GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR EDUCATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF ...

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MINISTERUL EDUCAȚIEI MINISTERUL EDUCAȚIEI

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WORLD BANK WORLD BANK

EARLY CHILDHOOD

Let’s Educate Valuable and Responsible People, GREAT PEOPLE!

Innovative aspects Monitoring the activity of local mentors Success stories

MENTORING

Newsletter of the Project "GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR EDUCATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA"

NR.2, 2014

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EARLY CHILDHOOD

Good News for Professionals from Pre-school Education Let’s Educate Valuable and Responsible People, GREAT PEOPLE! Maia SANDU, Minister of Education We are herewith sharing with you the great news of adopting the new Education Code, which we consider a fundamental and innovative document for Moldova. As stated in the Parliament, we are ready, to fully implement this Law which will contribute to Moldova’s modernization and prosperity.

The New Education Code regards education not just as accumulation of knowledge, but as a process forming personalities, responsible and valuable people. That is, GREAT PEOPLE. This approach used to be part of the activities of the "Global Partnership for Education" Project which provides together with local communities and development partners access to quality pre-school education for all children in Moldova.

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In this joint effort of building a future for Moldovan children, there is a role for everyone, people and institutions: parents, families, local and central public administrations and all preschool education professionals as mentioned in the Code: educator, supporting didactic staff, music conductor, speech therapist, psychologist, psycho-educator, methodologist as well as mentors who will contribute with support, aid, exchange of experience and knowledge for professional development of other didactic staffs.

The recently adopted Education Code brings good news for professionals who help children to become GREAT PEOPLE. This important document of education policies covers, for the first time, the mentoring activity as an interactive process of guidance, support to learning, education and professional development and attributes to the mentor the role to guide other didactic or managerial staff. Also, the Code introduces the activity of mentoring as part of the didactic norm.

Liliana NICOLAESCUONOFREI Deputy Minister of Education

The mentoring activities in preschool education, carried out within the "Global Partnership for Education" Project, brought the first results. We have the testimonials of professionals who participated this summer in mentoring trainings, held in each district of the Republic of Moldova.

All didactic staffs can now benefit from the Monitoring Instrument of Children Readiness for School, launched and piloted within the Project, aimed to ensure a good transition of the child from kindergarten to school.

We will work together for this exchange of knowledge, abilities and experience to be part of the education services and pre-school education for each child from Moldova.

Village Mereseuca, district Ocnita did not have a kindergarten for 25 years. Today, these children have more chances to successfully get integrated in school. Informative Newsletter of the Project "Global Partnership for Education in Moldova" Coordinator: Lia Sclifos, Project Manager Editing: URMA ta E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.prescolar.md

Innovative aspects Implemented by the Project "Global Partnership for Education" and Covered by Documents of Educational Policies EARLY EDUCATION IN EDUCATION CODE Article 12. Structure of the education system Education is organized based on levels and cycles in line with the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED-2011): a) level 0 – early education, with 2 cycles: - ante-pre-school education; - pre-school education; -…

CODE OF EDUCATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA

MENTORING IN 2020 EDUCATION STRATEGY

Objective 4.4. on efficient and flexible system of continuous training of didactic and managerial staffs focuses on establishing the mentoring system at 3 levels: (i) mentoring for pedagogical practice, (ii) mentoring for young specialists (on insertion), and (iii) mentoring of professional development on the job and creation of a free market of services of continuous training in line with professional standards. MENTORING IN EDUCATION CODE

Article 3. Notions of reference and definitions In the current Code, the main notions used, have the following meanings: … mentor – skilled didactic or managerial staff, with the role to guide other didactic or managerial staffs, beginners or with experience in the job, providing support for personal and professional development; mentoring – interactive process of guidance, support of learning, education and / or professional development, carried out between the mentor and another person which is based on the premises of interactive involvement of both sides, of assuming commitments stipulated by their statutes; … Article 54. Norming the didactic activity (1) The activity of the didactic staff from general education is developed

for 7 hours daily, respectively 35 hours per week and includes as follows: a) activities of teaching-learningassessment, practical training, following the framework-plans of education; b) activities of education and complementation of the educational process; c) activities of children, pupils and parents counseling in issues related to psychology-pedagogy; d) mentoring activities; e) activities of teacher’s lesson coordination; f) preparatory activities for developing the educational process; g) activities of issued individual plans of education, teaching-learningassessment, practical training, following educational plans for children and pupils with special educational needs. Article 57. Mentoring activity (1) The general education promotes the mentoring activity with the support of a skilled person, the mentor, who provides support, assistance and exchange of experience and knowledge for another person to favor one’s professional development and acquisition of competencies or knowledge. (2) The didactic or the managerial

