EVIDENCE-BASED POLICY MAKING IN EDUCATION

REGIONAL CLUSTER OF KNOWLEDGE

TURNING RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE – LEARNING FROM PISA

Biographies of the speakers at the Conference

Minister Žarko Obradović

Graduated from the Faculty of Political Science in Belgrade, where he was awarded Msc and PhD. Assistant Minister for Local Government 1998 – 2000; Assistant Minister for Higher Education 2000-2001. Teaches at the Megatrend University. Chair of ERI SEE Governing Board from 2011.

Aleksandar Baucal

Working experience: Teaches at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade (Department of Philosophy); expert consultant for the development of education for international organizations such as UNICEF, OSCE, Save the Children, Open Society Institute and the World Bank; international consultancy in the field of monitoring, evaluation and education quality assurance and education policy development since 2002. Over past five years intensely engaged at monitoring and advancing the equity of education, in particular the quality of education of Roma children as one of the most vulnerable groups of children, etc.

Biljana Birač

Biljana Birač, expert associate, Directorate for international cooperation and European integration. NCP for TFBHC Cluster of knowledge Development of National Qualifications Frameworks, representative in the Steering Committee for Education of the Council of Europe, national coordinator for ACES (Academy of Central European Schools) and UNESCO Associated schools network.

Maria Do Carmo Gomes

Ms. Gomes is currently working at the National Agency for Qualification in Portuguese Republic and is a PhD student with a thesis project on Public Policies on Adult’s Qualification: social dynamics and institutional configurations, ISCTE-Lisbon Universitary Institute. Since September 2008 - Member of the Steering Committee of the Operational Programme for Human Potential (2007-2013), European Social Funds Management Entity in Portugal.

Since January 2008. Ms. Homes is a National delegate on Board of Participating Countries do Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), OCDE. She wae an expert invited to support the development of the Serbian Adult Education and Training Law, TAIEX mission about Education and Training Public Policies in Portugal, and also an expert member of the research team that had developed the ex-ante evaluation of the Operational Programme for Human Potential (European Social Fund). She has specialization in sociology fields of education, science and technology, youth, family and work and several filiations.

Anton Dobart

Anton Dobart is General Director for Education Cooperation with Eastern and South Eastern Europe and Regional Initiatives in the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture. He holds a position of the Co-chair of the Task Force Fostering and Building Human Capital of the RCC, and is Chair of the Board of KulturKontakt Austria.

Mladen Dragasević

After working in different positions in international organisations, such as the UN, Council of Europe and the European Agency for Reconstruction between 2000 and 2003, Mladen Dragasevic held diverse offices in the Montenegrin Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He started out as an assistant of the national coordinator for Stability Pact for SEE in 2003 to latter become Senior Councilor in the Multilateral Department/EU and Council of Europe Sector and then Director of the Directorate for Regional Organisations and Initiatives. After a stopover at the office of the Montenegrin Prime Minister as his foreign policy advisor, Mladen Dragasevic today is the head of the unit “Building Human Capital and Cross-Cutting Issues” within the Regional Cooperation Council. With his first academic degree in English Language and Literature and Italian from the University of Montenegro, Dragasevic decided to continue his studies at the Diplomatic Academy Gavro Vukovic. He completed his academic career with a Master’s degree in European Studies at the University of Bonn in 2006.

Stanisław Drzażdżewski

Stanisław Drzażdżewski (1955) is a General Counsellor in the Strategy Department of the Polish Ministry of Education.

He started his engagement in educational reforms in1991 as a pedagogical inspector in Katowice (Silesia) responsible for designing and implementing changes in the regional system of childhood care and prevention. Since 1998 he continued this engagement at the national level as a deputy director of Department for Childhood Care and Prevention in the Ministry of National Education. Subsequently he was engaged in designing and implementing the central educational database in Poland (2001-2007). Since 2008 he has been involved in Poland's participation in the EU programme Education&Training 2010, European cooperation in education and training (ET 2020), and in the coordination of the experts group for designing the national LLL strategy.

He was an expert in the Programme for Children (European Council 1998-2000), the JONAS Programme (Joint National Assessment in education of five countries – Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, The Netherlands, 2000-2001), and in the Standing Group for Indicators and Benchmarks (European Commission, 2002-2005). He has represented Poland in the PISA Governing Board since 2001, and has been an expert of the Eurydice network since 2009.

Slavko Gaber

Slavko Gaber is Associated Professor of Sociology of Education at University of Ljubljana – Faculty of Education (CEPS). His fields of expertise are equity and equality in education; comparative education, governance and management and quality assurance in education. In 1992 he reached PhD in Sociology at University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts. He has extensive practice in educational policy management and expert collaboration in reflecting educational reforms in SEE – Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Bosna and Herzegovina.

