WORLD BANK INSTITUTE Promoting knowledge and learning for a better world Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies Case Studies from Central and Eastern Europe 22097 March 2001 / /ALBA AS REPUBLIC / ' .-v f~~': ..4I=.,JiP" w., Edited by Ariel Fiszbein WB I L EA R N I N G R E S O U R C E S S E R I E S Recent Books from WBI The Challenge of Urban Government: Policies and Practices Mila Freire and Richard Stren, editors 2001. 458 pages. ISBN 0-8213-4738-1. Stock No. 14738. Price code S30 Chile: Recent Policy Lessons and Emerging Challenges Guillermo Perry and Danny M. Leipziger, editors 1999. 437 pages. ISBN 0-8213-4500-1. Stock No. 14500. Price code S35 Corrupt Cities: A Practical Guide to Cure and Prevention Robert Klitgaard, Ronald MacLean-Abaroa, and H. Lindsey Parris 2000. 175 pages. ISBN 0-8213-4600-8. Stock No. 14600. Price code S20 Curbing Corruption: Toward a Model for Building National Integrity Rick Stapenhurst and Sahr Kpundeh, editors 1998. 264 pages. 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At the time of writing, Ariel Fiszbein was a principal economist in the World Bank Institute Human Development division. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Decentralizing education in transition societies: case studies from Central and Eastern Europe / edited by Ariel Fiszbein. p. cm. -- (WBI learning resources series) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-8213-4876-0 1. Education--Europe, Eastern--Case studies. 2. Education and state--Europe, Eastern--Case studies. 3. Educational change--Europe, Eastern--Case studies. I. Fiszbein, Ariel. II. Series. LA622.D28 2000 370'.947--dc21 00-051332 Contents Foreword ........................................................v Preface ....................................................... vii 1. Overview ........................................................1 I. Introduction .......................................................1 II. Concepts and Methodology ........................................................ 2 III. Lessons .......................................................6 References ....................................................... 10 2. Albania ....................................................... 11 I. Introduction ....................................................... 11 II. The Education System Today ....................................................... 12 III. Key Issues ....................................................... 19 IV. Reform Options ....................................................... 25 V. Conclusion ....................................................... 29 References ....................................................... 29 3. Bulgaria ....................................................... 31 I. Introduction ....................................................... 31 II. The Education System Today ....................................................... 32 III. System Problems: An Analysis .................................................... 36 IV. Recommendations ....................................................... 39 References ....................................................... 42 4. Czech Republic ....................................................... 43 I. Introduction ....................................................... 43 II. Actors and Functions: The Current Czech Education System .... 45 III. The Education System at a Crossroads: Challenges and Potential Responses .............................. ......................... 48 IV. Conclusion ....................................................... 52 References ....................................................... 52 5. Hungary ....................................................... 53 I. Introduction ....................................................... 53 II. The Education System Today: Main Actors and Responsibilities ....................................................... 54 III. System Problems: An Analysis .................................................... 61 IV. Recommendations ....................................................... 65 V. Conclusion ....................................................... 70 6. Poland ....................................................... 71 I. Introduction ....................................................... 71 II. The Education System Today ....................................................... 72 111. Problems and Solutions .................................................. ..... 79 IV. Conclusion ....................................................... 88 References ....................................................... 89 iii iv Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies 7. Romania .................................................. 91 I. Introduction .................................................. 91 II. Actors and Functions: The Current Romanian Education System .................................................. 92 III. Distribution of Responsibilities .................................................. 95 IV. Internal Contradictions ............................. ..................... 100 V. Many Problems, Few Solutions: Suggestions for Reforms ........ 103 References ................................................... 111 Foreword M~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ... .... ... . ....... .. . ......... ,,. This book is about the reform of education systems in Central and Eastern Europe with particular emphasis on decentralization and management Although the region's highly centralized systems are beginning to adopt more deconcentrated approaches, most key policy and planning decisions are still made at the center. In the past, local authorities served as implementation arms of the central ministry, while finance and decisionmaking were controlled by the central government, leaving local com- munities with litde influence. New education laws in most countries of the region have altered this balance, albeit not as thoroughly as some reformers would like. Because some of these societies are deeply into the process of socioeconomic transi- tion, a moderate approach may well be the least disruptive short-term solution; but ministries of education will clearly need to continue the decentralization process in those areas they deem to be most appropriate. To help address these issues, in 1997 the World Bank Institute participated in a research project to study intergovernmental roles in the delivery of education services. It examined six Central and Eastern European countries: three new members of the OECD-Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland; and three other countries of the region-Albania, Bulgaria, and Romania. Each country put to- gether a research team of academics, educators, and policy advisors under the leadership of a highly experienced education specialist. Each team produced a country report, which was then discussed and revised during the course of four seminars. These seminars brought about a great deal of useful cross-fertilization among the country teams and with experts from various international agencies. Decentralization per se is neither good norbad. The challenge these countries are facing is how to develop new institutions that can effectively enlist the re- sources of the state, civil society, and the private sector to achieve educational goals. The cases in this book reflect six different national experiences, stages of development, models, and national attitudes. This publication should be of interest to generalists as well as specialists, in- cluding educators and other readers interested in Central and Eastern European area studies. The book's multidisciplinary methodology will also provide useful insights to development policymakers in other sectors. Vinod Thomas Vice President World Bank Institute v Preface This book is the result of a collective learning process, which is responsible for both the strengths and weaknesses of this book. As the introductory chapter ex- plains in detail, the country studies that constitute the core of the book were produced by national teams that worked in a coordinated manner for a period of approximately 18 months. Their tasks were particularly difficult because of the nature of the subject of analysis-education systems in the process of being re- formed. In that sense, the teams were aiming at moving targets. The rules of the game that the teams were trying to disentangle were rapidly changing even as they conducted their work. From a practical point of view, this implied constant revisions and adjustments that, nonetheless, made the country studies no more than a photograph of the education systems in these countries-possibly out- dated soon after completion. However, the value of the country assessments is not just in providing an up-to-date description of the education systems in six countries, but in the unusual attempt to look at the process of transformation these six countries are undergoing with a critical eye and an acute sense of the importance of institutional factors in explaining the outcomes. The book benefited from the contributions of many people: • First, and above all, those members of the six country teams-the authors of the country studies-who brought to the enterprise their in-depth knowledge of ongoing reforms in education systems as well as their deep commitment to contributing to the success of those reforms. * Second, the many colleagues who helped design and implement this learn- ing program. I would particularly like to mention Christine Allison who was instrumental in conceptualizing the initiative and who mentored and supported me throughout it. Yael Duthilleul and Ernesto Cuadra always found time in their busy schedules to help me and, more important, became important resources to several of the country teams. Ian Whitman, a key partner in the implementation of the learning program, offered valuable and objective advice. * Third, the very effective help of Deborah Glassman, who edited the original country reports; Nita Congress, who edited the book; and Karen Hotra, who coordinated the book's production. vii 1. Overview Ariel Fiszbein 1. Introduction ______________________________________ _ _ stitute (then known as the Economic Development Institute) organized a learning program on Inter- Since the end of the Communist regimes, most coun- Governmental Roles in the Delivery of Education Ser- tries in Central and Eastern Europe have begun a pro- vices in four countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, cess of state reform that has included a redefinition of Poland, and Romania. Bulgaria joined them in the the roles of different levels of government. The educa- spring of 1998. A similar approach was followed, start- tion sector hasbeen no exception. To different degrees ing in late 1998, by a team in Albania. and following various approaches, most countries in The program's objective was to help build analyti- the region have started to decentralize responsibilities cal capacity to understand the ways that existing and for the provision of education services to lower levels future intergovernmental arrangements infringe on the of government and agents of the state. These processes effectiveness of service delivery in the education sec- imply more than simple formalities. They involve tor. Country teams, following a common methodol- changes, sometimes profound, in the rules of the game ogy and a participatory approach, prepared country that influence the conditions under which new gen- assessments-under the guidance and with the sup- erations of citizens will be educated. In other words, port of World Bank staff-of intergovernmental ar- new institutions are being created that will have a long- rangements in the education sector. Each country re- lasting effect on the region's development prospects port reviewed the roles being playedby different actors (Gibson and Hanson 1996). in the system, analyzed the main contradictions emerg- When such important issues are discussed, there ing from those roles, and developed a set of proposals is a tendency to seek simple answers to such ques- directed to resolving those contradictions. These re- tions as "Is decentralization good or bad?" or "Who ports, which constitute the main input for this book, should be responsible for different functions?" Real- provided the basis for a program of group learning ity, however, is rather complex and-at least for the under which the teams from different countries ex- time being-does not offer simple responses. Further- changed views and learned from each other through a more, a process of decentralization is seldom driven series of workshops and seminars. by purely educational goals but rather is part ofbroader The objective of this overview chapter is twofold. processes of state reform motivated by a combination First, it introduces the concept of institutions and the of political and other factors (Bird and Vaillancourt methodology of institutional analysis used in this pro- 1998). Thus, there are potentially high returns to ef- gram, with specific examples for the education sector. forts seeking abetter understanding of the alternative It also discusses the group learning approach used. institutional forms being developed as a result of such Second, it presents a preliminary assessment of sub- reforms, particularly if the reforms focus on method- stantive lessons regarding the implications for service ologies and concepts rather than on simplistic recipes. delivery due to ongoing changes in the assignment of This book synthesizes the lessons from one such responsibilities across different levels and agents of the effort. Starting in the fall of 1997, the World Bank In- state. The accompanying country chapters provide a 1 2 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies systematic and updated view of where the different monitoring their professional development. How- countries in the region are in terms of reforming the ever, the national pedagogic institute (which has governance structure in their education systems. offered teacher training programs for the last 40 years) continues to receive a budget from the II. Concepts and Methodology Ministry of Education regardless of the number of teachers trained or the quality of the training. Local and school authorities are dissatisfied with the quality of the training offered but have no way to influence it. As a result, they do not free teach- The terms "institutions" and "institutional analysis" ers to attend training. are often used in very different ways, thus creating confusion. Perhaps a good way to start is by briefly There is a common denominator among these three describing the types of problems we had in mind and examples: bad outcomes (low cost-effectiveness, pas- hoped to address through institutional analysis. The sive school authorities, untrained teachers, and so following three examples of situations in an imaginary forth) result from the behaviors and actions of several country are partially inspired by the country studies actors (teachers, directors, local authorities, ministry and should help clarify the concepts. officials, and so forth). These behaviors and actions I. In country X, the school-age population is declin- can be seen as reactions to incentives (not just finan- ing due to demographic factors; this is particularly cial) faced by actors who make decisions using the true in rural areas. Local governments are now re- information and tools they have at their disposal. In- sponsible for managing schools. A key emerging centives, it must be emphasized, come not only from question is who will be in charge of closing schools formalAegal rules but also, often, from informal ones. if the number of school-age children falls below a In this context, intergovernmental roles matter because reasonable level. The central government has re- they influence the incentives people (local govern- linquished all authority, and there is no assignment ments, teachers, school authorities, and so forth) face. of responsibility to the regional governments. Lo- The three examples are just the tip of the iceberg. A cal governments are responsible, but the steps and quick review of the country studies offers multiple ex- procedures they should undertake in order to close amples of similar situations. The question we tried to a school and to arrange for its students to go to address is how to look at these types of problems in a some other locality-a difficult and politically systematic fashion. costly decision in any case-are unclear. As a re- We were interested in understanding why the dif- sult, a stalemate develops in which the cost effec- ferent actors in the system behave the way they do- tiveness of the system suffers. thus, our focus on institutions. By institutions, we un- derstand the set of rules that determine how actors 2. In country Y, the legislation has been changed to dehave or ow that detee hortors make school directors responsible for the day-to- behave or how they play the game (see North 1990); day oeratin ofthe shool Theyare xpectd toin this case, the game is delivering education services. day operation of the school. They are expected to Therefore, we need to focus not only on laws and regu- be evaluated by local governments and by decon- lations (the so-called formal rules of the game) but also centrated offices of the Ministry of Education. ons (the informal rules ). However, existing legislation makes it too difficult on customs and attitudes (the informal rules). to fire anyone and to change work practices. Pay When conducting an institutional analysis, rules to fire anyone and to change work practlces. Pay must be assessed in terms of their impact on given scales arelated dtoperfrine de the lochol governde goals or objectives. These are not always clear and not related to performance. The local government explicit to the actors or even to the analysts, but they hasdnirestourres to moffe boanusares.tAsakeresult,scho should surface as the analysis progresses. In our case, the traditional goals of efficiency, equity, and quality 3. In country Z, local authorities and school direc- of education were the explicit objectives proposed tors are being made responsible for assessing the from the beginning, but others such as contributing performance of teachers and supporting and to the construction of a democratic culture-were Overview 3 Table 1.1 Selected Functions by Level Level Function Central Regional Local School External 1. Personnel (teachers, directors, nonteachers) 1.1 Salaries 1.2 Career path (recruitment, promotion, transfer, and so forth) 1.3 Time and task management 1.4 Training (preservice, in-service) 1.5 Evaluation 2. Curriculum 2.1 Content and standards 2.2 Development 3. Textbooks, equipment, instructional materials 3.1 Criteria and standards 3.2 Production 3.3 Procurement/distribution 4. School infrastructure 4.1 Planning (establishing, abolishing, networking) 4.2 Construction 4.3 Maintenance 5. Student enrollment 5.1 Regulations 5.2 Selection criteria (student, school) 6. Quality control 6.1 Student assessment and monitoring 6.2 School assessment and monitoring 7. Financial administration and control Source: Author. uncovered as we moved along in the program. The the informal level. Completing this exercise with a participatory nature of the exercise was critical in multistakeholder team (as opposed to a team of con- this regard. Teams were instrumental in redefining sultants) is a very telling one. To determine who is the objectives of the analysis. doing what requires both a review of formal rules and Three steps were followed in the analysis. First, an understanding of how functions are being carried we focused on the key functions and main actors or out in reality. stakeholders in the system (see table 1.1 for an ex- The second step is where the analysis starts. We ample of the type of information collected by the found it useful to focus on three types of problems teams). The goal of this step was to understand who (Hilton and Schroeder 1995). The first type of prob- was doing what (and who was supposed to do what). lem was an inadequate assignment of responsibilities. This is not as simple as it appears. Different actors in We had in mind situations in which there was an over- the system have different views of the assignment of lap of responsibilities between different actors, a gap responsibilities even at the formal level-let alone at in the definition of responsibilities, or a lack of clar- 4 Decentraiizing Education in Transition Socielies ity-all of which lead to confusion and bad outcomes. for school networks, particularly in rural areas. In the Example 1 cited earlier falls in this category. The defi- second example, one potential solution might involve nition of who should make the decision to close a school giving extra funds to school principals so that they can and the steps that have to be taken in order to do so offer bonuses to high-performing teachers as a way of were incomplete. increasing their ability to influence outcomes at the The second type of problem was a mismatch be- school level. Alternatively, another team might come tween responsibilities and authorities. We had in mind to the conclusion that addressing the problem in ex- situations in which those responsible lacked the means ample 2 requires a change in the teachers' charter (or to carry them out, whether because they lacked the similar legislation). Finally, in the third example, one power to enforce, resources to implement, or inputs way of changing incentives is to cut direct funding to to make decisions. This is a very common source of the pedagogical institute as a way of forcing it to be- problems in many situations characterized as decen- come more customer oriented. tralization. Actors are given responsibilities but no real It should be obvious that the methodology does not power. Example 2 falls in this category. School direc- offer straightforward policy responses to the problems tors were given the responsibility of managing schools identified. Most of the recommendations proposed by but no real authority to implement that responsibility. the teams represent their interpretation of how the The third and final type of problem was a mismatch contradictions couldbe resolved in their countries' con- between authority and accountability. We had in mind text. In that sense, a different team could have reached situations in which the system of accountability was a different set of recommendations following the same badly designed. Those in charge have no real incen- approach. The institutional analysis thus served as a tives to play the game in ways that contnbute to effec- tool to empower teams to identify problems and the tive outcomes. In example 3, the pedagogical institute reasons behind those problems and to come up with has no incentive to provide the kind of training re- their own solutions within a logical framework. It does quested or needed by local and school authorities be- not guarantee that those solutions are necessarily the cause it gets its money anyway (and because it has optimal ones from other people's perspectives. This been doing what it does for too many years). latter point highlights the critical importance of team Although, the list of functions covered in table 1.1 composition and the process a team goes through in provides the informational basis to identify mis- conducting its analysis. matches, we found it useful to concentrate on what we called "principal contradictions" (World Bank Group Learning as Capacity Building 1996). These are the most critical findings from the institutional analysis; in most cases, these spanned It should be apparent by now that the types of prob- across the various functions. In other words, after a lems considered by the teams do not have obvious or function-by-function analysis of mismatches was com- simple solutions. The institutional analysis methodol- pleted, teams identified a limited number of problem ogy provides a conceptual framework within which areas associated with the particular way in which in- to identify problems and potential solutions. To use a tergovernmental relations were operating. These, popular metaphor, this is more an art than a science, rather than the extensive list of mismatches, are the and a critical part of this art resides in the process fol- contradictions presented in the final country studies. lowed in implementing the methodology. Who is in- The third step in the process was probably the most volved in the analysis, what views are captured and difficult one. We tried to identify how to solve the prin- considered, and what types of opportunities exist for cipal contradictions by (a) redefining or clarifying re- open and critical discussion among those involved in sponsibilities, (b) providing new authorities, and (c) the analysis are just as important as the analysis itself. creating new forms of accountability in order to change The purpose of the World Bank Institute program incentives. was capacitybuilding: helping countnies strengthentheir If we refer back to the three initial examples, in ability to conduct independent analysis of intergovem- the first case, a natural conclusion might be that ad- mental arrangements from an institutional perspective dressing the problem might require a reassignment of with the purpose of enhancing the quality of policy for- functions by making regional governments responsible mulation. The approach foRlowed was group learning: Ove viesli 5 focus on country teams (as opposed to individuals) in options in the legal, regulatorv, financial, and admin- several countries and create an enabling environment istrative frameworks that would contribute to address- in which these teams could jointly learn by doing. ing the inadequacies identified in the previous sec- The program thus was organized around the pro- tion. Section 3 was reviewed at a workshop that took duction of country assessments. In each of the partici- place in Poland (Warsaw, November 8-10, 1998). pafing countries, a team was lead by an anchor person During each of the workshops, teams had an op- or institution selected on the basis of professional quali- portunity to learn firsthand about the status of educa- fications. The anchor coordinated the country team, tion reform in the host country through a series of liaised with the World Bank, and coordinated produc- visits to schools and meetings with authorities. tion of the country assessment. A key aspect of pro- There are two characteristics of the group learn- gram design was establishing forums for cross- ing approach followed in this case that are worth men- country exchange, including bringing in lessons from tioning and discussing: the multistakeholder and other parts of the world. multidisciplinary nature of the country teams and the The country assessments were the outcome of a cross-country nature of the program. process of analysis and consultation by members of As indicated before, each country team involved the country team, which included policy analysts and the participation of both researchers/analysts and prac- policymakers with different backgrounds (education titioners. Although there was heavy participation of specialists, economists, and so forth) and affiliations individuals directly involved in the education sector (Ministries of Education and Finance, local govern- (as practitioners or researchers), special efforts were ment sector, teaching profession, and so forth). World made to involve individuals linked to a variety of stake- Bank staff provided technical assistance to the teams holders: other ministries, local governments, and teach- during the preparation of their country assessments. ers. It was these teams that conducted the analyses, The plan of action was discussed and refined dur- identified the problems, and pwnposed the reform options. ing an initial workshop in the Czech Republic (held The main purpose of adopting this approach was in Prague on October 20-22, 1997), during which the to find simple ways of internalizing the perspectives three main sections of the assessments were addressed. and information sets from key actors in the system. In The first section was to present a description of the some cases, the teams organized broader processes of present status of intergovernmental roles in the edu- consultation in their countries around which they built cation system, that is, a comprehensive description of their diagnoses.' However, even in those cases in which where the system is today (as well as recent reforms) no such consultations took place, the diverse teams' in terms of responsibilities assigned to different lev- own dynamics fostered a forum for the exchange of els of government, administrative units, and other information and views from different stakeholders in actors in the education system. Section 1 was reviewed the system. and discussed at a workshop that took place in Ro- The experience suggests that there are two main mania (Bucharest, March 23-26, 1998). The second benefits to this approach. First, the quality of the analy- section analyzed the way in which the system is oper- sis improves as teams are exposed to more complete in- ating and identified key problem areas specific to each formation as to what is really happening throughout the country. Both the description and analysis of inter- system, how decisions are actuallybeing made, and what governmental arrangements in the education sector the logic is behind the behavior of different actors in the (for example, governance and financing) were linked system. Second, by internalizing some of the latent con- to the broader intergovernmental regime in place in flicts in the system, the teams are better able to create the country. Section 2 was reviewed at a workshop conditions for consensus on policy reform options. that took place in Hungary (Szegued, June 22-25, 1998). The third and final section identified viable governance reform options for each country, aimed 1. The team in the Czech Republic organized a con- at improving the effectiveness with which education sultation/seminar with the participation of unions, parlia- ser-vices are delivered. Country teams concentrated mentarians, government officials, and experts. The team in Bulgaria conducted field surveys. The team in Hungary or- on a selected number of topics-based on the results ganized a large group of advisors with whom the team met of section 2-and explored concrete and viable reform regularly to gather views and to discuss findings. 6 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies There are important benefits to adopting a multi- in several countries, it is facing some major transfor- country learning approach. Although there are many mations at this point in time. differences among the countries, there are also many If any of those involved in the program had any things in common: a shared concern about the impact doubt initially, it is very clear now that there are no of deep governance reforms on the education system, blueprints for reform. In the first place, we are facing a movement in the direction of more decentralized an unusually intense and rapid experiment in state management, and transition to free-market democracy, reform for which there is no precedent. Thus, it is not as well as a complex history of regional links. feasible to relate the challenges and solutions to past During most of the process, there were five coun- experiences (in the same region or elsewhere). Sec- try teams working simultaneously on the program. We ond, the initial conditions are quite different among met every three to four months with a well-defined the countries. The education systems in Poland and agenda. In between workshops, World Bank staff re- Romania are larger than in the other countries. The mained in contact with the teams through electronic Czech Republic is wealthier than, say, Albania or Bul- communications and periodic visits. garia. Cultural and social traditions are very different The cross-country aspect of the program proved to (for example, Hungary started the transition with a be one of its key assets. Above all, the possibility of much stronger network of social organizations in- making comparisons across countries was extremely volved in the education sector than most of the other helpful to all of us participating in the workshops. As countries); the nature of the economic and political the next section attempts to summarize, many simi- transition has also been different. larities (in arrangements and problems) were identi- Finally, there is a strong element of path depen- fied. However, the diversity of responses in reform at- dence in these reforms. Although at certain points in tempts was large and provided a useful way of time countries seem to face alternative routes in the facilitating debate about alternative reform paths at reform process (for example, Hungary could have the country level. adopted a less extreme form of decentralization if the Another critical benefit of the cross-country ap- balance of political power had been somewhat differ- proach was the fact that it avoided many of the draw- ent in the early 1990s, and the Czech Republic might backs of the traditional bilateral relations (Bank-coun- decide on alternative models for the newly created re- try) present in other activities of this type. As the gions), after those decisions are made, the future of program progressed, multilateral relationships grew, intergovernmental arrangements in the education sec- providing a fascinating and dynamic space in which tor is, at least partly, predetermined. we all taught and learned. This result was partly due Behind the sharp differences in diagnosis and pro- to the fact that a regional initiative is much less threat- posed solutions that can be easily observed in the coun- ening than abilateral one, and, consequently and para- try studies, it is possible to find some important com- doxically, more powerful or empowering for teams in mon factors, as discussed below. helping them develop their policy messages. Reform Goals 111. Lessons Rearranging roles among levels of government and agents of the state is not a goal in itself. It is only All the countries involved in this program have, since with respect to specific outcomes that reforms can be the fall of Communism, initiated major changes in the assessed. Goals are seldom specified upfront, and re- assignment of responsibilities between levels and agents forms are rarely designed in a logical way to achieve of the state in the education sector (Cerych 1997; Halasz predetermined objectives. Nevertheless, as the differ- 1996). Starting from command and control centralized ent country teams worked on their country reports, systems with some semblance of deconcentration, coun- it became quite clear that there was a set of generic tries have moved in the direction of creating a more goals underlying their analyses. Regardless of the decentralized management structure for service deliv- natural differences in emphasis observed in the work ery. In most cases, the process of reform is still ongoing; of different teams, these goals seem to define quite Ovei-rvm 7 accurately the challenges faced by the refonning coun- delivery of education services. Deconcentrated offices tries. Terms such as quality, equity, and efficiency of the center are powerful in some cases and nonexist- come to mind immediately. However, it is worth re- ent in others. Schools have substantial autonomy in viewing some more specific goals implicit in the coun- some countries and little or n.o power elsewhere. try assessments: Regardless of the rhetoric (autonomy, decentrali- * Efficiency, in all country reports, is a synonym for zation, and so forth), these are (and most likely will running the system with declining budgets with- continue to be) systems of shared responsibilities. Sev- out a reduction in student achievement. The criti- eral agents of the state are in some way involved in cal question in almost every country is a diminish- the delivery process, and no single agent has full deci- ing school-age population and the corresponding sionmaking power over the key education decisions. excessive number of teachers. This mightbe an uncomfortable reality for some people (actors and analysts), but it is a fact of life with which * Quality means at least two things beyond the con- countries will have to learn to live. ventional and almost tautological question of high Recognizing the principle of shared responsibili- student achievement. First, it means creating a sys- ties does not, however, mean forgetting about the im- tem that is responsive to the changing requirements portant tensions implicit in defining the balance of of the labor market. Integration into the world power among the different actors. With regard to these economy, and particularly into the European tensions, there is a broad range of experiences in the Union, is critical here. Second, it means creating a six countries. The balance of power between the cen- system that reinforces the process of democracy, ter, deconcentrated regional offices, local elected au- not just directly through what happens inside the thorities, school authorities, the teaching profession, classroom, but also in terms of how schools and and diverse types of boards.with the participation of society interact. citizens is at the core of the teams' analyses. Even in a • Equity seems to have both interregional and inter- system of shared responsibilities, the center of gravity personal aspects. The interregional aspects mean must reside somewhere. that no region within the country is left out (in In some countries, the distribution of responsibili- particular, rural areas), which, as many of the re- ties and powers is such that it is relatively straightfor- ports recognize, might conflict with the efficiency ward to identify a center of gravity: national in Roma- considerations. The interpersonal aspects (which nia, local in Hungary, and so forth. Where the center tend not to be spelled out in most cases) reflect the resides is less clear in other countries (for example, concern that some students (for example, ethnic Poland), particularly as the system continues to evolve. minorities) have fewer opportunities than others. The country reports show the extent to which coun- tries (and the teams) are still struggling to define the Although not all the teams spelled these goals out right balance of power between the center, the local- clearly, both the reports and the discussions held dur- ity, and the school and between the professionals and ing the workshops strongly suggest that most of the the politicians. tensions that teams have focused on can be organized It is very clear that the movement has been toward around these goals. These are more or less universal a shift in power in favor of the local. However, local is goals, but are particularly important and relevant in a very different category, for example, in Hungary this group of countries at this point in time. (with several thousand territorial entities, most of them very small) and in Romania. It is much less clear to Shared Responsibilities what extent these decentralizing trends will go in making the schools the center of gravity in the educa- The governance structure of the education system var- tion system. The country reports vary in their views ies significantly among countries, in part reflecting of how desirable such an alternative really is. In part, overall intergovernmental arrangements. Depending a model of semiautonomous schools linked to each on the country, there are two, three, and up to four other by policy and support networks seems to appeal levels of governmental entities involved in the to several of the teams. At the same time, there is an 8 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies implicit recognition that the level of institutional de- well as the political realities are not conducive in that velopment (both of schools and the networks that could regard. Personnel issues appear prominently: the lack supposedly link them) is insufficient to carry out this of effective capacity on the part of school directors to vision without serious disruptions to the overall effec- enforce their authorities on teachers, particularly in tiveness of service delivery. Albania, Bulgaria, Poland, and Romania and the lim- Equally, if not more, controversial is the tension ited tools to enforce accountability on the part of di- between an education system managed mostly along rectors and inspectors mentioned in the cases of Bul- professional lines and one in which management is garia, the Czech Republic, or Romania, and so forth. strongly embedded in the overall system of govern- The reports also remind us that lack of transpar- ment. All the country reports, with more or less em- ent, accurate, and timely information is an important phasis, recognize that, in a democratic society, the edu- barrier. In order to check, one needs information on cation system cannot be isolated from the broader the basis of which to assess performance. It is both a political world. In that sense, all reports emphasize the question of quality information (on inputs, outputs, process of policymaking at the national level, in par- and outcomes) as well as transparency in the access to ticular, in terms of the balance of power between edu- such information. cation authorities and other executive branches and The country reports systematically bring up the between the executive and the legislative branches. serious lack of information affecting the education sys- However, the extent to which the education sys- tems and add recommendations on this important tem should try to isolate itself from the political world front. At the same time, there is an implicit, but often at lower levels of the state (that is, the regional and unspoken, recognition that what is needed is develop- local levels) seems to be a matter of much controversy ment of a performance-oriented management culture. and uneasiness in most cases. The degree of contro- It is less clear how that cultural change could take place. versy is partly related to the specifics of how political When looking for a common response, it is unavoid- decentralization has evolved. The stated resistance to able to focus, once more, on reforms in intergovern- a model in which local elected authorities play an ac- mental arrangements thatbringdecisionmakingpower tive role in the management of education found in some closer to users and a better matching of responsibili- of the reports is, at least in part, a reaction to a per- ties and authorities. ceived lack of political reform at that level. It is hard Although the country analyses focused on broad not to sympathize with concerned education reform- institutional incentives, issues related to the financ- ers resisting a movement that may make schools hos- ing of education were critical in all reports. The tage to nonreformed politicalbosses. At the same time, changes in assignment of responsibilities have a cor- it is hard to see how the stated goals (particularly effi- relate in terms of sources of funds and expenditure ciency and quality) will be achieved in the long run if patterns. Not surprisingly, most teams identified con- education management works in a parallel, but tradictions and problems related to how education ex- unengaged, way with the local governments. The ten- penditures arebeing funded. To put itbluntly, if money sion is a real one, and the country reports can do little is not directed where it is needed-given the assign- to resolve it. What they do very effectively is remind ment of expenditure responsibilities-even the best us of the political nature of state reforms, including institutional design will fail. A key tool for effective those in the education sector. service delivery is to have money, and financial incen- The six countries are struggling to resolve the ques- tives (positive and negative) are extremely important tion of where to locate the center of gravity, but the in defining how different actors behave. country reports bring up another very important point. Under current fiscal arrangements, local taxes and Regardless of the final distribution of power between revenues are insufficient to pay for education services the different agents of the state, an effective system of adequately in all countries. As a result, the financing shared responsibilities requires the presence of checks of education continues to occupy a very important and balances to which those agents are subject. The share of national financing, thus the centrality of in- reports provide us with multiple examples of situa- tergovernmental transfers. The country reports do not tions in which those checks and balances are not go deeply into the analysis of intergovernmental fi- present-the legal and administrative frameworks as nance. They do point out however, that it is not Overview 9 possible to disassociate the institutional reforms in the prominent, the importance of political factors appears education sector from the overall design of fiscal rela- whenever the role of local governments is considered. tions between levels of the state. In most countries, For example, some of the reports present arguments this remains an unfinished agenda. Furthermore, even that confirn the hypothesis that the degree to which in those cases such as Hungary in which more or less authorities are decentralizecl to subnational govern- transparent and rational systems of transfer to local ments is related to the local electoral prospects of the governments exist, those virtues seem to break down parties in power at the national level that make the at the school level. This is either because allocation decisions on delegating responsibilities (see, for ex- rules to schools do not follow similar principles or be- ample, the cases of Albania and Hungary). cause multiple-source funding makes it difficult to However, when the question of participation (by achieve a unified school-level budget. parents, communities, and social partners) is discussed, political economy considerations become more promi- nent. Without exception, the reports identify partici- Consienus B n C pation as an essential aspect of the reforms oriented to ConIsiderations improving the effectiveness of education services, and Political analysis was not specifically considered as part they all include recommendations seeking to promote of the terms of reference for the country assessments. such participation. Unfortunately, the gap between the However, several of the reports included some politi- teams' desires and the reality of how difficult it is to cal analysis: identification of how different interest achieve fruitful participation is very large. For example, groups influence outcomes through political action or all the reports express frustration with the difficulties how the success or failure of reform attempts is linked of making the various forms of school or community- to reformers' ability to establish winning coalitions. level councils that already exist (in theory) work. Al- This was even clearer in the discussions held during though it is true that the reports identify institutional the workshops. bottlenecks that explain the limitations of citizen par- The stealthy appearance of political analysis within ticipation in schools (for example, in many cases coun- the country reports is not surprising. The reforms in cils have very limited authority concerning resource question are profoundly political. They involve a shift allocation decisions), it is also true that the speed at in the balance of power between different actors in- which participation grows is related to the depth of side and outside the education system. Reforms are democratic political institutions at the local and na- not just about defining where a country wants to go tional levels. Furthermore, beyond the most direct type but also about how to get there. Change cannot be car- of parental involvement, citizen participation is tak- ried out if those with power block it-particularly if ing place through intermediary organizations of dif- those who have the most to gain from change are not ferent types, which brings up the importance of social yet constituted as collective actors with capacity to in- networks and social capital in explaining patterns of fluence decisionmaking. participation. Political considerations appear more prominently The point is to recognize that as we learn more in the reports in relation to three themes: teachers (and about how reforms in intergovernmental arrangements teacher unions), local governments, and citizen par- can contribute to more effective education systems, ticipation. The resistance of teachers and their unions we do not forget that political institutions are an im- to reforms in the education sector (in particular, those portant source of incentives (positive and negative); decentralizing authorities to the local or school level) consequently, educational outcomes cannot be easily is considered to some extent in all the reports. Some disassociated from political factors. In particular, we reports take a more critical perspective than others of need to recognize that implementing education reform the role teachers and their organizations are playing requires institutional development not only at the ad- in the reform process. However, even in those cases ministrative level but also at the political level. Change in which the treatment of these issues is from a posi- almost always implies conflict. Political institutions can tive (as opposed to a normative) perspective, there is either become a vehicle to mnediate and manage con- recognition that issues such as salary negotiations do flict or, quite often, a source of conflict and stalemate not take place in a political vacuum. Although less themselves. 