staff can become mentor if one has a special training within the initial or continuous formation and experience in the field. (3) The mentoring activity is carried out under the following types: a) practical mentoring; b) mentoring of professional insertion; c) mentoring of professional development. (4)The practical mentoring is carried out under the guidance of a skilled didactic staff of the student beginner. (5) The mentoring of professional insertion is carried out on-the-job and ensures the professional integration and development of the beginner didactic staff. (6) The mentoring of professional development is carried out on-thejob and ensures the professional development and progress in jobs of didactic staffs. Article 131. Social rights and guarantees of the didactic, scientific-didactic and scientific staffs (7) In the first 3 years of pedagogic activity, the didactic staffs from public general educational institutions benefit from support for professional insertion, including the 75% reduction of the didactic norm for the salary per post as well as the assistance of the mentoring didactic staff.

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Early Education Mentoring Program of the Ministry of Education Lia SCLIFOS, Project Manager "Global Partnership for Education", Ministry of Education

The Early Education Mentoring Program of the Ministry of Education, implemented within "Global Partnership for Education" Project , was launched in 2013 and developed in some stages: 1. Conceptualization of mentoring 2. Finalization of the mentoring model of professional development on-the-job 3. Training 30 national mentors, representatives of institutions rendering services of continuous training 4. Training 260 local mentors and 40 inspectors in mentoring field 5. Elaboration of material for trainings (3 modules of training) 6. Development of trainings for mentors, education and offering mentoring programs to educators

For the first time, the educators have benefited from trainings, mentoring programs aimed to support them to apply theory into practice. The educators, assisted by mentors, spoke periodically about their own experience, capitalized successes, acted to overcome

Training National Mentors Larisa VÎRTOSU, Program Coordinator, Early Childhood Education and Development, UNICEF

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Thirty national mentors were trained in Chisinau in July 2013. The training was

organized by international experts trained within British Council programs, member-founders of the Mentors’ Association from Romania. The training was held with the support of UNICEF Moldova.

difficulties and formed their own style in activity. Thus, learning communities were developed at level of preschool institutions and districts. These communities created the necessary framework for professional development of didactic staffs on-the-job.

Cycle of Trainings for Local Mentors Cornelia CINCILEI, Educational Program "Step by Step"

Training for local mentors of the mentor by providing functional tools of observation Rima BEZEDE, and conciliation. "PRO DIDACTICA" Mentoring has been Educational promoted as a learning Center process building a mutual The training for local relationship based on mentors was held in mutual aid and growth and July- August 2013. It was focuses on professional and attended by 260 specialists emotional support, which set from early education field, new professional goals and representing 130 mentoring challenging experiences. Centers from the country. The final results of the The objectives of the program cover program focused the quality "I am very on addressing training of happy that fundamental 292 mentors: we progress, aspects of educators, we explore mentoring in managers and and together with the education inspectors from children, we are always of adults and early education young in heart and soul. continuous field, with the What we do, is good and professional perspective of we share ideas", this is development the essence of mentoring their involvement expressed by Galina of didactic and in providing Tonu, Director of the managerial quality mentoring kindergarten "Licurici" staffs from services at local from village Bardar, kindergartens; on level for every district Ialoveni. efficient activity didactic staff.

A series of trainings for local mentors and pre-school inspectors from all over the country was held in Chisinau in February-August 2014. This cycle of trainings continues the Mentoring Program of the Ministry of Education, carried out within the "Global Partnership for Education" Project. For this cycle of trainings, the Ministry of Education contracted the Educational Consortium comprising: Educational Program " Step by Step", Day Center "Speranta" and "PRO DIDACTICA" Educational Center. In 2014, the Mentoring Program included: • Elaboration of 3 modules of training for educators • Elaboration of 27 practical guides for educators • Development of training activities based on materials developed for 260 mentors, 40 inspectors and over 7000 educators • Providing programs of individual and team mentoring (after each module).

