational institutions, recruitment, payment of salaries and training of education instructors and administrators.

- Ensure good cooperation with other municipalities and institutions in the field of education.

Art. 6: Administrative responsibilities of the municipalities - Conduct monitoring of and reporting on educational

management and operations.

Annex 9

Central and local level institutions responsible for the education of minorities in Kosovo

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Central level institutions responsible directly or indirectly for the education of minorities

Institution ResponsibilitiesMinistry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST)

- the mission of the development of an efficient education system that will contribute to increasing the wellbeing of Kosovo society by offering high quality education and research, with equal opportunities for all.

- designing and implementing legislation and policies for the development of education including national curricula, teaching standards, professional qualifications and examination systems.

- promoting a non-discriminatory education system which ensures equal access to quality education for all and protects vulnerable groups.

- designing effective and impartial forms of education administration and school management, and improving the quality and efficiency of education at all levels.

- allocation of budgets to municipalities for carrying out their functions for pre-university education (Art. 28).

- the key institution responsible for the implementation of measures under the education component of the Strategy for the Integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Communities in the Republic of Kosovo 2009-2015.

Ministry of Communities and Returns (MCR)

- the key ministry in charge with the protection and promotion of the rights of communities and their members.

- developing and promoting policies and implementing laws to achieve equal integration of all communities;

- ensuring sustainable returns of displaced persons and refugees;

- ensuring that policies at the central and municipal level contain provisions for the protection of community rights, human rights, and the interests of returnees, including in the field of education, municipal public services and use of languages.

Advisory Office on Good Governance, Human Rights, Equal Opportunities and Gender Issues (AOGG)

- operates within the Office of the Prime Minster (OPM)- reviewing legislation, policies and procedures for compliance

with applicable human rights standards and practices of good governance, and to make recommendations to the Prime Minister and relevant Ministries accordingly.

- involving and engaging with communities to protect and address good governance, human rights, equal opportunities

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and gender issues. - the key monitoring and coordinating role for the

implementation of the Strategy for the Integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Communities in the Republic of Kosovo 2009-2015.

Office for Community Affairs (OCA)

- established within the Office of the Prime Minister;- ensuring the implementation of legislation and policies

concerning communities through monitoring and coordination, and evaluating their effectiveness;

- contributing to minority education through the review of draft legislation, by monitoring and coordinating the implementation of minority education and by supporting programmes aimed to improve the minority education, including scholarship programmes.

Consultative Council for Communities (CCC)

- a constitutionally-mandated body operating under the Office of the President;

- consist of the representatives of all communities in Kosovo, and of the Government, the Office of the President and relevant agencies;

- conducting a major review of community policy and concerns; - reporting at least once a year to the President of Kosovo and

to the Assembly of Kosovo;- authorized to create specialist working groups on specific

issues e.g. education;- monthly meetings - assisting in the articulation of the views of communities and

their members in relation to legislation, public policy and programmes of special relevance to them;

- providing a forum for coordination and consultation amongst communities,

- providing a mechanism for regular exchange between communities and state institutions;

- affording the communities the opportunity to participate at an early stage on legislative or policy initiatives and to suggest initiatives

- enabling communities to participate in the needs assessments, design, monitoring and evaluation of programmes that are aimed at their members;

- making recommendations during the decision-making process concerning the apportionment of funds, both international and allocated from the budget of the Republic of Kosovo, for

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projects aimed at communities or their specific interests; - contributing to the reporting of the government of Kosovo to

international human rights mechanisms; and - raising awareness of community concerns and contributing to

harmonious relations between all communities.Committee on Rights and Interests of Communities (CRIC)

- a political body set up to ensure co-ordination between the government and non-governmental sectors in the implementation of activities envisaged by the Action Plan

- a permanent committee of the Kosovo Assembly chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister

- acting as a safeguard for community interests in the legislative process;

- composing of Assembly members holding seats reserved or guaranteed for the Serb community, other non-majority communities, and the majority community.

- reviewing legislations and making recommendations based on the rights and interests of communities, and it can further propose laws to address the concerns of communities.

Kosovo Parents’ Committee

- established by MEST (Law on Pre-University Education, Art. 16).

- to encourage and enhance the role of parents as key stakeholders in promoting a quality education system;

- to convey to MEST parents’ opinions on any aspect of pre-university education; and

- to be the main channel of communication and consultation between MEST, the educational and/or training institutions and parents

Coordination, monitoring and evaluation mechanism for the Strategy for the Integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Communities, 2009 - 2015 and its Action PlanAction Plan Technical Working Group for the Implementation of the Strategy for the Integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Communities (APTWG)

- a technical body composed primarily of executive institutions, including AOGG (Chair), OCA (Deputy Chair), line ministries (MCR, MEST, etc.) and donor organisations.

- mainly responsible for monitoring and coordination: it is required to monitor the implementation of the Action Plan, draft reports documenting progress and recommend adjustments, as well as to coordinate the work and investments from the government and donors in this area.

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Inter-Institutional Steering Committee for the Implementation of the Action Plan (IISC)

- a political body chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister which, in addition to executive institutions, comprises state institutions, the Ombudsperson Institution and the CCC, as well as representatives from the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian civil society.

- the main body in charge of formulating and prioritizing policies; it takes decisions upon recommendation by the APTWG.

- required to ensure that government public policy documents (e.g. programmes, strategies and action plans) take into account and are coordinated with the activities outlined in the Action Plan; and ensure that these latter activities are financially covered by the Kosovo budget.

