Evaluation of educational activities and methodological support for the Judicial Academy’s resources
Evaluation is a process that analyzes the educational activity carried out. It includes the collection and processing of information regarding the characteristics and impacts of the educational activity.
Evaluation procedures have three main objectives:
- to make the effects of teaching visible and clear
- to foster communication between the Judicial Academy and the judicial and prosecutorial community through joint reflection on the effects and benefits of the education provided
- to change practice and implement necessary activities based on the results of evaluation and research.
Comprehensive evaluation of the educational process is conducted at two levels:
- evaluation of a specific educational activity or formative evaluation
- evaluation of the impact and effects of certain activities on the expertise of judicial officials and the better functioning of the entire system or summative evaluation
At the first level of evaluation, the emphasis is on assessing the organization of the educational activity, the quality of its implementation, and its success in achieving the set objectives. The following parameters are usually evaluated here: the connection between the type of educational activity and the method of implementation, methodology for achieving objectives, didactic teaching skills, learning methods, interaction between trainers and participants, group work dynamics and coordination, and the usefulness of educational material.
The second level of evaluation is far more complex and delicate, given the specificity of performing judicial duties. Judicial officials, and especially judges when rendering judgments, must be independent and impartial, free from any external or internal influences. Therefore, educational activities intended for judges should not aim to “teach” judges how to render judgments, but should rather be focused on the development of skills characteristic of experienced and professional judges.
A special questionnaire is used for each target group, containing questions that reflect the specificities of the education for each group. The evaluation procedure consists of questionnaire administration, processing of results for each educational group, and writing a final evaluation report for each program topic.
The final evaluation report is a comprehensive analysis of the most important legal and didactic aspects of the education conducted on a specific topic, presented through the following chapters:
a) general context and teaching objectives (familiarization with the legal framework, why teaching on that legal institute was initiated, why it is important, what difficulties and problems arise in its application, broader consequences of insufficient knowledge and poor application, etc.);
b) educational material (scope and structure of the material, level of legal norm processing, appropriateness of content for target groups, selection and presentation of hypothetical cases)
c) didactic skills of workshop leaders
d) organization of teaching
e) data on the number of participants
f) general assessment of the success of the educational activity
g) identification of strengths of the conducted education, as well as segments that should be improved and refined, along with recommendations for further activities that will more deeply explore the legal area that was the subject of teaching.
The Judicial Academy began implementing digital evaluation of educational activities as early as 2011. and was one of the first institutions for lifelong learning in the judiciary among EU countries to replace paper and pencil with personal computers. This provided us with sufficient scope for an analytical approach to evaluation data and a more detailed insight into objective indicators of the success of the teaching conducted for all target groups.
Methodological support for the Judicial Academy’s resources is reflected in the continuous education of educational activity leaders, who, by attending basic and advanced workshops, acquire knowledge and skills for knowledge transfer in accordance with the insights of modern collaborative learning, where the emphasis is on fostering the communication process in teaching through the application of active adult learning methods and the consideration of legal problems in judicial and prosecutorial practice. Department staff periodically attend workshops and evaluate the success of educational activity leaders in implementing the methodological-communicative aspects of teaching.
According to the Law on the Judicial Academy, every judicial official who wishes to be a mentor must undergo appropriate training conducted by the Department for Evaluation and Training of Trainers and Mentors. For functional and practical reasons, mentor training is conducted in the form of self-study by reviewing educational material that is didactically designed for self-study, and by written verification of whether the candidate has acquired the necessary knowledge.
The Department also ensures the methodological quality of educational materials, which must comply with the standard adopted by the Program Council of the Judicial Academy. We also cooperate with other Departments on other matters related to the methodological aspects of implementing program activities.