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LEARNING SUPPORT STRATEGY. ROMANIA , MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND RESEARCH COUNTY SCHOOL INSPECTORATE IAŞI, 2008. ROMANIA. E ş antion: 40 subiecţi Variabila sex: 34 M / 6 F Variabila mediu: 37 U / 3 R Profil: real Specializare: matematică-informatică
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LEARNING SUPPORT STRATEGY ROMANIA, MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND RESEARCHCOUNTY SCHOOL INSPECTORATE IAŞI, 2008
ROMANIA • Eşantion:40 subiecţi • Variabila sex: 34 M/6 F • Variabila mediu: 37 U / 3 R • Profil: real • Specializare: matematică-informatică • Anul de studiu: II (clasa a X-a)
Project team Teacher Camelia GAVRILĂ, PhD - General School Inspector scientific coordinator Teacher Aura Ţabără, sociologist - Inspector of ContinuousTraining Teacher Coca - Marlena Vasiliu - Inspector of Special Education Teacher Maricica Buzescu, psychologist – County Centre for Psycho- pedagogic Assistancecoordinator Assoc. Prof.Anca Colibaba, PhD – “Gr. T. Popa” University of Medicineand Pharmacy, Executive manager of EuroEd Foundation
CONTENTS • School dropout – a phenomenon of the Romanian and European education system • School dropout – a problem the County School Inspectorate Iaşi has in view 1. The analysis of the school dropout dynamics in the period 2000-2007 2. The causes of school dropout in Iaşi III. Intervention measures and their impact on reducing early school leaving 1. Intervention measures carried out in the period 2000-2007 2. Learning support strategy IV. Conclusions V. Suggestions and recommendations
I. School dropout – a phenomenon of the Romanian and European education system • One of the most important indicators of an educational system’s efficiency is the school dropout rate; • This reveals the capacity of the school system to integrate and keep the students within, to ensure access and support in order for them to finalize at least the compulsory school level; • Due to the acceleration of the ageing process in Europe and to a decline in the working population, the European Union will count increasingly on the young generation; • According to a European Commission document of analysis, published on September 5, 2007, one in six young Europeans drop out at an early age and 4.6 million young people of 15-24 are unemployed.
I. School dropout – a phenomenon of the Romanian and European education system • The students prone to early school leaving can be identified by three characteristics: • they have to be enrolled for full time courses; • they must still be in the compulsory education period; • they must be at least two years above the class age.
I. School dropout – a phenomenon of the Romanian and European education system • The dropout rate for Romania is illustrated by the chart below, which has as a source the data provided by the National Institute of Statistics: • The analysis of the chart proves that the primary, secondary and high school education, have low school dropout rates (below 3%); • High rates recorded by the professional and apprentice education, as well as by the complementary school and • foreman education.
II. School dropout – a problem the County School Inspectorate Iaşi has in view 1. The analysis of the school dropout dynamics in the period 2000-2007 • After 1990 the school dropout rate has increased, with dramatic human and economic consequences for the Romanian society; • Due to an increased dropout rate, the figure reached 0.6% in 2001, and it reached 1% for the primary education and 1.4% for the secondary in the school year 2001-2002; • 76% of the young persons who only attended the primary education cycle need an average of 24 months to find a job, while only 6.6% of the higher education graduates need a similar period (data provided by the Open Society Foundation).
1. The analysis of the school dropout dynamics in the period 2000-2007 • Because of the reorganization of the economic sector we could talk about a double mutual conditioning of poverty and school dropout in Iaşi County; • To implement actions designed to eliminate this social problem, a diagnosis study wasnecessary to reveal the dropout rate and especially the main causes for all the groupsof school age; • The North-East region, where our county is situated, has one of the lowest rates of early school leaving (1.70%), ranking second after the North-West and Oltenia Regions.
