MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND RESEARCH

Transcription

1 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND RESEARCH Quality and Equity in the Romanian Education System National Report on the development of the education system in Romania BUCHAREST 2004

2 1. Overview of the education system at the beginning of the 21 st century Main reforms and innovations included in the education and professional training system at the beginning of the 21 st century The main achievements in terms of quantity and quality The main problems and challenges the education system must withstand in the beginning of the 21 st century Quality education for all young people: challenges, trends and priorities Education and gender equality Education and social inclusion Education and skills necessary in life Quality education. The key role of teachers Education from the perspective of sustainable development... 47

3 1. Overview of the education system at the beginning of the 21 st century 1.1. Main reforms and innovations included in the education and professional training system at the beginning of the 21 st century a) Amending the legal framework The concerns to adjust the education process to the ever changing requirements of the society, as well as to those related to the European Union accession, led to significant changes in the structure, organization and management of the education system in Romania. After 2000, the main changes were introduced pursuant to the Law no. 268/2003 amending and supplementing the Education Act no. 84/1995 and such changes mainly concerned: extending the compulsory schooling duration to 10 years; diminishing the commencing age of the compulsory schooling to the age of 6; establishing the possible paths for pursuing the compulsory schooling after the first eight grades, that is for the junior high school level or for the schools of arts and crafts; changing the structure of high-school education and establishing two cycles thereof: junior cycle (2 years) of junior secondary level and senior cycle (2-3 years) of senior secondary level; changing the institutional bodies related to the basic vocational training by replacing the vocational schools and the apprentice schools by schools of arts and crafts; developing a path of gradual professionalization within the basic vocational training, intended to commence at the level of junior high-school education within the schools of arts and crafts providing level 1 in vocational qualification, with the pursuit of studies at the senior high-school level, as a result of adding one year for supplementing studies; the latter would play a two-fold role: to provide higher vocational qualification and to provide the basis required for the pursuit of studies in the senior high-school cycle; improving quality at all education levels. The new Law on adult vocational training (375/2002) targets the accreditation of the vocational training suppliers, with a view to improving the quality of both the public offer, and of the private suppliers. This law assigns the National Council for Adult Vocational Training the main role in performing such accreditations. In turn, the new Labor Code, issued in March 2003, encourages the development of continuous vocational training by compelling employers to provide for the employees regular participation in continuous training sessions, according to the training schemes agreed upon by the employers and the employees or the trade unions representatives. Two laws on social issues should also be mentioned in this context: the Law no. 219/2001 on equal opportunities to pursue studies in higher education by means of granting social support scholarships for studies and the Law no. 16/2003 approving the Government Expeditious Ordinance no. 96/2002 on providing dairy and bakery products to the students of the first four grades. Over the reference period covered by this report several specific laws concerning various fields of education were also adopted:

4 Law no. 44/2001 approving the Government Expeditious Order no. 8/2000 amending Law no. 128 on the Statute of the Teaching Staff; Law no. 441/2001 approving the Government Expeditious Order no. 133/2000 on tuition paying higher and postgraduate education; Law no. 719/2001 approving the Government Order no. 138/2000 on certain measures to support private education. b) Organization, structure and management of the education system In Romania the education policies rely on a set of general principles such as the following: Education is lifelong, free of restrictions or discriminations Education is a national priority Education should not be subjected to the influence of various political ideologies The Romanian education system is democratic, open to the European and universal values The education system must provide equal opportunities to all citizens The public institutions must provide free of charge education for the pre-university level, as well as for the university level to the limit of the existing subsidized places The persons originating from ethnic minority groups are entitled to pursue their studies in their respective mother tongues The education network must be permanently adjusted to the demographic developments and to the vocational training requirements The Ministry of Education and Research is the central public body defining and implementing policies in the field of education The structure of the education and basic vocational training system, implemented as of the 2003/2004 school year, is presented in the organizational chart below. According to this structure, the Romanian education system comprises the following levels: Pre-primary education (level ISCED 0) is part of the educational system and it targets the children s socialization and their physical, emotional and cognitive development by means of specific activities. This education level includes children aged 3 to 6 and is carried out in specialized institutions called kindergartens, most of which are public. Children s attendance of kindergartens is free of charge and optional; during the final year they are prepared for entering the primary grades. In 2002/2003, the participation ratio for pre-primary education was 69.2% on the whole, whereas the participation rate exceeded 90% for the final year (the preparatory grade for school). Pre-primary education is organized in groups (junior group, intermediate group, and the senior group the preparatory one) corresponding to the age groups (3-4, 4-5, 5-6) and it is carried out with a normal schedule (5 hours/day), an extended schedule (10 hours/day) or with a weekly schedule (5 days/week). Compulsory schooling lasts for 10 years and it includes three stages, namely: primary education (level ISCED 1, for 4 years), first stage of the junior secondary general education (level ISCED 2, for 4 years) carried out in schools for the 5 th - 8 th grades, and the second stage of the junior secondary education (level ISCED 2, for 2 years) which may provide general, specialized or vocational training and may be carried out within the junior high-schools (general or specialized education) or within the schools for arts and crafts (vocational training). Legend