Maciej Jakubowski

Maciej Jakubowski joined the PISA team at the OECD in 2008. He works on analysis of the PISA data and more recently on performance trends in PISA. Formerly assistant professor at the Faculty of Economic Sciences, Warsaw University, and consultant for the World Bank, UNDP, and the Polish government. He conducted research at the University of Pittsburgh, Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, and the European University Institute in Florence. He authored and co-authored several papers and book chapters in the area of economics of education, labor economics and political economics.

Ljubica Kiselički

Ms. Kiselički is Assistant Mayor for the development of cultural and education activities and rationalization of the school network (1992 – now); founded and taught at the Gauss mathematical school for talents in Subotica (1987 – 1992); professor of mathematics. Education: Faculty of Mathematics Novi Sad; Professor of Mathematics

Tinde Kovač Cerović

Obtained PhD in educational psychology from the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, where she had also obtained her first and second degrees. She now teaches at the Faculty of Psychology. From 2005 to 2007 she worked as Senior Advisor for REF, an international organization with Headquarters in Budapest, where she worked on comparative analysis of Roma education. In 2007-8 she held a position of Advisor for Education and Social Policy to the Serbian Deputy Prime Minister. She authored and coauthored many research projects and publications. Since July 2008 she has been holding the position of State Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Science.

Predrag Lažetić

Predrag Lažetić (SRB) is Director of the Centre for Education Policy since 1st May 2011. Among his managerial responsibilities he is also conducting research activities in the field of education. His current work includes: working on research and analysis of system level governance and Funding special focus on higher education policy and its links to other levels of education; policy analysis of the relation between education and the world of work comparative analysis of different European graduate tracer studies. He has a broad experience from his work as a Consultant in the evaluation for international organizations including UNESCO, INCHER and CHEPS. Predrag Lazetic has a Master of Arts in Higher Education from the University of Kassel, Germany.

Jelena Marković

Coordinator for monitoring and evaluation within the Social inclusion and Poverty reduction Unit – Prime Minister Office for European integration. Specific fields of expertise include areas of: evidence based policy making, policy impact analysis and participative research. She conducted researches for: World Bank, UNDP, UNDEF, UNICEF, USAID, TACSO, Forum SYD, Care International. International experience obtained in West and South-East Europe, Canada, Kenya, East Timor. She authored and co-authored several papers and book chapters in the area of research, participatory approach in decision making processes and ECCD.

Roxana Mihail

Ms. Mihail is currenly a Head of the Evaluation and Research Department in Romania. Previously she has been assessment and certification expert in Vocational Education and Training field, Head of the Research – Development Department, Educational researcher and teacher. Her fields of interests are educational research, assessment and examinations in education and training, Romanic philology, reading theories, reading comprehension assessment, mother tongue didactics, educational management and teaching. In her field of work Ms. Mihail focuses on education, research design, management and teacher training in education.

Tamara Milić

Tamara Milić is Senior Adviser for the SEN students; Ministry of Education and Sports, Montenegro. She is phychologist involved in: education for disabled and students at risk at OECD; specialist course for the education in area of SEN students with focus on the autism issue; Statistics, Indicators and Data Collection in SEN students education and National project on disability issue State Department of USA. She is author and coordinator of: Strategy of Inclusive education in Montenegro, Strategy for early and preschool education in Montenegro, "National report about state in a field of education students with disabilities and at risk in SE Europe" – OECD, “Mapping Policies and Practices for the Preparation of Teachers for Inclusive Education” –ETF, Year, “Guidelines for Commission for the orientation work”, Law on students with special education needs, “Books of instruction for the process of orientation SEN students”, "Education for the Commissions for the orientation of SEN students”, "Education for the Centers for Special need, Centers for social Welfare and Daily Care Centers in DCP model”, »Support to the inclusive education, Ministry of Education and sports and UNICEF, Data Base analyzes about SEN students in Montenegro, etc.

Mihaylo Milovanovitch

Mihaylo Milovanovitch is analyst for the OECD Programme for Co-operation with Non- Member Economies of the Directorate for Education. He is involved in reviews of education policies of OECD non-member economies, and is co-author of the respective OECD publications. Before joining the OECD in 2008, Mr. Milovanovitch was in charge of co-operation with South East Europe in the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture as head of the policy analysis and strategic planning in the international department. Mr. Milovanovitch holds a degree in philosophy from the Hochschule für Philosophie SJ (Munich, Germany), and a degree in advanced international studies from the Vienna Diplomatic Academy (Vienna, Austria).

Monika Mott

Monika Mott is Head of the department of educational cooperation at KKA. From 1999 to 2001 she worked in the office of the Task Force Education and Youth of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe and from 1995 to 1998 she was Austrian Educational Coordinator in Albania. Until 1995 she taught at the University of Southampton, the Faculty of Education of the University of Prague and the University of South Bohemia in České Budĕjovice.

