Romania Hannah Kitchen, Elizabeth Fordham, Kirsteen Henderson, Anne Looney and Soumaya Maghnouj Romania
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OECD Reviews of OECD Reviews of Evaluation and Assessment in Education Evaluation and Romania Hannah Kitchen, Elizabeth Fordham, Kirsteen Henderson, Assessment in Anne d a uj Looney an Soumay Maghno Education Romania OECD Reviews of Evaluation and Assessment in Education Romania 2017 Hannah Kitchen, Elizabeth Fordham, Kirsteen Henderson, Anne Looney and Soumaya Maghnouj This work is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of OECD member countries. This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. Please cite this publication as: Kitchen, H., et al. (2017), Romania 2017, OECD Reviews of Evaluation and Assessment in Education, OECD Publishing, Paris. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264274051-en ISBN 978-92-64-27404-4 (print) ISBN 978-92-64-27405-1 (PDF) Series: OECD Reviews of Evaluation and Assessment in Education ISSN 2223-0947 (print) ISSN 2223-0955 (online) The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities. The use of such data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank under the terms of international law. Photo credits: Cover © iQoncept - Fotolia.com, © AKS - Fotolia.com, © Sergej Khackimullin - Fotolia.com. Corrigenda to OECD publications may be found on line at: www.oecd.org/about/publishing/corrigenda.htm. © OECD 2017 You can copy, download or print OECD content for your own use, and you can include excerpts from OECD publications, databases and multimedia products in your own documents, presentations, blogs, websites and teaching materials, provided that suitable acknowledgement of OECD as source and copyright owner is given. All requests for public or commercial use and translation rights should be submitted to [email protected]. Requests for permission to photocopy portions of this material for public or commercial use shall be addressed directly to the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) at [email protected] or the Centre français d’exploitation du droit de copie (CFC) at [email protected]. FOREWORD – 3 Foreword Romania’s education system has made significant improvements in recent decades, not least in terms of student learning outcomes and strengthening institutional capacity. These improvements make Romania a regional leader. They also provide the foundations to further improve quality and equity, so that all young Romanians have the chance to reach their full potential and realise their aspirations. This review was undertaken by the OECD with the support of UNICEF at the request of, and in close collaboration with the Romanian Ministry of National Education and Scientific Research. Focused on the assessment and evaluation system for Romania’s schools, it provides recommendations to help the country capitalise on the positive practices that it has already put in place, so that they have the support and visibility to flourish and enable positive change across the education system. It encourages Romania to put student learning at the heart of evaluation and assessment. This will mean moving towards a system where assessment is not used only to measure and reward performance but as the basis for discussion and feedback. This will provide students, teachers, schools and policy makers with the information, space and professional advice to be able to reflect critically on their work and identify what they can do better in the future. The review is the first time that the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills and UNICEF have come together to work in this way. This co-operation has meant that the review has been able to benefit from our organisations’ complementary experience and expertise to provide an analysis that is sensitive to the history and context of evaluation and assessment in Romania’s education system while drawing on international research and best practice from around the world. Above all though, we hope that this co-operation provides useful recommendations that will help Romania enhance its evaluation and assessment system so that it raises the learning outcomes of all its students. This report comes at an important moment for Romania, as it is considering a new law on education with the potential to bring significant change. We hope that its recommendations can inform this process, and help to develop an education system that provides excellence for all. Andreas SCHLEICHER Sandie BLANCHET Director for Education and Skills and Special Advisor Representative on Education Policy to the Secretary-General UNICEF Romania OECD OECD REVIEWS OF EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT IN EDUCATION: ROMANIA 2017 © OECD 2017 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS – 5 Acknowledgements This review was developed in co-operation with UNICEF, whose staff provided valuable guidance and direction. In particular, the review team would like to thank Philippe Testot-Ferry, Senior Regional Education Advisor in UNICEF Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States Regional Office for his co- operation and commitment which enabled this unique partnership between the OECD and UNICEF. We are indebted to the guidance, support and insights of the UNICEF Romania office, notably Sandie Blanchet, UNICEF Representative Romania, Luminita Costache, Education Specialist, and Eugen Crai, Consultant. The review team would also like to thank the Romanian government, under the leadership of the Ministry of National Education and Scientific Research and the Romanian Presidential Administration for their support and contributions to the review. The review has benefited from the encouragement of the Minister of National Education and Scientific Research, Pavel Nastase, and his team. We are also grateful for the support and insights from Romania’s former Ministers of Education, Mircea Dumitru, Adrian Curaj, Sorin Cîmpeanu and Remus Pricopie and their teams. We express the same gratitude to Ligia Deca, Advisor of the President of Romania on Education and Research for her insights and contributions shared with the review team. We are very grateful to the officials and education experts from the Romanian Ministry of National Education and Scientific Research and beyond, who graciously shared their insights and knowledge with us. In particular, we would like to thank Tania Irimia, Director and Liliana Preoteasa, Director of Romania Secondary Education Project Implementation Unit, Ministry of Education; Ciprian Fartusnic, Director of the Institute of Educational Sciences and his staff; Cristian Mirescu, Director and Roxana Mihail at the National Centre for Assessment and Evaluation; and Serban Iosifescu, President at the Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Pre-University Education, who provided valuable contributions to the review. We sincerely thank all the participants to the review visits, including officials from the Ministry of National Education and Scientific Research, the National Institute of Statistics, the World Bank, the National Council of Students, researchers, non-governmental organisations, school leaders, teachers, teacher unions, parents and students, that kindly gave their time to share their views, experience and knowledge with us. We would especially like to thank the schools in Bucharest Municipality, and in Prahova and Constanta counties for welcoming us so warmly during our review visits. The OECD review team was led by Elizabeth Fordham, OECD Secretariat, co-ordinated by Hannah Kitchen, OECD Secretariat, and included Kirsteen Henderson (external expert, Canada), Anne Looney (Executive Dean, Institute of Education Dublin City University, Ireland) and Soumaya Maghnouj (OECD Secretariat). OECD REVIEWS OF EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT IN EDUCATION: ROMANIA 2017 © OECD 2017 6 – ACKOWLEDGEMENTS We would also like to thank Delia Raluca Sancariuc, who provided valuable linguistic support. Within the OECD Secretariat we thank Marco Kools, for the initial idea for the review, and Marie-Amelie Doring-Serre, Manuela Fitzpatrick and Sakshi Mishra who made very helpful contributions to the report. The review team also acknowledges the support and contributions from Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills; Paulo Santiago, Head of Policy Advice and Implementation Division; and that of Tracey Burns, Pablo Fraser, Deborah Nusche, Sandrine Peterson and Claire Shewbridge who provided feedback during the drafting process, as well as colleagues from the Public Governance Directorate. Célia Braga-Schich, Sara Gouveia and Marta Rilling provided administrative support and organised the publication process, and Sally Hinchcliffe edited the report. OECD REVIEWS OF EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT IN EDUCATION: ROMANIA 2017 © OECD 2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS – 7 Table of contents Acronyms and abbreviations .................................................................................................................. 11 Executive summary ................................................................................................................................. 13 Assessment and recommendations ......................................................................................................... 17 Education and development in Romania ..............................................................................................