5 This new structure of the compulsory education is the result of the amendment brought to the education act in June The duration of compulsory education was extended by two years after the junior secondary general education. The graduates of the schools for the 5 th -8 th grades pursue their studies on two paths: either within the junior high-school cycle providing comprehensive education, and also including the pre-specialization components required to orient the pursuing of studies in the senior secondary education (senior high-school cycle); either within the schools of arts and crafts providing vocational training according to the various professional fields and directing students towards the labor market; in this latter case, graduates must attend an additional year of schooling for supplementing their studies before they join the senior cycle of high-school education. The classes may include 10 to 30 students; in the 2002/2003 school year, the ratio was 18 students per teacher for the primary education, and 13 students per teacher for the junior secondary education (National Institute for Statistics Primary and Secondary Education in the beginning of the 2002/2003 School Year). In the junior high-school cycle, students who are two or more years older than the theoretical age for the respective grade may pursue their studies in evening classes or in reduced attendance education programs. At the primary level, all subject matters are taught by the same teacher, except for religion, foreign languages, physical education and music, which may be taught by specialized teachers, whereas at the junior secondary level all subject matters are taught by specialized teachers. Upon completion of the 8 th grade, students sit for the national tests, whose content is developed by the Ministry of Education and Research, and the results obtained in these tests together with the results obtained throughout the 5 th 8 th grades shall serve as criteria based on which graduates shall choose to pursue their studies in the junior high-school cycle or in schools of arts and crafts. Students may pursue their training in the schools of arts and crafts without taking the national tests. The graduates of the junior high-school cycle are granted a graduation certificate, an ongoing education portfolio and, upon request, a transcript of their grade report. The methodology for admission in the senior high-school cycle is decided upon by the Ministry of Education and Research and shall be published one year in advance. The graduates of schools of arts and crafts are granted the same graduation documents as the graduates of the junior high-school cycle, and, in addition, a professional qualification certificate level 1, subsequent to successfully passing an examination assessing their professional skills. After graduating from the schools of arts and crafts, students may continue their studies with the supplementing grade and then the senior high-school cycle. Senior secondary education (level ISCED 3) includes the senior high-school cycle (2-3 years), preceded by the supplementing grade in the case of graduates of schools for arts and crafts. The supplementing grade provides the former with the opportunity to reach the education level required in order to pursue their studies in the senior high-school cycle and to obtain a higher professional qualification. The senior high-school cycle provides general and specialized courses leading to the continuation of studies in the post-secondary education (post high-school level ISCED 4) or in the higher education system (level ISCED 5). The Ministry of Education and Research develops the methodology for admission both to the supplementing grade and to the senior high-school cycle, which shall be notified in the beginning of the school year when the admission process shall take place.