Sören Nielsen

Sören Nielsen a degree (MA) in Social Science and a degree in English (BA) Copenhagen University in Denmark and has worked for many years as a VET expert at the National Institute for the Educational Training of Vocational Teachers in Copenhagen before moving abroad in 2001. Over the last decade, he has worked for the ETF. He is currently head of the ETF Editorial Board and working as a senior expert in all departments of the Foundation.

He has worked mainly in transition countries (in particular the Baltic States since 1992) and has in recent years concentrated on work in South East Europe.

Sören is an experienced VET specialist with a professional interest in the development of learning processes and the preparation of the teaching profession for VET reform. His work has included research, analysis, development work as well as high-level policy advice to VET and labour market stakeholders in partner countries. He has published widely. Sören has many years of experience with project design and project monitoring and, as team leader, with implementation of EU, Nordic Council of Ministers and Danish assistance projects in various countries. He has been member of several ETF review teams and has been involved in a number of analytic studies and evaluations for the European Commission.

Dragica Pavlović Babić

Dragica Pavlović Babić is assistant professor on the courses of psychology at the Department for Psychology at the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Belgrade. She is also Director of Institute for Psychology and National Coordinator for International Project for Evaluation for OECD/PISA results for Serbia since 2001., when Serbia joined this project.

Tanja Ranković

Ms Ranković is the Education and Human Capital Development Coordinator in the Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Unit within the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration. In 1996 – 2006 she worked for several NGOs in Serbia, Macedonia and Greece. She initiated and coordinated many international development projects for vulnerable groups in the countries of the Balkans and Asia. Her main topics of interest are the development of education policies, education analytics, policy planning and coordination, EU integration and programs, social inclusion and education of marginalized groups.

Madlen Serban

Madlen Serban (RO) is Director of the European Training Foundation since 1 July 2009. Before coming to the ETF, she was Director of the National Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Romania. Dr. Serban, has spent most her career working in the field of vocational education and training. She has a broad international experience from her work as an expert and evaluator for international organisations including UNESCO, USAID, the European Commission, OECD, the World Bank and the ETF. Madlen Serban has a PhD in social partnership in education and training from the University of Bucharest. She represented the Romanian government on the ETF’s Governing Board from 1998-2007.

Goran Sirovatka

Mr. Sirovatka is a Head of the National Centre for the External Evaluation of Education since 2006. Before is current occupation he was Assistant director for South Eastern Europe for publishing, Executive Editor of the Science Editorial Board and Asistant Director for publishing. He graduated from Mathematical Department at the Faculty of Science in Zagreb and finished postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Organization and Informatics.

Marija Soronda

Marija Soronda is a University of Toronto and University of Salzburg graduate, and currently holds a position of a Project coordinator at the Task Force Fostering and Building Human Capital Secretariat in Vienna

Dana Stroie

Dana Stroie is head of unit for training programmes and quality assurance in the National Centre for TVET Development, Romania.

She joined the National Centre for TVET Development in 2004 as a Quality Assurance Expert. In this position she was involved in a range of developments regarding the National Quality Assurance Framework for TVET - the Romanian quality assurance framework for initial VET, based on the European Reference Framework for Quality Assurance in VET (EQARF). She contributed to the elaboration of the Manuals for self assessment and external monitoring in Romanian TVET, coordinated training sessions for school managers, quality assurance coordinators and inspectors and offered support to TVET schools in starting the QA implementation process. She is the contact person for the Romanian National Reference Point for Quality Assurance in VET.

At European level, she is member of the Steering Committee of the European Network for Quality Assurance in VET (EQAVET) and chair Working Group 1 on Developing guidelines to support the implementation of EQARF in Member States.

Žarko Šunderić

Graduated from the Faculty for Media and Communication and one-year undergraduate studies of the Belgrade Open School. Manages the Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Unit in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, which supports the DPM to coordinate, oversee and report on social inclusion activities of the Government. Worked with Civic Initiatives 1999-2001, as coordinator for communications and public relations on a USAID program 2001-2004; Poverty Reduction Strategy Implementation Focal Point from 2005 – as Communications Coordinator and Manager since January 2008.

Aurelia Vartic

During 2 years (2008 -2010) I worked in the Ministry of Education holding the position of Coordinating Consultant for technical assistance projects funded by foreign donors to modernize VET system. While fulfilling my consultancy responsibilities I participated on behalf of the Ministry of Education in working groups with focus on Occupational Standards development, Curriculum development and teacher training provision.In the framework of the ETF project to support the EU - Republic of Moldova Mobility Partnership, notably the Partnership's labor market development component, I was a coordinator for Policy dialogue group and Reference group. Within “Torino process” supported by ETF in Moldova I was a member of working group but also a coordinator for all stakeholders involved in collecting evidences.

Currently I’m still a member of Torino Process working group and a coordinating consultant just for educational projects supported by Liechtenstein Development Service (LED).