"We have something to say"
This is the vision of the Training Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of North Macedonia. For us, this vision is a picture of our future. We have begun to implement it and plan to continue in the coming years.
Based on the changes that occurred in the Law on Internal Affairs (Article 20-v of the Law on Internal Affairs), the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of North Macedonia established the Training Center as an organizational unit.
The Training Center conducts basic police training, special training, and management training in the field of security (security management) for Ministry employees based on curricula and programs.
We aim to become a center of excellence in this part of the world and to belong to the five best Training Centers in Europe. Our police education is based on a program that meets national and international quality standards. This means we will fulfill national and international quality standards.
Police education will serve the operational police, which is responsible for performing police duties in our country. Through the implementation of the Twinning project (EAR_European Agency for Reconstruction), the Training Center has implemented a new police education model, oriented towards essential activities and competency-based.
We will focus on facilitating the achievement of competencies for performing essential activities in jobs and functions appropriately. Competence is the ability to handle essential activities in work and functions appropriately. Competencies are based on knowledge, skills, experiences, attitudes, and personal behavior. An essential activity is a consistent unit of basic tasks and problems regularly faced by professionals, as well as characteristics of a profession at a specific level. The work profile consists of a limited number of essential activities. Police officers who do not master the essential activities in their work cannot be classified as competent. Our orientation towards competencies and essential activities indicates that we focus on people's abilities, now and in the future.
Police officers must be competent today, tomorrow, next month, and throughout their professional career. Therefore, remaining competent indicates lifelong learning. We will create and support appropriate learning and training environments for police officers so that they can train continuously and return to training whenever necessary.
Police officers have a significant societal function, and they are expected to remain competent throughout their professional career. Taking responsibility is one of the fundamental characteristics of the police profession. This indicates the primary responsibilities concerning their work and training. Therefore, police officers must be given responsibility for their own learning. This process begins the moment they first enter the Training Center and continues after completing their education.
The competencies acquired by the trainees are assessed through competency measurement tests, through which the trainee must practically demonstrate competencies in a real situation or simulation. For this, the Training Center trains independent assessors – police officers from all sectors of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for a specific essential activity who are professionals in their field. This method of assessment increases objectivity and independence in evaluating trainees from basic police training. In the future, we will strengthen this process even more, which is one of the more important segments of the entire training, through continuous training of police officers.
Trainers (instructors) at the Training Center and field trainers (mentors) in practice will facilitate and elevate the training of new police officers. Both are highly qualified experts in their field and represent significant examples.
Our trainers face the challenge of posing problems and highlighting the essence of the respective subject. To elevate the training, they should not only be competent police officers but also possess certain pedagogical knowledge.
Trainers from the Training Center and field trainers at workplaces are facilitators in the learning process of trainees. They allow trainees to acquire the necessary competencies in a way that they will be responsible for their learning, individually and as part of a team. Training does not only take place at the Training Center but is also integrated into the job – at the future workplace. The Training Center provides trainees with a safe learning environment where trainers offer opportunities to achieve initial competencies in job learning. Our trainees will acquire advanced competencies and gain initial experiences that will prepare them for the role of competent professionals.
Trainers from the Training Center and field trainers at workplaces will fulfill their role in accordance with the training objectives described above. For field trainers at workplaces, it is important to be competent professionals for essential activities through which the trainee acquires competencies. Furthermore, to enable trainees to learn effectively, trainers should possess appropriate pedagogical competencies. For this purpose, the Training Center conducts training for field trainers who will be able to fully implement operational training for trainees. The Training Center also conducts international training, which we plan to expand to more levels in the future. Through these international trainings, cooperation and information exchange among operational police officers, primarily from the region but also more broadly, are expanded, aiming to prevent and detect various forms of crime. The Training Center develops and designs training programs for operational police officers at all levels – special training and management, where experts from the respective field participate in the training. With this, the Training Center makes itself available to operational police and participates in training whenever the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of North Macedonia assesses that there is a need to develop new competencies in police work. Our goal is to create competent police officers who, by working proactively and professionally, respecting the Constitution, laws, human rights, and diversity, will increase trust and be a service to all citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia. We want the Training Center to become one of the five most elite training centers in Europe. With our clear vision and dedication, we are on that path. The Training Center is in a development process. Like many other institutions in our country, we receive additional assistance from the international community and cooperate with more and more partners. This will enable the provided support to meet the organizational and police education model, but it will continue to develop. Success is never accidental, it is in our hands.