Local level Bodies and mechanism for the delivery of minority issues

Local level Bodies and mechanism for the delivery of minority issuesMunicipal Education Directorate (MED)

- provision of public pre-university education;- construction and maintenance of the education

infrastructure;- management and training of education staff.

Municipal Office for Communities and Returns (MOCR)

- enhancing the promotion and the protection of the rights of communities;

- ensuring equal access to education, health and other public services for communities at the municipal level; and

- creating conditions for the sustainable return of refugees, displaced and repatriated persons.

Communities Committee (CC)

- a permanent Committee of the Municipal Assembly (MA);- members of the MA and representatives from all communities

residing in the municipality;- reviewing all municipal policies, practices and activities to

ensure that the rights and interests of communities are fully respected;

- recommending measures to the Municipal Assembly to ensure the implementation of provisions related to the rights and needs of communities.

Municipal Directorate of Finance, Economy and Development

- controlling the budget for education in the municipality, allocated as a specific grant from the central Kosovo budget;

- distributing grants among the different educational institutions.

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Municipal focal person

- reporting to AOGG on the implementation of the Action Plan at the local level.

Working Groups for Monitoring the Implementation of the Municipal Action Plan

- monitoring the implementation of the respective Municipal Action Plans;

- gathering information from the relevant directorates;- providing advice, and to draft reports.

Prevention and Response Team towards Abandonment and Non-Registration (PRTAN)

- preventing and reducing abandonment from pre-university education and non-registration in compulsory school;

- should be established at school and municipal level;- developing a school strategy and work plan against

abandonment and non-registration; - promoting communication and coordination among school,

teachers, students, parents and external stakeholders; and - managing concrete cases of school dropouts.

Task Force on Preventing Abuse and Protecting Children from Exploitation

- serving as a coordinating body aimed at preventing abuse and protecting children from exploitation;

- composed of social workers, school psychologists, and representatives from MED, the Directorate for Health and Social Welfare and Kosovo Police.

School level actors and mechanismSchool Director - providing high quality education and equal opportunity for all

pupils, especially girls and members of minority communities;- creating a positive and supportive learning environment and

overseeing school financial management;- managing teachers and ensuring their professional

development;- promoting the active involvement of parents in the education

of their children and ensuring that pupils enjoy the right to education.

School Board - comprising primarily parents, teachers and, at the secondary level, pupils.

- involvement in the drafting of the school development plan, appointment of the school director and allocation of funding from outside the municipal budget;

- ensuring equality for everyone involved with the school, regardless of sex or community.

Pupils’ Council - in all secondary schools, with at least one representative of

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each class;- contributing to improving the school learning environment

and representing the interests of the pupils to the School Director and School Board.

Teachers - contributing to the educational and social development of all pupils and maintaining high standards of learning;

- required to undertake appropriate professional training and development;

- preparing teaching plans and lessons, directing and monitoring the learning and behaviour of each pupil, and promoting pupils’ interest to be independent learners;

- caring for all pupils regardless of their sex, community or ability and liaising with parents on their children’s progress.

Parents - ensuring that their children attend regularly;- supporting the education of their children by emphasising the

importance of education, helping with homework and monitoring their children’s progress with teachers.

Civil societyCivil society organisations

- operating at the local and central levels;- providing oversight of government institutions and filling the

gaps in services that government cannot or will not manage;- to advocate for the rights and interests of their community in

the education system;- to deliver services to fill gaps in the delivery of education in

the municipality;- to build the capacity of their community to engage with the

education system and other stakeholders to engage with their community on matters of education.

Annex 10Training needs on inclusive education Since inclusive education is the leading principal of the Kosovo Education Strategic Plan (KESP) 2011 - 2017 and KCF, teachers, head teachers and education professionals at all

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levels need training on the principals of inclusive education and how inclusive education is supposed to function in Kosovo. Thus, inclusive education must be embedded in all pre- and in-service teacher trainings with the aim to provide teachers pedagogical tools to manage an inclusive classroom.

Contents of how to manage an inclusive classroom should be embedded in all pre- and in-service teacher training.

Trainings needed related to inclusive education could contain the following:

1) Inclusive education- What is inclusive education? Steps to take towards inclusive education- International declarations, Law on Pre-university Education, KESP, KCF and

Administrative Instructions. - What is an inclusive school and how to develop it?- Changes needed in the school

2) How to manage an inclusive classroom?- How to overcome difficulties a teacher may face in an inclusive classroom- Requirements for the teacher to meet diverse need in the classroom- How to differentiate the curriculum?

o Contento Teaching strategies (e.g. co-operative group teaching and peer tutoring,

collaborative problem solving, heterogeneous grouping, learning styles)o Materialso Assessment

- Support network (municipality assessment teams, resource centres, itinerant teachers, support teachers, school support teams)

- Parental and community involvement

3) Meeting special educational needs in the classroom and individual educational plans (IEPs)

- Introduction to special educational needs and how to support students o with reading and writing difficulties;o with difficulties in mathematics;o with disabilities; and o talent students.

- Screening of difficulties in learning- What is and how to prepare an IEP?- Assessment of students with SEN

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4) How to support students from minority communities (training materials produced by European Council funded projects)

5) How to prevent drop-outs (KPI and UNICEF to support in planning the training)

6) Education of gender equality (materials prepared by USAID and ACCESS project).

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