Sergiu LISENCO, NATIONAL MENTOR "The participants in mentoring trainings know how to appreciate and assess people whose activity they supervise. They stated that the description of what they do, helps people to develop, not the marks. The mentor is a mirror that allows people participating in the training to see themselves and to progress in professional development".

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Monitoring the Activity of Local Mentors To ensure the quality of Mentoring Program, initiated by the Ministry of Education, UNICEF financed a Project of mentoring the activity of mentors at local level, carried out by the National Center for Early Education and Family Information (NCEFI).

Natalia ZOTEA, CNETIF The Monitoring Project had 2 stages: 1. Training 20 mentors to apply the methodology and monitoring

instruments of mentoring programs at local level 2. Monitoring the activity of 120 local mentors. A total of 120 local mentors and 480 didactics staffs from 20 districts of the country participated in this process. The Monitoring Actions were

Mentoring, one of the Topics of 5 Research-actions The mentoring and its impact on the quality of early education has been one of the issues addressed in 5 research-actions developed within the "Global Partnership for Education" Project. RESEARCH-ACTION ON MENTORING OF PROFESSIONAL INSERTION Kindergarten no. 183 from Chisinau is the first pre-school institution from the country that experimented this type of mentoring. Within this researchaction, 5 beginner didactic staffs were assisted to get integrated professionally in the institution. One of the key-results of this research-action was to identify a set of instruments which can be used in other pre-school institutions where beginner didactic staffs activate. FIVE RESEARCH-ACTION IN PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION

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Five research - actions were developed in 2014 in 5 pre-school institutions from the country: kindergarten No.183 and kindergarten

No. 130 from Chisinau, kindergarten 201 from the community Durlesti, kindergarten No. 202 from community Ciorescu and the kindergarten from village Horasti, Ialoveni. The researchactions in pre-school education were developed by researchers from institutions of initial training of specialists in the field of preschool education (State Pedagogical University "Ion Creanga", Pedagogic College "Alexei Mateevici" and the Moldova State University) and skilled practitioners in the field (head masters and methodists of pre-school institutions). Topics of the research-actions from pre-school education: • Professional development of didactic staffs from pre-school

carried out in May-November 2014. Within the monitoring visits, the monitors participate in trainings, mentoring sessions (individual and team), activities of educators with children and provide necessary assistance to the mentor and the didactic staff.

education based on national professional standards • On-the-job professional development through mentoring activities and their impact on the quality of practices of pre-school education • Assessment of children of preschool age based on Learning and Development Standards for the child from birth until the age of 7 • Inclusion of children with special educational needs in pre-school education • Efficient organization of educational activities on centers of interest by involving pupil-volunteers from lyceum. The research- action carried out in the pre-school institution from village Ciorescu covered the involvement of the teenagers from the community in children’s activities in centers of interests-based learning. In their opinion, this experience, reported by volunteers, was "unusual and valuable for all" 6 teenagers.

Deputy Minister of Education Liliana NICOLAESCU-ONOFREI highlighted the innovative character of the researchaction, developed within the Project, mainly linked to "experimental learning", and said that "all of us can learn from these activities".

Success Stories Some educators and head masters of kindergartens from the country shared their impressions, success stories and examples of best practices within the Mentoring Program. Diana Dulgher, mentor, town Lipcani, speech therapist at the kindergarten ,,Steluta" INDIVIDUAL MENTORING ON "MESSAGES OF PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT". A STORY PAINTED ON THE WALL An excerpt from the story "The goat with 3 baby goats" is painted on the wall of kindergarten ,,Bobocel" . Within the mentoring session, while discussing about space use, I asked the educator about the purpose of this painting on the wall. The answer was "to beautify the classroom". Then I asked her to think how she can use this painting. On the other day, I visited the same group and I saw that some numbers were hung in the glade from the painted story. The educator was impressed by her experience to use the painting. For example, she could make questions related to Maths, like: How many stones are there? How many kids are there? Which stone is red? Where is the sun in the painting? If we aim to develop the speech, then the following questions can be addressed: Which words from the picture have sound C? Find images starting with sound S. How many syllables are there in the word goat? Conclusion of educator: The painting is a useful resource and can be a means of

child development in many fields. Conclusion of the mentor: Creation of the context for meditation on own experience helps educators to generate new ideas, new approaches and contributes to the professional development of didactic staffs.

