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ROMANIA
Reimbursable Advisory Services on Informed Decision-Making on Investments in Infrastructure
OUTPUT 6 - Final Report on a Functional Analysis of Romania’s Vocational Education and Training Subsector
July 2019
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This report corresponds to Output 6 under the Advisory Services Agreement on Informed Decision-Making on Investments in Infrastructure between the National Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training Development (CNDIPT) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), signed on March 30, 2016.
Disclaimer
This report is a product of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / the World Bank. The findings, interpretation, and conclusions expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank Group does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. This report does not necessarily represent the position of the European Union or the Government of Romania.
Copyright Statement
The material in this publication is copyrighted. Copying and/or transmitting portions of this work without permission may be a violation of applicable laws. For permission to photocopy or reprint any part of this work, please send a request with the complete information to either: (i) the National Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training Development (Spiru Haret Street, No. 10-12, Bucharest, Romania) or (ii) the World Bank Group Romania (Vasile Lascăr Street, No. 31, Et 6, Sector 2, Bucharest, Romania).
Acknowledgements
This Report was prepared by Alina Sava (Education Specialist, TTL), Mariana Moarcăș (Senior Education Specialist), Romina Miorelli (International Expert), Juan Prawda (International Expert), and a team of local consultants Iulia Marieș, Alexandru Ghiță, Loredana Radu, and Raisa Zamfirescu led by Ioana Ciucanu (Local Education Consultant). The Report includes inputs provided by the CNDIPT under the coordination of Iuliana Damian and leadership of Dalia Dărămuș.
Camelia Gușescu (Program Assistant) provided implementation support. Detailed comments by peer reviewers Roberta Bassett (Senior Education Specialist) and Alina Petric (Social Protection Specialist) are gratefully acknowledged.
The team highly appreciates the overall guidance and support provided by Harry Patrinos (Practice Manager), Tatiana Proskuryakova (Country Manager for Romania and Hungary) and Alex Valerio (Lead Education Specialist) throughout the implementation of the activity.
The team would also like to express its gratitude to all the participants of the focus group discussions and interviews carried out organized within the scope of this activity.
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
|ARACIP |Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Pre-university Education |
|CEDEFOP |European Center for the Development of Vocational Training |
|CNDIPT |National Center for Technical and Vocational Education and Training Development |
| |TVET Centre |
|CEM |Country Economic Memorandum |
|CPF |Country Partnership Framework |
|CSI |County School Inspectorate |
|CVET |Continued Vocational Education and Training |
|EACEA |Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency |
|EC |European Commission |
|ECVET |European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training |
|EQAVET |European Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training |
|EQF |European Qualifications Framework |
|ESL |Early School Leaving |
|ET |Education and Training |
|EU |European Union |
|EURASHE |European Association of Institutions in Higher Education |
|FM |Financial Management |
|GDP |Gross Domestic Product |
|GoR |Government of Romania |
|HCI |Human Capital Index |
|HE |Higher Education |
|HR |Human Resources |
|ICT |Information and Communication Technology |
|IT |Information Technology |
|ISCED |International Standard Classification of Education |
|IES |Institute of Educational Sciences |
|LCDSP |Local Committee for the Development of Social Partnership |
|LEAP |Local Education Action Plan |
|LLL |Lifelong Learning |
|LM |Labor Market |
|M&E |Monitoring and Evaluation |
|MoLSJ |Ministry of Labor and Social Justice |
|MoNE |Ministry of National Education |
|MoPF |Ministry of Public Finance |
|NADE |National Authority for Dual Education |
|NAE |National Agency for Employment |
|NAQ |National Authority for Qualifications |
|NECC |National Evaluation and Certification Commission |
|NEET |Not in Education, Employment or Training |
|NGO |Nongovernmental Organisation |
|NIS |National Institute of Statistics |
|NQF |National Qualifications Framework |
|NRQ |National Registry of Qualification |
|NSC |National Strategy for Competitiveness 2014-2020 |
|OECD |Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development |
|PAS |School Action Plan |
|PFR |Public Finance Review |
|PHARE |Poland Hungary Aid for Reconstruction of the Economy |
|PISA |Programme for International Student Assessment |
|PMI |Program Management and Implementation |
|PMIPN |Methodological and Informatics Platform for Organizing and Developing National Programs (Platforma Metodologică |
| |și Informatică pentru Organizarea și Desfășurarea Programelor Naționale) |
|PP |Policy and Planning |
|QA |Quality Assurance |
|R&D |Research and Development |
|RAS |Reimbursable Advisory Services |
|RC |Regional Consortia |
|REAP |Regional Education Action Plan |
|RM |Resource Management |
|SCD |Systematic Country Diagnostic |
|SIIIR |Education Management Information System (Sistemul Informatic Integrat al Învățământului din România) |
|TER |Tertiary Education |
|TVET |Technical and Vocational Education and Training |
|UNESCO |United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization |
|VET |Vocational Education and Training |
|VNFIL |Validation of Non-Formal and Informal Learning |
|WB |World Bank |
|WBL |Work-Based Learning |
Contents
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS 3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6
1. Introduction 13
2. Methodology 17
3. Country context 23
3.1 Socio-economic context 23
3.2. Education context 26
3.3 Main highlights of the surveys 37
4. Functional analysis – Organizational Structure and Strategic Framework 45
4.1 Organizational structure 45
4.1.1 Institutional structure. 45
4.1.2 Current structure of the VET subsector. 57
4.1.3. Regional structure of supply and demand of skills 61
4.2 Strategic framework 66
4.2.1 Improving the relevance of the VET system for the labor market 67
4.2.2. Increasing participation in VET programmes 78
4.2.3 Improving the quality of VET 86
4.2.4 Key observations on the strategic framework functional dimension 95
5. Functional analysis - human resources management and financing 100
5.1 TVET Center - human resources management and financing 100
5.2 VET Teachers - human resources management and financing 108
6. Main recommendations 119
6.1 Recommendations for increasing labour market relevance of VET 119
6.2. Recommendations regarding the TVET Centre’s and system structures 123
6.3. Recommendations on participation, relevance and quality of VET 125
6.4 Recommendations of teachers’ management and VET financing 128
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report presents a functional review that explores the initial vocational and training subsector supply system in Romania and its labor market demands. It documents the most recent Initial Vocational Education and Training (VET)[1] policy actions, structural, and organizational reforms that have taken place in Romania in the most recent years, with evidence consisting of data analysis and surveys.
The main purpose of this report is to analyze the VET structure, organization and functions and to provide recommendations to respond to labor market and society needs in the context of national demographic challenges and changing global circumstances. At the same time, the report identifies opportunities to tackle these challenges, highlighting the potential to update the organization of the VET sector and management and to promote better education attainment, skills development, and opportunities to employment.
In Romania, vocational education and training (VET) has gained public attention in the last decade as the country faces high challenges in addressing skills mismatch in the context of demographic decline, aging population and continuous emigration flow. The Government of Romania (GoR) adopted in 2016 the Strategy for VET education (2016-2020)[2]. The strategy was developed by the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Centre (TVET Centre)[3] and it seeks to reinforce VET as a driver of the economy. The Initial VET (VET) subsector in Romania is integral to the Government’s overall education reform program and of the country’s actions to achieve Europe 2020 targets but the latter have only slightly improved and are still not aligned with the projected trend. Crucially, early school leavers’ rate has improved less than one percentage point from 2013 to 2018, from 17.3 to 16.4 percent, and is far from the target set for 2020 of 11.3 percent (see Table 4, page 19) and the number of people in long life learning has worsened from 2 percent in 2013 to 0.9 percent in 2018. In turn, while the proportion of people with higher education degrees improved, from participation in higher education improved in the same period of time, from 22.8 to 24.6 percent, it still remains the lowest level in Europe.
In this context, the WB team was requested by the TVET Centre to carry out a functional review of the VET subsector in Romania which is organized along two interrelated levels. First level covers two dimensions: Strategic Framework and Organizational Structure; and the second level covers the other two dimensions of this functional review: Human Resources Management; and Financing. At the same time, special attention is paid in the analysis to five key issues that emerged as critical during the process of conducting research for this review: curricula, links with employers, infrastructure, student’s performance, and organizational leadership. Finally, these dimensions and issues are observed in light of the key features of well-functioning VET systems according to lessons drawn from international experience[4].
The findings are based on evidence collected and analyzed by the WB drawing on multiple data sets. These include surveys gathering citizens’ perceptions on the Romanian education system, including VET sector; employers’ views on skills shortages and needs and a TVET Center staff survey.
Country Context
Although Romania experienced an average growth rate of 2.8 percent during 2010-2017, the country’s growth foundations are weak. Romania’s population fell from 22.8 to 19.6 million between 2000 and 2017 and is expected to continue falling[5]... In 2017, Romania ranked as the tenth main country of origin of migration flows in the G20, with highly educated emigrants accounting for most of these migrants at 26.6 percent of the total. Also, Romania has by far the largest share of poor people in the EU with over a quarter of the population (26 percent in 2015) living on less than $5.50 a day; at the same time there are significant disparities in poverty across regions and between urban and rural areas. Of Romania’s 42 counties, 18 are considered lagging behind other regions, with a GDP per capita lower than 75 percent of the national average[6].
Furthermore, Romania still has substantial untapped labor potential and low levels of human development. In addition to a relatively large informal sector, which according to official data estimates represents 0.6 percent of total population (EC, Country Report Romania, 2017), the labor market participation rate is 69.9 percent, which is below the EU average of 73 percent (2018). Also, according to the World Bank (2018), Romania has the lowest Human Capital Index (HCI) score (0.60) in the European Union (0.75). Romania’s score is lower than what would be predicted by the country’s income level.
In turn, underachievement in basic skills impacts the overall VET students’ outcomes and their performance on the labor market. Romania’s scores on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) improved significantly across all subjects between 2009 and 2012 but remained stagnant in 2015. The test results from 2015 show that about 40 percent of 15-years old Romanian students (the corresponding age of grade 8 graduates and new entrants in upper secondary education, including VET) score below the minimum numeracy and literacy proficiency levels required to perform effectively in further education, training and life are functionally innumerate and illiterate compared to roughly 23 percent of students in the EU.
Persistent low financing levels for education in the country affect the development of the VET system. Romania’s public expenditure for education as a percentage of GDP was 2.8 percent in 2017, far below the EU average of 4.6 percent, and the lowest in the EU. With regards to VET alone, a recent WB analysis of public expenditures on education (World Bank, Public Finance Review[7], 2018) shows that VET[8] in Romania accounted for 0.9 percent of total budget execution in 2016 compared to 18.28 percent for higher education, followed by 16.82 percent for lower secondary education (grades 5-8).
In this context the Romanian VET system has undergone significant policy reforms in the past two decades. Since the early 1990s, the GoR has channeled its efforts to increase the quality and relevance of VET programs for the newly emerging market economy by implementing a series of structural reform programs (EU PHARE[9]). Starting with 2007, Romania has implemented EU-funded projects for VET teacher training programs, curriculum revision and development of new training standards. In 2009 the Arts and Trades schools were closed and since 2010 participation in VET experienced a sustained decrease. But the introduction of the dual VET system started in 2017 and contributed to recent increases in participation in the 3-year VET programs.
Despite recent progress, an unfinished agenda remains. The gross participation rate in upper secondary education has been continuously dropping since 2009, down to 85.3 percent in 2017/2018[10] and it was found that this was almost entirely registered in technological high schools and vocational schools. At the same time, the overall dropout level for upper secondary were at 3.5 percent in 2017/18, with significant higher level for much higher the technological track, (4.3 percent). Also, a recent analysis on student performance at national examination at grade 8 shows that a relatively high share (41 percent in 2018) of low performing students (below score 6) are going to upper secondary, mainly to the technological route. In turn, infrastructure education shortages in Romania are significant and approximately 35 percent of Romanian VET schools lack workshops, for instance.
Latest data indicate higher labor market outcomes among Romania’s VET graduates compared to those of general education, but there are important shortages and misalignment of skills. Romanian secondary school graduates between 20-34 years old who entered the labour market without any further education perform better if they are VET graduates, with an employment rate of 67.2 percent in 2017, than those graduated from general education tracks, with 60.8 percent in employment (CEDEFOP, 2019). While this rate for VET graduates is slightly lower compared with the EU-28 average (76.6%), it has increased by 7.2 percentage points since 2008. But there is a shortage of skilled labor, particularly in the ICT sector, health and education professionals. Moreover, automation of production processes has started driving demand for higher levels of cognitive skills, while jobs involving routine application of procedural knowledge are shrinking. At the same time, employers interviewed by the WB team for the preparation of the “Education Infrastructure Strategy” strongly believe that students and graduates entering the labor market lack key soft skills.
Organizational structure of VET in Romania
The Romania’s VET subsector is an integral part of the pre-university education system and it falls under MoNE’s overall responsibility. The subsector, however, is placed at the intersection of education, training, social, economic and labor market policies and therefore multiple stakeholders related to these sectors are in different ways connected to VET decision making.
The Romania VET institutional setting is highly fragmented, and its key functions are carried out by several organizations. More specifically, four different organizations, in addition to the MoNE, carry out key system-specific functions in the VET system. Within the MoNE, five different organizational units carry out five different functions or tasks in the system, some of them the most important in the VET area. These five organizational units report to three different Secretaries of State. All in all, different functions in the operation of the VET system are carried out by people in nine different organizations at central level. (see Fig. 28, page 49)
Crucially, the function of leadership and oversight for the entire VET system, or the entire VET subsystem, is missing. While fragmentation per se is not necessarily a problem, since, generally, professionalization implies that each organization should tackle the field where it specializes, the main issue is that when this fragmentation lacks coordination. The TVET Centre, a specialized public institution established in 1998[11] under the subordination of MoNE, has been founded with the purpose of reforming the VET in Romania, by means of successive adjustments, the TVET Center has widened its goals and activities and currently holds the expertise to play that role of leadership in the sector. As such this report include recommendations to reform the TVET Centre structure to enhance its efficiency in performing the key functions and thus improve coordination and leadership in the sector. The proposal includes a redefinition of roles, the creation of new units, and the redistribution of responsibilities from the Director to specialized units.
The VET subsector concerns both upper secondary and post-secondary education levels. At the end of lower secondary education (Grade 8), students have two pathways available, both of which include VET options. After lower secondary school students can choose the high school pathway, which offers three tracks: (i) theoretical, (ii) technological, and (iii) vocational (in the sense of vocational studies such as music, for instance), or a three-year vocational (professional) pathway, where the focus is exclusively on training for a level 3 qualification with no direct access to higher education. The technological track is composed of three profiles, technical, environmental and services and theoretical one of two, humanities and science. Initial VET in Romania is also delivered at post-secondary level in post high schools and foremen schools (1-3 years). The VET supply is unevenly distributed at territorial level with urban areas being well covered, whereas rural areas are still underserved (with only 26 percent of VET units).
The system appears to be training graduates whose skills are not well aligned with the needs of the labor market. Stakeholders, especially employers’ associations and unions, report that the current list of occupations is outdated and does not capture the latest changes in the labor market, which in turn reflects weak participation of labor market stakeholders, including those participating in Sectoral Committees, in designing the VET offer. Across all regions, managers, technicians, clerks and service and sales workers are the most difficult occupations to fill, except in Bucharest-IIfov[12] (). On the one hand, VET schools are producing more technicians (trained in the technological track) than the labor market needs in all regions, on the other hand, there is high demand for workers in plant and machine operators in almost all regions, and significant low supply of VET graduates trained in these occupations, especially graduates of professional track.
The strategic framework of the Romanian VET sector
The analysis shows that important initiatives to modernize its VET system and align its provision with labor market needs have been taken. Yet, the implementation of the policies related to the strategic objectives set out for the VET sector has been uneven. The most salient obstacles are related to the organizational overlaps and fragmentation as well as inadequate resources.
Initiatives conducive to making VET more relevant to the labor market include the development of a qualification framework linked to occupational and training standards and curricula development. However, this functional analysis has found that the core curriculum is perceived to be overloaded and disconnected from the training field of the qualifications and that there is a fragmentation of tasks between different agencies that design the core and the specific curriculum and the national qualifications and occupational frameworks. Several national agencies perform “overseeing” roles; the roles of the local and labor market actors, with the exception of schools, are mostly advisory.
The involvement of social partners in the VET subsector has also increased in the past few years, but the level of engagement of social partners in VET varies. In some sectors no sectoral committee, where employers and employees per economic sector are represented, exists. Additionally, the committees are well engaged in roles related to the development of qualifications but less so in the roles attributed to them by law related to foster dialogue with the authorities as well as between schools and companies. Local partnership spaces have only advisory roles, which has contributed to make them be perceived as symbolic. Also, the participation of other relevant non-governmental organizations in these dialogue platforms is weak and while the introduction of the dual system in 2017 represents an important step towards putting employers in the driver’s seat in the VET system in Romania, there are still several undefined aspects. For instance, quality standards to assess employers’ equipment and teaching delivery are still absent.
Mechanisms to anticipate competences required in the labor market, are in place but this function of the system is highly fragmented. These mechanisms comprise both studies focused on skills assessments and those tracking VET graduates’ employment insertion. Various actors directly or indirectly involved in the VET subsector assessing skills needs, including governmental institutions, development partners and private stakeholders. The numerous assessments of skills carried out in Romania vary significantly in terms of scope, timeframe, and methodology. Similarly, several initiatives are in place to study the insertion of VET graduates in the labor market, but these are not conducted regularly nor evenly across Romania.
In order to increase participation in VET programmes various promotional and guidance activities have been implemented. Yet the lack of coordination of these multiple initiatives can also divert the efforts from the main objective of making the VET more attractive. The functions of providing study and career guidance for transition from lower to upper secondary (with focus on VET options); of counselling or support to ensure retention (and avoid dropouts); and of offering professional career services for those finishing upper secondary VET are not well defined. As a consequence, responsibilities for each of them remains largely undifferentiated. Furthermore, insufficient funding and properly staffed initiatives further jeopardize the adequate functioning of these efforts.
With the same objective of increasing participation in the VET sector, the GoR has introduced initiatives to widen access and to improve the flexibility and permeability of the system. A number of monetary support schemes, including grants for VET students, or monetary incentives for teachers to work in more disadvantaged areas. Yet, funds have been found to be either insufficient or potentially unsustainable. The GoR designed a mechanism for the validation of non-formal and informal learning in 2004 to increase flexibility in the system but since 2014 no specific changes have been implemented. In turn, the current VET system in Romania does not offer alternative exit points with recognition for labor market entry; VET learners face constraints in moving between streams; and, progression to higher education is possible only for students of the technological stream. A recommendation included in this report is to reform the VET system structure in order to introduce further permeability into the system, including options to move between different qualification paths in VET as well as the expansion of professional higher education.
While quality assurance (QA) mechanisms for VET provision are well established in Romania, the approach underpinning their implementation could be improved. There are overlaps and overburden of responsibilities across the configuration of actors responsible for the QA function. This results in a QA system that is more focused on compliance with minimum standards than on enhancing performance. As it is the case in other functions of the VET system, links with employers in the established processes for QA in VET are still weak and mechanisms to assess work-based learning are currently under development. The mechanisms to assess quality of on-the-job and practical skills are unevenly developed and a key pending issue regards data collection systems for QA procedures. ~The possibilities of using data for enhancing education quality are limited mainly because these data are mostly about school network, educational areas, levels, specializations, and are insufficient to enable prospective students to make informed decisions or to assess the performance of training institutions.
Evidence shows that curriculum in VET is unbalanced between the professional and technological tracks. The shares of hours allocated for technical subjects and practical training are significantly higher in the professional track compared with technological one. For instance, in professional track, the share of hours/school year allocated to technical subjects varies from 30 to 50 percent during the three years of study (see Table 15, page 60). Also, practical training receives higher weight, and this makes the professional track more appealing to youth in search of immediate employment. This finding calls for rethinking and restructuring curriculum in technological track, and thus rethinking the overall scope of this track.
The management of human resources and finance
Regarding the enabling functional dimensions of management of human resources (HR) and financing of Romania’s VET sector, this report looks at two interconnected levels – the staff and finances of the TVET Center and of the teaching staff in VET schools. An online survey conducted by the WB team to TVET Center’s staff revealed that they are highly skilled and experienced, over 60 percent of them have previous experience in the private sector and they are moderately satisfied with the current pay levels. While most of them are aware of the goals and requirements of the Centre, over 40 percent of the TVET Center staff did not receive any training in the past year, while around 30 percent of them attended training sessions delivered by peers inside the TVET Center.
Three key challenges would need to be addressed to improve the functionality of the TVET Center. First, it is necessary to align the competences (knowledge, skills, behaviors) of its staff to the most recent developments relevant for the VET subsector in terms of strategic planning, evidence-based policy-making, monitoring and evaluation. Second, at present, the TVET Center has 55 positions out of which 45 positions are filled, which shows a clear understaffing of the organization. Third, improvements could be achieved by exploiting the staff’s expertise in the private sector to develop stronger connection with the industry/businesses, the development of digital and entrepreneurial skills, and the implementation of more dynamic curriculum anchored in market demands.
Furthermore, the TVET Center funding strategy would benefit from reconsiderations regarding both the amounts allocated to it and the structure of the budget. The funds allocated to the TVET Center decreased between 2016 to 2018 from 19 million lei to 14.5 million lei. Yet, although the planned budget for 2019 is around 16 million lei, about half of the budgeted amounts are spent yearly, which points out to an inadequate financial planning and management. At the same time, securing adequate and predictable funding is critical for the well-functioning and sustainability of the Center and its activities. Yet, in recent years the subsidies from the state budget decreased from 56.1 percent in 2017 to 46.6 percent in 2018, while the non-reimbursable external funds increased from 43.9 percent to 53.4 percent in the same period.
Recent studies have shown that teacher quality is the main school-based predictor of student achievement and in the Romanian VET sector, teachers’ provision is lagging behind in several areas. These areas include teachers’ training, matching teachers’ skills with students’ needs, motivating teachers to perform, and supporting teachers to improve instruction. Most VET teachers are well qualified and have between 11 and 30 years of experience. But entry-level teachers are scarce, which shows that this teaching occupation at such is not very inviting for young professionals who are supposedly equipped with newer skills and knowledge. VET teachers are constrained by the scarce infrastructure as well as limited financial resources and their lack of motivation is also related to the student to teacher ratio. Eurostat data shows that Romania has the highest student to teacher ratio among reporting Member States, reaching even 60 students to 1 teacher in the post-secondary non-tertiary vocational education.
A large-scale survey implemented by the WB team in 2018 with TVET schools, however, showed that VET teachers perceive the general quality of education in their schools to be as good as the quality of education in theoretical schools. Altogether, 72% of the teachers believe that the quality of instruction in VET schools is indeed as good as in theoretical high schools, while 22.6% believe that it is not as good. There are, however, interesting differences between BAC teachers and specialty teachers: only 65% of the BAC teachers believe that the quality is as good, while 79% of the specialty teachers believe so.
The budget allocated for education in Romania is on the lowest place in Europe and the funds spent by schools for training in the pre-university system at the end of 2016 represented 0.5 percent of current expenses and 0.1 percent of staff expenses. The total expenses in VET schools amounted in 2016 only to 149 million lei being the subsector with lowest share of financing among main levels of education. This low level of overall expenses is caused by the low number of schools, only 457, that recorded expenses for 61 thousand students, in 2016. In VET 98 percent of funds are allocated for teachers and current costs, leaving almost financial space to innovate or invest.
Key recommendations
✓ To actively engage employers with schools and in managing and delivering VET, including, for instance, by granting them more decision power and allocating budget to the Sectoral Committees and reflect their advice in policies at the central, local or school level; and revise the legal framework in which Regional Consortia and Local Committees operate.
✓ To ensure skills alignment by, for instance, providing adequate number of qualified teachers with on the job experience and/or train them accordingly; actively involving employers in school management and sector decision making; developing nationally coordinated tracking system of VET graduates; create and/or enhance school institutional arrangements to effectively and functionally link schools with the employers.
✓ To turn the TVET Center into a lead organization in the VET subsector by investing it with key functions such as setting the vision and mission of the sector as well as allocation of budgets for different roles and actors in the sector and monitor outcomes.
✓ To render the VET system for flexible and permeable via several reforms including the introduction of examination and end of compulsory education (Grade 10), adapting the Baccalaureate exam to VET graduates via the creation of Professional Bac, introducing an extra year to ease transition to higher education, and expanding the tertiary education non-university sector.
✓ To increase participation and quality of VET by, for instance, enhancing the system of career guidance ad students support; making the curriculum aligned with current skills and technological demands; increasing employers’ participation in certification exams, modernizing the infrastructure and equipment facilities, and ensuring access to adequate and reliable data for monitoring quality of VET provision.
✓ To enhance the quality of the teaching force by, among other actions, increasing VET schools’ autonomy to decide upon teacher training curricula; allow school VET teachers spend some time in industry to update knowledge and skills as part of their in-service trainings and re-design pre-service teacher training to tailor it to VET specificities; improve the system of professional development for teaching and management staff in schools
✓ To improve the financing levels and efficiency in the subsector by giving a role to the TVET Center in budget allocation and monitoring expenses; introducing dedicated financing, and direct funds towards more innovation, mobilities and work based learning; fomenting participation of employers and social partners in VET in order to bring in complementary resources; gearing funds towards social or economic sectors that could see the returns more directly such as youth marginalised populations or the agroindustry sector, and, in general, measuring the external efficiency of the VET system to show how VET investment returns to individuals, employers, and the country.
Introduction
Scope of the report. This report explores the initial vocational and training subsector supply system in Romania and its labor market demands. It documents the most recent Initial Vocational Education and Training (VET) policy actions, structural and organizational reforms that have taken place in Romania in the most recent years, with evidence consisting of data analysis and surveys applied. The main purpose of the report is to analyze the VET structure, organization and functions and to provide recommendations in view of promptly responding to labor market and society needs in the context of national demographic challenges and changing global circumstances. At the same time, the report identifies opportunities to tackle these challenges, highlighting the potential to update the organization of the VET sector and management and to promote better education attainment, skills development, and opportunities for employment. It concludes by presenting a series of measures to overhaul the country’s VET system, including an organizational reform, as well as adopting flexible and permeable paths for students and their transition to labor market or to further education.
Global competition, increased movement of people and goods, and rapid technological change are reshaping the demand for skills, with occupations in some sectors becoming obsolete, and new jobs being created. In this highly complex and volatile landscape, investing in human capital should become top priority for governments to make the most of the evolving socio-economic opportunities (World Bank Group, 2019).
In Romania, vocational education and training (VET) has gained more public attention in the last decade as the country faces high challenges in addressing skills mismatch in the context of demographic decline, aging population and continuous emigration flow, as well as an economy that is not vibrant. Since 2011, the Government of Romania (GoR) has taken steps towards improving the quality and relevance of VET with focus on curriculum updating and alignment with European standards, introduction of work-based learning programs and dual education in 2017. Still, the last formal update on skills took place in 2002[13], teacher training in VET area has not been provided in a consistent way and the sector lacks connectivity with employers, investment in infrastructure (school campuses, canteens, workshops, buildings) and adequate funding.
The GoR adopted in 2016 the Strategy for VET education (2016-2020)[14]. This strategy was developed by the National Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training Development (NCTVETD)[15] and it seeks to reinforce VET as a potential game changer and driver of the economy. The Strategy for VET is in line with three other education strategies representing ex-ante conditionalities for Romania’s access to EU funds under the Programming Period 2014-2020: (i) Strategy to Reduce Early School Leaving (ESL); (ii) Strategy for Tertiary Education (TER); and (iii) Strategy for Lifelong Learning (LLL). However, the slow implementation of these strategies and the constant underfinancing of the education sector will have long term implications for the country’s human capital and economic development. The table below shows the highest-level objectives for the strategies as well as the priority programs for each.
Table 3. Education Strategies in place - objectives and priority programs
|Strategy |OBJECTIVES |
|VET |improve relevance of training systems for the labor market; |
| |improve access and quality of the training programs; |
| |stimulate innovation and cooperation through mobilities. |
|ESL |implement an effective system of prevention, intervention and compensation policies and measures to address |
| |major causes of early school leavers to reduce the share of youth between 18 and 24 years old who have |
| |completed lower secondary education, and who are not involved in further education or training, to 11.3% by |
| |2020. |
| |contribute to Romania´s inclusive smart growth by reducing the number of people at-risk of unemployment, |
| |poverty and social exclusion. |
|TER |prepare specialists who can develop a competitive society in the global economy; support HEIs to catalyse |
| |creativity and innovation throughout Romanian society and assist industry in developing products and services.|
| |contribute to Romania’s economic growth, productivity, and promote social cohesion, thus serving as the |
| |foundation of a knowledge-based economy. |
|LLL |increase the participation in lifelong learning and improve the relevance of the education and vocational |
| |training systems for the labor market |
| |PRIORITY PROGRAMS |
|VET |Improve relevance- match skills with labour market demands, articulate the system; |
| |Improve access–career counselling and promotion of VET sector; |
| |Improve quality –align occupation with training provision, teaching learning process, skills assessment, |
| |develop qualifications and curriculum; |
| |Improve innovation and cooperation –stimulate international mobility, exchange programs for VET students. |
|ESL |improve access to quality early childhood education and care services; |
| |offer remedial learning opportunities for students in primary and lower secondary education; improve the |
| |quality and attractiveness of initial vocational education and training; and provide opportunities for |
| |second-chance education. |
|TER |improve attainment; design adaptive, relevant and high-quality programs; develop strategic engagement with |
| |economic sector. |
|LLL |increase access and participation for all; increase relevance and quality of LLL programs for individuals and |
| |labor market; develop partnerships for better information in close collaboration with economic, social, |
| |academic partners and all relevant stakeholders. |
The VET subsector in Romania is integral to the Government’s overall reform program to achieve Europe 2020 targets. As a EU member state, Romania has aligned its education and training system to European policies following the four strategic objectives of the Strategic Framework for European Cooperation in Education and Training (ET 2020): (i) making lifelong learning and mobility a reality; (ii) improving the quality and efficiency of education and training; (iii) promoting equity, social cohesion and active citizenship; (iv) enhancing creativity and innovation, including entrepreneurship, at all levels of education and training.
Looking at the snapshot presenting the Romanian intermediary scores in target achievement, the country has slightly improved compared with five years ago, but this is not the projected trend. The table below shows Romania’s mixed progress towards achieving the EU 2020 targets as compared to its national targets. On the one hand, it comes out that the implemented actions were few and limited since they could not yet reverse the trends for early school leavers which remained highest in the EU at 16.4; similarly, tertiary attainment persisted at the lowest level in Europe. In addition, it is obvious that there is a continuous disconnect between policies and their implementation and no engagement of adults in lifelong learning leading, again, to the lowest score in Europe, 0.9 percent. The single target achieved is the employment rate that had a constant and linear increase. The data point out at the fact that there is more attention given to the strategic preparation, to the policy intent for the sector of education and training and less support or capacity to translate the policy into actions and results. Governing mechanisms and financing support of sector priorities are still missing. There are three elements that enable the implementation and that are critical for the way forward: coordination, collaboration and consistent reform.
Table 4. Europe 2020 targets – state of play
|Europe 2020 Targets |Romania |Romania |Romania |
| |2020 targets |2013 |2018 |
|Early leavers from education and training (age 18-24) below 10% |11.3% |17.3% |16.4% |
|At least 40% of people aged 30–34 having completed tertiary education |26.7% |22.8% |24.6% |
|At least 15% of people aged 25-64 should participate in lifelong learning |10% |2.0% |0.9% |
|75% of people aged 20–64 should be employed |70% |63.9% |69.9% |
Source: Eurostat database on EU benchmarks Education and Training 2020, 2019[16].
The high emigration dynamic affected both high-skilled and low-skilled migration and the total population, Romanian leaving the country in unprecedent numbers: 3.58 million counted in 2017, more than 75 percent of the population decline[17]. There is a factor affecting the E&T targets and their trends during these years, namely the migration flow that demonstrated that both highly skilled, 26.6 percent of the population, and low-skilled, 20 percent, are leaving the country in highest percentages. The structure of emigration by skill level reflects the prevalence of the two types of emigration, having important consequences for the Romanian labor market. The migration also affects the calculation of the rates in the table above as these are measured against residential population. The ESL rate shows improvement from 18 in 2017 to 16.4 in 2018 that can be attributed to the implementation of the strategy, but also to the migration.
In this context, the WB team was requested by the NCTVETD to carry out a functional review of the VET subsector in Romania as part of its work on the development of a strategy for infrastructure investments in the broader Romanian education system. The report is looking in detail at the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sub-sector functions and organization, at existing barriers to ensuring an effective policy planning and implementation, budget preparation and execution, and human resources management. This review seeks to identify key performance constraints to achieve the strategic goals set out for the subsector; analyze and assess the relevance of the functions performed by the TVET Center; and draw recommendations for the development and implementation of effective policies for enhancing the quality and relevance of vocational education and training in Romania, which is the core strategic priority adopted for this subsector in the country.
The report is structured along six chapters that are grouped in three clusters as follows:
• The first cluster covers three chapters: introduction into the rationale and scope of the report; the methodology used to underpin the analytical tasks, detailing the main surveys applied to prepare report and recommendations; and the country context explained by data that covers the socio-economic status, current education reforms and results and main highlights of the surveys applied and considered; it pays special attention to issues affecting the performance of VET;
• The second cluster includes two chapters: the first chapter describes the analysis performed along first two dimensions Organizational Structure & Strategic Framework. Regarding the first dimension the chapter presents the institutional arrangements, the stakeholders involved in the sector and their roles, the core structure of the VET system, and the regional structure of the skills supply and demands. Regarding the second dimensions focuses on main elements of the Strategic Framework: relevance, participation and quality; and summarizes the key issues that emerged as critical to address in this functional review together with those already identified in the National VET Strategy. The second chapter of this cluster continues the analysis for the other two functional dimensions: Human Resources and Financing, dividing the presentation in two parts, one related to the TVET Center, the main VET authority; and the other on VET teachers, exploring the key features that characterize the state of finances for the VET system in Romania, its regulations, and the key actors involved in decision making in financial management in the VET subsector.
• The third cluster consist of key observations and recommendations: this section concludes the report, starting with the key aspects identified that need to be addressed in the future and closing with proposed recommendations grouped in the main areas of discussion: curriculum, teachers, skills’ alignment and financing. The key observations and recommendations are correlated with the four dimensions and with the issues identified in the previous sections, the policies in place and under implementation, and their relevance and functionality, also bringing in international best practices related to well-functioning VET systems.
