The educational system is in a large deadlock, since over 50% of the teachers will retire in the next 10-15 years, which aggravates the problems already existing in education, I attract the attention of the specialists.
The educational system is in a great deadlock. Photo archive
According to experts, the high level of aging of the teacher body reflects a true social phenomenon that the whole economy will feel in the next 10-15 years.
“The lack of well -trained teachers, especially in vulnerable areas, will lead to the formation of generations of poorly prepared children, who will not be able to adapt to the increasingly competitive requirements in the labor market. Over 50% of teachers will retire in the next 10 years, according to studies conducted by the European Eurostat Statistics Office”, Says the specialists Rethink Romania in a wide analysis on the educational system.
According to her, there is not sufficient qualified human resource for practical training activities in technical and professional education.
“The current model for establishing the qualifications offered to children does not ensure agility and correlation with the development of technologies. Those who present themselves prefer the chairs of teachers who involve theoretical teaching, to the detriment of those who involve practical training.”, It is shown in the analysis.
The issue of access to qualified persons in the education system is an acute one
Rethink experts point out that “our educational system is still traumatized and often traumatizing, with small islands of coherence and performance, but also with huge imbalances, and the responsibility for this state is a collective one.”
In their opinion, the problem of accessing the qualified persons in the education system is an acute one, against the background of a quo status characterized by the aging of the teacher.
Among other things, experts point out that in the school year 2021/2022 they taught in Romania schools 4,811 teachers without training (2.4%), these representing a volatile basin in the teaching body.
According to the data of the European Eurostat Statistics Office, out of the 47,414 teachers from primary education in Romania, more than half (28,376) had, in 2020, over 50 years. 7734 of them were between 55 and 64 years old, and 820 were teaching, although it has been 65 years. The situation follows the same pattern, with older teachers, and in high school and high school education.
“The personnel crisis in the education system becomes all the more acute as, according to the data from the National Institute of Statistics, in the school year 2021-2022, 3,495,800 students and students were registered, with 1,200 more students than in the previous school/university year, 2020-2021, when the school population was 3.494 students. Is the first growth of this kind after 2014”, Notes the experts.
Teaching career should be in the top 3 preferences
Rethink Education, through member and partner organizations, but also through the experts involved, emphasizes that “In 10 years, the teaching career will be in the top 3 preferences for a graduate of higher education ”.
Starting from the legal context, but also from the recent proposals of the Minister of Education and Research, Daniel David, experts support reforms in the following fields:
● payroll and revenues: positioning in the national grid with a start from the average salary on the economy, salary related to achieving predetermined quality standards, additional income based on excellence and inclusion indicators;
● the didactic norm: the number of hours of teaching/evaluation in the didactic norm is at least at the level of the European average; Activities associated with the work norm must be carried out in school. The teaching norm can be reduced only for teachers who have a classification in two or more educational units. The working norm includes transport time for teachers who commute to a locality at a minimum of 10 km of home. When drawing up the schedules, the educational units will collaborate for optimization, priority, teachers who do not have a complete chair in the same UIP
● For the title teachers, the work norm, respectively the teaching, can be reduced to the middle of the standard norm, at any time of the teaching career. The stages of reduction and/or return to the standard norm will be included in the calendar of mobility methodology;
● Employment/revision of the degree: promoting the national licensing examination in the teaching career provided by Law 198/2023 becomes the necessary and sufficient condition for the right to occupy an indefinite position in the public education system, at any time of the professional career and has a validity of 5 years. The licensing exam will contain testing and psychometric tools that will validate minimum requirements to perform the role.
● the competitions for occupying the available positions are organized by the educational units, individually or in the consortium, or through the specialized recruitment agencies, initially as positions for a fixed period, on the tenure-tradition model;
● the relief of the teacher of bureaucratic and administrative tasks that are not directly related to learning;
● consequences for the lack of performance (loss of the status of holder/employee for an indefinite period);
In addition, we consider it critical to pay more attention to the following aspects, for which we want to collaborate in the development of technical proposals and solutions of type:
● safety and well-being: mechanisms to support mental health and emotional balance in such a demanding profession; Mechanisms to protect physical integrity, the right to image and the protection of the personal life of the teacher;
● belonging to a strong professional community and healthy organizational cultures, collaboration, with values lived consciously: professionalization of school management; processes and procedures that create the necessary context for debate, collaborative learning, good-practitioners, data analysis and co-creation of solutions;
● career and performance management: real career evolution options, through specialization on professional routes that offer opening to other potential roles/careers; support structure for school integration and to experience success (onboarding, on-the-job train, mentor support with professional feedback and coaching, access and exposure to models of good practice and experts, learning communities and didactic practice); clear consequences for lack of performance; predictability and clarity in the role and attributions.
