Enhancing and Advancing Basic Learning and Education in Bosnia and Herzegovina - ENABLE BiH Quarterly Narrative Report

The project began in September 2016 and ends in September 2020, with the overall purpose of contributing to the improvement of learning outcomes in public primary and general secondary education in BiH. The project is implemented by Save the Children in North West Balkans (SCiNWB) and is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The project focuses on advancing USAID's goals of improving STEM education in BiH by implementing the new Operational Teaching Curriculum in schools and rolling out new standards and guidelines for improved STEM teaching methods in pre-service university programs. The ENABLE BiH project has two key components: STEM and Pedagogy, Psychology, Didactics and Teaching Methods (PPDM). The STEM component aims to shift teaching and learning away from lecturing, content memorizing and reproducing towards a hands-on, applied learning approach. This approach is expected to improve students' interest in and perceptions of STEM subjects. In the period of the first quarter of 2020, ENABLE BiH implemented many critical activities to advance and consolidate its STEM accomplishments. Activities and results were limited, however, by COVID-19 and related school closures. Some of the major activities successfully executed included STEM advocacy and education events, increased integration of STEM into the curriculum, increased capacity of STEM mentors and trainers, and support for external evaluation. The introduction of the STEM approach and increased integration of STEM into the current curriculum rose from 10% integration in the 2018/2019 academic year to up to 25% in the 2019/2020 academic year. This integration expanded to the primary and secondary school curricula in seven model schools in Federation and Brcko District. Despite the efforts of the ENABLE BiH staff, the situation in the five model schools in the Republic of Srpska remains relatively unchanged. The project team continued with the series of informative and consultative sessions in all four regions, with STEM-PPDM Trainers/Mentors and teachers. One of the major milestones of this quarter was the meeting with the RS authorities in February as well as a one-week training to initiate the implementation plan of STEM integration in regular curricula and in teaching processes in order to continue working towards implementation in all model schools in RS. STEM practical, hands-on learning was the focus of a two-day refresher session on 3D applications and the importance of using STEM equipment. This two-day session was held in March for the first time in RS, at the Banja Luka Gimnazija. The training lead was a STEM teacher from a partnering STEM school located in Brcko District. The project team supported USAID's external impact analysis aimed at examining the results of the ENABLE-BiH project and the effects of the STEM program in schools on students. Methodology was agreed upon by the Centre for Development Evaluation and Social Science Research (CREDI) contracted by USAID. During the reporting period, ENABLE fully cooperated with the CREDI representative. Discussions were held regarding the developments and challenges ENABLE faced such as pending endorsement by the Ministry of Education and Culture of RS. The impact analysis will, among other things, compare students' interest in and perceptions of STEM from baseline against midline and end-line levels. The ENABLE BiH project team aims to continue making progress in the upcoming quarter, with a focus on implementing STEM integration in all model schools in the Republic of Srpska. The project team will continue to work with the RS authorities to finalize the implementation plan and ensure that all necessary steps are taken to implement STEM integration in the regular curricula and teaching processes.