Macedonia became member of SPARE in March 2006 and during the implementation of the projects “Energy efficient municipality” in the period between March 2006 and March 2009 the Spare educational programme was completed. Till March 2009 SPARE programme in Macedonia was implemented locally in three municipalities, Municipality of Jegunovce, Shuto Orizari and Gazi Baba. The experiences gathered indicate a future logistical step in improvement of the programme - an official ratification from the Ministry of Education and Science. The Bureau for Development of Education was consulted at the strategic workshop held on 7th November 2008. One of the activities indicated and agreed by the participants was organizing a SPARE conference.
Goal of the conference was to promote and assess the SPARE educational programme at the national level, as well as its successful implementation in the curricula programs for physics at the elementary schools. On the other hand, the conference was used for preparation of preliminary report for the Bureau for Development of education what will be a base stand point for future ratification of SPARE by the Ministry of Education and Science. Conference attendants were representatives from the Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Environment, Bureau of Development of Education, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, students on the final year at the cathedra of Physics and more that 30 professors of natural sciences in the elementary schools from all sides of the country.
The conference was opened by the National coordinator, presenting the achievements of the SPARE programme so far in Macedonia, highlighting the future plans of the implementation. The guest of the conference Mr. Leonid Firsov give an international note to the conference presenting the best practices and accomplishments of the programme through out the world, and presenting the challenges for implementation of such programmes. In addition the complete SPARE theoretical and practical set was presented, thus giving the necessary methodological suggestions for successful execution.
For better coordination and future cooperation in the frame of the project, the attendants agreed on several future activities:
• Preparation of anonymous questionnaire for assessment of the quality of the SPARE set for teachers.
• Involvement of the Bureau for Development of Education and the Faculty for Mathematics and Natural Sciences in the process of implementation and future ratification of the programme by the Ministry of Education and Science.
• Involvement of the stakeholders in the project “Energy efficient municipality”.
• Presentation of the results of the survey at the international SPARE conference in Norway.
• Coordination of creating of the annual SPARE programme in Macedonia.
All of these activities will assist in the process of future ratification of the programme by the Ministry of Education and Science.
