Annex B3

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Annex B3
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Quality assurance in education

• Eugenia Popescu
• Ministry of Education and Research

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Official documents

• Strategy for Education Development 2001 2004
  and 2005 2008
• Decentralization strategy
• Law on Quality ASSURANCE

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Strategy for Education Development 2001 2004
and 2005 - 2008

• Optimizing the educational process (teaching,
  learning, assessment, curriculum etc.)
• Better selection, training and motivation of
  teachers for the didactic career
• Training and assessment of schools managers
• Changing the schools inspection in a system of
  assuring, maintaining and monitoring quality in
  education at a central/ regional/ local/school
  unit/ classroom level
• Developing e-learning provision of minimal ICT
  equipment for each school, access to Internet,
  training teachers for using computers,
  development of education software
• Electronic management information system

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Decentralization Law(project)

• December 2005 Decentralization Strategy
  (memorandum, Guvern)
• December 20052006 Pilot application
• 50 schools
• Allocation formula
• Categorical grants for education

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What is a formula

• A formula is a procedure to allocate funds for
  education to lower levels of the education system
  (schools or local governments)
• A formula establishes the allocated amounts with
  no further negotiations
• The formula expresses the preferences and
  strategies of the Ministry

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Categorical grants for education

• The funds can be used only for education
• The grants go from state budget directly to the
  local governments governing the schools
• The allocation principles are decided by MER
• The disbursements schedule is defined by MER
• The grant has a reserve (eg 2) to be allocated
  to local governments in difficult conditions

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Law on Quality Assurance - MEdC(27 03 2006,
Senat)

• Institutions ARACIS (Romanian Agency for Quality
  Assurance in Higher Education)
• ARACIP (Romanian Agency for
  Quality Assurance in Pre - university Education)
• Mechanisms
• Procedures
• Instruments for quality assurance in education
• gt Responsibilities of the education actors/
  institutions

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Transparency

• Two types of evaluation
• 1. internal (auto evaluation) - instruments
• 2. external specialized agencies
  criteria
• indicators

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Quality and culture

• Changing the system (new components)
• System of institutions
• Institutions means organizations
• Organizations means culture
• Changing the culture of an organization
• (history, beliefs, myths, rituals, norms, values,
  routines etc.)
• gt More time and accompanying measures

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Content of the concept

• How do we raise quality of education?
• 1. offering more resources and better qualified
  teachers? (internal quality assurance)
• 2. increasing the customer satisfaction?
  (interface quality assurance)
• 3. making education more relevant for the future
  needs of individuals and collectivities?
  (quality for the future)

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A possible definition

• Quality of education
• assuring for each and everyone the minimal
  conditions for the better, complete and socially
  useful personal development

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Dilemmas and tensions

• Equity lt - - - - - - - - -gt
• Equality lt - - - - - - - gt
• Testable results lt - gt
• Autonomy lt - - - - - -gt
• Education for all lt - gt
• Individualism lt - - - gt
• Quantity lt - - - - - - -gt

• High standards
• Differentiation
• Long term results
• Formalization
• Education for anyone
• Collectivism
• Quality

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Equity of education

• Same starting line even if some of them are
  less able to run?
• Same chances to reach the finish (using
  affirmative measures)?

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Factors determining the quality of education

• 1. Educational inputs (curricula, textbooks,
  school buildings, etc.) 2. Educational
  processes (teaching, classroom organisation, and
  timetabling, etc.) 3. Educational outcomes or
  learning achievements.

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Requested Competences

• Institutional/ group level
• Selecting Main Goals of Education
• Creating motivation
• Identifying results correlated with goals
• Assuring resources
• Choosing procedures

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Requested Competences

• Individual level
• 1. Was this the better way I can do it?
• 2. How could I do this better next time?