10 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies As suggested at the beginning of this chapter, there Cerych, Ladislav. 1997. "Educational Reforms in Central are no blueprints for reform. Decentralization per se and Eastern Europe: Processes and Outcomes." Euro- is neither good nor bad. The challenge these countries peanJournal of Education 32(1):75-96. are facing is how to develop new institutions that can Gibson, John, and Philip Hanson, eds. 1996. Transforma- effecfively command the resources of the state, civil tionFrom Below: LocalPowerand thePoliticalEconomy society, and private sector to achieve educational goalls. of Post-Communist Transitions. Cheltenham, UK: Ed- socley, an prlvte sctor o acheve ducahnal gals.ward Elgar. There has been and continues to be very valuable ex- perimentation from which countries can learn. We Halasz, Gabor. 1996. "Changes in the Management and Fi- nancing of Educational Systems." EuropeanJournal of hope that through this program we have provided a Education 31(1):57-71. helpful venue for such learning to take place. Hilton, Rita, and Larry Schroeder. 1995. "Institutional Analysis of Urban Services." Internal working paper, Ref erences World Bank, Washington, DC. North, Douglass C. 1990. Institutions, Institutional Change Bird, Richard, and Francois Vaillancourt. 1998. "Fiscal De- and EconomicPerformance. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge centralization in Developing Countries: An Overview." University Press. In Richard Bird and Francois Vaillancourt, eds., Fiscal World Bank. 1996. Colombia: Reforming the Decentraliza- Decentralization in Developing Countries. Cambridge, tionLaw-Incentives foranEffectiveDelivery of Services. UK: Cambridge University Press. Report No. 15298. Washington, DC. 2. Albania Artan Hoxha, Stayri Liambi, Linda Gjermani, llir Kokomori,l Yael Duthilleul, and Lida Kita2 I. Introduction * Education directorates (EDs) were created in 1993 as deconcentrated branches of the Ministry of Edu- The crisis of 1997 revealed that a lack of accountabil- cation and Science (MOE) at the district level. ity and weak institutional capacity were some of the * Local elected officials of the country's 315 corn- fundamental governance problems hampering munes and 69 municipalities4 have become respon- Albania's ability to grow. Although the government sible for the basic maintenance of schools. has made significant progress in liberalizing the mar- ket in recent years, its efforts to strengthen public sec- * Involving parents and the community in school af- tor institutions have lagged behind. The debate on de- fairs hasbeen encouragedby the creation of school centralization has recently been revitalized by the boards. creation of a National Council for Decentralization, * Schools have been granted the freedom to collect which includes representatives from both the central government and local autonomous bodies. A special nnoenetlrsucsfo pnosado goenetadlclatnmu-ois pca to generate thei* own revenues from renting school Decentralization Task Force of the council has been created to prepare a strategy for decentralization as space. well as to draft laws and action plans. In this context, The governance changes that have been intro- it is useful to examine the specific governance chal- duced, and changes that are now being debated as a lenges posed for the education sector. result of a new constitution approved in November Although radical changes and transformations have 1998, have been made in response to various political, affected the country as a whole since its transition to financial, and administrative challenges rather than democracy in 1991, changes in the education sectorhave in an attempt to improve the delivery of education ser- been slower and less pervasive. Some governance vices. This approach to reform, which does not refer- changes, however, have had an impact on the delivery ence an appropriate vision for the sector, has resulted of education services, including the following: in a system that is not delivering what is expected from * The number of districts has increased from 26 to it in an efficient and equitable way. Most of the deci- 37 (including two for Tirana) .3 sions are made at a centralized level far removed from the reality and needs of the individual school. When decisions have been transferred to the local level, ap- 1. Institute of Contemporary Studies, Tirana. propriate accountabilities have not been put in place 2. World Bank, that would contribute to improved decisionmaking. 3. After the collapse of the Communistregime, author- This chapter attempts to identify some of the current ity was vested to smaller units in accordance with a corn- dilemmas and possible options entailed in designing monly held belief that such units would, by virtue of their size, be more efficient and effective. This has not proven to be the case. In fact, because the new districts have less capac- ity than the older ones, they are consequently less effective. 4. Organizationally, communes are equivalent to mu- Public debate now favors a shift to larger units (regions). nicipalities but are located in rural areas. 11 12 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies an educational system that is consistent with the goals legislation approved by Parliament and plays a very im- of the new multilevel government framework. portant role in the discussion and adoption of the an- The following section presents the current struc- nual budget for education and its allocation by district. ture of educational governance and finance. Because The MOE is responsible for implementing those educa- each educational level follows a different govermmen- tional policies defined by the Council of Ministers. In tal arrangement, this initial analysis focuses on basic/ addition, the MOE does the following: compulsory education (grades 1-8) because it involves * Approves programs and textbooks for all school the largest shares of students and resources. The next and preschool institutions section illustrates the most critical problems resulting * Defines criteria for licensing private educational from the current arrangement. Based on this analysis, institutions the chapter identifies key instances where there is (a) an assignment of responsibilities at an incorrect level, * Develops, approves, and issues admission criteria (b) a mismatch between responsibilities and the tools for educational institutions at any given cycle required to undertake them, and (c) a mismatch be- * Defines period of studies in each cycle and criteria tween responsibilities and accountabilities. Possible for issuing certficates and diplomas and for elec- reform options are then suggested. tive subjects II. The Education System Today . Develops teacher training __________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ ___ _ * Defines criteria for recognition of private and pub- lic school diplomas Governance Structure * Oversees all educational institutions Cenra.Lve.Th aminstatve rgniafin f* Defines the structure of the academic year, the Cebntals eduefion yteadministatves oeerganizat. o workload of the teaching staff, and the average Albania's education system involves several levels. Thenubrostdtsprcasfrllevsofuli central level includes the legislative and executive bod- edaon. ies as well as national institutions. The latter are Par- education. liament, the Council of Ministers, and the MOE and The IPR is a specialized body in the area of educa- its subsidiary organizations such as the Institute of tional research. It develops programs (subject content) Pedagogical Research (IPR), the Textbook Publishing for schools and for in-service teacher training. The House (TPH), and the Textbook Distribution Enter- TPH develops and publishes all textbooks and sup- prise (TDE).s Also involved is the recently created porting literature for teachers of all subjects and for (1998) Ministry of Local Government (MOLG), which all levels of preuniversity education. The TDE is a represents the interests of local governments and state-owned enterprise with monopoly over the print- which plays a role in the budget planning and execu- ing and distribution of textbooks in the districts. tion process, monitoring the way in which resources allocated to municipalities and communes are used. Regil LeveL Prefectures were created in 1994 at Parliament is the legislative body that adopts the the regional level. The prefect is the representative of laws of the country, including laws on education. Most the national government in a designated territory. Pre- initiatives for education laws originate with the MOE. fects are appointed by the Council of Ministers and The Parliamentarian Committee of Education and Cul- ensure that all government agencies in their district ture is responsible for examining draft laws on educa- comply with the law. TheiT budgets cover their own tion and culture. The Council of Ministers is the high- operating expenses only; there is no funding for imple- est authority in the country to define education policies. menting policies. Prefectures do not have distinct re- It issues the orders and decrees needed to enforce the sponsibilities in the field of education. District LeveL The district level has education direc- 5. The TPH and TDE are currently in the process of torates, which are part of the MOE; the elected head being privatized. of the district; and the district council (DC). Albania 1 3 The EDs are responsible for the appointment and bers receive bonuses for their work. Large and mid- transfer of teaching and nonteaching staff, school su- size municipalities and communes have a chief in their pervision and inspection, and teacher in-service train- education office; in smaller municipalities/communes, ing. They also provide schools with necessary adminis- one chief is responsible for several sectors. Chiefs with trative materials (student registers, and so forth), jurisdiction over education are responsible for main- furniture, and laboratory equipment, and they plan and tenance of schoolbuildings and have abudget assigned supervise the investments made in education at the dis- for that purpose. trict level, including the construction of new facilities and major rehabilitation of existing ones. EDs are also School LeveL At the school level, the directorate is responsible for collecting information at the districtlevel made up of the school principal and one to three deputy and supplying it to the MOE. The ED director is ap- principals, depending on the total number of students pointed by the minister of education and science. in the school. The principal reports to the ED, the The DC is the second autonomous level of gov- MOE, and the relevant local authority and is expected ernment after the municipality/commune council to follow certain guidelines published by the MOE at (MC; see following section). Its membership is directly the beginning of each year regarding the number of elected by district residents. It appoints a head of the periods per subject and the number of work weeks, as district as its executive level and an additional six or well as any specific recommendations the ED has to seven people who make up the "presidency," as it is offer. Depending on their interest and individual lead- called. Under this presidency fall several departments ership, principals may seek financial support from staffed by civil servants: land management/registra- external donors, sponsors, and parents. With those tion, education, health, urban affairs, and so forth. For funds, they can make a difference in the school envi- education, there is one person in charge per district, ronment or fund special school activities. coordinating communes and municipalities. These of- The teachers' council is an advisory body of the fices are legacies from the past; they play no major school principal that addresses various aspects of teach- role today and do not have any budget for education ing. The council can invite parents, students, and edu- activities. The district level has competencies for ur- cation experts to its meetings. These councils exist ban planning, land registration, and water supply. For more or less as a formality in order to comply with example, the DC head is also head of the urban/land regulations rather than as a true forum for debate and committee. discussion among colleagues. The parents' councils at the class and school lev- Local LeveL In mid-1992, a new law allocated addi- els are bodies that serve tc strengthen the links and tional responsibilities to Albania's municipalities and cooperation between schools and families. They are communes.6 These responsibilities are vested in an advisory bodies, and their level of involvement var- elected mayor (for municipalities) or head (for com- ies depending on the teacher, parent, school, and munes) and the municipality/commune council. community. Members of the MC are elected by local residents. The school board is a body that aims at the in- The MC is considered the first autonomous level of volvement of the whole community-including the government. It acts as a miniature parliament. It ap- business community-in the problems of the school. proves the budget for the municipality or commune The chair of the school board is a parent within the and has various committees and controls over the ad- school. The board is a consulting body with the au- ministration. thority to propose the appointment of the school prin- The mayor is the executive power. The mayor ap- cipal, or the appointment and dismissal of a teacher, points chiefs for the various municipal departments. to the ED (the latter is not a frequent practice). The These chiefs receive salaries as civil servants; MC mem- MOE has passed a recent regulation requiring all schools to have a school board. However, it is not known how many of these boards are functioning ef- 6. Municipalities are organized in quarters and com- fectively. Most of the time, school boards focus their munes in villages. Both have appointed elders who manage activities on collecting additional financial resources minor administrative tasks. for the school. 14 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies Theteacher is, as definedbythe 1995 Law on Pre- taxes, for instance, are centrally collected and then university Education, the key pedagogical expert in transferred to the local budgets. Consequently, the prin- the school. He/she is responsible for assessing student cipal source of financing of basic education is the state leaming and determines, based on his or her own cri- budget. In addition, schools have the capacity to gen- teria, whether the student shall move on to the next erate their own revenue by offering services, by rent- grade or repeat the current grade. ing their facilities to third parties, or through parental and community contributions. The volume of these Financing Arrangements contributions varies by school and area; some schools use these additional funds to pay for extra secunty The system of intergovernmental transfers in Alba- staff or to perform minor repairs. nia that finances the provision of basic education ser- The total national education budget for all educa- vices has two main components. The largest share of tion levels from preschool to university involves a lo- the transfeT covers salaries (for teaching and nonteach- cal and a national (central) budget. The local budget ing personnel) and investments (renovations and for education is made up of (a) the conditional trans- equipment) and is transferred in the form of a condi- fer from the state budget, (b) the share of the budget tional transfer from the central government to the ED from the block grant to local authorities that covers level. School operating expenses, building mainte- education expenditures plus any additional local re- nance, heating, telephone, and other utilities are cov- sources allocated to education, and (c) schools' self- ered by a central transfer to the municipalities and generated income. The remainder constitutes the na- communes in the form of a government block grant. tional education budget and covers expenses for This grant is not earmarked for education, and the central-level administration and institutions as well local authority is expected to finance other public ser- as universities, capital investments, and large repairs. vices from it as well. Although local authorities have Although the total education budget comprised about the option of increasing their local budgets with their 10 percent of the state budget between 1994 and 1998, own revenue collection (through taxes on small busi- the share of education expenditures covered by the ness, a space at the market, waste management, and local budget has somewhat decreased, dropping from property), these local revenue budgets tend to be mea- 87 percent in 1994 to about 82 percent in 1998. Dur- ger. Most local entities do not have the capacity to col- ing the same period, the share of education expendi- lect taxes due to a lack of a registration system and tures coveredby the nationalbudgethas increased from enforcement agencies. Even with maximum fiscal ef- 13 to 18 percent. Table 2.1 presents a breakdown of forts, the percentage of national taxes that pertain to the state education budget in national and local terms local governments is low (5 to 10 percent). Property from 1994 to September 1998. Table 2.1. The Education Budaet Budget 1994 1995 1996 1997 Sept. 1998 Million leks % Million leks % Million leks % Million leks % Million leks % Total state expenses National 43,900 72 56,429 76 62,580 75 74,665 74 78,836 82 Local 17,084 28 17,724 24 21,200 25 26,083 26 17,562 18 Total 60,984 100 74,153 100 83,780 100 100,748 100 96,398 100 Education expenses National 794 13 1,581 19 1,655 17 2,375 21 1,652 18 Local 5,341 87 6,883 81 7,956 83 9,032 79 7,855 82 Total 6,135 100 8,464 100 9,611 100 11,407 100 9,507 100 Source: Ministry of Finance data. Albania 15 The Albanian government does not contribute to the municipal finance office, which prepares the cor- the financing of private education, either nationaUy responding salary fund request applying specified co- or locally. These educational expenses are covered to- efficients to salaries depending on teachers' experience, tally by parents' payments. The number of students credentials, and so forth. This plan then goes to the registered in private schools is 0.3 percent of the total MOF district-level budget office, which verifies that number of students in basic education. Foreign aid to the appropriate guidelines have been applied in pre- education consists primarily of state aid and soft loans paring the budget; it next puts together the total re- from different donors and various donations in the quest for the district Copies are sent to the MOE, MOF, form of grants. The share of foreign aid to the educa- and MOLG. tion budget has increased from about 3 percent of total In the case of operating expenses for education, in 1995 to about 8 percent in 1997-98. the municipal-level education office prepares a plan There are no special formulas for allocating the on the basis of requests and information from schools. budget across districts or education levels. In general, This plan is discussed at the MC and then sent to the budget planning and funds allocation is a central-level district-level budget office, where the proposal is function undertaken by the Ministry of Finance checked for consistency with budget preparation guide- (MOF), the MOE, the government, and the Parliament. lines. Copies are sent to the MOF and MOLG. The The planning of the state budget for the following year MOF puts together all budget proposals and submits begins in May and June. The MOF sends a formal re- the consolidated plan to the Council of Ministers and quest to the line ministries, local authorities, and other Parliament for approval. state institutions asking them to present their finan- Usually, the draft budget is approved by Parlia- cial needs and the respective guidelines for their cal- ment with few changes, and the parliamentarian com- culation. The main principles underlying budget de- mittees do not play a major role in the process. Major velopment are (a) the previous year's expenditures; negotiations for the education budget take place (a) (b) the expected inflation rate; (c) the expected rev- between EDs and the MOE about the salary and in- enues, including foreign aid; and, to a lesser extent, vestment share of the budget; (b) between mayors and (d) the weight or urgency of some problems. heads of communes with the MOLG/MOF for main- The Law on the State Budget identifies the MOF tenance and repairs (this bargaining used to take place as the main body responsible for the development of between mayors and the MOF,butbecause the MOLG the state budget. The law says that, after the budget now holds the budget for the block grant, it has gained hasbeen approvedby Parliament, the transfer of funds power in allocating it among municipalities and com- from one line item to another or from one area to an- munes); and (c) between line ministries and the MOF other is not allowed, with some exceptions. for the total budget for the sector. The MOLG has the The MOF budget departments at the district level right to hold 5 percent of the total government trans- help state institutions in the planning process and col- fer to municipalities and communes as a contingency lect the request forms at this level. Generaly, the re- to be reallocated among them for specific emergencies quests that come from the local level do not undergo (natural disasters, social problems, lack of revenues, any type of processing, reduction, or negotiation at this and so forth). In a system that lacks transparency such stage. Rather, the request forms are sent to the line as this, inequities are more likely to be fostered, be- ministries and to the MOF, which together develop cause the poorest and weakest municipalities have less the draft budget and, after some consultation and ne- chance to have their voices heard. gotiation, submit it to the Council of Ministers. Parliament reviews the budget and reallocates The budget planning process follows a different funds in July, aiming at a better distribution accord- path for different types of expenditures. In the case of ing to expenditures and priorities that have come up salaries, the ED, on the basis of information provided during the first semester. The changes and realloca- by the schools through the inspectors and on the basis tions follow almost the same procedure as before. The of the MOE guidelines in terms of curriculum hours MOF's role during this secondbudgeting phase is even and student/teacher ratios, plans staff needs for the greater than in the first year for each municipality and commune in the dis- The flow of funds for the education sector follows trict. The ED director then sends this information to a relatively similar path for salaries and operating 16 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies expenses. From the general treasury department of the Personnel Management MOF in Tirana, the money goes to the MOF treasury office at the district level. This office, at the request of Appointments and Salaries. Specifics regarding av- the municipal finance office, executes the payment. erage workload and number of students per class, as In the case of salaries, the finance office collects the well as requirements for becoming a teacher of com- money corresponding to salaries for the municipality pulsory education, are negotiated every year between and then distributes to one person per school the total the MOE and the Teachers' Trade Union in a collec- salary fund for that school. This person then pays the tive act. MOE inspectors, on the other hand, are civil teachers and retums a signed receipt to the finance servants, and their management is regulated by the office. For operating expenses, the finance office re- 1996 Law on Civil Service. quests payment to the service provider (for example, Salaries for education employees are defined by electric company or contractor) from the treasury of- the Council of Ministers. Teachers' salaries increase fice; the provider then collects payment at the corre- according to seniority, professional qualification level, spondingbank. The municipal finance office has com- and place of employment (hardship). The level of sal- plete and detailed information on the local municipal ary differentiation among various categories of teach- education budget. ers is minimal, although recent legislation that in- The largest share of education expenditures is fi- creased salaries by 30 percent may change this. School nanced and managed by the central MOE level and its principals can supplement teacher salaries from a 5 deconcentrated branch at the district level, the ED. percentbonus fund that the schoolreceivestwice ayear. These expenditures cover personnel, capital invest- It is the responsibility of the ED director to ap- ments and large repairs, equipment, and materials. In point, dismiss, and transfer teachers as well as to ap- 1998, recurring costs represented about 88 percent of point inspectors, principals, and nonteaching staff the budget, of which personnel represented about 82 (cleaning personnel and guards). Staffing needs are percent. Responsibility for executing those funds re- planned by the ED based on data received from the main at the MOF district treasury office, as in the case MOE regarding preliminary district ceilings and re- of payment of personnel. This authority is not a deci- quests from principals and inspectors on school needs. sionmaking one, however. In the case of textbooks, There are no guidelines regarding selection criteria for financing is subsidized by the central level and supple- the appointment of new basic education teachers mented by parents' payments. The municipality level (grades 1-8), but it is specified that secondary school has decisionmaking power over expenditures related teachers be appointed after participating in a competi- to school maintenance including minor repairs, stu- tive selection process. Those interested in appoint- dent meal programs, and-in the near future-teacher ments as new teachers must enter their names on a transportation and per diem. Parents can make direct waiting list at the ED office. contributions to schools. There have been recent dis- cussions as to whether to include funds for equipment Initial Training and Professional Development and repairs as part of the block grant to be managed of Teachers. Teacher initial education is undertaken by municipalities and communes. That proposal was after completing 12 years of schooling at universities rejected last year, but is again included in the debate and other higher education institutions. Training usu- for next year's budget. The MOLG is interested in sup- ally lasts four years. At present, it is very unclear what porting this initiative but has encountered resistance entity is responsible for in-service teacher training from the MOE, MOF, and Parliament. because the system has undergone a series of changes Table 2.2 summarizes the main sources of funds during the last few years. In spite of having been de- for education expenditures and the responsibility at clared a priority by the 1998 government program, each level in executing them. As the table shows, there is currently no national strategy for teachers' pro- Albania's remains a very centralized system, wherein fessional upgrading. most decisions and actions are taken at the central level, The content and purpose of training are defined either by the MOE or its regional branch, the ED. at the district level by the ED office, and district Albania 17 Table 2.2. Education Functions by Funding Source and Responsible Executive Body Municipality/ Central District (ED) commune School External 1. Salaries (teachers, Financing: Allocates Estimates number of Finance dept. cashes Prepares payment lists; In some schools, parents principals, support funds for municipalities teachers needed in money from district pays bonuses from a pay custodian. staff) and communes. district according to treasury office and pays very limited fund Determines number of central regulations school salaries teachers and the payments fund 2. Training: preservice Financing: Funds teacher n.a. Pays transportation and n.a. Aids programs and training universities from per diem for teachers and sponsors faculty training the state budget training leaders 2. Training: in-service Funds payment, from n.a. n.a. n.a. Foundations pay for state budget, of ED lecturers and traming inspectors responsible materials. for teacher training 3. Materials: textbooks Financing: Pays part of n.a. n.a. n.a. Parents pay part of the the cost of textbook cost (price is difference publishing with a between cost and subsidy fund subsidy). TPH pays authors; TDE pays for printing and distribution Financing: MOE/MOF ihrough special funds for this purpose 3. Materials: equipment Same as above Execution: Makes n.a. n.a. Parents and sponsors purchases and organizes buy some teaching tenders materials. 3. Materials: teaching materials n.a. Same as above n.a. n.a. Same as above 3. Materials: consumable materials n.a. n.a. Financing: Allocates n.a. Pay small sums funds from MOF grant Execution: Makes purchases and distributes materials 4. School infrastructure: Financing: MOE/MOF Execution: ED signs n.a. na. Financing: Funds from new construction through funds completion of works various foundations, for established specifically example, for this purpose SOROSExecution Execution: MOE through (AEDP - Soros Division) its coordination- construction unit investment dept. organizes tenders procurements, determines school site 4. School infrastructure: Financing: MOE/MOF Execution: ED decides n.a. Execution: Signs the cost Same as above reconstruction through funds which schools will be estimate of works established specifically reconstructed, organizes for this purpose tenders, handles procurement, and signs completion of works 4, School infrastructure: n.a. n.a. Financing: Through funds Executkon: Signs the cost Financing/execution: minor repairs approved specficaly for estimate of works Parents and sponsors this purpose coUect funds and buy Execution: Decides which materials for school schools will be repaired maintenance. and signs contracts with the firm or individual to perform the works 5. Student services: food MOE/MOF approve the Execution: ED allocates Execution: Identifies n.a. n.a. and scholarships respective funds fund for scholarships and students and pays for food among communes their food and and municipalities scholarships from funds aRocated for this purpose by MOF na. Not applicable. Source: Authors. 18 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies teachers are required to participate in training. Train- the TDE for textbooks that need publishing. The TDE ing seems to be the responsibility of the inspectors verifies book stocks and checks education statistics in working in the ED supervision and inspection sec- order to decide how many copies of which titles need tion. At present, courses are offered by the IPR, EDs, to be printed. universities, and nongovernmental organizations, A joint commission of the MOE, TPH, and TDE sometimes in cooperation with state institutions. No approves the technical conditions and standards for accreditation requirement exists to deliver these the production of textbooks. These conditions and courses. The local government is expected to pay per standards are approved on the basis of funds that the diem for those teachers participating in training. The MOE has available in its budget for textbooks, which school principal is expected to facilitate teachers' at- varies year by year. Because textbook printing costs tendance at these sessions but does not manage any change every year based on market prices, the percent- resources or have a say regarding staff professional age of cost subsidizing also changes from year to year. development. In-service training does not appear as Parents are expected to pay for student textbooks; these a separate item in the national or local budget, so it is payments cover the remaining balance for textbook not possible to estimate how much is being spent on costs. In academic year 1999-2000, the state subsidy it. No professional development opportunities exist will fund 55.5 percent of the total cost of each textbook. for principals and inspectors. Tenders7 for publishing and printing are held by the TDE. There were substantial shortages of funds Curricula for the 1997-98 school year, and lower grades received preferential treatment. Textbooks may be printed by According to the Law on Preuniversity Education, different printing houses (state or private), which ap- Albania has national, centrally developed curricula and ply for a tender for one or some titles, depending on programs for basic education. The MOE is responsible their technical capabilities. Thus, different textbooks for national curricula design. It decides (a) the struc- mightbe printed by different printing houses. Last year ture (weeks and holidays) of the academic year, (b) and this year, only Albanian printers have been al- the list of subjects to be studied at each grade level, (c) lowed to bid on these jobs. the total number of lesson hours for each subject, and Discussions are ongoing regarding the transforma- (d) the distribution ofthe subject hours across the eight tion of the TPH and TDE into joint stock companies years of compulsory education. The MOE also defines prior to full privatization as well as on involving the the number of hours for every topic in each subject private sector in a competitive bidding process to pub- and has the authority to make changes in curricula, lish textbooks. In this regard, note that textbooks only programs, and textbooks. The MOE assigns the task have a life of one year and sometimes less than that. of developing subject programs to the IPR and devel- The MOE defines the standards and technical re- oping student textbooks to the TPH. No systematic quirements for equipment and materials. It also man- procedures exist for assessing the impact of the in- ages tenders for and procurement of those purchases tended curricula on studentlearningor teachingpractices. over 10 million leks. For lesser amounts, the ED is responsible for managing tenders and procurement and Provision ot Learning Materials and Equipment for distribution to schools according to requests re- ceived. Those who wil be using the materials (teach- Defining technical standards for textbooks is the re- ers, principals) or maintaining the equipment (local sponsibility of the TPH and TDE. In fact, most of the communes or municipalities) are not consulted or in- decisionmaking on technical standards is in the hands volved in the decisionmaking process regarding what of the TDE. Each year, the MOE decides which titles is procured. The tender process does not distinguish need to be revised and which need to be replaced. This infonnation is then passed on to the TPH as an in- struction for it to undertake the revisions and to com- 7. Tenders for all kinds of public funding procure- ment are based on laws and normative acts of the Council mission new titles. Much of this work iS coordinated of Ministers. The Procurement National Agency monitors by the IPR. The TPH prepares the textbook catalogue implementation by the procurement entities at the state insti- with the official list of textbooks in use and sends it to tutions. Albania 1 9 technical assessment from costs or incorporate distri- for tenders and procurement. The ED is also respon- bution or maintenance issues. sible for supervising the construction work done until the building is ready to be used. Local authorities are Quality Monitoring consulted in the decisionmaking process. The land is the property of the local community, Teachers are responsible for assessing student but there is some legal ambiguity regarding ownership progress during the academic year. According to the of school buildings. In 1995, the MOE issued an order Normative Procedures, automatic promotion occurs according to which, until the Law on Building Prop- at the end of first grade, but students maybe required erty is passed, the buildings are owned by the ED. to repeat a grade in subsequent years if they fail three The ED is responsible for assessing needs, plan- or more subjects. ning repairs, and managing tenders and contracts for At the end of grade 8, students are required to school repairs up to 10 million leks (above that value, take a national exam in the Albanian language and management of the tender process is the MOE's re- mathematics in order to obtain a certificate of satis- sponsibility). The local municipality or commune is factory completion of compulsory education. These responsible for assessing and monitoring the status of exams are prepared by the MOE, and the written sec- school buildings and for submitting requests to the ED tion is administered to all students in the country on for school repairs based on information provided by the same day. Exams are scored by a local commission school principals on buildings' physical statuses. Both at the school. The ED district inspector and a team the local authority and the ED office verify the techni- from the MOE monitor the examination process. cal status of the request, thereby duplicating responsi- The MOE and the ED are responsible for moni- bilities. toring several aspects of school quality: (a) school func- The Council of Ministers proposed in 1999 that tioning in accordance with legal norms and procedures, responsibility for these large repairs be transferred to (b) teacher classroom practices, and (c) student learn- local municipality and commune governments. Re- ing through tests specially designed by inspectors. sources to cover these expenses were to be transferred Written reports of recommendation for school im- to the local government as part of the block grant. How- provement are prepared and submitted to the school ever, this proposal was not approved for that year and principal and the ED director by a team of inspectors. is being debated again for the year 2000 budget. ED inspectors are responsible for supervision of Municipalities and communes are responsible for schools. They are appointed by the ED director. How- school maintenance and small repairs. They are ex- ever, there are no professional requirement criteria pected to cover those expenses out of their local bud- to become an inspector, and selection decisions are get (made up partly from a central government transfer usually based on personal criteria and favoritism. grant). The commune or municipality administration is Also, there are no standard guidelines or indicators responsible for managing procurement of goods and for inspectors to use in assessing a school during their contracts and authorizes payment after the school prin- visits. There are no in-service training opportunities cipal confirms that the work has been done. Some for inspectors. municipalities, such as Tirana, have established Eco- nomic Centers of Education to perform school main- School Infrastructure tenance, thus doing the repairs themselves. The decision to build a new school is the result of a Il. KeyIssues process of consultation among the MOE, ED, and lo- cal authorities. Ultimately, however, it is the MOE that decides on a new opening and provides the required Albania's education system, in spite of its multiple lev- funds. The MOE has the authority to determine and els of government, remains a very centralized one. Most change school location and to close schools. decisions are made at the center or by its deconcen- The ED is responsible for planning the opening tratedbranches; thus, many decisions that have a clear of new schools and the closing of existing ones, esti- impact at the school level are made by people far re- mating costs of investment, and preparing documents moved from that school's reality. This input-driven 20 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies system has no built-in accountability mechanism to- from the absence of a policy development function. It ward the school and community; consequently, it does can also be interpreted as a sign that education is not not provide incentives for decisionmakers to take re- yet perceived as a priority in the country's development. sponsibility for the impact of their decisions on the Moreover, at the local level, the electoral agendas of school. This design is typically found in developing mayors and councils are not built around education is- countries, where the civil service pursues rent- sues either. The current ministerhas acknowledged that seeking power and influence through command and the lack of a long-term education strategy is a serious control andbureaucratic red tape (Shah 1997). Such a issue. He sees the importance of developing such a strat- situation indicates that some functions maybe wrongly egy and has the commitment of various stakeholders to placed at the center. this end. So far, however, the center has not been able Even the current debate on decentralization has a to perform one of its key functions properly: lead stra- strong flavor of centralization. The creation of a Min- tegic improvements in the education sector. istry of Local Government to protect the interests of One of the consequences of the current gover- local governments and to assist them in their develop- nance structure is a system that does not focus on pro- ment can be seen as an attempt by the center to retain moting student learning. Principals and teachers, who control of the local level.8 In the current framework, by the nature of their functions are main contributors the MOLG captures the budget for the local govern- to student learning, become, within this framework, ments at the central level; these then, in the absence very weak actors. The other levels of the system are of a clear formula for allocating resources, have to bar- not oriented toward supporting quality learning either. gain with the central government for their correspond- The situation is aggravated by a set of financial ar- ing share. The transfer of certain responsibilities to rangements that promote inefficiencies and inequities, the local level (maintenance and repairs, transporta- allow no flexibility or innovation in the use of re- tion of teachers) stems more from the center's desire sources, and are not transparent. The following sec- to forgo some of its many responsibilities than from a tion further delineates these issues. clear vision for improving the sector's performance. Of late, the center has been suffering the impacts of an unstable political climate; eight ministers have A Weak School, No Learning been appointed in nine years. After each political elec- Personnel Practices. In Albania, school principals tion, all directors of MOE departments and directors are not responsible for managing either teaching staff of EDs have been replaced. These changes, plus a per- or financial resources. All personnel appointments- manent sense of crisis, have not fostered the develop- including of principals-are the responsibility of the ment of a long-term strategy for the sector. Without a ED director, and a principal can only recommend to guiding vision, every new minister has tried to leave the ED that a teacher be fired. Principals tend not to his or her mark on the systemby bringing in new ideas. make such recommendations, however, as they are fre- Those initiatives have usually been undertaken with- quently not acted upon by the ED. Moreover, if a prin- out adequate public and technical debate and have re- cipal were to lodge a complaint at the ED office and sulted in isolated activities without sustained commit- the ED did not act upon it, the principal would then ment and continuity. have problems with his or her staff. The net result is Compared to other sectors, education is behind in for principals not to express their concerns over staff. the preparation ofa strategy. Thislag results partly from For its part, the ED's decision not to fire teach- a lack of information and capacity at the center and ers derives from a variety of factors. In some regions, the lack of teachers poses a very real problem. In the district of Mat, for example, the lack of qualified teach- 8. The fact that almost 90 percent of the elected po- ers has resulted in about 20 percent of compulsory sitions in communes and municipalities were won by the education teaching positions being filled by staff with- Democratic party in 1996 partially explains the current ten- out a relevant diploma. On the other hand, in Tirana, sion between the center and local levels of Albania's gov- eninent and the reluctance of the center, led by the Social- the waiting list is as long as the actual number of ist party, to relinquish power. working staff. EDs also fear the negative reactions Albania 21 that firing may generate from those that lose their decisions have at the school. If student learning were job in a context of economic crisis and social to become a goal of the system, accountability would instability. Additionally, the ED