Methodology
Functional reviews in general seek to identify barriers for effective policy planning and implementation and typically focus on two main areas for potential reform: organization and policy. In terms of organization, these analyses can identify individual ministries, agencies or work units that are to be restructured for reasons of cost-effectiveness and/or efficiency. In terms of policy, reviews look at all relevant government policies and programs or may focus on specific policy areas considered to be particularly problematic. These two subjects of functional analyses are not mutually exclusive. Assessing what public organizations do in a certain policy area and whether there are policy alternatives or gaps is often as important as improving how the respective organizations are run. Operational efficiency and policy effectiveness are inextricably linked, and this report approaches these two aspects of reform in Romania as such.
The specific goals guiding functional reviews vary from case to case. They can be aimed at improving the alignment of processes with a given organization's strategic goals; overcoming functional fragmentation or duplication; optimizing resource allocation in response to changing policy objectives or citizen demands; or re-sizing bureaucracy and reduce operational costs.
Functional reviews are client-driven; hence their scope and goals depend on clients’ needs to address specific issues. In terms of scope, this report focuses primarily on the initial vocational education and training (VET) provided at secondary level (ISCED 3-4) because it falls under the client’s coordination. At the same time, the report acknowledges the need to bridge policies and actions between initial and continuing VET with focus on enabling access to jobs, further education or lifelong learning opportunities.
In terms of goals, this functional review takes as a starting point the key concern in the sector to develop a vocational education and training system demand driven by the labor market and of quality and relevance for its beneficiaries. This concern is manifested in the overall objective of the national strategy for VET. Bringing in the functional perspective to look at this key concern resulted in defining the core goal of this review as an assessment of the alignment of processes with strategic objectives set out to address this key concern of the sector. In this context, this functional review has been guided by four related specific objectives:
i) To identify key constraints and issues in the VET subsector that may be hindering the realization of this core objective;
ii) To analyze the functions performed by TVET Center and to some extend by the other agencies working in the subsector towards the achievement of this overall goal, and assess its relevance;
iii) To overview the sector performance looking at schools, students and teachers and its relationship with structure and organization;
iv) To draw recommendations for organizational and process changes for enhanced VET quality and more effective service delivery.
According to the RAS Agreement, this functional review was developed in two phases. In the first phase, the WB team focused on identifying key issue areas in the VET subsector to foster dialogue with the Client and specify further areas for in-depth analyses. The WB team conducted a series of structured and semi-structured interviews and focus groups with relevant VET stakeholders and the findings were presented in the first Draft Report on a Functional Analysis of the VET subsector delivered in 2017. The tentative conclusions of that report indicated the need for a strong leadership in the VET subsector, which, in turn, calls for a lead organization providing vision, mission, strategies and plans, as well as adequate human and financial resources. The report argued that the TVET Center could play the role of a lead organization in the VET subsector provided its organizational capacity is enhanced. Equally important, the presence of a lead organization could reduce the relatively high degree of fragmentation in the subsector.
In the second phase, the team complemented the preliminary findings of the first phase with more substantive qualitative and quantitative data. The team collected and analyzed multiple data sets to provide a more detailed picture of the Romanian VET landscape, key challenges, opportunities, as well as evidence-based recommendations for further development of the VET subsector. The team collected data and information through several surveys carried out with relevant VET stakeholders, in chronological order as follows:
• Survey #1 – Nation’s Status (Starea Natiunii) administered in March-April 2017 was carried out by the National School of Political Studies and Public Administration targeting the Romanian adult population (the sample included 1.149 people). The scope of this opinion survey is to collect information regarding citizens’ perceptions on the Romanian education system, including VET sector. The team further considered and extracted the specific results relevant for the area of the report.
• Survey #2 – Employers’ views study, which was prepared and conducted during April-May 2017 by the WB task team under this Advisory Services Agreement. This survey was designed based on the STEP Skills Measurement Program[18] developed by the World Bank to measure skills in low and middle-income countries. The data gathering exercise included: (i) focus groups with Romanian employers, accompanied by (ii) an online employers survey. The main objective of the focus group discussions was to gather and synthesize employers’ perception of the skill shortages of current employees, skill needs for new recruits, and anticipated skill demands. In total, 39 employers from five major Romanian cities (Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara, Iași, Brașov, and Bucharest) were randomly selected, and 30 companies participated in the focus group discussions. The online survey included a questionnaire whereby employers rated the importance of different types of skills for different types of occupations. The skills assessed covered a range of diverse cognitive, socioemotional, and job-related skills that are considered important in the workplace. The questionnaire was sent to 950 enterprises randomly selected from a large pool of databases: ListaFirme- a database organized per economic and financial activity, a database provided by student associations with a record of 350 companies, a database provided by TVET Center with 300 employers in partnership with VET schools, and a database on job advertising with 100 companies. Finally, 140 companies (15 percent of the total number of companies invited) responded to the online survey and provided sufficient data to check on skill perceptions
• Survey #3 - VET system features, and beneficiaries’ perceptions was carried out during May-June 2018 by the WB team and implemented by the TVET Center in 101 schools distributed evenly across the eight regions of Romania. The main scope of this survey is to collect information on stakeholders’ views on key characteristics of the VET system, as well as their experiences with the system in recent years. The survey was carried out through online questionnaires with students enrolled in professional, technological, theoretical and vocational tracks (grades 9-12/13), teachers (teaching general and VET subjects, and practical training), and parents (of grade 9 students).
• Survey #4 –VET strategy progress in implementation was carried out during November-December 2018 in 49 VET schools by a MoNE team with the WB support under the Advisory Services Agreement for Capacity Development for Monitoring and Evaluating the Implementation of Education Strategies. The main scope of this survey was to collect data and information to analyze implementation progress of education strategies, including the VET Strategy. Survey was carried out in 49 VET schools (out of 947 education units providing technological, professional and post high school education) interviewing 49 VET school principals, bringing in focus groups and responding to questionnaires to 365 teachers, 936 students in final year, and 135 companies’ tutors. Apart from interviews and questionnaires, 49 institutional grids were applied in VET schools to collect school level data on student enrolment, qualifications, teaching staff, national programs, quality assurance, and relevance of VET programs.
• Survey #5 -TVET Center staff survey was carried out during April 2019 prepared by the WB team with the scope to collect data and information regarding TVET Center’s human resources management, its staff qualifications, experience, and skills levels, their key functions within the organization, as well as key organizational challenges and priorities. The survey was administered through an online receiving answer from 34 staff out of 47. The survey was developed using the questionnaire prepared by the WB Bureaucracy Lab to survey the civil servants aiming to develop the evidence base for VET public sector reform by understanding the characteristics of staff and the systems and organizations in which they work.
Also, the team gathered and analyzed multiple datasets from different sources:
Table 5. Datasets used to support the analysis and respective sources of data
|Dataset |Source |
|Student data: enrolment, dropout, VET school network, school infrastructure (buildings, |MoNE’s SIIIR -data for school year 2016/17,|
|facilities, utilities, internet connectivity, infrastructure status, year of |2017/18, 2018/19 |
|construction, etc.). | |
|Teaching staff: number of teachers, qualifications, work experience, teaching levels. |MoNE’s EDUSAL (teachers’ payroll system) |
| |for 2018/19 |
|Student performance at National Evaluation and Baccalaureate exams. |MoNE’s PMIPN 2017/18 |
|Public expenditures of VET schools and TVET Center. |MoPF’s database for 2016 and FOREXEBUG for |
| |TVET expenses 2016-2018 |
|Data on resident population, school age population, participation in education, |NIS TEMPO database |
|employment, job vacancies by group of occupations and economic sectors. | |
|Other education-related data |Eurostat, CEDEFOP, UNESCO, OECD, World |
| |Bank. |
In addition, in view of the interlinked nature of policy and operational aspects of implementation and taking as a background reference the strategic objectives set out in the 2016 national VET strategy, the team gathered information and reviewed the existing VET-related policies and strategies, the agencies and stakeholders in charge with implementation, monitoring and evaluation (M&E). The team also conducted multiple in-depth interviews and focus groups with relevant VET stakeholders: school principals, teachers, parents, employers, and decision makers within MoNE and its subordinated agencies, and MoLSJ.
The analysis of the data and information collected in these two phases is presented in this report and is organized along three interrelated levels. First, in line with the RAS Agreement, the functional analysis covers four dimensions: Strategic Framework; Organizational Structure; Human Resources Management; and Financial Management. Second, special attention is paid in the analysis to four key issues that emerged as critical during the process of conducting research for this review: curricula, links with employers, infrastructure and equipment, student’s performance, and organizational leadership. Finally, these dimensions and issues are observed considering the key features of well-functioning VET systems according to lessons drawn from international experience. Figure 3 illustrates the process of conducting this functional review, details the functional dimensions and issues that emerged as critical in this process, and offers a general overview of the functional analysis presented in this report.
Figure 3. Stages of Functional Review followed for the analysis of VET in Romania [pic]
Source: World Bank team, 2019.
Since the core specific objective of this review regards checking the alignment of processes with the strategic goals, the four functional dimensions of interest for the client were accordingly organized in two sets. The first and second functional dimensions that the client proposed to explore – strategic framework and organizational structure – are considered in this report as the backbone of the analyses and hence as fundamental functional dimensions. The other dimension – human resources and financing – set the conditions for the operation of the fundamental ones and therefore are considered in this functional analysis as enabling functional dimensions (Figure 4). This analysis looks at these two functional dimensions as operating in a crisscross matrix, underpinning and defining each other. Adopting this perspective allows to observe the strategic and organizational set-up considering human resources and financial management, and, at the same time, to understand how these management areas function strategically and organizationally.
Figure 4. Functional dimensions of the review [pic]
Source: World Bank team, 2019.
The analysis of these four dimensions reveals the degree of functional connectivity the VET has with the employers, thus the degree of demand or supply driven education and training provided to students, and hence its relevance and quality. The VET school-employer connectivity is important along three dimensions: (i) increase employability of graduates of the institution in jobs related to their education; (iii) increase work performance of the graduates which is a proxy of the relevance and quality of the education delivered in school; and (iii) provide real participation and decision-making power of the employers in the functioning of the VET.
The adequacy of the Romanian VET system functionality is considered also in relation to lessons drawn from international experiences of well-functioning VET systems that are demand driven by employers. VET systems are more focused than general education on the aim to endowing students with the skills that are relevant for employment in specific economic sectors and specialties. Hence, the involvement of employers at different levels of the strategic planning and delivery of VET is critical to ensure that a VET system achieves the aim that is central for this education path. This is also backed by international practice[19] showcasing that relevant and effective VET systems are largely demand-driven by employers and, more specifically, their well-functioning is highly and positively correlated with the degree of functional connectivity education and training institutions have with the employers of the economic sectors for which training is being provided.
Moreover, these demand-driven VET systems tend to be more attractive and popular among students, parents and employers. This is because graduates of these institutions, by and large, tend to: (i) find employment in the trades of their training within a reasonable time after their graduation (between six to 12 months); and (ii) display, in the eyes of their employers, an acceptable employment performance leading to their medium to long-term professional career path. In this way, well-functioning VET systems and its education and training institutions send strong signals to the society that (i) their graduates have the skills requirements demanded by employers related to the trades of their training; (ii) the training provided by these connected institutions is relevant to the current skills and of appropriate quality; and (iii) the employability of these graduates, while not 100 percent assured, has a significant likelihood of occurrence.
Also, demand-driven VET systems worldwide display some core common operational characteristics in terms of governance, organization and service delivery as described in the paragraphs below and illustrated in Figure 5:
• The design and delivery of education and training - which should be competency-based - is aligned with national frameworks and is delivered and validated with employers’ participation, in the context of adequate institutional management and good quality of teachers and trainers with on-the-job experience;
• The maintenance of regular links with the world of work, including via systems to monitor graduate’s employment, establishing formal and functional links with employers of the region and the economic sector, providing services and good to the local community, and providing career guidance for students;
• Education and training institutions are part of a supporting a network of training providers in the same geographical area or sectoral focus, and offers services for its members and graduates – these may include training of teachers or sharing learning materials as well as equipment and physical facilities;
• Organizational structures and processes are well-known across the system and at institutional level to ensure that resources are not under or over-utilized, reflecting clear established roles and responsibilities, lines of accountability, and communication channels;
• Education and training institutions have appropriate equipment and physical facilities to carry out training in a safe, effective, timely manner. Also, employers are involved in defining the specificities of equipment and facilities which may be located either at the institution or at relevant employers’ sites;
• The regulatory framework allows for a certain degree of autonomy for education and training institutions to decide about focusing on few training courses and economic sectors, as well as procurement, staffing policies, financing, etc.
Figure 5. Features of well-functioning VET systems based on international experience
[pic]
Source: World Bank team, 2019.
Country context
3.1 Socio-economic context
Demography. Despite being one of the fastest-growing economies in the EU, Romania faces a series of demographic and social challenges. Romania’s economic growth has been one of the highest in the EU since 2010, with an average growth rate of 2.8 percent during 2010-2017. But its growth foundations are still weak. Romania’s population fell from 22.8 to 19.6 million between 2000 and 2017 and is expected to continue falling (World Bank, System Country Diagnostic, 2018). There are 2 million less children and youth (aged 0-25) living in Romania compared with 2002 levels, while school age population has dropped by almost 1 million in the last fifteen years, as shown in the Table 6 below. Besides, over 2 million people of working age (20.6 percent of the labor force) are estimated to have emigrated in search of better job opportunities as of 2017. Currently it is estimated that 3 to 5 million Romanians are living and working abroad. In 2017, Romania ranked as the tenth main country of origin of migration flows in the G20, with highly educated emigrants accounting for most of these migrants at 26.6 percent of the total. Briefly, the table below illustrates that in a country where the young population has been shrinking, the country could maintain more young population in school than before; however, it needs to bring back to education and training the adults as non-traditional students in order to reach previous levels as share of the total population.
Table 6. Demographic trends
|Year |Resident |Population |School |% School population out of|% of School population |
| |population |(age 0-25) |population |population aged |out of resident |
| | |% of resident | |0 – 25 |population |
| | |population | | | |
|2002 |21.6 mil |7.1 mil (33%) |4.5 mil |61% |21% |
|2017 |19.6 mil |5.1 mil (26%) |3.6 mil |66% |18% |
|Difference |-2 mil |-2 mil |-0.9 mil |+5% |-3% |
Source: National Institute of Statistics, 2018.
Poverty. Romania has by far the largest share of poor people in the EU and there are also significant disparities in economic opportunities and poverty across regions and between urban and rural areas. Over a quarter of the population (26 percent in 2015) living on less than $5.50 a day, more than double the rate for Bulgaria (12 percent). Of Romania’s 42 counties, 18 are considered lagging behind other regions, with a GDP per capita lower than 75 percent of the national average (World Bank, Country Partnership Strategy, 2018). Overall, access to basic services such as piped water, sanitation, internet or electricity, and education, remains constrained for many citizens (4.5 percent of Romania’s population), especially for those living in rural areas and marginalized areas.
Employment. Romania still has a substantial untapped labor potential and a relatively large informal sector. Official data estimate people in the informal economy at 1.2 million (EC, Romania Country Report, 2017). In comparison to the EU average of 73 percent (2018), Romania has a labour market participation rate of 69.9 percent (2018). Considering that the unemployment rate is relatively low at 5 percent, the implication is that the country has significant human capital on which to draw. Moreover, Romania’s economic growth projections require the country’s industries to develop more efficient production processes and to increase product quality. Achieving this goal will depend at least in part on having a domestic workforce with relevant skills, competencies, and abilities. The Romanian institutional environment is also struggling with capacity bottlenecks – most striking is the insufficient use of data in targeting and monitoring employment programs, missing outreach and mentoring services added to the fragmentation and insufficient institutional coordination between stakeholders in charge of demand- and supply-side measures. The lack of institutional coordination is both vertical (between the Ministry of Labor and Social Justice and the National Agency for Public Employment and its county offices) and horizontal (between county employment directorates and social services). Institutional structures for social dialogue are in place (e.g. the National Tripartite Council and the broader Economic and Social Council, but also Ministry and county-level committees), but they are mostly used by the government to provide information about planned initiatives, without a substantive process of involvement and cooperation with impact on employment.
Industry. There is significant regional variation in the concentration of priority sectors, with implications for investments in VET institutions that aim to establish or expand sectoral linkages. Romania’s National Strategy for Competitiveness (NSC) 2014-2020 identifies ten priority economic sectors given their potential for export and employment growth. These sectors were identified based on export competitiveness, employment potential, and integration in global value chains. Evidence (NSC 2014-2020, and World Bank, Competitive Cities, 2013) shows that these sectors are not equally distributed across regions of Romania which have different competitive advantages and economic structure. For example, some regional economies from the South-West, South-East and West are highly specialized and reliant on a limited number of industries, while others from the South, North-West and Centre are more diversified (Figure 6).
In turn, these regional variations affect the demand for skilled labor and consequently the need for certain VET programs and institutions.
Figure 6. Romania’s economic priority sectors, by regions
[pic]
Source: National Competitiveness Strategy 2014-2020; National Institute of Statistics.
Human capital. Also, the country faces many challenges in human development which calls for policy makers to prioritize investments in human capital. According to the World Bank (2018), Romania has the lowest Human Capital Index (HCI) score (0.60) in the European Union (0.75). In other words, Romanian children born today will be 60 percent as productive when they grow up as they could be if they received complete high-quality education and health services. For example, a four-year old in Romania today can expect to complete 12.2 years of education by age 18, compared to 13.4 in other EU member countries. Moreover, Romania’s score is lower than what would be predicted by the country’s income level.
Skills. Underachievement in basic skills impacts the overall VET students’ outcomes and their performance on the labor market. Romania’s scores on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) improved significantly across all subjects between 2009 and 2012 but remained stagnant in 2015. The test results from 2015 show that about 40 percent of 15-years old Romanian students (the corresponding age of grade 8 graduates and new entrants in upper secondary education, including VET) are functionally innumerate and illiterate compared to roughly 23 percent of students in the EU. In other words, Romanian students are one-and-a-half years of schooling behind students in EU countries. The competency-based training curriculum in the VET system consists of two parts: (i) transversal or soft skills, i.e. teamwork, problem solving, information technology, foreign language, etc.; and (ii) sector specific skills related to occupations and qualifications (worker, technician, supervisor, manager, etc.). In Romania, the VET system must compensate for VET students’ low level or lack of basic skills that could not be acquired in the lower secondary level by grade 8; consequently, more importance and support should be allocated to general programs in grades nine and ten. This is particularly concerning because literacy and numeracy are critical foundational skills needed to acquire higher-order and socio-emotional skills required on the labor market.
Financing. Persistent low financing levels for education affect development of the VET system. Romania’s public expenditure for education as a percentage of GDP was 2.8 percent in 2017, far below the EU average of 4.6 percent, and the lowest in the EU as shown by the Figure 7 below. (Eurostat, 2019). According to Eurostat, the average spending for upper secondary (ISCED 3-4) in the EU was estimated at 1.05 percent of GDP in 2015 compared with Romania’s spending level of only 0.63 percent and even much lower spending for the VET area, at 0.02 percent. Furthermore, a recent WB analysis of public expenditures on education (World Bank, Public Finance Review[20], 2018) explains the same underfinancing in VET[21] in Romania accounted for 0.9 percent of total public expenditures in 2016 compared to 18.28 percent for higher education, followed by 16.82 percent for lower secondary education (grades 5-8). Given the limited funds available for education in Romania, an adequate monitoring and tracking of the spending could have significantly increased the efficiency and better use of the limited funds. At the same time, accountability in financing should include checking whether financial resources are reaching the most vulnerable students. In the absence of adequate funding, it will be difficult to address the equity and quality challenges faced in the education sector. The spending issues are detailed in the financial management section, presenting the management weaknesses regarding the VET sector.
Figure 7. Education expenses as of GDP, EU vs Romania
[pic]
Table 7. Education expenses for upper secondary education
|% of GDP upper secondary |2012 |2013 |2014 |2015 |
|European Union - 28 |1.10 |1.08 |1.10 |1.05 |
|Romania |0.58 |0.59 |0.64 |0.63 |
|upper secondary general |0.57 |0.57 |0.62 |0.61 |
|upper secondary -vocational |0.02 |0.02 |0.01 |0.02 |
Source: Eurostat 2019.
3.2. Education context
Reforms. Since the early 1990s, the GoR has channeled its efforts to increase the quality and relevance of VET programs for the newly emerging market economy by implementing a series of structural reform programs (EU PHARE[22]). In the presence of a market economy at debut, prior to Romania’s EU accession in 2007, a multiannual VET reform program[23] was carried out between 1995 and 2006 focused on the development of new curricula and training standards, training programs for VET school managers, school inspectors and teachers. The system created was a supply driven system where employers were consulted but not yet engaged. This reform program included major infrastructure investments in equipment, laboratories and materials. Starting with 2007, Romania has implemented EU funded projects for VET teacher training programs, curriculum revision and development of new training standards. In 2009, the Arts and Trades schools were closed, and participation in VET registered a sustained decrease since 2010. At the same time, as VET became part of the technological track in upper secondary level after these closures, the academic high school became the main educational alternative. Although enrolment rates in high school rose from 72 percent in 2008-2009 to 92.7 percent in 2012-2013, enrolment rates in VET decreased sharply from 25.3 percent to 3 percent over the same period.
Implementation of dual VET has started only in 2017, which contributed to recent increases in participation in the 3-year VET programs. Yet, the dual system should complement the professional education, as it should be organized in regions with an economy that functions and demands, to connect and create access to such education and training paths. The second element that dual system must consider is gaining employers’ trust for the quality of education offered. Other recent measures include the ongoing revision of the curriculum for upper secondary education, including initial VET; the development and updating of professional qualifications and of professional training standards with the aim of increasing quality and labor market relevance.
Despite recent progress, an unfinished agenda remains. The challenge remains of offering good quality VET with a clear link to either employment or further education and training, or of identifying credible alternatives for children and youth who do not take the grade 8 examinations, or who are not performing well enough to be accepted into the high schools they prefer. The VET subsector is facing considerable challenges as illustrated in Figure 8, in terms of ensuring equal access to VET programs and efficiency, especially to students from disadvantaged communities, Roma, and those with disabilities; quality of learning and training environments; relevance of VET programs for the labor market, and innovation.
Figure 8. Main challenges in Romania’s initial VET
Source: World Bank team
Access and efficiency. Despite recent progress, the overall student participation in VET programs, calculated as percentage of all upper secondary students (56.2 percent) is considerably lower compared with other European countries like the Czech Republic (72.9), Finland (71.3), Slovenia (70.4), Croatia (70) and Slovakia (68.9), but exceeds the EU28 average (49.3).
The gross participation rate in upper secondary education (high school and vocational) has been continuously dropping since 2009, down to 85.3 percent in 2017/2018 (Report on Status of Education in 2018, MoNE 2019). It was found that the overall decrease in the number of students in total upper secondary was almost entirely registered in technological high schools and vocational schools. For this reason, in the period under review, the proportion of students included in these forms of vocational education and training in the total number students in high school and vocational education went down by 16 percentage points from 58.2 percent in 2010/2011 to 42 percent in 2017/2018.
Figure 9. Gross enrolment trend in upper secondary education [pic]
Source: MoNE, 2018.
In 2009, the Government’s decided to close the Arts and Trades schools[24] which resulted in a sharp decrease in student enrolment from 15.8 percent in 2009 to 1.8 percent in 2011. Nevertheless, in the last three years, the trend reversed, 14.1 percent in 2017, with the introduction of the 3-year school-based VET programs at upper secondary level in 2013. The figure below shows a difference of 10 percent points between boys and girls in VET enrolment, providing greater coverage. Since its reopening, the 3-year program has revealed its viability by the increasing number of lower secondary graduates opting for this program in the last four years. Nonetheless, progress has been steady but slow, and it took six years to reach the pre-closure enrolment levels. To keep up with the increased demand, MoNE increased progressively the number of places for this program from 20.000 in 2012, to 51.000 in 2014 and nearly 90.000 students in 2018. This trend confirms the fact that reopening the vocational schools was a good call to respond to market needs and gain population’s trust.
Figure 10. Enrolment trend in 3-year program between 2009 and 2017
[pic]
Source: MoNE, 2018.
Dropout rates in vocational schooling are of particular concern. There was a marked increase in the dropout rate among vocational students between the academic years of 2010 and 2012 when the rates more than doubled. The dropout rate among females exceeds that of males, a clear departure from trends at other levels where girls are more likely to stay in school than boys. The financial crisis and policy shift in VET offer two likely explanations for the increase in the dropout rates. The Government’s decision to abolish Arts and Trades schools in the vocational system, primarily due to poor quality and design, was implemented in 2009-2010, its impact first showing up in the following academic year. One unintended effect of this policy was the disincentive for low-performing students, who were more likely to drop out than to complete the programme in which they were already enrolled; this, in turn, may have contributed to the increase in the share of young people who were not in employment, in education or in training (often referred to as NEETs). In December 2013, the government changed the VET system by ordinance and opened opportunities for student to enroll in vocational programmes right after grade 8 (entering what are called scoli profesionale) after completion of gymnasium level. Under the new rules, students would no longer have to enter upper secondary before being granted access to the VET system.
Table 8. Dropout rates in vocational education and training, by gender, 2009-2017
| |2009-2010 |2010/2011 |2011/ |2012/ |2013/ |2014/ |2015/ |2016/ |
| | | |2012 |2013 |2014 |2015 |2016 |2017 |
|Total |8.6 |19.8 |30,4 |7,9 |4,3 |5,0 |4,2 |3,5 |
|Female |9.7 |21.9 |35,8 |10,5 |7,1 |6,2 |4,9 |4,1 |
|Male |7.9 |18.6 |27,4 |7,0 |3,6 |4,5 |3,9 |3,2 |
Source: National Institute of Statistics, TEMPO 2019.
The highest dropout rate is recorded for the past three years in technological track (4.3 percent in 2017) and it is driven by technical and environmental profiles as presented in the Table 9 below. Further analysis below it looks at decomposition of data per technological track and its profiles, revealing similar performance pattern for theoretical track -humanities profile.
Table 9. School dropout in upper secondary, on tracks and profiles, per school year
| |2014/15 |2015/16 |2016/17 |
|Total |3.5 |3.5 |2.5 |
|Theoretical track |1.8 |1.9 |1.1 |
|Science |2.2 |2.4 |1.3 |
|Humanities |1.2 |1.1 |0.9 |
|Technological track |5.4 |5.7 |4.3 |
|Technical |6.9 |7.3 |5.7 |
|Environment |5.4 |6.1 |4.8 |
|Services |3.4 |3.5 |2.7 |
|Arts, sport, military, pedagogy track |1.6 |1.4 |1.5 |
Source: Data calculated based on NIS data, 2018.
VET infrastructure. The Ministry of National Education collects data on education infrastructure, such as number of schools, buildings, classrooms, availability of laboratories, workshops, computers, internet connection, but there is no information related to its status and functioning. According to previous analysis performed by the WB team in this project, in 2017, more than half of secondary schools lacked science laboratories, while around 20 percent of VET schools had no workshop on their premises. The same analysis conducted by the World Bank to inform strategic decisions in education infrastructure (World Bank, 2017) reveals infrastructure shortages in Romania, as well as sizable gaps between urban and rural schools, concluding that a considerable amount needs to be done to ensure public schools are equipped with safe and modern learning environments.
The data on the status of VET buildings show that more than 20 percent require rehabilitation, while only 2 percent of the buildings are currently under rehabilitation (Figure 11). Approximately 35 percent of the VET buildings have been fully or partially rehabilitated, and 10 percent of the buildings do not require rehabilitation.
Figure 11. Status of VET buildings as reported in SIIIR for school year 2018/19
[pic]
Source: SIIIR, 2019.
Approximately 15 percent of VET buildings lack fire safety authorization, and 12 percent sanitary authorization. These percentages are higher in rural areas, where 17 percent of the buildings lack fire safety authorization, and 20 percent sanitary authorization respectively. Accessibility for students with physical disabilities is limited: only 10 percent of VET buildings are equipped with disabled toilets.
Further investigation of the data module on infrastructure for the dataset of school network 2018/19 could gave an idea about the distribution of infrastructure challenges at county level. Workshops are fundamental for practical activities in VET schools, but approximately 35 percent of Romanian VET schools lack this endowment. Data show that there is no county in which all VET schools have practical workshops, and less than 50 percent of schools in Constanta, Salaj, Ilfov, Satu Mare and Giurgiu have workshops (Figure 12). Inadequate or lack of spaces and equipment for practical activities are factors that hinder effective implementation of VET programs.
Figure 12. Share of VET schools with workshops
[pic]
Source: SIIIR, 2019.
Although 93 percent of VET schools are equipped with IT labs, the situation varies across counties. There are 13 counties in which all VET schools have IT labs. On the other hand, the percentage of VET schools equipped with IT labs is below the national average in 18 counties. Giurgiu is the county with the lowest percentage of IT labs in VET schools, 62.5 percent. The number of people employed in the ICT sector more than doubled in the last 6 years, from 40,749 in 2012 to 84,737 in 2017[25], and the demand for ICT professionals is still growing. Therefore, digital skills should be developed both in general education and vocational education and training.
In terms of VET campuses, the situation is critical: only 33 percent of VET schools have campuses. In 7 counties, including Bucharest, less than 25 percent of VET schools have campuses, while in Giurgiu there is no campus at all (Figure 13).
Figure 13. Share of VET schools with campuses
[pic]
Source: SIIIR, 2019.
Quality.
PISA assessment. According to the 2015 PISA assessment, about 40 percent of 15-year-old students have low reading and numeracy proficiency which is almost double the EU average (23 percent). This means that Romanian students lag those in other EU countries by about 1.5 years. At the same time, data from national grade 8 examinations indicate that 4 in 10 students (41 percent) obtained low scores (6 or below), while only 2 in 10 (17 percent) managed to get high scores (8.5 or above).
A recent analysis on student performance at national examination at grade 8 shows that a relatively high share (41 percent in 2018) of low performing students (below score 6) are going to upper secondary, mainly to the technological route. Dropout levels were at 3.5 percent for overall upper secondary education in 2016/2017 but this is higher in the technological track, with 4.3 percent and 5.7 percent in the case of the technical profile. The illustration below shows a high correlation between baccalaureate performance that is the lowest, 33 percent passing rate, and the dropout that is the highest, 6.1 percent, in the technical profile. It remains the most challenging and very demanding profile being at the same time the one in need of restructuring and improved quality and relevance.
Figure 14. BAC performance and dropout rates per track and profile (2017/2018)
[pic]
Source: World Bank team calculation, 2018.
The gap observed by looking at the distribution of students’ skills at grade 8 is mainly between urban and rural area. Low skilled students in rural area increased at 60 percent in 2018 as compared with 28 for urban. The urban rural divide it can be observed better at the extremes, for the low level of skills the gap of 32 percent between rural and urban and for the high level the difference of 20 percent is reversed, still favoring urban graduates. Low performing Students are mainly located in rural, remote and isolated areas. In terms of their administrative and geographic distribution, the low performing students are in 1,500 rural localities inside the Carpathian arc and in counties closer to the border, as well as in hard-to-reach areas (e.g. Danube Delta), as presented in Figure 15 below. Interestingly, while the Western region of the country was traditionally scoring better, the situation deteriorated primarily due to migration and children left behind by their parents. At the same time, the map points out at the alarming situation of low performing students in lagging schools in urban areas.
Figure 15. Geographical distribution of low performers at grade 8 in school year 2018/19
National examinations. Evidence shows that students completing lower secondary and entering upper secondary, including VET, have weak foundational skills affecting their future learning outcomes and labor market productivity. A recent analysis on student performance at national examination shows that a relatively high share (41 percent in 2018, see table below) of low performing students (below score 6)[26] are going to upper secondary, with most of them (almost 60 percent) coming from rural areas. While in the last four years, the percent of low performers increased by 7 percent, the high performers fell by 10 percent, as shown in the table below. The Baccalaureate exam confirms the same story where the share of low performs is the highest in technological track while the share of high performers is the lowest.
Table 10. Distribution of scores at grade 8 exam (2015 -2018) and Baccalaureate (2018)
|Year | Grade 8 scores | |Baccalaureate scores |low |medium |high |
|Skills |low |medium |
| |Highest score |Lowest score |Highest score |Lowest score |
|Theoretical |9.2 |8.0 |9.0 |7.9 |
|Sciences |9.1 |7.6 |9.0 |8.0 |
|Humanities |9.4 |8.3 |8.9 |7.9 |
|Technological |8.0 |5.6 |7.0 |4.7 |
|Services |8.8 |7.2 |8.0 |6.4 |
|Technic |7.3 |4.7 |6.6 |3.6 |
|Environment |7.9 |5.0 |6.3 |4.0 |
Source: WB team’s calculations based on data from MoNE.
The lower scores in technological track are reflected also by the average scores per profile presented in the figure below. A student admitted with a low score will be able eventually to pass the baccalaureate with low performance, on average less than 1.25 points compared with humanities profile. Within the technological track, the same ranking applies for services profile remaining on top, followed by environment and technical.
Figure 16. Average passing scores per profiles at Baccalaureate examination 2018
[pic]
Source: WB team’s calculation, 2018. Baccalaureate scores: low = 0-5.99, medium = 6-8.49, high = 8.50-10.
In terms of average performance, a negative trend may be observed for both highest and lowest scores which went down by 1 point in the case of technological track. Going further, variations may be observed in both tracks. For example, there are slight differences between sciences and humanities profiles in theoretical track, yet significant ones in technological whereby the technic profile registers the lowest entrance scores, followed by the environment profile. The profile services fares much better with score levels comparable to the ones in the theoretical track. The data on student performance at the Baccalaureate exam (Figure 17) shows a similar pattern, with striking differences (of 42 points) in student performance between theoretical and technological. Going further, the data breakdown by profile reveals lower student achievement in the technic (33 percent) and environment (41 percent) profiles, whereas over 70 percent of students in services manage to pass the examination. These low performance levels in technological high school persisted over time thus affecting internal efficiency of this type of education.
Figure 17. Passing rate[27] at the Baccalaureate exam by track and profile
|[pic] |[pic] |
Source: NIS, 2018.
However, an increasing proportion of students, especially those in the technological track, complete upper secondary education and enter the labor market without even participating in the baccalaureate assessment, making it difficult to evaluate their skills proficiency. Students studying in technological high schools provide the greatest cause for concern, as about 20.6 percent (against only 3.2 percent in the humanities) did not participate in the Baccalaureate exam (World Bank, Country Economic Memorandum 2.0, 2019).
Innovation. Automation has started to change the demand for skills and has led to changes in production processes. Technology is increasing the premium on nonroutine cognitive skills including critical thinking and socio-behavioral skills, such as managing and recognizing emotions that enhance teamwork. Technology is disrupting the demand for three types of skills in the workplace in the following ways: (i) demand for nonroutine cognitive and socio-behavioral skills appears to be rising in both advanced and emerging economies; (ii) demand for routine job-specific skills is declining; (iii) lastly, payoffs to combinations of different skill types appear to be increasing. These changes show up not just through new jobs replacing old jobs, but also through the changing skills profile of existing jobs (World Bank, 2019).
Automation of production processes has started driving demand for higher levels of cognitive skills, while jobs involving routine application of procedural knowledge are shrinking. This suggests that the Romanian economy is particularly vulnerable as it currently has a disproportionate share of routine type of jobs in the manufacturing, ICT, and agriculture sectors and most of Romania’s labor force (55 percent) is in blue-collar occupations.
Figure 18. Romania labor demand is shifting toward more cognitive and high-skilled workers
| | |
|Source: Hardy, Keister, and Lewandowski, 2016. |Source: Eurostat. |
Curriculum. In the mid-term, VET curricula requires shifting from the supply-driven approach, to a demand-oriented one, implying adjustments to match the growing demand for social and emotional skills, such as leadership or communication & negotiation, technological skills (i.e. advanced IT, basic digital), as well as higher cognitive skills such as creativity, project management, or critical thinking. Skills currently offered by VET such as equipment repair, basic data input, craft and technician are tributary to a declining trend.
Curriculum implementation poses several challenges as well. Interviews with stakeholders conducted by the team for this functional analysis revealed a disconnect between the teaching of general, transversal and technical subjects. On the one hand, it was argued that math and science teachers do not adapt their teachings to the vocational subjects of their students. For example, math teachers teach general math and do not adapt or apply their teaching to students preparing to become car mechanics or construction trades workers; likewise, biology teachers teach general biology and do not try to adapt their teaching to students who are studying animal husbandry or beekeeping. On the other hand, specialty teachers teaching car mechanics, construction trades, animal husbandry, or beekeeping, do not easily link their lessons to the teachings of general math, physics, science, and biology. This disconnect appears to come from the fact that the curriculum contents are insufficiently adapted to the specifics of VET programs, while some are outdated for certain technical fields and do not reflect the latest technological changes. The misalignment between standards, skills and occupation could be solved through a better collaboration with employers when preparing the standards for the competences demanded for the occupations at the qualification level required.
Moreover, employers interviewed by the WB team for the preparation of “Education Infrastructure Strategy” strongly believe that students and graduates entering the labor market lack key socioemotional skills such as motivation, empathy, tolerance, self-management, problem-solving, teamwork, communication, learning to learn, accountability, planning, engagement, and commitment. Importantly, many employers identify socioemotional skills as among the most important skills for all categories of occupations: managerial/professional, sales/service, and agriculture/manufacturing.
Relevance. Latest data indicate higher labor market outcomes among Romania’s VET graduates compared to those of general education. Despite a sharp fall in recent graduates’ employment rates[28] between 2009 (77.6 percent) and 2014 (66.2 percent), the trend has reversed in the past four years reaching 76 percent in 2019, yet still below the EU average of 80.2 percent. Nevertheless, data breakdown by level and type of education shows that Romanian VET graduates (20-34 years old) perform better in the labor market with an employment rate of 67.2 percent in 2017 compared to general education graduates (60.8 percent) who did not continue their studies (CEDEFOP, 2019). While it is slightly lower compared with the EU-28 average (76.6%), the rate has increased by 7.2 percentage points since 2008. This trend may be attributed to some recently implemented measures to expand access and increase VET attractiveness like the (re) introduction of the 3-year VET program, followed by dual VET[29].
There is a shortage of skilled labor, particularly in the ICT sector, health and education professionals. Moreover, the current supply of skilled workforce in trade, engineering, transportation and distribution is not sufficient to cover labor market demands. According to CEDEFOP’s skills forecast analyses for Romania, most employment growth up to 2030 will be in professional services, health, social care and education sectors, while most new job opportunities will be for agricultural workers, legal and social professionals. When it comes to total job openings (including replacements for vacated jobs), Romania will need similar shares of people with all qualification levels over the period to 2030. Although the total demand for low skilled workforce will decrease, it will still represent one in every four job openings – third highest share in the EU.
Employment trends in both high-income and middle-income economies are more and more influenced by technology. More specifically, in advanced economies, employment has been growing fastest in high-skilled cognitive occupations and low-skilled occupations that require dexterity. In middle-income European countries such as Bulgaria and Romania, the demand for workers in occupations involving non-routine cognitive and interpersonal skills is rising, while the demand for workers in lower-skilled non-routine manual occupations has remained steady (World Bank, Changing nature of work, 2019).
3.3 Main highlights of the surveys
During the first phase of this analysis, the WB task team held a series of in-depth interviews with policy and decision-makers at national and local levels, and school principals, teachers, parents and employers to identify main challenges in the VET subsector. In addition, the team used and analyzed data collected through several surveys conducted with relevant VET stakeholders: school principals, teachers, tutors from companies, students, and their parents, and employers. These surveys included in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, as well as face-to-face and online questionnaires to collect stakeholders’ perceptions and opinions on the quality and relevance of VET programs, and service delivery. This section presents the main highlights and topics which came out from these surveys.
Table 12. Main takeaways collected through surveys
|Topics |Main takeaways |
|Public perception on VET |A relatively good perception of VET among younger generations; |
| |Good employment opportunities after graduation; |
| |Access to fairly well-paid jobs; |
| |Attractiveness of VET offer due to available internships and scholarships, and work-based learning. |
|Relevance of VET |Curriculum and teaching |
| |Overloaded and over theoretical curriculum leading to insufficient number of hours for practical training; |
| |VET curriculum is misaligned with the current needs of the labor market and rapid technological progress; |
| |Outdated and traditional teaching methods with a focus on memorization rather than practical applications; |
| |Teacher training |
| |Pre-service and in-service teacher training are not relevant enough, especially for teachers teaching |
| |specialty subjects and practical training; |
| |Skills gaps |
| |Significant gap between the skills students and graduates possess and the skills required by employers; |
| |Career guidance |
| |Limited and even lack of career guidance services for students and parents in most VET schools due to |
| |insufficient supply of dedicated and specialized staff (e.g. school counselors); |
|Quality of VET |Infrastructure and equipment are obsolete in many VET schools, especially in technological high schools; |
|infrastructure |Limited and/or lack of materials and tools for practical training and demonstrations in many VET schools. |
Stakeholders tend to have a good perception on VET, especially young people. Data from a survey #3 conducted with the general public in 2017 shows a relatively good perception on the quality of VET among younger generations (Figure 19). Over 50 percent of those aged between 18 and 44 have reported that the 3-year VET program (professional track) is of good and very good quality compared to the elderly (over 60 years old) who believe that VET quality is low and very low. On the other hand, over 60 percent of those aged 45-59 believe that the quality of high school education is not that good, while youngsters (aged 18-29) have mixed feelings. This clearly suggests that the 3-year VET is more appealing to the younger generation compared to high school education which has a longer duration of studies (4 years) and is less focused on work-based learning.
Figure 19. Public opinion on the quality of education, by age group
|[pic] |[pic] |
Source: WB survey #3, 2017.
Findings from this survey are well in line with those from survey #2 conducted with VET graduating students[30] in November 2018. Data shows that over 60 percent of students who are now graduating VET chose this path due to higher employment prospects after graduation, including access to better paid jobs (34 percent). Moreover, almost 50 percent of students opted for VET because they were attracted by the study fields (Figure 20). This indicates that vocational education is not only attractive, but it’s perceived by many students and as a viable option. This may be attributed to recent policy measures to increase VET attractiveness, such as professional scholarships granted by both schools and companies, work-based learning and training in schools and employers’ premises, internship opportunities, and introduction of dual VET classes. However, few students (13 percent) perceive VET as good and adequate avenue for continuing their studies, especially higher education, hence confirming that the current system lacks flexibility and permeability across different levels of education and qualification.
Figure 20. Students’ motivation for choosing VET (%)
[pic]
Source: WB survey #2, 2018.
Going further, over 80 percent of VET graduating students believe to have good and high chances of finding a job after graduation. This perception may be attributed to the combination of work-based learning and training at school and employers, as well as student internships provided by companies which increases students’ chances to get a job immediately after graduation. At the same time, many of their teachers and tutors think that their students will be able to get well paid jobs.
Figure 21. Stakeholders’ view on students’ employment and earning prospects (%)
|[pic] |[pic] |
Source: WB survey #2, 2018.
Career guidance and counseling services are largely missing. Career guidance is important for three main reasons: (i) it can help students and parents make difficult career choices even at an early age; (ii) it can help make VET more attractive by enhancing children’s and parents’ positive perceptions, thus channeling more students to VET schools; and (iii) it can help improve the match between the demands of the labor market and the VET supply. The team heard from students and parents during interviews that career guidance services are scarce or inexistent. Data collected by the team shows that many students rely on other people (39 percent), class masters (18 percent) and their peers (17 percent) when discussing about future career, while only 3 percent of them sought counselor’s advice. Similar pattern may be observed when deciding on high school and specialization by the end of lower secondary education. For example, over 60 percent of students reported having consulted with their family members (most influential advice), followed by class masters and their peers’ advice. Again, only 3 percent of the students reported seeking school counselor’s advice (Figure 22).
Figure 22. Students seek advice from the following (%):
|[pic] |[pic] |
Source: WB surveys #1 and #2, 2018.
This is largely due to insufficient supply of school counselors[31], especially in rural and small urban areas. Practice has shown that in many cases a school counsellor is able to visit one school only 2-3 times during a school year, hence leaving many students with very limited and sometimes with no access to counselling services. To compensate for this, more responsibilities have been placed on the class masters to provide career guidance to their class students. However, class masters are often overloaded with teaching their own courses while guiding their students on future educational opportunities and career choices. Besides, they rarely benefit from specialized training in counseling and career guidance to update their knowledge and skills. This is also reflected in students’ (in) ability to make informed decisions about their educational and career choices. In this sense, survey data shows that most students didn’t know what they wanted to do in their lives when they had to choose between different types of high schools and occupations (Figure 23). Moreover, many students reported not knowing much about themselves, their abilities and skills at age 14 when they had to opt for high school. Equally important, many graduating students, especially students in technological track (20 percent), considered not having enough information about the different occupations available in VET schools, as well as employment opportunities after graduation.
Figure 23. Key obstacles in making informed decisions on future education and career (%)
[pic]
Source: WB surveys #1, 2018.
Likewise, many employers noted that schools lack adequate career planning and counseling services for students. This means that students have little information on what types of jobs are available, skills and/or qualifications required to practice those jobs, and how to effectively plan for the career they want. This perpetuates a view widely expressed by employers that young employees cycle through jobs in search of income rather than work experience and on-the-job training in support of a particular career path. Nevertheless, interviews conducted with 49 VET school principals revealed that there are few cases of schools which have been able to hire their own school counselor. The school counselor is a professional psychologist and his/her main job is to provide dedicated and specialized physiological support and career guidance to students and their parents.
Relevance of VET can be significantly improved. Providing relevant education and training to students is a key characteristic and an adequate indicator of a well-functioning VET system. Relevance of VET programs can only be achieved when VET schools establish and maintain strong functional links with employers, hence enabling employers to get actively involved in VET governance and empower their decision-making role. As previously mentioned in this report, overall, the current Romanian VET system is still supply driven. This is also confirmed through a WB survey conducted with Romanian employers in 2017 (survey #5) whereby companies have reported little involvement in designing school programs and curriculum. This is partly due to the education system’s resistance to change and the lack of incentives to influence teaching and educational practices. Besides, current institutional, legal, and financial regulations significantly restrain their ability to productively or effectively weigh in on the design of curricula or the application of job-relevant topics in VET schools.
Moreover, during several focus group discussions, employers pointed out that a significant gap exists between the skills students and graduates possess and the skills required by employers. They believe that both graduates, and young employees have limited or even lack socioemotional skills such as communication, learning to learn, problem-solving, and teamwork. Employers were generally critical about the relevance of the education system for several reasons. First, curriculum was reported by many different types of employers to be overly theoretical, with a focus on abstract concepts and the accumulation of information rather than practical applications. Second, in line with the overly theoretical curriculum, teaching methods were also described as being outdated and highly traditional, with a focus on memorization rather than practical applications.
Equally important, the online survey carried out with employers revealed that over 40 percent of them think that the overall education system does not equip students with the knowledge and skills required to succeed in life in general, and in the labor market in particular (Figure 24). For example, over 60 percent of employers believe that students do not acquire enough practical experience, as well as social and personal skills during their studies.
Figure 24. Employers’ perceptions on Romania’s Education System
[pic]
Source: WB Online Employers Survey, 2017.
Employers perceive labor mobility among young people, especially low-skilled young workers, to be limited, which hampers the geographic matching of labor supply and demand. Firms located in larger cities face diverse labor demand, whereas those located in small towns struggle with recruiting skilled young workers. According to companies that participated in focus groups, many people are unwilling to relocate due to lack of information on employment opportunities, as well as lack of incentives in terms of housing. Employers expressed the view that many workers are unwilling to move to find work because it is viewed as highly risky. Rather than workers moving to areas of the country to meet skill needs, challenges to labor mobility appear to pose important barriers to meeting employers’ demand for skills.
Employers also expressed a high and unmet demand for elementary workers, especially in woodworking, sales and services, agriculture, manufacturing, water, and garbage collection. Elementary occupations consist of simple and routine tasks that mainly require the use of hand-held tools and often some physical effort. This excess demand was noted by employers in Brasov, Iasi, and Timis counties, the latter of which has the lowest unemployment rate in Romania. Employers spoke about the need to find workers for routine elementary jobs (e.g., electricians, mechanics, locksmiths), but being unable to find such individuals, despite many efforts to do so. In this regard, employers in the focus groups were more focused on the shortage of workers than the shortage of skills. However, findings of the online survey provide more insight into employers’ demand for skills based on different occupational profiles. Physically demanding jobs that require routine manual skills seem to be actively avoided by those seeking work. In some regions, employers noted that elementary workers have an incentive to work in other European countries where they can earn more money for the same type of work, which has further reduced the supply of workers for these jobs. Employers also noted that an insufficient or poorly aligned supply of VET programs and schools may contribute to this problem, as well as perverse policy effects whereby unemployment benefits create a disincentive for young people to choose low-level occupations, even if they are otherwise qualified.
The skills gap is also highlighted by employers who are actively collaborating with VET schools (Figure 25). Over a quarter of tutors from companies where VET students do their practical training hours have reported that VET curriculum together with students’ skills and knowledge are not fully aligned with what employers really need, especially in terms of technical and socioemotional skills. On the other hand, VET teachers are less critical about curriculum content taught by them. Most of them reported that the current curriculum covers all knowledge and skills need on the labor market.
Figure 25. VET teachers and companies’ tutors’ perception on VET relevance (%)
[pic][pic]
Source: WB surveys #2, 2018.
Nonetheless, interviews with 49 VET school principals at national level indicate that the VET curriculum is misaligned with the current needs of the labor market and rapid technological progress. School principals reported that, for some specializations such as mechatronics, curriculum is not well balanced between different subjects and topics which are relevant for working in this field. Also, principals have raised the need for a thorough curriculum revision for the technological track which now is considered obsolete.
|[VET school principal] Mechatronics is the profession of the 21st century. Curriculum for mechatronics has been recently revised, but |
|it focuses more on electrical, electronic, pneumatic, hydraulic, computer science, and much less on mechatronics itself. For example, |
|the total number of hours for 4 years of study is 1.858 out of which only 124 are dedicated to mechatronics (6.7 percent of total |
|hours). |
|[VET school principal] The VET curriculum for mechanics is old, I think from the 70’s and the text books are from 1970-1980. |
|Information is not relevant anymore. The overall curriculum for the technological track is obsolete, new programs are needed which are |
|adapted to current needs and today's economy. |
Another prevailing topic that came out from both surveys and in-depth interviews relates to the VET teaching force and training. For example, school principals and teachers themselves indicated that both pre-service and in-service teacher training are not relevant enough, especially for teachers teaching specialty subjects and practical training who need to update knowledge and skills to keep pace with technological changes happening in different industries.
|[VET school principal] Technological high schools and vocational schools should place more emphasis on teacher training, especially |
|training of teachers for practical training because technology is advancing at a rapid pace, and our teaching staff is not keeping pace|
|with it. This is mainly because there are no courses for them at all. There are only theoretical courses, our teachers participated in |
|all possible courses, but practically there is no teacher training center where teachers can train on new machines currently used by |
|companies. |
Although survey data shows that over 70 percent of teachers were recently trained, in-depth interviews with principals and teachers reveal that most training courses VET teachers attend are not addressing their real needs in terms of updating knowledge and skills concerning the new technologies, equipment and tools used now by employers. In their opinion, this is mainly due to low supply of courses dedicated to specialty and practical training teachers, as well as limited budget allocated for teacher training activities.
Figure 26. VET teacher training frequency and future needs
|[pic] |[pic] |
Source: WB surveys #2, 2018.
Quality of infrastructure in many VET schools still poses challenges. A recent analysis conducted by the World Bank to inform strategic decisions in education infrastructure (World Bank 2017) reveals infrastructure shortages with more than half of secondary schools lacking science laboratories, and 20 percent of VET school (professional track) had no workshop on their premises. Stakeholders interviewed for the preparation of this functional analysis underlined that the infrastructure and equipment are obsolete in many VET schools, especially in technological high schools.
|[VET school principal] We have equipment, but it’s quite old. For example, the tractors we use to train students are an older model |
|which is not used anymore by farmers. They all have tractors of the new range. Same with agricultural machines: we have old machines |
|which are functional, but now farmers have new ones with many more functionalities such as computer, GPS. Hence, it’s difficult because|
|we are training students on old machines, while farmers work on fully automated machines. Besides, investments in school buildings, |
|learning and training spaces are pending for several years. |
Also, employers are aware of the lack and/ or outdated equipment in many VET schools across the country. They are more interested in the sustainability of investments in equipment and new cutting-edge technology due to the rapid technological progress and high costs. Hence, many of them prefer training VET students on their own equipment on their premises. On the other hand, there are several cases whereby employers, usually large companies, decided to bridge this gap and invested in VET infrastructure and equipment.
|[Company’s HR manager] We have a long partnership tradition with VET schools in our region and we invested in building a nearby |
|technological high school many years ago. In collaboration with national and local authorities, we are using EU funds to invest in |
|equipment and materials for VET schools in the area. |
At the same time, over a quarter of VET students reported that school infrastructure conditions are insufficiently and inadequate for a quality training process, especially when it comes to equipment and workshops (Figure 27). Furthermore, the task team heard during school visits and interviews with teachers and parents carried out for this analysis that sometimes students have to buy and/or bring from home different materials and tools needed for practical training and demonstrations. The outdated infrastructure and equipment, and lack of training materials and tools in VET schools is a prevalent topic in all discussions with key stakeholders.
Figure 27. VET students’ perceptions on school environment
[pic]
Source: WB surveys #2, 2018.
Functional analysis – Organizational Structure and Strategic Framework
This section looks at the two fundamental functional dimensions defined in the analytical framework that guides this functional analysis – the strategic framework and the organizational structures governing the VET system. The first part of this section looks at the organizational structures of the subsector more in-depth. It refers both to the governance structure of the VET subsector and the organization of the learning paths in the VET system. The first part explores one of the four key issues identified during the research and dialogue stages of this functional review – leadership. The second part analyses the strategic framework. It is organized around the strategic objectives set out for the sector in key policy documents and pays special attention to the other three of the issues that emerged during the dialogue stage – connectivity with the employers; curricula; low performance of students; and infrastructure and equipment.
Following on the crisscross analytical approach proposed for this functional review, the analysis of the strategic framework comprises observations on organizations. Is does so as it looks at organizations that play different key roles in the tasks related to the achievement of strategic objectives. The analysis of the strategic framework also touches upon key aspects of the enabling functional dimensions of Human Resources and Finance management as they also affect the path towards achieving the set strategic objectives. Yet, these enabling functional dimensions are analyzed separately in a specific section.
4.1 Organizational structure
4.1.1 Institutional structure.
In this report, the subsector is defined as part of a larger system with its own boundaries and “external environment” from which it receives inputs and to which it sends its outputs. The inputs may be classified either as different forms of support (financial, political and social), or as different forms of “demand” (giving the system its mandate, telling it “what to do” in different ways and with different levels of authority). These inputs greatly influence the way the system operates. Inside the subsector are all the agencies playing dedicated and significant role(s). Immediately outside the boundaries of the system are the agencies providing support to, and make the demands on, the system.
The VET is integral part of the pre-university education system and it falls under MoNE’s overall responsibility, in line with the provisions of the National Education Law no. 1/2011. Given the complexity of the VET policy area, the Romanian VET subsector is placed at the intersection of education, training, social, economic and labor market policies. The VET subsector is expected to address a range of issues: the present and future skill demands of the economy, individual citizens’ needs for short and long-term employability and personal development, and society’s requirement for active citizenship. In turn, the VET institutional landscape is highly complex and diverse, and it requires effective collaboration and coordination. The distribution of tasks in this sector is taking place in two ways that make the institutional arrangement highly complex: i) vertically, between the agencies at central, regional and local level; and ii) horizontally, between the agencies at the same level of decision as ministry of education and ministry of labor, TVET Center and NAQ. In such a complex arrangement, there are two important issue is to effectively organize the system: i) align the institutional tasks to reach an effective decision making flow, in such way that also there is no overlaps or gaps in the functions of the institutions; and ii) assign leadership of the VET sector within TVET Center, a single organization that should be empowered to play this role on the ground. The figure below shows the organization level of engagement and the main role and functions attributed.
|Central level |Ministry of National Education |Ministry of Labor and Social Justice |
| |Policy making |Classification of Romanian occupations |
| |Teachers’ salaries and professional scholarship financing |preparation and update |
| |Management, recruitment and deployment of VET teachers, principals and |Nomenclature of qualifications preparation|
| |auxiliary staff |and update |
| |Annual standard cost for VET students used for Per Capita Financing | |
| |Education data management through Information System – SIIIR | |
| |TVET Center structure and appoint director | |
| |TVET Centre (under MONE) |National Authority |National Authority for Qualification (under|National Agency for |
| |Sectoral policy and strategy |for Dual Education |MONE) |Employment |
| |preparation |Initial dual training|National Qualifications Framework |Accredited adult |
| |VET curriculum (training standards|management |preparation |training providers |
| |and syllabi for specialty |Dual training |National Qualifications Register |Register Trainees’ |
| |subjects) development, revision |qualification |Skills Evaluation Centers accreditation and|certification |
| |and update |preparation |evaluation |Facilitation of |
| |VET teacher training management |Providers of dual VET|Occupational standard and qualification |graduate transition |
| |Strategic planning jointly with |accreditation |development coordination |to employment |
| |social partners |Counseling Services | | |
| |Regional Consortia organization | | | |
| |and functioning | | | |
|Other Central |Quality Assurance Agency (ARACIP) |Institute of Educational Sciences |Sectorial Committees (under NAQ) |
|Bodies |authorization, accreditation, and |core curriculum development |Sectorial qualification development |
| |external evaluation of VET schools|(general subjects) for |and validation |
| | |pre-university education | |
|Regional level|Regional Consortia |School Inspectorates |Teacher Houses |Regional Training |
| |Regional Action Plan for Education|Education policy implementation |Teacher training and |Centers for Adults |
| |development |VET school network oversight and school |professional |(Under NAE) |
| |Local Action Plan for Education |support |development |Adult training |
| |development and monitoring |Local Committees organisation | |(especially |
| |Regional VET project development |Schooling plans preparation | |unemployed) |
|Local level |Local Committees for Social Partnership |Schools |Employers |Local Authorities |
| |Local planning |Deliver education and|VET School partners |School financing |
| |School Action Plans (PAS) monitoring |training services |Tutoring and |and management |
| |Schooling plans approval |Career guidance |placements for | |
| |Local curriculum endorsement | |apprentices | |
| |Regional and local school project preparation | | | |
Figure 28. VET institutional landscape - functional arrangements
The Romania VET institutional setting is highly fragmented, and its key functions are carried out by several organizations. More specifically, four different organizations, in addition to the MoNE, carry out key system-specific functions in the VET system. Within the MoNE, five different organizational units carry out five different functions or tasks in the system. These five organizational units report to three different Secretaries of State. All in all, 19 different functions in the operation of the VET system, excluding actual instruction in the schools, are carried out by people in eight different organizations and within one of them – the MoNE – nine organizational units.
The function of leadership and oversight for the entire VET system, or the entire VET subsystem, is missing. Fragmentation per se is not necessarily a problem, since, generally, professionalization implies that each organization should tackle the topic/ field where it (best) specializes. The main issue is that the system lacks a coordinator, as specified in the paragraphs above, with specific leadership and management responsibilities, and accountable for the performance of the VET system by bridging the gap between the demand-side (employers, youth, parents) and the supply-side (education system). However, the existence of a stand-alone leading body/ unit/ organization overseeing the VET system is a good practice in many countries (Figure 29).
Figure 29. International practice on TVET leadership
|Coordination of the Australian VET System[32] |Coordination of the Finnish VET System[33] |
|Ministerial Council of Tertiary Education and Employment (MCTEE) has |The Finnish Ministry of Education is the highest authority and |
|overall responsibility for the national training system. This |has overall responsibility on all publicly funded education. It |
|includes strategic policy, priority setting, planning and |is responsible for preparing education legislation and all |
|performance, and key cross sectoral issues impacting on the national |necessary regulations and orders. There are several expert |
|training system, such as skills forecasting, workforce planning |bodies supporting the work of the ministry, usually with social |
|(including skills needs) and articulation between higher education |partner representation. VET is steered by the Department of |
|and vocational education and training. MCTEE is the key |Vocational Education and Training, inside the Ministry. |
|decision-making body and has overall responsibility for the national |In line with the 2017 VET reform – considered as the largest |
|tertiary education and employment system and has the following key |reform package in Finland within decades - VET for young people |
|functions: 1. Setting the national priorities and strategic policy |and adults has been consolidated, forming a single entity with |
|directions for the tertiary education sector to meet the skills needs|its own steering and regulation system and financing model. The |
|of the Australian economy; 2. Establishing streamlined arrangements |current supply-oriented approach has been refocused into a |
|for national consistency and harmonization of the VET and Higher |demand-driven approach. |
|Education sectors (while respecting the distinct mission of each |In Finland, VET is organized by different types of education |
|sector); 3. Allocations under the National Training System Funding |providers: municipalities, joint municipal authorities, the |
|Pool; 4. Maintaining strong industry leadership of and engagement in |state and the private sector. An authorization to provide |
|the tertiary sector; 5. Overseeing the work of the Australian |education is required. In the future, education is regulated |
|Qualifications Framework Council in strengthening the Australian |through a single authorization license, and education providers |
|Qualifications Framework; 6. Engaging with all associated bodies, |will have increased freedom in organizing their activities. |
|councils and ministerial companies to ensure the effectiveness of |Competence-based and customer orientation in Finland. VET in |
|policy and strategies for the tertiary sector; 7. Responding to |Finland is competence-based and customer-oriented: Each student |
|business, industry and stakeholder advice on issues impacting on the |is offered the possibility to design an individually appropriate|
|tertiary sector; 8. Setting national research priorities. |path to finishing an entire qualification or a supplementary |
| |skill set. The primary importance is on what the student learns |
| |and is able to do. Digital learning environments and new |
| |approaches to pedagogy (e.g. modern simulators) will have a |
| |larger role in the future of learning. Learning in the workplace|
| |will be increased. |
The TVET Center is a specialized public institution, established in 1998[34] under the subordination of MoNE. The TVET Center has been founded with the purpose of reforming the VET in Romania, a process that started back in 1997, through the PHARE VET Programme. The wider objective of the PHARE VET Programme was to support the Government of Romania in its policy reforms of the VET system, secondary VET, to improve relevance to the developing market economy and to assist economic restructuring. Four immediate objectives within the reform of secondary VET were to: (a) adjust the nature of VET to increase initiative, flexibility and broaden the background of graduates to respond to the changed profile of labour demand. (b) seek development of social partnership with employers in defining and implementing VET (c) seek efficiency of provision and (d) develop student choice and delay specialization[35].
By means of successive adjustments, the TVET Center has widened its goals and activities. Nowadays, its main tasks are as follows:
• proposes the core VET policy and strategies for the VET schools, and linkage with labor market;
• VET project coordination to provide technical soundness and innovation;
• develops methodologies for designing, elaborating, and reviewing the VET curriculum, evaluation and certification;
• contributes to VET teacher training development;
• builds coherence between the initial and continuous training of the VET teaching staff;
• prepares programs for supplying VET with equipment and other resources, in line with the international standards;
• coordinates social partnerships in VET, at the national, regional, and local levels;
• provides technical advice for the trainers;
• provides inputs to planning of structures and resources in the VET system;
• collaborates with other institutions, to link the development of professional training standards, curriculum, and evaluation, as well as planning the resources for VET;
• support schools in the project participation at the national, regional, and local levels;
• manages the financial resources of national or international programs.
Currently, there are 55 employees in the TVET Center, distributed in 9 departments. Figure 30 below presents the organization chart in place, as well as the number of management and operational staff inside per organizational unit[36]. Based on the analysis of both the organization chart and staff allocation, the following findings could help build a more coherent and effective organizational structure:
• The administrative/ support functions (i.e. financial, logistics, legal) are very fragmented, since there are 3 units with only 1 employee each, and 1 unit with 2 employees;
• The direct subordination of the support functions to the TVET Center Director might not be the best option, given the fact that the general manager needs time to focus on the core activities of the institution; also, administrative and financial management are on-going operations/ processes that can grasp on the benefits of the standardization and could be automatized to a certain extent;
• The Deputy Director manages the three core areas of TVET Center: a) prognosis and development of VET educational offer; b) training programs and quality in VET; c) career orientation, and entrepreneurial education; these are the areas where most of the employees are assigned (i.e. 36 operational staff and 3 heads of departments reporting directly to the Deputy Director). Consequently, this places a considerable burden on the Deputy Director, who is technically in charge of most core areas of the TVET Center. A potential solution to the Deputy Director’s over-allocation might consist in splitting the responsibility between several unit managers;
• There are still two areas under the direct supervision of the Director: a) international relations and European affairs; and b) the Project Implementation Unit; however, the international affairs and European affairs areas are mostly focusing on representing the TVET Center in various international forums;
• One of the most important functions of TVET Center, that is ensuring a close relation with the business environment, is not sufficiently represented – for example, as a stand-alone structure with specific attributions inside the organization. This should become a priority of the TVET Center soon.
The key functions and tasks of each TVET Center structure are mapped below, in line with the current ROF.
Table 13. TVET Center’s core functions and tasks[37]
|Unit/department |Core functions and tasks |
|Service for Prognosis and Development |Planning and allocation of resources for VET |
|of VET Educational Offer |Development and functioning of social partnerships |
| |Coordination of the Regional Consortia, and of the Regional Action Plans for VET |
| |Coordination of the Local Committees, and of the Local Action Plans for VET |
| |Support schools for developing their own Action Plans |
| |Preparation and implementation of training programs for VET teachers and inspectors in the fields:|
| |a) planning the educational offer based on the market demand, and b) partnership with business |
| |environment |
| |Monitoring the insertion of students on the labour market |
|Service for Training Programs and |Development and implementation of VET professional standards |
|Quality in VET |Curriculum development |
| |Draft the methodologies for the certification of educational results |
| |Ensure correlation between the professional standards and the demands of the labour market |
| |Design and implementation of the quality insurance methodologies |
| |Plans and coordinates the implementation of training programs for TVET teachers, external |
| |evaluators, trainers, and tutors within the private companies |
| |Plans and allocates equipment and other resources, needed for TVET |
| |Contributes to the development of TVET strategies and policies |
| |Ensures representation of TVET Center in national and international bodies |
| |Promotes the TVET and dual system education |
|Service for Career Orientation, |Plans, coordinates, and monitors the implementation of entrepreneurial education in TVET schools |
|Professional Counselling, and |Prepares training programs in entrepreneurship for TVET teachers |
|Entrepreneurial Education in VET |Contributes to the preparation, implementation, and monitoring of the curriculum for career |
| |orientation of students |
| |Supports the inspectorates and the TVET schools in what concerns the career orientation of |
| |students |
| |Promotes the TVET and dual system education |
|Service for Administration and |Financial planning |
|Financial Management |Accounting and financial reporting operations |
| |Public procurement |
| |Human resources management – operations regarding the employment, registration, remuneration, |
| |performance appraisal, and reporting of the TVET Center employees |
| |Hardware and software maintenance |
| |Management of the auto park |
| |Ensures coordination of the secretarial and registration services for TVET Center |
| |Supervises the cleaning services |
|Legal Compartment |Ensures legal counselling and support for all activities |
| |Endorses public procurement contracts |
| |Defends the TVET Center’s interests at the Court of Justice |
|Internal Audit Compartment |Performs internal audit of the managerial system, based on the procedural and legal framework in |
| |place |
| |Reports to the TVET Center’s Director and to MoNE (as applicable) all findings and situations of |
| |incompliance |
| |Drafts the multi-annual and the annual audit plans |
|Monitoring and Reporting Compartment |Development of specific monitoring & reporting methodologies, and tools, in line with relevant |
| |national and international regulations |
| |Implements all rules and stipulations regarding the internal managerial control system |
|International Relations and European |Contributes to the elaboration of specific reports on the state of TVET in Romania |
|Affairs Compartment |Represents the institution in international and European forums (including during international |
| |conferences, workshops, etc.) |
| |Informs the TVET Center staff on all important development relevant for TVET |
| |Promotes TVET achievements on the international stage |
|Project Implementation Unit |Coordinates the project preparation stage |
| |Ensures technical and financial monitoring of projects |
| |Reports to TVET Center management and MoNE the results of the projects |
Figure 30. TVET Center’s organization chart and staff
One of the most important findings of this analysis is that the VET subsector lacks one fundamental role required for any system to operate affectively: leadership. The MoNE lead a much larger system, of which VET is only a relatively small part. While the Minister may make many high-level decisions, he has only “ministerial responsibility” for the entire education system and within it for all subsystems. Having ministerial responsibility does not mean that the minister personally leads, manages, or actively oversees the whole system or its various subsystems. It means that he/she is accountable to the Government of Romania and the Parliament for the performance of the whole system and its subsystems, as well as for the actions of his/her Ministry. Thus, a top manager is needed to lead and manage each subsystem.
In the context of organizational theory, leadership may be regarded as a role consisting of several specific functions which is assigned to a person, an organizational unit, or an organization.
|Key functions/tasks of leadership |In case of lack of unitary leadership, the following issues may |
| |arise: |
|Provide direction for action to the system, e.g. formulate a |Difficulty to coordinate action among multiple |
|long-term vision, as well as short, medium and long-term |organizations/actors within the system; |
|operational objectives; |Potential overlaps when two organizations are doing the same |
|Develop strategies and strategic plans to achieve the vision and |thing (e.g. both TVET Center and the new Authority for Dual VET |
|objectives; |have roles in dual VET), and/or when none of them is doing |
|Advocate for and mobilize financial and human resources to |something that needs to be done (e.g. tracking VET graduates |
|implement strategies and plans; |which in theory is done by the school and the TVET Center, yet in|
|Coordinate all high-level players in the system; |practice this is not done systematically and without dedicated |
|Monitor, oversee, and control the system as a whole to ensure |and specialized staff); |
|unity and efficiency of effort and keep organizations in the |Difficulty to monitor and oversee the entire system, and, if |
|system on track, pursuing the direction given; |necessary, to redirect action and change strategies and plans; |
|Monitor and evaluate the implementation of strategies, plans, |Difficulty to retain overall accountability for any given |
|activities, and their corresponding results; rethink direction, |function, or an entire role. |
|objectives and strategies; and initiate change if needed. | |
While fragmentation per se is not necessarily an impediment, the great fragmentation of the VET system, which starts at the level of Secretary of State, one level below the Minister, and continues lower down the hierarchy, only accentuates the need for a top leader/manager because fragmentation increases the need for coordination. Going further, fragmentation may lead to low prioritization of actors’ VET-related roles/functions/tasks because VET is not their main business, and no authority exerts pressure on them to play their roles effectively. Lastly, fragmentation means that there is no single high-level manager who the Minister can hold accountable for the final output/product of the VET subsystem, e.g. to produce VET graduates who pass the Baccalaureate or the effectiveness of the vocational certification examinations. Following this rationale, the TVET Center is totally dedicated to VET and it is involved in all areas in VET. Also, it has the most VET-related knowledgeable staff and the highest level of expertise in this area, and it seems to enjoy a reasonable level of professional authority among the organizations in the system. The only condition it does not currently meet is adequate capacity to play the role of lead organization. For this to happen, the team proposes several key functions to be performed by the TVET Center such as to:
|Set the vision, mission, objectives, targets, policy and national strategy for VET in Romania; |
|Elaborate the annual vet plan/targets and budget (recurrent but most important the non-recurrent also known as development); |
|Allocate the required budget for the skill sector councils, in this case sectoral committees; |
|Allocate non-recurrent budget to VET schools based on performance on achievement of previously negotiated agreed outputs with VET |
|schools; |
|Monitor outcomes, carry out evaluations and fine-tune the mission, vision based on findings; |
|Keep the registry of standards (competencies) for each trade for which training is provided in VET schools. |
Basically, the main goals of the TVET Center should be as follows: i) to meet the national education and economic objectives; ii) to provide a holistic learning experience for students; iii) to provide lifelong learning opportunities for adult learners; iv) to facilitate capability development of staff; v) to achieve organization and academic excellence; vi) to promote positive image for TVET (Seng Hua, 2008). Building on this, and on the survey results (presented below), the TVET Center must focus on four inter-related core areas: i) vision, policy, and strategy; ii) monitoring, evaluation, and quality assurance; iii) employability, and industry relations, and iv) operations (e.g. resource management, budget development, implementation of programs, and projects). Therefore, the configuration, as well as the main functions and attributions of the VET Centre should be redesigned to capture strategic and longer-term goals, by focusing on new curriculum development, quality assurance, employability of pupils/ students, and the continuous professional development of VET teachers.
In line with all above mentioned aspects, the task team proposes a new organizational structure of the Romanian TVET Center, which revolves around two key functional areas:
• Operations management with the overall mandate to support a demand-driven, flexible, well-anchored VET subsector in accordance with current and future labor market trends, and well-endowed with innovative pedagogical methods, as well as modern learning and training environments;
• Fiduciary takes in charge with all logistics and administrative aspects pertaining to the TVET Center.
Moreover, one potential solution to the functions of the current Deputy Director’s over-allocation might consist in splitting the responsibility between two deputy directors in charge with the two new key strategic units proposed by the tasks team, namely the employers and school’s liaison unit and the information and public awareness unit, which are paramount to the TVET Center as a leading organization in the VET subsector. Therefore, the team believes that these functions/tasks need to become a priority for the TVET Center in the very near future. These two strategic units are positioned at the very core of the TVET Center under direct coordination of the general director:
• EMPLOYERS AND SCHOOLS LIAISON UNIT with the overall mandate to support a functional and active partnership between VET schools and employers, as well as with other relevant regional and local actors; and
• INFORMATION AND PUBLIC AWARENESS UNIT with the overall mandate to re-brand VET as a viable, relevant and quality education and training path.
Figure 31. Proposed organizational chart of the TVET Center
[pic]
The table below resents a detailed picture of the TVET Center’s core functions and roles for each unit and directorate, which is in line with TVET international practice, as well as with important contextual internal factors.
Table 14. Proposed TVET Center organizational units and their key functions
|Organizational units |Specific functions and roles/dedicated staff |
|Core Management Team |The core managerial team performs regular managerial tasks. It comprises the following staff: |
| |1 General Director; |
| |2 Deputy Directors: 1 deputy Director in charge with Operations, and 1 Deputy Director in charge with |
| |Fiduciary; |
| |1 Head of the Information and Public Awareness Unit; |
| |1 Head of the Employers and Schools Liaison Unit. |
|Employers and Schools |This is a transversal unit, under the direct coordination of the General Director comprising 4 dedicated |
|Liaison Unit |staff. Its specific functions and roles are to: |
| |Support a functional and active relationship between employers and the TVET schools, as well as with other |
| |key regional and local actors; |
| |Ensure alignment of VET skills supply with the current and future labor market demands; |
| |Collect and aggregate data from all relevant units within the TVET Center to develop strategic proposals, |
| |policies, and action plans aimed at building a demand-driven, modern, and flexible TVET system. |
|Information and Public |This is a transversal unit, under the coordination of the General Director comprising 3 dedicated staff. It |
|Awareness Unit |performs the following specific functions: |
| |Design and implement the communication strategy for VET and for the TVET Center based on evidence/inputs |
| |provided by the relevant departments within the MoNE, TVET Center, VET schools, and employers; |
| |Represent the institution in international and European forums (including international conferences, |
| |workshops, etc.), and promote VET achievements on the international stage; |
| |Identify, collect and disseminate international good practices related to TVET management, school management,|
| |curriculum development, professionalization of TVET human resources, financing, etc. |
|Directorate for |Organization unit, under the coordination of the Deputy Director for Operations. Under this unit, several |
|Operations |specific subunits are proposed, as follows: |
| |Policy and Planning (PP) in charge with developing VET policies and strategies, and revising policies, |
| |objectives and targets based on evidence collected on the ground; |
| |Program Management and Implementation (PMI) in charge with management of programs and projects implemented by|
| |the TVET Center; |
| |Research and Development (R&D), with the following specific tasks: |
| |Collect, analyze and interpret VET data through different quantitative and qualitative research methods; and |
| |further report the main findings to the Center’s top management, MoNE, and other key stakeholders; |
| |Perform skills forecasts, and based on them develop new curricula, revise and/or develop new training |
| |standards; |
| |Develop methodologies for the certification of educational results based on research findings, and other |
| |evidence collected on the ground by the TVET regional branches; |
| |Support entrepreneurial education in VET schools; |
| |Collaborate closely with the TVET regional branches for collecting key data on qualifications, competencies, |
| |outcomes and results in terms of VET graduates, certifications, and employability, as well as institutional |
| |performance. |
| |Resource Management (RM), with the following specific tasks: |
| |Prepare annual or multi annual budget plans for VET to cover both recurrent and non-recurrent costs. |
| |Allocation of non-recurrent budget to VET schools may be done based on performance: based on achievement of |
| |previous negotiated agreed outputs with VET schools; |
| |Allocate the required budget to the Sectoral Committees, as well to other advisory bodies under Center’s |
| |coordination, namely Regional Consortia and Local Committees for social partnership. |
| |Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) in charge with monitoring and evaluation of VET strategies, plans, |
| |activities, and their corresponding results through different instruments prepared by the R&D subunit. At the|
| |same time, based on evidence provided by the Regional branches and the R&D subunit: |
| |Rethink direction for action, objectives and targets; |
| |Initiate change, when needed |
| |This subunit coordinates and supports the Regional branches. |
|Directorate for |Organization unit, under the coordination of the Deputy Director for Fiduciary. This unit manages all |
|Fiduciary |administrative and logistical aspects of the TVET Center and supports Center’s daily operation. Also, it |
| |coordinates the development and implementation of training plans for Center’s staff. |
| |Under this unit, several subunits are proposed, as follows: |
| |Audit in charge with performing internal audit of the managerial system based on existing legal framework and|
| |procedures (according to the existing legislation in this matter, internal audit needs to be a stand-alone |
| |subunit); |
| |Human Resources (HR) in charge with performing regular training needs assessment of TVET Center’s staff. The |
| |results are used to prepare training plans and carry out and/or recommend training programs. Also, this |
| |subunit evaluates the impact of training sessions; |
| |Financial Management (FM) in charge with accounting all the TVET Center’s daily financial operations and |
| |staff registration and payment; |
| |Procurement manages all procurement procedures for the TVET Center; |
| |Legal provides legal support; |
| |IT (hardware and software): ensures the IT&C support for all units and subunits of the TVET Center; |
| |Logistics: manages all logistics needed for the administration of the TVET Center. |
Leadership function will be taken by TVET center who will be supported in accomplishing functions and liaison with schools by eight regional branches, each devoted to a developmental region comprising of around 5 counties. The key functions of schools and branches are explained below and the illustration shows bidirectional purpose of regional branches: i) one the one hand it informs schools on policies, action plans and procedures to implement regulatory actions as well as any report on results or forecasting skills and budget allocated to achieve annual objectives and intermediary milestones; ii) on the other hand they represent the transmission belt for schools to send their data, evidence and requests to inform analysis. Key training is mandatory both for the managers of the units in the TVET Center and in regional branches, as well as for the staff deployed at central, regional and local level. The training function should be a permanent one, to cover a consistent and programmatic approach, as to fill in the skills gap and ongoing update with the most recent trends and innovations in the sector. The capacity building activities, trainings, workshops, focus groups, will be meant to strengthen the capacity of the TVET Center to make informed decisions.
Figure 32. Regional branches bidirectional function
[pic]
Key functions of TVET Center’s Regional Branches. Within the above proposed organizational framework of the TVET Center, the Regional Branches need to be the arms and legs of the TVET Center on the ground, and to perform the following key functions within teams of five staff:
• Carry on site monitoring (at least 3 visits per year) to the VET schools under their jurisdiction as per monitoring time action plan and procedures/instruments approved by the TVET center;
• Provide hands on support to VET schools that are not performing as expected, through contracted technical assistance;
• Convey to the VET schools the instructions sent from the TVET Center;
• Collect and analyze data and information from VET schools as per procedures prepared by the TVET Center.
Within each regional center, the proposed key functions are recommendable to be performed by a team of five staff with dedicated roles and tasks, as follows: 1 staff with leading role and in charge with coordinating center’s daily activities and operations; 1 staff in charge with planning and coordinating training programs for teachers, tutors from companies, school inspectors, etc.; 1 staff in charge with M&E activities and liaison with employers; 1 staff in charge with reporting, sending data and evidence collected at school level to the TVET Center to inform analysis; 1 staff in charge with quality assurance of work based learning and training, especially training at employers’ premises.
Key functions of VET schools. The following key functions to be performed by the VET schools are suggested by the task team provided that VET schools enjoy a certain degree of autonomy:
• Provide competency-based education and training of appropriate quality in the qualifications approved by the corresponding sectoral committee;
• Ensure alignment to the standards of the trade for which training is being delivered for all the elements required (training curricula, trainers, training procedures, learning equipment, physical facilities, school organization, etc.);
• Conduct tracer studies of VET graduates to see if they are employed in an occupation related to their training within six to twelve months after graduation, and if possible track their job performance record. Use the findings of these tracer studies to fine tune the training programs;
• Ensure an active functional cell within the school in charge with connecting the school and its students with employers in their area;
• Provide dedicated and specialized career guidance to its students.
Key functions of Sectoral Committees
The Sectoral Committees are chaired by a key employer of the sector and comprises employers of the sector, representatives of the TVET center associated to the trades, government officials. They have decision making power and a budget. It is not an advisory committee. The sectoral committees will report/accountable to the head of the TVET center, but they are autonomous bodies with their own budget and by laws. In addition to recommendations regarding the reform of the TVET Center, a number of specific recommendations were suggested throughout the report. These are highlighted and commented upon in the section looking at the strategic framework functional dimension.
4.1.2 Current structure of the VET subsector.
At the end of lower secondary education (Grade 8), students have two multitrack pathways available:
• A high school pathway with three tracks: (i) theoretical, (ii) technological, and (iii) vocational. In theoretical high schools, the focus is on sciences and humanities programs and preparation for the Baccalaureate degree which grants access to higher education studies. Technological high schools focus both on obtaining a level 4 qualification and on preparing for the Baccalaureate which grants access to higher education. In vocational[38] high schools (e.g., arts, sports, military studies, religious or pedagogical studies), the focus is on preparing students for vocational certification and the Baccalaureate, but at the same time with the aim of continuing study to higher education;
• Three-year professional track where the focus is exclusively on training for a level 3 qualification with no direct access to higher education. Graduates of this program who want to go to university have only one option available which requires enrollment in technological track in grade 11, attend two more years of study (grade 11 and 12 in full time program or grade 11-13 in evening classes), graduate high school, pass the Baccalaureate and then go to university. In 2016, dual VET[39] was introduced and it’s being delivered in the three-year vocational track. It is organized based on an active partnership between schools and employers. The new legal framework enables employers to be more engaged in students’ practical training, curriculum adaptation to labor market needs, participation in school boards, and provision of equipment, tools, and materials.
Initial VET in Romania is delivered at upper secondary level in technological track (grades 9-12/13) and three-year vocational track (grades 9-11), and post-secondary level in post high schools and foremen schools (1-3 years). The VET system is organized to connect graduates with labor market but also to continue education, as explained in Figure 33. The differences between the Romanian structure and other systems are:
• first two grades are part of the compulsory education which addresses mostly basic general skills and allocates still a significant number of hours to complete basic education. Students that want to receive a qualification level 2 after completing grade 10 needs to spend additional 700 hours for on the job training;
• there is no certification for completion the compulsory education at grade 10;
• VET education is streamed early when students are 15 years old and covers three years in professional route and four years in technological route;
• Higher education may be pursued with Baccalaureate graduation in technological track only
• there is no college program yet that VET graduates from professional track may follow
• VET students work and study more years (5/6 compared to 4 in regular tracks) if follow this path.
Figure 33. Current VET system [pic]
Evidence shows that curriculum in VET is fairly unbalanced between the professional and technological tracks. The shares of hours allocated for technical subjects and practical training are significantly higher in the professional track compared with technological one. For instance, in professional track, the share of hours/school year allocated to technical subjects varies from 30 to 50 percent during the three years of study. Also, practical training receives higher weight, and this makes the professional track more appealing to youth in search of immediate employment. This finding calls for rethinking and restructuring curriculum in technological track, and thus rethinking the overall scope of this track.
Table 15. Instructional time allocation per technological and professional tracks[40]
| |technological track- % of total |professional track - % of total |
|Main categories |G9 |G10 |G11 |G12 |G9 |G10 |G11 |
|General curriculum |62% |55% |52% |52% |55% |27% |26% |
|Basic core skills | | | | | | | |
|Technical curriculum |31% |37% |48% |48% |33% |53% |51% |
|Technical skills | | | | | | | |
|On the job training |8% |8% |0% |0% |12% |20% |23% |
Table 16. Distribution of annual instructional time (in hours) per field of study and track
| |technological track- instructional time |professional track – instructional |
| |in hours |time in hours |
|Fields of study |G9 |G10 |G11 |G12 |G9 |G10 |G11 |
|Language and communication |252 |210 |231 |217 |136 |128 |150 |
|Mathematics and natural sciences |288 |245 |198 |186 |272 |96 |90 |
|People and society |144 |140 |132 |124 |204 |64 |30 |
|Sport |36 |35 |31 |31 |68 |64 |60 |
|General curriculum -total hours |720 |630 |592 |558 |680 |352 |330 |
|Technologies |360 |420 |546 |522 |374 |672 |630 |
|Practical stage |90 |90 | | |150 |270 |300 |
|Career counselling | | | | |34 |32 |30 |
|total number of hours |1170 |1140 |1138 |1080 |1238 |1326 |1290 |
IVET school network. The VET supply is unevenly distributed at territorial level with urban areas being well covered, whereas rural areas are still underserved (with only 26 percent of VET units). This distribution reflects the industrialization pattern before the 90’s when most of the VET school network was established to serve factories located in big cities. The data shows high concentration of IVET units (over 20 units per locality) in the largest educational (and university) centers: Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara and Iasi (Figure 34). Moreover, large number of IVET units can be found in Craiova, Constanta and Galati, where the automotive and naval industries are well developed. Cities like Arad and Buzau are also among the cities with many VET units. Also, VET is very popular in Brasov area due to the “Kronstadt” German Vocational School, one of the first dual technical education schools and an example of good practice in the VET arena. The IVET school network comprises around 950 educational units with technological and professional tracks.
The largest educational centers like Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca and Timisoara serve most of the students (Figure 34). These cities are followed by Craiova, Pitesti, Ploiesti, Constanta and Galati, where the automotive and naval industries predominate, and the road connectivity is better. Oradea is also among the cities with a high number of students enrolled in VET, due to its tradition in the hospitality industry. Brasov also attracts a high number of students in VET education.
In terms of evening classes, only 16 percent of VET students have chosen this type of courses in the school year 2018/19 (Figure 34). Again, most students are enrolled in large educational cities: Bucharest, Timisoara and Iasi. Other cities with high enrollments in evening courses are Arad, Baia Mare, Braila, Constanta, Galati and Oradea. Evening courses are mainly attended by students and adults who already have a job.
Figure 34. The VET school network, school year 2018/19 [pic] [pic][pic]
Source: World Bank team.
Furthermore, the data shows a quite complex and mixed VET supply (schools) which can be grouped in five major profiles: (A) technological and professional tracks only; (B) technological and professional tracks, and lower education levels (preschool, primary, lower secondary); (C) technological, other high school and professional tracks; (D) professional track and lower education levels; and (E) technological track and lower education levels (Figure 35). Iasi is the leading county in terms of total number of VET schools (48 units) where almost half of them have professional track and lower levels of education (profile D). Bucharest has the largest number of VET schools with technological and professional tracks, and other high school tracks (profile C), thus indicating a more diverse supply. At the other end of the spectrum, profile A is more predominant in Arad, Cluj and Timis counties which have a long trade and craft tradition dating back from the 18th century. In terms of VET schools with technological and lower levels (profile E), Prahova and Constanta counties have the largest numbers. VET schools with technological and professional routes, and lower levels predominate in Alba county (profile B).
Figure 35. Distribution of VET school profiles by county, school year 2018/19
[pic]
Source: SIIIR, 2019.
Profiles B and D, technological and professional tracks combined with lower levels are more common in rural areas (60 percent of VET schools from profiles B and D) where VET programs are delivered together with lower levels of education, often in the same building. On the other hand, profiles A, C, and E are more present in urban areas (80 percent of VET schools) where VET is offered in schools accommodating only upper secondary students. This finding is extremely relevant when looking at learning environments, space availability and funding.
4.1.3. Regional structure of supply and demand of skills
While Romania has a relatively low level of unemployment (especially in highly developed urban areas), there is a shortage of qualified labor, particularly in the ICT sector, but also among health and education professionals. The supply of qualified personnel in skilled trades, engineering, transportation and distribution is not sufficient to cover the labor market demand. Very often employers report difficulties in filling their vacancies with qualified workers, which can be partly attributed to the poor quality of education, vocational education and training (VET) and lifelong learning (LLL) systems and the higher chances of finding a better paid job abroad.
Moreover, stakeholders, especially employers’ associations and unions, report that the current list of occupations is outdated, and it doesn’t capture the latest changes in the labor market, showing evidence that explains the little involvement or weak participation of labor market stakeholders, including those participating in Sectoral Committees. Employers recommend an in-depth revision and updating of the list to reflect all new jobs and occupations which have emerged in the last few years on the labor market due to progress in several emerging industries (PIAROM, 2017). In addition, employers highlighted that the list of occupations is inconsistent with some occupations falling in the wrong category, e.g. drivers of heavy weight vehicles. On the other hand, the list of qualifications for initial VET was last updated in 2008[41], while the vast majority of training standards have been revised in 2016-2017.
Also, employers suggest that the VET supply of qualifications, especially those delivered in the 3-year VET, does not correlate with the actual labor market needs. In 2017, three qualifications had largest number of graduates, namely car mechanic (4.726), worker in textile industry (1.593) and waiter (1.345), yet recent analysis of employment trends at national level shows significant gaps between what VET schools offer and the actual demand for certain jobs. According to employers’ union, there is a surplus of car mechanics than the labor market needs or can absorb. This situation persists with waiter, machine operator and car mechanic registering highest positive enrolment trend in the last three years whereas worker in textile industry, carpenter and mason are becoming obsolete (Figure 36).
Figure 36. Enrollment trends in 3-year VET by qualification between 2016 and 2018
[pic]
Source: World Bank team calculation based on SIIIR.
Across all regions, managers, technicians, clerks and service and sales workers are the most difficult occupations to fill, except in Bucharest-IIfov (WB, CEM, 2019). High-skilled (managers, professionals, and technicians and associate professionals) and low-skilled (clerical support workers, and service and sales workers) occupations contributed to almost 80 percent of the total vacancy rate in Bucharest-IIfov in 2017, indicating that Bucharest’s main challenge is to fill high-skilled position occupations. Meanwhile, in other regions, the most difficult occupations to fill are plant and machine operators and assemblers, and elementary occupations. Latest data (NIS, 2018) on job vacancies show that professionals are in highest demand in all eight regions, followed by elementary workers and machine operators, workers in services, sales, and craft.
This fact is also confirmed by employers located in the North-West region, interviewed about challenges to growth and jobs creation. They are increasingly worried about the migration of skilled labor, as well as the quality of education which is not correlated to the local needs of the labor market and is not contributing to the skills of the labor force – especially in the case of younger population. When establishing or growing a business, occupying available positions has become at least as challenging as identifying sources of capital. Employers, irrespective of their size, have accepted as a rule the hiring of any person willing to accept the position and being trained on the job. The most frequent constraints are related to the lack of skilled and qualified labor; the lack of people available for employment; and high costs associated with employee training.[42]
Figure 37. Vacancies by group of occupations, at regional level
[pic]
Source: National Institute of Statistics, 2018.
Moreover, skills mismatches may be observed at regional level between what the VET schools provide and labor market demands. On the one hand, VET schools are producing more technicians (trained in the technological track) than the labor market needs in all regions, with small variations (Figure 38). Similar mismatches may be found for other groups of occupations like craft and related trade workers and skilled agriculture workers.
On the other hand, there is high demand for workers in plant and machine operators in almost all regions, and significant low supply of VET graduates trained in these occupations, especially graduates of professional track. Demand for service and sales workers varies across regions, with higher levels in Bucharest-Ilfov and West regions, while in North-West and South-East regions, VET supply meets the demand.
Figure 38. Job vacancies versus vet graduates by group of occupations and regions
[pic][pic]
[pic][pic]
[pic][pic]
Source: NIS & SIIIR, 2019.
Romania shows limited internal mobility, with less than two percent of the population reporting having moved in the last five years (WB, SCD, 2018). This mapping needs to be done at the level of a cluster of neighboring VET schools, because graduates tend to have little mobility, therefore, unlikely that a graduate from an VET school in the south east is going to look for a job in the north west of the country. This situation also came out several times during focus groups with employers recently carried out by the World Bank team for the preparation of the Education Infrastructure Strategy. Companies’ representatives have reported that many people are unwilling to relocate due to lack of information on employment opportunities, as well as lack of incentives in terms of housing. Rather than workers moving to areas of the country to meet skill needs, challenges to labor mobility appear to pose important barriers to meeting employers’ demand for skills.
Distribution of job openings at regional level reveals a high concentration of resources in some areas reinforcing that certain industries are strongly localized (World Bank, Competitive Cities, 2013). Industry and manufacturing sectors are dominating the job opening landscape (with 42 percent of total openings) with higher concentrations in Centre, Northern and Western regions (Figure 39). Interestingly, the demand for workers in the health and social sector is quite prevalent in Bucharest-Ilfov, Southern and West regions which may be partially explained by significant emigration rates among physicians in the last few years. A recent World Bank study on migration shows that, in 2013, over 26 percent of Romanian physicians were working outside Romania; at the same time, a growing number of young physicians are choosing to finish their residency abroad (World Bank, Migration Note, 2018).
Figure 39. Vacancies at regional level by sector, 2018
[pic]
Source: National Institute of Statistics, 2018.
The top three industries in terms of job opportunities are manufacturing with more job openings in West, North West and Center regions, followed by public administration with highest number of vacancies in Bucharest-Ilfov, and health and social work with most vacancies concentrated in southern regions. In terms of VET offer, most students in all regions train in manufacturing, hotel industry and retail.
|Figure 40. Top 3 industries by number of job vacancies at regional level, 2018 |
|[pic] |
|Figure 41. Top 3 industries by estimated number of VET graduates[43] at regional level, 2018 |
|[pic] |
The next section presents the functional analysis of the strategic framework dimension and there in there a proposal to reform the structure of the VET provision of offered. The rational for the proposal includes the objectives of improving mismatches between the VET offer and the labor markets demands by making the system more permeable and flexible.
4.2 Strategic framework
Romania is pursuing several initiatives to modernize its VET system and align its provision with labor market needs. Several national strategies and relevant legislation have been approved in recent years reflecting a clear vision and well-defined strategic objectives for the sector. Among these strategies the most relevant one for the VET sector is the Vocation Education and Training (VET) Strategy for 2016-2020[44], which is complementary to the National Lifelong Learning Strategy (2015-2020)[45] and the Strategy on Reducing Early School Leaving (2015-2020)[46], the Tertiary Education Strategy (2015-2020) and the more recent Strategy for Investment in Education Infrastructure (2018)[47]. All together these strategies propose a global vision for the development of the entire education and training system from a lifelong learning perspective. The overall aim of the VET strategy, in turn, is to develop a VET system adapted to the needs of the labor market and its direct beneficiaries, which reflects a good alignment with the core distinctive feature of well-functioning VET systems according to international experience – that they are demand-driven, especially by employers’ needs.
Key legislation related to the strategic objectives set out in the Romanian VET strategy has been introduced. These objectives are (i) to increase labor market relevance of VET subsector, (ii) to improve its participation levels, and (iii) to enhance the quality of the system promoting excellence. Relevant legislation put in place with the aim to achieve these objectives includes the approval of a general framework for the organization of partnerships in VET[48], the introduction of a dual system that combines school- and company-based training[49]; the creation of professional scholarships for learners enrolled in 3-years professional programmes[50], and the new requirement for all VET teachers to complete two modules on psycho-pedagogy[51]. In addition, the VET strategy builds upon the fundamental guidelines set out for the sector in the Law of National Education[52] and the Law on Quality Assurance[53]. However, the implementation of the policies and actions related to the strategic objectives set out for the VET sector has been uneven. Noticeable progress can be seen in the diversification of training programs with the introduction of the dual system and the re-introduction of 3-year programmes; increased involvement of social partners through the development of school partnership networks and via the creation of participative management structures organized at regional and local levels: Regional Consortia (RC) and Local Committees for the Development of Social Partnerships (LCDSP); a strategic planning more in line with regional and local needs reflected in Regional Education Action Plans (REAP) and Local Education Action Plans (LEAPs), and efforts to increase the attractiveness of the system via changes and adjustments in the provision of career guidance and counselling services (educational fairs organized by the County School Inspectorates, “Choose Your Path” initiative). Yet, overall, as observed in the context section, the labor market relevance of education is still a challenge, and, as is shown in the next paragraphs, the inclusion of social partners still needs improvement. Governance arrangements, in turn, can be fragmented and may inefficiently overlap in some cases, and the implementation of actions needed to achieve the strategy’s goals has been significantly delayed due to inadequate funding.
The next paragraphs offer further details about the pending challenges and the progress made towards the strategic objectives of the VET strategic framework and examines how key functions and roles related to the tasks required to achieve those objectives are distributed. Each strategic objective corresponds to a key issue identified as critical in the current VET Romanian context – the objective of increasing VET relevance is related to concerns regarding the curricula; the objective of achieving higher levels of participation is linked to low performance of VET students; and the latter, as well as concerns with infrastructure and equipment, are related to the strategic objective regarding the enhancement of quality in VET provision. As such, within the analysis of each of these strategic objectives, special attention is dedicated to these issues, respectively. In addition, all these strategic objectives, in turn, are cut across by another key issue identified during the dialogue and research stage related to linkages with employers.
4.2.1 Improving the relevance of the VET system for the labor market
Several measures and initiatives conducive to making VET more relevant to the labor market have been adopted in the past few years in Romania. These regard particularly the development of a qualification framework linked to occupational and training standards, measures to ensure that social partners at different sub-national levels are involved in decision-making and implementation in the VET system, and various efforts to improve the capacity to anticipate labor market skills needs and shape the VET provision offer accordingly. The National Authority for Qualifications is responsible to develop and update the National Framework of Qualifications as well as align them with European qualifications. These measures reflect closely the priorities established in the strategic framework that guides the VET sector, especially in the 2016 VET strategy but also the Lifelong Learning strategy and its emphasis on the development of partnerships.
The National Qualifications Framework (NFQ) was adopted in 2013 and revised in 2016. The framework is structured in eight levels of qualifications, where VET and CVET covers levels 6-8. The framework is aligned with the European Qualifications Framework (EQF). As for VET, 261 curricular proposals for qualification levels 3 and 4 professional qualifications have been developed. These qualifications are based on vocational training standards that are correlated with the level descriptors from the NQF and are aligned with occupational standards. Training standards describe learning outcomes grouped in units, an approach that allows the European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) to be implemented in Romania[54]. Different stakeholders are involved in the development of occupational standards and qualifications, either as decision-makers or as advisory bodies. These comprise the Ministry of National Education (MoNE) and its agencies specialized in VET, the National Center for Technical and Vocational Education and Training Development (NCTVETD/ TVET Center) and the National Authority for Qualifications (NAQ), as well as employers and industry representatives, trade unions, and relevant professional associations, Ministry of Labor and Social Justice (MoLSJ) which oversees issues pertinent to Continued VET (CVET). The NAQ is responsible for the development of occupational standards, for the approval of qualifications and for the maintenance of the National Registry of Qualification (NRQ). The sectoral committees, which members are representatives of both employers and trade unions and are organized per economic sector, validate qualifications, developed with methodological guidance and coordination of the TVET Center, and are involved in the development of occupational standards, which are the responsibility of the NAQ.
The qualifications that can be obtained in the VET system are planned on the medium and long term and adjusted annually if necessary. The adjustments are made in accordance to a decentralized strategic planning model that has been developed to ensure the relevance of qualifications offer in terms of the labor market projected needs. The model is based on devolving decision making involving stakeholders at the regional and local levels organized in Regional Consortia (RC) and LCDSP which, respectively, produce the Regional Education Action Plans (REAPs) and the Local Education Action Plans (LEAPs).
The development and revision of the qualifications corresponding to VET, however, was not coupled with a similar process of updating occupational standards. While the training standards specify the learning outcomes and the occupations with which each qualification is connected, several qualifications are not well correlated with the corresponding occupations and for some qualifications no occupation standards have been developed yet. In a recent report (PIAROM, 2017), employers refer to this delay in updating occupational standards. Partly this is so because while sectoral committees are only required to validate qualification, in the case of occupation standards they are required to be involved in their development as advisors to the NAQ. This entails a more dedicated commitment and some sectoral committees are more active and willing to get involved than others.
Additionally, the development of a National Qualifications Register (NQR) and of qualifications for continued education remains pending. According to the Law of National Education no. 1/2011, all VET programs should be aligned with the qualifications included in the NQR managed by the NAQ. The NAQ drafted and submitted for approval, in 2017, a structure of the NQR that follows the European Council recommendations from May 22nd, 2017 on European Qualifications Framework on Lifelong Learning. In the meantime, the absence of a unitary NQR means that the VET and CVET standards have not been correlated yet, precluding smooth transitions and permeability between these subsystems. This means that the VET strategy’s expectations that a better articulation to VET subsystems was to emerge from the adoption of a qualification’s framework is still not achieved. This represents an additional hindrance for the achievement of the target set in the related LLL strategy – defined as 10 percent of 25-64-year-olds participating in lifelong learning by 2020 and which decreased to 1 percent in 2017 from a baseline of 2 percent in 2013. The articulation of VET and CVET is challenging as they are managed independently from one another and function under the remit of two different ministries, education and labor, respectively, which may have different priorities and views with regards to education and training.
Training standards set the guidelines framework for designing the VET curricula, assessing learning outcomes and awarding qualification certificates. They are developed with methodological and coordination support provided by the TVET Center and with the participation of VET providers and companies from the relevant economic sectors as advisors. They are endorsed by the NAQ and validated by the respective sectoral committees. The revision of standards is carried out at least every five years or at the request of employers (CEDEFOP, 2019). Some of the occupations that are emergent or depending on high speed of technological change, as in the case of robotics, electronics, biotechnology, requires a faster revision, at every two years, and other may not change in a medium horizon, like hairdressing. Each training standard specifies the occupation(s) the standard leads to; the learning outcomes units of the standard and how they correspond to the competences required with the relevant occupational standard(s) or on the bases of recommendations of the sectoral committees or company representatives; and the minimum equipment requirements for those learning outcomes. At the same time, the training standards must align: (i) the training curricula and training packages; (ii) the profile of the trainers/teachers; (iii) the training delivery; (iv) the technical specifications of the training equipment and physical spaces of workshops and laboratories; and (v) the organization and management of the VET.
Curricula for each qualification have two main components: a core curriculum and a local curriculum. The Institute of Educational Science[55] designs the former at national level, while the latter is designed by the TVET Center with the collaboration of schools and local businesses organized in local committees. Once developed, both curriculums need the MoNE approval. The core curriculum concerns the general subjects, such as Mathematics and Romanian language, and the local curriculum regards the students' specific professional training. The aim of developing this specific curriculum with the involvement of local partners is to adapt it to the requirements of the local and regional labor market. The share of national (core) and local (specific) curricula varies by qualification level. At EQF level 3, 20% of learning time is reserved for the local curriculum and 80% for national; at EQF level 4, the share is 30% for the local curriculum and 70% for national. At EQF level 5, all curricula are national (CEDEFOP, 2019).
In line with the training standards, the curricula for VET is being redefined in terms of learning outcomes and reflects the standards for the occupations corresponding to the relevant qualifications. The redefinition of curricula in these terms is currently ongoing as part of a broader overhaul of the pre-university curriculum in Romania, which has been in place for the past 7 years. In VET, the revision of the curriculum for year 9 has been completed and the reform of the curriculum for years 10 to 12 is still under development. The learning outcome for students enrolled in VET is not the one reflected by the scores but the one translated in employment and job performance, more specifically competency-based outcome.
The full development of the curricular reform as well as the maintenance of up-to-date VET qualifications and descriptors is subject to the availability of funds. The development of VET qualifications and the corresponding design of training standards and curricular reform was conducted by the TVET Center with financial support of the European Union pre-accession funds under the PHARE projects[56]. The National Authority for Qualifications was involved in validating and approving the qualifications. The completion of the curricular reform and the revision of the qualifications, which should be done periodically, is hindered by the TVET Center limited resources to hire the necessary skilled staff to undertake these tasks.
Research conducted by the WB team in preparation of this functional review found that the core curriculum is perceived to be overloaded and disconnected from the training field of the qualifications. For example, physics is taught in a highly theoretical manner and not linked to topics that may be of relevance for learners seeking a qualification as car mechanics. The fragmentation of tasks between different agencies that design the core and the specific curriculum is one possible explanation for this disconnect. The scheme of the main stakeholders involved in the development and maintenance of occupation standards, qualification, training standards and curricula presented in Figure 42, show the numerous actors involved in these processes. While the inclusion of different stakeholders’ viewpoints, especially at the local levels given the relevance of VET for regional economies, a close look at the roles played by these stakeholders indicate that there are several national agencies performing “overseeing” roles and that the roles of the local and labor market actors, except for schools, are mostly advisory. Moreover, the disconnect between different components of the curriculums is related to the characteristics of the training of the teachers delivering these general subjects receive – the uptake of in-service training is low and courses available are rarely tailored considering specific needs at school or individual teachers’ needs, as shown later in this report. Professional development courses to allow teachers acquire the skills to adapt to the area of knowledge to the specific training fields in which they teach could contribute to address this disconnect.
Figure 42. Main stakeholders’ responsibilities and roles in developing qualifications, training standards and curricula in Romanian VET subsector
[pic]
Source: WB team.
In addition to the reform in curricular design for VET, a recent curricular innovation introduced in the subsector has been the inclusion of entrepreneurial skills and the creation of mock enterprises. The scheme seeks to promote local, regional and national business plans competitions. It was developed with EU funds during the financial period 2007-2013 and new funds are expected for the current financial period to expand its implementation. Currently funded with national funds a total number of students involved in innovation and entrepreneurial development programs in 2017 was 40,100 but the target expected for 2020 once the programme receives ESFI co-financing is 60,000.
Stakeholders’ engagement
The involvement of social partners in the VET subsector, an action needed to improve the relevance of VET according to the 2016 VET strategy, has significantly increased in the past few years. Employers’ and employees’ involvement in the design of qualifications, training standards and curricula via sectoral committees, as well as in their involvement in the regional and local participatory structures that design the regional and local education action plans. Moreover, sectoral committees are also tasked with responsibilities that go beyond their contributions to the development of qualifications and occupational and training standards. By law[57] sectoral committees’ functions include also participating in the development of national and sectoral strategies on training; providing input on assessment and certification matters; and providing advice related to workforce development and employability in their sectors (Box 1). From the implementation perspective and interviews it seems that sectorial committees are not really being driven by the employers, albeit they might participate. That needs to drastically change to ensure a more relevant VET system of higher quality and labor market relevance.
In addition, the increased involvement of employers is also a result of the growing numbers of partnerships established between VET providers and employers and the introduction of the dual system of VET. These latter developments represent an increasing role of employers not only in shaping the VET sector strategies and approaches but also in the delivery of training to which they bring in their on-the-job expertise and latest development in the field.
Social partners participate at the regional and local levels in the Regional Consortia (RC) and Local Committees for Development of Social Partnerships (LCDPS). The RC and LCDSP were established by Order no. 4456/2015 of the MoNE to increase the capacity of the VET sector to meet the demands of the labor markets. The MoNE encourages the establishment of these consultative bodies which main function in the VET subsector is to provide inputs to contribute to the development of REAPs, for each development region, and LEAPs, at the level of counties. These bodies operate based on voluntary participation in regular meetings. A variety of social partners such as employers, professional associations, employees, trade unions, public authorities and relevant nongovernmental organizations, can participate in these bodies. In the case of the Bucharest/Ilfov development region, for instance, 21 organizations participate in the RC, including universities, the school inspectorate, the local authority, the National Agency for Workforce Employment, the General Union of Industrial Employers, the chamber for commerce and Industry, and the TVET Center[58]. The RC are functioning under the TVET Center, and the LCDPS under the county school inspectorates.
At the same time, partnerships between VET providers and employers have been increasing since the early 2010s. According to the current regulations[59], each school that delivers the VET track is required to have signed a partnership agreement with a company or a group of companies. VET schools cannot request enrolment quotas from the government, on which the state funding for VET schools is based, unless they have a partnership agreement with companies agreeing on these enrolment figures. In turn, having established links through a partnership agreement with companies is a requirement also included in the basic standards for accreditation of VET schools since this ensures that suitable facilities are available for practical training. Together with legal requirement, these ties to financial and quality assurance aspects have made partnership agreements mandatory for all VET schools. By 2017 the number of partnerships between schools and companies doubled compared to 2013. However, this increase was due, to a large extent, to the clear provisions regarding partnerships between VET schools and companies set out in the regulations that introduced the dual system in the VET subsector.
Dual education was introduced in 2016[60] and was launched in 2017 as an additional track in VET system in Romania for 3-years programmes[61]. Key distinctive features of this format are that employers are entirely responsible for providing work-based learning, they pay learners a monthly allowance that is not less than the grants for VET students provided by the government and have representation in the schools’ board. Previously employers’ engagement in VET was maintained mainly through informal links, with the introduction of the dual-VET system their involvement is formalized through a three-party agreement between VET schools, employers and local authorities from the area where the school is located as well as individual training contracts with students. Employers’ participation in the school boards means that their role is not limited to provide premises, equipment and trainers, but also, they have a say in the management and strategic decision-making of VET institutions, including in curriculum design.
In its first year of implementation of the dual system, 227 partnership agreements were in place in 68 schools. In 2017, around 2,500 students were enrolled in 31 counties out of 42. This represented 8 percent of the total enrolment in the first year (9th grade) in the vocational/professional track in the country[62]. Most of the places made available were in electro-mechanics, manufacture of wood products and Textile and leather industry[63]. The current school year saw a similar number of new enrolments in dual VET bringing the figure of total enrolments in this track to 5,564[64].
For the management of the dual system the government created a new agency – the National Authority for Dual Education (NADE)[65]. The NADE functions under the Government and is responsible for organizing and developing the initial dual training in Romania. In February 2019 they signed a partnership agreement with the TVET Center where the distribution of roles and responsibilities among these agencies was defined.
Several aspects, however, are still undefined in the organization and delivery of dual VET, especially those regarding quality assurance. During interviews held by the WB team for the preparation of this review several stakeholders remarked on the absence of quality standards to assess employers’ equipment and teaching delivery. No clear guidelines have been developed yet either to assess the preparation to deliver trainings of the employers’ designated trainers – even though by establishing a partnership, companies agree to train their own employees as tutors to conduct on-the-job training – and since trainers are employees of the respective company none of the current procedures to recruit teachers on a competitive bases apply. The potential risks of dual education: i) lack of employers in the surrounding area of an VET school, especially in remote or rural areas; ii) availability and engagement of employers iii) insufficient space to accommodate many students
While more details on pending issues regarding quality assurance in the dual system are provided below, it is worth noting here that addressing these issues could lead to overlaps of roles and responsibilities in the governance of the system. If roles and responsibility between the newly created NADE and the TVET Center are not well defined, addressing these pending issues regarding quality may lead to a duplication of functions and hence create inefficiencies in the system. This is so because according to the VET strategic framework in place, the TVET Center is responsible to coordinate and provide guidelines for the training of trainers who provide on-the-job education to students, which includes employers` trainers, as well as to develop quality assurance mechanism and methodology for accreditation standards for employers that provide on-the-job training[66].
Despite still undefined aspects, the introduction of the dual VET represents an important step towards putting employers in the driver’s seat in the VET system in Romania, but gaps remain in what regards the involvement of social partners in different instances of policy and curriculum design and implementation. With the dual system employers become well involved in the day-to-day delivery of training and strategic planning at the school and local level. The dual-system is relevant if distributed geographically were industrial parks are present. Such a system it can’t evolve or develop without a clear and strong presence and involvement of the employers This may mark a paradigm shift in the format in which the VET sector relates to employers, but dialogue at sectoral level and regional level with additional stakeholders remains critical to ensure both the possibility of policy dialogue regarding VET training within specific economic sectors and the participation of wider sectors of the society and the local communities. Sectoral Committees, RC and LCDLP are the spaces for this dialogue, respectively, but their potential still remains untapped.
The effective exercise of functions of social partners within the VET system in Romania could be improved in several respects. First, the level of engagement of the sectoral committees in VET matters varies from sector to sector and in some of them, for instance education, no sectoral committee exist. Additionally, the committees are well engaged in roles related to the development of qualifications but less so in the roles attributed to them by law related to foster dialogue with the authorities as well as between schools and companies. Second, as for RC and LCDSP, the fact that they are only advisory bodies with no decision-making power has contributed to make them be perceived as symbolic. Third, it is also noteworthy that beyond employers and trade unions – which are included in sectoral committees – the participation of other relevant non-governmental organizations in these dialogue platforms is weak. Fourth, technological high schools, also part if the VET system in Romania, appear to not be included in the various developments aimed at increasing the participation of social partners in the VET system. Finally, no instance for the participation social partners contemplates the role of stakeholders as partners in monitoring strategic initiatives or participating in the design of mechanisms to do, including in the development of quality assurance standards.
The TVET Center is responsible for the coordination of the participative management bodies responsible for strategic planning of initial vocational training (RC and LCDSP) and for the development and maintenance of a methodology for their operation.
Keeping track of a changing context
The 2016 VET strategy contemplates the need to develop mechanisms to anticipate competences required in the labor market, to ensure the relevance of VET. These mechanisms comprise both studies focused on skills assessments and those tracking VET graduates’ employment insertion. The findings of these studies are expected to feed into redefinitions of vocational profiles, the revision of qualifications, and the design of the training curricula. The studies are more relevant to be done in close communication with employers as they are better informed about the technological trend in their sector.
This function is highly fragmented among various actors directly or indirectly involved in the VET subsector when it comes to assessing skills needs. Various governmental institutions, development partners and private stakeholders conduct assessments of the country’s economic prospects and skills implications. The TVET Center should be the governing authority to coordinate all the studies, surveys, assessment and forecasts, make recommendations and collaborate, but govern the sector overall assessment. Table 17 presents a list of studies conducted by a selection of these actors.
Table 17. Examples of data sources and studies conducted in Romania aimed at anticipating skills needs in the labor market
|Type of stakeholder |Actor/Study |Brief description |
|Development partner |CEDEFOP/ |Skills Panorama, as an interactive online platform operated by the European |
| |“Skills Panorama” (regular |Commission, is offering data and information on skill needs, occupations and |
| |frequency) |sectors across EU countries. Key facts and analytical highlights available for|
| | |Romania can be accessed at: |
| | | |
| | |Most relevant analytical highlights are: |
| | |Romania: Mismatch priority occupations ((08/10/2016), identifying a list of |
| | |shortage and surplus occupations, based on an assessment of the labor market |
| | |of Romania. This list of mismatch occupations has been compiled combining |
| | |quantitative and qualitative methods. |
| | |Skills anticipation in Romania (08/04/2017), focused primarily on developing |
| | |(1) skills' needs assessments and (2) forecasts of future skills demand and |
| | |supply to inform policymakers and labor market participants. |
| | | |
| | |"Vocational Education and Training in Romania" is the latest report released |
| | |by CEDEFOP in March 2019, contributing to better understanding of VET in |
| | |Romania by providing an insight into its main features and highlighting system|
| | |developments and current challenges. |
| | | |
| | | |
| |Vocational Education and Training | |
| |in Romania[67] | |
| |OECD/ “Review of Vocational |This OECD study provides an assessment both of the strengths of the Romanian |
| |Education and Training: A Skills |VET system and the challenges it faces, a commentary on Romania and its place |
| |beyond School Commentary on |in the wider OECD study, a brief description of education, training and the |
| |Romania”[68] (one-off study from |labor market in Romania, a comparison of Romania with other countries and also|
| |2014) |previous OECD analysis and recommendations. |
| |World Bank Europe 2020 Romania: |The Europe 2020 Romania report discusses the key challenges currently faced by|
| |Evidence-based Policies for |Romania in productive employment and proposes a set of steps the Romanian |
| |Productivity, Employment, and |government could consider in order to reach the Europe 2020 targets. Skills |
| |Skills Enhancement”[69] (one-off |remain a major challenge. |
| |study from 2013) | |
|National government |National Institute of Statistics |National Institute of Statistics is collecting, producing and disseminating |
| |and National Commission for |various data necessary for substantiating decisions on economic and social |
| |Strategy and Prognosis |development. |
| |Collect data to develop skills |National Commission for Strategy and Prognosis elaborates analyzes and |
| |assessments and forecasts |forecasts regarding the economic and social development of Romania in the |
| | |short, medium and long term, in correlation with the provisions of the |
| | |national, sectoral and regional strategies, and using specific macroeconomic |
| | |models. |
| |National Scientific Research |National Scientific Research Institute for Labour and Social Protection |
| |Institute for Labour and Social |conducts surveys and research with a theoretical-applicative character in |
| |Protection and institutes of the |fields of national interest regarding human resources management - social |
| |Romanian Academy |development and social protection in Romania. |
| |Skills anticipation exercises |Other institutes of the Romanian Academy carry out various studies and |
| | |research related to the labor market and skills needs anticipation. |
| |National Centre for TVET |National Centre for TVET Development (CNDIPT), as the specialized body under |
| |Development (CNDIPT) |the MoNE, coordinating the VET system, collects relevant data and conducts or |
| |Skills supply at VET and higher |coordinates various studies and research in the VET field. |
| |education levels | |
| |National Agency for Employment |National Agency for Employment, as a national provider of a wide range of |
| |Smaller-scale assessments within |services for unemployed people, is also collecting data and conducting |
| |its operational programs |assessments on employment. |
| |Ministry of Agriculture and Rural |A comprehensive report assessing socio-economic conditions in rural area, in |
| |Development |view of the preparation of the National Programme for Rural Development |
| |“Socio-economic analysis in the |2014-2020. |
| |perspective of rural development | |
| |2014-2020”[70]. (a one-off study | |
| |from 2013) | |
|Private stakeholder |Local Investors Union (PIAROM) |This report comprises a series of statistics and indicators on the wages, |
| |"Study on the dynamics of the labor|dynamics and structure of employment in Romania, information that could be |
| |market in the main industries in |useful in designing and implementing public policies with impact on the |
| |Romania during 2016-2017"[71] |business environment and regional development. |
The numerous assessments of skills carried out in Romania vary significantly in terms of scope, timeframe, and methodology. In some cases, the studies have a national coverage whereas others are focused in a region or economic sector, as in the case of the studies carried out by specific Ministries. The studies may also be conducted regularly or as one-off exercises and may present long- or short-term projections. Moreover, the studies may gather data using different strategies. For instance, in some cases, the information collected regards employers’ experts opinions, in others skills projections are based in quantitative analysis of economic trends. In addition, most analyses of skills needs are limited to skills demand forecasting, but do not identify skills gaps or redundancies[72].
This wide variety in the studies seeking to anticipate skills needs precludes an adequate and widespread use of their findings for the design of VET policies or VET schools’ strategies aimed at improving the relevance of the sector for the LM. Counting with this information is critical in the case of Romania. As shown in the context section earlier, employment levels of VET graduates are above those of graduates of general upper secondary education, but this is still below the average level of employment of VET graduates in the EU. Additionally, changes in the nature of work especially due to technological advances as well as demographic challenges and a redefinition of the structure of the economy in the case of Romania in particular, mean rapid changes in the alignment of the VET offer and the labor market demands. So, to minimize the consequent skills shortages and mismatches that are currently being experienced in some occupational groups and VET qualifications, it is crucial to keep close and accurate track of the development in the labor market.
Improving the functioning of the system regarding skills and competences anticipation would require better coordination of the existing initiatives and would benefit from the development of a comprehensive and regular study or sets of studies. A first step towards this could be to hold consultations with the different actors conducting skills anticipation studies. A second step could involve a stocktaking exercise of the different studies conducted, identifying how they overlap in terms of information gathered, for instance, and how they differ, in terms of methodologies or sources, for instance. This could serve as the basis to draw lessons on how a central agency could develop a comprehensive and at the same time useful for as many stakeholders as possible, national study (or set of studies). A third and complementary step would be to explore avenues to expand the use of the information generated by these coordinated or comprehensive studies for policy making at both national regional and school levels.
The current distribution of roles regarding the function of keeping track of labor market competences needs, according to the strategic framework in place, defines that the MoNE and MoLSJ hold key responsibility for this function. However, not only is the TVET Center the specialized agency in VET within the MoNE, but it is also responsible for a variety of tasks related to the management of a system of studies to identify competences needs in the labor market. These include the TVET Center key responsibility to produce documents and information to be used in the planning of VET needs at national, regional and local levels based on skills anticipation studies and for the development and management of data module required for this strategic planning. Hence, it is recommendable that the responsibility for the development and implementation of a coordinated and comprehensive approach to skills anticipation studies is assigned to the TVET Center in collaboration with relevant social partners.
Regarding the monitoring the labor market insertion of VET programs’ graduates, the practice is less widespread than in the case of skills needs anticipation but nevertheless there are overlaps in the implementation of the few initiatives taken in this regard in the sector.
On the one hand the MoNE approved in 2013[73] a methodology developed for conducting tracer studies for VET graduates from all the corresponding tracks – professional, technological and post-high school. According to this methodology county school inspectorates collect administrative data about VET graduates by track, field of training and qualification and then a survey is conducted among VET graduates after 6 and 12 months after graduation. The survey includes questions such as the graduates’ employment status and the alignment of their job with the VET qualification held. The data and findings are to be used by MoNE and TVET Center for policy making processes. The tracer studies are conducted at the VET school level with the scope of fine tuning the delivery service in order to reach better employment.
On the other hand, all secondary schools should collect data on the employment status of their graduates in compliance with guidelines for internal quality assurance procedures. A commission at school level is in charge with collecting these data on its graduates at 6 months after graduation. In the case of VET providers, this information on graduates’ employment is to be used to inform the school’s annual action plans and its definitions on enrolment figures by track, training field and qualification. Schools are not required to submit the data collected to local, regional or national authorities nor to publish it for other stakeholders to have access to it. Although is stipulated in the regulations, schools do not seem to trace graduates, due to lack of knowledge or time, nor to use the findings and publish their reports.
While the study based on the 2013 methodology is more comprehensive, this is not conducted regularly nor evenly across Romania despite the fact that the order that approved it made it compulsory in all the country. This is due in part to the limited resources to finance the activity and part to the overload of work placed in the county’s School Inspectorate who according to legislation, are responsible for data collection. Furthermore, the methodology needs updating to adapt to the changes undergone in the VET system in Romania after the VET strategy was introduced. This includes, for instance, the integration of the dual education track in the system and the redefinition of training standards and curricula in terms of learning outcomes and the introduction of the Integrated System of Information on Education for Romania (SIIIR in Romanian), which makes redundant the inspectorates’ task of collecting administrative data from schools.
The VET strategy, in fact, contains several actions to be taken to improve the current method to study the insertion of VET graduates in the labor market. It proposes that the monitoring of the insertion of VET graduates should be done from the perspective of competences gap and proposes the creation of a system that combines the use of administrative data with surveys. The MoNE is designated as key responsible for this activity with the participation of various additional central government agencies such as the TVET Center and the National Agency for Employment (NAE), as well as several social and local partners. The specific role of these stakeholders is not defined in the strategy but given the existence of the regional training offices of the TVET Center and the NAE these could be the focal points in the processes of data collection in partnership with schools and employers. The latter’s participation is critical if a competences approach is to be adopted since it would allow to cross check the skills acquired during the VET studies with the views of the employers regarding their acquisition. Moreover, the combination of administrative data with survey data is essential since currently administrative data submitted from schools to the newly created system of information for education management (SIIIR) contains only input data and not data on outcomes. Results emerging from the surveys could be incorporated to the SIIIR once the system for monitoring insertion of graduates is well established.
NAE is considered the buffer between the job seekers' frustration and the employers who are in a constant competition to tap into the available labor force. Employers’ objections against NAE are related to the actions taken by the counselors of the institution in high schools through which 12th grade pupils are informed of their rights when entering the labor market, and advertising unemployment benefits. This activity is strongly criticized by employers and regarded as encouragement to not work, to accept and have the attitude of a socially assisted person by young people who should, on the contrary, have been encouraged and helped find a job. Another complaint, coming from employers, is the promotion and informing of the public through the NAE website of the existence of unskilled jobs, hundreds of them (mostly in agriculture), in the context of the personnel crisis in the region.[74]
4.2.2. Increasing participation in VET programmes
This strategic objective should be seen in the context of concerns critical to the broader strategic framework related to VET. Increasing the share of children in technological high schools and in vocational education to 60% by 2020, compared to 49.8% in 2014[75], as establish in the VET Strategy would not only contribute to addressing the high level of young people neither in employment nor in education (NEETs) in Romania but also would generating more opportunities for people to acquire higher level skills, increasingly needed in a context of rapid technological advance, and therefore improve their employment prospects and their contribution to the increasing the economic productivity of the country. By increasing the opportunities for people to access education to acquire higher level skills achieving this VET strategy objective of increasing participation in VET could contribute in turn to the target set out for Romania in its tertiary education strategy of increasing the number of people between 34-65 years old holding a tertiary education degree from 25 percent (in 2014 - break in time series), the lowest in the EU, to 26.7 percent. However, not only participation but also completion and improvements in performance results of VET students are critical to reach these complementary objectives of keeping students in education or raising their chances to obtain employment or access to tertiary education. Increase enrollment in the VET system is driven by better perceptions of its value and quality from employers and society and by good entry salary levels. Such perceptions may be influenced also by social marketing combined with concrete examples of good practices in the sector.
The 2016 VET strategy defines three key tasks to be undertaken in order to achieve the strategic objective of increasing participation in VET programmes. The tasks are related to promotional and guidance activities; initiatives to widen access; and improving the flexibility and permeability of the system. The next paragraphs look at the actions taken in relation to these tasks as well as to the distribution of roles and responsibilities to make these tasks functional to the achievement of the objective set and the objectives related to it from a broader strategic framework perspective.
Promoting VET via marketing actions and career guidance
As noted in the interviews conducted for the development of this functional review, low participation in VET programmes is linked to low reputation of the technological and vocational education options. Addressing this issue requires a multi-pronged approach aimed at improving the relevance of the qualifications and skills learnt in these courses, as shown in the previous paragraphs, enhance the quality of the education provided in terms of the teaching, the infrastructure and the performance of students, as shown in the next part of this section, both underpinned by actions to show and make publicly available the relevance and quality of the learning in these educational paths. Only updating the qualifications offer and opening enrolment places for them, in turn, cannot address skills shortages and mismatches. The vacancies made available on the bases of labor market needs analyses are to be filled and making students interested in the learning experience and employment prospects that taking that education path would lead to is key.
Some significant steps have been taken towards promoting the VET as an option for upper secondary education among prospective students and their parents. Various initiatives are in place or have been recently launched for this purpose at the national, local and school levels. They are run by a variety of stakeholders, targeted to different audiences, and focus on the VET sector to different degrees.
At the national level two significant initiatives were recently launched. The TVET Center has developed and runs the online platform alegetidrumul.ro (“Choose Your Path”) which provides information about the different options available in the system to pursue VET. It informs students at the lower secondary level about the options available for upper secondary study and seeks to and spark their interest in VET programs, particularly in the technical and services fields. The platform is part of a broader initiative managed by the TVET Center that include outreach activities as well as radio and TV ads. Additionally, the MoNE and MoLSJ, with the involvement of the TVET Center, the NAWE as well as county school inspectorates, schools and employers, have started with the development of a methodological framework for identifying and disseminating best practices in VET at national and regional level to inform these initiatives.
At the regional and local levels three main types of promotional activities take place. The RC and LCDSP organize information and career guidance meetings through schools and the professional guidance services offered to lower secondary students. The County Educational Resource Centers (and in the case of Bucharest the Municipal Educational Resource Centre), provide career guidance services in secondary and tertiary, non-university education. Local administrations also organize education fairs open to the general public, where VET programs and institutions are promoted. Other career guidance activities are organized with the support of local businesses, especially where the dual system is in place. Companies that have partnerships with schools under this system are active in promoting VET programs across local communities.
At the school level actions are mainly targeted to students in the final year students. All Grade 8 students receive booklets prepared by school inspectorates with information on high school offer, admission criteria and procedures to inform them when making their choices for high schools at end of grade 8. In April-May each year, grade 8 students go to educational fairs where high schools present their offers and also guide them in choosing their training field and future career. These are also opportunities to promote the VET option although they are not necessarily aimed at that. At the level of upper secondary schools, a system of school counsellors in coordinated by the county school inspectorates (correct). These are geared towards offering professional career advice and therefore do not concern the promotion of entrance in VET. Yet, they indirectly can contribute to increasing participation levels of participation in VET by ensuring retention.
While the involvement of a diversity of stakeholders and approaches to promote VET can create positive synergies, the lack of coordination of multiple initiatives can also divert the efforts from the main objective of making the VET more attractive and consequently lead to an increase in enrolments. It emerges from the observation of the actions carried out at the national, local and school to promote VET via marking and career guidance services that a blurred definition of the three typical moments and types of intervention underpins these initiatives. The functions of providing study and career guidance for transition from lower to upper secondary (with focus on VET options); of counselling or support to ensure retention (and avoid dropouts); and of offering professional career services for those finishing upper secondary VET are not well defined. Therefore, responsibilities for each of them remains largely undifferentiated.
Insufficient funding and properly staffed initiatives further jeopardize the adequate functioning of these efforts to provide career and information services that could foster participation in VET programmes. The government has aimed at addressing the lack of coordination in career support services across all education levels as well as national and sub-national levels with the development of the system of cooperation based at County Educational Resource Centers, as aforementioned. However, these centers are not properly staffed nor funded leading to a lack of relevance of their initiatives vis-a-vis the other numerous initiatives led by other stakeholders. The network, in addition, has low coverage especially in rural areas where their actions would be most needed considered the urban/rural gap in enrolments in upper secondary education in general but also in VET in particular (see data in context section).
The system of school counsellors coordinated by the county school inspectorates faces similar difficulties. Career guidance services both at the lower and upper secondary level are provided by one school counsellor allocated every 800 students. This means that, depending on the school enrolments sizes, one counsellor may be in charge with many schools. These counsellors are at the same time teachers in different subjects and are not necessarily trained in counselling or guidance disciplines. In addition, within this scheme class masters (diriginte) are in charge with offering career advice to final year students of both lower and upper secondary students. They offer career advice during the regular classes. Yet, these teachers have generally no prior training on disciplines relevant to counselling or career guidance and provide these classes. As part of the 2016 VET strategy the MoNE and MoLSJ were to support the creation of training programmes for professionals with responsibilities in providing information, career counselling and guidance, community support services, as well as for the staff of the counselling centers, school counsellors and class masters, but this remains undeveloped yet.
In all cases, finally, the use of data on employment prospects, key to provide career advice, are unevenly used. This is due to the uncoordinated and limited scope of the data available in this respect as noted in the previous part of this section on relevance.
Widening participation in VET focusing on vulnerable groups
In addition to curricular changes to align it better with employers’ needs, improving the quality of VET provision and offering adequate career professional guidance, participation in VET can increase by widened access to include most vulnerable groups. The government has introduced for this purpose several monetary support schemes, initiatives to address regional divides, and mechanisms to monitor inclusion.
In terms of monetary schemes, they can be provided currently both by the government or by employers. As part of the national protection system of Romania the government runs the “Money for High School Programme”. It consists of monthly transfers to students enrolled in upper secondary education, both general and VET, to purchase regular school supplies and computers or cover transportation costs. The programme is means-tested and targeted to students from low-income families. The “Professional Grant”, is another monetary transfer scheme that, instead, is targeted to all students enrolled in VET programmes specifically disregarding income levels. The scheme was launched in 2012 and at the moment amount transferred every month is $50. Maintenance cost such as those regarding transport, meals and accommodation, are not covered by state schemes and according to interviews conducted in the context of this functional review, insufficient funds to cover these expenses has been mentioned as an important factor leading to dropouts. Recently, however, some employers involved in delivering practical training in VET programmes, especially in the format of dual education, have started covering for these students’ expenses.
Three on-going initiatives could contribute to address regional differences hindering participation, though they are not necessarily focused in VET only. There are monetary incentives for teachers to work in schools in disadvantaged locations, which can be up to 20 percent of their salary. These schools comprise schools located in prisons as well as those in isolated and remote rural areas. “Second Chance” programmes, which have been implemented for more than ten years now, have been recently redesigned to expand their coverage and reach more rural areas and disadvantaged communities. The programme aims to help those who dropped out of compulsory education and are at least 4 years older than the standard age for the abandoned cycle. It is targeted to adolescents, youth and adults who have not completed primary or lower secondary education and have not obtained the basic level of qualifications. Although not specifically aimed at VET, the Second Chance programme spans for 4 years and includes grades 9 and 10 based on the curriculum for the technological route allowing them to continue either in general or VET schools afterwards.
Regarding the monitoring of progress made in widening participation of vulnerable groups, a key development was the adoption of an anti-segregation roadmap. The system was adopted in 2016 and considers among the vulnerable groups Roma, children with disabilities, those living in rural areas and from disadvantaged economic backgrounds. According to the legislation it is the responsibility of school inspectorates and of the quality assurance agency (ARACIP) to monitor segregation. However, monitoring activities were hampered by significant delays in developing the monitoring methodology.
Increasing the participation in VET by widening access to vulnerable groups concern a wide range of measures that overlap with other strategic priorities of the VET strategic framework. This overlapping as well as the diversity of agencies involved in these initiatives does not necessarily represent in this cases issues of coordination per se. Rather it reflects the complexity of addressing multiple forms of exclusion that affect participation in education and VET. What emerges from the analysis, however, is that issues related to the funding can be affecting the functioning of these initiatives, either because of being insufficient or potentially unsustainable. In the case of incentives for teachers, research has shown that monetary benefits offered are insufficient to motivate teachers to work in disadvantaged areas[76]. In the case of the Second Chance and Internships for students in the agri-food sector, the sustainability and reach of the programme depends on the availability of different sources of foreign funds, especially EU funds.
Strengthening flexibility and permeability of the VET system
In the current context of rapidly changing labour markets, ensuring participation and retention in VET is closely linked to the possibilities of flexible and permeable paths that the system offers. Adequate and up-to-date curricula contents and teaching approaches as well as the infrastructure and equipment available in VET are crucial for the attractiveness and permanence of learners in education. But technological advances are reshaping the nature of work at a speed that requires quick adjustments in the skills supply to the labour markets and, especially, an increase in the supply of high-level skills. Keeping options open for learners to shape their learning paths becomes then critical to allow for additional possibilities for adjusting the rapid and new needs from the labour markets enhancing learners’ employability. In the context of Romania this is particularly important since the research conducted for this functional review showed that parents and students believe the current system streams young students too early - at 14 years old - into different upper secondary tracks.
By enhancing participation and retention, a flexible system can contribute to reduce the number of youth NEETs and to increase participation in tertiary education in Romania. Research shows that vocational systems tailored around learners’ needs and preferences in relation to their occupational objectives are strong features in systems with low levels of youth NEET[77]. As better completion rates and permeable paths allow for vertical progression into higher education, not only will the supply of high-level skills to the labour market increase but also the employability of VET graduates will improve since those with higher education in Romania enjoy better employment rates. In turn, both improving ESL levels and tertiary education attainment are critical parts of the current strategic framework in education in the country and tertiary level attainment levels.
To increase the flexibility of the VET system Romania introduced a system for the validation of non-formal and informal learning in 2004[78]. The system enables candidates to acquire a certificate of professional competence. The focus is on competences identified, as is the case, in Occupational Standards or Professional Standards linked to a specific professional qualification to access to better opportunities in the labour market. The National Authority for Qualifications, through the National Centre for Accreditation coordinates and monitors the validation process. Since 2014 local assessment centres have been given the role to apply the policies and methodologies that are defined at the national level by the NQA (CEDEFOP, 2019).
Despite new initiatives at the level of the strategic and legal framework in recent years, since 2014, no specific changes have been implemented in the validation system in VET. The National Law of Education from 2011 includes specific references to the student’s lifelong learning portfolios as a means for the validation of skills acquired outside the formal educational system and the 2015 LLL Strategy[79] clearly states the importance of giving priority to measures for increasing recognition of prior learning at all education levels. Yet, there are no specific procedures in place to implement the system of VNFIL within the formal pre-university and higher education sectors. The validation in the formal system is also challenged by the partial permeability between the VET, CVET and HE systems. There are no mechanisms in place for validation of non-formal and informal learning in relation to obtaining the same type of certification for upper secondary general, VET or higher education (CEDEFOP, 2016). The recognition of non-formal and informal learning by means of credit accumulation and transfer is also limited because although a system of credit transfer exists already for VET, this does not cover the CVET level. The 2016 VET strategy placed the key responsibility on the MoLSJ and the MoNE, with the participation of the NQA and TVET Center, to revise the methodology for VNFIL and develop QA mechanisms and training of staff for these purposes. Since then the Ministry of Education Order No 3629/2018 on national register of evaluators was approved.