Ecaterina Croitoru, methodist, mentor in the kindergarten No.4, Cahul INDIVIDUAL MENTORING ON "INCLUSION OF CHIDLREN WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS" In a discussion with a didactic staff within an individual session, I noticed that there is a child aged 4 who does not speak, does not communicate with others, but he reacts appropriately and understands what he is told. In these sessions, we tried together to identify solutions that would stimulate the child to speak. The educator decided to involve the boy in the process as much as possible, asked his parents to speak more with him, to come to the kindergarten and participate in activities together with the child and do this in the family. A special activity, when they got involved together, was the verbalization of illustrated books. This activity requires active involvement and permanent discussions. At a certain moment, the child started to progress, to pronounce not so clear ( but still…) some simple words. The effort and the result of the child were appreciated and supported by educator through encouragement etc. Parents are very happy with small

successes (still successes…). Conclusion of the educator: Active involvement of children and parents in the educational process is very important and is efficient if they discuss and plan the activity together. The support of someone is very important for educators, an external view helps see things differently. Conclusion of the mentor: creation of an environment of trust between mentor and mentee contributes to solving some complicated problems together. I am happy that we succeeded together with the educator to make some good changes for this boy. The child became more active, gets involved in games, tries to repeat words of the educator /children, feels safe, protected and accepted. Lilia Barduc, mentor, director at kindergarten No.1 "Albinuta" village Valeni, district Cahul INDIVIDUAL MENTORING ON "INCLUSION OF CHIDLREN WITH SOCIO-EMOTIONAL DIFFICULTIES" Camelia, a six year old girl, always tends to fulfill her desires, whims, otherwise, she is hysteric, hits children, throws toys, etc. Her parents consider that the educator should be careful and not to provoke her. In the mentoring session, we noticed that the main problem was that her parents did not admit that their daughter has a problem affecting her development. We worked out together an action plan for parents and as a result the educator convinced the family to accept the difficulty faced by the child. We identified together the reason of the emotional behavior, using Standards (Field B2.2, indicators 291, 309). The parents decided to consult a doctor. The child got medicines. The parents together with the educator established an action plan, got involved in the educational process and ensured a continuity of rules at home. In 6 weeks, the effort of the family and of the educator brought positive results. Conclusion of the educator: When the problem is admitted it can be solved very fast. Conclusion of the mentor: The child needs protection, the parents should be informed and supported, educators should speak with colleagues about their problems. This collaboration is one of the objectives of the mentoring.

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MENTORING

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RESEARCH ON THE INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE (CROATIA, FRANCE, CZECH REPUBLIC, ROMANIA, ETC.)

ELABORATION OF THE NATIONAL MENTORING CONCEPT

MENTORING FOR PRACTICE

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INSERTION MENTORING

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MENTORING TYPES

MENTORING – EDUCATION CODE

ENACTMENT OF

The mentoring of professional development is carried out on the job and ensures the professional development and progress of didactic staff in their career. (Education Code, art. 57)

The mentoring of professional insertion is carried out on the job and ensures the professional integration and development of the trainee.

Mentoring for practice is carried out by a skilled didactic staff guiding the trainee.

Mentoring – interactive process of guidance, support to learning, education and / or professional development carried out between the mentor and another person, based on interactive involvement of both sides, obligations assumed according to their statute. (Education Code, art. 3)

Mentor – skilled didactic or managerial staff with role to guide other didactic or managerial staffs, trainee or with experience in the field, who provide support for personal and professional development.

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MENTORING OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ON THE JOB

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IMPLEMENTATION OF MENTORING MODEL OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ON THE JOB

MENTORING

Ministry of Education Republic of Moldova

260 LOCAL MENTORS + 40 INSPECTORS

NATIONAL MENTORS

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PREPARATION OF MENTORS

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ELABORATION OF

27 PRACTICAL GUIDES (9 GUIDES FOR EACH MODULE)

130 MENTORING CENTERS

FORMATION AND EQUIPPING

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MODULE

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FORMATION OF LOCAL MENTORS

FORMATION OF EDUCATORS AT LOCAL LEVEL FOR 3 MODULES

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MENTORING PROGRAMMES

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MODULE

MODULE

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INDIVIDUAL MENTORING

PROVIDING MENTORING PROGRAMS TO EDUCATORS ON THE JOB (AFTER EACH MODULE)

GROUP MENTORING

ENHANCING QUALITY OF PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION