An external evaluation was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness and success of adult education programs developed, accredited, and piloted by partner organizations with the support of DVV International— Country Office for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The subject of the evaluation were 5 programs:
- Operator on CNC machines 2023 - Mixed secondary school "Safet Krupić";
- Operator on CNC machines 2024 - Mixed secondary school "Safet Krupić";
- Adult education program for training in the field of digital marketing - Association for Local Development Initiatives - ALDI;
- Academy of EU project development - CPCD - Smart RC;
- Technical draftsman in AutoCAD - Junior High School of Construction and Geodesy.
The evaluation included a total of 57 participants in all training, along with interviewing 4 project coordinators.
Coordinator's perspective
The project coordinators emphasize the importance of adult education for participants and the wider community. Their opinions mostly coincide with the feedback from the participants. Although the trainings covered different topics, similarities, common challenges and opportunities for improvement were observed.
The programs were assessed as high-quality and applicable in practice, with a special contribution to participants' broadening of horizons, socialization, and employment. They rated the organizational aspect as very good and excellent, noting that there is room for improvement in communication, planning, and the involvement of experts in the field.
Attendant's perspective
Over 70% of the participants are satisfied with the organizational aspects of the training, which includes the content, supporting materials, time frame, and lecturer's approach. We can say that all participants have acquired new knowledge and skills to a certain extent, and most of them believe that they can apply them in practice, in their everyday lives, and their (future) work. 64.2% of all training had the opportunity to apply some of the acquired knowledge and skills from the training in their private environment, and 60.4% of participants in the business environment. The training empowered 73.6% of participants to look for a job more actively. As many as 90.4% of participants expressed an interest in further training and participating in trainings of this and similar types, and 90.6% of them would recommend the training they completed to their colleagues and/or people in their environment. It is encouraging that 60.4% of participants found a job and/or paid internship during the training or in the first 6 months after the training. Of these, 18.9% have signed a work contract for an indefinite period, 35.8% have signed a fixed-term work contract, and 5.7% of people work based on a work contract.
Recommendations
Based on the obtained results, the following recommendations were created:
- Organize a special introductory information session for the participants in which the training will be presented - dynamics, way of working, and expectations from the participants. This would enable the participants to gradually prepare, communicate their needs, and any ambiguities and oblige them to actively participate in the training content.
- Take preventive measures to reduce the number of student dropouts. It can be in the form of signing the Contract and/or creating a reserve list of participants.
- Heterogeneous groups in terms of knowledge level can be supportive for participants when they mutually learn from each other. However, it would be desirable to take care that the differences in (prior) knowledge among participants should not be too great so that they do not disrupt the dynamics of workgroups. If necessary, organize the initial and advanced level of the mentioned training.
- To provide additional support in application, additional mentoring is recommended for participants and/or additional meeting(s) after a certain time where the participants would be given space for their questions. Consider whether there is a possibility to maintain joint contact even after the training. It would be desirable to somehow keep the trainees abreast of what is happening in the profession/field that is closely related to the training they received.
- It would be desirable to implement a session on building supportive attitudes in which participants would further broaden their horizons about (their own) possibilities and appeal to personal responsibility to apply what they will learn. This could be reflected in a higher level of self-esteem and self-confidence. This session can also be part of an info session.
The answers of the participants and project coordinators lead to a recommendation for the continuation of the training - through the deepening of the covered topics and/or the inclusion of some new topics in the form of upgrading the acquired knowledge.
All achieved results are the product of the cooperation and dedication of DVV International - Country Office for Bosnia and Herzegovina and partner organizations, without whose initiative, expertise, and high motivation contributed to the even greater success of cooperation.
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