OECD Reviews of Evaluation and Assessment in Education: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has high levels of educational attainment and performs similar to other Western Balkan economies in international assessments of student learning, like the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). However, large shares of students in BiH continue to leave school without mastering basic competencies and there are signs of inequities in the learning outcomes. BiH also has limited comparable data on teaching and learning and faces considerable capacity and resource constraints. Considering collaboration across the country’s different levels of government is limited, these factors prevent the development and implementation of sustainable education reforms. This review explores some of the contextual features of education systems in BiH and highlights how a stronger evaluation and assessment frameworks can help achieve higher learning standards for all students.
Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska (RS) is a centralised self-government entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina that contains 64 local self-government units (i.e. municipalities). With a surface area that makes up nearly half of BiH (), the entity’s socio-economic development is primarily driven by industry, agriculture and services, which respectively employ 28%, 24% and 48.5% of the entity’s population (Republika Srpska Institute of Statistics, 2021[1]). In RS, one out of two employed individuals has completed secondary education, and one out of four has completed higher education (ibid). According to the Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Foreign Investment Promotion Agency, Republika Srpska’s main strengths for attracting investments rely on its natural resources, favourable tax regulations and an increasingly qualified workforce (Emerging Europe, 2020[2]). The entity’s Ministry of Education and Culture is responsible for pre-university education policy and has a staff of around 80 people (BiH, 2021[3]). This profile examines the context and features of the evaluation and assessment system for education in RS and highlights policy recommendations that can help strengthen this system to improve teaching and learning.
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