Important factors behind the delays in fully implementing the system of validation and recognitions of prior learning are difficulties of intra-agency coordination and insufficient resources. The lack of a national register of qualifications, as aforementioned, is precluding the use of qualifications across the VET and CVET subsectors. Although a significant number of qualifications and curricula were updated by the TVET Center with regards to VET level, not all the qualifications relevant to the labour market have been detailed yet. Thus, the qualifications available in the initial and continuing vocational training systems are insufficiently correlated to allow permeability and flexibility of training routes[80]. This, in turn, is linked to the independent management of the VET and CVET systems in Romania. In addition, the institutional capacity for implementing and extending it to all types of learning outcomes is still limited.
In addition, the current organisation of the VET system in Romania allows for only partial horizontal and vertical permeability. First, the system does not offer alternative exit points with recognition for labour market entry. Instead students must follow a full program to obtain a certificate or diploma that enables them to find employment. Second, VET learners face constraints in moving between streams and, third, progression to higher education is possible only for students of the technological stream. While student in the professional stream are allowed to transfer to the technological one and sit for the Baccalaureate exam that can give them access to higher education, this is only possible after they have completed their qualification. Moreover, as they transfer to the technological school they need to repeat year 11. Entering technological school with younger students and repeating one year can be significantly discouraging for these students which jeopardizes the utility of this route for VET students that may later in their studies consider continuing their education at university level.
Even for students in the technological track the transition to higher education is difficult. This is evident in the low number of students of this track that take the Baccalaureate exam and even lower numbers that pass it (see context section). This can be linked to the initial low performing characteristics of the students that take the VET track in upper secondary school as well as to the reported overload of the curricula of technological schools which seeks to cover both general subjects to prepare student for the Baccalaureate and specialised subjects related to the qualification for the corresponding technological profile.
The system in Romania is only partially permeable, hence. The Romanian system allows for transitions between streams to continue to higher education, but with the necessary cost of repeating one year. It also allows access to higher education from the combined study of general with special subjects in the technological path, but success in the final exam that leads to admission in higher education is very low for these students.
But addressing vertical permeability alone would not be enough to ensure the attractiveness and retention of the VET system. In fact, one of the strongest reasons why students choose this educational path is the direct access to the labour markets that it offers[81]. Therefore, while improving the transition to higher education from technological schools needs attention, alternatives to the hybrid model offered in the technological path to progress to higher education should be considered. International experience and surveys conducted in Romania show that students that choose VET are less prone to academic styles of learning and prefer practical approaches. Hence, providing eligibility for higher education in vocational tracks only by increasing the volume of academic content could be counterproductive as it may lead these kinds of students to dropout from education. Options to move between different qualification paths in VET as well as the expansion of the professional higher education are two possibilities to consider thus. Figure 43 below proposes a reformed structure for the VET system in Romania that seeks to address the aforementioned issues related to flexibility and permeability of the system.
Figure 43. A proposal for a reformed structure of the VET system in Romania
[pic]
The proposed reform seeks to keep the basic structure as similar as possible to the current in place with four key additions and two adjustments:
1. It adds one more year to the professional track,
2. It allows transitions between the professional and technological track after completion of the first year or upper secondary cycle,
3. It includes one optional or extra year for the technological and professional tracks, respectively, before taking the Baccalaureate
4. A new mid-qualification level is proposed for the year in which students complete compulsory education
5. It suggests expanding the tertiary non-university sector with options to access and progress depending on recognition of certificates and previous learning
6. It proposes to adapt the Baccalaureate exam to graduates from the VET stream and introduce the Technical Baccalaureate.
Regarding the additions proposed, the changes concern mostly the technological and professional non-dual streams. As for the latter, expanding the duration to 4 years allows for a first year offering a curriculum more aligned with the technological curriculum covering more general subjects and thus allowing for a seamless transition to technological track if desired after completion of the first year. This address concerns with weak fundamental skills of VET graduates reported by employers and with the early age in which students are made to decide on career choices, both key concerns that emerged in the various interviews conducted in the context of the development of this functional review. The transition from professional to technological and vice versa after completion of compulsory education is allowed according to this proposal if there is alignment between the professional qualification and the technological profile concerned. Introducing an extra year, optional for graduates of technological schools, after the completion of upper secondary studies seeks to address the low number of students if this path that sit or succeed in the Baccalaureate exam. In the case of graduates from professional qualifications, this extra year gives them another opportunity to continue to higher education in addition to those available at grade 8, 9 and 10, this one at a later stage in the individuals’ learning path when preferences may have shifted.
The inclusion of a new qualification level at the time of completing compulsory education is aimed at addressing the lack of exit points with a valid certification to enter the labor market that was noted above. In Denmark, for instance, it is possible to complete qualifications in "steps". For example, a qualification leading a certificate as “veterinary nurse” has a shorter version that leads to a certification as a "veterinary nurse aide". This allows granting exit qualifications as compulsory education is completed in Romania, with the option of re-entering education and finishing the qualification at a later stage.
Keeping the duration of 3 years for the professional education delivered in the dual system is expected to increase the interest in this option of those that are clearly oriented towards accessing the labor market soon rather than continuing with any form of further education after completing compulsory education. Nevertheless, both graduates from the dual system and from the more school-based professional track are allowed to transition to tertiary non-university education which does not require passing the Baccalaureate exam. In the case of graduates from dual education, the option to continue to higher education remains open either by starting with the second cycle of a technological track after completing the dual qualification, or after completing tertiary non-university studies, depending on the recognition of certificates and prior learning obtained and on universities admissions processes. These same latter conditions apply for graduates of short professional courses that would like to continue with tertiary non-university education.
The expansion of the tertiary non-university offer and the introduction of the proposed Technical Baccalaureate seek mainly to respond to the increasing demands for higher-level skills in a context of rapid technological change. In Romania, completing a higher level of education increases the likelihood of employment for individuals, as employment rates for HE graduates are higher than for those having completed only upper secondary education. Keeping in mind that many of those that opt for VET for their upper secondary are usually not oriented to academic approaches to learning, in order to provide them with opportunities to progress into higher levels of education would require an expansion of the current offer in vocational HE (or tertiary, non-university offer). This includes the option of short-cycles as well as the creation of professional bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees. The short-cycles are a recommendation from the 2015 Ministerial Conference of the EHEA held in Yerevan. The qualifications obtained are level 5 in the EQF. In some countries they may lead to an undergraduate programme and in others they may be part of it. The short cycles appear then as a key l permeability tools linking higher education and VET[82]. These non-university tertiary education options can be provided by institutions dedicated to professional higher education or as additional offers within established universities.
The non-university tertiary sector in Romania has experienced a surge in enrolments in the past decade. The gross participation rates in post-high school (scoli post-liceale) and foremen schools (scoli de maistri) – the two main types of tertiary non-university education in the country – constantly increased between 2009-2010 and 2014-2015, from 6.1 percent to 16.2 percent, and since 2000 until 2013 the enrolments in these two options increased by 63 and 72 percent respectively[83]. Most of the enrolments at this level in Romania are in the areas of health and welfare. It has been found that these increases can be explained by current increases in the rate of high school graduates who fail the baccalaureate examinations and then consider this route as an attractive option[84].
However, the strategic and legal framework guiding the VET sector in Romania provides little clarity regarding this sector. A study conducted by the European Association of Institutions in Higher Education (EURASHE) found that in Romania there are different positions and contradictory information about what constitutes the vocational higher education sector. The NQA clearly excludes technical universities from this group and according to the National law of Education post-high schools and foreman schools correspond to the post-secondary non-tertiary level[85]. Yet, the national LLL strategy from 2016 states that at the non-university tertiary level, vocational training is provided in post-high schools and foreman schools[86]. A first step in expanding the sector, therefore, would require some conceptual agreements between relevant actors and redefinitions in the strategic and legal frameworks.
4.2.3 Improving the quality of VET
The objective of improving the quality of the provision of VET underpins the strategic objectives of improving relevance of and participation in VET. This has effects in the performance of VET students and the value granted in the labour market to the skills these graduates supply. The current strategic framework for the VET sector in Romania focuses on the importance of updating and ensuring the quality of the assessment and certification procedures, as well as various measures to enhance the quality of the teaching provision and that of the infrastructure and equipment used for the delivery of training in the sector as key areas for action that will contribute to enhance quality in the sector.
Some initiatives were introduced aiming at improving the quality of learning outcomes, teaching and the learning environment, but there are still various aspects that need further action. This is reflected in the slow progress made so far towards improving VET students’ performance and completion levels in accordance to the targets set out in the VET strategy. It was expected that measures to improve quality as proposed in the strategy were going to contribute to reduce the dropout rate in the sector from 4.2 percent in 2014 to 2 percent in 2020 and that the rate of success in the Baccalaureate exam will increase from 45 percent in 2014 to 60 percent in 2020[87]. Instead, the dropout rate by 2016/2017 ranged from 2.5 percent to 5.7 in the technological track, for instance, and the proportion of VET graduates that succeeded in the Baccalaureate exam increased only by 3 percentage points, to 48 percent[88]. The next paragraphs explore some of the progress and pending challenges ahead and the possible links between this unfinished agenda and the distribution of relevant functions within then system
Quality of learning outcomes
Improvements in the success rate of in the Baccalaureate exam for graduates of the technological VET track can be attributed to the introduction of remedial classes and supporting services[89]. However, the progress has been slow because these initiatives have been taken unevenly across the system. Some remedial classes were run in technological students with grants obtained in the context of the ROSE project financed by the World Bank. Other school initiatives were developed in partnership with universities or NGOs with the financial support mostly of EU and a variety of development funding bodies. These classes were run only in the schools that out of their own initiative sought to establish these partnerships. Since these initiatives are usually taken by institutions that already have access to information about these opportunities and the capacity to realize them, the unevenness of the development of these systems of remedial classes and support would tend to reproduce existent inequalities in the VET system. Moreover, the dependency on a variety of funding bodies to implement these initiatives could result in a lack of long-term sustainability of the initiatives.
Nevertheless, while improvement in the Baccalaureate pass rate can indicate improvements in the quality of VET, the quality of these systems is more adequately demonstrable by employment levels of graduates, which is linked to employers’ satisfaction with those graduates’ skills. This is so because the distinctiveness of this subsystem lies in its focus on training individuals for their insertion in the labor market. In this line, the focus in the 2016 VET strategy with regards to the quality of VET graduates learning outcomes is on developing and implementing mechanisms for the certification of learning outcomes that are relevant to the labor market. According to the strategy, also, these mechanisms are to be developed with the active and sustainable involvement of employers.
Currently in Romania assessments for the VET subsector are defined in terms of learning outcomes as described by occupational standards. The assessments are conducted using a uniform national system, with standardized tests. The National TVET Development Centre is responsible for the development of the standardized tests and manages them through a national data bank for VET. Then, the National Evaluation and Certification Commission (NECC) under MoNE, together with local certification commissions and local examinations commissions set up by the county inspectorates and the schools, develop the final examinations for the vocational certification of VET graduates using the methodological assessment support provided by TVET Center. For the year 2016-2017, 2,700 topics for the evaluation sheets necessary for the certification of several NQF level 3 qualifications have been produced[90].
Following on the approach set out in the 2016 VET strategy, the local evaluation commissions that carry out assessments include employers’ representatives and currently the assessments include a practical examination of the skills specific to the field of training. Examinations and certification of professional competences take place in Examination Centers. The evaluation commission set up by county school inspectorates comprises teachers, who have not been involved in teaching/training of the student, and representatives of the companies in the student’s field of training. In 2017, the methodology for the certification exam for qualifications at EQF level 3 was revised and a skills demonstration component (practical examination) was introduced with the aiming of increasing the certificate’s relevance to the labor market (CEDEFOP, 2019).
Adequate mechanisms to monitoring the quality of vocational certification exams ensure the credibility of skills testing. According to current regulations the responsibility of monitoring the quality of the exams lies in the local evaluation commission. Any of the members of the assessment commission could be made responsible for monitoring the exam in terms of quality. The procedure consists in analyzing: (i) the correlation between the complexity of activities (number of schools allocated to the centre, number of candidates per centre, number of qualifications per centre, number of commission members) and mobilized resources (material resources, human resources by activities, time allocated to the activities of the commission, participation of partners in the exam); (ii) compliance with procedures and content of the exam (particularly for practical examinations); (iii) quality of graduate evaluation (argumentation of grading, judgement of the degree of achievement).
In general, despite the emphasis in the strategic framework, employers’ involvement in assessing learning outcomes is not fully in place. Their involvement is more formally established in the implementation of the assessment itself, but their participation is weaker in the developing assessment and monitoring the quality and relevance of their content and implementation. Furthermore, the mechanisms to evaluate the quality of the assessment and certification processes in the newly created dual system, where employers play a key part in setting the curricula and on-the-job training is central, have not been developed yet.
Teaching and training
The following paragraphs analyses the current strategic priorities regarding the improvement of teachers and trainers’ competences and how they are being implemented. A separate section of this functional review provides more details on the human resources aspect of the VET system, including teachers. The quality of teachers and training is a key cross-cutting priority of the VET strategic framework since it matters for increasing the attractiveness of the VET subsector, its capacity to retain learners, and to ensure that the skills learnt contribute to increase the employability of its graduates.
Three main areas of actions regarding the improvement of teaching and training quality can be identified in the Romanian strategy for VET. These consist of actions to develop the provision of continuous training programmes for trainers and teachers, to train the employers’ trainers, and to foster the use of learning-teaching methods that develop transversal skills.
Provisions for teachers and trainers’ training are well established in the Romanian legal framework; however, an examination of the current system of training does not show any reflection of significant actions done as set out in the strategy. In addition, the examination also points out to obstacles and pending issues that preclude progress in improving the quality of trainers and teachers in the VET subsector.
There are clear and explicit standards for the recruitment of VET teachers and instructors for practical training in public training institutions[91]. Like all secondary school teachers, VET teachers must have a Bachelor degree. They acquire some practical experience during pre-service training, but they are not required to be mentored or coached during this process, which limits the skills they ultimately acquire. What is more important in the case of VET teachers in that in-service training is also regulated by law refers to teaching skills and not to the skills and knowledge relevant for the current industry corresponding to their teaching subjects. In fact, Universities and MoNE’s Directorate General for Higher Education manage the provision of the pre-service training of VET trainers and employers are not involved in this process. At the same time, standards for the recruitment of trainers offering on-the-job teaching, including those in then dual system, are still not well developed.
Once in the job, all teachers in public institutions are expected to meet professional development requirements. It is recommended teachers obtain 90 credits or a minimum of 360 hour of professional development over a five-year period[92]. Yet, if teachers do not accumulate these credits within the five-year period, there are no repercussions. Furthermore, the rewards for attending professional development course are not significant - those who accumulate the designated credits can apply for a principal or school inspectorate posting. In addition, teachers often finance their professional development through personal means. Even though this is not officially stipulated, the funds allocated for professional development are insufficient to cover the 90-credit minimum. As a result, many teachers do not comply with the required professional development.
Particularly relevant for VET teachers is that the professional development courses are not assigned based on perceived needs, including those regarding the specific skills related to the occupations the different qualifications lead to. The VET strategy puts forward the need to establish national centre for continuous training of teachers, trainers, external evaluators and tutors from employers providing initial vocational training. The TVET Center is responsible for this task. The implementation of this initiative is its early stages. At present the Directorate General for Management, Human Resources and School Network; teachers’ houses and TVET Center; and other training establishments for continuing education provide the in-service training for VET trainers. The role of employers providing this type of training did not emerge as a key feature of the established system to train VET teachers and trainers in Romania.
In general, both internal and external teacher evaluations have little effects in boosting the quality of teaching. Heads of departments and school boards conducts internal evaluations whereas inspectors conduct external teacher evaluations. All inspectors have a teaching background and are assigned by subject, extracurricular activities, school management, and educational projects and programs. The inspectors report to and are evaluated by the corresponding general inspectors in the county school inspectorates. The inspectors’ evaluations consist of visits to the schools to observe classrooms and assess teaching-related documents. In the case of internal evaluation, an unsatisfactory rating has no salary implications, but the teacher is mentored to improve his/her performance. In the case of external evaluations, school inspectorates are expected to carry out its duties of inspection offering counsel and coaching teachers, yet they are often overburdened with administrative and control work[93]. It is noteworthy that inspectors do not necessarily have on-the-job experience related to the specialists subjects they may evaluate in VET schools. Also, no forms of representation of stakeholders, including representatives of the labor market such as the Sectoral Committees, are involved in the evaluation of teachers and trainers.
Insufficient incentives exist to attract good quality teachers into VET. In general, good evaluation results do not lead to significant opportunities for promotion or salary rises. If a teacher is rated “very well” on a performance evaluation, she/he is only eligible to apply for a principal or inspectorate position and while top-performing teachers receive a merit bonus, of 25 percent of their base salary. Additionally, only a very limited number of teachers receive this award. Teacher salaries are not attractive compared with that of other professions in Romania - they represent 44 percent of per capita GDP, a figure that is not as competitive as other sectors offering employment opportunities for different types of VET teachers such as communications or finance. In particular, teachers who work with low-achieving students are not recognized for their efforts in disadvantaged settings and are not incentivized to help these students achieve. This is of crucial importance for the VET subsector. As mentioned earlier, monetary benefits offered to teachers are insufficient to motivate them to work in disadvantaged areas[94]. But research conducted in the context of the Romanian Strategy for Investment in Education Infrastructure (2017) showed that the morale of teachers in VET schools is lower than those of teachers in theoretical high schools not so much because of low salaries or poor working conditions but because students in VET schools are difficult to teach.
Infrastructure and equipment
Teaching quality as well as the infrastructure and equipment available in VET are crucial for the attractiveness, permanence, and performance of learners in education. Also, the quality of teachers and that of the learning environment are closely related. As noted in the recently published WB study on teachers in Romania, SABER Teachers (2017), working conditions are not appealing enough to attract talented individuals to the teaching profession. In turn, the latest WB Systematic Country Diagnostic for the country notes that interviews with various stakeholders indicate that the skills of VET graduates are regarded as outdated as a consequence of the obsolete methods and on-the-job experience of teachers as well as of the equipment available for VET students[95].
The government of Romania approved in 2018 a strategy to invest in modernizing educational infrastructure in the country[96]. The strategy is focused on ensuring that decisions on investing in educational infrastructure are based on evidence in order to guarantee these decisions are efficient and equitable. In this line the strategy establishes that the key principles to guide these decisions are the location of the education institution, because distance to school has been proved to affect student enrolment and retention; and quality, understood in terms of compliance with minimum standards and alignment of the facilities with learning principles and purposes of the institution.
The priorities set out in the infrastructure strategy are also aligned with EU funding priorities since it has been designed also to increase the absorption of these funds. In accordance with the Partnership Agreement signed for the 2014-2030 financing period priority will be given to restructuring the VET school network; to schools in areas where enrolment or performance is lower and drop pouts is higher, than the average in the country; and to improve basic infrastructure conditions in rural and isolated schools. Under the European Regional Development Fund (2014-2020) EUR 352 million were earmarked for investments in infrastructure at all levels of education[97].
The strategy is complementary to the 2016 VET strategy. In terms of actions to improve the quality of infrastructure and equipment in the VET subsector the VET strategy underlines the needs to build, consolidate, modernize and extend vocational training infrastructure, with a focus on disadvantaged sectors, and to develop the standards for equipping initial vocational training providers in alignment with qualification-specific requirements. In Romania, standards exist for ensuring education institutions comply with basic standards in infrastructure such as hygiene and sanitation. But no standards have been developed yet for the specific needs of VET. With regards to the focus in the disadvantaged sectors, the strategy also proposes to focus on developing school campuses and training centres in public VET schools, especially in those in remote areas, as well as develop a state-run system for transporting students for their trainings. Both initiatives are especially relevant given the differences in participation and performance for VET students from rural location shown in the context section.
Data collected in the context of the development of the education infrastructure investment strategy, additionally, confirm perceptions that the learning environments in the VET subsector are inadequate. Advisory services provided by the WB to support the development of this strategy included the calculation of a number of indexes to measure the current appropriateness of schools’ infrastructure in Romania. Calculations for the VET sector show that 80 percent of upper secondary school, including VET ones, comply with an overall adequate provision of basic infrastructure such as sanitation, access to water and heating. Yet, a third of VET schools are overcrowded in the country and in six counties (Caras Severin, Galati, Gorj, Mehedinti, Valcea and Giugiu) this is the case in half or more of them. Furthermore, while 45 percent of non-VET upper-secondary schools lack amenities including libraries, workshops and gyms, the proportion is significantly higher in VET schools where three in every four of them not count with these amenities. In a third of the Romanian counties (14 out of 42) 80 percent or more of the VET schools lack these amenities. As noted in the context section, this is particularly relevant in the case of VET when it comes to the lack of workshops, which on average are lacking in approximate 35 percent of VET schools in Romania[98].
With regards to the adequacy of the subject-specific equipment, expanding the provision of VET in partnership with employers represents a key strategy to contribute to ensure that these are in line with the latest developments and trends. The introduction and plans to expand the dual system are an important step in that direction, However, experience in other EU members countries where this systems are central in the provision of VET, such as in Germany, Austria and Denmark, demonstrate that the availability of companies to offer placements sometimes cannot cover for forecasted skills needs or for students demands for certain qualification which otherwise would remain outside the system of education or work. At the same time, these same experiences have shown that complementing this lack of company’s placements with school-based VET training supported with public funds can create disincentives for the companies to invest in vocational training. A careful analysis of these different risks and opportunities is also required for adequate decision making in public investment in VET educational infrastructure and equipment.
Ensuring a well-functioning VET system in terms of the appropriateness of its infrastructure and equipment entails not only investing in modernization but also to develop standards and monitoring process to assess compliance, efficiency and equity of these investments. This is stated in both the VET and the infrastructure strategies. Priorities for investments in education are set out local authorities, which are subordinated by the Ministry for Regional Development (MRD) in dialogue with local schools and the participation of the MoNE, the TVET Center, RC. On the other hand, the responsibility for developing the standards to assessing the appropriateness of VET providers’ equipment for the needs of the training field, lies on the MoNE and the MoLSJ but also participate in this development the TVET Center, and Sectoral Committees.
The multiplicity of actors involved in these decision-making processes can lead to lack of coordination resulting in inefficiencies in delays. A clear definition of roles and responsibilities, with emphasis on the key leaders designated to guide each of the tasks required for this function appear as essential and do not seem to be clearly established according to the available strategic and legal frameworks, especially with regards to the development of standards. Moreover, according to the strategic framework, there is no specific involvement of local employers and employees in decisions regarding investments in infrastructure education. Adding to the picture, since most of the funds for construction and renovation works come from sources complementary to the public budget, such as and mainly, EU funds, any difficulties in access to these funds reverberate immediately in the progress made to improve the educational infrastructure. Access to the PHARE project in the context of EU funds made available in the pre-accession period supported the renovation of VET schools’ workshops, for instance. Most of these schools have not renewed their workshops since 2006, when the last round of PHARE projects was executed.
Quality Assurance
Quality assurance (QA) mechanisms for VET provision are well established in Romania. The Romanian national framework for QA was first established by Law 87 in 2006. The law defines a series of principles to guide QA in pre-university education, including VET – it should focus on learning outcomes, promote quality improvement, and be based on providers’ self-evaluation processes. Since 2009, Romania has adjusted the framework to ensure it refers specifically to EQAVET, the European quality assurance reference framework adopted by the European Parliament and the Council in 2009[99], and the national law of education from 2011 has reinforced the approach to QA set out in 2006. The standards used for accreditation of programmes and providers in VET were recently revised and updated, and the new accreditation standards entered into force in 2018.
The approach underpinning the implementation QA mechanisms in the Romanian VET system, however, could be improved. Four main weaknesses can be identified in the implementation of these QA mechanisms. First, there are overlaps and overburden of functions across the configuration of actors responsible for the QA function. Second, they are excessively focused on inputs rather than on outcomes. This results in a QA system that is more focused on compliance with minimum standards than on enhancing performance, contradicting the principles set out in the legal framework that guides QA in pre-university education. Third, the mechanisms to assess quality of on-the-job and practical skills are unevenly developed. Finally, by 2016 the VET strategy identified several pending issues regarding data collection systems for QA procedures for VET, which remain only partially addressed. These comprise the need to develop a national data collection and analysis system for EQAVET indicators, to devise mechanisms for monitor systematically the quality of VET provision and to update databases on internal quality assurance at authorized training providers.
Quality assurance in VET comprises three key stages: school self-assessment; accreditation of providers and programmes, and external evaluation. The process of monitoring of the quality of vocational certification exams is also considered part of the QA procedures in VET.
There is excessive fragmentation and overlaps of responsibilities among different stakeholders, mainly governmental, in relation to QA function in VET. The Agency for Quality Assurance in Pre-university Education (ARACIP) is responsible for authorization, accreditation and external evaluation of all re-university education, including initial VET. The MoNE is responsible for drafting the general policies and monitoring the overall processes and results. The TVET Center holds responsibility for developing specific methodologies on quality assurance in VET. Self-assessment is the responsibility at VET provider level and is coordinated by their internal Commissions for Quality Assurance and Evaluation. With regards to external assessments of quality, accreditation and re-accreditations are granted by MoNE order, which is based on ARACIP’s recommendations which in turn stem from assessments conducted using the methodological support provided by the TVET Center. In external evaluations, furthermore, school inspectorates offer guidance and support to VET providers about the quality assurance process and are responsible for external monitoring visits and for the validation of the self-evaluation reports drafted by VET providers[100]. In addition, the accreditation standards, which were redefined in 2018, are defined by consultations involving all relevant VET stakeholders in accordance to the Government Decision no. 1534 of 2008.
Despite recent efforts to redefine standards and procedures, quality assurance in school education and VET remains largely focused on compliance and not on increasing quality. In general, the quality of training is enforced by regulations, rather than encouraged through technical support. The monitoring VET institution is effectively carried out by school inspections in the field and their focus is on the analysis of technical and administrative information and not on school performance enhancement. School inspections should change this approach to provide more appropriate support and encourage institutional performance, as evidenced by the number of graduates who find employment or by improvement in the learning outcomes of students and evaluation results of teachers. However, this requires an overhaul of the type of data on schools that are made available and this is still needs some improvement for the data to be useful for the purposes of improving schools performance, as it is shown below. But also, as mentioned in the case of school inspectorates’ role in evaluating teachers, inspectorates are generally overburdened with administrative responsibilities and they can very rarely fulfill their role as mentors and advisors on how to improve the quality of VET provision. It emerges also from this observation that the functions of quality assurance, monitoring and inspection are not clearly defined in the Romanian VET system.
Links with employers in the established processes for QA in VET are still weak. Mechanisms to assess work-based learning are currently under development. The TVET Center has developed a concept document to guide the development of mechanisms to ensure the quality of on-the-job training. The document is currently under public consultation and is expected to become the first steps for a methodology to assess this type of leaning that is consistent with the existing QA mechanism for the subsector. This methodology will concern standards for QA for the accreditation of employers providing training in dual system[101].
In turn, employers’ involvement in QA of VET providers and programmes is limited. Employers are among the stakeholders consulted for the development of quality standards and can participate in the evaluation of the quality of certifications’ assessments as part of the evaluation commissions. Yet, since the final evaluation of the quality of VET is given by the employment of graduates, their participation in the QA process geared towards quality enhancement and not just compliance would benefit from their closer engagement in evaluating VET programmes and providers. For instance, they could be part of the ARACIP commissions that visit schools for external evaluations.
However, the possibilities of using data for enhancing education quality are limited. Despite the wide coverage of the system, which collects data for all pre-university levels, and the general good quality of the data collected, the SIIIR remains underutilized[102]. While the MoNE can access data and use it for informed policy-making, only selected data are made available for the general public. These data are mainly about school network, educational areas, levels, specializations, and results for national examinations and are insufficient to enable prospective students to make informed decisions or to assess the performance of training institutions. Policy makers do not yet utilize data to increase the accountability of education and training institutions. They do not use the data in the system to decide about resource allocation, track student progress or evaluate teaching.
In addition to the difficulties to access the data, limitation in the use of SIIIR data for quality enhancement purposes stems from the fact that, as noted earlier, education indicators are often not clearly defined and most of the data uploaded to SIIIR are of an administrative nature. The former impedes comparability, the latter means that SIIIR does not include data on outcomes or results. Ensuring the accuracy and proper interpretation of the process to update data to SIIIR is the responsibility of school inspectorates. But given the overload of functions covered by these stakeholders, more efforts are needed to better define the indicators and widely disseminate these definitions and clear instructions on uploading procedures. The limitation regarding the type of data included in SIIIR can be expected to decrease when the Electronic National Grade-book System (ENGS) will be established and integrated into SIIIR. This will enable schools to track students’ learning outcomes and relate them to other data collected by SIIIR. It will significantly enhance the usefulness of the SIIIR for quality enhancement purposes. Still, the weaknesses of the QA assurance mechanisms for the VET sector in relation to the involvement of employers and the overlap and fragmentation of functions remain an issue to be addressed.
4.2.4 Key observations on the strategic framework functional dimension
It emerges from the above analyses that in seeking to achieve the strategic objectives set out for the VET subsector in Romania, three core functional aspects need adjustments. The first one concerns several potential overlaps and blurred definition of responsibilities; the second aspect is related to the first one and indicates that there is an excessive fragmentation of responsibilities that suggests possible inefficiencies in the processes to achieve these strategic objectives. Third, for several of the strategic objectives analyzed, different forms of inadequate resources affect the functions needed to achieve them.
Regarding the strategic objectives related to increasing the relevance of VET for the labor market, it is possible to observe difficulties in terms of the three aspects – overlaps, fragmentation and inadequate resources. One key issue that precludes the well-functioning of the system concerns the difficulties to coordinate actions across the VET and CVET sectors. This is mainly jeopardized by the fact that these two sectors are under the orbit of two different Ministries, which may have different views and priorities in relation to education and training. The agency that links these two subsectors of VET is the NAQ, which is responsible for the NQR to both subsectors should refer to in terms of qualifications definitions. Yet, the NAQ operates under the orbit of the Ministry of Education but its coverage concerns also the remit of the Ministry of Labor since this Ministry governs CVET.
Other overlaps in the achievement of the strategic objective concerned with improving relevance regard the management of the newly created dual system and the development of the VET curricula. A potential overlap and obstacle for an efficient coordination among different VET tracks could develop if the definition of responsibilities regarding the dual system are not clearly defined between the TVET Center, which operates under the orbit of the Ministry of Education, and the newly created NADE, part of the Ministry of Labor, and made responsible for the management of dual system. An undefined area of responsibility is, for instance, the fact that the TVET Center is responsible for the development of quality standards regarding on-the-job training, and this concerns particularly the dual system. Furthermore, the fact that the curriculum for VET is designed by different agencies for core and specific subjects contributes to the fact noted by many interviewees conducted for this report that the core subject is overloaded and usually disconnected from the needs of each specific qualification or profile.
Within the strategic objective on relevance, the efforts to keep track of changes of the labor market skills demands and of the graduate’s insertion also encounters problems of fragmentation and lack of sufficient funds. Many VET stakeholders carry out skills anticipation studies, but their coverage and focus are fragmented among the variety of aims for which these stakeholders carry out the studies. In the case of graduates tracking a clear overlap is the co-existence of two different state-run systems – one is carried out on the bases of the 2013 methodology, the other one is conducted by VET schools in the context of quality assurance legislation requirements. Efforts to coordinate these different exercises have been made but were hindered both by an unclear definition of leadership roles and lack of resources to systematically apply the 2013 methodology and update it to align it with recent changes in the VET system, for instance, the creation of the dual system.
In the case of the strategic objective concerning an increase in participation in VET, there are issues of overlapping and fragmentation, but the lack of adequate resources emerges as the most outstanding obstacle. The recent efforts to coordinate and generate a common framework for offering a coherent approach to career services and support has been hindered by a low coverage of the network and a blurred definition of what career support means. This is coupled with a lack of enough and adequately qualified human resources to cover positions as professional career counsellors. The system of school counsellors coordinated by county school inspectorates has a very high rate of counsellor per student (1:800) which means that one counsellor may have to cover more than one school in some geographical areas.
Similarly, while the government of Romania has in place various schemes to facilitate access to VET to disadvantaged groups, funding for these initiatives appears to be inadequate. One key factor that has been identified as discouraging enrolments and leading to dropouts is the lack of financial support for students’ maintenance costs, such as meals, accommodations and transport and this is not covered by the government schemes and only unevenly covered by employers that are in partnership with VET schools. This lack of sufficient funds affects also the low incentives available for teachers to work in schools with low performing students or in isolated areas, which is in many cases the situation in VET and, in turn, constitutes a factor that affects the quality of the learning and contributes to make the sector less attractive affecting enrolments and retention. Furthermore, several of the programmes in place to increase participation rely on access to foreign funds, which undermines their sustainability in time.
Increased participation is also dependent on the level of permeability of the system, which in turn is affected by the possibilities to access the system on the bases of the recognition of prior learning. Despite progress made in Romania regarding the establishment of processes to recognize and validate prior learning, the effective implementation of these procedures remains patchy. In part this result from issues in interagency coordination related to the separation of the management of VET and CVET mentioned earlier, but it also results from insufficient resources, both financial and human. Regarding coordination, for instance, the revision of the methodology or the development of trainings for staff in charge of these processes, the key responsibility lies on the TVET Center, but the management of the recognition and validation processes is in the hands of the NAQ. The implementation of the procedures approved has been precluded so far due to the lack of funds, including funds to train the personnel. In this case, therefore, the lack of institutional capacity to implement the recognition and validations processes is related to the interrelated factors of lack of funds-insufficiently trained staff-interagency coordination. At the same time, to the extent that permeability for vertical progression can be precluding participation, it is noteworthy that the tertiary non-university education sector is so far only blurry defined and therefore the so are the corresponding roles and responsibilities.