6 The graduates of the supplementing grade shall be granted a graduation certificate, an ongoing education portfolio and, upon request, a transcript of the grade reports. Subsequent to successfully passing an examination assessing their professional skills, they may obtain a professional qualification certificate level 2 and may pursue their studies in the senior highschool cycle, according to the methodology published by the Ministry of Education and Research one year before the beginning of the school year concerned. At the end of the senior high-school cycle, students sit for the final national examination (the school-leaving examination), and the degree thus obtained is required for pursuing university studies. The higher education institutions are free to decide upon the manner in which they organize their admission process (on the basis of an admission examination or of the results obtained by students in their school-leaving examination). All graduates of the senior high-school cycle, whether holding a school-leaving degree or not, are entitled to pass the admission test to a post high-school school preparing trainees to obtain a higher professional qualification and orienting them toward the labor market. The admission into the post high-school system is generally made based on the results obtained in the admission tests. The tertiary education (higher education level ISCED 5) comprises short-term higher education (2-3 years) provided in the university colleges, and long-term higher education (4-6 years) provided in universities, institutes or academies. The admission to the higher education system is generally made based on the results obtained in the admission examinations organized by every institution according to the general criteria set by the Ministry of Education and Research. However, the higher education institutions may decide upon the need to organize an admission examination or to take into account only the results obtained in the school-leaving examination; the school-leaving degree is required for enrolling in the tertiary education system. The graduates of university colleges are granted a graduation degree based on which they can pursue their studies in the long-term higher education institutions, in the same field or in a related field, after having successfully passed an admission examination decided upon by the boards of the faculties. The graduates of long-term higher education are granted a graduation degree providing them with the opportunity to pursue postgraduate studies. The postgraduate education (ISCED 6) provides the following study programs: postgraduate specialization studies for 2 to 3 semesters, validated by a degree of postgraduate studies; master s studies for 2 to 4 semesters, validated by a master s degree; postgraduate academic studies for 2 to 4 semesters, validated by a degree of postgraduate academic studies; doctoral studies for 4 years, validated by a PhD; postgraduate specialization studies with a duration decided upon by the university senates, validated by a degree of postgraduate specialization studies, and further training postgraduate courses with a duration decided upon by the university senates, validated by graduation certificates. c) Curricular policies, content and teaching and learning strategies The main issues underlying the curriculum development required by the new structure of the education system are as follows: Ensuring the concept and methodology consistency of the national Curriculum Ensuring consistency of the curriculum content with the changes performed within the education units Guaranteeing the quality of the curricular range

7 Focusing on the student and on the needs of schools Expanding the curricular range with components destined for various target groups Introducing new fundamental skills, especially the ones recommended by the European Union In compliance with the report on the Outcome of the public consultation on the new framework education plan draft for the 9 th and 10 th grades, developed by the Institute for Education Sciences in June 2003, the whole curriculum reform process was centered upon a set of actions such as: Decentralization Providing flexibility Enhancing effectiveness Harmonization with the international standards Selection and grouping the fields of knowledge into curricular fields Ensuring the functionality and the consistency of the school development Providing equal opportunities and equal chances for individual development in the process of learning Ensuring the social relevance of the teaching/learning process, etc. In developing the new framework education plans for the junior high-school cycle and for the schools of arts and crafts, which, as a result of changing the structure of the education system were included in the compulsory education, the following were taken into account: major principles underlying the implementation of the reform process in the pre-university education system; changes targeting the outcome, curriculum and structure of the compulsory education; Romania s assuming the Detailed working plan on the objectives of the education and vocational training systems in Europe, ratified by the European Council of Barcelona in 2002, and the Declaration of the education ministers on strengthening European cooperation in vocational training adopted in Copenhagen in 2002; outcome of the public debates on the drafts for curricular changes. The framework education plans developed for the junior high-school cycle and for the schools of arts and crafts were centered upon three components: common trunk (CT), differentiated curriculum (DC) and locally developed curriculum (LDC). The common trunk comprises a range of common subject matters which are assigned the same number of hours in all profiles, majors and specializations within one given type of education. It focuses on key skills and all students must compulsorily take all these subjects regardless of their major. Grouping the subject matters included in the common trunk in the same seven curricular fields for both primary and secondary education enabled to assure the continuity between the framework education plans for the 1 st 8 th grades and the framework education plans for high-schools and the schools of arts and crafts. The differentiated curriculum comprises a range of subject matters, established at the central level, which are assigned a specific number of hours and are differentiated according to the profiles (for the theoretical and technological classes) and according to specializations (for the vocational classes), thus providing a sufficiently diversified basis to enable students to make a choice between pursuing academic or vocational training. These subject matters are compulsory for the students enrolled in a given profile or specialization.

