The Kosovo Education System

Asoc. Prof. Blerim Saqipi, Faculty of Education, University of Prishtina, Kosovo

The Kosovo education system has gone through hardships of various nature. These included a tragic war and devastation in 1998 and 1999 caused by the Serbian regime at the time, as well as severe conditions of resourcing education development in recovery stages. However, becoming an independent state in 2008 following a 9 year period of transition, education reform has been at the front of the public debate while the policy making, resourcing and scaffolding of development processes has not been tailored to the needs on the ground and ambitions determined for the education system. The presentation will provide an outline of the two major policy reform in last decades, curriculum reform and teacher education policy system, in last two and a half decades in Kosovo and will provide a critical analysis of lessons learned from enacting ambitious policy reforms in a developing context. The presentation will also provide a critical analysis of orientations to policy making and how policy transfer has occurred in Kosovo context with the view of providing lessons for the small and developing countries.