1. The analysis of the school dropout dynamics in the period 2000-2007 • Early school leaving in Iaşi has dropped considerably as a result of the intervention programmes carried out both on a national as well as local level: • in the period 2000-2001, the school dropout rate in our county was of 1.38%, dropping to 1.2% in the school year 2005-2006, the lowest of all the North-East Region counties
1. The analysis of the school dropout dynamics in the period 2000-2007 • School dropout in Iaşi County has been monitored as phenomenon by the County Centre of Psycho-pedagogical Assistance (CCPA) • According to the data gathered by the CCPA, depending on the education level, the highest dropout rate is recorded in the secondary education (60.77%), followed by the primary education (34.55%) from the total number of children who are in this situation.
1. The analysis of the school dropout dynamics in the period 2000-2007 • The data provided by the County Centre of Psycho-pedagogical Assistance allows for the following conclusions: • it is necessary to initiate and carry out programmes in our county, especially at a secondary school level, where throughout the target period high dropout rates were recorded; • at the same time, one should focus on the rural areas when initiating programmes for reducing school dropout.
2. The causes of school dropout in Iaşi County • School dropout is not determined by a single cause, but by a causative complex, by the conjugated action of some predisposing, favouring and releasing causes that can be grouped as follows: • economic-financial causes • socio-cultural causes • psycho-pedagogic causes • medical causes • other causes:the impossibility of travelling the high distance from home to school
2. The causes of school dropout in Iaşi County • The analysis and interpretation of the data regarding the causality of school dropout has emphasized the following aspects: • in all the situations, we deal with a causative complex, made up of predisposing, favouring and releasing causes, that have their roots either in the family environment, in school, or in both; • each cause, regardless the group it belongs to, may become either a predisposing, a favouring or a releasing factor, depending on the situation; • for each student, early school leaving has a specific causative complex at its core, given by the particular combination of the causes.
III. Intervention measures and their impact on reducing early school leaving • Intervention measures carried out in the period 2000-2007 • In order to ensure access to education, the increase of its quality and implicitly the reducing of school dropout at all the educational levels, a series of measures were taken in Iaşi County in the period 2000-2007: • through the development/implementation of some national programmes; b)through the development/implementation of some county programmes/projects ; c)other measures focus on the school dropout control by improving teaching practices and by increasing school attractiveness
a) Through the development/implementation of some national programmes • The National Programme “THE SECOND CHANCE” • The PHARE TVET PROGRAMME – THE MODERNIZATION OF THE PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNICAL LEARNING • The RURAL LEARNING PROGRAMME • The PHARE PROGRAMME – TEACHER TRAINING • The SCHOOL CAMPUSES Programme • The ARTS AND CRAFTS SCHOOLS Programme • The SCHOOL SUPPLYING Programme • The FREE SCHOOL SUPPLIES Programme for grades I-X • The MONEY FOR HIGH SCHOOL Programme • The BREAD ROLL AND MILK Programme
b) Through the development/implementation of some county programmes/projects • THE NON-ATTENDANCE AND NON-EDUCATION PREVENTION AND CONTROL PROGRAMME, carried out in the schools in Iaşi County (ensuring counselling services to a higher number of children / students, parents and teachers); • The “SCHOOL AFTER SCHOOL” projects; • The “PARENTS’ CLUB” AND “PARENTS’ SCHOOL” projects; • The county programme for DEVELOPING EDUCATIONAL SERVICES TO SUPPORT THE CHILDREN/ STUDENTS with special educational needs.
c) Other measures focus on the school dropout control • Education focused on the student (the choosing of the didactic methods, adapting the contents to the intellectual capacity of the student, increasing the satisfaction degree of the classes), aiming at permanently motivating the child to learn; • Personalized intervention in interdisciplinary team (form master, psycho-pedagogue teacher, parents, Police representatives, social workers, etc.) • Specialized psycho-pedagogic counselling of the students, parents and teachers • The development of out-of-school and extracurricular activities to complete the formal and family education.
2. Learning support strategy • The County School Inspectorate Iaşiand the EuroEd Foundation- the Comenius project No Child Left Behind, which responds directly to the strategy of the County School Inspectorate Iaşi for the following period; • The first step in projecting this training programme was to research: • the current context in which the out of school learning is supported (nonformal/extracurricular activities); • the needs and opportunities regarding the extracurricular activities existing in the partner countries and • the applying of a questionnaire to determine what the situation in Romania currently is.