is accountable to the have to be redesigned so that those responsible for hir- MOE for its decisions, not to the school community, ing, firing, and promoting staff would be accountable and one of the MOE's current interests is to avoid for those decisions to the school community. conflicts with teachers and waiting lists. The ED re- sponds to these directives by not firing anybody. EDs Curriculum Development and Teaching Prac- also know that, if they make a firing decision, the tices. Further evidence of how schooling is not orga- fired teacher can always find someone who knows nized to foster learning is found by analyzing cur- and could put pressure on the ED director to reverse riculum development and teaching practices. The the decision. centralized nature of the prescribed curricula and Another example of how centralization negatively subject programs, which translate into a single text- affects the school is the case of absent teachers. When book that is supposed to cover the required content, a teacher is absent, the principal has to notify the ED gives little room for adaptation to local needs and stu- office so it can send a substitute. If the school or teacher dent interests. This fact affects both teacher innova- does not have a telephone, the principal spends a large tion and creativity and student engagement; these in amount of his or her day dealing with this emergency. turn affect the very quality of education. Usually substitutes arrive late because they have to go Teachers interviewed believe that some changes from the ED office to the assigned school; in the mean- should be introduced in the curriculum. Their class- time, the principal has to take care of the students who room experience suggests that the curriculum needs to have no teacher. It is usually difficult to split or merge be simpler and more accessible to students. However, the class with another group given the lack of space in they cannot introduce such changes because these deci- overcrowded rooms. Sometimes there is a teacher avail- sions are in the hands of the MOE. Those responsible able in the school who can fill in for a few hours, but for implementing the curriculum have been left out of that teacher is not paid for the extra work. Only ED the process of planning its development. Instead, devel- substitutes are paid. opment is the domain of IPR experts who tend to have Related to staffing issues is teacher professional an academic and disciplinarian view of knowledge. The development (including in-service training) because authors of programs and textbooks are teachers and the quality and effectiveness of teachers has been iden- university pedagogues, experts from the IPR who have tified as a key factor in improving student leaming. had limited opportunities to be exposed to the litera- The lack of specific funds for in-service training in the ture and experiences of other countries and who are education budget, and the lack of definition in terms removed from the actual Albanian classroom experi- of identifying who is responsible for providing and de- ence. No links or discussion about the content of spe- livering such training, means that, in many cases, in- cific subject programs throughout the different grades spectors deliver the training themselves. The training are made because each author group works indepen- offered in these cases is driven by the expertise of the dently on its assignments. As a result, the balance of available inspector rather than by the needs of the content and coverage of topics is uneven and reflects teaching staff. The availability of better qualified in- individual authors' views and expertise, rather than a spectors for delivering training in urban areas contrib- coherent approach to how each discipline can be un- utes to growing inequities in the professional develop- derstood and constructed by students throughout the ment of teachers in the country, with those in rural school years. Usually, authors are not requested to pre- and remote areas having less opportunity to access pare workbooks for students or teaching guides given quality training. the lack of resources to finance their publication. Al- In the current system, decisions critical to learn- though teachers tend to be familiar with curricula and ing, such as staffing and professional development de- programs, they lack supporting materials in terms of cisions, are far removed from the school center and teaching aids and teaching guides to implement them. are placed in the hands of those whose interests and There are no feedback and accountability mecha- accountabilities are distanced from the impact those nisms built into the system so that those responsible for 22 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies curriculum development can understand how it oper- to increased inequities, giving a better chance only to ates in practice, acknowledge difficulties, or perceive those who can afford it. any lack of satisfaction with content and outcomes. Teachers are usually concerned with curriculum A Weak Center No Quality changes because these make more demands on them A without providing the resources to support the changes. One of the major functions of the central level of gov- Teachers are expected to cover the prescribed cur- emient (MOE) is to ensure quality of input and out- riculum within a certain specified time frame. The time comes. In Albania, this function is almost totally unful- assigned for each topic does not leave much room for filled. In the country's highly centralized system, the creativity or innovation, and the teacher is seen as a central government spends most of its time implement- mere transmitter of information. It also does not al- ing day-to-day operations instead of setting standards, low room for teachers to spend time with those stu- developing policy, and assessing outcomes. No perfor- dents who are having difficulty with a topic. A teacher mance standards have been defined, and sufficient sys- can give some extra help occasionally, but cannot lin- tematic and reliable information on how students are ger too much because there will then be insufficient performing is not available. No proper accreditation of time to cover all that is expected in the school year. teaching programs exists; neither does adequate knowl- Every day, the teacher must note in the student's reg- edge and skill criteria for selecting teachers, principals, ister the topic covered in each lesson so that the school and inspectors and for assessing their performance. principal and inspector can verify that lessons are be- Adequate tools for properly monitoring the function- ing delivered according to the program. Although the ing of the system have not been developed. system makes the teacher formally responsible for stu- Aggravating this absence of a centrally based qual- dent learning, the absence of proper tools to assess and ity assurance function is the fact that, where some qual- monitor student performance results in a lack of ac- ity assurance mechanisms do exist, they are not de- countability toward student learning and a focus on signed in a way that truly contributes to desired inputs rather than outcomes. Consequently, a teacher outcomes. The MOE attempts to monitor the quality will frequently give a student a passing grade, regard- of student learning (and indirectly affects teachers' less of whether it is merited, because there is no per- grading systems) by administering national exams in ceived benefit in holding a student back; moreover, language and mathematics at the end of grade 8 as a the teacher's performance will look better if all stu- condition to obtaining a school diploma. The actual dents pass. A teacher is not seen as a better teacher for administration of these exams, however, is exceedingly giving low marks. Additionally, high grades were, un- and increasingly flawed. For example, students' ex- til quite recently, taken into account for student ad- ams are scored by teachers from their same school, mission to universities; the practice still persists of stu- resulting in an ongoing distortion of grades and grant- dents and parents seeking high grades. ing of passing scores. Tendering processes exhibit a similar lack of ac- Private Tutoring. A lack of systematic and reliable countability toward the client, and control is based information on student learning, combined with well- merely on auditing expenditures. Those responsible meaning but ill-informed parental interest in student for preparing specifications are not familiar with school outcomes, has created a situation in which those par- needs and do not have any incentives to procure what ents who are willing and able to pay for extra lessons is really needed or to procure it at a better price. The are doing so, and thereby contributing to overall sys- quality of investments and large repairs undertaken tem inequity. Although no reliable data exist, it is com- by the MOE or ED tend to be of low quality because mon knowledge that many teachers supplement their those responsible for maintenance (the local level) are income by offering private lessons, particularly in not involved in the process. Authorities are thus not mathematics, foreign languages, and preparation for well matched with accountabilities. university entrance exams. The lack of proper infor- Several issues involve inspectors. On the one mation within a context of low salaries creates incen- hand, inspectors have responsibilities without au- tives for distortions in the system, which contribute thorities (resources). They usually lack training for Albania 23 performing their role because no special courses ex- or forums by or in which to debate public education, ist to assist them and the selection criteria for their no think tank involved in informing the debate, and appointments usually does not involve any special no major role played by the media regarding educa- skill or knowledge requirements. They lack vehicles tion issues. The lack of information about the to facilitate their school visits, do not have sufficient system's performance, together with the lack of par- time to devote to each school because they must over- ticipation by various stakeholders in the education see many schools, lack information on the system's debate, helps preserve the status quo and the system's performance to guide their actions, and have no ac- present lack of accountability. cess to resources to help schools improve. In addi- tion, the current social and economic crisis has helped Inadequate Financial Arrangements create a cimate wherein conflicts are avoided; no punishment, sanctions, or negative criticism are to The current financing arrangements are not effective. be given; and great pains are made to preserve the There is no room for flexibility and no opportunity status quo. Low salaries for public officials and teach- for efficiency or innovation. In addition, there is no ers do not provide an incentive for high-quality per- transparency in the allocation of resources and no in- formance. The system has become a culture of ac- centives for saving money or making better use of lim- commodation and passivity rather than of one ited resources at any point because the money that is striving for change. Although inspectors are expected not used goes back to the treasury. For example, in the to prepare a report as a result of their visits and rec- case of salaries, the ED director has to apply very pre- ommendations, there are no major sanctions to cise rules to determine the number of required staff schools or teachers if these are not implemented. Fur- according to enrollments and curriculum demands. ther, teachers do not perceive inspector visits as use- The director has no opportunity to revise the number ful in improving their practice. of assigned staff to make better use of resources; can- not pay more to fewer teachers; and, if fewer teachers Limited Voice and Participation are needed, cannot use the savings for something else. The same criteria apply to resources allocated for There is no tradition in Albania of involving parents in large repairs and investments. Neither the MOE nor sharing responsibility for the functioning of the school. the ED have incentives for saving money or for mak- Since the country's transition to democracy, however, ing cost-effective decisions. Usually goods procured the MOE has introduced new norms that foster paren- tend to be of low quality or inappropriate for the needs tal involvement in schools with the creation of school of the schools. Distribution to schools is usually not boards. Although there are no data available on how included in the contract, so goods are left at the ED many schools currently have operating boards, anec- office to be distributed. The ED director can then de- dotally, some principals are already finding that these cide to distribute the goods according to his or her own boards can be an asset. For example, school boards can criteria of where they are most needed based on infor- help a principal raise extra funds to cover emergency mation derived from visits to schools or requests from repairs, pay the salary of a school guard, and make simi- school principals. This process gives rise to numerous lar small outlays. Schools with an active board were inequities and inefficiencies stemming from the inex- protected during times of civil unrest, while those with- perience, impotence, and frequent subsequent indif- out suffered a variety of consequences. ference of unempowered school principals; low- Beyond providing vital support in raising addi- quality procured goods resulting in subsequent high tional resources for a school, a school board can func- maintenance costs for the local commune; and unequal tion as a forum for parents to voice concerns and to access to equipment and materials due to high popula- place demands on teachers and principals about the tion mobility. children's learning. The current system in Albania Small repairs and purchases raise the same issues offers no other opportunities for parents to express of mismatched authority and accountability. Specifi- their views and concerns about their children's edu- cally, those responsible for the functioning of the school cation. There are also almost no other mechanisms have no authority for the management of resources 24 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies and no incentive for increasing efficiency. Moreover, get adjusted by inflation and emergency needs. The these small procurements can require an inordinate bargaining process takes place in one-on-one discus- amount of time and energy. For example, principals sions between the EDs and the MOE for salaries for must make frequent, often daily, visits to municipal the district, between mayors and the MOLG/MOF for offices to secure resources to repair their school or to operating expenses, and between line ministries and obtain additional learning materials. Often, it takes so the MOF for the total budget for the sector. In a sys- long for the municipality to act that principals must tem like this, inequities are more likely to be fostered rely on parents' help in emergency situations. because the poorest and weakest municipalities have Because the municipality organizes the tenders for less chance of making their voices heard. More disad- the required contracts, principals do not have any in- vantaged schools do not have access to additional re- formation regarding how much money is spent on sources or assistance because the same criteria apply those contracts or whether the quality of the work to all schools. More money is spent in rural areas in merited the money spent. After the work is done, the general-justbecause student/teacher ratios there tend principal signs a completion note, and the municipal- to be lower, and it costs more to provide the same type ity issues payment to the contractor. The process is of education to fewer students-but no extra resources the same for utility payments. The principal receives are available from the center to make up for initial a bill and signs off so the company can collect its pay- differences and opportunities to learn among students. ment from the municipality. This system contains This disparity is aggravated by informal operating cri- many flaws with regard to accountability. For example, teria that tend to reward good teachers with assign- one principal reported that many times she does not ments at the best schools, leaving those children in think the bill corresponds to the services delivered need of more expert attention in the hands of inexpe- because electricity, for instance, is frequently cut off rienced teachers that are not well-qualified. in the school. Because it is not her responsibility how Some examples of the current variations in unit much money is spent and there are no benefits for the costs are shown in table 2.3. Note that there is great school whether it is more or less, she just signs. variation among districts in student unit costs, rang- ing from US$56 in Tirana city to US$149.50 in the Inequities Promoted municipality of Girokasat. These variations stem par- tially from different student/teacher ratios (around 26 In the absence of a financing formula and a transpar- in Tirana on average versus 14 in Girokasat), but a ent mechanism for allocating funds across and within threefold difference is too large to be justified only by districts, the planning process repeats last year's bud- this. In the communes of the Northeast, the moun- Table 2.3. Annual Student Unit Costs in Selected Districts, 1998 Student/ Student unit cost Salary Operational Salary/total District teacher ratio Lek US$ Lek US$ Lek US$ expenditure Burrel city (NE) municipality 19.7 8,208 58.6 6,943 49.6 1,265 9.0 84.6 Burrel (NE) Komsi commune 16.6 14,977 107.0 13,809 98.7 1,169 8.3 92.2 Tirana city municipality 25.9 7,853 56.1 7,231 51.6 623 4.5 92.1 Tirana: Kamwz municipality 26.6 5,580 39.9 5,412 38.7 168 1.2 97.0 Tirana: Zallbastar commune 16.6 18,852 134.7 17,870 127.6 982 7.0 94.8 Girokasat city (S) municipality 14.4 20,927 149.5 18,118 129.4 2,829 20.2 86.6 Girokasat (S) Picar commune 12.3 20,686 147.8 17,593 125.7 3,093 22.1 85.0 a. Salary and operational costs. Source: Author estimates. Albaniia 25 tainous terrain and the great distances from one in- plus representatives from commune and municipal habited center to another have always created the councils. The responsibilities of all levels have been issue of a small number of students per class. In the very loosely defined by the new constitution. For South, because of mass emigration, the number of stu- example, the district council level is not mentioned; dents per class has decreased considerably. Variation the likelihood of its continued existence depends on can also be explained by the presence of more experi- the support this level can obtain from Parliament. Pre- enced teachers; these are more expensive in some ar- fectures have not been modified by the new constitu- eas of the country than others (Tirana city versus tion. Regions and prefectures have about the same geo- Kamwz municipality). Other factors include more graphic area. However, the prefect is appointed by the upper secondary schools (grades 9-12), which also tend national government, and the region depends on local to be more expensive and more bargaining power for elections. Although, for the time being, the existence some mayors than for others. of an MOLG has not been challenged by the decen- tralization debate, the need to align responsibilities and IV. Reform Options resources so as to ensure effective service delivery might require revising its role. Experiences from countries all over the world in- To improve the effectiveness of education services dicate that decentralization has been undertaken usu- provided in Albania, the system must focus on teach- ally for political, administrative, and financial reasons. ing and learning, rebuild quality assurance and ac- Keeping a focus on learning and considering how the countability, redesign financing arrangements, and different levels of the system should be aligned to pro- promote resource equalization and school improve- vide effective service delivery can provide some guid- ment. To perform these actions, the role of the cen- ance to decisionmakers and can prevent future mis- ter will need to be redefined and developed within a matches that could result from political compromises new decentralization framework; the school level will that would keep too many le vels or too many actors in need to be strengthened to improve its capacity to the system without a clear alignment of responsibili- manage resources and to provide learning opportu- ties and resources. nities for all students; parental and community par- ticipation will need to be increased so as to enhance Focus on Teaching and Learning accountability; and financing formulas will need to be reformed and transparency increased in allocat- To orient the system to a new focus on student learn- ing resources. All these reforms are conceptually ing, it will be necessary to review the roles and re- linked, and decisions regarding one aspect have im- sponsibilities of actors at various levels. Schools are plications for the others. To design and implement the central place for student learning, and incentives these reforms in Albania will first require having a in the system should be designed to support this pro- vision for the sector and a conceptual framework that cess. The role of the principal will need to be revised is in sync with current state reforms. At this time so that he or she can assume responsibility for student when the country is embarking on a serious debate learning and can be accountable for those results to on decentralization as a result of the new constitu- parents and the community. A school should be able tion approved in 1998 and the governance changes to define its own targets in line with national goals for expected in 2000, it will be useful to keep in mind performance, manage resources to try to meet those the implications of those decisions for the sector, and, targets, measure results, and make the necessary ad- most of all, for student learning in Albania. justments. Staffing decisions are essential because According to the new constitution, the first level teachers are a key input to the learning process. This of local government-municipalities and communes- radical change in the role of the school principal will will not change, but the second level will become the have to be accompanied with the development of new region rather than the district. This level will be orga- professional requirements, training, and selection cri- nized with a regional council made up of the mayors teria. Who will be responsible for appointing princi- of all the constituent communes and municipalities pals will also need to be decided. 26 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies To be an effective leader of educational change, a functions that can and should primarily be the re- principal will need information on which to base deci- sponsibility of the center. The need to strengthen the sions; a set of expected targets; and information about role of the center in ensuring equity and quality as- how the school is performing compared to other surance, for example, was identified as critical in the schools in the same area, the whole country, and simi- process of improving the system in Hungary (Balasz lar schools. He or she should be able to manage and and others 1998). mobilize financial and human resources to implement Specific tools must be developed so that the MOE those changes. The principal could also have access to can move away from implementing and toward moni- an external support system to help the school achieve toring performance. These tools include its targets in the form of a mentor system, inspector * The development of performance standards that system, or supervision. reflect desired outcomes Teachers should have flexibility in implementing * An assessment and/or examination system to de- the curriculum and opportunities to address students' termine whether students are meeting those tar- special needs, individual learning styles, and interests. This of course will require the recognition of students' gets different levels of achievement and technical support * Strategies and resources to help those who are not for teachers to allow them to improve and reflect on achieving expected results to meet the new targets their practices. An effective principal would have a * A system to disseminate information, program ac- say in the selection of teachers to work in the school creditation, personnel quality standards, and op- and would provide opportunities for teachers to meet with their peers on a regular basis to discuss and re- erational efficiency standards. ceive feedback on their performance. Teachers' initial The core idea is to put more emphasis on student preparation and opportunities for continuous profes- performance and less on compliance with regulations. sional development have to be taken into account as It is essential for Albania that the MOE begins to play well. This will require a curriculum framework and a leading role in this shift. The high turnover of per- time table that foster flexibility and adaptation to local sonnel and fragmentation of initiatives will begin to needs and students' individual interests. Such a frame- be addressed by the proposed civil service reform and work in turn will mean revision of how a curriculum the development of a long-term strategy for the sec- is developed, by whom, and how it is revised. The need tor. Assuming responsibility for missing functions to include teachers and to move away from the cur- such as policy development, monitoring, and infor- rent academic perspective is essential, since teachers mation dissemination will require an upgrading of are the only people in touch with the classroom real- technical staff. ity and children's needs. For the MOE to play an effective leading role, it Major changes will have to take place in Albania would have to transfer implementation responsibili- to modify the current situation at the school level to ties to other levels, particularly to the school, which is strengthen schools' performance and effectiveness in the natural center of learning. This would have to be promoting student learning. An appropriate support accompanied by investments in capacity development system also needs to be developed to help schools at the school level. It would also imply a very careful achieve their targets. analysis of the roles and responsibilities that the other To focus the system on teaching and learning, it levels of government should or could assume to pre- becomes essential to redefine the nature of the role vent contradictions and/or duplications of missing of the center. The center must move from implemen- functions. It would certainly imply a revision in the tation to goal setting, guiding, and monitoring. It will ED role because many personnel functions should be have to play a key role in setting standards and moni- transferred to the school level. At the same time, a toring their implementation, while at the same time quality assurance system with assessment and inspec- ensuring equal opportunities for outcomes for all. De- tion functions would have to be developed; those could centralization does not mean that the center should be performed at the regional or district level by a MOE not play a key role in this regard as there are certain deconcentrated office. Albania 27 Rebuild Quality Assurance and Accountability can take several forms, including technical support from experts, opportunities to discuss and exchange Shifts toward standard-based reforms and strengthen- experiences with other schools, and additional re- ing of school autonomy require the development of a sources, and better qualified teachers, among others. proper system to ensure that schools are held account- An effective educational system must establish a able for their decisions and results. This requires in- mechanism to help schools achieve and to continue in vesting in training principals and teachers, their efforts. The traditional inspectorate model will redesigning incentive systems so that promoting learn- have to be transformed to become an effective source ing for all students becomes the key element to be re- of technical support to schools and teachers in pro- warded, and providing schools with opportunities to moting student learning and in meeting targets. In the make decisions about their strategies. case of Albania, the middle level of government (be it This new accountability is usually characterized region, district, or municipality) could play a key role by linking school success with student performance in quality assurance. The inspectorate system could rather than with compliance to regulations. For ex- be revitalized to play this role. A review system could ample, moving away from attention to teacher/student be designed to assess and monitor school performance ratios to attention to student learning outcomes. It has in accordance with specific indicators. Inspectors could also been associated with focusing more on the school prepare a report and make the results of it publicly as the unit of improvement, developing continuous available to the school staff, parents, community, and school-level improvement strategies, designing new ap- school board. The requirements and selection criteria proaches to classroom inspection that focuses on teach- for becoming an inspector would have to be revised ing and learning, and providing opportunities for teach- and special training programs for inspectors put in ers to reflect about their practice and to attend to place to make them effective resources to the school. student work. The new focus on accountability has Increasing accountability has also been associated led to more public disclosure of information on school with promoting parental involvement in school deci- performance, test scores being publicly reported, and sions through the establishment of school boards and rewards and sanctions being attached to performance outreach to the school community. In practice, though, levels (Fuhrman 1999). school boards do not so much foster opportunities for One of the key challenges in this area is to agree different voices to be heard-and thereby increase a on what to measure in assessing school performance. school's accountability to its stakeholders-as focus on It is useful-and generally recognized as such-to iden- bringing additional resources to the school. tify more than a single indicator and to not rely only on student achievement tests. Other indicators include graduation rates and attendance. Moreover, assessing Revise Financial Arrangements student performance has recentlybeen challenged and The current financing system needs to be redesigned complicated by the availability of more sophisticated to help all students meet expected outcomes. A sys- assessment formats that include open-ended questions tem that promotes flexibility, efficiency, and equity along with traditional formats. Issues of validity and must be put into place. Such a system must simulta- reliability of innovative assessment instruments must neously improve equity, provide adequate resources be addressed in developing a new accountability sys- to meet expected outcomes, improve quality outcomes tem, as well as costs and time requirements, particu- by helping all students achieve at higher levels, and larly if rewards and sanctions are associated with the enhance transparency. system. The correct balance between meaningful in- If the system is going to focus on outcomes in- dicators on the one hand and simplicity of implemen- stead of inputs, there will be a need to rethink financ- tation on the other needs to be found in each case. ing in a way that supports this view and to connect An essential part of a quality assurance function school financing to student achievement. This new is complementing the monitoring of school perfor- focus will require a shift away from the financing of mance with the provision of assistance to schools in salaries to the financing of student learning. A cen- their efforts to meet expected targets. Such assistance tralized financing system that could ensure a minimum 28 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies level of spending per student, alongside requirements one category to be used for another and that would to allow schools to budget and use funds, would com- provide schools with incentives for saving and spend- bine more equal funding with local discretion on how ing those resources that would have the greatest im- to use those funds to achieve expected results. The pact on results. challenge lies in identifying how much money will be Under this proposal, municipalities and com- needed per child in a school to achieve the desired munes would not need tobargain with the MOLG and outcome, taking into consideration individual needs the MOF for their share of resources, nor would EDs such as disabilities, level, and so forth; price variation need to confer with the MOE. Rather, funds could go in educational inputs; and the efficiency of producing directly from the treasury to the school. achievement results. This base spending would have to be supplemented with additional resources to en- Promote Resource Equalization and School sure that all students, rich or poor, would be provided Improvement with the services they need to achieve expected out- comes (Odden and Clune 1998). The current system maintains and promotes large dif- A minimum spending level per child needs to be ferences in unit costs across and within districts. The defined within realistic revenue constraints and pro- lack of a transparent mechanism for allocating re- tected from erosion in subsequent years. Extra re- sources and a reliance on past budgets adjusted for sources should be allocated to help students from dis- inflation does not provide any room for redressing advantaged backgrounds meet expected targets. these differences. Schools' capacity to tap additional School-based budgeting would give schools the power resources through community contributions and spe- to reallocate resources more effectively. Given the cur- cific sponsors also contributes to increasing those rent limitations in resource availability, schools' abil- inequities because schools in some regions have ac- ity to capture additional resources from communi- cess to more resources than others. The central gov- ties, parents, and donors should be stimulated, and ernment will have to play a key role in redressing schools should be given the freedom to use these re- these inequities and in preventing future ones from sources to help them meet desired targets. Schools in developing. Ensuring equity of inputs and outcomes poor areas with less capacity to raise resources should requires recognizing variations and distributing re- be supported. sources differentially, discriminating in favor of those It is essential to match decisionmaking with re- groups more at risk. sources. At present, when EDs plan staff needs for Savings that can be generated at the central level the year, they have no flexibility; rather, they follow (for example, by eliminating some of the middle lev- very prescriptive norms and regulations set out at the els of government) could be used to redress inequi- central level regarding how many teachers are needed ties in transfers. Schools that are receiving a lower and the salary to be paid each individual. They have share could have the option of capturing additional no lump sum of money about which to make spend- resources upon presentation of a school improvement ing decisions or to better use to meet district needs. If plan. The central level could also play a role in this an average per capita spending were determined and regard by providing those schools that score at the made available for each district to use with no con- lower end of the performance spectrum with extra straints other than a commitment to expected results, resources and support. EDs would truly have authority over resources. Experience has shown that even if equity issues If Albania decides to decentralize to the school are taken into consideration when designing financ- level, place staffing decisions at the school level where ing formulas, there will still be schools that need ad- they can be more effective, and make the school ac- ditional help in order to achieve. Equity is one of the countable for results, the school principal will be the key functions that only the central government can person responsible for planning and making decisions assume in an effective way. Preserving a specific about the budget that correspond to the school on a amount of resources at the center to ensure equity per capita basis. This will require removing budgeting and implementation of national-level priorities is thus norms and regulations that do not allow funds from essential. Albania 29 V. Conclusion References An essential step toward successfully developing and Balasz, E., G. Halasz, A. Imre, J. Moldovan, and M. Nagy. implementing these types of reforms is to have a co- 1998. Intergovernmental Roles in theDelivery of Educa- herent vision for the education sector. Although the tional Services. Budapest: National Institute of Budapest. education sector can initiate and lead the reform pro- Fuhrman, S. 1999. "The New Accountability." Consortium cess in some areas, it will not be able to sustain those for Policy Research in Education Policy Briefs. Philadel- efforts if they are not consistent with the overall gov- phia: University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of emance and finance framework for the country. Be- Education. cause successful introduction of these reforms will re- Odden, A., and W.H. Clune. 1998. "School Finance-Systems: quire a long-term commitment, it is critical that a Aging Structures in Need of Renovation." Educational strategy for the sector be discussed by all parties and Evaluation and Policy Analysis 20(3):157-77. stakeholders to ensure continuity over time. Thus, one Shah, A. 1997. FosteringResponsiveandAccountable Gover- of the first challenges ahead is to design a process of nance:LessonsFromDecentralization. Washington, DC: consultation that will foster and facilitate stability and The World Bank. continuity of Albania's educational policies over time. 3. Bulgaria Pencho Mihnev, George Simidtchiev, Vladimir Atanassov, and Antoaneta Voikova' I. Introduction have a population of more than 500 persons consti- tute a separate municipality. Mayors are elected in the Bulgaria has 262 municipalities that have been larger communites and appointed in the smaller. The grouped into 28 regions; these provide local, or mu- mayor and municipal council are elected for four-year nicipal, administration. The regions are governed di- terms to oversee social services, law enforcement, rectlyby the state. The regional governor is appointed health care, education, local infrastructure, and mu- by the state, and he or she has the right to abolish the nicipal industry. Each council votes on its administra- acts of the municipality mayors if the acts contradict tive structure. Thus, these structures can differ from the state legislation. If the mayors do not accept the one local administration to another, but their tasks are decision of the governor, they can take legal action regulated by the Local Self-government and Local Ad- against him or her, but, before the final decision of ministration Act and the National Education Act. Com- the court, the decision of the governor is the legal pliance with these acts is monitored by the regional one. The regional administration is a local branch of governors and their administration. In education, the central goverment, and it accounts for its activi- municipalities are responsible for school financing, ties to the central government, not to the local au- maintenance, and infrastructure but not for educa- thorities (municipalities) .2 tional quality control, staff policy, direct school man- Each community has its own mayor and munici- agement, or curriculum. pal council that acts as a local parliament; towns and The Ministry of Education and Science (MES) villages that are outside the community center and that defines national educational policy and manages the overall education system. After approximately 50 years of centralization, the ministry continues to wield too 1. Pencho Mihnev is head of the Analysis, Planning, much power in too many areas: legislation, curricu- and In-service Teacher Training unit, General Education lum design, test development, and control-through Directorate, Ministry of Education and Science; George its regional branches, the educational inspectorates- Sinidtchiev is director of the National Unit for Assessment in School Education, Ministry of Education and Science; of the teaching/leaming process in schools. For the Vladimir Atanassov is a university lecturer, faculty of last several years, however, the ministry has consis- Slavonic Philologies, Sofia University; and Antoaneta tently sought to decentralize and deconcentrate power Voikova is head of the Policy of Vocational Education and and to work toward a more autonomous educational Training unit, Vocational Education Directorate, Ministry system. The new normative regulations give the mi- of Education and Science. 