Entries for the tenure exam closed on May 18, so there’s file verification, classroom inspections, and finally the written exam. This year, the most titular positions are for educators, teachers, support teachers and school counselors. I talked with Ion-Ovidiu Pânișoara, the director of the Teacher Training Department, about the essential qualities of those who work with preschoolers and students in the first years.
The essential qualities of an educator
In the case of early education, Ion-Ovidiu Pânișoara emphasizes that the role of the educator is a profoundly important one. And beyond teaching children poems or coloring, other qualities are essential.
Bearing in mind that a preschool teacher/educator is sometimes the first person to take on the parental figure in an institutional setting, among the mandatory qualities should be found: empathy, patience and love for children.
explains the director of the Teacher Training Department, within the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences.
At the same time, he insists on how the teacher should relate to the child
An educator must know how to “get down” to the age and perception of the preschool child, she must have a lot of patience to lay the foundations for the construction of a learning behavior, for the first stages in the construction of moral and pro-social behavior.
Regarding the relationship with the parents, a lot of tact is needed, the expert emphasizes.
What an educator should never do
“High tone is a great source of stress for children at this age. This doesn’t have to preclude firm tone, but nuances matter here. Great attention must be paid to discrimination of any kind, sometimes teachers show their preferences towards certain children. And we still need to find the balance between playing and learning, there are some educators who lose this balance”says Ion-Ovidiu Pânișoara.
The teacher and the formation of motivation for school
If we move to primary education, the essential qualities of teachers remain the same, says the university professor.
“By the way, until this year there was a double specialization in initial training, teacher for primary education and teacher for preschool education. The new law introduced two distinct specializations, which is nonsense governed by the interests of a small group of academics, the vast majority capitalizing on the exceptional tradition of double specialization.”
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In addition to the educational ladies, a good teacher must pay attention to another aspect, says Ion-Ovidiu Pânișoara: the cultivation of motivation for learning.
,,On the way a teacher knows how to react, on the way he supervises and encourages the student’s progress (as Jacob Kunin expresses it), all this will depend on the student’s love for school and his openness to learning. And I did not exaggerate: love for school is an aspect that I forgot, lost in the infinite reforms of bottomless forms”he explains.
What makes the difference in the teaching career
A teacher must combine love for children with the firmness of teaching decisions, combine scientific knowledge with the ability to adapt and transmit it to the age with which they work
emphasizes the expert.
“This means what I often call “pedagogy is life” – what I tried to put into practice in my recent volume “Pedagogy for the soul”, published a few days ago at Polirom. If you don’t respect your dialogue partner (even if we’re talking about children here), then you won’t be able to find the best ways to convince him that school is good, that it’s worth learning.” it continues.
And today’s times bring new challenges that must be taken into account by those who want a long-term teaching career: “attention to how the human being grows and develops in an age of technology and a world of AI.”
The teaching staff is the link between society and its future, says Ion-Ovidiu Pânișoara.
“That is why we must return to the lower teaching rate and to a smaller number of students in the class. We must have time and care for every student. Every student is capable, as the principle of pedagogical optimism says, but you have to find the way to teach (as Bruner would say) to which I would add – the way to reach his soul”says the director of the Teacher Training Department.
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Tenure calendar in 2026
Tenure is the national competition through which teachers can obtain a position in an educational unit.
To become a holder, candidates must obtain a minimum grade of 7 in both the written test and the classroom inspection. For substitutes, the minimum threshold is grade 5 in both tests.
The 2026 session is structured in several stages, held between May and August:
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May 6–18: registration of candidates
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8–30 June: Classroom inspections and oral/practical tests
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July 21: written test
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July 28: Initial results
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July 29 – August 3: appeals
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August 4: final results
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August 5–6: distribution of candidates
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August 17–21: Issuance of employment decisions
