CONFERENCE "DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE OF SCHOOLS" HELD IN SARAJEVO

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (June 18,2008) - Conference titled “Democratic Governance of Schools: Towards a more Par-ticipatory School Management Culture”, gathering education officials and directors from more than 30 schools throughout Bosnia, was held in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo on 16-17 June.

At the press opportunity, Assistant to the Bosnian Minister of Civil Affairs, Esma Hadžagić, pointed out, that the Conference was designed for school management in Bosnia in order to develop democratic school governance and increased involvement of all involved in teaching process – teachers, students, parents and local community.

“It is essential to emphasize the role of school directors in promoting democratic school governance”, Hadžagić said.

Co-author of the Council of Europe’s publication, titled “Democratic School Governance”, Elisabeth Bäckman, director of a secondary school in Stockholm ,Sweden, is of the opinion that it is not difficult to combine high student influence levels with good learning results.

Releasing creative potential within all students

“I am a director of a school with 650 students. These students speak twenty different native languages. In my work, I was always led by two principles: to ensure that every student reaches his/her maximum and that each student has an impact on important issues regarding curriculum and work. We have established a clear link between students’ rights and responsi-bilities. I believe that students must be involved in reaching important decisions in order to achieve better results. Our school is among the top ten in Sweden for student achievements, and our students live in less privileged parts of the town”, Bäckman explained.

Education Coordinator for South East Europe, Council of Europe, Sarah Keating-Chetwynd said that, over ten years, the Council of Europe has worked on civic and human rights issues in education.

“Democratic school governance is complementary to reaching good results in schools”, Keating-Chetwynd said.

According to Minister Hadžagić, manual “Democratic School Governance” brings new philosophy in terms of the multi-decade education practice in these areas, where a student used to be an object and “a sponge” to be moulded by teachers.

“Of vital importance is that student becomes a subject of education process, with a right to pass his/her opinion without being sanctioned for it. We should work on realising creative po-tential within every young person, since it is the only way for us as a country to become competitive on European and world market”, Hadžagić said.
.