While the need for rethinking education at all levels is by no means a new idea, the added pressures of postnormal times presents with new challenges and new opportunities for the future. SAFER – an acronym for an educational system built upon Sustainability, Awareness, Futures literacy, Ethics, and Resilience – picks up where previous reforms have left off and advances educational reform through our tumultuous postnormal times. Focussed specifically on the Sarajevo Canton of Bosnia & Herzegovina, this project was a collaboration between the CPPFS and the Mulalić Foundation aimed at developing a plan for the Canton's Ministry of Education. SAFER is a new, value-based approach to educational reform in Sarajevo at the primary, secondary, and kindergarten levels and hope to stand as a springboard for similar projects around the world and across all levels of education.
Project strategy
Following the success of the CPPFS's work with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in Malaysia with the Malaysia MADANI policy framework, SAFER was proposed as a similar strategy to incorporate ethical values and futures studies into a strategic plan in Bosnia & Herzegovina, this time focussed on an educational plan for Sarajevo Canton.
The project began with a detailed literature survey of educational reform from a wide variety of sources. This was followed by a detailed visioning exercise where the team determined the most important values for anchoring the educational plan. Sustainability, Awareness, Futures literacy, Ethics, and Resilience were selected and thus SAFER was born. Once the values were defined in the context of Sarajevo Canton, the SAFER Educational programme and policy framework were crafted. The final result was a plan composed of goals and principles to guide the future for The Sarajevo Canton Ministry of Education in its ongoing reform process.
Project Impact
- Crafted a vision was put in place for educational reform in postnormal times: '...to create an educational system focussed on a holistic notion of Sustainability that fosters Awareness of continuous change, promotes Futures literacy, embodies principles of Ethics, and builds Resilience amongst students, teachers, parents, the educational environment, and society.
- Developed a values-based policy framework for education, specifically for Sarajevo Canton in Bosnia & Herzegovina, but that can be applied to other contexts around the globe.
- Suggested reforms that have been implemented into law in Sarajevo Canton through the Ministry of Education.
- Resulted in a publication from the CPPFS and the Mulalić Foundation following the whole process.
