INTERVET WB job shadowing: Interview to selected teachers

Professor Seada Velagic, director of the Secondary School of Agriculture, Food processing, Veterinary medicine and Service industries from Sarajevo, shared with us her photo from the florist student competition.

What do you expect from taking part in a job shadowing visit to the Netherlands, which is part of the INTERVET WB project?

To answer your question what we expect from a visit to The Netherlands; first of all, establishing cooperation with colleagues from the Balkan region and of course from The Netherlands, which will benefit us all. Exchange experiences in the way of organising classes, both professional-theoretical and practical. I would like to visit their schools, attend classes, and hang out with students.

What are your experiences with organising classes in online and blended format, during the global pandemic?

Regarding the organisation of classes online and in hybrid format, I believe that this is a great challenge for both students and teachers, especially in BiH, given the computer literacy of some educators in the educational process. This includes parents too. In my opinion, to describe present situation we may use our old expression “comfort the trouble”. The goal was to preserve the educational system and physical health and we succeeded to some extent. I think that the level of knowledge that students reach is lower than the average when teaching in the classroom. Many teaching contents are difficult to explain online. Unfortunately, very little attention is paid to the mental health of students, teachers and the general population. I think it is time to pay attention to this aspect of teaching and life in general.

Also, I think that children still prefer to come to school in groups and are very happy to socialise, but with the presence of the virus, it is still risky to organise classical classes. I worked in school directly in teaching process during the last war in BiH and this pandemic is not comparable to that period but it still seriously disrupted the educational role of the school and education in general.

Stanislava Matic, Professor of English Language, High School Center – Hadzici, shared pictures from her classroom

We asked Professor Matic about her expectations from visiting Da Vinci College, next year?

What I mostly expect from this training is meeting new people, who work in education and understand how important our job is. I am also looking forward to seeing how they work with students, so I could compare their education system with our education system. I am one of those teachers who think that our system is not good and that we need to make major changes in curriculum, especially within VET education. We are still a bit stuck in old teaching methods and teachers need to make changes and educate more and get along with what is going on in EU countries.

These projects are great and our school is always trying to new learn more and to apply as much as possible to all projects that are going to help us improve our school and improve our teacher’s knowledge.

I am looking forward to learning more and bringing back some great experience!