Enhancing quality and fostering innovation is another core strategic objective for the VET strategic framework and in this case, despite well-established roles for a number of functions related to this objective, there are not only issues of fragmentation and inadequate funding but also disconnects between the strategic vision and the legal framework. The programmes to support low performing students has led to a slight improvement in Baccalaureate results for students of the technological track in VET. However, these initiatives have not been evenly put in proactive across the system and this has depended upon access to foreign funds, which represents also risks for the sustainability of these programmes to address low performance. Teacher training occupies a prominent role in the strategic framework as a means to achieve increases in the quality of VET. However, the legal framework in place does reveals a lack of mechanisms that incentivize teachers’ good performance are in place. Of particular note is that the external evaluation of teachers is the responsibility of school inspectorates, who carry out this task placing more emphasis on the compliance with normative and, moreover, if deficiencies in the process of teaching delivery are identified, the inspectors should act as mentors to guide teachers to address these deficiencies, but the overload of responsibilities means that this rarely takes place. Furthermore, while a minimum of hours of in-service training is compulsory by law, there are no consequences for no compliance, and as the funds provided for trainings are not enough, most teachers do not comply. Also, there is very little reward for teachers that perform well.
In the case of ensuring quality in VET with regards to assessment and certification of learning outcomes, the roles are well established in Romania, but employers are not sufficiently involved. This is especially relevant since it reflects an inconsistency in relation to the specific mission of VET, the core vision on which the strategic framework builds, and good international practice. The involvement of employers in assessing learning outcomes is critical for VET systems since, being part the demand side in the labor market, they represent from their own experience the view of what is good quality, useful and relevant in a given sector. Furthermore, adequate mechanisms to monitor the quality of vocational certification exams ensure the credibility of skills testing. But while employers are involved in evaluation committees, their participation is weaker in the development of assessments and in the monitoring of the quality and relevance of their contents and implementation process.
Furthermore, enhancing quality via the improvement of the VET infrastructure and equipment, faces difficulties related to the complex configuration of actors involved in decision making in this field. The improvement of the quality of infrastructure and equipment in VET involves a wide range of actors, which in some cases may generate obstacles and delays in implementation. However, the involvement of several national and sub-national governmental and non-governmental actors when it comes to infrastructure decisions is not unique of Romania. It is worth noting, however, that employers do not appear to be involved in any form in decision-making processes about investments in VET infrastructure and equipment. But to ensure this complex configuration of actors involved in decision-making regarding these kind of investments does not lead to bottlenecks and inefficiencies it is key to clearly define roles and responsibilities, and pursue the actions already established in the strategic framework concerning the definitions of standards to assess the quality of the investments. However, the fact that most of the funds for construction and renovation works come from sources complementary to the public budget, such as and mainly, EU funds, places further pressures in the functioning of the complex system.
But a key factor that is hindering the possibilities to enhance quality in VET provision, not only regarding investments in infrastructure and equipment, is beyond the exclusive realm of VET emerges, and it regards data management for the whole education system. While, significant progress has been made with regards to data collection for the monitoring education system in Romania since the introduction of SIIIR, the possibilities of using data for enhancing education quality are limited. In relation to infrastructure and equipment, the system, has only recently started to collect data on facilities and infrastructure but it still does not include data on equipment. Additionally, access to SIIIR data is limited and most stakeholders, including schools, must make formal requirement for information to access it. Above all, limitation in the use of SIIIR data for quality enhancement purposes stems from the fact that data uploaded to SIIIR are of an administrative nature, hence SIIIR does not include on outcomes or results, which could allow to assess the performance of training institutions and set targets and plans for improvement.
Table 18. Summary of functional challenges by strategic objective
|Strategic |Key functional concern |
|Objective | |
| |Overlaps |Fragmentation |Inadequate resources |Other |
|RELEVANCE |Qualifications design|TVET Center/NAQ | |Under-staffed |
| |Graduates insertion |Two state systems |
|PARTICIPATION |Marketing and career support |Two state systems |
|Planned budget |Actual expenditures|Planned budget |Actual expenditures |Planned budget |Actual expenditures|
|19,331,000 |8,793,000.14 |18,082,000 |10,258,335.49 |14,575,000 |8,284,264.68 |
|45.5% |56.7% |56.8% |
Securing adequate and predictable funding is critical. The TVET Center’s sources of revenue are subsidies from the state budget and non-reimbursable external funds, mainly European funds from the European Social Fund (ESF) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The subsidies from the state budget decreased from 56.1 percent in 2017 to 46.6 percent in 2018, while the non-reimbursable external funds increased from 43.9 percent to 53.4 percent in the same period. An exceptional situation was encountered in 2016, when the Center had a few projects financed from non-reimbursable external funds, and more than 89 percent of the revenue came from subsidies from the state budget.
Table 20. Sources of revenues 2016-2017-2018
|2016 |2017 |2018 |
|Subsidies |Non-reimbursable external |Subsidies |Non-reimbursable external |Subsidies |Non-reimbursable external |
| |funds | |funds | |funds |
|89.7% |10.3% |56.1% |43.9% |46.6% |53.4% |
In terms of expenditures, limited funding is allocated to other categories than salaries, for example 3.9 percent to goods and services vs. 31.4 percent for salaries in 2018. However, expenditures with projects financed from non-reimbursable external funds have the largest share, 54.4 percent in 2018 (Table 21).
Table 21. Types of expenditures 2016-2017-2018
|2016 |2017 |2018 |
|Salaries |
|Education level |
|Upper secondary, including |4,263 |9,061 |9,455 |
|VET | | | |
|1) Business and |Production and distribution of goods; |4) Education and Culture |Child and youth care nursing |
|Administration |Services, marketing, administration, | |education; |
| |finances, and insurance; | |Adult education; |
| |Transportation, logistics, tourism. | |Special needs target groups; |
| | | |Music and dance, etc. |
|2) Production and |Manufacturing; Mechanical engineering |5) Leisure, travel, tourism |Travel; |
|Manufacturing |design; | |Sports; |
| |Supply/environmental/automotive engineering,| |Tourist services; |
| |etc. | |Catering and hospitality, etc. |
|3) Civil engineering |Construction; |6) Agriculture, Food, |Agriculture; |
| |Wood Surface and coating technology, etc. |Nutrition |Food production; |
| | | |Domestic economy, etc. |
|7) Electrical and |Production systems; |10) Media and Information |Printing; Online advertising; |
|Electronic Engineering and |Building equipment; | |and customer service; |
|ITC |ITC and media technology. | |Sales promotion, etc. |
|8) Process Engineering and |Applied sciences; |11) Textile and design |Clothing, fashion; |
|Energy |Energy conversion, etc. | |Interior design; |
| | | |Arts and crafts, etc. |
|9) Health and social Care |Health and clinical care; |12) Mining and Natural |Mining; |
| |Person hygiene; nursing, etc. |Resources |Oil and natural gas, etc. |
Source: United TVET Network on Innovation and Professional Development, 2018.
In Romania, participation in professional development is compulsory for all public-school teachers, including VET teachers, to remain in the profession. It is recommended they obtain 90 credits or a minimum of 360 training hours within a five-year period[112], but there are no repercussions in case they don’t fulfill it. These 90 credits may be obtained in several ways: (i) pass one of the career evolution exams (1st or 2nd degree) in the five-year timeframe; (ii) obtain within the five-year period a Master’s or PhD degree in a specialized subject or in the field of Educational Sciences; (iii) graduate from at least a three-semester post-university professional conversion program in education; (iv) obtain a Bachelor’s degree in a subject different from the one he/she is teaching; or (v) participate in various accredited teacher training programs (in which case the 90 credits correspond to 360 training hours).
On the other hand, the rewards for attending professional development course are not significant, e.g. those who accumulate the designated credits can apply for a principal or school inspectorate position. Plus, teachers have more incentives to participate in the accredited courses that allow them to accumulate credits for career progression and job security than those that might meet their own professional learning needs (OECD Romanian review, 2017). At the same time, development of training programs to equip vocational trainers of companies with pedagogical skills is still pending.
[pic]
Source: OECD VET key messages, 2015.
School principals and teachers reported several times during interviews conducted for this review that teacher professional development is severely hindered by insufficient funds allocated to schools. They outlined the fact that the current values of the standard cost per student do not cover all school needs, including teacher training. For example, on average, a 30-credit course (120 hours) costs between RON 250 and 400 (approximately €80), but this varies depending on the specific training requirements, their personal interests, and the local financial resources (WB, SABER Teachers, 2017). Moreover, state funds for teacher training are not allocated directly to schools, but to local authorities, thus adding another layer of bureaucracy and dependency. This, in turn, has led principals to rely mostly on EU funded projects to support professional development which in the long run does not offer a sustainable approach.
Currently, teacher professional development is not formally assigned based on employers, schools and teachers’ needs which is paramount to fostering a relevant demand-driven VET system. In some cases, a professional development needs analysis is done at the school level, and the results are sent to the subnational authorities, who then organize courses according to the school needs. However, the bulk of teacher professional development programs do not take these analyses into account, nor do they assess student achievement and observations made during inspection visits. Also, this issue is confirmed by several surveys and in-depth interviews conducted with VET school principals and teachers. VET school principals and teachers indicated that both pre-service and in-service teacher training are not relevant enough, especially for teachers teaching specialty subjects and practical training who need updating knowledge and skills in order to keep pace with technological changes happening in different industries.
|[VET school principal] Technological high schools and vocational schools should place more emphasis on teacher training, especially |
|training of teachers for practical training because technology is advancing at a fairly rapid pace, and our teaching staff is not |
|keeping pace with it. This is mainly because there are no courses for them at all. There are only theoretical courses, our teachers |
|participated in all possible courses, but practically there is no teacher training center where teachers can train on new machines |
|currently used by companies. |
Although survey data shows that over 70 percent of teachers were recently trained, in-depth interviews with principals and teachers reveal that most training courses VET teachers attend are not addressing their real needs in terms of updating knowledge and skills concerning the new technologies, equipment and tools used now by employers. In their opinion, this is mainly due to low supply of courses dedicated to specialty and practical training teachers, as well as limited financial resources allocated for teacher training.
In general, teacher appraisal is majorly compliance-driven and often inaccurate with little impact on boosting the quality and relevance of teaching. In Romania, external teacher evaluation is ensured by the County School Inspectorates through school inspections which are mostly compliance-driven. The VET inspectors visit VET schools and evaluate teachers by observing classrooms and assessing teaching-related documents. They also monitor the use of the curriculum, evaluate school management practices, and assess students’ achievement data. As specified in bylaws, their main role is to counsel and coach teachers, yet they are often overburdened with administrative and control work (WB, SABER Teachers, 2017). Internal teacher evaluations are conducted by the principal, heads of departments, and school board members. On receiving a highly satisfactory rating from an internal performance review, a teacher is eligible for public recognition, monetary bonuses, and opportunities for career advancement. An unsatisfactory rating has no salary implications, but teachers are mentored/coached by the head of department to improve his/her performance.
Several criteria are used to evaluate teacher performance, such as teacher attendance, knowledge of subject matter, compliance with curriculum, teaching methodology, use of homework in classroom, student assessments, teacher-student interactions, student academic achievement, students’ participation in class, contribution to institutional development, and teacher-parent interactions are used to evaluate teacher performance. In addition to the above criteria, responsibilities at school level, like participation in developing textbooks, guides, and regulations, and professional development activities are also taken into consideration. However, in practice, these evaluations are not always accurate as these are done informally and are not based on objective measures of students’ academic and socioemotional progress. It is noteworthy that inspectors do not necessarily have workplace experience related to the specialists subjects they may evaluate in VET schools. Also, no other stakeholders, such as industry representatives, are involved in the evaluation of VET teachers and trainers.
International research suggests that evaluations might prove more effective if they combine multiple methods and sources of information, such as student academic achievement, classroom observation, and stakeholder survey results (WB, SABER Teachers, 2017). In case of VET teachers, additional evaluation criteria may be also considered, such as recent workplace experience and industry knowledge and skills, among others.
Financing. The VET financing function in Romania remains an area to be addressed mainly for three reasons:
• The responsibility to provide the necessary resources to implement education policies stays with MONE and TVET Center and to deliver good quality education services stays with the VET schools– both relying on financing function. An adequate budget available facilitates the provision of essential inputs such as teachers, school buildings, and learning materials, and enables the spending function. VET programs require occupation-specific workshops and equipment. At the same time a proper budget does not guarantee a quality education, and vice versa the quality education is impossible to achieve without adequate resources (Reschovsky & Imazeki 2001; Clune 1994). The existing public per capita financing model of VET based on a standard cost per student provides no incentive to improve the quality of teaching and learning or workshops’ capacity.
• Spending education resources efficiently is a struggle without proper incentives and mechanisms. Teachers are the largest public workforce and students are the largest population, both are part of the education sector (Guthrie et al. 2007). The budget allocated for education in Romania is on the lowest place in Europe, without efficient spending it becomes almost impossible to raise the quality of education in addition to increasing access in VET subsector. Efficient spending includes an adequate student teacher ratio per school, an effective school network, high attainment combined with low dropout and a high rate of employment among recent graduates.
• The variety of VET stakeholders with different motivations including related to finance increase the complexity of the process and an efficient allocation of funds that are already scarce resources. All the institutions involved in the public VET system are financed from the budget and benefit of resources to reach education objectives. Education authorities transform these goals into plans, and financial authorities provide supporting resources. The financial authorities that provide funding often operate separately from education authorities that use the funds[113]. The school finance experts are placed into the Budget Directorate in MONE and MOPF being not fully integrated with TVET Center, which may complicate the efficient use of resources. In addition, employers may finance in addition the schools, offering sponsorships or scholarships for which they may need a trustworthy mechanism that consist of incentives for both schools and employers.
The funds spent by schools for training in the pre-university system at the end of 2016 represented 0.5 percent of current expenses and 0.1 percent of staff expenses. Moreover, lowest percentage of funds was spent on teacher training at the VET level even though this is an area in urgent need of qualified staff. This situation was aggravated by the lack of EU funds for human resources development during the same period, as important projects had financed teacher training between 2009 and 2015.
Figure 57. Funds spent on teacher training as a share of current expenses in 2016
[pic]
Source: World Bank calculations based on Ministry of Public Finance expenditure data.
The total expenses in VET schools amounted in 2016 only 149 million lei being the subsector with lowest share of financing among main levels of education. This low level of overall expenses is caused by the low number of schools, only 457, that recorded expenses for 61 thousand students, in calendar year 2016 (Table 24). In vet education most of funds, 98 percent are allocated for teachers and current costs, leaving almost financial space to innovate or invest. In this context any sponsorship coming from employers or other social and local partners is a must, while schools might focus on generating more revenues.
Table 24. Total expenses per level of education and type in CY2016.
|Level of education |Staff costs|% |Current costs |
|VET education – 3 years |457 |
|Inequitable budget allocation |Block grants to subnational level and local authorities are inadequate for equalizing fiscal |
| |imbalances among the localities (i.e. horizontal equalization). |
| |Education spending results in disproportionate allocations to poor and vulnerable students |
|Inadequate |Links are weak among target outputs, outcomes, and the budgets allocated. |
|budget allocation |Education resources are very limited as % of GDP. |
|Disconnect between the education |There is limited, or no incentives or accountability linked to results at subnational and |
|policy intent and implementation |local levels. |
|Poor human resource management |• Lack of hardship incentives limits teacher deployment to rural or remote areas. |
| |• Weak management system for payroll leads to poor record of absenteeism. |
| |• Teacher unions are politicized and represent a significant pressure group. |
|Lack of school |• School directors’ inability to make independent decisions about hiring |
|autonomy |temporary teachers result in an inadequate or excess supply of teachers. |
| |• School management is not sufficiently empowered to take |
| |decisions on the budget allocations or school grants. |
6. Main recommendations
The findings that emerged from this functional review point out to the need to address issues related to:
1. Increasing labor market relevance of education, especially enhancing the inclusion of social partners in several aspects of VET planning and implementation.
2. Revising governance arrangements for the sector, especially seeking to address fragmentation and overlapping of roles and responsibilities and leadership.
3. Increasing participation, quality and relevance of VET education.
4. Providing adequate funding allocations and improving teacher’s management.
6.1 Recommendations for increasing labor market relevance of VET
As previously argued throughout the report, VET, unlike general education, is much more focused on developing relevant skills for specific trades and industries which brings at the forefront the involvement of employers at all levels from strategic planning to effective delivery of VET. International TVET policy and practice showcase that relevant and effective TVET systems are largely demand-driven by employers. More specifically, functionality and sustainability of TVET systems worldwide are highly dependent on the degree of institutional connectivity between the VET schools and employers.
Drawing on international practice in VET governance, a well-functioning and sustainable VET subsector in Romania may be achieved if three key levers (triple A) are met: (i) institutional autonomy to hire teachers and use resources; (ii) accountability for learning outcomes and employability; and (iii) assessment in terms of tracking graduates and providing dedicated and specialized career guidance. Equally important, the key players who need to be in the front seats are the VET schools and employers who are strongly and actively connected in managing and delivering quality and relevant education and training to its clients (students, parents and the whole community, society).
Figure 58. Demand driven VET sector with key levers
[pic]
Within this scenario, several recommendations and solutions emerged in terms of rethinking the organizational structure of the VET subsector, as well as of the TVET Center whose role is pivotal in ensuring leadership in the governance of this subsector. At the same time, this section includes recommendations on the overall strategic framework and policies for better and effective alignment of skills supply with the current and future demands from the industry, improving the attractiveness of the teaching profession by rethinking recruitment and compensation process, as well as delivering more meaningful and relevant training, and financing.
Despite progress in the institutionalization of stakeholders’, especially employers’, participation in VET, the review has identified several pending aspects to address in order to improve the functionality of the system. Above all these concern different forms of enabling employers to get actively involved in VET governance and empower their decision-making role as follows. The organization of sectoral committees, were both employers and employees are represented, should be promoted for all economic sectors and their participation in VET related decision-making instances should be made more attractive. In principle this can be achieved simply by giving them more decision power and by reflecting their advice in concrete policy or action at the central, local or school level.
Limited employers and sectoral committees’ involvement in VET matters is also linked to the education system’s resistance to change and the current legal and financial regulations. The former can be addressed by creating incentives for schools and their staff to see benefits in liaising and including these actors in their decision-making processes. These could include offering on-the-job training for teachers, both of theoretical and skills-specific subjects in the company’s premises, which would foster the formation of more networks on which bases other collaboration can develop. In relation to these, legal adjustments and financial incentives could be necessary too.
• While the committees are well engaged in roles related to the development of qualifications, they are less so in the roles attributed to them by law related to foster dialogue with the authorities as well as between schools and companies. Strengthening this role could be achieved by organizing events, contributing in the formation of partnerships or the institutionalization of specific activities to exchange knowledge and expertise as in the case of the offering of on-the-job training for teachers mentioned above.
• Regarding the RC and LCDSP, the most important issue precluding their relevance as spaces for stakeholder’s participation is that they are only advisory bodies with no decision-making power has contributed to make them be perceived as symbolic. Like in the case of sectoral committees, legal redefinitions would be needed but also reflecting and acknowledging more their inputs in concrete actions or reforms could contribute to change this perception.
• Another area of VET in which the participation social partners could be enhanced is in monitoring strategic initiatives or participating in the design of mechanisms to do so, including in the development of quality assurance standards. In addition, as noted in additional recommendations below, employers should be more involved in processes related to assessing the quality of VET learning outcomes.
In line with this, some key functions to be considered for the Sectoral Committees, which are complementary to their existing functions within the VET subsector are proposed as follows:
• Determine the key trades by sector for which the VET schools will provide competency-based training and the trades that need to be phased out because there is no demand for them. This implies regular mapping of skills mismatch at national and regional levels (this task may be managed with qualified consultants);
• Develop and/or update and validate training standards for each trade at the prescribed level of qualification with a qualified technical team (the technical team shall be hired and paid by the Committees based on Terms of reference) comprised of qualified workers, teachers and specialists in training standards. The technical team may be supported by specialist in curriculum design and development, and assessment instruments;
• Ensure and finance the competency-based alignment process required in each VET school associated to the trades of the corresponding sector.
Recommendations on skills alignment. To enable the alignment of skills is needed of: i) adequate number of qualified teachers with on the job experience; ii) teacher training; iii) modern and equipped physical facilities; iv) school management and leadership; v) tracking students’ system; vi) appropriate school institutional arrangements to effectively and functionally link schools with the employers. This is an avenue to ensure alignment of the competency-based training, a necessary condition driving the quality and relevance of training for the VET sector. The perception of VET sector related to its relevance and quality will be improved when graduates find jobs in related occupations and employers are satisfied with the quality of graduates and job performance. In this way, the schools send positive signals to the communities increasing access and retention for VET students.
Skills alignment comprises of the following tasks:
• i) each VET school carries out a self-assessment to gauge if they are ready to provide competency-based training for a given trade in terms of availability of the standards, training package, assessment instruments, required training staff, training procedures, training material and equipment, physical facilities, workshops and laboratories and school organization.
• ii) if there are gaps, then an alignment plan is developed with the help of qualified technical assistance provided by the sector skill council. The plan needs to be approved by the TVET center contingent on previous endorsement of the sector skill council.
• Iii) the alignment plan is put into motion by the corresponding VET school, including for example: development and validation of standards, training curriculum and assessment instruments; hiring of teachers or training of teachers; acquisition of training equipment; refurbishing or construction of workshops, laboratories, etc. The implementation of the alignment plan is financed by the TVET Center through the sector skill council.
The sector skill council is chaired by a key employer of the sector and comprises employers of the sector, representatives of the TVET center associated to the trades, government officials. They have decision making power and a budget. It is not an advisory committee. The sector skill councils will report/accountable to the head of the TVET center, but they are autonomous bodies with their own budget and by laws.
Figure 59. Skills alignment to the labor market
The alignment of education with employers’ needs can also be achieved via the establishment of systems to anticipate skills needs and to track graduates’ insertion in the labor market. The findings of these systems are expected to feed into redefinitions of vocational profiles, the revision of qualifications, and the design of the training curricula. To make these studies more relevant and comparable across the sector and in time, this review has led to the following recommendations:
• Since the numerous assessments of skills carried out in Romania vary significantly in terms of scope, timeframe, and methodology, improving the functioning of the system regarding skills and competences anticipation would require better coordination of the existing initiatives and would benefit from the development of a comprehensive and regular study or sets of studies.
• Given that the TVET Center is the specialized agency in VET within the MoNE, but it is also responsible for a variety of tasks related to the management of a system of studies to identify competences needs in the labor market, this Centre should be the governing authority to coordinate all the studies, surveys, assessment and forecasts, make recommendations and collaborate, and govern this aspect of the system, overall.
• This central coordination is recommended to be in collaboration with relevant social partners. The studies are more relevant to be done in close communication with employers as they are better informed about the trends in their sector.
• A first step towards developing a common approach and coordinate these initiatives would require consultations with the different actors conducting skills anticipation studies. A second step could involve a stocktaking exercise of the different studies conducted, identifying how they overlap in terms of information gathered, for instance, and how they differ, in terms of methodologies or sources, for instance. A third and complementary step would be to explore avenues to expand the use of the information generated by these coordinated or comprehensive studies for policy making at both national regional and school levels.
• A similar recommendation is suggested for the tracking of graduates’ insertion and progression in the labor market. While this coordination is put in the hands of the TVET Center in the VET strategy, the recommendation here is that the role of social and local partners is better established in regulations and policy documents and that given the existence of the regional training offices of the TVET Center and the NAWE these could be the focal points in the processes of data collection in partnership with schools and employers. The latter’s participation is critical if a competences approach is to be adopted since it would allow to cross check the skills acquired during the VET studies with the views of the employers regarding their acquisition.
• The data generated by studies tracking graduates labor insertion could be incorporated into the newly created system of information for education management (SIIIR).
2 Recommendations regarding the TVET Centre’s and system structures
The core issue identified in this respect is the lack of leadership in the sector. In these bases the team recommends a redefinition and restructuring of the TVET Center. In terms of purposes the Centre must focus on four inter-related core areas:
• vision, policy, and strategy;
• monitoring, evaluation, and quality assurance;
• employability, and industry relations, and
• operations (e.g. resource management, budget development, implementation of programs, and projects).
The new organizational structure proposed, in turn, would revolve around two key functional areas:
o Operations management with the overall mandate to support a demand-driven, flexible, well anchored VET subsector in accordance with current and future labor market trends, and well-endowed with innovative pedagogical methods, as well as modern learning and training environments;
o Fiduciary takes in charge with all logistics and administrative aspects pertaining to the TVET Center.
In addition, the solution proposed for the current Deputy Director’s over-allocation of responsibilities is to split these between two deputy directors in charge with the two new key strategic units proposed by the tasks team – the employers and school’s liaison unit and the information and public awareness unit, which are paramount to the TVET Center as a leading organization in the VET subsector. At the same time, as the leadership function will be taken by TVET center, these will be supported in accomplishing its functions by eight regional branches, the VET schools and the sectoral committees.
This report also includes a proposal to reform the VET system structure to introduce for permeability into the system while improving the transition to higher education from technological schools needs attention. International experience and surveys conducted in Romania show that students that choose VET are less prone to academic styles of learning and prefer practical approaches. Hence, providing eligibility for higher education in vocational tracks only by increasing the volume of academic content could be counterproductive as it may lead these kinds of students to dropout from education. Options to move between different paths in VET as well as the expansion of the professional higher education are two possibilities to consider.
The reform proposed seeks to keep the basic structure as similar as possible to the current one in place, but it comes with some key elements to allow for more flexibility and permeability, as it follows:
• Introduce examination at the end of compulsory education (Grade 10) which grants a completion certificate of compulsory education. This is aimed at addressing the lack of exit points with a valid certification to enter the labor market. Also, it creates the option of re-entering education and finishing the qualification at a later stage;
• Allow for a smooth and direct transition from the professional to the technological track after completion of Grade 11. The transition from professional to technological after completion of compulsory education is allowed according to this proposal if there is alignment between the professional qualification and the technological profile concerned;
• Adapt the Baccalaureate exam to VET graduates, and introduce professional Baccalaureate with relevant tests which are aligned with the technical and practical skills delivered in VET schools;
• Introduce an extra year for students in technological track to prepare for the Baccalaureate. Introducing this extra year for graduates of technological high schools seeks to address the low number of students who sit or succeed in the Baccalaureate exam;
• Expand the tertiary non-university sector with options to access and progress depending on recognition of certificates and previous learning.
In summary, everybody gets eight years of relevant and good quality basic education; all students entering upper secondary education are required to take an examination at the end of grade 10 and get a completion for compulsory education, and then exit the system to find employment or continue for one more year in the professional track, or go to technological track for two more years, including an extra year to prepare for the Baccalaureate. For those who choose to continue in the professional track for one more year, by the end of grade 11 they may choose to graduate, get their certificate and find job, or they may continue their studies and train at a higher level in technological track directly in grade 12. For those who choose this option, as well as for those studying in technological track from the beginning, there is the possibility of an extra year (grade 13) to prepare for the professional Baccalaureate which grants them access to higher education. For those who do not sit or pass the Baccalaureate, they may continue their studies in post high schools.
One of the key goals of the World Bank in providing technical assistance is to enhance capacity in the implementing institutions, using its own Bank expertise but acting as catalyst, facilitator, and broker of knowledge. A key objective for a future intervention would be creating a system to deliver training for TVET Center staff, provide dissemination and assistance to VET schools and apply lessons from various policies, programs and projects implementation. However, there is no formal mechanism for sharing these lessons at this point. A central repository of lessons learnt would also be also a useful knowledge resource.
Intensive training should be reserved for individuals as part of different units, assuming a “train-the-trainers” approach so that institutional champions can assist others on an ongoing basis. Training should be given on a wider basis to staff from all units. For cost savings, these trainings could be delivered regionally, involving multiple units simultaneously. It is worth mentioning that a distinct budget allocation for training should be provided on a yearly basis and in adequate amounts to build capacity of institutional staff in the pursuit of policies, innovation and programs’ implementation. By providing capacity building opportunities through targeted training—in the present and in the future—TVET Center will develop a strong core staff team with the relevant skills to manage the sector, oversee the implementation and continuously update the policies.
3 Recommendations on participation, relevance and quality of VET
Increasing participation in VET can be addressed via promotional activities and career guidance and support. While the GoR has embarked in various of these initiatives in recent years, the review identified several functional aspects that can be improved to achieve better with the implementation of these initiatives:
• A policy document should be developed and disseminated to establish common understandings across the sector about different forms of study counselling support and career guidance that can be offered to prospective and current VET students. These should clearly discriminate between support geared towards enhancing retention, that aimed at providing career advice and the links and synergies between them. In turn, the adequacy and need of each of them at transition from lower to upper secondary (with focus on VET options); offering professional career services for those finishing upper secondary VET should be made clear.
• At the governmental level, clarifying these conceptual differences could contribute to a better definition of responsibilities and roles for the different stakeholders involved.
• Crucially, the government’s efforts to coordinate career support services across all education levels needs to be backed with adequate funding and skills staff. More funds and the possibility to train staff involved in these activities should be provided. Conceding more autonomy to schools to hire qualified staff to develop these specific roles of career guidance and support should be considered in further legal revisions. ~This is especially relevant since the system of school counsellors coordinated by the county school inspectorates allocate one school counsellor allocated every 800 students and these counsellors are at the same time teachers in different subjects and are not necessarily trained in counselling or guidance disciplines. Similarly, class masters (diriginte) are in charge with offering career advice to final year students have generally no prior training on disciplines relevant to counselling or career guidance and provide these classes.
• The use of data on employment prospects that could be generated by national systems to do so should be used to provide career advice.
The attractiveness of the VET system is critically affected by perceptions about the quality and relevance of this track. To improve the quality of learning outcomes the review has two key recommendations:
• Access to remedial classes for VET graduates in the preparation to Baccalaureate examinations should be available to all students. The reform of the VET system proposed in this review (above) include the provision of an extra year – optional for technological track, compulsory for those that pursue a four-years professional classification – and the introduction of a technological Baccalaureate. This would represent a form of even provision of remedial classes for all.
• While improvement in the Baccalaureate pass rate can indicate improvements in the quality of VET, the quality of these systems is more adequately demonstrable by employment levels of graduates, which is linked to employers’ satisfaction with those graduates’ skills. For this purpose, the recommendation is that examinations and certification of professional competences need more active participation of employers. Currently their involvement is in the implementation of the assessment itself, but their participation should be strengthened in monitoring the quality and relevance of their content and implementation and in the design of the assessments.
But the quality of learning outcomes and relevance is also inextricably intertwined with the quality of teaching. The report includes the following recommendations to improve the quality of the teaching provided in the VET system in Romania:
• In both pre-service and in-service teacher training should be made more relevant to teachers teaching specialty subjects and practical training who need to update knowledge and skills to keep pace with technological changes happening in different industries, but also for general subject teachers who need to make their teaching more connected to the interests and needs of the specific qualification and profiles that training is for.
• Professional development courses need to be linked to better rewards to incentivize participation. Furthermore, they should be based on perceived schools, economic sectors and individual teachers’ needs. Crucially, additional financial support is needed to improve the level of involvement of teachers in professional development activities.
• Moreover, state funds for teacher training are not allocated directly to schools, but to local authorities, adding another layer of bureaucracy and dependency. Many school principals rely mostly on EU funded projects to support professional development which in the long run does not offer a sustainable approach. Regulatory changes that can allow for refund systems for professional development courses chosen by schools or individuals could help to avoid these additional bureaucratic layers and, at the same time, to address the lack of course based on needs.
• The VET strategy puts forward the need to establish national centre for continuous training of teachers, trainers, external evaluators and tutors from employers providing initial vocational training. The NCDVET is responsible for this task. The implementation of this initiative is its early stages but the role of employers in this initiative needs to be made central providing incentives and generating their interest in participating.
• Since the teaching progression it emerged from this review that the teaching profession is unattractive, and first level entrance is low, the recommendation is that, professional development programmes should be designed with the aim of professionalization teaching staff with obsolete competences or skills.
• In addition to reforms in the teacher training system to keep the learning process in line with recent developments in the respective professional areas, teachers’ recruitment should be reformed. In addition to the qualifications required for upper secondary teachers, in the case of VET more weight should be given to evidence of on-the-job expertise. A well-functioning VET system needs to ensure that teachers have a command in: (i) the occupational competencies associated to the tenet of the training (sector specific expertise dimension); and (ii) the pedagogical approach to deliver the training in an appropriate way (pedagogical dimension).
Similarly linked to quality of learning outcomes, attractiveness of the system and the quality of teaching, is the learning environment. In the case of VET this comprises both the infrastructure provisions and the equipment available to conduct practical trainings. In this case the review has identified recommendations that regard mostly the organization and monitoring of these aspects of VET provision.
• The report reasserts the main aim underpinning the Romanian Strategy for Investment in Education Infrastructure – to ensure that decisions on investing in educational infrastructure are based on evidence to guarantee these decisions are efficient and equitable. But the highlights that a multiplicity of actors involved in decision-making processes about investment in infrastructure in education can lead to lack of coordination resulting in inefficiencies in delays. Hence a key recommendation is to clearly define roles and responsibilities.
• The need to define clear roles and responsibilities among the multiplicity of actors involved infrastructure development and maintenance in education in Romania requires attention with regards to designating key leaders to guide each of the tasks required for this function, for the development of standards and to define the specific involvement of local employers and employees in these decisions.
• Access to data that is comprehensive, reliable, accessible and up-to-date is essential to allow for evidence-based decisions in infrastructure development and maintenance. While the system of information for education management (SIIIR) launched has recently started to collect data on facilities and infrastructure, it is particularly important for VET that the database includes also data on equipment.
• Expanding the provision of VET in partnership with employers represents a key strategy to contribute to ensure that equipment in VET are in line with the latest developments and trends. As it is suggested in the recommendations for reforming the VET tracks structure, this type of programmes is expected to expand, but the caveats and learning from international experience mentioned earlier need to be considered.
By enhancing and adapting well the quality assurance system to the VET subsector needs, the maintenance of quality regarding teaching, infrastructure and, to some extent, learning outcomes, can be monitored. In this respect, while quality assurance (QA) mechanisms for VET provision are well established in Romania, the review has identified several pending and outstanding issues for which the following recommendations are suggested:
• Employers are little involved in QA of VET providers and programmes despite the fact that it is in their hands the definite judgment on the quality of VET is given by the employment of graduates by giving them employment or not, for a start. While they could be part of the ARACIP commissions that visit schools for external evaluations their participation QA could work better for improving quality and relevance of VET if it is inserted in a system that is process geared towards quality enhancement and not just compliance.