8 The locally developed curriculum is a range or subject matters specific to every school unit, each of these subject matters being assigned a certain number of hours. This type of education offer assures the fact that the students specific learning needs and interests are met. In the case of vocational and technical training, the curriculum changes implemented for the junior high-school cycle the technological classes and for the schools of arts and crafts mainly focused on the following: training students in view of a double acknowledgment of the learning results, that is of the acknowledgment for education purposes required for continuing their studies, and, respectively, of the acknowledgment for professional purposes required both for continuing their vocational training and for being employed; assuring the consistency of vocational training, achieved within the existing training schemes, by harmonizing the qualification levels that can be attained in the junior highschool education and the senior high-school education, and by structuring the framework education plans based on the vocational training standards; adjusting the content of vocational training to the requirements of the labor market by developing training modules appropriate for the categories of skills provided for in the professional training standards; the professional training standards were validated by the social partners, thus guaranteeing the graduates better chances to be employed; making the vocational and technical training more interesting by focusing the vocational training process on the outcome of learning and by enhancing the transparency of the training process. The technological profile of the junior high-school cycle aims both at guaranteeing the acquirement of key skills by means of the general knowledge curricular fields (educational purpose), and at providing a pre-professionalization in one of the following profiles: technical, service provision and natural resources and environment protection, by means of the curricular field entitled Technologies and by subject matters included in the locally developed curriculum (vocational purpose). The key skills acquired are validated by the certificate of graduation from the compulsory education, and the skills related to the preprofessionalization process are validated by the ongoing education portfolio. The technological profile of the senior high-school cycle aims both at the acquirement of knowledge and social skills, by means of the general knowledge curricular fields (educational purpose), thus enabling students to continue their studies in the post high-school education system or in the tertiary education, and at the acquirement of technical and vocational skills corresponding to the 3 rd level of qualification, by means of the curricular field entitled Technologies and by means of the subject matters included in the locally developed curriculum (vocational purpose). The knowledge and social skills are validated by the schoolleaving degree, whereas the technical and vocational skills are validated by a certificate of professional qualification level 3. Although the 3 rd level of professional qualification is designed as an independent level, an equivalent of a type of training, regardless of the qualifications previously acquired, the vocational training for this level of qualification is achieved for two distinct categories of qualifications: the ones which do not require (completely or partially) a practical experience in the field of training, and those that do require such an experience. The practical experience can be validated by a certificate of qualification level 2 or an equivalent document, which can also be obtained as a result of acknowledging informal or non-formal experience. The

9 differences in terms of practical experience (that is, of obtaining the credits for practical training) may be caught up with over the two years of the senior high-school cycle, if the student chooses this solution and the school agrees to it. For the graduates of the Schools of Arts and Crafts, acquiring level 3 qualifications requires the completion of the supplementing schools year, validated by obtaining the certificate of qualification level 2, whereas for the graduates of the junior high-school cycle, the technological profile, the acquirement of the same qualifications is regulated by the Ministry of Education and Research by means of specific methodologies. The following credits related to the various categories of skills (according to the existing conventions, 1 credit is the equivalent of 60 hours of training) were assigned to the three levels of vocational qualification: Level 1 30 credits, of which 15 for key skills and work experience, and 15 for technical and professional skills; Level 2 15 credits, of which 5 for key skills and work experience, and 10 for technical and professional skills; Level 3 30 credits, of which 10 for key skills and work experience, and 20 for technical and professional skills. One general trend, outlined during the curriculum reviewing process, concerned the efforts to shift from a teaching process centered upon the teacher to a process centered on the student, and on the skills the latter needs to acquire during the schooling process, respectively. Under the circumstances, the Framework Plan and the school curricula include educational offers for the various subject matters in view of the students completing distinctively defined learning schemes. The new teaching and learning strategies aim: to build up a variety of problematic contexts able to generate links to the other fields related to the subject matter studied; to promote diversity in approaching problem solving; to organize diverse learning activities; to build up learning sequences enabling activities of exploration/investigation on the concepts studied. The stress is laid more and more on promoting active learning by means of which students are given a more significant role within the education process, as well as on cooperative learning by means of which competition-based activities are replaced by team work with a view to accomplishing common learning objectives. d) Objectives and main features of the current and future reforms The Ministry of Education and Research undertook the mission to perform an effective and consistent reform of the system which should enhance the added value of the education process. In compliance with this mission, a set of objectives were developed and shall be a priority within the education reforms: Increasing the quality of the education process, as a foundation for accomplishing the knowledge society in Romania Providing the training of human resources both through the regular formal education and through the ongoing education schemes