2. Between 1985 and 1998, an eight-area territorial istry the power to establish and develop the mainpolicy division was introduced; this organization was abandoned framework for public education while focusing on stan- with the January 1, 1999, passage of the Law on Adminis- dardization and control of educational outcomes, leav- trative and Territorial Division, which reestablished the ing management and control of educational inputs and original 28 regions. Educational administration remained manaement an lofedi essentially unaffected by these changes, however, because processes to the local level. it was one of several state services that maintained its re- Regional administration is carried out through 28 gional administrative structure during the 1985-98 period. education inspectorates. These territorial divisions of 31 32 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies the MES implement state education policy at the indi- Bulgaria has the worst demographic dynamics in vidual schoollevel to ensure the pursuit of quality goals Europe and anegative population growth rate. In 1995, and to oversee school compliance with education leg- its total population was 8,300,000, a drop from 9 mil- islation. Since June 1999, the MES has delegated au- lion in the mid-1980s. In the last 8 to 9 years, between thority to the inspectorates to hire and fire the princi- 500,000 and 600,000 working-age people and children pals of municipally maintained schools (such have left the country for economic reasons. Bulgaria's institutions constitute the vast majority of Bulgaria's over-60 population is the second highest in Europe. In schools). This local power remains limited, however, 1995,24.5 percent of the population was more than 60 because principals are named after a centrally regu- years old; by 2010, this proportion will increase to 28.8 lated competition in which ministry experts also serve percent as the overall population decreases to 7.5 mil- as judges. Inspectorates cannot fire or hire principals lion people. At the same time, the number of children of state schools in their territory and have no finan- aged 0 to 19 will decrease from about 1.6 million, or 19 cial responsibilities. percent of the population in 1995, to below 1.1 million, The school principal and the pedagogical council, or 14 percent, in 2010 (NSI 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998). which includes teaching staff and the school manage- In academic year 1998-99, 3,680 centrally and lo- ment team (the deputy director responsible for main- cally maintained schools were in operation. These in- taining the school, the school psychologist, and oth- cluded 2,986 general education schools, of which 466 ers) constitute the school-level management and are were elementary schools (grades 1-4), 1,940 were ba- the school's decisionmakers. The principal presides sic schools (grades 1-8), and 580 were comprehensive over the school board, which includes parents and schools (grades 1-12) and gymnasia (grades 8-12). In teachers; their role is advisory and financial to the ex- addition, there were 500 vocational schools and 200 tent that they provide additional funding support. schools for children with special needs. The overall Education is highly regulated. Regulations man- studentpopulation in grades 1-12 was 1,104,236; this date class size, the number of teachers and staff, and was down from 1,137,000 in 1997-98. The number teacher salary levels. The 1991 National Education Act of students has steadily declined during the last sev- defines the relationships between primary and second- eral years and will continue to do so in the medium ary education; the 1955 Higher Education Act defines term. Therefore, schools are closing. In 1998, approxi- postsecondary education. Article 53 of the Bulgarian mately 140 schools were closed; more than 95 percent constitution gives every person the right to education. of these were in villages. Public education is free and compulsory up to age 16; higher schools are autonomous. Citizens and organi- 11 The Education Sytem Toda zations may create schools, which must comply with I ys Tdy state requirements. Ninety private schools enroll about 0.5 percent of the total school population. Personnel A series of recent legislative amendments and ini- tiatives have created a process of educational reform Teachers and principals are employed either by the designed to improve the quality of education. The re- MES, municipalities, or private school owners. The form is influenced by current trends toward interna- MES employs approximately 20,000 teachers in the tionalization and globalization; the need for greater 700 schools (mostly schools for children with special freedom of choice; and the political, social, demo- needs, vocational schools, and 20 large regional or na- graphic, technological, and economic changes that have tional gymnasia) that it funds. Municipalities employ occurred in Bulgaria in the last decade. It targets a more 65,000 teachers (approximately 20,000 in rural areas) flexible school organization that reflects the market in the 3,000 schools they fund. Only 90 schools have economy and principles of autonomy, central educa- been created and funded directly by private owners or tion requirements for assessing student achievement maintaining institutions. and school accreditation, the linking of school financ- ing to student numbers and to educational quality, and 3All data in this section are taken from NSI (1999), more local influence on educational matters. covering the 1997-98 school year. Bulgaria 33 Employers pay teachers, but the central govern- on funding for teaching salaries and for costs related ment sets salaries. Municipalities are authorized to pay to courses acceptedby the elected University Academic bonuses of up to 20 percent, based on locally approved Council and approved by the MES. Until 1996, the criteria such as merit. In practice, there is no money MES directly provided these budgets under procedures to pay merit raises, making length of service the pri- that differed from other university departments, whose mary and virtually sole salary criterion. budgets are defined directlyby Parliament. From 1997 School principals are responsible for daily opera- on, however, the budgets of the three teacher training tions. Theoretically, they can hire and fire teachers, institutes have been an integral part of their respec- but staff size is centrally regulated based on the num- tive universities and are similarly regulated. ber of classes. In fact, principals rarely fire teachers The same teacher training departments at the uni- for either poor performance or disciplinary problems versities that provide preservice training also provide because of the complicated appeals process. A school in-service training. Nongovernmental organizations principal thus has very few ways in which to influ- and international educational projects provide some ence teachers. Orly a qualification class awarded by in-service training, especially in vocational education. teacher training institutes at the end of special train- However, these are not diploma-granting courses, and ing courses differentiates among teachers, but qualifi- participants must bear the costs. cations are not directly linked to performance and bring School principals and inspectorate experts are re- only negligible salary increases. sponsible for monitoring and evaluating teacher per- Until recently, the MES appointed principals after formance, but no performance evaluation criteria ex- an open competition. The 1998 amendment to the Na- ist for teachers or students. Monitoring is now done tional Education Act gave inspectorate heads the right through classroom visits and verification of documen- to appoint school principals on the same competitive tation reflecting a teacher's activities. basis. A special committee, chaired by the head of the inspectorate and including the representatives of cen- Curriculum and Educational Standards tral and local authorities as well as other teachers at the school in question, evaluated these competitions. Until now, the MES has been responsible for develop- A school principal is guided by the curriculum and ing the mandatory curriculum while electives have been the national calendar, which is an annual list of man- designed by teachers and approved by school principals datory educational activities preparedby the MES. The or educational inspectorates. According to the new principal prepares an annual school educational agenda National Curriculum Law, the compulsory curriculum and presents it to the appropriate funding institution constitutes approximately 50 percent of all class time; and the inspectorate. This document then becomes the compulsory electives covering the other 50 percent will basis of a schedule of daily activities overseen by the be developed locally, along with free electives. funding institution and inspectorate, whose main re- The curriculum law stipulates creating national sponsibility is to verify school compliance with educa- standards for learning content and for assessing stu- tion regulations. dent achievement; these are createdby working groups Teachers must have a minimum of a bachelor's appointed by the minister of education, whose mem- degree. Existing regulations provide for permanent bers are proposed by MES experts. Currently, no struc- teacher training at national, regional, local, and school tured system for evaluating national education needs levels. The three national teacher training institutes exists. The general academic community and pedagogi- have a monopoly on in-service teacher certification cal interest groups guide whatever evaluation there is. and award qualifications. Although these institutes Efforts have been made to change the situation, espe- were once independent, they are now separate units cially in vocational education and training (VET). The integrated within three different Bulgarian universi- processes currently under way include reshaping the ties. They are considered university faculties and ben- law defining school types, education cycles, and cur- efit from the Higher Education Law, making universi- ricular frameworks. ties autonomous. They therefore have their own Teachers have no standardized tests with which budgets within the overall university budgets, based to track student achievement or to diagnose their 34 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies learning problems. The term "standardized" even MES issues an order to open, close, or transform a school. generates misunderstanding. All student assessment The order is published in the state journal, and the school is school based and is conducted solely by the sub- is included in or deleted from the National Register of ject teacher. Peer teachers participate in school as- Schools. For centrally governed and maintained sessment commissions to assess matriculation and schools-mainly vocational and professional schools, remedial exams. schools for special-needs children, and homes for chil- dren and adolescents (that is, boarding schools for or- Textbooks and Learning Materials phans or neglected children)-these decisions are made at the request offinancingbodies, and MES expert groups Textbooks and learning materials are related to edu- make evaluations. cational degrees as defined by the National Curricu- Until recently, municipalities have not been in- lum Law. Thus far, primary school textbooks (grades volved in planning, building, or maintaining voca- 1-8) have been distributed free of charge, and upper tional/technical schools, thus limiting local initiatives school textbooks are sold to students. As of academic for vocational education. This situation changed re- year 1998-99, all students, except a very limited num- cently when municipalities began to run vocational/ ber of the poorest students, will have to purchase their technical schools, with some limited exceptions (that own textbooks after the first grade. is, all but a very few special schools that are financed Textbooks must satisfy national standards defin- directly by the ministry). ing minimum student achievement. The MES devel- ops criteria and standards for textbooks and other learning materials, and-after defining the textbook Enrollment parameters-announces a competition, approves At the primary level, enrollment is determined by pa- manuscripts, and carries out bidding for textbooks, rental choice (that is, the parents have the right to ap- although it occasionally bypasses the competition. ply to any school to enroll their children), but each Equipment criteria and standards should be developed school, according to its capacity, must first satisfy the by the MES together with the Health Ministry, accord- wishes of children living in its neighboring areas. En- ing to Bulgarian state standards. rollment planning procedures differentiate among Textbooks, learning materials, and equipment are schools: general schools/classes with no entry exams, produced by independent publishing houses and firms general schools/classes with entry exams, and voca- that compete for the education market. The ministry tional/technical schools with or without entry exams. approves these textbooks, and teachers select from All secondary schools develop their own enroll- among them. ment plans for the following school year. Plans must be coordinated and endorsed by the municipalities and School Infrastructure are then submitted to the regional inspectorates for expert appraisal. At this stage, the planning procedure The MES is ultimately responsible for opening and clos- takes two different routes. For the first group of schools ing schools and changing their status, basing its deci- (the general schools/classes without entrance exams), sions on evaluations and proposals from the inspectorates the inspectorate is the source of final approval for en- and municipal councils. Each year, local authorities pro- rollment plans. For the remaining two groups, the in- pose changes to the local school network, depending on spectorates prepare expert opinions for each school their educational budget, on the regulations for class sizes case and pass the enrollment plans on to the ministry. and the size of the teaching staff, and on demographic After approving them, the ministry issues an ordi- forecasts. Schools can also initiate a procedure to change nance, called a School Enrollment Plan, that contains their status. Local counselors discuss and vote on the the names of schools and the number of classes for prQject, the educational inspectorate evaluates it, and each profile or profession. For all secondary schools/ the Collegium of the Ministry (the ministry's collective classes-general or vocational-that enroll students governing body) then presents and discusses it on the after grade 7 (with an intensive foreign language teach- basis of ministry experts' judgments. After approval, the ing program), there are compulsory entry exams. The Bulgaria 35 exams campaign is organized each year following a Elementary and secondary education are financed regulation procedure, determined with an MES ordi- from the MES or other line ministry budgets, with lo- nance. All information about examinations and en- cal contributions from municipal budgets, school re- rollment procedures is available from the inspectorates sources, or donations. Until fhe 1998-99 school year, and is published in a specialized press by the ministry. vocational schools were financed directly from the state The rest of the general and vocational schools/classes budget through the budgets of the MES and other line that enroll students after completion of grade 8 (basic ministries and administrations. With the 1999-2000 education level) can determine their enrollment by de- school year, financing mechanisms have begun to be fining their own requirements, such as centrally/lo- decentralized in order to move vocational schools to- cally prepared entry exams or, more frequently, ward municipal financing and away from the MES rankings based on registered educational attainments. budget so that their financing system resembles that of other municipal schools. Control The approximately 3,000 municipally financed and Quality Contro maintained schools form the bulk of the schools in the Formal, highly centralized quality control is made by system, and these will increase in number. A munici- inspectorate expert visits during which school docu- pal budget is financed by municipal incomes and from mentation and classrooms are verified and checked. the state subsidy. For fiscal year 1999, municipal in- The school principal also monitors quality, but has no comes average about 65 percent of all municipal bud- right to evaluate. gets; the state subsidy accounts for the other 35 per- Student achievement is recognized as a basis for cent. These proportions vary substantially depending judging quality, yet, while the ministry has attempted on the wealth of the municipality. In very poor mu- to monitor student achievement at the end of differ- nicipalities, the state subsidy can account for 80 per- ent grades, the results have become a subject of de- cent of the budget; for richer municipalities, such as bate. No national monitoring system makes school Sofia, Plovdiv, and Bourgas, it is close to zero. results public, making it difficult for local authorities The state budget subsidy for each municipality is or the public to participate in quality control. There calculated annually using a complex formula that in- are no indicators with which to judge the quality of cludes some education indicators, such as numbers of work by its results. Moreover, even the limited con- classes and students. Municipalities receive a state trol exercised by the inspectorate and school princi- budget subsidy in a monthly lump sum earmarked for pals is undercut by insufficient financing and the lim- education, health care, social security/services, and ited number of regional inspectorate experts. culture. Within the state budget subsidy, education constitutes about 25 percent of all expenditures. In Financing most municipalities, educational expenditures average between 28 and 38 percent of the whole municipal Table 3.1 presents financial data on the amount and budget. The municipal council votes on an annual share of gross domestic product (GDP) devoted to edu- budget and determines how funds are to be distrib- cation in Bulgaria. uted. In recent years, according to Adkins (1999), Table 3.1. GDP Devoted to Education 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 GDPainbillionsofUS$ 8.6 10.8 9.7 13.1 9.9 10.2 GDP per capita in US$ 1,008 1,276 1,147 1,559 1,189 1,227 Educationbudgetas % of GDP 6.06 5.74 4.51 3.99 3.26 3.98 Educationbudget as % of total expenditures 13.73 11.42 10.02 9.20 7.31 8.76 a. At price and exchange rates for the respective year, without taking inflation into account. Sources: National Statistics Institute data; Ministry of Finance data. 36 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies between 60 and 70 percent of all educational budgets Local Authorities, Inspectorates, and School in the country are spent on salaries.4 Principals Municipal schools do not define or control their own budgets. All funds go from the united municipal- For the system to be managed effectively given the ity accountant's office on a per activity basis, which current distribution of power among the local authori- limits schools' capacity to mobilize funds from other ties, school principals, and educational inspectorate, sources. Complementary financing by benefactors or considerable coordination is necessary. Unfortu- participation in international projects depends prima- nately, successful coordination is more the exception rily on a principal's contacts and abilities and is more than the rule. Although the Bulgarian education re- the exception than the rule. form specifically targets decentralization, local au- In the current economic environment, school thorities participate only to a very limited degree in powers will have to grow, and the units within the decisions concerning educational quality, despite the system of national education will have to pursue op- fact that they finance and maintain schools. Indeed, portunities to increase their own resources to offset they have neither legal access to the results of inspec- declining budgets. To create the requisite conditions torate quality control exercises nor the proper tools for decentralized financial management of second- to influence schools. ary education, the Council of Ministers approved Or- Large municipalities have more money, time, and dinance No. 30/9.2.98, giving public schools and units people to allocate for education and a far larger field in the Nesebar, Kyustendil, Blagoevgrad, and Silistra for maneuvering than do small municipalities, despite municipalities the right to prepare and manage their their legal equality. However, few real accountability own budgets. The clear intention here is to gradually mechanisms ensure the proper allocation of the edu- increase the number of municipalities applying the cation budget among different functions. Given a gen- delegated budget pattern until all municipalities and eral lack of a real educational management culture and schools are involved. awareness of the importance of activities, such as teacher training or the provision of education materi- 111. System Problems: An Analysis5 als, financial decisions by local authorities may be cre- -_______________________________________ ating serious quality problems. A school principal must defend school policy mainly As a system in transition, the education sector in Bul- to the local authorities, which control school facilities garia experiences unbalanced allocations of responsi- and equipment as well as critical information concern- bility and authority, along with weak accountability ing student and teacher numbers for all schools they mechanisms. finance. A principal develops curricular policy only for electives, which account for 10 percent of the curricu- lum at most, and can make decisions with the school 4. A subject of concernmis whether loose accountabil- pedagogical council on a school's orientation. However, ity procedures allow local governments to report spending the local municipal council must accept every proposed categories inaccurately. For example, municipal figures for educational activity, such as early foreign language 1997 indicate total spending on teacher training of 56 mil- teaching, and the inspectorate must then approve the lion Leva (1 BGL = DM). This contradicts the perception decision in a largely formal process. Paradoxically, sur- of a majority of school principals and municipal educational veys show that school principals see their management specialists interviewed who complain of very limited or non- role as assuming and carrying out responsibilities rather existent budgetary resources for teacher training. It is also not consistent with data provided by the three teacher train- than as providing links in the governing system. Their ing institutions. primary problem is juggling their very different mana- 5. This section benefited from a January 1999 sur- gerial and pedagogical functions. vey of 10 municipalities and 30 schools (one elementary, Educational inspectorate experts see themselves as primary, and general secondary school per municipality), the weakest and most vulnerable links in the chain, Interviewees included 22 school principals, 10 heads of municipal educational departments, and 7 heads of educa- rather than as mediators between rules and compe- tional inspectorates. tencies. They are inclined to avoid responsibility rather Bulgaria 37 than consider the specifics of a local situation, largely school year. These boards are viewed as linking school because their formal rights and real possibilities sim- boards and local authorities and may eventually hire ply do not match, and partly because insufficient bud- school principals. These boards could provide other, gets prevent them from carrying out their quality con- more indirect, channels of participation for parents. trol activities. The lack of coordination between inspectorates and municipalities may lead to a sense Teacher Training of impunity among school principals. Most of the players in this triangle are unaware Changing the educational system requires changing that they have a role to play together and traditionally the training and retraining systems. The three na- remain separate. They each consider themselves a start- tional teacher training institutes are monopolies with ing point in the decisionmaking process rather than a their activities and curricula determined neither by link. Informal relations are very important in these teachers' real needs nor by central educational policy. processes, which create a certain reticence to reveal They are not monitored or evaluated by any educa- networks and situations where actors assume more tional authorities, which makes it impossible to as- responsibility than they can bear. The enormous ef- sess the true utility of the training. They are centrally forts required to resolve basic problems have over- funded and receive the greater part of local funds al- whelmed the players, who eschew decisionmaking and located for teacher training. Consequently, regional-, who prefer either to leave responsibility to higher lev- local-, and school-level teacher training services are els or to ignore problems altogether. not being developed. Because training is not directly linked to promotions or salaries and does not influ- Parental Participation ence educational or professional status, teachers have little interest in it. Although school autonomy is widely recognized as a Principals consider the teacher training system to cornerstone of educational reform that must involve be obsolete, unreliable, and heavily influenced on oc- parents in school management, parents participate only casion by special interests. Inspectorate and munici- symbolically in school life. This is due largely to out- pal educational administrators describe it as dysfunc- dated stereotypes of schools as being virtually solely tional and badly in need of change. The system stands responsible for educating children. Every school is re- outside of the school-municipality-inspectorate tri- quired to have a school board, although not every angle, and its financing is influenced by informal and school does, and school principals are not sanctioned nontransparent interests and rules. for failing to have them. Where they do exist, school boards play only an advisory role. boards play only an advisory.role Vocational Education: A Special Case School boards may be registered as juridical enti- ties with bank accounts that can receive funds from Until recently, all vocational schools were state owned personal grants, sponsorship, or any other form of vol- and financed by the MES. As of the year 2000, how- untary financial aid, although the board does not fully ever, vocational education is evolving, in terms of fi- control these funds. For example, it cannot use them nancing and maintenance, in the direction of general to raise a teacher's salary. Parents therefore have little education. incentive to join school boards and usually prefer to VET problems primarily center around the lack of enroll their children in prestigious language or techni- any unified system of criteria and indicators for evalu- cal schools rather than in the local schools where the ation and the absence of abody for accrediting institu- principals make them feel unwelcome. Consequently, tions offering VET services. This gives many public much of the decisionmaking power in school is in the and private firms the option of organizing different hands of the school pedagogical council, which, in co- forms of VET and of certifying graduates without ordination with the principal, acts as a professional proper input and output control-often resulting in and unopposed teachers' body. underqualified workers. Despite the coordination and New, elected community educational boards will good cooperation between the MES and the Ministry be formed, with elections at the beginning of every of Labor and Social Policy, the current situation 38 Decentralizing Education in Transitioni Societies allows for double standards for obtaining qualification authority conflicts around closing and opening schools. in a given professional field. The conflict sharpens with the assessment of strengths There is clear proof of a shift from traditional occu- and weaknesses. Local authorities see a vocational pations to new ones. Up to 50 percent of the current school as a tool for local economic revival, and the cen- vocational training of certain skills may have to undergo ter sees too many schools preparing for vocations with profound changes, which will create a global, unavoid- little future. Too often, even now, when the ministry able problem for the Bulgarian VET system that will decides to close a particular vocational school, the lo- have to be addressed at all levels of government. cal community finds ways (usually through their mem- The MES and the National Statistics Institute have ber of Parliament) to reverse the decision. The same created a working group that has developed a model situation occurs often in small or remote places where to determine VET needs in Bulgaria and that will be closing a school signifies the end of the local commu- used to optimize the VET school network at national, nity that considers the alternatives ex post facto justi- regional, and community levels. For example, the fication of a prior decision. model will be applied to analyze the causes of unem- Optimizing the school network should not infringe ployment as evidenced by a surplus of workers in a on educational quality and equity, that is, on making particular profession. educational opportunities available on the basis of such Another VET school problem that characterizes a educationally relevant criteria as giftedness, aptitude, transition economy is related to practical training in and hard work rather than geography, money, or con- enterprises. The social partnership here occurs only nections. However, local authorities must take this po- occasionally. Most employers that are struggling to sur- sition themselves, and broadly acceptable solutions vive are uninterested in VET problems and have nei- must be found. ther the means nor the incentives for long-term hu- man resource planning. This offers governments at different levels an opportunity to promote that part of Education Standards and Accountability industrial policy concerning proper vocational train- The explicit desire for a transparent, accountable edu- ing of human resources. cational system runs counter to the general lack of cri- teria and indicators that could make educational results Optimizing the School Network public and comparisons among schools possible. The need for national educational standards is broadly felt, How can the current school network be optimized? yet there is no clear definition of such standards or any This question engenders the main controversy sur- notion of how to produce or implement them. Develop- rounding the education system's finances and effec- ing standards requires defining educational goals, ar- tiveness. Declining birth rates have already affected ticulating them in an outcome-targeted manner, and the school system, but the greatest impact will be felt obtaining a wide base of social agreement about the in the coming years. major general and specific goals of education. Standards Every child is a national treasure, especially because measure how well goals are being achieved. How else a dwindling population makes human resources scarce. can measurable effectiveness, efficiency, and cost-related At the same time, the worth of human capital is in- tradeoffs in education be addressed? Standards have im- creasing, along with the role of education, in a century plications for resource investments, measurement, and of knowledge and information production. Every na- evaluation of educational effectiveness and efficiency. tion therefore considers education a basic condition for A society in transition evolves slowly; old and new goals prosperity. As the population drops, however, the size frequently coexist and evolve in different directions, and capacity of the school network shrinks, which reflecting different educational paradigms. threatens educational quality and accentuates inequi- Two problems arise concerning the distribution ties. How can school networks be restructured to avoid of responsibilities. The first concerns allocating re- lessening the quality of education and related services? sponsibilities for maintaining and verifying educa- How can restructuring improve them? tional standards after they are in place. How will the From the intergovernmental point of view, the different governmental levels coordinate information contradiction is embodied by local and central gathering and decisionmaking? The second concerns Bulgaria 39 the role of local authorities in developing and imple- Given the uncertainties surrounding the impact of menting standards. Will there be regional and cen- current municipal budgetary decisions on educational tral standards, and, if so, how will they be related to quality, there may be a need to target and promote one another? spending on a few budget items, such as in-service It is very difficult to address these problems before teacher training, educational technology, or the provi- standards are introduced and before data exist on sion of foreign language and civic education. One pos- which to base discussion. Besides a system of stan- sible approach is to earmark specific percentages of dards, a system for governing their use is also needed the per capita financing for these purposes. This ear- to ensure that every level is aware of its responsibili- marking would have to be accompanied by stronger ties and rights. sanctions against municipalities where the educational budget performance is poor and respect is not given to IV. Recommendations annual audits. A second approach is to give munici- palities financial incentives to offer support for educa- tional quality and related issues. Reforming the education system to make it more ef- In either case, central funds will be needed to sup- fective in pursuing objectives of equity, efficiency, port municipal projects. These mechanisms will require and quality will require a realignment of functions flexible and adequate coordination and negotiation be- among participants. Currently at the school level, tween the MES and the Ministry of Finance. Priorities principals and pedagogical councils share most of the should be established and revised periodically. Specific executive and decisionmaking power, but school regional priorities can also be included on the basis of boards, where they exist, have only advisory func- regional educational policies and needs. Earmarking will tions. Reversing this pattern will involve giving wane as municipalities' educational management cul- decisionmaking power to the principal and the school ture, awareness, and expertise evolve, and the issues board and all executive power to the principal rather become a regular part of municipal budgets. than to the pedagogical council, whose power would Increased accountability will require the means to be limited to curricular decisions. Because the teach- mobilize community support, for example, through ing staff that forms part of the council tends to act as well-informed campaigns about municipal education a self-interested union, policy issues need outside performance. Schools and parents will need precise opinions and monitoring to ensure that the interests information, knowledge, and understanding of annual, of all involved are addressed. centrally approved funding for their municipality. In- These steps should strengthen the principal's execu- formation should be comparative, using neighboring tive power and should move the school toward real com- or other competing municipalities, and should be based munity control and involvement. Reducing the decision- on standardized criteria. making power of the pedagogical council and transferring As local participants become more powerful, the real power to the schoolboards should make school poli- regional inspectorate would be the primary source of cies more responsive to and appropriate for the dynamic professional expertise and advice and, at the same time, changes in the school environment. This in turn should would ensure state policy, standards, and require- create an equilibrium among key school stakeholders, ments. It should have indirect, consultative, and coor- schools, parents, employers, and the local community. dinating power for territorial administration. As the Last, but not least, students should become more in- expertise, experience, and understanding of the key volved; classroom dialogues and cooperation can grow participants gradually increase, operational manage- as power shifts away from the pedagogical council. ment and decisionmaking can be left to the school. Another aspect of this realignment involves giving The MES should support education rather than di- municipalities more managerial authority, for example, rectly run it. This very complex process requires many the right to hire and fire school principals. However, new types of activities-or existing activities per- this needs to be matched by stronger accountability formed very differently-including information sys- mechanisms, which may require combining methods tems; assessment and evaluation systems; output stan- of school control and monitoring used by the inspec- dardization and measurement, rather than input and torates and the municipalities. process monitoring; and new quality control systems. 40 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies The planning, design, and implementation of re- full-time administrative employees, should be created form mechanisms must be strategically organized. An to examine, assess, and certify teachers for different MES strategic policy unit could be created to address qualification levels. Exams could be organized in ses- reform issues. It would undertake the research, analy- sions, and a pool of examiners could be made avail- sis, system monitoring, and different kinds of evalua- able for particular sessions. The current legislation that tion-including cost-effectiveness studies-required to entitles central teacher training institutes to teach and support policy and would have the trained staff, inter- certify teachers should be completely abolished. national assistance, and communication and informa- An appropriate information system should be de- tion technology facilities to deal with comprehensive veloped to support these agencies and to make the nec- databases. essary information available to customers. A perfor- mance-based rating of programs and services based on Restructuring the In-service Teacher Training teachers' examination results in teacher training unit System courses can be provided. A system of teacher qualifi- cation transcripts should be designed to document Bulgaria needs a contemporary, flexible, customer- courses taken and to register corresponding credits and oriented, and dynamic in-service teacher training sys- qualification levels. tem that is responsive to educational needs and is de- Many teachers will need to be retrained in areas centralized to allow an educational services market to such as information technology and knowledge-related develop effectively in terms of educational outcomes. services, education and training technologies and re- It should ensure quality control based on performance lated services, human resource development, commu- and accreditation of in-service delivering units, rather nication, office skills, and social services. Unemployed than on administrative measures and appointments, teachers couldbe retrained; teacher training units could and should stimulate teachers to participate and should broaden the scope of their activities and could enter also require them to maintain a minimum level of state- the growing area of knowledge-based, information- defined ongoing in-service activities. based, and educational technology-based services. Be- The system should have several qualification lev- cause the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy oversees els based on accumulated in-service credits from dedicated social programs for coping with unemploy- short-term courses and programs, including compul- ment, a cost-effective joint unemployment program sory and optional courses with outcomes defined in could be developed between the two ministries. In any terms of knowledge, skills, and teacher competencies. case, a realistic teacher promotion system should be Each program would lead to a certified examination. developed based on acquired qualifications and class- A national in-service framework curriculum should room results. The system must lead to considerable be designed by subject and cross-curricular themes salary benefits and better career opportunities. and should be closely related to a national school cur- Accredited training units should compete to pro- riculum and standards. vide services. Assessment criteria could be based on A cascade model of training might be a cost- several indicators, such as performance rating list, unit effective alternative. A network of methodology teach- evaluation results or characteristics and capacity, ser- ers would bring training activities to regions, munici- vice usability and customer convenience, geographi- palities, and schools to disseminate new teaching cal allocation, delivery, program costs and customer methods and practices to improve teaching. This pro- expenditures, and so forth. If public money is to be cess has already begun in foreign language teaching used effectively and efficiently, the system can no and will continue in other subject areas. Networks will longer be based on a central allocation of funds to an also develop as a result of the improved dissemination administratively appointed institution. If any in- of new teaching methods. service institutions or units mustbe maintained, qual- Training and certification must be independent, ity control and accountability mechanisms must be which can be accomplished by creating an indepen- very strong, and, where possible, market-like behav- dent national in-service accreditation agency for ior and workstyle should be imposed. teacher training programs and services. An indepen- Municipal and school resources would be the pri- dent, national in-service examinationbody, with a few mary source for the required minimum ongoing Buloana 4 1 teacher training. Resources would come through the should take an active part in shaping policy aimed at regular municipal education budget for teacher train- resolving the serious youth unemployment issue and ing and might be earnarked. The MES budget should should offer jobs and incentives for vocational school provide a second source of funds and could address graduates. such priority national needs as new curriculum, stan- Dialogue and cooperation between employers and dards, and programs; national educational priorities local educational authorities must be generated. Em- (foreign languages, information and computer tech- ployers could play a vital role in ensuring students in- nology, and so forth); and state teacher training struc- ternships that could complement their school train- tures (agencies, commissions, national councils, ex- ing. They should be involved in VET curriculum amination boards, and so forth). Grants might be used development, ensuring the quality of training at the for approved projects for personal development in new workplace. Issues concerning financing practical work- teaching areas, pedagogy, classroom practices, and in- place training could be negotiated by these bodies as novative practices. well. Available funding should be directed to those em- ployers that can deliver practical training in accordance Improving Vocational Education Through with school standards. Institutional and Industry Collaboration The VET Act stipulates the creation of a national VET Optimizing the School Network agency as a juridical entity financed by the state bud- Changes in the school network must guarantee that get. Its responsibilities comprise a wide range of ac- educational goals are reachecd effectively, that human tivities related to accreditation, licensing of VET and and financial resources are efficiently used, and that career guidance centers, and advice to the MES on is- schools continue to serve their communities. The vo- sues concerning the development of state educational cational school network has specific problems related requirements for professional qualifications. This to demography and to converting a system of profes- agency will be similar to many organizations estab- sional qualification and training to a contemporary, lished in European Union countries that have had a open market economy. positive influence on their VET systems. After the Criteria for optimizing the school network must agency is operational, it can be assessed and improved. be centrally established and regulated, but decisions VET planning must consider labor market changes should be left to the local authorities. This issue has to and regional trends in the workforce structure. We be made public, and the decisions must be prepared in recommend a national unit, established jointly by the conjunction with scientific institutions, trade unions, MES, the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, and the employer organizations, and other concerned groups. National Statistics Institute, that integrates the data Social issues, which couldbe seriously affected by net- and approaches used in Western Europe and other work-related decisions, must be taken into account. industrialized nations for determining VET needs. The Implementing programs to optimize the school MES will supply data about schools and their gradu- network will depend on the new Territorial Division ates, the National Employment Service will supply data and Local Administration Law. Studies and local pilot about the structure of unemployment and unoccupied projects could be conducted by local and central au- workplaces, and the National Statistics Institute will thorities to see how other types of education might supply data related to the situation in different profes- help classical forms of education in remote and rural sional fields. Unit members should have current in- areas. Solutions could include reorganizing schools formation about the best international practices in la- with dispersed structures, boarding schools, distance bor market analysis, particularly in VET needs and learning, and so forth. Some of these would clearly prognostics. require a new model of coordination and partnership Different levels of government must do everything between local authorities and the inspectorate and in their power to make the social partners aware of would redefine the pattern of educational work. their responsibilities toward those in vocational schools As the national school network is rebuilt into a and toward the VET system as a whole and to look three-tier system-communily, region, and state-new beyond their particular short-term interests. They state educational requirements must be introduced. 42 Decelitralizing Education in Trainsition Societies Some bear direcfly on the school network, and others qualification, and so forth). Accreditation must be a affect or are affected by school network problems. national undertaking. It could be carried out by the Every effort must be made to keep elementary ministry alone or with special accreditation bodies, the schools (grades 1-4) open. Children with special edu- inspectorate, and the municipalities. Accreditation cational needs are typically isolated in special schools should be based on criteria applied equally to state, that become a subnetwork. School network policy local, or private schools. should be oriented toward gradually integrating these An information system for accreditation proce- students into the mainstream. dures should be established to serve MES top manage- ment; concerned state authorities and ministries; par- Introducing National Educational Standards ents and students; the education inspectorate, local authorities, and communities; school authorities and Introduction of state educational requirements, or stan- staff; and society at large. dards in education, is an important vehicle for improv- The National Institute for Education, which must ing educational quality. As educational standards are become more independent, should play more of a role developed, a deliberate social debate and intensive in curriculum development, assessment, and evalua- work on the major general and specific educational tion and should work on state educational require- goals of school education in Bulgaria mustbe launched. ments. Its statute must be developed under the provi- It could begin by assessing needs, starting from desired sions of the Higher Education Law. outcomes and moving through outputs, products, pro- Valid, reliable, and objective assessment of student cesses, and, finally, system inputs. Assessment and achievement is a prerequisite for proper certification examination mustbe more thoroughly addressed, and and monitoring. The Center for Evaluation and As- a special policy must be designed and implemented as sessment of the National Institute for Education needs part of ongoing changes in the educational system. more staff and resources; existing staff must receive Curriculum developers need special training. The proper training. training program must be developed jointly by the MES, foreign partners, Bulgarian educators, and con- References cerned educational institutions. The general move toward decentralization of the education system suggests different types of school Adkins, Douglas L. 1999. School Finance in Bulgaria in an accreditation. This may vary by purpose (such as op- Era of Educational Reform. Prepared for the World timizing the school network, conducting periodic Bank. Washington, DC: Adkins Associates, Inc. evaluations, opening, restructuring, or closing schools, NSI (Republic of Bulgaria National Statistical Institute). and so forth), type of school (professional and voca- 1995. Socio-EconomicDevelopment. Sofia. tional schools seem to need and insist on more formal . 1996. Statistical Yearbook. Sofia. and firm accreditation procedures and mechanisms), and subject (such as school infrastructure and facili- ties, correspondence between services and state re- . 1998. Statistical Yearbook. Sofia. quirements and standards, educational quality, teacher 1999. General and Vocational Education. Sofia. 