2. Learning support strategy • In Iaşi County, the questionnaires were applied to three categories of respondents (samples), stakeholders who are directly implied in the organization and development of extracurricular activities:teachers, school inspectors and NGOs. • 80 questionnaires were applied, having in view the numeric differences between the three sample categories mentioned above: • 35 questionnaires were applied to headmasters of school units, as representatives of the institution; • 15 questionnaires were applied to school inspectors; • 30 questionnaires were applied the NGOs representatives; • The results obtained after centralizing the data are presented in the following pages
A. Opinions of the stakeholders implied in organizing and developing extracurricular activities 1. Opinions of the teachers • The “festivity hall” and “school library” hold 7.84% each. This fact demonstrates both the necessity of developing projects to supply the schools, but also the fact that the teacher representatives who were included in the sampling are not aware of the resources they have at their disposal
1. Opinions of the teachers • The initiative of organizing and developing informal educational activities is shared, according to the gathered data, between four stakeholders: school (through its representative), teachers, students and parents.
2. Opinions of the County School Inspectorate • Within the CSI there is also a high degree of involvement in extracurricular activities • Activities: • “Child steps in the Iaşi of great cultural traditions” • “The Anti-drug Institutional Network” • “Alternatives” • “Bridges between city and village” • “Youth against delinquency” • “Against human trafficking” etc.)
The frequency of the answers regarding the involvement in extracurricular activities 87,50% both youcoordinate Frequency 0% activities youcollaborate 12,50% with schools 2. Opinions of the County School Inspectorate • Even if the decentralization process has been sped up in the last years, the out-of-school activities can not be carried out without the support and County School Inspectorate (CSI) coordination; • School inspectors declarethat either they: • collaborate with the schools themselves(12.5%), • or that they are in the situation of collaborating with the schools, • but they also coordinate activities(87.5%).
3. Opinions of the NGOs representatives • The NGOs included in the sampling have declared that, regardless the activities, they have collaborated both with schools as well as with the CSI (83.34%) • The non-governmental organizations are asked for support from two points of view: • to provide access to specific information (leaflets, brochures, multimedia information resources, guides, experts on specific problems – HIV/AIDS, alcohol consumption, human trafficking, abuse and violence, etc.); • to offer material support for the activity development (transport, accommodation).
3. Opinions of the NGOs representatives • In the future, the non-governmental organizations believe that they could offer the following services: • projects similar to those carried out until today • training, after-school type services, volunteering services, education through adventure (climbing, mountain routes, etc.), information campaigns
B. Correlations between the opinions of the factors involved in the organizationand development of extracurricular activities • In order to carry out these activities, the teachers claim that they have collaboration relationships with numerous institutions (the respondents naming over 20), covering all the social life areas and offering thus a complete life experience to their students.
B. Correlations between the opinions of the factors involved in the organizationand development of extracurricular activities • Effects of the extracurricular activities can be noticed: the development of self-esteem/self-knowledge, the development of the team spirit and use of the knowledge acquired during the classes.
Correlation regarding the answers about the most spread extracurricular activities Schools CSI 50,00% 45,00% 42,86% 40,00% 36,84% 35,00% 36,84% 30,00% 28,58% 25,00% 23,68% 20,00% 15,00% 21,43% 10,00% 7,13% 5,00% 2,64% 0,00% a b c d a=support by supplementary activities b=support for students with special abilities c=support for students with low performance at school d=other (entertaining) B. Correlations between the opinions of the factors involved in the organizationand development of extracurricular activities • The two categories of subjects believe that the most widespread activities are the ones which support performance and school success.
Correlation regarding the existence of a methodology/system to measure the impact of the activities 40,00% 35,00% 30,00% 25,00% 20,00% 15,00% 10,00% 5,00% 0,00% No. of Debates School Projects Questio- Statistics Activities School No. of participants Prizes with Direct obs. progress monitor nnaires analysis results inspections activ. /beneficiary participants 13,76% 13,76% 9% 13,76% 22,72% 9% 9% 9% 0% 0% 0% Schools 25% 12,50% 0% 0% 12,50% 0% 12,50% 12,50% 12,50% 0,00% 12,50% CSI 33,33% 0% 0% 0% 0% 33,33% 0% 0% 0% 0% 33,34% NGOs Schools CSI NGOs B. Correlations between the opinions of the factors involved in the organizationand development of extracurricular activities • There is a wide range of methods and instruments to measure the impact of the extracurricular activities, many of them being the same, regardless the sample that the subject belongs to.