• The approach underpinning the implementation QA mechanisms in the Romanian VET system, is excessively focused on inputs rather than on outcomes. This results in a QA system that is more focused on compliance with minimum standards than on enhancing performance, contradicting the principles set out in the legal framework that guides QA in pre-university education. The recommendation is to move away from evaluation focused in regulations and the revision of documents and encourage through technical support and dialogue activities. The monitoring VET institutions, effectively carried out by school inspections, should use data on effective results of the education and training provided, such as number of graduates who find employment, learning outcomes of students and evaluation results of teachers, and develop recommendations and enhancement plans on those bases.
• There are also important overlaps and overburden of functions across the configuration of actors responsible for the QA function. In particular, the school inspectorates, which are the main responsible for evaluating teachers and institutions, are generally overburdened with administrative responsibilities and very rarely can they fulfil their role as mentors and advisors on how to improve the quality of VET provision.
• A national data collection system with the results of QA evaluations is recommendable and the adoption of a system based on EQAVET indicators should be considered. This database will include the design on mechanisms for monitor systematically the quality of VET provision and to update databases on internal quality assurance at authorized training providers.
Regarding monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for the VET subsector, this is currently seen as a tool to control and manage programmes. To address this issue, it is recommended to:
• Increase the beneficiaries and other stakeholders in the planning and implementation stages of these processes.
• Compensate tendencies to emphasize quantitative methods in these systems with qualitative information which is often linked to local socio‐cultural contexts and may help to provide a better understanding of the nature of the outcomes and the overall impact of TVET.
• Learning about teachers’ opinions and attitudes towards quality, teaching process, and students’ expectations becomes a key ingredient of an evidence-based quality management system.
6.4 Recommendations of teachers’ management and VET financing
A key recommendation to consider following this review is that attracting the best people into teaching and motivating them to perform is crucial for VET in Romania. To this end the suggestions are to design and enforce a competitive compensation system at all levels, especially for entry-level teachers and to (Re)design teacher recruitment process to include VET specific requirements and criteria, such as: VET teachers to have previous workplace experience in the field/specializations taught in VET schools, including recognition of prior workplace training done as part of pre-service training in college/university.
For the above suggestions to be implemented effectively, the following enabling interconnected conditions should be met at system and institutional levels:
• To enhance VET school autonomy to assess and decide upon teacher training curricula together with employers;
• To Develop or enhance existing partnership between VET schools and employers to allow school VET teachers spend some time in industry to update their knowledge and skills, and companies’ trainers to spend time in VET schools to develop and/or improve their pedagogical skills.
• To (Re)design pre-service teacher training programs delivered in colleges/universities to be tailored to VET specificities. One way to achieve this may imply increasing the number of hours allocated for workplace training in companies, while keeping focus on pedagogical skills;
• To (Re)design in-service teacher training system together with employers’ representatives to reflect both school and industry needs. For this to be effective, autonomy of VET schools need to be enhanced to allow them to decide upon the training curricula and providers together with local employers. At the same time, professional development system should include compulsory requirements for regular workplace training of school VET teachers. Continuous training programs may be delivered in cluster of teachers teaching for the same qualification/trade. Some parts of trainings could be carried out at employers’ premises, while others in-situ in their schools.
The lack of adequate funding emerged as a key obstacle to attracting, motivating and retaining the best teachers in VET but also as a cross-cutting issue in all the functional dimensions analyzed in this report. While the key recommendation that emerges is that the allocation of more funds for the VET sector would be essential to improve its performance, it is also critical to ensure that resources are used efficiently. For this purpose, and in view of the key aspects of VET in which funding issues emerged as especially critical, the report recommends:
• To adequately monitor and track spending at the school, local and national incumbent levels. This requires a commitment to accountability in financing including checking whether financial resources are reaching the most vulnerable students. This is so especially because if resources are scarce, it will be difficult to address the equity and quality challenges faced in the sector.
• In the efforts to increasing participation in VET the lack of adequate resources emerges as the most outstanding obstacle. This is evident in the efforts to coordinate and generate a common framework for offering a coherent approach to career services and support has been hindered by a low coverage of the network and a blurred definition of what career support means. This is coupled with a lack of enough and adequately qualified human resources to cover positions as professional career counsellors. Participation from the employers and other social partners in VET system, in the decision-making process on the financial nature may bring additional and complementary resources as well.
• But the role of monetary support has been essential in the strategy to increase participation, so in this case the critical importance of adequate funding becomes more evident in maintenance cost such as those regarding transport, meals and accommodation, are not covered by state schemes and according to interviews conducted in the context of this functional review, insufficient funds to cover these expenses has been mentioned as an important factor leading to drop outs. The recommendation is that this is an important aspect in which increasing then availability of funds should be considered, because it emerged as important in the interviews and because it can have immediate effects in improving other targets such as NEETs, dropouts, as well as it will increase the pool of students that, in the context of a reformed tracks system, can offer higher skills to the labor market and have more chances to succeed in progressing to higher levels of education.
• The lack of funds is particularly affecting teaching quality since the funds made available for teachers to comply with the compulsory minimum hours of professional development are insufficient. Ensuring at least an adequate update of sills, in the context of a reform system of recruiting and training, would be essential to provide VET that is in line with current development in the currently rapid changing economies. Increase the allocation of the public expenditures in VET education as a share of total government education expenditure because the private rate of returns is high, and the supply of the VET graduates is welcomed by the market. Given the tight fiscal space, investment decisions should be driven by benefits that can accrue to both individual children and to society. For example, investments in VET education can be leveraged to produce positive effects on youth labor participation and reach marginalized populations.
• Since in VET most of funds, 98 percent are allocated for teachers and current costs, leaving almost financial space to innovate or invest, sponsorships from employers or other social and local partners is a must, while schools might focus on generating more revenues. This would require legal adjustments allowing for more autonomy from schools to establish these partnerships and carry out these activities.
• Measure the external efficiency of the VET system. The external efficiency measures the returns to individuals, employers, and the country of public and private investments in education. It depends on a match between the type and quality of skills and knowledge that school leavers acquire in school relative to the skills and knowledge needed by the country and needed and paid for by employers. Measuring and linking employment and wage returns to education is particularly important for vocational education and training, and for tertiary education.
Structural improvements of the quality and relevance of VET provision require comprehensive and far-reaching reforms to the system’s governance, financing, service delivery and quality assurance mechanisms.
In summary, this report proposes 30 specific recommendations regarding the four functional and the strategic dimensions analyzed in this review: (a) labor market relevance of VET; (b) TVET Centre’s and system structures; (c) participation, relevance and quality of VET; (d) and teachers’ management and VET financing. These recommendations are listed in Table 28 below.
Table 28: The 30 specific recommendations
|(a) Recommendations on increasing labor market relevance of VET |
|Empower employers to strongly and actively connect with schools in managing and delivering VET: |
|Grant more decision power and allocate budget to the Sectoral Committees, |
|Reflect their advice in concrete policy or action at the central, local or school level; |
|Revise the legal framework in which Regional Consortia and Local Committees operate and enable them in monitoring strategic |
|initiatives and participating in the design of the monitoring mechanisms. |
|Skills alignment may be ensured if VET schools: |
|Provide adequate number of qualified teachers with on the job experience; |
|Support relevant teacher training based on identification of real training needs; |
|Improve school management and leadership by actively involving employers; |
|Set a tracking system of VET graduates; |
|Create and/or enhance appropriate school institutional arrangements to effectively and functionally link schools with the employers. |
| (b) Recommendations on the organization of the TVET Centre and overall structure of the VET subsector |
|Turn the TVET Center into a lead organization within the subsector. |
|Lead the subsector using the following key organizational functions: |
|Set the vision, mission, objectives, targets, policy and national strategy for VET in Romania; |
|Elaborate the annual vet plan/targets and budget (recurrent but most important the non-recurrent also known as development); |
|Allocate the required budget for the skill sector councils, in this case sectoral committees; |
|Allocate non-recurrent budget to VET schools based on performance on achievement of previously negotiated agreed outputs with VET |
|schools; |
|Monitor outcomes, carry out evaluations and fine-tune the mission, vision based on findings; |
|Keep the registry of standards (competencies) for each trade for which training is provided in VET schools. |
| Render the VET system more flexible and permeable based on the proposed structure: |
|Introduce examination at the end of compulsory education (Grade 10) which grants a completion certificate of compulsory education to |
|address the existing lack of exit points with a valid certification. Also, it creates the option of re-entering education and |
|finishing the qualification at a later stage; |
|Allow for a smooth and direct transition from the professional to the technological track after completion of Grade 11. The transition|
|from professional to technological after completion of compulsory education is allowed according to this proposal if there is |
|alignment between the professional qualification and the technological profile concerned; |
|Adapt the Baccalaureate exam to VET graduates, and introduce professional Baccalaureate with relevant tests which are aligned with the|
|technical and practical skills delivered in VET schools; |
|Introduce an extra year for students in technological track to prepare for the Baccalaureate. Introducing this extra year for |
|graduates of technological high schools seeks to address the low number of students who sit or succeed in the Baccalaureate exam; |
|Expand the tertiary non-university sector with options to access and progress depending on recognition of certificates and previous |
|learning. |
|(c) Recommendations on participation, relevance and quality of VET |
|Provide more promotional activities and ensure career guidance and support; |
|Reform the curriculum structure and reallocate more to specific subject and practical courses rather then academic/theoretical ones. |
|Modernize curriculum as to correspond to the new technologies, improve digital skills and other socio emotional skills demanded by the|
|labor market; |
|Ensure access to remedial classes for VET graduates in the preparation to Baccalaureate examinations should be available to all |
|students; |
|Enhance employers’ active participation in the design of certification exams; |
|Provide modern and equipped physical facilities and teaching learning materials; |
|Define clear roles and responsibilities among the multiplicity of actors involved infrastructure development and maintenance; |
|Ensure access to comprehensive, reliable, and up-to-date data to allow for evidence-based decisions in infrastructure development and |
|maintenance. While the system of information for education management (SIIIR) launched has recently started to collect data on |
|facilities and infrastructure, it is particularly important for VET that the database includes also data on equipment; |
|(d) Recommendations on the teaching workforce and financing of the VET subsector |
| |
|VET teaching workforce |
|Enhance VET school autonomy to assess and decide upon teacher training curricula together with employers; |
|Develop or enhance existing partnership between VET schools and employers to allow school VET teachers spend some time in industry to |
|update their knowledge and skills, and companies’ trainers to spend time in VET schools to develop and/or improve their pedagogical |
|skills. |
|(Re) design pre-service teacher training programs delivered in colleges/universities to be tailored to VET specificities. One way to |
|achieve this may imply increasing the number of hours allocated for workplace training in companies, while keeping focus on |
|pedagogical skills; |
|(Re) design in-service teacher training system together with employers’ representatives to reflect both school and industry needs. |
|Professional development system should include compulsory requirements for regular workplace training of school VET teachers. |
|Continuous training programs may be delivered in cluster of teachers teaching for the same qualification/trade. |
|Financing of the VET subsector |
|Give a role to the TVET Center in the budget allocation and monitoring of the expenses of the subsector. |
|Adequately monitor and track spending at the school, local and national incumbent levels. |
|Increase financing and adequacy for the use of resources, as a general envelope but also as dedicated financing, and direct funds |
|towards more innovation, mobilities and work based learning. Participation from the employers and other social partners in VET system,|
|in the decision-making process on the financial nature may bring additional and complementary resources as well. Increase the |
|allocation for VET education gives a high rate of return, and the supply of the VET graduates is welcomed by the market. For example, |
|investments in VET education can be leveraged to produce positive effects on youth labor participation and reach marginalized |
|populations. |
|Increase the availability of funds because it can have immediate effects in improving other targets such as NEETs, dropouts, as well |
|as it will increase the pool of students that, in the context of a reformed tracks system, can offer higher skills to the labor market|
|and have more chances to succeed in progressing to higher levels of education. |
|Measure the external efficiency of the VET system showing how much the VET investment returns to individuals, employers, and the |
|country. |
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[1] This functional analysis on the VET sub-sector focuses on the initial part of the vocational education and training which is delivered at upper secondary in professional and technological tracks, and at post-secondary in post high schools and foremen schools. This Reimbursable Advisory Services is agreed with the Romanian TVET Centre which coordinates the initial VET sub-sector.
[2] The Strategy for VET Education was adopted in April 2016 through Government Decision no. 317.
[3] The National Center for Technical and Vocational Education and Training Development and TVET Center are used interchangeably throughout the report.
[4] For example: VET system in Germany, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Australia, Mexico, Argentina and India.
[5] System Country Diagnostic – World Bank, 2018
[6] Country Partnership Framework – World Bank, 2018
[7] Romania Public Finance Review: Enhancing the Efficiency of Public Spending in Pre-University Education – World Bank, June 2018.
[8] The analysis considered only public expenditures for the 3-year VET program (ISCED 3).
[9] PHARE stands for the “Poland Hungary Aid for Reconstruction of the Economy” – EU/EC’s legal instrument for the provision of financial assistance to Central and Eastern European Countries, including Romania.
[10] Report on Status of Education in 2018, MoNE 2019
[11] CNIDPT has been established through the Government Decision no. 855/ 26.11.1998.
[12] World Bank, Skills Note 2019
[13] Government Decision 844/2002 – nomenclature of professional qualifications provided by pre-university education and schooling duration.
[14] The Strategy for VET Education was adopted in April 2016 through Government Decision no 317.
[15] The National Center for Technical and Vocational Education and Training Development and TVET Center are used interchangeably throughout the report.
[16] Eurostat database, .
[17] World Bank, Romania Systematic Country Diagnostic - Background Note on Migration, 2018.
[18] For further details: .
[19] Hereby, three key international examples are brought into discussion, namely: (i) CONALEP system in México which promotes dual VET through an independent agency within the education sector its own budget and bylaws; (ii) World Bank Argentina Lifelong Learning and Training Project financed by the World Bank; and (iii) India Vocational Training Improvement Project financed by the World Bank.
[20] Romania Public Finance Review: Enhancing the Efficiency of Public Spending in Pre-University Education – World Bank, June 2018.
[21] The analysis considered only public expenditures for the 3-year VET program (ISCED 3).
[22] PHARE stands for the “Poland Hungary Aid for Reconstruction of the Economy” – EU/EC’s legal instrument for the provision of financial assistance to Central and Eastern European Countries, including Romania.
[23] PHARE VET RO-9405 (1995 and 2000), PHARE TVET (2001-2003), and PHARE TVET (2004-2006).
[24] The Arts and Trades schools provided 2-year work-based learning programs until its closure in 2015.
[25] National Institute of Statistics, Average number of employees by economic activities at level of CANE Rev.2 (section and division), , accessed: May 30, 2019.
[26] The test score at the national examination at grade 8 ranges between 0 and 10. Low performers are student with a test score lower than 6, medium performers have a score between 6 and 8.49 and high performers between 8.5 and 10.
[27] Passing rate calculated out of total number of students who sat for the Baccalaureate exam.
[28] According to Eurostat, recent graduates refer to people aged 20-34, who are not in education and training, and who completed their education at most three years ago.
[29] Introduced in the 2017-2018 academic year.
[30] The questionnaire was applied to students in the final year of study, namely grade 11 for professional track, and grades 12/13 for technological track.
[31] According to current regulations: National Education Law no.1/2011; Minister Order no. 5555/201, the school counselor- student ratio is 1 to 800 pre-university students.
[32] Australia’s VET system retrieved from
[33] Source:
[34] CNDIPT has been established through the Government Decision no. 855/ 26.11.1998.
[35] Nielsen, S., Aalborg, A. (1999). Final Evaluation of RO9405 Phare VET Reform Programme, Ministry of National Education, Romania. Retrieved from .
[36] While the CNDIPT organization chart is in line with GD no. 855/ 1998, the allocation of staff is in line with Ministerial Order no. 3361/ 2018.
[37] According to the current ROF of CNDIPT.
[38] In the Romanian education system, the vocation high school track is not part of the technical vocational education and training system.
[39] Dual vocational (professional) education was introduced through Government Ordinance (OUG 81/2016) at the request of social partners and the business community.
[40] The allocation of hours is extracted from Minister of Education Orders no. 3411, 3412/2009, 3081/2010, 3152/2014.
[41] Government Order no. 866/2008 on modifying the qualifications nomenclature (list) for pre-university education.
[42] Where are the jobs – and who gets them? Improving Employment Outcomes in the North-West Region of Romania - Report, World Bank, 2019.
[43] Students in their final year in professional (grade 11) and technological (grade 12/13).
[44] Vocational Education and Training Strategy (2016-2020), approved by Government Decision 317/2016.
[45] National Lifelong Learning Strategy 2015-2020 approved by Government Decision 418/2015.
[46] Strategy on Reducing Early School Leaving, approved by Government Decision 417/2015.
[47] MoNE, Strategy for Modernizing Education Infrastructure, 2018.
[48] MoNE Order 4456/2015.
[49] Government Emergency Ordinance 81/2016 set the bases for the introduction of the dual system, the methodology for organizing and functioning of dual system was approved by MoNE order 3554/2017, and the system was subsequently endorsed by amendments introduced to National Education Law in 2018.
[50] Government Decision 951/2017.
[51] MoNE Order 3850/2017.
[52] Law of National Education no. 1/2011.
[53] Law no. 87/2006 on the approval of the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 75/2005 regarding the education quality assurance.
[54] Vocational Education and Training Strategy, 2016.
[55] The Institute of Educational Sciences (IES) is a national institution of research, development, innovation and training in the fields of education and youth, linked to the Ministry of Education.
[56] The reform of vocational education and training started with the Phare VET Program RO 9405, and continued with the Phare TVET multi-annual programs during 2003-2009.
[57] Law no. 62/2011 on social dialogue, updated in 2012 and republished.
[58] Source: .
[59] Emergency Government Ordinance no. 28/2009 on social protection measures, approved through Law no. 268/2009; Law of National Education no. 1/ 2011 and Order no. 4456/2015 of the MoNE regarding the framework regulation on regional and local partnerships on VET; CVET Government Ordinance no. 129/2000 as further amended and supplemented, Law no. 62/2011 on social dialogue.
[60] Emergency Government Ordinance no. 81/ 2016 amended and supplemented the Law of National Education no. 1/2011 and introduced dual education in the Romanian VET system.
[61] Ministerial Order no. 3554/29.03.2017 of the MoNE, approves the Methodology for the organization and delivery of dual education; the order includes the template for the partnership contract. Ministerial Order no. 3556/29.03.2017 of the MoNE, approves the Framework methodology for organization and conducting the admission to dual education for level 3 qualifications, as well as the admission schedule for the academic year 2017-2018.
[62] Education and Training Monitor, EC, 2018.
[63] NCTVETD.
[64] SIIIR data, 2018.
[65] The National Authority for Dual Education is established through Government Emergency Ordinance no. 59/2018, and approved through Law no. 338/2018.
[66] Vocational Education and Training Strategy, 2016.
[67] Cedefop (2019). Vocational education and training in Romania: short description. Luxembourg: Publications Office. .
[68] Pauline Musset (2014) OECD Review of Vocational Education and Training: A Skills beyond School Commentary on Romania,
.
[69] World Bank (2013) Europe 2020 Romania: Evidence-based Policies for Productivity, Employment, and Skills Enhancement, July, 2013, .
[70] Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (2013) Analiza socio-economica in perspectiva dezvoltarii rurale 2014-2020 may be seen on: .
[71] Patronatul Investitorilor Autohtoni (PIAROM), 2018, Studiu privind dinamica pie[72]ei muncii la amica pieței muncii la nivelul principalelor industrii angajatoare din România în perioada 2016-2017 may be seen on:
.
[73] World Bank, SABER WDF, 2017.
[74] Ministerial Order no. 3547/2013 of the MoNE.
[75] Where are the jobs – and who gets them? Improving Employment Outcomes in the North-West Region of Romania - Report, WB, 2019.
[76] Vocational Education and Training Strategy, 2016.
[77] World Bank, Saber Teachers, 2017.
[78] Jørgensen, Christian Helms (2017) From apprenticeships to higher vocational education in Denmark – building bridges while the gap is widening, Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 69:1, 64-80, DOI: 10.1080/13636820.2016.1275030.
[79] Ministry of Education and Ministry of Labor joint Order No 468/2004.
[80] Government Decision No.418/03.06.2015.
[81] Vocational Education and Training Strategy, 2016.
[82] Jorgensen, C.H. (2017), ibid.
[83] EURASHE, Position Paper, 2017.
[84] EU, Higher VET 2016
[85] Vocational Education and Training Strategy, 2016.
[86] EU, Higher VET 2016
[87] Lifelong Learning Strategy, 2015.
[88] Vocational Education and Training Strategy, 2016.
[89] WB team calculation based on SIIIR data.
[90] European Commission, Education and Training Monitor, 2017.
[91] European Commission, Education and Training Monitor, 2017.
[92] Methodology on the Mobility of Teaching Staff.
[93] Ministerial Order No. 5561/2011-Methodology for Teachers Continuous Professional Development.
[94] World Bank, SABER Teachers, 2017.
[95] World Bank, SABER Teachers, 2017.
[96] WB (2018), World Bank, From Uneven Growth to Inclusive Development Romania’s Path to Shared Prosperity, Romania Systematic Country Diagnostic. Washington.
[97] MoNE, Strategy for Modernizing Education Infrastructure, 2018.
[98] European Commission, Education and Training Monitor, 2018.
[99] MoNE, Strategy for Modernizing Education Infrastructure, 2018.
[100] European Commission (2019), “Study on EU VET instruments (EQAVET and ECVET)”, p. 171.
[101] European Commission (2019), “Study on EU VET instruments (EQAVET and ECVET)”, p. 171.
[102] At present VET schools that are implementing the dual system in partnership with German companies operating in Romania are subject to further monitoring and support from the Romanian-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry. They benefit from two types of accreditation, from Romania and Germany, and receive instructor training in pedagogical skills. Information provided by the representative of the Romanian-German Chamber of Commerce ( ), cited in Saber WFD 2017.
[103] World Bank, SABER Report for Education Monitoring Information System (EMIS).
[104] The team did not have access to the type of master’s program graduated by each job holder, to check for relevance with the jobs/ functions/ attributions inside the TVET Center.
[105] Order of the Minister of Public Finance no. 129/2019.
[106] Ministry of Public Finance, National Reporting System, .
[107] SABER Teachers is an initiative launched by the Human Development Network of the World Bank. SABER is a tool that aims to help fill this gap by collecting, analyzi53ng, synthesizing, and disseminating comprehensive information on teacher policies in primary and secondary education systems around the world.
[108] World Bank, Romanian Country Economic memorandum 2.0 Markets and People, 2019.
[109] Minimum qualification is: (i) secondary education (pedagogical high school with BAC diploma) for teachers in pre-primary and primary education, and (ii) long term higher education (with BA) for teachers in lower and upper secondary education.
[110] Long term higher education (with BA) for teachers teaching at all levels of education.
[111] Post high school/college degree in case of VET foremen teachers for practical training, and university degree for VET teachers teaching general and specialty/technical subjects.
[112] UNESCO International Meeting on Innovation and Excellence in TVET Teacher/Trainer Education, available at: .
[113] Ministerial Order No. 5561/2011-Methodology for Teachers Continuous Professional Development.
[114] World Bank, SABER - What Mater Most for School Finance: A Framework Paper, 2013.
[115] Where are the jobs – and who gets them? Improving Employment Outcomes in the North-West Region of Romania - Report, WB, 2019.
-----------------------
Core goal of this functional review:
To check the alignment of processes in place in the VET sector with the strategic objectives set out to address a key concern in the sector – to develop a vocational education and training system adapted to the needs of the labour market and of its direct beneficiaries.
RELEVANCE
• Supply-driven system
• Outdated list of qualifications;
• Skills mismatch;
• Limited focus on digital skills;
• Inconsistent tracer studies and labor market forecasting;
• Misalignment of teachers, teaching practices, training curricula and learning materials.
• Inadequate connectivity with the labor market in the surroundings areas to the VET
• lack of appropriate and systemic follow up of graduates to gauge the relevance of the training provided as a proxy of employment and work performance of graduates
ACCESS and EFFICIENCY
• Limited number of VET schools and campuses;
• Outdated infrastructure;
• Urban/rural gaps and lagging regions;
• High rates of students’ dropout
• Limited education and career guidance.
QUALITY
• Low basic skills among students entering VET;
• low employability for some fields of study
• Insufficient supply of training materials and equipment;
• Lack of quality standards for work-based learning/training.
INNOVATION
• Underfinancing and limited access to resources;
• Limited national and international cooperation;
• Limited partnerships with public and private sectors (universities, business environment, local communities, etc.)
• Generating revenues
A - technological and professional tracks only
B - technological and professional tracks, and lower levels
C - technological, other high school and professional tracks
D - professional track and lower levels
E - technological track and lower levels
T – Industry Q – Health and social work
C – Manufacturing F - Construction
H – Transportation P - Education
G – Retail N – Support services
O – Public admin. I – Hotel and catering
Box 1. Sectoral Committees
✓ There are currently 16 sectoral committees in Romania. They are organized by economic sector.
✓ Its members are representatives of employers’ associations and trade unions
✓ They have an important role in ensuring the relevance of qualifications with regard to the requirements at the workplace.
✓ The National Qualifications Authority coordinates the activity of the Sectoral Committees
✓ Their specific roles with respect to qualifications is set out in the Law no. 268 of 2009 and include:
• Participation in the development of legal provisions on training, assessment and certification of competencies;
• Participation in the development and updating of qualifications related to their specific field in CVET, under the coordination of the National Adult Training Board;
• Validation of qualifications and their related training standards, except for those acquired in higher education;
• Grant advisory endorsement for updating of the Classification of Occupations in Romania;
• Formulate proposals to training providers on qualifications and their related competencies, as well as on the correlation between qualifications and the related occupations which may be practiced.
Source: Saber Workforce Development
Progress and Challenges
✓ Based on learning outcomes and competences
✓ Developed with participation of labour market representatives
✓ Not yet developed for all VET years
o Key factor: limited resources
✓ Overload and disconnect between general subjects and training field
o Key factor: fragmented responsibilities (IES/NCTVETD + local level)
Box2. Various stakeholders were involved in the genesis of the dual system in Romania
✓ Foreign companies-initiated dialogue with VET training institutions
✓ MoNE and MoLSJ via its specialized agencies - NCTVETD and NAQ - supported necessary legislative changes
✓ National and county level meetings are held among LCDSP, employers and local authorities to consult the proposal and discuss number of student places
✓ Ministry of Economy contributed to discussions about enrolments policies and figures and encouraged companies to get involved
Source: CNDIPT and Saber WDF (2017)
Box 3. Current involvement of employers in VET subsector in Romania
✓ Contributions to the designing training and occupational standards and validations and recommendations for qualifications (via participation in Sectoral Committees)
✓ Determining the schooling plan and determining the vocational training provision; (in partnership with schools)
✓ Development of the local component of the curriculum, adapted to the specific needs of the local economy (via participation in RC and LCDP)
✓ Contributions to the school curriculum and management decisions (in dual systems)
✓ Contributions in the decisions to definition of enrolment quotas according to sectoral and local labour market needs (in what context?
✓ Work-place training of students and their performance assessment (to different degrees both dual and non-dual)
✓ Final certification of qualification (participation in the assessment)
Box 4: Key issues to address regarding youth NEETS in Romania and VET role
• Insufficient administrative capacity to offer individualised services to all young unemployed and to unregistered NEETs.
• Too little flexibility and diversity in terms of activation services and of the training and education available to young people.
• Not enough outreach activities to non-registered young NEETs and in particular to young Roma.
• Lack of genuine involvement of the private sector in providing apprenticeships, dual training, and traineeships at tertiary level.
Source: European Commission (2014) cited in Emil Tesliuc, et. al. (2015)
Box 5: Case Study – “Fit for the Future 2017”
Vocational Information Week organized by the German Business Club, Brasov.
The initiative aims at recruiting the best candidates for the Technical College Kronstadt in Brasov, the first educational institution to introduce the dual education and training system.
More information here:
Box 6. Developments in VET higher education in Europe
• Sweden has introduced advanced vocational education operating at EQF levels 5-7, to strengthening and refocusing existing professional bachelors.
• Germany has over 150 courses for professional Bachelor degrees, which include practical experience and are fundamental to the trade and industry sectors
• Italy: Istruzione e formazione tecnica superiore, consisting of short-cycle course of one year offered universities, centres for professional development, higher secondary schools, and companies, and the creation of the institutes for higher technical education since 2007.
• Ireland and France: have introduced the higher certificates and the Brevet de technicien superieur, respectively.
Source: CEDEFOP, 2012.
A complex issue that requires multi-level interventions
• The system of admission to upper secondary education and a reputation of prestige of the theoretical stream as a channel to access higher education may explain the prevalence of students with low academic achievement enrolling in VET.
• But the VET learner profile is less attracted to academic subjects and approaches to learn so, while fundamental skills still key for labour market insertion and progression, assessments of performance should be adapted to these different learners’ profile.
• Given the prevalence of low performers in VET, providing good teaching quality becomes critical to make a difference, but teachers are not incentivized enough to work in schools with low performing students or in disadvantaged areas.
• Quality of the learning environment matters in many different respects, as it is highlighted in the subsections on infrastructure in this report.
• Assessments that test the performance in basic skills at entrance and exit should be systematically applied as the measure to evaluate the difference made by the system in improving the students’ skills.
In Focus:
Low performance
Effects of infrastructure on learning outcomes and implications for VET in Romania
• Building and renovating school facilities has positive effects on attendance rates, and attendance has a positive correlation with students’ performance as various analysis PISA results show.
• Overcrowded classrooms lead to negative effects in students’ performance, but in the case of VET provision this must be seen in the context of then high mobility of students between different types of classrooms and to different premises for on-the-job training.
• The quantity of seats available can indirectly affect performance. In the case of VET schools in Romania lack of enough spaces results in a two-shifts system which entails shorter days at school. Research shows that the duration of the school day is correlated with performance.
• Schools with small enrolment sizes have been shown to lead to better learning outcomes. In VET systems this is especially the case since providing the best skills for the labour markets may require a focus on a few specializations only.
• Investments in IT technology do not necessarily lead to better learning outcomes. A recent OECD study found that “building deep, conceptual understanding and higher order thinking requires intensive teacher-student interactions” (2015). The recommendations that technology must be fully aligned with pedagogies.
Source: Barrett, et. al. 2019 (WB impact infrastructure on learning)
Key Issue:
Infrastructure
Box 7: Stages of QA in Romanian VET subsector
i. Self-assessments are conducted annually by each VET provider. Judgment of performance is based on evidence collected by VET providers throughout the year. on a set of pre-defined national quality indicators based on EQAVET and grouped in seven areas which include quality as well as physical and human resources management; design, development and revision of training programmes; teaching, training and learning methods; and assessment and certification of learning.
ii. Authorization and accreditation of providers and programmes are compulsory for each VET providers that intend to issue national certificates and benefit from public funds. The authorization grants providers the right to carry out the education process and to organize admission the new education and training programmes for three years after the first cohort graduates. Accreditation follows authorization and grants the right to issue diplomas/certificates recognized by the education ministry and to organize graduation/certification exams. For accreditation providers and programmes need to meet standards approved by the government regarding institutional capacity, including for instance their administrative/management structures; education effectiveness, such as characteristics of the learning facilities and equipment; and procedures in place for internal quality management, including the capacity to develop and monitor school action plans.
iii. External periodical evaluations take place every five years following accreditation. In other words, this is a process of re-accreditation, but the standards used for external evaluation are defined in relation to optimal levels expected and not just minimum levels as required for accreditation. The process comprises validating VET providers self-assessment reports; verifying that quality requirements are met; proposing and approving improvement measures to address the identified quality assurance issues.
Box 8. Evidence on VET teachers’ requirements and training
In Finland, the Telkka teacher training program was set up to allow systematic collaboration between VET teachers and workplace trainers. The program included a two-month on-the-job period for vocational teachers, during which teacher-worker pairs were formed. This twinning approach enabled VET teachers to gain up to date knowledge of recent technologies and working practices, and workplace trainers to improve their pedagogical skills. At the same time, VET teachers and trainers had the opportunity to discuss issues related to workplace training for students and improve training plans and assessment methods.
In Scotland, teachers in colleges are required to have relevant professional experience as well as training as teachers and to maintain and update their skills through continuous professional development.
In Mexico, many VET teachers are trainers have work experience in their field, and often continue working part-time in industry, which should help to keep their vocational knowledge and skills up to date.
China has strong arrangements to ensure that teachers in vocational schools remain abreast of the requirements of modern industry. Teachers in vocational schools are required to spend one month in industry each year, or two months every two years. In addition, many schools employ a significant number of part-time teachers who also work in industry.
In Kazakhstan, several efforts have been made to improve VET teacher training. The establishment of the National Centre of Excellence Orleu[pic]hikÕÖ×ØãäæçèêÎ Ô 5éÜ̵¡Ìµ¡?ÌyÜbÜ?QCQ may be one of the most promising of such initiatives as this center coordinates national efforts previously fragmented across different bodies. The center monitors the performance of teachers after receiving training support and identifies those teachers in need of support. Also, the Center aims to develop new approaches to upgrade the training and qualifications of VET teachers in general and vocational disciplines though modular-based courses aligned with labor market requirements.
Based on the skills mismatch in the surrounding area of an VET school, the school board, chaired by a representative of the employers has decided that the following training would be provided in the VET school for the trades a, b and c at level 4, and that the current training provided by this VET for trades x, z and w will be phased out because there is not demand for them.
Step 1
For trades a, b and c, the VET school explores if there are available competency standards already registered. If not, these standards need to be developed by a group comprised of workers (identified by the employers that are qualified in these trades), teachers and TVET Centre specialist. Once the standards have been developed and validated they are registered with the National Authority for Qualification (NAQ).
Step 2
Along the settings of the standards, NAQ also recruits a team comprised of workers, teachers and specialist in writing a curriculum to develop and validate the training curriculum and the assessment instruments (at least for the sector specific parts of the curriculum).
Step 3
Once the standards are available, the VET school assesses if the VET has an appropriate alignment of: (i) the training curricula and training materials; (ii) the assessment instruments; trainers (teachers); (iii) training delivery; (iv) the training equipment and workshops; (v) organization of the VET including management of human resources, time and space; (vi) tracking system of graduates; and (vii) functional linkages of the school with the employers.
Step 4
In the case of a system that is not run at school level, the alignment process is financed by the TVET Centre. The Centre needs to recruit a team to assess the gaps and jointly with the school agree on a remedial plan. Example, if the training curricula is irrelevant or outdated, it needs to be developed and validated (not at the school level, but at the national level) along the assessment instruments and procedures. The training curricula should include both transversal and technical competencies specific to the trade. If in addition there is a need to improve basic skills, these may be added.
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