10 Developing the skills required to approach life-long learning Developing social cohesion and enhancing citizen participation in the development programs in the economic, social and educational fields Subsequent to the education reform, the Development Strategy for the Pre-university Education in , updated in 2002, also took into consideration the strategic objectives formulated at European level for , as well as the objectives and priorities developed by several international bodies such as the OECD, World Bank, UNESCO, UNICEF, etc. This strategy is available on the website of the Ministry of Education and Research: The educational reform actions in Romania shall focus on the following main priorities: Assuring the fundamental education for all citizens and development of the key skills Achieving equity in education Improving the quality of the teaching/learning process, as well as of the other educational services Building the learning process on the needs of personal and professional development of the youth, from the perspective of sustainable development and of assuring the economic and social cohesion Assuring and acknowledging complementariness between formal, non-formal and informal education, as ongoing learning becomes one of the foundation pillars of the educational policy Opening the education and the vocational training system to the whole society, to the economic, social and cultural environments The curricular reforms implemented in the pilot schools within the basic education and vocational training system were extended to the entire school network included in this system, as a consequence of the favorable results revealed by the evaluation of the reform program for the vocational and technical education, carried out with Phare support (Phare VET RO 9405). Moreover, the new examination system, developed within the abovementioned program and validated with the support of the pilot schools, was extended to the entire basic education and vocational training system as of the 1999/2000 school year. The new curriculum for the technical high-schools was also implemented beginning with the 2000/2001school year. The reform of the vocational and technical training is pursued through the Phare programs for 2001, 2002 and 2003 which shall impact upon the development of the institutional capacity and shall support the economic development and social cohesion. Such programs mainly target a set of vocational and technical training institutions located in critical areas affected by industrial decline and in the rural areas. The Phare 2001 program includes a proposal on the development of a national framework for qualifications which shall be obtainable through formal learning, both through the range of programs for basic and continuous vocational training, and in the context of non-formal and informal learning. In the field of higher education, the educational reforms mainly focused on the transposition into practice of the objectives formulated in the Declaration of Bologna on the European Higher Education Area, as well as on the implementation of the Convention of Lisbon (jointly proposed by the UNESCO and the Council of Europe) on the European recognition of qualifications. The main preoccupations concerned:

11 decentralization and granting increased autonomy to universities, while guaranteeing the overall consistency of the higher education system and its well-structured functioning; increasing public responsibility in relation with the range of education programs and adjusting the latter to the developments in the field of knowledge and to the changing requirements of the society; development of the European dimension in higher education by means of: promoting transparency and comparability of the Romanian degrees with the ones delivered in the EU Member States; introducing a system based on two main cycles; implementing a credit system such as the ECTS; adopting measures to encourage the mobility of students and of the academic teaching staff; promoting European co-operation in the field of education quality assurance. The Strategy for the Romanian higher education in (available on sets as its main objective to improve the structure of the higher education, which shall be achieved through the following specific objectives: reorganizing the national network of higher education institutions by supporting the competitive institutions and by balancing the geographical distribution of the higher education institutions; strengthening university autonomy while enhancing synergy and consistency within the higher education system, by accelerating the process of decentralization of the specific academic activities, increasing the responsibility assigned to the university boards, implementing new cooperation mechanisms between universities and the ministry, encouraging flexibility and high demands in monitoring the higher education institutions; improving the performance of students and of the academic staff by reorganizing the teaching process, improving the student selection and motivation, introducing higher demands in promoting the academic staff, reviving scientific research and using the results thereof in the teaching process, enhancing the role of internal and external evaluations in improving the quality of the teaching process; improving the university infrastructure by upgrading the equipment, encouraging the recourse to new sources of funding, judicious management of the available resources; adjusting higher education to the needs of the labor market by ensuring the link between specializations and the nomenclature of professions, monitoring the graduates insertion on the labor market, developing the entrepreneurial spirit, implementing an appropriate ratio between the theoretical and the applied training, orienting scientific research towards solving the current problems of the society; reorganizing the teaching process, by grouping inter-related curricular modules into sets of courses and evaluating the students performance for the whole set, transferring the core responsibilities from the department level to the course director and to the team in charge of every distinct subject matter or module, promoting the use of information and communication technologies in the teaching process, encouraging the exchange of experience at national level by resorting to guest lecturers, implementing higher demands in what concerns the promotion of the academic staff, clear structuring on cycles of higher education studies, generalization of the transferable credit system; integrating the Romanian higher education in the European higher education system and encouraging international cooperation by means of pursuing the reforms in compliance with the European developments, stimulating participation in the European and international cooperation programs in the field of education.

