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The Importance Of Occupational Standards For Businesses

The importance of occupational standards for businesses

The Foreign Trade Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Agency for Preschool, Primary and Secondary Education of Bosnia and Herzegovina (APOSO), had organized a seminar on the topic “Importance of occupational standards for business entities” on 24th of May 2019.

In the premises of the Chamber in Sarajevo, they were: dr. Siniša Gatarić, Deputy Director and Head of the PJ Banja Luka and Dušan Sarajlić, Head of the Department for VET and LLL Agency for Preschool, Primary and Secondary Education BiH (APOSO),

Dr. Siniša Gatarić presented the work of APOSO to the audience and emphasized the importance of institutional cooperation, APOSO and the Foreign Trade Chamber of BiH and educational institutions, with the aim of contributing to make the curriculum in accordance with the needs of the labor market. He said, among other things, that the problem of a large gap in the quality of education is visible, and the organization of such seminars is of great importance for the economy and for the educational system.

– It is important to define the right learning outcome that is in line with the needs of the labor market, bearing in mind that the labor market influences the creation of occupational standards, and the standards influence the development of the standard of qualifications and curricula

– Gatarić said that institutional cooperation is very good, but it needs to be improved and in relation to this announced the signing of the Agreement on Cooperation between APOSO and VTK BiH.

On behalf of the Foreign Trade Chamber of BiH, Dr. Sci. Elma Kovačević-Bajtal, director of the Education Sector, said that Bosnia and Herzegovina is in the period of big and everyday changes, which, among other things, marks the reform of education and new business circumstances, such as: accelerated development of technology, digitization, unfortunately, a huge outflow of labor. It is precisely because, as she said, the active work of all participants in linking education policy with the employment policy is extremely important. One way to harmonize is to work on the preparation of occupational standards, in which several actors are involved. In addition to business associations, such as chambers, schools and ministries, the company’s representatives are also important actors.

– First of all, it is important to understand the needs of the labor market, and, accordingly, during the preparation of qualifications put emphasis on meeting the newly created needs of employers in line with current market changes. In particular, the development of the technology of a particular industry should be taken into consideration when analyzing the needs of workers in the production process, but also to note the fact that the demand for information technology specialists is increasing. In order for vocational education and qualifications to be in line with changes in the labor market, it is necessary to regularly update occupational standards. The first thing that other people’s experience tells us is that it is not easy to get the opinion of employers as an important input for the design of these standards, said Kovačević-Bajtal, and pointed out that VTK BiH is in constant contact with everyday activities, communicating with its members, taking into account the importance of their participation in this field, since consultations with employers are key inputs in the standardization of occupations.

Dušan Sarajlić, Head of Department for VET and LLL Agency for Pre-primary, Primary and Secondary Education of BiH (APOSO) gave a lecture on the topic “Development of occupational standards”.

-Technological, economic, social and economic development require: qualified and competent workforce with relevant knowledge and skills, development of new or revision of existing occupations and more direct cooperation / connection between the “work and education”, said Sarajlić. He also provided seminar participants with an insight into: Theoretical model for VET curriculum oriented to learning outcomes; Differential approach to curriculum development; The process of developing the curriculum for IVET (SSO), occupation of the qualification; The starting points for the development of the qualifications / training programs / curriculum in the CSA BiH, the activities of the VET department of the Agency related to the development of occupational standards.

The seminar emphasized that occupational standards are identified and described the duties and activities necessary for carrying out business activities, that is, determine the knowledge, skills or competencies necessary for performing business tasks and obligations.

In addition, it was emphasized that the developed standard of occupation, ie the “list of professional competences”, is a prerequisite for the development of qualifications, that is, the required learning outcomes and the basis for the development of curricula and training programs, in order to provide adequate personnel in the labor market.

The seminar was attended by representatives of the private sector, the public sector and business support organizations.

Dušan Sarajlić
Head of Department for VET
Agency for Pre-primary, Primary and Secondary Education

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