Correlation regarding the obstacles met in the development of activities 35,00% 30,00% 25,00% 20,00% 15,00% 10,00% 5,00% 0,00% a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 5,71% 14,28% 14,28% 22,85% 11,47% 2,85% 5,71% 20% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 2,85% Schools 0% 27,77% 0% 27,77% 16,67% 11,11% 0% 16,67% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% CSI 0% 0% 0% 16,67% 33,33% 0% 0% 0% 8,33% 8,33% 8,33% 8,33% 16,67% 0% NGOs a=parents h=lack of equipment b=lack of funds i=turnover Schools CSI NGOs c=little F. T. j=badly prepared staff d=great number of classes k=inadequate equipment e=lack of motivation l=ECM criteria of evaluation f=small number of professionals m=misconceptions g=deficient functioning n=N.A. B. Correlations between the opinions of the factors involved in the organizationand development of extracurricular activities • The subjects in the three samples consider the great number of classes in every educational cycle, according to the pre-university institutions syllabus, as being an obstacle in the development of out-of-school activities.
IV. Conclusions • at the level of our county the initiation and development of programmes especially at secondary level is recommended; • the focus on rural environment is of foremost importance when initializing programmes of reducing school dropout; • the supplies schools have to support the extracurricular activities are mainly made of sports halls and multimedia devices (depending on resources); • most of the extracurricular activities (80%) do not include payment. An exception are trips, some courses etc.; • schools ask for inspectors and NGOs’ help in the development of activities (75%), which demonstrates that teachers are aware of the necessity and importance of correlating the parallel types of education: formal, non-formal and informal; • thefinancial resources of the extracurricular activities are the European Programmes and sponsorships;
IV. Conclusions • for the future, NGOs consider that they can offer the following services: projects similar to those that have already been offered, trainings, after-school services, volunteering, education through adventure, information campaigns; • can be noticed a wide range of institutions (20) schools collaborate with, which demonstrates great interest and awareness of the importance of extracurricular activities; • the subjects mention the following effects of the extracurricular activities: self esteem/self knowledge and team work skills development, use of the knowledge acquired in class; • there is a wide range of methods and instruments to measure the impact of the extracurricular activities, many of them being the same, regardless the sample that the subjects belong to. Among them, the number of beneficiaries and questionnaires are to be noticed; • the subjects from the three samples believe that the great number of classes is, among others, an obstacle in the development of out-of-school activities.
V. Suggestions and recommendations • The focus on projects and programmes with the aim of reducing school dropout, especially in the rural area; • Focusing the objectives of the school dropout decrease projects on the secondary school students’ issue; • Extension and multiplication of projects aiming at parental education (Parents` School, Parents’ Club) at the level of all the institutions, in order to involve parents as partners in their children’s education; • Introduction of indices for informal and formal education in the evaluation of all extracurricular and out-of-school activities; • Projects financed by the European Union, aiming at improving the schools’ supplies, in order to raise the activities’ quality; • Special funds in schools, with the purpose of encouraging extracurricular activities; • New methods of financial stimulation for the teachers involved in extracurricular and out-of-school activities;
V. Suggestions and recommendations • Promotion of the developing extracurricular and out-of-school activities at community level, through as many methods possible; • Teachers as resources in the projects of cooperation with NGOs, in order to make the methods and means suitable to the age and group features of the students involved; • The use, in the evaluation and monitoring of the projects carried out in partnership with NGOs, of unitary indices guided by County School Inspectorate Iaşi; • Promotion among teachers, parents and local authorities of the nature of psycho-pedagogical assistance services performed by the school counsellors; • Diversification of educational methods, combining curricular and extracurricular activities, formal, non-formal and informal education in order to raise the level of attractiveness of school activities without overloading the students’ programme.