4. Czech Re ublic Jana Hendrichova, Frantisek Bacik, Jana Svecova, Lenka Slavikova, Stanislav Karabec, and Cestmir Medek1 1. Introduction on the establishment of adequate regional structures 3j,wQ*ti2.X# , because of European Union regional policy and the al- location of European Union Structural Funds, especially At the end of 1989, the Czech and Slovak Republic in the area of human resources development. Educa- abandoned its highly centralized government and be- tion systems, the subject of tllis study, may constitute a gan a process of transition to a market economy and a significant component of these funds. democratic political system. The period after 1989 was This study focuses on basic and secondary educa- one of political, economic, and social change during tion. It considers the evolving social context and which the government sought to define the most ap- changes at all levels of the school system and discusses propriate form of state administration and self- the impact of the new regional units that are expected governance. Not surprisingly, much political debate to transform management in the Czech Republic sub- took place concerning the roles and responsibilities of stantially. The objective is to clarify the relationship diifferent levels of state administration and the defin- of regional administration to education as part of the tion of intergovernmental roles. This debate has con- transition process. These issues were discussed at a tinned since 1993 in an independent Czech Republic. special seminar in the spring of 1998 entitled "The In early 1998, the Czech Republic was divided into Influence of Formation of Regions (Higher Territo- 14 self-governing higher territorial units, or regions. rial Self-governing Units) on Education Sector Man- These regions will begin to function in the year 2001. agement." At the seminar, approximately 90 top offi- They add a level of administration to the current struc- cials and specialists from the Ministries of Education, ture of 86 districts and 6,200 municipalities. Their cre- the Interior, Labor and Social Matters, Agriculture, ation naturally means redefining administrative respon- and Regional Development met with representatives sibilities. In addition, as the Czech Republic prepares to from school offices, school associations, pedagogical enter the European Union, the government must focus faculis thesA ssociation s, edatioal faculties, the Association of Employers, educational research organizations, departments of higher educa- 1 . This study was prepared with the support of the tion institutions specializing in regional administra- Institute of Information on Education in Prague. The au- tion, and trade unions. thors would like to acknowledge the support of Mr. Pavel Like the education system in many European Zeleny, institute director, and all the participants in the semi- countries, the system in Bohemia, Moravia, and nars and projects who worked with the authors, as well as Silesia (the present Czech Republic) was defined in the professional press from which this study drew back- the 19th and 20th centuries as a highly centralized, ground material. The study reflects the state of affairs as of the middle of state-dominated one. At the end of World War I, the year 1999. Since that time, some substantial changes Czechoslovakia became inlependent, and its educa- have taken place in the state administration. New regions tion system was democratized. School councils, or were created; these willbecome operational inJanuary 2001. regional bodies, were created along with school ad- Educational departments of the regional administration wir ministrations that included teachers and parentss in- be created at the same time, and the existing school offices m that are connected to the Ministry of Education will gradu- terest associations, and professional teachers' orga- ally be abolished. nizations. Also, more opportunities for professional 43 4 4 Decentralizirig Education in Transition Societies training became available. In 1939, however, Nazi the end of 1994, the ministry undertook several impor- occupation brought an end to this democratization. tant new projects on information and evaluation sys- After World War II, Czechoslovakia was subjected tems, and it also clearly defined the relationship between to Communist totalitarianism, with the democratic the central government and the education sector, in- experience ending again-for a time at least-in 1948. cluding specifying an approach to nonstate schools. Con- The first transition period, from 1990 to 1994, sequently, state educational bodies became more effi- was driven by the general context of macrosocial cient guarantors of educational quality. and macroeconomic transformation and was fraught Many dissatisfied teachers, who were quite active with conflicts. The heart of the opposition was in the process, criticized the totalitarian education sys- whether education management should be central- tem. Other teachers, however, resisted applying mar- ized or decentralized, whether there should be com- ket logic to education. Many nonstate schools were plete or incomplete control of supervisory bodies, established, satisfying much of the demand created by and whether the central government should keep the gaps in public education services, particularly be- its authority or if schools and teachers should be- tween 1990 and 1994. The number of nonstate schools come more autonomous. increased largely because of the unsatisfied demand After the democratic turnover in 1989, many for upper secondary education opportunities and be- changes in the system of education emerged. From the cause of the introduction of per pupil financing by the viewpoint of educational administration, the schools state. New attractive study fields were created, which became more independent. With the dissolution of the promoted competition among schools. previous regions, the regional level of educational ad- There was a significant turnover among education ministration disappeared. Today, the Czech Republic administrators, especially among school principals. islooking to developed countries for models for its own Between 1990 and 1992, almost the entire education education system and the legislation governing it. management and 75 to 90 percent of school execu- The educational legislation was amended in 1990 tives were replaced. Experienced, capable teachers, and 1995. Within these amendments new management although they did not receive the necessary manage- norms were defined.The system was depoliticized (that ment training, were named to most managerial posi- is, its ideological orientation toward Communist policy tions, including within the Ministry of Education, was removed). The new legislation introduced Youth, and Sports and the Czech School Inspectorate. sectoral-or professional-management and made the In 1994, the program, objectives, principles, and strat- Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports and other egy of an education policy began to be set in place. central ministries responsible for education. This was a The second phase of the transition began in early change from the previous situation in which regional 1995. Evaluation and regulatory mechanisms were and district national committees, overseen by the Min- slowly integrated into education management, giving istry of the Interior and the Communist Party, man- it some stability, but the education sector still needed aged the education system. With these reforms, educa- improvement. Organisation for Economic Co- tion was separated de facto from public administration operation and Development (OECD) experts analyzed and self-governance. Additionally, sectoral management education policy and made many recommendations strengthened some of the centralizing trends of school (OECD 1996), including a proposal for a National management and administration through newly estab- Education Council that would bring together all inter- lished district school offices. ested partners at the national level and a Vocational Schools obtained greater managerial responsibility Education Council. Creation of the National Educa- in this system. The central government, however, did tion Council has alreadybegun. The organization, con- not modify its management style sufficiently or effec- tents, and quality assurance for vocational education tively enough in response to the changes, but some were examined and evaluated through the Phare-VET grants provided by the Ministry of Education, Youth, (Vocational Education and Training) Program. and Sports and the implementation of developmentpro- The 1995 amendment to the Act on State Admin- grams and funds (EXTRA, EU Phare programs, and so istration and Self-administration in the Education forth) bore witness to some indirect management. At Sector made it possible to create a school network C7erh PepUblic 45 (official register of schools by the Ministry of Educa- Education Sector to improve education and school tion). Previously, new schools and study fields were management at all levels, to verify that assets are effi- registered without ministerial evaluation. The amend- ciently used, and to ensure that schools comply with ment made it possible to define school functions and education regulations. The School Inspectorate coop- to regulate the power of school principals. erates closely with the Ministry of Education. During this transition phase, it became clear that Under the Communist regime, school inspection in-service teacher training; information systems; and was an important ideological and political instrument. the use of financial, evaluation, and economic instru- The inspectorate was therefore completely replaced ments to improve decisionmaking and the effectiveness in 1989; new inspectors were selected through a com- of the overall education system also needed attention. petitive process from among experienced teachers but were not trained for their nlew role and had to learn II. Actors and Functions: The their jobs in the field. In 1997, 415 inspectors were .I. Actors and Functions: The responsible for approximately 15,000 schools, or 1 in- Current Czech Education System spector per about every 36 schools and several school facilities. Although the inspectorate has had some suc- The current educational administration system in- cesses, including an evaluation of private education cludes school and educational facilities and principals, and higher professional education, inspectors some- municipalities; school offices; the School Inspectorate; times focus too much on the formal aspects of school the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports; the Min- operations and on viewing themselves as supervisors istry of Agriculture for agricultural education; the Min- whose primary mission is to highlight school insuffi- istry of Defense for military education; and the Minis- ciencies. The inspector selection and training process try of the Interior for police education. Between 1993 and evaluation instruments, including criteria and and 1996, the Ministry of Economy was responsible indicators for assessing school activities and results, for preparing apprentices. need refinement. The Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports School Offices Today, the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports In 1990, after the abolition of the former regional ad- manages all levels of the education system, most ministrations, new school offices were created at the branches of vocational training, and all types of schools. district level; these report to the Ministry of Educa- It creates and runs state-owned secondary and special tion and link the central government with municipali- schools, hires and fires school principals, establishes the ties and schools. With a population of 10.5 million list of recommended textbooks, and subsidizes the pur- people living in 86 districts, this means that each dis- chase of textbooks. It defines human resource policies trict administration is responsible for approximately and is responsible for information systems, education 120,000 inhabitants. District school offices represent evaluation, sports, and so forth. It has primary finan- the ministry and serve as the primary mid-level man- cial responsibilityfor education and distributes the lion's agers for preschool, primary, and, in part, secondary share of the approximately CZK 80 billion a year of the education, allocating state funds to schools and school state funds allocated to education. (The Ministry of Fi- facilities on the basis of enrollments, study fields, and nance plays a less direct role in the process, allocating levels of education. In 1997, school offices employed CZK 1 billion to municipalities for education.) 2,229 individuals, or approximately 26 staff members per district. Office responsibilities are broad and in- The School Inspectorate clude adding or eliminating schools created by munici- palities, organizations, foundations, and individuals The School Inspectorate is a semi-independent review from the school networks (a procedure requiring min- body operating in all 86 districts of the Czech Repub- isterial confirmation); establishing some schools and lic. Its mission is defined by the amended Act on State school facilities; appointing or dismissing school prin- Administration and Self-administration in the cipals for all facilities below secondary schools (the 46 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies ministry hires and fires secondary school principals, School Councils and school offices oversee the procedure); and provid- ing schools with economic, financial, and legal assis- School councils were not included in the original 1990 tance and services, often on a contractual basis. draft Act on State Administration and Self-adminis- School offices have a complex range of tasks and tration in the Education Sector. Since 1993, however, relations with schools, municipalities, district offices, interested schools have been allowed to establish and trade unions, employers, and other organizations. They experiment with councils in school management, and, also vary significantly in their understanding of their pursuant to the amendment to the 1995 Education Act, role and in the quality of their activities and work they can create school councils. These councils are styles. Many offices take a democratic approach to composed of teachers, parents, and other partners. school management and administration, encouraging Councils have significant review powers connected to school autonomy; others tend to be autocratic and cre- state administrations, school founders, and the Czech ate bureaucratic relations with schools. Some school School Inspectorate. They can effectively influence offices simply operate the school facilities, and others fundamental decisions on school activities, but they attempt to create services, improve financial manage- do not intervene directly with the executive and deci- ment, and enhance the efficiency of their information sionmaking powers of directors who are not council systems. Many school offices develop long-term edu- members. Creating and developing council activities cation policy strategies for their districts, support in- will obviously be a long-term process and an impor- novative programs in individual schools, and develop tant indicator of the changing relationship of the pub- activities for teacher training centers. lic toward education. The Ministry of Education has increased the Besides these school councils, district school coun- guidelines for and dissemination of good practices in cils may exist. They are to represent all interested par- school office activities during the last two years. It ties and therefore include equal numbers of munici- has created district programs of basic and secondary pal representatives (or other school owners), parents, education development so that districts can support and teachers. They ostensibly discuss the theory, con- school innovation. ditions, and outcomes of education and of school of- fice activities and can voice their opinions about school Municipalities staff, financial management, budget allocation, and so forth. In those districts in which they have been estab- The Czech Republic has 6,200 self-governing munici- lished, school councils tend to play mostly a formal palities, which are an important part of educational role as they are too far removed from schools to have a administration. The Act on State Administration and real impact on them. Self-administration in the Education Sector gives mu- nicipal offices and councils responsibility for creat- ing preschools and primary schools and for ensuring School Administration compulsory attendance. In larger towns, they provide As of 1990, schools became far more autonomous, par- meals and after-school childcare for younger pupils, ticularly with respect to administration, finance, and sharing the costs with the Ministry of Education and staffing issues. As schools have changed and have be- the Ministry of Finance. The state pays for staff sala- come legal entities, school principals have acquired ries, textbooks, and teaching and learning aids. In more responsibility for the quality of the pedagogical addition, municipalities receive some financial sup- process, financial management of schools, recruitment port from state tax revenues, which, together with and dismissal of teachers, and relations with munici- local fee-based revenues, help finance school mainte- palities and parents. The Ministry of Education se- nance costs. lects school principals of state-owned secondary Municipalities can monitor education quality and schools on a competitive basis. Primary school princi- school conditions, and they can require that services be pals are also competitively appointed by school offices improved. In larger municipal administrations, special in conjunction with the municipalities. In 1998, the school departments or employees oversee education. minister replaced five-year competitions with four-year Czech Republic 47 performance evaluations. School offices, the Czech 1 billion a year) and on shares in centrally collected School Inspectorate, and the school council evaluate taxes. Local revenues constitute a very low percent- directors after four years; when their evaluations do age of these funds. Overall municipal contributions not concur, a new competition is organized. amount to 20 percent of the total education budget. Schools can choose to become legal entities, which Since 1989, the share of mu.nicipal funding in total brings them more independence. All state-adminis- education spending has decreased as direct state financ- tered secondary schools and all nonstate (private and ing of education has increased. This pattern has not denominational) schools have become independent le- changed in recent years (see table 4.1). gal entities, giving them administrative and financial Public secondary schools are established, operated, autonomy; they can now better manage their assets. and funded by the Ministry of Education, Youth, and The assumption is that this autonomy will help diver- Sports. Municipalities create secondary schools only sify the education supply and education programs, as in exceptional cases. schools have some latitude for modifying the centrally Private or denominational legal entities establish prescribed curricula. nonstate schools that tend to have more autonomy than Primary and secondary school teachers are initially state schools. Nonstate schools have made a consider- trained at institutions of higher education; kindergar- able contribution to the education system since 1990 ten teachers are trained in secondary and higher peda- and have helped satisfy the demand for a complete sec- gogical schools. In-service training is funded by special- ondary education culminatinig in a school-leaving ex- purpose subsidies that schools can use at their amination, or Maturita, a prerequisite for undertak- discretion. Teachers can receive in-service training at ing postsecondary education. The quality of private the pedagogical faculties of higher education institu- schools varies widely. tions or in special pedagogical centers, but schools may Since 1995, state contributions to nonstate schools send their teachers to managerial, language, and other and school facilities have dropped. Today, the state courses. School offices can also organize and finance pays nonstate schools between 60 and 90 percent of teacher education courses. the per pupil subsidy received by state-owned schools Parents have some freedom in choosing their depending on the school level and type and some other children's primary school. Where school capacities are formal criteria. Nonstate owners cover the full cost of limited, local children are given preferential treatment. investment in their schools. Nonstate schools may Students can enter secondary school based on the re- freely determine teacher salaries; in public schools, sults of the admissions procedure. these salaries are determined by a state salary table. Nonstate schools may collect tuition fees from parents, Establishing and Financing Schools which is an option forbidden to state-owned schools. Most primary schools are established by municipali- ties, which cover 34 percent of the investment and Vocational Education and Training operational costs of kindergartens and 37 percent of Before 1990, enterprises and cooperatives were largely primary school costs. Municipal education budgets are responsible for practical, vocational training in appren- based mainly on public resources from special subsi- tice schools where students learned skills that allowed dies from the Ministry of Finance (approximately CZK them, ultimately, to work inl the relevant enterprises. Table 4.1. Education Expenditures, 1989-97 () 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 Education expenditures as percentage of GDP 4.1 4.1 4.2 4.5 5.2 5.4 5.2 5.3 4.7 Expenditures from state budget 20.5 20.1 53.0 73.9 78.7 80.4 80.6 80.3 82.5 Expenditures from municipal budget 79.5 79.9 47.0 26.1 21.3 19.6 19.4 19.7 17.5 Source: Institute for Information on Education data. 48 Decentralizing Education in Tranisitioin Societies This relationship was largely a legacy of the Commu- youth population. Private schools were established and nist era when enterprises created schools, but the Min- very quickly corrected the education supply so that it istry of Education developed curricula and syllabi for corresponded to the spot needs of the labor market. secondary professional and technical school study fields, The links between vocational education and labor general education curricula, and theoretical training in markets are strongest at the local level. In addition to apprentice schools. Enterprise specialists and sectoral the approved education programs, schools can propose research institute specialists also helped develop study their own programs, and they cooperate, often on a long- documentation defining their scope, content, forms, term basis, with labor offices, enterprises, labor unions pedagogy, and textbooks. A state planning body deter- and associations, and representatives of business asso- mined enrollment quotas in individual study fields. ciations. Cooperation means that employers participate This situation changed after November 1989, when in school bodies or that school executives and teachers state enterprises were privatized or went bankrupt, have personal contacts with business representatives. and enterprise directorates were liquidated. Many ap- Business is clearly interested in apprenticeship school- prenticeship schools were closed, and the schools that ing, particularlybecause some enterprises have restored remained were consolidated. Enterprises largely lost their own private schools or have provided for voca- touch with secondary apprentice and professional tional preparation in their plant facilities. schools at this point, and the ministries became re- The private sector does not yet contribute suffi- sponsible for vocational preparation. So-called "state ciently in this area. Private apprenticeship schools ac- apprenticeship" was introduced (meaning state-funded count for only 13 percent of the total number of schools apprentices unaffiliated with any employer). Begin- in the Czech Republic and educate only 24,000 ap- nling in 1992, most apprenticeship schools came un- prentices, or less than one-tenth of the total. Business der the responsibility of the Ministry of Economy, the remains unable or unwilling to resolve issues such as Ministry of Agriculture, and the Ministry of Health. targeted support to vocational education and training The Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports assumed using allocations from the wage fund or tax allowances responsibility for some facilities. The relationship be- for sponsoring entities. They argue that their contri- tween education and business changed accordingly. butions to state employment funds, which are already The labor market was unfavorable, schools competed quite high, are allocated to adult qualification comple- increasingly with one other for students, and many tion and requalification, and that the education sector actively sought to cooperate with their graduates' po- does not currently help finance continuing education. tential employers. Several unsuccessful attempts at cre- In the future, however, after they are adequately orga- ating a central advisory or decisionmaking body such nized and influential, business associations are ex- as the Apprentice School Council failed, and the effort pected to be responsible for professional preparation. was ultimately abandoned. In 1992, the government decided to delegate responsibility for apprenticeship schools to the Ministry of the Economy, which defined Ill. The Education System at a vocational preparation, determined the system of ap- Crossroads: Challenges and Potential prenticeship study fields, approved and issued basic Responses curricula and syllabi, handled certain administrative ____ responsibilities, and set financial norms. To promote interministerial cooperation in preparing apprentices The education system in the Czech Republic is at a and employers, professional groups were created to crossroads. After undergoing a process of decentrali- address vocational changes, requirements for curricu- zation that shifted many management responsibilities lar revision, and changes in the system of study fields. downward and gradually created the fundamental con- Apprenticeship schools were separated de facto ditions for citizen involvement, the country must now from the education system as a whole. Notwithstand- face a new reform in intergovernmental relations with ing this complicated situation, the structure of study the creation of regions and continue to build mecha- fields evolved, and secondary apprenticeship schools nisms for effective citizen participation. and secondary professional and technical schools were Management of the education sector follows what able to compete for students in a period of declining could be called a dual model. On the one hand, the Czech Republic 49 ministry and its school offices represent the central contribute to network efficiency or efficient financ- government; on the other, individual schools have sig- ing of individual branches. The result is that district nificant powers (since 1989) but little tradition of par- school offices, in effect, organize secondary education ticipatory management. This is the context within by providing support to create the secondary school which reforms will need to be considered. networkbut still wield considerable administrative and management responsibility for preschool and basic education. They distribute the bulk of funds from the state budget to all school levels except institutions of The current management structure of the Czech edu- higher education. However, they are staffed with only cation system implies that the ministry is overwhelmed very low-level managers and cannot make qualified in resolving day-to-day problems that require immedi- assessments of labor market needs or of how to effi- ate administrative decisions and thus lacks the time ciently design the regional distribution and organiza- and strength to develop a strategic orientation for the tion of schools and branches. system that would provide a framework within which The network of secondary and higher professional to make decisions. Recent developments show, how- schools faces yet another problem. Many apprentice- ever, that the Ministry of Education has in fact already ship schools and secondary professional and technical taken strong initiatives to create an educational strat- schools often receive applications from students out- egy. The ministry formulated the aims of its educa- side their area or from employers outside their dis- tion policy, which were adopted by the government in trict. Currently, it is very difficult to regulate the school early 1999. A public debate is being developed based network for a wider region, for example, to consoli- on these aims; its results should become a National date schools in different districts, and so forth. Infor- Program of Education for the 21st Century in the year mation on district-level employment is too fragmented 2000. Priorities for both state and regional education for the district office to be able to coordinate school management need to be set as part of the preparation networks effectively according to strategic objectives, for European Union Structural Funds. represent certain special branches, define relations The absence of regional management not only lim- between general and vocational secondary education, its the ministry's capacity to provide strategic leader- or develop higher professional education. ship but has also made it difficult to manage the school Creating a system of regional management should network efficiently. This most severely affects the ap- aid significantly in overcoming the problems and im- proximately 1,900 schools and several hundred study balances in Czech education and should improve the fields in the secondary and higher professional educa- organization and social responsiveness of the school net- tion network, which has been centrally regulated since work. The exact nature of regional management in the 1996. Although the central government can vaguely de- education system remains unclear, however. Most of termine the proportions of basic types of secondary edu- those working witlin the sector would want to main- cation (17 percent of Czech youth go to upper general tain the current sectoral management to ensure profes- secondary schools, gymnasia, slightly more than 40 per- sional supervision in regions and at schools and to pro- cent go to secondaryprofessional and technical schools, tect schools from political influence through and about 40 percent go to apprenticeship schools), it appointments of directors or curricular changes. Equally cannot really manage what happens at the school level important is the interest in keeping financial flows trans- regarding the field structure, the content of education, parent and in ensuring that state allocations for educa- the degree of use of school facilities, and so forth. tion are indeed allocated for such purposes. The number of schools within the educational sys- The Ministries of the Interior and Finance and some tem has been centrally regulated since 1996. This num- municipal representatives contest this opinion, however, ber has been reduced (as a result of consolidation or preferring to keep regional education management part closing) and obsolete or unsatisfactory branches closed of the new regional self-government One of the argu- through the involvement of School Inspectorate rep- ments presented is that maintaining sectoral manage- resentatives and by the opinions of district offices, mu- ment could result in redundancy of school offices and nicipalities, labor offices, and schools. Central govern- municipal governance. Moreover, some education theo- ment cannot adequately assess all the factors that rists claim that sectoral management can isolate schools III0 )ecentralizing Education in Transition Societies from the wider social context, as reflected in the resis- region; and, among many other things, organize com- tance to establishing school councils. petitions for school directors. These discussions, ongoing since the early 1990s, make school office authority highly unclear-a mat- ter made even more difficult given the lack of clarity School-Level Management regarding the financial status of the new regions and, As indicated previously, under the Czech education correspondingly, their role in the funding of educa- system, schools currently retain significant powers. For tion expenditures. Under the option preferred by the the moment, however, only very limited use is made of Ministry of Education, designated school offices would the opportunities of participatory management. The be established at the regional level and managed di- status of schools has evolved, and their responsibilities rectly by the ministry. These offices would have con- have increased. Few school employees are well prepared siderable influence on the development of regional net- for their new tasks, and many attempt to resolve rou- works of secondary and higher professional schools tine problems of organization and management or fi- according to regional labor market needs and would nancial issues instinctively rather than based on formal distribute the central budget. Schools might receive ad- training. ditional support from regional budgets and regional School directors are responsible for many decisions. employers. The current district school offices would In 1995, about two-thirds of the decisions at the pri- probably survive for a certain period, although with mary educational level, and a somewhat smaller per- limited powers, and some districts or municipalities centage at the state secondary educational level, were would maintain administrative units that would work made at the school level (in private schools, this figure with regional school offices. Primary schools and pre- is 90 percent). Municipalities make only 7 percent of school facilities would likely come under the jurisdic- all decisions in primary schools, but school offices are tion of self-governing municipalities, which already responsible for approximately 20 percent of all deci- largely finance these schools. sions at primary schools (Bacik 1995). District school office staffs are being reduced in fa- Are schools really autonomous? It is true that vor of 14 offices in regional centers2 designated by the schools make decisions about planning and organiz- Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports as part of an ing teaching and learning; using central pedagogical effort by the education sector to verify the viability of documentation; managing student admissions and this arrangementbefore discussions on the new regions' personnel; and using funds. At the same time, the Bacik responsibilities are finalized. These offices are respon- study showed that most decisions of primary schools sible for coordinating activities in the anticipated re- are made and taken within a ministerial framework gional units. Regional centers have multiple responsi- according to centrally approved guidelines, after con- bilities. They create the network of secondary andhigher sultation with school offices. professional schools; coordinate education functions A school director plays a significant decisionmak- that come under the municipal authority; oversee ac- ing role in primary and secondary schools. When 170 tivities that counter xenophobia, intolerance, racism, directors were polled on their management work and the influence of sects, and child abuse; handle drug pre- how they use their time, the results showed clearly vention; provide in-service teacher training including that resolving economic and legal issues was the most the creation of teacher training facilities, and the build- time-consuming aspect of school management. Teach- ing of schools and education facilities in the assigned ing and learning took 10 percent of a director's time, management review took 12 percent, administration took 15 percent, legislative problems took 26 percent, 2. European requirements on regional division into and mobilizing funds took 37 percent. the Nomenclature des Unites Territoriales Statistiques School directors can create consultative bodies that (NUTS) 2 level of regions, which are to become the basis of include teachers from individual branches and outside European Union aid and structural policy, suggest an aver- specialists. These bodies are widespTead, mainly within age of 1,830,000 inhabitants per NUTS 2 in Europe. There- vocational schools. fore, 8 NUTS 2 have been created in the Czech Republic, joining, for purposes of European cooperation, some of the The amendment to the 1995 Education Act pro- 14 newly created regions. vided for school councils, but they exist in only 4 to 5 Czech Republic 51 percent of the country's schools. This reflects the con- requirements of entry into the European Union: de- siderable resistance among school directors to creat- veloping corresponding qualification levels and struc- ing councils or to giving them more than advisory pow- tures, free access to education, zonsultative approaches ers. Only one-fourth of all directors are willing to grant to the development of education policy, and so forth. school councils the functions that are inherent to a School directors and school administrators at all self-governing body, including decisionmaking pow- levels need training and greater competence in educa- ers on economic and financial matters rather than tion policy; developing a management strategy; ana- pedagogical issues. Although directors do receive some lyzing internal and external relations with the public; management training, they still tend to be too auto- and creating control, review, and feedback systems. cratic and do not know how to manage their staffs. Executives must be motivated about their own profes- Managerial styles in secondary schools and private sional development. schools tend to be more autonomous. Most directors An executive training system with standards and are not yet sufficiently aware of what it means to have management certificates needs to be created in order teachers participate in important decisions, and many to help select executives and to evaluate directors. Some simply cling to their power. The same problems exist elements of such a system already exist, albeit in an in school offices. unsystematic manner, in nine higher education insti- The quality of school management will improve if tutions. Specifically, these are in special regular and all stakeholders are involved in the decisionmaking distance courses, mostly in continuing education, that process. In that spirit, the recommended National Edu- range from several-day seminars to six-term studies. cation Council and Vocational Education Council Approximately 70 courses are organized by pedagogi- should ultimately include politicians and representa- cal centers and private agencies and address mostly tives of other government sectors (labor, industry, ag- legal, economic, and personnel issues of school man- riculture, health, and so forth); employer organizations agement. Some propose that management studies for (associations, economic chambers, and so forth); trade school directors be made obligatory and that the job of unions; education, training, and research institutions; school manager be created, accountable to the school and so forth. director. Furthermore, it is suggested that training on Regional councils should operate regionally as ad- management skills become an integral part of initial visory bodies for addressing labor market issues and teacher training. requirements for school graduates. These councils Teachers should play an increasingly important should include representatives of the education sec- role in school management, in school councils, or in tor, regional and municipal self-administrations, so- professional councils dealing with curricula. Ongoing cial partners (employers and employees), labor offices, teacher training should become the condition for ca- and other stakeholders that need to be consulted re- reer growth and access to management positions. garding the choice of educational routes and profes- Teaching careers have long been an area of concern, sions. School councils should be encouraged, as the but budgetary restrictions have impeded any substan- draft of the new Education Act suggests. In other tial changes. words, the power architecture of the education sector Information systems, their scope, and their con- needs to be rethought. Research is needed on how dif- tent must be improved. Information flows, including ferent partners participate at different levels so that statistical data and analyses or the results of research recommendations for the distribution of powers and on the school network and on labor market needs, as responsibilities become efficient. well as on the professional success of graduates, must The role of the ministry must be redefined and re- reach all partners and management levels. adjusted as regions acquire new responsibilities for per- The future style of management in the education sonnel policy, curriculum development, and school net- system should be less encumbered by administrative work management. The Ministry of Education will and legislative rules, and it should grant more real have to concentrate on creating legislation and pro- independence for making decisions and more free- gram objectives that comply with the creation of re- dom for personal initiative at lower levels of the sys- gions and regional school offices, the development of tem (including the schools), thereby promoting self- regulatory methods and procedures, and the governance. 52 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies IV. Conclusion be pragmatically defined and will draw upon many models and experiences. Whatever the model used, support structures and The Czech Republic is, as previously stated, at a cross- processes will be needed to ensure efficient manage- roads in the decentralization process. Surmounting ment: management training, ongoing teacher education the legacy of the past 40 years is no simple task. The and room for personal initiative, improved information education system and its management demonstrate, and evaluation mechanisms, and so forth. In addition, in microcosm, the introduction of democratic prin- the Ministry of Education must strengthen its analyti- ciples into society at large. Its transformation is there- cal, coordinative, conceptual, and strategic functions. fore important. The solution for many unresolved issues is being pre- The education establishment favors maintaining pared: defining education standards and their link to so-called sectoral management of the system, albeit the system of qualifications, developing a common sec- with adjustments. Alternatively, regions and munici- ondary school-leaving examination, improving the palities could run the education system, thereby sepa- School Inspectorate, decentralizing school evaluation, rating financing from professional management. yI this supporting innovation, examining and developing con- model, the Ministry of Education would play a more tinuing education, and improving information systems. indirect role. This solution might stimulate public in- Schools, teachers, parents, municipalities or other terest in education and its financing, but it could also levels of regional administration and self-governance, result in substantial inequities in schools' financial employers, trade unions, and politicians-in a word, resources, in the way those resources are used, and in all staokeholders-should participate in consultative the quality of education, among other items. The f bodies at all levels and should create them where they nancial disparities between regions could be exacer- do not yt all exist. The school system and issues con- bated. Concerns about political interventions in the cerning education should become public matters. life of schools and their management are not negli- gible. Nonetheless, this model corresponds better to the democratically managed society toward which the References Czech Republic is moving. The experience of other countries demonstrates viability of other moesthtepedleonsre- Bacik, Frantisek. 1995. Decision-makingProcesses in theEdu- the viablity of other models that depend Less on re- cation Spstem of the Czech Republic. Prague: The Educa- gional administration, that involve social participation, tion Policy Center, Institute of Education Research and and that concentrate authority at individual levels of Development. management. Regional administration and self- OEDC (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and De- governance in education will be implemented in the velopment). 1996. Reviews ofNational PoliciesforEdu- Czech Republic, but the roles and responsibilities will cation, Czech Republic. Paris. Eva BalIzs, Gabor Halasz, Anna Imre, Judit MoIdavan, and Maria Nagy1 _. Introduction administration into general administration. A process of decentralizationbegan in the 1960s. When the double The Hungarian system of public education adminis- subordination of local and regional educational admin- tration is highly decentralized. Several ministries share istrations was abolished at the end of the 1960s, higher responsibility for education, and the national admin- level administrations were weakened. At this time, a istration shares responsibility with regional and local2 unified system of educational and school infrastructure administrations and schools. Education administration planning was established at the regional level. In the is integrated into local and public administrations, early 1970s, the Council Act increased the autonomy which are typically small and self-governing. of local councils and gave them more responsibility for Hungary has a long-standing tradition of educa- maintaining schools. In the mid-1970s, secondary vo- tional decentralization. Although centralization gained cational training was decentralized to the 20 regions force under Catholic Hapsburg influence during the (counties), and, by the end of the decade, it had been 18th and 19th centuries, municipal authority was de- decentralized further to urban municipal councils at the centralized in the late 19th century, which affected municipal level. In the early 1980s, education adminis- the development of elementary education. The shift tration was merged with health care and social affairs between state and municipal control reflected many at the municipal level. The 1985 Act on Public Educa- tensions, including conflicts with national minorities tion separated educational inspection from public ad- and the demands of modernization. State control grew ministration and reorganized it as a service at a time from the 1930s on; after World War II, it was consoli- when school autonomy was growing considerably. Af- dated under Communist rule. ter 1989, local and central budgets were no longer The next several decades bore witness to shifting merged, and state support for local councils became ideologies and administrative organizations. In the based on a normative system, forcing local governments 1950s, the Soviet council system was introduced into to face the issue of raising their own revenues. public administration, integrating education Like other countries in the region, Hungary changed significantly after the country's first free elections in 1990. Local councils were replaced by politically autono- 1. The Hungarian Research Center of the National mous local governments,3 which became responsible Institute of Public Education coordinated this project. The for state-owned schools. In 1992, teachers were included team of experts was led by Gabor Haldsz. The team mem- bers were Eva Balazs, Anna Imre,JuditMoldovan, and M-ria Nagy. Advisors included Istvan Baldzs (prime minister's office), Mrs. Peter Bencze (Ministry of Finance), Gdbor Borbath (Teachers' Trade Union), Istvdn Borbola (Minis- 3. Hungary is divided into 20 regional counties with try of Education), Gdbor Pkteri (public education expert), relatively weak, popularly elected regional governments. Lo- Zs6fia Szep, and Ldszl6 Si6 (Ministry of Education). The cal governmental operations are monitored by the state paper was translated by Katalin Kovdcs. through county-level public administration offices. These 2. Local always refers to the municipal level, mean- offices represent the central government and report to the ing villages or towns. minister of the Interior. 53 54 Decentralizing Education in Transitioni Societies teaching salaries were aligned with national salary stan- 1996 amendment) made the Ministry of Education and dards. The 1993 Act on Public Education slackened Culture responsible for defining the basic curriculum central curricular control. The National Core Curricu- and other standards, working out financing arrange- lum (NCC)-adopted in 1995 and put into effect in ments, and launching developmental programs.6 Af- 1998-defined the compulsory curriculum for grades ter 1998, the system of sectoral governmental respon- 1-10. Congruent with the 1993 Act on Public Educa- sibilities was thoroughly overhauled. A new Ministry tion, the NCC introduced a dual system of curricular of Education was created and given responsibility for regulation that essentially determines the general frame- regular and vocational education.7 work for national requirements and compulsory peda- The minister of Education has only limited cur- gogical programs for local administrations and schools. ricular responsibilities with regard to setting guidelines Changes in Hungary have been progressive. In the for minorities and special education in consultation fall of 1998, new programs were introduced in grades with representative bodies.8 Local governments and 1 and 7. Final examinations reflecting new require- schools have wide latitude in determining local cur- ments will be organized in 2004. As of 1998, voca- ricula. Examinations come under ministerial purview, tional education, defined by a National Training Reg- as do textbooks and teaching aids listed in the National ister, begins only after grade 10.4 In this ongoing Textbook Register. Quality assurance, which involves transition, old and new approaches and modes of or- publishing the National Experts' Register and National ganization often coexist. Examiners' Register of professionals who can make local assessments and conduct examinations, is also a 11. The Education System Today: ministerial responsibility. Ministerial responsibilities for school buildings Main Actors and Responsibilities and equipment are limited.9 The ministry must de- fine long-term and midterm public education plans The National Level education. After 1998, the new government dissolved the min- istry and assigned control of the National Training Register mittee, and various consultative bodies share responsi- and the Vocational Training Fund part of the Labor Market bility for education at the national level. The Ministry Fund to the Ministry of Education, and assigned control of of the Interior is responsible for local governments and county labor centers and regional training centers to the Min- disburses 95 percent of state grants for education. The istry of Social and Family Affairs. Further changes are likely. 