Output 6 Final Report on the Functional Analysis of the VET sub-sectorReimbursable 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
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 Lascr Street, No. 31, Et 6, Sector 2, Bucharest, Romania).
Acknowledgements
This Report was prepared by Alina Sava (Education Specialist, TTL), Mariana Moarc (Senior Education Specialist), Romina Miorelli (International Expert), Juan Prawda (International Expert), and a team of local consultants Iulia Marie, Alexandru Ghi, 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 Drmu.
Camelia Guescu (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
CEDEFOP
CNDIPT
National Center for Technical and Vocational Education and Training Development
TVET Centre
EACEA
EC
EQAVET
EQF
FM
IES
LEAP
MoNE
NAE
NEET
NGO
OECD
PAS
PISA
PMI
PP
TER
UNESCO
VET
WB
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) 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) . The strategy was developed by the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Centre (TVET Centre) 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 .
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 ... 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 .
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 , 2018) shows that VET 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 ). 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 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 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 (). 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.
1. 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 , 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) . This strategy was developed by the National Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training Development (NCTVETD) 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 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
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
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 2020 targets
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%
70%
63.9%
69.9%
Source: Eurostat database on EU benchmarks Education and Training 2020, 2019 .
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 . 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.
2. 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 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, Timioara, Iai, Braov, 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
MoNE’s SIIIR -data for school year 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19
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, employment, job vacancies by group of occupations and economic sectors.
NIS TEMPO database
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
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
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 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
Source: World Bank team, 2019.
3. 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
0 – 25
population
2002
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
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 , 2018) explains the same underfinancing in VET 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
Table 7. Education expenses for upper secondary education
% of GDP upper secondary
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 ). In the presence of a market economy at debut, prior to Romania’s EU accession in 2007, a multiannual VET reform program 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
Source: MoNE, 2018.
In 2009, the Government’s decided to close the Arts and Trades schools 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
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
2012/
2013
2013/
2014
2014/
2015
2015/
2016
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
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
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
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 , 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
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)
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) 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
17.63
47.05
26.18
Performance at grade 8 examination is important for students willing to continue to upper secondary due to its major influence in the high school admission process. The score obtained at the national examination accounts for 80 percent of the final high school admission score, while 20 percent is made up by the average score of marks obtained during four years of gymnasium (grade 5-8). The WB task team heard many times during interviews with stakeholders (e.g. students, parents, teachers, principals) that most students are entering VET with low scores, especially in technological track, as compared to those admitted in the theoretical track, which may contribute to the public perception that technological high school is second-class education and therefore unattractive. Students are admitted to high school based on three key criteria: final score, student preferences, and number of places allocated for each specialization. This perception is also confirmed by evidence (Table 11) which shows that, for instance, in Bucharest, high school admission scores in 2016/17 were considerably much lower for technological track (highest score of 7, lowest score of 4.7) compared to theoretical one (highest score of 9, lowest score of 7.9). Given the low entry scores into technological high schools, most students in this track don’t perform well enough to train for a specific job, and at the same time to be able to pass the Baccalaureate. This issue was also raised by many teachers during interviews who find it difficult to train these students considering they lack basic skills (reading, numeracy).
Table 11. Admission scores (average) by track and profile in Bucharest, in 2014/15 and 2016/17
High school track and profile
2014/15
2016/17
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
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 at the Bacca