Quality assurance in IVET in Romania Lucian Voinea Mihai Iacob Otilia Apostu 4 th Project Meeting

1. Quality assurance in IVET in Romania Lucian Voinea Mihai Iacob Otilia Apostu 4th Project Meeting Prague, 21st -22nd October 2010

2. Legislative framework • Government Ordinance no. 75/2005 on QA in education; approved through Law no. 87/2006. • Order of the Ministry of Education no. 6308/2007 for the approval of the instruments used in QA; • Government Ordinance nr. 1534/2008 approving the reference standards and performance indicators in QA at pre-university level; • The accord on the establishment of GNAC (National Group for QA) and its rules of conduct.

3. Institutional framework • ARACIP (Agency for Quality Assurance in Pre-university Education) • CNDIPT, (The National Centre for the Development of VET) • GNAC – National Group for QA (inter-institutional entity, comprised of: the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Labour, National Adult Training Board, ARACIP, CNDIPT, National Centre for Teacher Training)

4. The main tasks of ARACIP are: • elaborates, updates and proposes to the Ministry of Education the standards, reference standards and performance indicators for quality evaluation and assurance (which are approved through Government Decision) • elaborates and proposes to the Ministry of Education the institutional evaluation and accreditation methodology (also approved through Government Decision) • accomplishes the evaluation and accreditation of education providers • accomplishes, together with the School Inspectorates and the specific directions of the Ministry of Education the activity of quality monitoring and control • elaborates manuals of quality internal evaluation and guides of good practices • elaborates, at least at every 4 years, system analysis of the quality of preuniversity education and elaborates reccomandations for quality improvement • elaborates the Professional Ethics Code of the experts in evaluation and accreditation

5. The National Group for Quality Assurance: • Began work at national level in 2006, in compliance with the recommendations of the European Network for Quality Assurance in VET (ENQA-VET). • It is acting as National QA Reference Point in vocational education and training. • It is aninter-institutional coordination structure with the role of applying in a coherent way the European and national measures for quality assurance in vocational education and training. • The National Group for Quality Assurance includes experts of national institutions who have certain attributions regarding QA for VET

6. Quality Assurance principles The aspects focusing on the performance of the TVET providers and of their learning programmes are structured in 7 areas, called quality principles. • 1. Quality management • 2. Management responsibilities • 3. Resource management • 4. Design, development and revision of learning programme • 5. Teaching, training and learning • 6. Assessment and certification of learning • 7. Evaluation and improvement of quality

7. Instruments used in QA: • Using a Phare project, a self- assessment manual and an external inspection manual were developed.From 2003 to 2006 the manuals were used by 122 IVET schools, and adopted by all IVET providers starting with the 2006-2007 school year. • Within the Phare TVET programmes, inter-assistance networks comprising 172 TVET providers were established between 2004 -2006. Due to the encouraging results of these networks, starting with the 2006 – 2007 school year, all (1376) TVET providers were associated in inter-institutional cooperation networks. • All TVET providers are associated in inter-institutional assistance networks, so that they could cooperate in activities such as monitoring, collecting evidence, sharing experience, or staff training.

8. Indicators used in QA refer to the following categories: 1) Quality management: • strategies and procedures for quality assurance • procedures regarding the initiation, monitoring and periodical updating of programmes and activities developed • objective and transparent procedures of learning outcomes assessment • procedures for the periodical evaluation of the teaching body (corp profesoral) quality • accessibility of the resources adecquated / suited to learning • systematical / continuous updating of the database regarding internal quality assurance • transparency of the public interest information regarding study programmes, qualifications, certificates or diplomas granted to students • functionality of the quality assurance structures

9. 2) Institutional capacity, defined through the following criteria:  • institutional, administrative and management stuctures • material resources 3) Educational efficiency • content of the training programme • learning outcomes • the methodical or research activity • the financial activity

10. Example of descriptors used for the indicator „Partnerships development”

11. The process of QA: 1) Internal procedures: ► planning all activities to establishthe main objectives in quality of TVET offer, as well as the necessary resources and means; the results of this phase appear within the School Action Plan. ► internal monitoring – verifies whether the planned activities are carried out according to the agreed terms and responsibilities, and evaluates the teaching and learning process through lessons observations. ► self-assessment: the main process in quality assurance, through which TVET providers evaluate their performance based on evidence and produce the self-assessment Report. ► identifying necessary revisions and developing the improvement plan. ► developing the Quality Manual, that includes the quality policy, the procedures for quality assurance, The Commission for Quality Assurance and Evaluation documentation, decisions to allocate roles and responsibilities etc.

12. 2) External evaluation procedures: ► coordinated by school inspectorates (performed by its representatives, under the coordination of the deputy general inspector responsible for quality assurance): ► external monitoring of TVET providers’ and programmes’ quality– offering guidance and support to TVET providers in the quality assurance process, quality control to verify the fulfilment of the quality requirements, and proposals for quality improvement measures; ► validation of TVET providers’ self-assessment reports; ► approval of TVET providers’ improvement plans

13. The activities performed by the inspectors are: a) observe the teaching-learning process; b) observe the training process and discuss with employers and with work-based learning trainers; c) evaluate the data on rates of retention, progression and achievement; d) discuss with representatives of students, teachers and trainers, management, Commission for Quality Assurance and Evaluation , employers and parents. • The external evaluation is coordinated by the Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Preuniversity Education • external evaluation of TVET providers’ and programmes’ quality, is carried out by independent experts, under the coordination of ARACIP, every 5 years.

14. Strategic and operational planning Revision Improvement plan Teaching and learning process Internal monitoring QA Manual; procedures, regulations etc. Self assessment

15. Good practices in QA can be grouped in several areas of content: • Information systems • Teacher and trainer professional development • Involvement of beneficiaries in QA • Cooperation with economical agents • Integration of beneficiaries with special needs • Evaluation and monitoring of learning achievements • International partnerships • Continuous VET

16. QA and assessment: • In Romania IVET final assessment is systematically carried out by accredited centres • Inspection of the assessment centres is done on a regular basis • Assessment is done based on qualification standards, which define competences to be achieved and performance criteria • ARACIP produces a yearly synthesis report with key indicators, national trends and best practices, which is externally available.

17. The QA process in Romania is based on: • Authorization/accreditation of VET providers and programmes; • Self-evaluation on all levels of education; • External validation of the self-evaluation; • External auditing of VET providers; • Collecting and disseminating the data regarding educational and training programmes.

18. Challenges to QA • Funding, which some times is inadequate • Synergy between educational levels (preuniversity, university and postgraduate) • Some assessment standards are not clearly formulated • The QA process leans towards a prescriptive and highly regulated model, rather than a cooperative model.

19. Thank you for your attention! lucian_voinea@ise.ro mihai.iacob@ise.ro otilia.apostu@ise.ro