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  VOCATIONAL TRAINING FOR TEACHERS
 

In the Tourism and Catering Schools in Belgrade and Vrnjacka Banja, and the Technical School for Wood-Processing, Interior Decoration and Landscape Architecture in Belgrade towards the end of August, three 3-day seminars were organised for the teachers who will implement the new curricula in the pilot classes. Seminars were organised by the Vocational Education and Training Programme with the aim of preparing the teachers, as good as possible, for the beginning of the new school year and presenting the teaching methods applied in EU schools to them.

The new ways of preparing and presenting food were presented by Mr. Ludwig Jax, a cook from Austria .
''I'm glad that I can share some culinary secrets and new techniques with Serbian teachers. All of them are experienced professionals, skilled cooks with vast knowledge. In modern gastronomy, lot of attention is paid to presentation - as musch as it is paid to preparation. That is why druting these three days we prepared various international menues, different dishes with plenty of sauces and spices'' said Jax, who works as a chef in Golden Hirsch Hotel belonging to the chain of Sheraton hotels and as a teacher in vocational school.

Mr. Jax said that he had been exchanging experience with his Serbian colleagues. ''Each country must preserve the traditional cuisine, but follow modern trends as well, and that is what we should teach our students.''

Serbian teachers loved this exceptional master class. `A lot can be learnt at such seminars, especially when it comes to decoration. That is when creativity and skillfulness of each cook becomes visible. We look forward to sharing everything learnt with our students. I hope they'll have at least as much fun as we've had during the training` said Jelena Argenovic, teacher in Tourism and Catering School in Belgrade.

 

The atmosphere was similar at the workshop carried out by Austrian Professor, Ernst Wimmer, in Technical School for Wood Processing, Interior Design and Landscape Architecture, for teachers of the future upholsters-decorators. ''Upholstering is one of the nicest trades and is really valued in Austria. Our classes are fully occupied because, in schools, we prepare kids for independent work in worshops, which is an advantage'' said Wimmer, surprised by the information that there is a low level of interest for this profile among Serbian students.
Our teachers attentively observed everything their Austrian colleague showed them and then patiently and neaty cut the materials, upholstered parts of furniture, sewed decorative ribbons on. Teaching materials brought by the Austrian professor have been especially useful - textbooks, teachers' handbooks, exercises developed and prepared by teachers who try to make each lesson interesting and different in form. ''It is not only about work techniques, it is also about passing the knowledge to students in a different wasy. In that sense, our colleague's experience is valuable'' said Jovan Vukadin, teacher in Technical School for Wood Processing.

Given the teachers' level of interest and readiness to participate in training, it can be said that exchange of experience and best practice examples are what Serbian teachers lack and need the most. Cooperation established during seminars is the first step towards bridging this gap.

 

 

 

Modernisation of the VET system in Serbia
 This project is funded by the European Union -  www.europa.rs