12 The constant concern for continuing the administrative decentralization process and for assigning increased powers to the institutions is also outlined in the new legal draft jointly developed by the Ministry of Education and Research, the Ministry of Administration and Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Public Finance and the Ministry of Justice, amending the Education Act no. 84/1995 and the Law no. 128/1997 on the Statute of the Teaching Staff. The main issues concerned are related to the management, funding and administration of the education units. Pursuant to this draft available on the site of the Ministry of Education and Research and submitted to the public debate, the education institutions enrolling at least 200 children shall become legal entities. Moreover, the management of the pre-university education institutions, carried out by the heads of schools, assisted by their deputies, as the case may be, shall be supported by the teachers board, the management board and the school board, and the activity of these boards shall be carried out in compliance with regulations issued after having consulted the representative trade unions in the field of education. The policy of decentralization for the system of managing and funding the public education institutions led to: decentralizing the allocation of funds for education; decentralizing the planning process and the budget execution to the level of the local bodies and of the education institutions; covering the operating expenses, the social subsidies and the infrastructure investments and major repairs from the own budgets of the local administrations; transferring the ownership of the equipment and buildings used by the pre-university public education institutions to the local administration bodies; The rationale of the abovementioned legal draft estimates that the effects of decentralizing the management and funding system shall consist of the following: Enhancing the decision-making capacity of the local councils both in what concerns training, the effective assignment and use of the funds required by the pre-university public education institutions, and in what concerns the evaluation and promotion of the management staff within the education institutions. Enhancing the decision-making capacity of the school management boards as regards the budget planning and execution, as well as regarding the selection and evaluation of the teaching staff within the education institutions. Developing a flexible system for establishing the number of classes and the salary assigned to the teaching staff so as to stimulate their efforts to improve the quality of the education process. Encouraging quality in the management of the pre-university education institutions. Increasing in steps the percentage of the GDP allocated for education, from 4% to 6% by Pursuant to this proposal to modify the funding system for the pre-university education, each education unit shall have its own income and expense budget, developed and approved in compliance with the legal provisions. The allocation of funds from the state budget and from the local budgets shall be performed according to the following: funding shall be proportional with the number of students, depending on the standard average annual costs per pre-school student, pupil, student or trainee, adjusted by differentiation coefficients, according to the circumstances in which the teaching/learning

13 process is carried out (environment, levels and types of education, social and economic conditions of the area), and such funding shall be allocated for staff expenses, operating expenses, expenses for services rendered, as well as for the further training of the teaching staff; complementary funding through programs for the following categories of expenses: reinforcement and investments, subsidies for the school hostels and cafeterias, expenses related to the organization of the national examinations for students, expenses related to the students scholarships, expenses related to the students transportation, expenses related to the commuting of the teaching staff and of the auxiliary teaching staff, expenses related to the compulsory medical examination, expenses related to the school contests and educational activities. The high-schools, schools of arts and crafts and the schools from the disadvantaged areas in social and economic terms shall benefit of a more substantial financial support from the county councils, from the balancing funds created in favor of the former. The head and the management board of the education institutions shall be assigned increased responsibilities as regards the budget execution and establishing priorities concerning the use of the available funds. The funds left unused at the end of the year, either as a result of being judiciously used or of having obtained additional resources, shall remain available to the schools for the following financial year, without any effect on the funds allocated from the state budget and from the local budgets to which such schools are entitled in compliance with the funding criteria provided for by law. The new funding systems aims to: multiply the funding sources of the education units and to effectively use them in compliance with the current and future needs of the education process; clearly outline the role of the various social partners both in monitoring and controlling the quality of the education process, and in managing the financial resources; engage in the school monitoring, management and funding several stakeholders from the field of education and vocational training, such as: the school community, the local community, economic operators, local councils, etc. focus the responsibilities of the Ministry of Education and Research, as well as of the county departments for schools, on the elaboration of development strategies for education, on school curricula, on monitoring and evaluating the content and quality of the education process The main achievements in terms of quantity and quality a) Providing access to education One of the fundamental principles underlying the education policies is the provision of access to education, and that latter is aimed at the free, complete and harmonious development of the individual and at the shaping of an autonomous and creative personality. Access to education shall be facilitated by means of the following: free of charge public education; free of charge textbooks for the compulsory education; free of charge medical, psychological and pedagogical assistance for pupils and students;