6. The Act on Public Education authorizes the Edu- Ministry of Finance iS responsible for financing public cation minister to issue provisions of law. It lists 11 fields that services, including education, and submits an annual require or imply legal regulations. Decrees regulate basic cur- budget to Parliament. Eleven ministries or other na- ricular principles, the academic calendar, the inclusion of text- tional bodies define vocational training requirements books in the National Textbook Register, accreditation of for- in their specific areas. From 1990 to 1998, the Minis- eign degrees, national quality measurement and assessment, try oEdctnadCluewsepnillistings in the National Experts' and National Examiners' try of Education and Culture was responsible for pub- Registers, and student flows, including special-needs students lic and higher education and cultural affairs, and the in special educational institutions. Maintainers, schools, and Ministry of Labor' was responsible for vocational edu- teachers can be directed by the ministry when the organiza- cation. The 1990 Act on Local Governments (and its tionof examinationsis endangered or an extraordinary school holiday becomes necessary. 7. The 1999 amendment of the education law has created a new National Center for Evaluation and Exami- 4. Each trade listed in the National Training Regis- nation. ter has examination requirements; schools can use centrally 8. The minister, relying on representative bodies, developed programs. must review curricular implementation every three years 5. Until 1998, the Ministry of Labor oversaw the Na- and forward recommendations to the government or take tional Training Register, which defines vocational educa- measures within ministerial authority. The 1999 amend- tion requirements, and controlled the Labor Market Fund ment of the Education Act has considerably increased the and the Vocational Training Fund-which also are used to scope of ministerial-level authority in curricular matters. develop the formal school system, county labor centers, and 9. The Central Statistical Office is responsible for pub- regional training centers that play a role in regional vocational lic education statistics; data collection is carried out in regional Table 5.1. Education Expenditures of Central and Local Budq!ts, 1991-96 (Million Forints) 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 Total public education expenditures 125,436 157,375 185,593 216,514 236,372 263,401 Local expenditures 122,308 150,768 176,875 211,351 230,901 256,346 Central normative grants 71,490 84,107 94,820 93,294 91,676 131,209 Other central grants 8,381 6,721 6,106 15,331 7,512 19,750 Normative grants as percent of local educational expenditures 58.5 55.8 53.6 44.1 39.7 51.2 Source: Authors. and must provide professional support for county de- amendment to the 1993 Act on Public Education velopment plans. The Ministry of Education has only stipulated that state grants could not be less than 80 limited regulatory competence for teacher promotion percent of the real local educational expenditure of and in-service training."0 However, it defines general two years earlier. The amendment specifies that 7 teacher training (for example, the proportion of teach- percent of all public education expenditures must be ing practice in initial teacher education) and train- for materials to develop public education programs ing for educational management. (for example, including new technology), teachers' The bulk of central financial support is directed to in-service training, and regional provision (for ex- school maintainers (local governments, churches, and ample, special education and pedagogical support). private maintainers), which then distribute funds The Ministry of Education, the Ministry of the Inte- among schools. This support is concentrated in nor- rior, and the Ministry of Finance agree on how these mative educational grants (57 in 1997), which are au- grants are to be used, after which school maintainers tomatically distributed to local governments using sta- apply for them, and the grants are distributed on a tistical indicators for pupils by grade, educational normative basis. For vocational education, employ- program, and school type."' These grants do not cover ers contribute 22 to 25 percent of school-based train- all education expenditures, however; in 1996, for ex- ing expenditures; they channel one part of this fund- ample, they covered about half of all local education ing directly to training institutions and the other to expenditures (see table 5.1). School maintainers' con- the national Vocational Training Fund.'2 All financ- tributions, along with other state grants and local rev- ing is monitored by the National Audit Office, which enues, make up the difference. Public and private reports to Parliament. school maintainers receive normative state grants equal to those of local governments, as do parochial school The Regional Level maintainers (since 1988). Central normative grants vary yearly, depending Regional administration in Hungary is divided into on fiscal conditions. Local financing varies accord- 20 counties, including the capital. In the state-party ingly (table 5.1). To establish some stability, the 1996 system, elected councils existed at the countylevelbut acted as regional units of central power. Until 1990, the regions had perhaps the greatest power in educa- units. The ministry does not have easy access to statistics, tion, although the 1985 Act on Public Education se- however, which limits its ability to make these assessments verely infringed on this power."3 After 1990, when effectively. 10. Hungarian civil servants working in public admin- istration differ from public employees working in public edu- 12. The Vocational Training Fund was part of the La- cation. Civil servants come under the Act on Civil Servants; bor Market Fund until 1998, after which it became inde- public education employees come under the Act on the Le- pendent under the Ministry of Education. gal Standing of Public Employees. 13. This act abolished inspectorates that were directly 11. In 1997, local governments received 64,000 HUF controlled by county councils and turned them into profes- for each sixth grader and an additional 19,500 HUF if the sional services that are organizationally separate from the pupil was in a national minority education program. public administration system. 56 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies the local government system was created, counties ex- Old regional habits continue to influence regional perienced a dramatic reduction in power; local gov- coordination. The powerful offices of the former ernments are autonomous and do not report to regional county councils, although fewer in number, have pre- governments. served much of their informal influence by dissemi- County governments are responsible for providing nating information, advising on forms of schooling, schooling for pupils whose towns or villages cannot pro- and brokering connections. vide compulsory education, and these governments are County income relies far more on state support also responsible for maintaining institutions with re- than does local government income. Counties have gional functions to meet the needs of several communi- no independent right to levy taxes and cannot dis- ties from secondary schools to vocational training insti- pose of any of the income taxes levied in their terri- tutions. Counties also are responsible for student hostels, tory. The largest part of the Vocational Training Fund music schools, and institutions of pedagogical- is also distributed at the county level. The role of educational services (for example, speech therapy and public foundations funded by the state budget, indi- educational counseling). Counties must also provide viduals, and legal entities in financing regional re- documentation and advisory services, in-service train- sponsibilities is growing. ing, and institutional evaluation; they must evaluate State administrative offices called county public curricular programs in county pedagogical institutes.'4 administration offices-deconcentrated central agen- As school autonomy has increased and greater demands cies that report to the Ministry of the Interior-oper- have been made for quality assurance, these pedagogical ate at the county level and play various roles in pub- institutes have become increasingly important."5 lic education. Their most important task is to monitor The very peculiar position of county governments local community governments. Oversight is limited can be illustrated by one example. Counties are sup- to determining that a law is not being observed and posed to provide secondary education, but any com- calling on the local government to amend the situa- munity can decide to open a secondary school or trans- tion by a given deadline."6 The county administra- fer its secondary school-with appropriate notice-to tion office must also protect the legality of local deci- the county, which is obliged to take it over. This situ- sions to merge, abolish, create, or sell institutions; ation clearly has important implications for the ability verify the legality of the call for applications for school of counties to project expenditures. heads; and ensure school compliance with mandated The 1996 amendment to the 1993 Act on Public operating conditions. Education makes county governments responsible for Regional financial directorates and the National regional coordination and planning. They mustprepare Audit Office determine whether state educational a six-year educational development plan covering com- grants are used appropriately. TAKISZ-the agional pulsory schooling and secondary education, involve lo- financial information system, under the Ministry of cal governments and professional organizations in ne- the Interior and the Ministry of Finance-is the sole gotiating it, and promote the cooperation of local source ofpublic education data concerning the regional governments. Local municipalities are not obliged to fol- use of state funds and information on local financial low these development plans, but they may have access administration task provision. A regularly updated to financial support for development only if they do so. database on local governments provides accurate in- Such support may come from the county public founda- formation about local services, the state grant to which tions that are pardy financed by the central budget and the locality is entitled on this basis, and how much partly by their own fundraising with other sponsors. money it actually spends on individual services. County labor centers, which previously were over- seen by the Ministry of Labor and now are under the 14. County governments are not compelled to main- tain pedagogical institutions if they can provide the services in some other way, but there is a pedagogical institute in 16. In 1997, the Budapest office examined the min- every county. In one of the counties, the pedagogical insti- utes of 5,700 meetings, of which only a minority dealt with tute operates as a public foundation. educational issues. 15. The new National Center for Evaluation and Ex- 17. The eight regional training centers were estab- amination has seven subcenters in the statistical regions. lished with World Bank credits in the first half of the 1990s. Ht:vlgayy A7 aegis of the Ministry of Social and Family Affairs, Table 5.2. Local Governments Providing Education, primarily provide employment information as well by Community Population, 1996-97 as adult training and retraining programs in public education institutions or regional centers.17 Some in- No. local govts gi ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~maintaining at formation is also available for youth unemployment least an and some forms of vocational training. These cen- eighth-grade 1. . . . . . . ~~~~~~~~~Pop. on 1/1/96 No. local govts general school ters coordinate regional negotiations on vocational P o n training among representatives of employers, employ- Fewer than 500 992 31 ees, the central and local governments, and the re- 500-999 697 344 gional economic chambers that participate in the 1,000-1,999 668 629 county vocational training council. They also deter- 2,000-4,999 514 510 mine Vocational Training Fund distributions by ap- plying council recommendations. 5,000-9,999 13.3 134 10,000-19,999 76 76 The Local Level 20,000-49,999 45 45 50,000-99,999 2 28 The 1990 Act on Local Governments grants the right 100 000-199 999 100,000-199,9991v 12 to form local governments, which are responsible for providing general public education. Reduced public 2,000,000- 1 1 resources, the steady decline in school-age children, Total 3,168 1,810 and the introduction of county-level public education a. The capital is the only local government with more than 2 mil- are leading local governments and providers to share lion inhabitants, but its general schools are maintained by the 23 district governments, which are highly autonomous. educational responsibilities increasingly through as- Source: Public Educational Statistics data. sociations or cooperation or by contracting to out- side providers. Approximately 3,200 local governments were cre- Local governments are responsible for kindergar- ated in 1990, of which more than 3,100 remain. More ten and basic school education. They can decide to than 2,400 of these governments maintain an educa- create, maintain, reorganize, or close particular tional institution, and more than 1,800 maintain an schools. They also can enter into cooperative agree- eighth-grade general school for the 10- to 14-year-old ments with other local governments or contract with cohort. More than 55 percent of these schools operate another maintainer (public or private) to provide in communities with fewer than 2,000 people (see table schooling. Enrollment areas of kindergarten and 5.2). More than 200 local governments maintain a sec- schools (enrollment districts) are regulated through ondary school for 14- to 18-year-olds. Only larger local decrees. towns and cities maintain the full institutional net- Local governments hire, appoint, and evaluate work of public education, school heads, but in practice they rarely perform any Popularly elected representative bodies, presided evaluations. Although the school employs teachers, over by a mayor, make most local decisions concern- local governments determine the size of academic and ing public education. Many smaller school-maintain- nonacademic staff according to school needs and cen- ing local governments struggle with their responsi- tral regulations. As of 1998, local governments approve bilities in communities with few college-trained school pedagogical programs and local curricula from professionals to help guide education quality and con- a legal and financial perspective only. To monitor trol. The notary can make most decisions concern- school operations, local governments can require ing public administration; larger communities have schools to prepare data and documentation. Although a separate unit for public education and usually health the Act on Public Education makes local governments care and social affairs. When a local government must responsible for assessing sclkool quality, they gener- maintain at least three schools, an education com- ally neglect institutional assessment. Preparations for mittee with elected representatives and invited out- implementing the NCC have led the larger school- side experts is required. maintaining local governments to define and incorpo- 58 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies rate their community-level educational concepts into created their own foundations to which parents or eco- county development plans. nomic organizations can contribute. Taxpayers can The head of an educational institution evaluates donate 1 percent of their income tax to such qualifying his or her staff (with outside experts), assigns duties institutions, whichbrings in very modest extra income. (with departments), and determines salary increases The entire vocational education and training sys- above the centrally regulated minimum. The teaching tem has been overhauled. Vocational education can staff adopts the school head's organizational and op- begin after age 16 or after the completion of general erational regulations andhouse rules. The schoolboard basic education. The increasingly powerful private sec- and the pupils' self-governing body must approve any tor, the economic chambers, and the labor administra- modifications. Consultations are generally required on tion, which can support this reform professionally and every issue. Teaching staff members, who have gained financially, are pressuring vocational training institu- power in recent years, usually define the pedagogical tions to make their training structures more flexible. program, local curricula, and applied programs and The institutions can apply for grants from central or methods and select textbooks and teaching aids; they decentralized funds, such as the Vocational Training can appeal if their maintainer-that is, the owner of Fund, that solicit applications to purchase machinery the school, the municipality-rejects the program. and equipment, can apply for funds directly from eco- School budgets are determined by local govern- nomic chambers, or can be directly supported by eco- ments and are funded partly by local budgets. Local nomic organizations.'8 governments spend approximately 30 percent of their The Act on Public Education gives a broad circle annual budget on education-far more than they re- of actors the right to create and maintain an educa- ceive in state grants. Although local financial admin- tional institution. Social partners and professional and istrationisveryindependent,itisconstrainedbyscarce civic organizations all play roles in education. resources and inherited expenditure patterns. Local Churches, economic organizations, foundations, asso- governments are entirely free to define the allocation ciations, and private individuals may found and main- of their education budget among schools and uses. It tain a school with the same responsibilities as local is relatively easy to calculate each school's minimum governments.'9 Private maintainers can receive some budgetary needs using guidelines provided by the Act auxiliary state support for providing public education, on Public Employees and the Act on Public Educa- but they cannot levy school fees. tion. Most local governments follow the basis financ- ing system, which adjusts annual budgets for infla- Other Actors tion and allows for significant bargaining between a school and its maintainer. Some local governments are Many consultative bodies and organizations formally trying to base their educational budgets on the type and informally influence national, regional, and lo- and number of institutional tasks when pedagogical cal decisions on education. Several bodies play a role programs and the adjustment to county development in labor relations and minimum employee salary is- plans call for revising the charters of educational in- sues. The Interest Coordinating Council of Public stitutions and for redefining their compulsory tasks. Local financial officials and institutions resist this ap- proach because it is new and requires annual recalcu- 18. Every company may pay a given percentage of its lation of institutional budgets. In the past few years, wage expenditure to the Vocational Training Fund or di- many wealthier municipalities have earmarked funds rectly to a vocational training institution chosen by the com- pany, but the company itself may provide training either for for educational development and innovative purposes the school population or for its employees. to be determined by an education committee or body 19. In academic year 1996-97, 7.2 percent of all of representatives. schools and 13.8 percent of secondary schools were not main- For the past few years, more options for extra in- tained by local governments or by the state. Churches are come from other sources have become available. Minis- the biggest group of nonpublic school maintainers (4.4 per- cent) in secondary education; the proportion of denomina- tries and national and international foundations regu- tional and other private maintainers, however, is higher (6.4 larly call for grant applications. Most schools have percent and 6.6 percent, respectively). HuLngary 59 Education (KOT)20 is a tripartite negotiating body chambers, and the school-maintaining local govern- that discusses bills concerning public education em- ments are represented. The Act on Public Education ployees and general educational proposals and con- requires county governments to involve social part- cepts. Because local governments appoint and pay ners in preparing county development plans and to teachers, the Act on the Legal Status of Public Em- specify conciliation between county and local govern- ployees requires local forums of negotiation, with ments regarding a town with county rights. Vocational local actors determining how this is done. A 1995 training councils similar to the National Vocational survey found that 28 percent of the responding local Training Council operate at the county level and play governments said they formally operated a local body an important role in distributing decentralized voca- of interest negotiation (the proportion among towns tional training funds. and cities was 71 percent). This number has prob- Schools can establish school boards to enhance ably increased significantly since the survey. The act cooperation among school staff, parents, students, also gives representative trade unions the right to maintainers, and any other concerned organizations. establish a collective contract with the employer. Although these boards may offer opinions on any Every institution must have a council of public em- school issue, they must be consulted about the peda- ployees with the right to consult on teachers' employ- gogical program. The board can also decide how a ment and salaries. school uses income generated through an economic Consultation also involves purely professional enterprise. matters. The National Public Education Council Professional organizations participate in the work (OKNT) is a national professional body that prepares of the national consultative bodies in a formal, sym- decisions and drafts opinions and proposals on cur- bolic fashion because of their large numbers and vari- ricula, textbooks, and examinations.1 Its members are ety. Most national organizations generally receive draft commissioned by the minister of education and del- legislation for comment and can pressure the govern- egated by professional teachers' organizations, teacher ment on particular positions. Organization activities education institutions, and the Hungarian Academy center largely around members' needs. The public life of Sciences. The Public Education Policy Council of the profession is organized at the national, regional, (KPT) assists in preparing and phrasing decisions and and local levels; organizations publish and dissemi- proposals. Four representatives from central and local nate their own professional materials. Professional governments, other school maintainers, minority gov- teachers' organizations have a long history in Hun- ernments, professional teachers' organizations, teach- gary. About 150 teacher organizations or associations ers' trade unions, and parent-student organizations existed before 1945, but they were abolished by 1948. participate in the KPT. In the 1960s, the profession was reorganized in one Interest negotiation with social partners is ex- form or another; it developed fully after 1989, with tremely important in vocational education. The Na- the Law on the Right to Associate. The number of tional Vocational Training Council provides a forum organizations changes constantly. Associations such for vocational training policy issues and distribution as the Association of Teachers of History, the Hun- of the Vocational Training Fund in which employees, garian Society of Vocational Education, the Associa- employers, the central government, the economic tion of Hungarian Kindergarten Teachers, and the Fed- eration of Student Hostels strongly influence public education policy decisions. 20. This council is the correlate of the Interest Coor- Teachers' unions may be either nationally repre- dinating Council of Budgetary Institutions in Education sentative or nonrepresentative. Trade unions are rep- (KIET). Council members usually include representatives resentative if their nominees obtain at least 10 percent of the central government, national trade unions of con- of the votes in school-level elections of the council of cerned employees, and the national federations of local gov- public employees. The Teachers' Trade Union (PSZ) 21. The OKNT can veto in a very important case. The organizes teachers across all school types, whereas the minister needs its agreement before filing a proposal to Union of Hungarian Musicians and Dance Artists rep- modify the NCC. resents a narrower circle of teachers. The unions 60 Decentralizing Education in Tranisition Societies represent teachers in national consultative bodies 1996-may become the proper negotiation partner for (KIET, KOET), which usually invite other trade the central government. unions, such as the Democratic Trade Union of Teach- Hungary's 11 minority self-governments-Arme- ers (PDSZ), formed during the change in regime. Teach- nian, Bulgarian, Croatian, German, Greek, Polish, ers' trade unions represent one part of the KPT, where Roma, Romanian, Serb, Slovakian, and Slovenian- they can consult on public education policymaking.22 are guaranteed the right to found and maintain schools. Teacher trade unions rarely resort to demonstrations, They also constitute one part of the KPT and are in- protests, or strikes, but political lobbying is widespread. volved in preparing ministerial decisions about na- The PSZ and the PDSZ publish their own papers on tional and ethnic minorities' education. The council policy positions and provide a forum for other views. of these minority self-governments has a legal stand- Associations of local governments are also impor- ing similar to the OKNT, but the minority organiza- tant actors in these consultative processes. Seven large tions have veto power in connection with a variety of federations of local governments exist at the national minority education affairs. level. The largest is the National Federation of Com- Parents, who typically voice their support or dis- munity Governments (TOOSZ), which includes lo- sension spontaneously, also have formal consultative cal governments of different sizes and types and em- rights at the national and institutional levels in orga- ploys a full-time educational spokesperson. The nizations, constituting one part of the KPT. The best- smaller Hungarian Federation of Local Governments known organizations include the National Association aspires to a similar integrative role. Towns with of People with Large Families23 and the National As- county rights (cities), small towns, and county gov- sociation of Hungarian Parents, both of which have ernments all have their own independent federations. been created since the change in regime and seem very Representatives of local government federations-the volatile. Most of the better known organizations are biggest employers in public education-participate in denominational (such as the National Association of the work of the national interest negotiation bodies Catholic Parents and Parents for Piarist Schools) or (KIET, KOET) and represent one part in the KPT. work for handicapped children (such as the Associa- Because public education uses the largest proportion tion for Children With Dyslexia, the Federation for of local resources, it is the most important profes- the Protection of Interests of Children With Mental sional field for the federations as well. Educational Disabilities, the Association of the Partially Sighted, committees have only been established in cities with and the National Federation of the Hearing Impaired). county rights. These organizations have existed only Students also constitute one part of the KPT, but for a short time-TOOSZ, the oldest federation, was their participation raises problems of responsibility created in 1989-so their major activity is partici- and representation. The National Student Union is pating in national-level consultations. the best-known national organization, but these or- The local government federations are among the ganizations are often ephemeral. The scope of action most important negotiation partners of the central gov- of the national interest negotiation organization, the ernment, but interest-coordinating negotiations with Council for the Protection of Interests of Children them are complicated by virtue of their large numbers and Youth, extends beyond public education. The Na- and the fact that they represent only certain groups of tional Students' Rights Council plays an advisory role communities. Their common organization-the Coun- to the ministry. cil of Federations of Local Governments, created in Many other nongovernmental organizations play a role in education. These organizations include the Association of Foundational and Private Schools, 22. According to a 1997 survey, 48.6 percent of all which is represented in the nonlocal government part teachers are trade union members; 42 percent are members of the KPT; the Association for School Equity (which of the biggest organization, the Teachers' Trade Union. The seeks to spread thel2th grade comprehensive school); rate of teacher unionization varies greatly: 24.6 percent of teachers who are 20 to 29 years of age are members, but 54.6 percent of teachers who are 50 to 59 years old are mem- bers; 32.6 percent of the teachers in Budapest belong to a 23. According to a 1997 survey, this association had trade union compared to 50.2 percent of village teachers. 22,000 members. HLingary 61 the Federation of Small Schools; the Hungarian Personnel Policies Waldorf Forum; and the Budapest Montessori Soci- ety, which is associated with specific pedagogical phi- School staff are either public or private (denomina- losophies. Churches, which are represented at the tional or foundation) employees although employment national-level KPT, are members of the nongovern- conditions are similar for all staff. The status and terms mental maintainers' part; they play an important role of employment of public school employees, who work for schools of their denomination in teacher training in 94 percent of all educational institutions, are regu- and in-service training, as well as in preparing and lated by the 1992 Act on the Legal Status of Public disseminating teaching materials and textbooks. They Employees and the 1993 Act on Public Education, employ teachers for religious studies in local govern- amended in 1996. The 1996 amendment makes the ment and public schools for pupils electing to study central government responsible for terms and mini- there. Their role in local educational policy varies mal salaries. School employees are also local employ- greatly according to local expectations, clergy mem- ees and are formally employed by school heads. bers, and the different educational institutions present. Responsibilities for personnel policies are shared. The role of economic chambers, employers' organi- Salaries are centrally regulated by the public employ- zations, and economic organizations as school founders ees' salary scale, which determines a minimum salary and maintainers-especially for vocational education- according to a teacher's age and qualifications. Local has increased steadily since the change in regime. En- governments determine school resources, and school couragedby tax deductions, economic organizations are heads appoint teachers and set salaries according to increasingly involved in organizing practical vocational central legal regulations and local budgetary decisions. education. The influence of these groups on vocational Annual central salary negotiations define minimum education policy, including the definition of training salaries, but variable local conditions make it difficult requirements, continues to grow; it is exercised mostly to translate national negotiations into concrete local through the National Council of Vocational Education outcomes. The central government has been looking and county-level vocational education councils. The rec- for alternative ways to influence local decisions-for ommendations of these councils determine the national example, by creating more centrally administered ear- and regional distribution of the Vocational Training marked sums (for example, for in-service teacher train- Fund. The councils also participate in drafting county- ing) and by introducing elements of merit pay. level public education development plans. This system requires cooperation and coordination among decisionmakers that do not always exist. In 1993, Ill. System Problems: An Analysis for example, the central educational administration re- duced the number of weekly compulsory lessons with- < 9 - 9 ~ out considering local salary implications, conveying a What are the major administrative problems in Hun- message to school maintainers they should avoid firing garian public education? To what extent are these is- teachers. Normative grants remained unchanged, forc- sues connected with problems of shared responsibil- ing local governments to maintain salaries at the mini- ity? How", does this system of shared responsibility mum. Similarly, following the Act on the Legal Status influence the most important public educational ob- of Public Employees, many school heads decided to give jectives? Any analysis of the problems of educational merit awards to outstanding teachers. When local gov- administration must follow from the objectives of the emments realized the financial consequences of these education system, some assumptions about allocating decisions, some refused to pay. responsibility for reaching these objectives, and the In 1995, the central government attempted to deal tools and incentives to do so. with its limited capacity to enforce decisions during a This report assumes that public education should period of financial crisis. It implemented an austerity be efficiently and effectively organized, that it should measure that would have forced local governments to guarantee educational quality and equity, that it should increase their fiscal efforts to maintain educational give individuals and communities the right to choose spending levels while undertaking a comprehensive sta- the educational service they need freely, and that it tistical survey of public educational institutions, exam- should operate in a transparent fashion. ining school budgetary data in light of information on 62 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies pupil and teacher numbers. This initiative encouraged Public Education (OKI), the ministerial research and local governments to undertake similar analyses, which development institute, is largely responsible for pro- led to the preparation of rationalization plans and the viding curricula from which schools can choose.24 curbing of salary expenditures by reductions in the Educational quality in this system depends number of teachers employed after 1995 (especially at heavily on the adequacy of the decisions made by preprimary, primary, and lower secondary levels). Par- individual schools and the capacity and willingness ent and school protests greeted planned school closures of local maintainers and public education experts to and mergers. enforce standards. School staffs, however, are ill- This situation illustrates one of the major dilem- prepared to develop and adapt programs. The new mas of an educational system that continues to prize system of in-service teacher training, which was employment and salary security. The vast majority of given considerable resources by the 1996 Amend- the 2,400 local governments and their communities ment of the Act on Public Education, is developing are conflict averse; they prefer splitting classes to dis- rapidly. Local maintainers lack expertise and infor- missing teachers, even at the cost of lost efficiency and mation; poor maintainers cannot afford expert ser- reduced educational quality. vices. National experts may also lack established, detailed criteria for curricular evaluation. The OKI Curriculum has a limited capacity to provide schools and maintainers with sufficient models of curricula. In- The major issues for educational content are connected deed, the system suffers from the insufficiencies of with quality and equity. The current system does not the players. Regulations are in place, but a longer guarantee appropriate curricula or textbooks largely organizational learning process is required. Policy de- because it is new and because national and local ac- cisions concerning implementation deadlines are po- tors are inexperienced. The balance between central litical and do not reflect real abilities. and local curricular responsibility must be refined. Local accountability mechanisms for decisions on Local decisionmakers need training and must become school curricula do not appear to be very strong. No more aware of quality, program equity, and efficiency one may notice in the short run if a school develops an issues. Management tools are currently inadequate, inferior local curriculum or chooses textbooks poorly. and responsibilities are not always clearly assigned. Probably only governments in larger towns and cities, Where market players are responsible, there is no guar- rather than those in smaller communities, or middle- antee of their interest or accountability. class parents, as opposed to underprivileged parents, The 1993 Act on Public Education abolished a react. The people carrying out professional evaluations single, national compulsory curriculum; the NCC, have no enforcement tools and are likely to be moti- which became operational in 1998, defined a loose vated at least partly by financial concerns. Further- framework of standards for compulsory education more, there is arguably very little local accountability (through grade 10) in biennial or longer cycles of in- for adjusting school programs to national standards. terdisciplinary areas. Local curricula, textbooks, and The new examination system, however, will probably examination standards complement this framework. incite schools to adjust and thereby may provoke some Central guidelines for grades 11 and 12 are implicitly serious long-term financial consequences that local gov- provided by final examination requirements as of ernments may not want to acknowledge. 1997. Since 1998, the Act on Public Education has Textbooks constitute another area of concern. regulated school curricula by defining educational ob- Publishers ensure a sufficient supply, which is cen- jectives. A school defines its local curriculum within trally or locally compiled into an annual register for the broader pedagogical program-either by borrow- schools to select according to their pedagogical ing and adapting other curricula or by developing its own (although less than 10 percent of schools develop their own programs). School maintainers approve 24. The 1999 amendment to the education law intro- curricula, with the consent of government-certified duced a new tool for local curricular planning. This frame public education experts. The National Institute of curricula is to be produced by the national level. Hungany 63 programs. However, textbooks are rarely tested, so for developing infrastructures. County governments feedback on their quality is uneven.25 were required to prepare six-year development plans Vocational education has been changing slowly. essentially to negotiate the principles for developing The new National Training Register has made voca- an institutional network and educational content, but tional education more output oriented through discus- the plans can be legally enforced only when they cre- sions with social partners on training and examina- ate secondary schools with more than four grades. tion requirements, which have become the subject of Communities are encouraged to respect these plans higher level regulations. New professional program via financial grants from public foundations created choices have become available and are slowly being in 1996. Most county public foundations are not yet developed in line with National Training Register re- well prepared to use public resources efficiently for quirements, somewhat like the implementation pro- regional developmentbecause they generally lack com- cess for general education. Vocational education suf- petence, staff, and the independence to assess national fers, however, from a lack of accountability and local priorities, to monitor application and distri- mechanisms. The state provides support for training, bution procedures, and to evaluate program effects. for which the Vocational Education Act gives power The 1998 elections created new challenges for in- to the economic chambers, which are not always very frastructure, especially in vocational education, where thorough or efficient. No stable, generally accepted policy was less linked with employment policy, and control methods and procedures exist, and the cham- because the education government took greater respon- bers do not always know what or how they are to con- sibility for adult education. Local and regional develop- trol. They are often inclined to tolerate inefficiencies ment policies on school and vocational education may because they have no clear stake in the process. therefore become better coordinated. Greater attention to social policy may affect training infrastructure. For School Infrastructure example, how will the new employment policy change the role of the older regional training centers? How will The central government has only minimal responsi- the education government's growing responsibility for bility for school infrastructure. Local governments vocational training affect the work of these centers? build and maintain their own schools-which are of- Another question that remains is how county labor cen- ten in very poor condition-or jointly maintain ser- ters and the Vocational Training Fund can work under vices with another maintainer, although communities two different ministries where they had previously are not interested in doing so. worked under a single ministry. There are some important concerns about the abil- ity and interest of local governments in making effi- cient decisions about school infrastructure. Govern- Student Enrollments and Flows mental measures prescribe school structures and In the area of student enrollment and flows, as else- equipment loosely, which may contribute to poor qual- where, responsibilities are shared. The central govern- ity; local decisionmakers have strong political inter- ment regulates school entry age, the length and loca- ests in opening new schools and protecting old ones. tion of compulsory schooling, and who is responsible Until 1996, no serious regional school infrastruc- for what.26 Schools can define enrollments and stu- ture coordination existed. The Act on Public Educa- dent flows, but local governments can determine the tion had made counties responsible for coordinating training profiles of their educational institutions and infrastructure but did not give them grants. The 1996 the length of secondary training programs connected amendment to the Act on Public Education introduced with basic schooling. School choice and student en- regional planning, which strengthened responsibility rollment and transfer issues have become complicated 25. The new frame curricula are intended to encour- 26. Since 1998, procedures for transferring from ba- age the development of testing and assessment models as sic to secondary education are increasingly regulated by the well. government. 64 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies as the regulatory structure has changed. The situation Under the Act on Public Education, the different is further complicated by an inadequate information administrative levels have different assessment respon- system, public education statistics that do not allow sibilities. Assessment is hindered, however, by frag- the central government to monitor student flows, and mented responsibilities and a lack of proper tools and insufficient access of maintainers and county-level capabilities. National and regional assessment are governments to the data they need to monitor student based on nationwide measuring assignments or sur- transfers. This situation also affects parents, who in veys. Maintainers use only partially defined tools to theory can choose schools but often lack the informa- assess institutions; individual teachers are assessed by tion to make informed decisions. school heads.28 The NCC and the amendments to the Act on Pub- Many operational issues still need to be resolved. lic Education have significantly changed student en- No institutions exist to conduct regional surveys.29 rollment and flow regulations. Compulsory education Experts authorized to chair examinations are listed in was lengthened by two years (up to age 18), and spe- a national register, but training and registration pro- cialized vocational training was postponed until after cedures are still being developed. Expert consultations age 16. As secondary schools have begun to offer lower on school pedagogical programs include no standard secondary grades, the transition from primary to sec- requirements for quality assurance. Experts can there- ondary education has become one of the most press- fore ignore quality assessment altogether in pedagogi- ing educational problems. Schools normally enroll chil- cal programs. Although they can issue professional dren residing in their district, although an enrollment evaluations, decisions fall to the maintainer, which has district usually exceeds community boundaries for sec- no clear idea of what professional control means or ondary schools and can extend to the county or to the how to carry it out.30 County development plans can whole country.27 The Act on Public Education stipu- specify regional quality assurance concerns such as lates that pupils can transfer to different institutions, mobility, equity, and labor market relations, but en- but maintainers cannot usually evaluate pedagogical forcement is not guaranteed. programs. Moreover, district boundaries take no ac- A regulatory framework exists for assessing teach- count of differences in school quality, but maintainers ing, but maintainers have no detailed instructions for can open additional classes or can redraw district implementing it, nor do they reward teachers, who boundaries to balance these differences. are public employees. Responsibility for institutional As educational administration decentralizes, more quality is shared between the maintainer and the school schools open and therefore compete for students. Mar- head, but the relationship between financing and qual- ket mechanisms encourage effectiveness but have se- ity has serious implications. A maintainer provides and rious equity implications. approves an institutional budget, but no regulations connect it with quality. Quality Assurance Implementation of the NCC is just starting, but some issues surrounding the regulations and frame- The old school inspectorate was abolished in the late work possibilities have already become apparent. 