14 national budget covering the expenses related to the enrolment of children in the preparatory year for the beginning of schooling, carried out within the preschool education; subsidized accommodation and cafeteria services for pupils and students; free of charge provision of dairy and bakery products for the primary school pupils; subsidized extra-curricular activities organized by the schools; scholarships awarded to pupils and students with remarkable results or for those coming from disadvantaged families; discounts granted to pupils and students for the public transportation; transportation made available for the students enrolled in compulsory education living in isolated areas; free of charge provision of school supplies for students enrolled in compulsory education who come from disadvantaged families; providing the opportunity that, beside the day classes, students can also attend the secondary level classes (especially in the senior high-school education), and higher education courses, respectively, in the evening, reduced attendance or distance learning systems; providing the opportunity for the pre-university students to transfer from one school to another, from one field of studies to another or to a different profile (specialization); providing the opportunity for the graduates of higher education to take two majors; providing the opportunity for the graduates of university colleges to pursue their studies in the long-term higher education system, after passing catch-up examinations; organization of programs to give a second chance to individuals who wish to pursue their general or vocational training. The concern to guarantee access to education for all is underlined in the Strategy for the Development of the Pre-university Education in , as updated in 2002, which includes a prospective planning until According to this strategy, the development of a competitive economy, the strengthening of democracy and the participation to the knowledge society generate new requirements that must be met by the education system. The enrolment rate of children in pre-school education has increased according to the statistical data supplied by the National Institute for Statistics, from 66.1% in the 2000/2001 school year to 69.2% in the 2002/2003 school year, and the enrolment rate in the preparatory grade reached over 90% in the 2002/2003 school year. Moreover, based on the data supplied by the same source, an estimate was made of the degree of enrolment of the population aged 7 to 29 in various types of formal education: it increased from 49.7% in the 2000/2001 school year to 52.3% in the 2002/2003 school year. According to the document entitled Statistics in Focus, Theme 3-2/2002, developed by the Eurostat, the participation rate in continuous vocational training courses was 8% for the whole employed population, and, according to the report issued by the National Employment Agency, 2.5% of the unemployed population participated in continuous training courses. As it is obvious that the access to education is more restricted in the rural areas and given the high percentage of the population employed in the field of agriculture (40% of the employed population), a major preoccupation concerns increasing the participation of the rural population in continuous training courses and implementing specific measures to facilitate its access to the various types of continuous training. Thus, the rural population shall be prepared

15 to work in other economic sectors as well and shall be able to better adjust to the ever changing needs of the labor market. b) Equity in the field of education As regards ensuring equity in the field of education, the following objectives were stressed upon: adjusting the process of teaching/learning to the students individual needs and own learning pace; guaranteeing equal chances of access to the pre-university education; eliminating all types of discrimination or exclusion on racial, social, xenophobic, religious, language or other grounds; reinforcing the system of social concessions for students and promoting appropriate policies and programs for the vulnerable groups; developing programs targeted on the fight against and prevention of school dropping-out; further developing an open education system enabling the mobility of students and teachers within it; ensuring the development of basic skills for all. The specific measures concerning the guarantee of equity focused on the following: Improving the quality of education in the rural areas and in the disadvantaged areas by means of: guaranteeing the employment of qualified teaching and management staff, regular training and assessment of such staff, development of distance learning, provision of additional transportation for the isolated areas, development of guiding and counseling services for the teaching and managing staff, infrastructure development and endowment with teaching equipment for the schools located in the rural areas. Providing the appropriate conditions for the education of students belonging to national minorities by means of: elaborating textbooks in the languages of the national minorities for the compulsory education according to the new structure of the curriculum, encouraging the elaboration and/or translation of textbooks for the senior high-school level, developing the network of school mediators encouraging the participation of the Romany population in the compulsory education system, basic and ongoing training of the teaching staff for the education process carried out in the languages of the national minorities, guaranteeing the access of every child from a national minority group to the basic education and encouraging the participation thereof in the upper levels of the education system. Ensuring the access to education for the Romany by means of: enrolling children from early ages in the pre-school education in order to stimulate their social and educational development; taking measures aimed to increase the rate of completing compulsory schooling and to prevent school dropping-out; giving a second chance to the individuals who have not graduated from the compulsory education system; providing inspector positions for the education of the Romany population in every county;

16 employing school mediators; allocating special places for the Romany at the admission in high-schools, schools of arts and crafts, universities. Supporting young people able to achieve outstanding performance by means of: developing centers of excellence; detecting young people able to achieve outstanding performance regardless of their environment of origin or learning; providing specific programs aimed to support, stimulate and value such young people; developing partnerships with other institutions interested in supporting the development of such persons. Providing education for children with special education needs or for vulnerable individuals by means of: measures to include all children with special education needs in the special or general education system; implementing programs for the integration of children from the special education units in the general schools, in various ways, taking into consideration every child s specific needs; ensuring the presence of the required traveling or supporting teachers; making the curricular range more flexible; training the teaching staff from the general education system to work with children with special education needs; preparing general schools to accommodate and integrate children with special needs; turning special schools into resource centers for the special and general education. c) Quality of education Over the past few years, enhancing the quality of education and of the vocational training has been a priority of all education policies. Within the framework of pre-university education, the action taken in this respect focused on the following: improving the teaching and learning methods and strategies with a view to: develop the students critical thinking, motivate them and make them acquire the ability to have a positive reaction to change, make them actively participate in the development of the knowledge society. raising the training standards to the level of the current and future expectations; professionalizing the teaching staff by means of basic and ongoing training courses on: new concept approaches in the curriculum theory and implementation; evaluation of the learning performance and detection of the progress made based on standards defined at national level, focusing the teaching process on the student and adapting the curriculum both to the various paces and styles of learning, and to the specific educational environment. improving the teaching and learning methods and strategies with a view to: develop the students critical thinking, motivate them and make them acquire the ability to have a positive reaction to change, make them actively participate in the development of a knowledge-based society. developing and improving the quality of the teaching staff s basic and ongoing training as a result of: developing a market for training programs relying on a fair competition system; reviewing the relation between the theoretical and the applied components in training the teaching staff;

17 developing the cooperation between higher education and pre-university education with a view to adjusting the training of the teaching staff to the new requirements of pre-university education; developing and implementing national standards for educational management; introducing the system of transferable professional credits in the training for a career in teaching; encouraging flexibility in the range of training programs and adjusting them so as to remedy the malfunctions detected in the development of the education process. professionalizing the managers of the education units with a view to monitoring and improving the quality of education provided by the education institutions they coordinate and to support the latter by means of: setting off a managerial assistance program to facilitate the development, implementation and monitoring and the evaluation of the institutional development projects; establishing the standards for institutional evaluation at the national level; providing specialized counseling services. expanding and diversifying the range of programs for the managers basic and ongoing training by means of: setting up master s, postgraduate and doctoral programs in the field of education management; organizing courses aimed to remedy the shortcomings detected as regards management on the occasion of the institutional evaluations; implementing a system of transferable professional credits for the careers in management. developing a new system for quality assurance in education, namely by drafting a new law on quality assurance in education; improving the methods of evaluation of the students learning results and the methods of testing them with a view to: assess and monitor the value added through the process of teaching and learning to each student s personal and professional development; diversify and promote the evaluation activities encouraging creativity, active participation, team work, motivation for learning, etc.; facilitate obtaining the information required to perform a diagnosis of the education system status. investing in the development of the education infrastructure, especially in view of facilitating the use of information and communication technologies in the education process. With a view to assuring the quality of the vocational and technical training, the Ministry of Education and Research decided to adopt the European Framework for Quality Assurance. Beginning with the school year 2004/2005, several priorities included in the self-evaluation guide of the vocational training providers, which is part of the European framework, shall be implemented in 22 school units. In the field of higher education, as a result of the requirement to improve the international transparency of degrees, the Diploma Supplement was introduced as of 2000, issued upon the graduates request as a significant document to support educational mobility and the recognition of the qualifications obtained. The concerns related to the quality assurance in higher education and to the competitiveness thereof in compliance with the international standards led to Romania s joining the International Network for Quality Assurance in Higher