1980s, but mechanisms for ensuring quality in Hungary's recently decentralized system are still be- ing defined. A new model of quality assurance adjusted 28. The National Center for Evaluation and Exami- ing ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~nation, which was created by the 1999 amendment to the to the conditions of local and institutional autonomy eation, lw, is gongto py are inti area. education law, iS going to play a role in this area. is developing, but many problems need to be resolved 29. The situation has recently changed. One of the before the system can function effectively. tasks of the National Center for Evaluation and Examina- tion is to conduct regional surveys. 30. The 1999 amendment to the education law in- 27. For example, the principle of subsidiarity guaran- cludes the specification of quality assurance mechanisms in tees county responsibility if a local government cannot pro- school pedagogical programs. Significant resources were vide secondary education. If the same local government does made available for the development of business model qual- not provide a proper general education service, however, there ity assurance mechanisms (such as total quality manage- is no guarantee that the county government will intervene. ment [TQM]) at the school level. Hungary 65 County development plans and public foundation part- pay or linking rewards to in-service teacher training ners ensure regional education quality that reflects should be further strengthened. To this end, county national standard requirements and regional demands public foundations should be advised to support local and conditions, but no funds are earmarked for devel- initiatives such as institutional sharing of teachers, and oping disadvantaged areas. central support should reflect their cooperation. Public education experts and official examiners Agreements with social partners require that they play a significant role in local quality assurance, but respect the decentralized system, including salary regu- there are no standards or unified training or training lation. Therefore, they must agree on the regulation programs as yet. Central and local government insti- process rather than on the amount of salaries and must tutions and market actors participate in in-service acknowledge that these agreements should be made training programs, which ensure a greater variety of both centrally and locally. The agreements must be tools and which enhance their efficiency. External monitored. Social partners therefore need information course evaluations remain incomplete, however, and about general state budget processes and education evaluation criteria are stll missing. system processes. Salary agreements also require in- formation about modifications in the financial support IV. Recommendations system of local governments and their general eco- nomic conditions, as well as the impact of fiscal changes on individuals and institutions. Successful agreements Recommendations concerning personnel, educational require the involvement of school maintainers, the en- content, financial administration, and so forth are couragement ofhorizontal harmonization between the closely interrelated and occasionally overlap. They re- interest negotiating organizations of the school flect the conviction that no major change is needed in maintainers, and the creation of clearer boundaries the system of shared responsibilities developed dur- between local salary bargains and central salary regu- ing the past decade. lations. Information about the implementation of so- cial agreements must also be systematically collected Personnel Policy and analyzed. Raising public awareness and developing coopera- Efficient labor management (teaching staff, nonaca- tion techniques is another important issue. Alterna- demic school staff, and nonpublic employees with tive employment policies and salary philosophies short-term contracts) is a strategic issue to be consid- should be discussed and considered. The state's role ered in a decentralized system such as Hungary's. The in public employment in a market economy bears dis- objective is to develop strategies and means to use re- cussion that should also touch on governmental re- sources more efficiently in general and to employ teach- sponsibility for obtaining the best possible educational ers more productively in particular. quality at the lowest possible cost. The Act on Public Education does not clarify the Governments, maintainers, and school heads need role of the Ministry of Education in this area, which is the means to train public educational managers and a void that requires definition. At the same time, the to develop and disseminate programs that devote spe- system of information and statistics for public educa- cial attention to efficient teacher, local, and institu- tion should provide an overview oflocal teaching force tional personnel issues. Information concerning management and availability and should facilitate di- teacher employment and economic analyses of prac- rect access to local and institutional teacher availabil- tices in other countries should be widely dissemi- ity and employment. The government could thereby nated. Civil servant in-service training programs assess whether maintainers properly ensure teacher should cover employment issues. Information on qualifications, whether institutions respect teaching national experience should be gathered and standards, and whether social partners comply with salary schedules and working conditions. 31. Currently, central programs are disseminated To improve effectiveness, personnel policies must through a special curriculum design software (Profil), which reward high-quality work. Instruments such as merit partly controls compliance. There is no regulatory guarantee. 66 Dacentralizing Education in Transition Societies disseminated in seminars to publicize labor manage- professional and general public. If school programs ment successes and failures. were published in a standard format, the national ad- Strong measures are required to promote efficient ministration could compare them. regional and local cooperation techniques for teacher The NCC was created to give the public educa- employment and to encourage promising forms of co- tion system greater coherence and transparency as it operation Central, regional, and local administrations diversifies. It still has little leverage to impose school should develop special funds and techniques to reward compliance, however. The main challenge is to bring efficient management (such as teacher sharing for sub- about its gradual adaptation without seriously limit- jects that demand few hours). ing local autonomy. Regional planning could influ- ence the relationship among local institutions and Educational Content could help with gradual adaptation to the NCC. Some central requirements for county development plans The current education system provides central cur- should explicitly serve this purpose (such as spread- ricula that are locally modified. However, the insti- ing and supporting programs that organize 9th and tutional infrastructure responsible for creating and 10th grades according to the NCC). maintaining curricular supply is very underdevel- oped, and curricular quality is insufficient. In addi- School Infrastructure tion, general requirements need to be defined more clearly rather than left to the sole discretion of the Since the 1990s, maintaining a school has meant lo- responsible professional organizations. Institutional cal autonomy, which has satisfied the local elector- programs must be distinguished from subject pro- ate. These arrangements, however, have negative im- grams, new programs must be documented, and text- plications for equity and for financial accountability books and other teaching aids must be inventoried; and efficiency given the lack of national standards. connections among programs must be improved.3" The following steps and measures can enhance the Service institutions responsible for creating central development of school infrastructures, compliance programs need to be developed, and their tasks must with standards, and more effective use of develop- be more clearly defined. mental resources. After an institutional structure is in place to issue Educational and regional development should be central curricula, it should be regularly monitored by more closely related. Much public educational infra- an assessment program involving professional organi- structure development occurs within the general sys- zations and social partners. Currently, the Act on Pub- tem of regional development and should be specifically lic Education has only a single article on school pro- addressed as such. To ensure that resources are prop- gram requirements, but it could it might suggest erly channeled, the education sector has to play an ac- professional standards. Public education experts play a tive role in formulating regional regulations and con- key role in assessing school programs, but their selec- cepts of development, especially by participating in the tion, qualification, and training need further regulation. work of regional decisionmaking bodies. Vocational The smallest local governments lack the competence education must also be developed with a view to using to approve school programs. External expert assessment resources effectively, which means coordinating its de- is insufficient to compensate for this situation even velopment with the policy and long-term concepts of though a local government could employ an education economic development. official and smaller local governments couldbe granted Broadening and clarifying the tasks of regional some additional compensatory interest negotiation planning would help to begin harmonizing the pro- rights. In general, it would be advisable to strengthen vision of institutions and equipment in Hungarian the role of specially trained and appointed professional public education. The first step should be to compel bodies rather than lay elected bodies. At the same time, school maintainers to define and provide appropri- social partners with vested interests in the high-quality ate current data on educational content, financing, operation of schools could oversee them. infrastructure, employment, and services for all gov- School pedagogical programs are officially public, ernment levels. County public foundations should but they shouldbe available, in detailed form, to a wider then be advised to support surveys and research Hungary 67 projects comparing educational infrastructures and central government could commission regular reports their development. Support of maintainer associa- to verify that its guidelines are being followed. Coun- tions will probably help reduce local costs. ties should be made responsibLe for target groups ig- Communication channels must exist among re- nored by local governments. Regional planning gional planning experts, county public foundation rep- should stress risk groups. Local governments should resentatives, and the central educational government, be legally bound to take preventive measures against which provide professional methodological assistance discrimination. for county planners and resource beneficiaries. County Protecting citizens' equity and quality-related rights public foundations must define application and evalu- requires identifying new institutions to help citizens ation standards for distributing their funds. seek amends-such as a Parliamentary ombudsman The pubLic education sector needs architectural and or jurors specializing in education issues. Citizens also equipment standards. In 1998, a ministerial decree on need better information about current institutional equipment provision was passed that wilL require long- options for protecting rights (such as county public term monitoring. Maintainers will need the training administration offices). and means to comply with quality requirements. The central government must establish national For educational infrastructures to develop effec- equity standards to describe tolerable differences be- tively, regional associations and cooperation among tween schools. Complex indicators are needed to iden- communities mustbe strengthenedbeyond current na- tify target groups and individuals; current statistical tional regulations. A sample association contract of data are insufficient for equity assessment. A new maintainers listing rights, financing, and other respon- system must provide and monitor data on student sibilities of the partners could ensure that the associa- flows, dropout rates, and internal transfers for cen- tions survive their first serious conflicts and dissemi- tral, regional, and local administrations on an ongo- nate successful experiences. ing basis. The central government must spread the practice Every possibility for ensuring student transfers of task financing to help develop school equipment must be explored. This could entail harmonizing pro- provision and upgrade equipment quality. Task financ- grams within a community or region or evaluating in- ing, in contrast to the annual allocation of a lump sum stitutional programs for compliance with the NCC cal- in base financing, means having the school maintainer endar and general transfer requirements. A national establish an annual institutional budget by assigning framework for transferring between primary and sec- lines to each institutional task. ondary levels should be created to limit local govern- Local government officials must be trained to un- ment autonomy without entirely excluding reasonable derstand the advantages of procurement practices. All local solutions. Towns could be legally compelled to equipment couldbe more efficiently provided, particu- pass a public decree to regulate transfers. larly when a maintainer has several schools to reno- A detailed policy for compulsory education, atleast, vate or refurbish. Publishing the experiences of public is needed to increase the transparency and structural procurement, including the stumbling blocks and out- homogeneity of the school system. This policy would standing successes, would be very useful, include uniform names for grades and educational cycles, harmonized financing, common entrance re- Student Enrollments and Flows quirements, unified certificates, strengthened horizon- tal cooperation between schools, and so forth. Larger Student enrollments and systemic progress are closely local governments and regional administrative bodies related to equity and the education of disadvantaged could play larger roles. System transparency could also groups. This issue is one of the most sensitive in the be served by school and career counseling that gives decentralized education system and one of the most individuals the proper infonnation for making deci- difficult to influence. sions about their progress within the educational sys- All administrations and actors mustbe clear about tem. Central, regional, andlocal responsibilities should their specific responsibilities concerning equity. Cen- be clearly delineated, and additional professional and tral responsibilities primarily concern underrepre- financial support should be provided to develop an in- sented or ineffectively represented groups. The formation system. 68 Decentralizing Education in Tratisition Societies Pupils-at least in their first years of schooling- lingual background. Financial stimulants could help should be able to attend school in their home com- raise the normative grant for those lagging behind munity, receive some vocational training, and focus through individual tutoring or remedial courses. Extra on practices that help them obtain a vocational quali- resources and a scholarship program for secondary and fication and choose a career path, perhaps even be- higher education students could also help. fore they take the basic general knowledge examina- Specialized institutions that assume a greater role tion. In lower secondary education, 9th and 10th in dealing with these target groups shouldbe supported graders must be able to attend a school from which through special target programs, such as preschool head they can proceed. Secondary entrance examinations start programs. Increases in student hostel capacity should be limited in number, and transferability could improve access to secondary schooling for stu- should be ensured. dents living in small communities or other target Repeating of grades should be supervised because groups. Corrective institutions and institutions offer- international experience suggests that repeating a ing second chances should be maintained with flex- grade does not help improve student attainment. ible programs. Special pedagogical programs (such as Some practical skills and competencies could also be complex remedial courses in basic skills and speech tested in the basic general knowledge examination. therapy) could help improve social receptivity and tol- In the concluding phase of secondary education, edu- erance and institutional innovative capacity. All of cational content should be more flexibly adjusted to these elements could be built into initial and in- students' career intentions, the demands of higher service teacher education. education and vocational education, and the labor Support policy success depends on disseminating market. To increase the numbers of people complet- and ensuring program quality. Promising initiatives ing upper secondary qualifications, it is important to should be supported, followed up, and analyzed for support adult education institutions where primary cost effectiveness and overall success. Target programs education can be completed and where adults can and earmarked grants mustbe monitored. Traditional obtain the upper secondary school-leaving certificate. research projects should make more thorough analy- Currently, the postsecondary sector helps disadvan- ses of these programs and grants. taged students enter postsecondary schooling, but preparatory programs are needed to help these stu- dents enter university- or nonuniversity-level higher Quality Assurance education. These students should also be supported All actors in the Hungarian educational system con- in preparatory courses. cur that quality assurance is the most important theme Institutional and other mechanisms should be de- of public education development, yet it also is the field veloped to help define long-term economic needs and of least experience. Consequently, it is the easiest area to link them with the education system, particularly in which to create a societal consensus and to propose in regional planning, and with development plans for varied development possibilities. vocational education. Similarly, institutional negotia- Three major principles should be borne in mind. tions, cooperation, and communication should be en- First, a quality assurance strategy requires active cen- couraged to keep schools and individuals informed tral government participation. Second, several actors about changing market needs, particularly in voca- are simultaneously involved. Third, quality assurance tional training. guarantees must be developed to preserve the advan- The current structure for educational responsibil- tages of local responsibility. ity contributes to unequal opportunities in the public The significance of quality and the uncertainties education system. A national strategy is needed to de- involved in resolving the problem require an inde- ploy special means to identify, support, and establish pendent government strategy for a comprehensive an accountability system for disadvantaged groups, such quality assurance system. This means having an over- as the children of the long-term unemployed, those liv- view of research and development in the area and ing in backward regions and communities, or children applicable international experience. It means identi- who are disadvantaged because of their cultural or fying other institutions and actors, establishing a Hungary 69 public consensus about the concept of quality in pub- quality assurance. These programs must be supported lic education, analyzing problems such as content by central and local levels, as well as by the market. regulation or teacher employment, and improving the What are the local institutional aspirations for quality relation between quality assurance and legal or fi- assurance? Which models can be emulated? Answer- nancial regulations. The Act on Public Education ing these questions could mean describing complex entitles the minister of education to create a national quality assurance models and formalizing informal system of institutions responsible for quality assur- control mechanisms that have been used at local, in- ance to complement and ameliorate current institu- stitutional, or interinstitutional levels for internal qual- tions. These institutions would develop assessment ity; feedback among educational levels; enrollment and quality assurance methods and tools. In addition, policy among institutions of the same educational level; they would formulate national standards and indica- and so forth. Replicable experiences could be published tors; compile, systematize, and analyze databases and and fundedby a centrally financed target project. Qual- quality surveys; produce regular reports on the edu- ity assurance must become a widespread social con- cational system, with special attention to macro-level cept. Everyone involved in education, directly and in- processes and intersectoral relations; and participate directly, should be concerned with it. in activities aimed at preserving educational competi- tiveness and meeting European goals on quality. Maintainers need to have their responsibilities clarified and their interest in quality assurance stimu- Scarce resources aggravate problems of inequality, lated, particularly because they now have only mini- quality, efficiency, and transparency. Because public mal responsibility for assessment. They need incen- education financing is built into the overall financ- tives such as central and regional grants and resources ing system of public administration, education financ- for training programs because they simply lack the ing is tied very closely to macrolevel budgetary pro- competence and means to assess institutions. Re- cesses. Whether the issue is raising teacher salaries, sources must be provided on an ongoing basis for ex- developing infrastructure, or properly providing op- ternal assessments so maintainers have external pro- erational costs, the most important measure is deter- fessional support to create and run an ongoing internal mining specific tools within the general system of system of assessment and regular self-evaluation. local government. Developing infrastructure requires The county development plans that came into ef- setting sectoral policy within general regional devel- fect in 1997 and the public foundations that help real- opment policy. ize them could also be used in quality assurance. To The 1996 amendment to the Act on Public Educa- interest public foundations, some central grants pro- tion led to more centrally defined parameters for de- vided for county public foundations could be tied to fining the financial needs of institutional operations. quality assurance objectives. These parameters need to be fuirther developed, tested, When a local government cannot ensure minimally and gradually introduced with respect for actors at the acceptable service, some extraordinary support must lower levels of the system of shared responsibilities be provided by an external expert, a special budgetary and to ensure a consensual response. support, or an individual program or action for insti- Regional planning can be one of the most effec- tutional development. For extreme situations, another tive tools for creating the professional training struc- local government or a private service provider must ture that meets the demands of the economy and for be able to make the transfer of the service possible. forming the institutions required for using the labor Institutions dealing with disadvantaged social groups force more efficiently. If the Vocational Training face serious quality problems. They may need special Fund is to be more efficiently distributed regionally, innovative programs to improve education in disad- the institutional infrastructures of regional planning vantaged communities and schools. must be improved. As local institutional pedagogical programs are cre- An information and statistics system is needed to ated and gain experience, the scope of professional in- provide and monitor information on the basic data of service training programs can be enlarged to improve financial administration and on resource distribution 70 Decentralizing Education in Transitioni Societies to enable the government to see which institutions and objectives of public education. Problems of equity, qual- maintainers follow centrally defined parameters. ity assurance, and efficient use of resources remain, More feedback on financing practices, good solu- however. The great variety of programs and regula- tions, successful models, more efficient administration tory inefficiencies weaken system transparency at or associations, and other local solutions is necessary. many points and can lead to restrictedbasic consumer School heads in particular must be competent finan- rights. cial administrators and must be trained in school man- These problems generally stem from a lack of ad- agement training infrastructure. equate tools or the interplay of interests among the Target and task financing, which complements main actors. Although legislation in the education sec- normative financing, allows the central government tor is more or less adequate, no responsibility is as- to support tasks outside the purview of normative fi- signed for certain functions, or responsibility is as- nancing. These approaches are major tools for com- signed to uninterested or unskilled actors. In some pensating inequalities and for supporting quality- cases, the problems can be solved by creating tools improving innovations. within the existing responsibility assignments. Often, the missing tool is a financial resource. V. Conclusion More important than the lack of resources, how- ever, is the lack of information and preparation, which can be remedied by developing communica- The most important characteristics of educational ad- tion and information systems as well as improved ministration in Hungary are the shared responsibili- training. To operate efficiently, a decentralized sys- ties and the high degree of local autonomy within the tem requires communication, information, and feed- framework of national regulations. Local autonomy back mechanisms. The responsible actors often have and responsibility have considerably enhanced the ca- the necessary tools but are either uninterested or not pacity of the Hungarian public education system to accountable for their responsibility. These problems adapt and innovate in response to changing societal also can be resolved within the system of shared re- needs. In a context of economic decline and public re- sponsibilities. strictions, this system has proven especially useful for Although the Hungarian system of shared respon- bringing in external resources and has encouraged lo- sibilities has evolved over time, the transition is by no cal initiatives. Shared responsibility in education has means over. Several elements of the system are still played a very positive role in developing local democ- too new for the actors to possess the knowledge and racy and individual responsibility in Hungary. Com- skills needed to fulfill their responsibilities or to have petition among schools has contributed to a rise in developed requisite techniques of cooperation and con- educational quality and a broader choice of programs. trol. The learning process may significantly improve Developments in recent years have proven that this the system's capacity to realize the salient objectives system can basically guarantee the most important of public education. 6. Poland Ireneusz Bialecki, Dominik Mytkowski, and Rafal Piwowarskil 1. Introduction2 i. Introduction2 * Lycee (high school)-Four-year schooling track with a selective entrance examination and is the In the 1980s, Poland's entire educational system was school most commonly chosen by those planning highly centralized. At the beginning of the 1990s, the to enroll in higher education process of educational decentralization was started. - Technical-Four-year schooling track that grants In 1992, in the course of the decentralization process, a Technicaloma local governments became responsible for running a technician diploma their own primary schools. In 1994, the Pilot Program * Basic vocational-School for those who do not in- of the Reform of State Administration was launched, tend to go beyond a vocational apprenticeship, establishing bilateral agreements with cities of more which usually provides for a position of a quali- than 100,000 residents for the cities to become re- fied worker. sponsible for most postprimary education and preschooling. In 1996, 46 large cities were obliged to Offering this choice of postprimary schools at the take over lyc6es, technical, and basic vocational age of 14 was believed to largely contribute to an un- schools and most of the educational institutions in equal distribution of educational opportunities (Heyns their area. By the following year, the education sys- and Bialecki 1993). To better equalize educational op- tem had evolved into an administrative mosaic. Mu- portunities, compulsory comprehensive education was nicipalities ran all regular public preschools and pri- extended by one year, and gymnasia were located in mary schools, and approximately one-third of each municipality in rural areas, as intended by the postprimary schools and educational institutions. The 1998 reform. Postsecondary education was not wide- Ministry of National Education (MNE) retained spread: less than one-fifth of all students enrolled. power over teachers' employment (the Teachers' InJanuary 1998, the MNE minister announced a Charter regulation), education programs (unified cur- relatively sweeping reform linked to reforrm of the riculum and textbooks), and the pedagogical supervi- state administration. The effort targeted education sion carried out by provincial superintendents. programs, organization and teaching methods, assess- Before 1998, compulsory primary education began ments and examinations, educational administration, at age seven and lasted for eight years. After gradua- and pedagogical supervision. It shortened compulsory tion fromprimary school, students chose from among education to six years and created a two-tier three types of secondary schools (see table 6.1): postprimary system consisting of three years of gen- eral studies at a gymnasiumr (that is, middle school orjunior high school) and three years of subject study 1. The authors would like to thank Dr. Krystyna at a lycee, leading to several postsecondary options. Filipowicz for observations on financing and Jerzy It defined the core curriculum, public school statutes, Wiceniewski for observations of a more general nature. and preschool programs; approval conditions and pro- 2. Education reform is ongoing in Poland. Analyz- ing governmental arrangements is thus complicated to the cedures for programs, textbooks, and teaching aids; extent that such arrangements are still evolving. parameters for experimental education, testing, and 71 72 Decentralizing Education in Transitioni Societies Table 6.1. Primary School Graduates Studying in Secondarv Schools, 1990-98 1990-91 1995-96 1996-97 1997-98 Type of secondary school Ttal Females Total Females Total Females Total Females Total in secondary education (thousands) 537.6 267.9 603.8 302.2 593.2 296.8 615.0 307.4 Secondary education (percentages) 94.3 93.4 96.6 97.8 96.8 98.0 96.5 97.8 Lyc6e 22.8 33.3 30.5 41.4 31.4 42.1 32.8 43.3 Technical 71.5 60.1 66.1 56.4 65.4 55.9 63.7 54.5 Basic vocational 45.9 31.8 36.1 25.7 34.1 24.1 31.7 22.0 Note: Percentages represent proportion of previous school year's graduates. Data exclude special schools. Source: Rocznik (1998). standards for external examinations; evaluation, for individual subjects and programs, and setting the ranking, and promotion of pupils; and documenta- financing formula. There are two other agents of cen- tion of the teaching process. The minister clearly ar- tral control as well: the Central Examination Commis- ticulated the goals for this comprehensive reform:3 sion, which sets standard requirements for testing at * Providing universal secondary education and sig- different levels of education, and the provincial super- nificantly increasing the number of higher educa- intendents, who act as pedagogical supervisors on be- lion enrollments half of the MNE minister. Many questions and issues * Increasing and equalizing educational access at all remain, however, and the means to resolving these levels need to be determined. Essentially, they call for clari- fying the balance of powers in education, better align- * Reestablishing abalance between the transmission ing education-vocational education in particular- of knowledge, skills training, and personality de- with the labor market, and creating a national velopment evaluation system for schools. * Increasing school autonomy with regard to what to teach and how II. The Education System Today * Promoting teaching quality through new methods of evaluation, career development tracks, and ap- A Brief Review of Different Types of Schools propriately differentiated salaries * Improving educational financingby mncreasingbud- In Poland, educational reform is closely linked to the getaxy outlays and school revenues state administration, which transferred many powers (including educational services) down the line to lo- * Forming partnerships between the school to the cal self-governments. Since the administration reform family and local community. was implemented in 1997, there have been three lev- The central government retains control of the bulk els of self-government in Poland: provincial, district, of educational management (strategic rather than op- and municipal. Rough estimates indicate that from 40 erational), setting a core curriculum that defines skills to 60 percent of all expenditures in municipal and dis- and proficiencies expected at different levels of trict budgets are allocated to educational services. In education, determining the number of teaching hours general, the preschools, primary schools, and gymna- sia are operated and financed by municipalities; sec- ondary schools, vocational schools, counseling, and 3. MNE (1998c). This document outlining the re- guidance are operated and financed by districts; and form, as well as many drafts of the new regulations, can be teacher training institutions are financed by provinces found on the MNE website, http://www.men.waw.p1/. (table 6.2). PolanG 73 Table 6.2. Type of School, 1996 the comprehensive and compulsory education sys- tem and are attended by pupils aged 13 to 16, which Type of school Thousands Percent* * * T.e of-= scho-l Pert -is an intermediate level between primary and sec- Preschool 65.5 11.4 ondary education. Primary 342.6 59.4 A municipality allocates funds to individual Basic vocational 32.3 5.6 schools, and the principal is responsible for their allo- Lycee 37.8 6.5 cation and use. The municipality can provide further financing for school activities, provide extracurricu- Technical 54.6 9.4 lar lessons, increase teachers' salaries over and above Instructional educational 32.3 5.6 state guarantees, increase nonacademic salaries and Other (teacher training, adrnin., aux. inst.) 12.4 2.1 services, and-together with the provincial governor- Total 577.5 100.0 finance educational investments. The provincial governor and school superintendent Source: Author estimates. plan investments for primary education after consult- ing with the provincial council. The MNE establishes Preschools.4 Municipalities determine education ex- outlays for construction based on information from penditures as they see fit. A school director is respon- superintendents' offices and using uniform criteria for sible for expending the funds, but the municipality all provinces. These funds are distributed in consulta- balances the investments for building preschools in tion with the relevant regional school superintendent's its own budget. office under advisement from the provincial council. Parents pay for school aids, pupils' meals, and dues Municipal investment funds are remitted from the for the parents' committee. They can also create a spe- governor's budget. cial account to cofinance current expenditures. Often, Primary schools and gyrmnasia, like other educa- in wealthy areas, parents contribute more money to tional institutions, may create special funds to gener- preschools that ask for extra items, such as dance les- ate tax-free revenues to finance nonsalary expendi- sons, sports, and field trips. tures. The most common mechanism for obtaining extra financing is to rent out space for evening private Primary Schools and Gymnasia On January 1, courses, meetings, and so forth. Parents pay for pu- 1996, the municipalities became responsible for oper- pils' meals, textbooks, and parents' committee dues; ating six-year primary schools. They receive support they may also pay for extracurricular lessons, which from the state education subsidy as part of a general provide supplementary revenue to teachers. subsidy. Originally, the amount allocated to munici- palities was determined on a per pupil basis. This for- Secondary Schools. The 1998 administrative reform mula-based allocation of money to municipalities in- of the state created a new level of self-government: the cluded multipliers for the more expensive types of district. The 1998 educational reform made districts schools: rural, integrated (those that include children responsible for lycee, technical, and basic vocational with handicaps), and national minority schools. The schools. The reformers predict that about 80 percent formula also referred to the number of teachers hired, of the relevant age group wiDl achieve a full secondary their qualifications, and the given ratio of teachers per school certificate (matura-baccalaureate). The lyc6e class. Since 2000, the way the amount allocated to mu- will offer five curriculum profiles: one academic and nicipalities is determined has been simplified (see sec- four offering a basis for further vocational training. In tion entitled Finance that follows). this way, vocational training within secondary educa- Gymnasia are a new type of school introduced tion will be largely removed from the regular system in 1999 by the educational reform. They are part of to vocational courses and on-the-job training.5 4. Preschools provide childcare for children aged 3 to 6. Although attendance by 3- to 5-year-olds has never 5. At present, more than 50 percent of secondary exceeded more than 50 percent of the relevant population, school pupils attend vocational schools of various kinds over 80 percent of the country's 6-year-olds attend preschool. (table 6.1). See Bialecki and Drogosz (1999). 74 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies The district distributes the funds independently Table 6.3. Teachers' Employment Status, to individual schools, where the principal or institu- 1994 and 1996 tion director is responsible for their allocation and use. The provincial governor, in consultation with Employment 1994 1996 status Thousands Percent Thousands Percent the provincial council, distributes investment bud- .. ..... ^. . ... .. gets that city councils ultimately decide how to use Full time 582.1 84.2 577.6 83.3 and redistribute. Appointed 458.9 78.8 465.0 80.5 Parents pay for extracurricular lessons, dues for Unappointed 123.2 21.2 112.6 19.5 the parents' committee, textbooks, and pupils' meals; Part time 109.3 15.8 116.0 16.7 they may cofinance educational investments. Total 691.4 100.0 693.6 100.0 The superintendent of education represents the MNE, is appointed by the governor, and implements Source: Authors. ministerial policy. He or she exercises legal control; evaluates public schools and institutions, including Many experts consider these factors to be an ob- assessing teaching and other activities of the school stacle to reform. After a few failed attempts, a modified and teachers; issues licenses to establish schools; and version of the Teachers' Charter was finally passed in supervises the public schools belonging to municipali- Parliament in April 2000. The most important changes ties, nonpublic schools run by institutions, and pri- affected by this modification were the institution of five vate individuals. The superintendent also operates levels of professional standing-trainee, contract teacher training colleges and the centers for lifelong teacher, appointed teacher, licensed teacher, and pro- learning in his or her province.6 fessor of education-based on evaluation and profes- sional improvement, with the lowest level paid 2.5 times Personnel less than the highest. This resulted in a more differenti- ated salary system, periodic evaluation, and a more flex- The MNE and the Teachers' Charter define teacher ible teaching load of 18 to 26 hours per week. qualifications by type of school. The Teachers' Charter Until now, the basic teacher salary constituted also regulates teacher salaries, appointment rules, ca- about 65 to 70 percent of total pay and depended on reer path, and teaching load.7 Although a teacher's sal- five educational levels and seniority. Teachers moved ary is below the average salary in the national economy, up the salary ladder every two years, independent of the rules of appointment and teaching load constitute the quality of their work. The salary increase based important privileges of the profession and are strongly on seniority was not substantial, however. After 30 defended by powerful teachers' unions, which are over- years of work, the total increase was only around 40 represented in Parliament. In turn, teachers' low and percent. To earn more, teachers could chose to teach not very differentiated salaries, together with the rules overtime (more than the regular 18 hours per week) of their appointment, make it difficult to fire teachers; to a maximum of 26 hours per week, work in special also, the low teaching load makes personnel policy dif- schools and institutions, teach in rural areas, or work ficult and the use of labor resources within a school not toward a vocational specialization degree. very effective (for basic information on composition of A principal can reward good work with an increase the teaching force see table 6.3). of up to 20 percent ofbasic pay (a motivational supple- ment). However, principals tended not to reward the best but to distribute the overtime and bonuses at their 6. Although the superintendent operates teacher disposal evenly, rather than on the basis of merit and training colleges, he or she has no control over the teacher good work.8 Furthermore, evaluation of a teacher's training courses offered at universities because these are au- tonomous institutions of higher education. 7. Teaching load is the limited number of obligatory teaching hours per week, the so-called pensum. At present, 8. Note, however, that good teachers are not em- this is 18 hours inboth primary and secondary schools. More ployed overtime if it requires terninating poorer teachers. teaching hours in a week are defined as overtime; a teacher Preretirement teachers often get overtime work as this in- may accept overtime and is paid extra for these hours. crease serves as the basis for calculating their pension. Poland 75 work was of a formal nature and not linked to Consequently, the MNE has some influence on the quality.Thus, the centrally set rules of payment as well program of study in these teacher colleges. Education as principal policy in distributing rewards did not work majors usually spend some part of their training as to stimulate good performance. student teachers. Provincial superintendents operate The new Teachers' Charter offers more in this re- teacher colleges under their patronage. They can also spect. Salaries are more differentiated, and evaluation manage and fund supplementary teacher training in is more substantial and is linked with rewards. How- provincial centers for teacher improvement. For teach- ever, the use and effectiveness of these instruments ers who want to continue their studies, teaching loads depends on the individual policy and attitude of each can be reduced, or extra leaves can be granted by their principal. principal. The MNE provides specific funds to super- In locally operated schools, teacher salaries are intendents to defray tuition costs for teachers enrolled municipally funded and determined by the school prin- in evening or extramural studies. Recently, some HEIs cipal; the principal also decides how many teachers to have initiated special three-year teacher programs, hire, evaluates them according to MNE regulations, awarding bachelor's degrees to graduates. and may fire poorly performing teachers.9 In disciplines and areas where qualified teachers are in short supply-such as in foreign languages and Teacher Training in rural areas-unqualified teachers are hired although they do not receive permanent appointments. Unquali- Teachers are trained in centrally funded autonomous fied teachers represent an estimated 7 to 9 percent of higher education institutions (HEIs). There are two Poland's teaching staff (see table 6.4). ways to train teachers in HEIs; both entail five-year Principals are selected from the ranks of teachers programs of study: within the various departments (such and are appointed to their post after a competition. A as math or French) offering a special track for teachers screening commission selects the final candidate but or within a department of pedagogy. HEI training has does not exercise any supervision of the principal af- several shortcomings. A frequent criticism is that these ter approval. The composition of the screening com- institutions are rather academically oriented and tend mission is not balanced; it gives too much influence to to focus on a given discipline rather than on how to the teachers' representatives. The superintendent of teach it. Also, HEIs devote little attention to the moral education approves the candidacy, and the local gov- education or psychological training of teachers. More- ermment (municipality or district) authority makes the over, the traditional HEI structure of departments or- appointment if no objections are raised within two ganized around specific disciplines of knowledge does weeks. The superintendent approves the principal's not correspond with the aim of preparing teachers ei- work and teaching staff appointments in schools run ther to teach two subjects or to develop cross- by a local government. curriculum competencies. Due to their statutory au- Locally, municipal offices hire and fire school tonomy, HEIs are free to set the curriculum for teacher principals and approve principals' annual staffing training,andtheMNEhaslittleornoinfluenceonwhat plans for their schools. The local government is taught. The MNE also has no influence regarding the distribution of teaching candidates across the various disciplines. Thus, for some subjects, there is an over- Table 6.4. Teachers' Educational Level, 1996 supply of teachers and a shortage in others. - An alternative way to train teachers is in three- Education level Percentage year teacher colleges. Teacher colleges are higher vo- Secondary and incomplete secondarya 7.6 cational institutions that are not part of the HEI system. Teacher' college Teacber's college 22.8 College (higher vocational schools) 1.1 HEIs 68.5 9. A principal usually terminates poor teachers em- ployed for a specific period at the end of the school year. Total number 577,000 Better teachers resign more often than do poor teachers as a. 1,803 teachers (incomplete secondary). they tend to obtain more attractive jobs. Source: Authors. 76 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies administration works with the superintendent to tests to be administered after every level of education. evaluate a school and its principal; the municipality Tests following primary and gymnasium schooling are oversees finance, personnel, and administration al- intended to serve in orienting and guiding pupils;"' tests though some administrative responsibilities are evalu- after lycee are used both to assign baccalaureate cer- ated jointly with the superintendent, whose area is tificates to school leavers and as an entrance examina- more academic. When evaluations diverge, a team in- tion for HEIs. cluding the superintendent or vice superintendent; Teachers and schools are free either to set their an inspector from the superintendent's office; and own teaching program or to select a ready-made one representatives from the local government, the school proposed by the MNE; they also choose their own text- council, and the school trade union make a joint de- books. The MNE establishes procedures for review- cision. The superintendent has the final say and can ing textbooks and compiles the list of experts autho- close or take over a school if the recommendations rized to do this review work. Textbooks, like the are not implemented. curriculum, are selected in a relatively rigid manner, Nonacademic staff does not fall under the purview yet no measurement system is in place in Poland to of the Teachers' Charter, which gives local govern- determine whether the educational programs or their ments considerable flexibility concerning their work- textbooks are succeeding. ing conditions. Nonteaching staff negotiate their con- Prior to the reform, Poland had no standardized re- tracts through a collective labor agreement with search instruments or any clear criteria for assessing employee trade unions. Principals can hire and fire schools; therefore, no national or provincial student them, can define their salaries, and can also assign them assessment was possible. School inspections carried out to training courses. Municipalities train school book- by the provincial superintendent's office were formal keepers, administrative workers, and so forth. in nature to determine whether the class sizes, grades, programs, textbooks, and teacher qualifications were Curriculum, Quality Control, and Teacher as prescribed by law and regulations; they did not as- Training sess the actual quality of school work. The superinten- dent ensured that compulsory school requirements were The MNE defines the core curriculum for each sub- observed, oversaw teaching, and assessed teaching and ject, grade, and type of school and the distribution of teachers' working conditions, schools, and teachers' teaching hours among the subjects or groups of sub- educational and other activities. The superintendent's jects being taught. The core curriculum describes the school inspector reports were not made public. Simi- skills and knowledge that should be imparted within larly, there were entrance examinations to secondary a given area. In the first three years of primary school, schools and HEIs, but entrance and exit exams were learning is integrated; there is no distinction among prepared and organized by the schools themselves with subjects. In the remaining three years of primary no reference to standardizedinstruments. Consequently, school and in the gymnasium, subjects are taught in fair grades in good schools represented better proficiency blocks. Lycee teaching is organized by traditional than good grades in bad schools. subject categories. More specifically, lycees can choose In summary, all the assessment instruments-en- from amongfive curriculumprofiles:'0 academic, tech- trance and exit exams, grades, and the proportion of nological, agricultural and ecological, social, and arts those passing internal exams-had little objective and culture. value. Grades referred to the group average and were The MNE has established the Central Examina- not comparable from school to school. Neither objec- tion Commission, which defines standard require- tive assessments of the school nor of the pupil were ments relevant to the core curriculum and prepares possible. 11. This is the MNE's declared intent; however, fears 10. Actually, the local self-government chooses the that these test results, rather than entrance examinations, lycee profile in accordance with the needs of the local job can be used for selecting pupils and ranking schools seem market. justified. Poland 77 Up to now, the MNE centrally defined curriculum able 6.51Fndin for Education details and teaching were based on the same textbooks across the country. Principles of internal (within School Main source offunding school) student assessment and promotion to consecu- Preschool Municipality tive grades were strictly defined, but there was no re- Primary Municipality liable, objective, and standardized tool for assessing Gymnasium Rural and urban municipalities schools or pupils. Now the reform has introduced the Secondary: lyale and reverse situation. Schools have more latitude regard- vocational, some ing what to teach and how, and the assessment instru- postsecondary Rural and urban districts ments are objective, standardized, and comparable Teacher training colleges, from school to school. including prof. improvement institutions, some postsecondary, Finance and centers for lifelong and adult education Provincial self-government Money for education comes from two different sec- Branch postprimary Ministry tions of the central budget: a general subsidy for local Source: Authors. governments and investments. The educational sub- sidy is part of a general subsidy allocated to munici- palities and districts. It constitutes no less than 12.8 metropolitan municipalities in particular have substan- percent of planned state revenues for the given year. tially increased the subsidy with their own funds al- Money is distributed and sent from the Ministry of though approximately 500 typical rural municipalities Finance to self-government accounts in 13 equal in- with small budgets did not spend their entire subsidy stallments.i2 Money for investments comes from the on current operating expenses. investment portion of the central budget as a special- Municipalities are free to set their own rules for purpose donation calculated on the basis of MNE esti- allocating money to schools (see table 6.6). Case stud- mates and distributed to the provinces. These estimates ies carried out in five municipalities (two urban and are based on reports from the provincial superinten- three rural) in 1999 indicated that these rules differ. dent. Often money is allocated to given provinces un- Some local governments may pay on the basis of the der the condition that the local government cofinances budget outlay sent by the school; others may use last the investment with its own funds. Municipalities and year's school budget; some may take into account the districts usually add money from their own revenues.23 amount expended on teachers' salaries; and still oth- Municipalities finance all institutions up to and ers may use the per pupil formula set by the MNE including preschools, primary schools, and the newly (Drogosz 1999). introduced gymnasia, which municipalities now op- Schools can rent out their facilities to raise addi- erate (see table 6.5). As the independent allocator of tional funds for current expenses other than salaries. funds, the municipality has a great deal of freedom in Earning potential varies greatly among educational defining aggregate educational outlays and their use institutions that range from the privileged large urban for each institution. National data for primary schools institutions to the less privileged rural schools. in 1996 (the first year in which local governments were In the wake of debate and implementation of re- required to operate all primary schools) indicate that forms, the rules for funds allocation are becoming more wages and maintenance, with the exception of invest- simplified. The new rules for school financing issued ments, on average exceeded by 11 percent the state by the MNE for the year 2000 are the same for mu- educational subsidy sent to municipalities. The rich nicipal primary schools and gymnasia, district second- ary schools, and provincial teacher training schools. The educational subsidy, as part of the general sub- 12. Inc Polad the soalstsper yees sidy for municipalities, districts, and provinces, is cal- have received their salaries in 13 installments per year (an cuae bae ontenme fpuisadwihe extra payment is made in March). culated based on the number of pupils and weighted 13. See the MNE website http://www.men.waw.pl/. based on different pupil categories. The basic amount 78 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies Table 6.6. Current Operating Expenses per Pupil in in primary schools were higher than in secondary Primary Education by Type of Municipality, 1998 schools and varied considerably across vocational schools and districts because they were calculated ar- Exp. per pupil bitrarily and the use of teacher labor was not very Municipality Population (zloties) Municipality:^~~~- Population -_~~~ _~~~ (oe ~~~- ~~ -~^-~--=~^~ ~-effective (see table 6.7). It is believed that setting a Urban 2 100,000 1,816 weight of 1.33 for rural pupils will lead to optimiza- 50,000-99,999 1,687 tion of the school network, replacing small and more 20,000-49,999 1,668 expensive schools in rural areas with larger and less 10,000-19,999 1,661 expensive schools. The subsidy no longer depends 5,000-9,999 1,718 on teacher qualifications, number of teachers, or other employees hired. < 5,000 2,140 Urban, total 1,728 Mixed: rural-urban > 20,000 1,851 Table 6.7. Pupil/Teacher Ratio by 5,000-19,999 1,979 Tv e of School, 1996 < 5,000 2,177 Type of school Pupil/teacher ratio Mixed: rural-urban, total 1,957 Primary 14.6 Rural 2 10,000 2,166 Lycee 18.9 5,000-9,999 2,210 Secondary technical 15.9 < 5,000 2,275 Basic education 21.4 Rural, total 2,226 Source: Authors. Country average 2,101 Source: Golab and Leszczyfiski (1999). Municipalities and districts set their own rules of allocation based on history, pupil numbers, or a combi- for primary schools, gymnasia, and lycees is the same. nation of these factors."5 For the year 2000, it is 1,930 zloties (around US$470) Municipalities and districts subsidize at least 50 per pupil per year. In this way, the oft-cited principle percent of operating expenses per pupil in all nonstate that the money follows the pupil is implemented."4 educational institutions. The subsidy is determined for The formula applied uses 14 categories of pupils each school. Supplementary financing in individual and corresponding weights to reflect variation in the municipalities and districts varies according to ex- costs of teaching. The most important of those penses incurred from public sources and therefore in- weightings are rural area, 1.33 per pupil; small city, directly reflects a community's affluence. 1.18; and vocational school, 1.15. Nonstate school pu- The per capita financing of 50 percent of average pils are weighted at -0.50 and receive only 50 percent operating expenses of public schools, remitted in of the state school financing amount. Weighting is be- monthly lump sums, is much lower than the actual ing introduced for optimizing a school network (- expenses incurred for private education. This is un- 1.30); the underlying assumption is that closing down derstandable, given that private schools have gener- small schools and organizingbussing for pupils requires ally higher standards and better conditions. Not only extra money. is the 50 percent subsidy insufficient, it is also diffi- The MNE cites rationalization of expenditures cult to obtain. Applications must be filed a year be- to explain these changes in the method of allocating fore the beginning of the targeted school year, must the educational subsidy. Until now, per pupil costs specify enrollments, and must include a pledge to 14. This money is also referred to as an educational 15. See the MNE website http://www.men.waw.pl/ voucher. for new regulations and archives. Poland 79 inform local government about changes and to make that recruit the weakest proportion of primary (el- monthly reports. Many private and institutional ementary) school leavers.'8 Many rural schools are school owners complain of frequent delays. small primary schools that do not cover all grades or have too few pupils.17 Teaching here is more expen- Ill. Problems and Solutions sive because teachers' work cannot be used effec- tively. It also gives poorer results; rural graduates are more often unemployed than are urban graduates. Policymaking in education today is determined almost Average class size and student/teacher ratios are exclusively by the administration and the powerful lower than in urban areas; thus, per capita costs for teachers' trade unions. The labor market, employers, vocational students are higher than for lyc6e students. pupils, parents, and higher education institutions have Postprimary schools in rural areas are mostly of the too little say in educational matters. As the process of lower level vocational type, but lycees are overwhelm- decentralization unfolds, the center will continue to ingly located in urban areas.18 The network of define educational policy and will need a sound infor- postprimary schools does not satisfy the needs of ru- mation system to assess national needs. The MNE will ral development; there are too few lycees and techni- also continue to be responsible for the Teachers' Char- cal schools. Many rural postprimary schools are lower ter and the issues pertaining to teacher training and level agricultural schools that prepare pupils for un- qualification, core curriculum, definition of financial needed specialties. formulas, and distribution of funds to local self- Replacing small schools with less numerous larger governments. Because education is a public good, it lies ones will increase the distance between schools. Ef- with the central powers to ensure the appropriate bal- fective busing for pupils in rural areas should be orga- ance of influence by different stakeholders in such a nized. This involves developing the road network and way as to promote common interests without the domi- public transportation, making more minibuses avail- nance of those who have greater bargaining power. able to municipalities and schools, increasing the num- bers of properly trained drivers, organizing waiting Optimizing the School Network: Urban Versus rooms in schools, and furnishing meals. In very thinly Rural Schools populated regions, busing routes must be organized to avoid overly long bus rides. Poland, with a population of around 38.5 million people-38 percent of whom live in rural areas-is divided into 16 provinces, approximately 300 districts, 16. ADecember1998surveyofstudentsshowedthat and 2,486 municipalities; of these latter, 1,602 are ru- students in predominantly rural lower level vocational ral, 316 are urban, and 568 are of a mixed rural-urban schools scored lower than urban students. The 17-year-olds nature. An urban district has approximately 80 pri- attending secondary lower level vocational schools scored mary schools and 24 gymnasia; a rural district has ap- lower on average in numeracy, information handling, and proximately 16 primary schools and 8 gymnasia. The critical thinking compared to elementary school students three years younger. This suggests a negative selection dur- MNE estimates an average of 10 primary schools and ing the transition from elementary to lower level vocational 3 gymnasia in urban municipalities, compared with 2 schools; these latter schools are being chosen by the weak- primary schools and a single gymnasium in the aver- est elementary school graduates (Bialecki and others 1999). age rural municipality (MNE 1998b). 17. In 1997-98, of 19,299 primary schools, 1,440 had The school network is plagued with several prob- fewer than 80 pupils and fewer than 10 pupils per class (Gazeta Wyborcza 1999). The Central Statistical Office sur- lems, particularly in rural areas. The rural school net- vey conducted in September 1999 indicates that 18 percent work needs extensive transformation. Many schools of average municipal schools have fewer than 100 pupils, need to be closed, and many larger vocational/tech- and that in 30 percent of all communities, the average class nical schools need to be transformed into either gym- size is under 18 (MNE 2000a). nasia or lyc6es. This is because of the excessive costs 18. "More than 98 percent of the pupils of general edu- cation lycees are pupils of urban schools, whereas 38 per- entailed in running small schools and because of the cent of Poles live in the countryside" (MNE and Ministry of poor quality of teaching in rural vocational schools Agriculture and the Food Economy 1999, p. 12). so Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies Poverty and the difficulties of brokering different or mechanisms exist for making local policymakers interests, however, make it hard to introduce change accountable to a broader range of stakeholders. in the poorer rural municipalities, which must, none- theless, address rationalization. Some small primary Quality and Relevance of Education schools should be closed but are not because parents, teachers, or both are actively opposed to the closure."9 Education policy lays out educational goals and an Some other rural primary schools ought to be changed evaluation and monitoring system to measure how well into gymnasia. the system functions and how well goals are achieved. The plan to replace the existing school system with Monitoring and educational research supply policy- a six-year primary school, a general three-year gym- makers and stakeholders with the data and indicators nasium, and a three-year lycee leading to the second- that help in reaching consensus regarding the goals ary school certificate will give rural youth more op- pursued and that provide support for policymaking.22 portunity for further education by making schools Yet pedagogical supervision today consists primarily more accessible to them. Fourteen-year-olds will no of verifying whether teachers abide by the prescribed longer have to select lycee, technical, or vocational number of hours per subject or the teaching program, schools, and the early, sharp segregation by social back- yet skills taught, the effectiveness with which they are ground and school achievement will thereby be elimi- taught, and their utility for pupils go largely ignored. nated. Reformers plan to have most students move to A monitoring and evaluation system is essential to a secondary lycee from the gymnasium. measure not only the success of education, but the suc- Local governments must pursue appropriate edu- cess of reform as well. cational policy that better uses resources and reduces Poland's long-standing student and school assess- differences in educational achievement, yet local gov- ment mechanisms are very formal and subjective and ernments have problems in administering education, do not allow for comparisons. There has been no including the ability to make the decision to rational- mechanism to define real educational outcomes. If stu- ize the school network.20 Indeed, many municipali- dents cannot be evaluated, it is similarly difficult to ties failed to close schools with few students, ratio- evaluate teachers. The student assessment system lacks nalize teachers' work, or plan for a more rational use standardized criteria and an external, independent of human resources in general. Weak, inefficient lo- control and monitoring system. Moreover, no suitable cal educational policy seems to result from poorly pre- channels of communication exist between schools and pared local government staff who give teachers' in- consumers of educational services. This gap in insti- terests too much weight.2" Additionally, no procedures tutionalized cooperation between the school system and its partners makes it difficult to adapt the defini- tion and indicators of educational quality to their ex- 19. In some municipalities, parents have organized pectations. protests and strikes, occupying the school buildings threat- The lack of clearly defined assessment criteria ened with closure. means that similar student skill levels differ among 20. In June 1999, the United Nations Development schools. Without assessment tools, no schools, teach- Programme and the World Bank commissioned a survey in six communities and two districts of heads, treasurers, and ers, textbooks, teaching programs, principals, or su- education administrators of local governments. The survey perintendents can be compared. team gathered and analyzed education-related documents from school superintendent offices and municipalities. The resulting report dealt with the new responsibilities in mu- schools, which naturally is opposed to closure and generally nicipalities and districts that had resulted from the reform. tends to protect teachers' jobs. This consultation does not It also addressed rationalization of the school network, which make elimination of ineffective schools an easy task. involved closing small schools and organizing gymnasia. The 22. For instance, a survey measuring functional lit- study showed that district governments are still in the pro- eracy conducted in Poland in 1995 initiated debate in the cess of organizing. Although most district staff have no ex- country as to what should be the outcomes of education: perience in education management, districts now run sec- academic knowledge or practical skills. It was ultimately ondary schools. See Drogosz (1999). agreed that testing cross-curricular skills should be a good 21. Manycommunitiesmakedecisionsregardingschool indicator of school work. For information on the survey, closings in consultation with the council ofprincipals oflocal see OECD and Statistics Canada (1995). Poland 81 The role of provincial superintendents and their been created. The commissions have already defined staff was to inspect schools, but their task was of a standardrequirementsasthebasisforexaminationsand formal nature. They were checking whether schools will analyze the results and will submit annual achieve- operate in accordance with the law. More specifically, ment reports to the MNE. The commissions will also they were checking class size, school programs, grades, prepare and disseminate teacher programs on evalua- and whether pupils were given examinations fre- tion and examination, maintain a registry of examin- quently enough. Pupils and parents informally rate ers, and promote scientific studies and innovations in schools on the basis of the success of their graduates evaluation and examination. The provincial commis- in entering preferred secondary and higher schools. sions will prepare, conduct, and analyze tests and final Schools are not required to reveal the success rates of examination results; transmit the information to pro- their graduates; some municipalities and cities attempt vincial superintendents; and train examiners. to use these assessments to informally rank second- The proposed system reflects an effort to shift ary schools.23 evaluation from its current focus on pupil screening The reform proposes three standardized tests based to an instrument for guiding the learning process. Un- on nationally comparable standard requirements: at the fortunately, the proposed system does not involve feed- end of primary school (sixth grade), after gymnasium back, which the teachers and pupils need. Moreover, completion, and upon graduation from the lycee (the it is still possible that tests administered at the end of baccalaureate or matura examination). This last test can each level of education will continue to serve as a se- also serve as an entrance examination to higher educa- lection tool and entrance exam. tion. Both the primary school completion test and the external assessment administered upon completion of The Changing Roles of Key Actors gymnasium schooling will help orient pupils by evalu- ating their knowledge, skill levels, and aptitudes. Only The actors influencing the functioning of education the matura wil serve as a selection tool. operate at different levels of administration and exer- Standardizing student assessment is the most ad- cise their influence in different ways. Some are insti- vanced of the reform projects. A new secondary school tutionalized; some are not. Those worth analyzing at certificate program reflecting this standardization seeks this point in time include to harmonize examination requirements and evalua- * Parents and pupils tion criteria. The new secondary school final exam * Local self-government will include internal and external written components administered at testing centers. Student achievement * The superintendent and his or her staff should be measured with respect to a specific stan- * Teachers dard. The planned hierarchy of requirements includes two levels of lycee final examinations. The lower level * School principals would cover useful basic knowledge and skills; a higher * The advisory boards and councils that make rec- level examination would be required for pupils plan- ommendations and influence decisionmaking, in- ning to enroll in advanced studies. cluding the teacher councils operating at the school To implement the proposed standardized national level (pedagogical councils); school councils com- system of tests and examinations, a Central Examiina- posed of teachers, parents, and other school-level tion Commiission and eightprovincial commiissions have stakeholders; and educational councils operating at the self-government level (note that these latter two types of councils are optional, and, in most 23. As opportunity in the job market and salary de- cases, are either not established or are inactive). pend more and more on the type and level of education achieved, education and choice of school are increasingly With the reform, more responsibility for educa- seen as an investment. That is why ranking secondary tional decisions has come to rest at the local authority schools, and lycees in particular, is becoming more popular level. Local authorities allocate money to schools and in response to growing expectations among parents and pu- pils. There are now many journals that publish their own appoint school principals. Together with the superin- school rankings for a given province or large city. tendent, they share the power of opening and closing 82 Decentralizing Ediucatio in Transition Societies schools. However, they do not seem well prepared to among schools in terms of quality and learning out- take over these responsibilities; this is especially true comes. In general, then, parental expectations exacer- for districts, the newly created level of self-government. bate rather than mitigate against inequity at this level. The new education law must clearly define the On the other hand, parental expectations also influ- principal's role and balance the responsibilities and ence public opinion and the debate arising around edu- powers of principals with adequate means and a clear cation. Thus, at this level, the issue of equity-one of system and hierarchy of accountability. the declared objectives of the education reform-may A principal has more autonomy and more respon- obtain more support as well as result in lobbying to sibility than in the past for the quality of a school's spend more on education. work and for building and allocating resources to Teachers influence the functioning of education at achieve the best educational outcomes. If financing is different levels and in different ways. Teacher unions based on per capita instruction costs, the principal's operate at the central level. Their representatives are in powers should be sufficient to give him or her some Parliament, both in the governing coalition as well as in leverage in manipulating various parameters -instruc- the opposition. The MNE is drafting new legislation tional hours and numbers of pupils and teachers-to that it will send to the teachers' union for comment. get the best results. Within budgetary and regulatory Teachers are represented in the commissions that se- constraints, the principal should be able to hire and lect and appoint school principals. Fina1ly, the pedagogi- fire staff; define teachers' employment, teaching load, cal councils that review principal policies are made up salary, evaluation, and promotion; and establish prin- of the teachers that work at the given school. ciples of cooperation with other schools.24 Because they The pedagogical council, the local self-government, are selected by a commission in which teachers have the superintendent, and the local educational council the majority of votes and are drawn from the ranks of check the powers of the principal, whose accountabil- the teacher corps, principals rarely challenge the ity should be based on student achievement. The peda- teacher workforce or the teacher unions. Merit raises, gogical council can move to fire a principal, define the for example, are rarely implemented. rules and regulations of a principal's activity, and ex- Parental expectations may influence educational press opinions on requests to grant awards and on the policy in two ways. Parents are organized in parental draft school budget. The reform proposes using vol- committees operating at the classroom level. At this untary bodies-school councils and educational coun- level, they can and do exert pressure regarding the cur- cils-to influence policymaking. Today, their role is riculum, quality of teaching, extra lessons (such as in consultative and advisory; they submit proposals on foreign languages or computer skills), and so forth. issues on which they wish to take a position or to ex- However, parents who hope to obtain the best pos- press an opinion. An amended law increases the scope sible education for their children tend to develop and of council authority to expressing an opinion on local implement individual strategies rather than incite col- government budgets and on decisions concerning the lective actions. Parents lend their support to the prin- school network (MNE 1998a). ciple of freedom in choosing a school, but only those An educational council is to be established at the in wealthier, urban areas benefit from implementa- discretion of the municipality, district, or provincial tion of this principle. Free choice of schools and re- assembly, which will also determine its composition quests for better education may lead to differentiation and the procedures for appointing members and for defining the rules governing its activity. By the end of 24. This would mean abandoning statutory teaching 1998, only one provincial unit had created an educa- loads and overtime. The principal knows how teachers di- tional council; in most municipalities and districts, edu- vide their time among lessons, preparation, and nonteach- cational councils have not been organized. ing duties and should assign teaching duties without exceed- No institution represents the interests of the wider ing generally accepted working norms. Trade unions should group of consumers of educational services, though, ensure that workloads are reasonable. After being appointed, which is a particular problem in rural areas where li- a teacher can be dismissed ornly for disciplinary reasons or braries, community centers, higher education institu- after two negative evaluations. The procedure is complicated and slows action considerably. Evaluation procedures can tions, and so forth, are few and far between. The edu- undo negative assessments. cation management system has no institution that cIa.ri 83 holds the school principal accountable to the different However, neither the legal nor financial instruments educational consumers. Such an institution could also at the superintendent's disposal seem sufficient to in- formulate a comprehensive provincial education fluence policymaking atboth the school and local gov- policy, translate it into clearly defined tasks for schools, ernment levels, paTticularly when neither level is in- and thereby hold principals accountable. terested in the changes recommended by the At present, neither school, education council, nor superintendent. local councilors fill the active role of holding local edu- Educational councils could serve as an agency for cational policymakers accountable. To some extent, this local monitoring and accountability that are able to co- is the role ascribed to the superintendent and his or her ordinate and meet the expectations of the various stake- staff that represent the MNE in each province. The holders involved without yielding control to either teach- superintendent's primary task is to supervise teaching ers or parents. These councils could still make local and to encourage pedagogical innovation. Together with policymakers and principals accountable to all stake- inspectors, the superintendent can make recommenda- holders in defining quality and educational goals. tions to the principal for response within a given time; A completely modified educational council could if this deadline elapses, the superintendent may press play a key role in monitoring and evaluation. It could the local government to remove the principal. Also, the combine the prerogatives of the competition commis- local government can only close a school with the sions in terms of selecting schlool principals with the superintendent's approval (MNE 1998a). functions of the supervisory bodies that hold princi- The local self-governmentverifiesbudgetimplemen- pals accountable. The council makeup would have to tation but has no power to supervise teaching. The law represent the consumers of educational services, which proposes differentiation of the work of the superinten- means reducing the current influence of trade unions dent and the local self-government, but sound adminis- and representatives of pedagogical councils-teach- trative assessment is difficult without substantive crite- ers-in favor of parents and pupils, local government, ria. What is the best division of powers between the local communities, the local labor market (employers superintendent and the local self-government? Regard- and employment offices), and the superintendent. Rep- ing teaching, should the superintendent act through the resentatives of local government, local consumers of local self-government, as the reform proposes, and the educational services, and the superintendent's office local self-government act through the superintendent would occupy more than half the positions on the coun- in didactic (pedagogical) matters? The superintendent cil; the other seats would be distributed to representa- also prepares summary reports on education in his or tives of teacher groups and trade unions. Unllike the her province. How objective, and for how long, can a current school councils that operate in the school area, provincial appointee be in an area subordinate to him these new educational councils would be located at or her for which he or she will be held accountable, the municipal or district level, depending on local con- particularly because office staff would include school ditions, such as the density of the school network, the supervisors? financial options of local government units, the spe- New regulations are planned for the super- cific features of the local labor market, and so forth. intendent's office. These will define the principles The council's area should be sufficiently large for an and procedures for delegating supervision to quali- autonomous educational policy and for the coordina- fied persons, creating training programs on pedagogi- tion of tasks in the local area. The number of educa- cal supervision, and establishing new legislation on tional councils in a province would be determined af- the principles of pedagogical supervision and the or- ter the school network has been rationalized. ganization of the superintendent's office. Supervisors In small towns or rural districts with low-density will rely, as planned in the reform, on appropriate school networks, this would reduce operating costs be- tests and indicators. cause the council could conduct comprehensive educa- The powers of the superintendent remain unclear tional policy for primary and secondary schools. The and not well balanced. He or she is to report to the district perspective also makes it easier to link educa- MNE on the status of education in his or her prov- tional policy to local labor market needs. The drawback ince; he or she is also supposed to advise local gov- is the distance of the council from the municipalities ernment and to make recommendations to the school. that run the schools and from. the schools themselves. 84 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies For urban municipalities that operate many schools, only poor students become teachers, low salaries and especially for those in large agglomerations, educational requirements, and relatively poor teacher education, councils would effectively supervise the work of a lim- suggest that negative selection in relation to the teach- ited number of schools. For municipalities that run one ing profession does exist. In general, high-achieving or two schools and that provide services to a neighbor- secondary school graduates enroll in courses other than ing municipality, the two municipalities could agree to teacher training at universities, and the weakest stu- run their schoolsjointly. The prerogatives of educational dents chose pedagogical tracks. Long-range strategies councils should make it possible to are needed to change this. Policy must also be formu- * Define a provincial educational policy, including rec- lated with trade unions, salaries must be raised, re- ommendations on education, its relation to the labor cruitment to higher education and teacher training market, coordination of educational institutions, ad- must be changed, and the principles of professional ditional training, and school network corrections recruitment and the career ladder must be modified. The reform proposes most of these changes in the or Hireandu fireascholprincipals and recetantive ans revised Teachers' Charter. In the amended law, local self-governments will employ teachers. This will facili- * Inform local government and other partners of tate rationalizing employment at all levels. However, if school activities local self-governments employ teachers and the MNE * Make contacts with the national monitoring unit, defines their salaries, the balance of power may be up- set. Teachers' trade unions negotiate working condi- mendiatin barentwe localngovernment the pruperin-tions with the central government although substan- tendent, parents, and the principal. tive requirements or job content should be settled with Three important questions concerning educational the local self-government and the school principal. councils need to be addressed: There were an average of 14.9 pupils per teacher * What should be their relationship to local govern- in Polish primary schools in 1999. If this ratio were ments that operate schools in their area? Should increased to 20 pupils, the total number of teachers full-time employees be appointed and paid by local hired could be reduced 25 percent.25 This would re- self-governments? duce overall operating costs by 21.7 percent, assum- • What prerogatives should the educational councils ing teacher salaries are held steady. To achieve this have in financing education in the area subordi- result, class size needs to be increased, and changes nate to them? Should the be able to express opin- need to be made to the school network. Alternatively, natetothem?Souldthy beabletoepresspithe teaching load could be increased; in this case, the ions on the disbursement of local self-government reduced number of teachers could ear more. How- money for education? Should they have their own ever, the revised Teachers' Charter makes dismissal small fund to provide additional financing for spe- of appointed teachers difficult, and the standard teach- cial tasks? Should they have a decisive influence on te ditribtionof mney or eucaton i theing load is set at 18 hours per week. A maximum of 8 provinhe? Thetriiol of moneyforeducational c is w d hours of overtime (for a total work week of 26 hours) beoveryimited ifTtheyroe oul evualuate,crecommend, may be introduced only as part of a special contract be very limited if they could evaluate, recommend, agreed to by the teacher. and formulate educational policy in their area, but Ag t the teachera ' ~~~As teachers' salaries gradually meet and exceed they could not influence finances or other means the national average, they should be regulated by the to implement their recommendations. labor code; special regulations such as those included * What should be the relationship of the superinten- in the Teachers' Charter seem not tobe needed. Abol- dent, as representative of the central administra- ishing the unnecessarily rigid and low teaching load, tion, to the educational councils? which limits the rational use of labor and teacher The Teaching Profession 25. In 1999 in all primary schools, there were The status and remuneration of teachers need improve- 3,887,042 pupils, and 260,611 teachers were hired (MNE ment. Although there is no documentary proof that 2000b). Poland 85 qualifications, and widening salary ranges would quickly and adequately. Contracts between local au- make it possible to pay higher salaries to better teach- thorities and provincial colleges would help in better ers, to employ better teachers for more hours, and to forecasting teaching needs, provide additional fund- enable some teachers to work in two schools or part ing for the teacher specializations in shortest supply, time. The principal should be free to use teachers' and provide further funding for public and nonpublic time within the current regulatory framework. Proper colleges. Graduates enrolled in funded specializations accountability will guarantee that teachers are not would have to teach in their area or reimburse the costs exploited and will enable principals to drop the equal of their education.27 remuneration policy presently encouraged by vari- In thinly populated rural areas, teachers should ous teachers' representatives and councils. be prepared to teach two subjects, which would in- Principal salaries, which are virtually the same as crease their course loads in college. Combining classes teacher salaries, shouldbe resultsbased, such as a prod- could be another solution and would teach pupils how uct of student test score increases, budget use, and re- to cooperate and would help them develop teamwork cruitment. Assessment done by the educational coun- skills that are often difficult to inculcate in large cil should be based on annual, standardized school classes. Municipal authorities and school principals reports and on the school's added value, that is, the should agree on how to employ teachers in rural increase in average scoring between those entering and schools. Municipalities must define commuting con- leaving school.26 ditions on the basis of existing organizations and Teacher education programs and philosophy must available finances, but busing should be only one el- also be revisited. Teacher training within and outside ement of a solid rural education. In areas with dis- the university system is not always suited to the needs persed settlements and small schools, teacher sched- of primary and secondary schools, nor does the teacher ules should be organized to allow them to travel to training system train teachers to work in rural schools two or three small schools rather than having to bus with combined classes. University schools recruit the students. In this way, specialists would be available largest number of students to teacher training courses, for each subject and full-time employment issues butprograms of courses reflect their own staff strengths would be resolved. Local self-governments would rather than the actual needs of schools of different types have to support these solutions with attractive loans and levels. Graduates very often do not go on to be- and give teachers credits to buy cars. Naturally, those come teachers. The MNE should be responsible for responsible for education in local government should teacher training programs, and teacher colleges and first be trained in how to deal with these issues and lecturers should have only a limited role in formulat- should obtain adequate information on the schools ing these programs. In general, teachers enrolled at under their administration. the university are better trained in the discipline to be taught, but teacher colleges located outside the uni- Financing versity system train teachers better in how to teach. Autonomous institutions of higher education, re- Beginning in the year 2000, local governments will sponsible for recruiting students and for developing receive an educational subsidy calculated on the basis curriculum, should teach future teachers to function of number of pupils taught and weighted for the cost in virtually any context. Teachers must learn to be differences of various educational services provided. more innovative and to be prepared for pedagogical The special-purpose donation has been eliminated; processes rather than subjects. They should learn to even expenditures for equipment and rationalization use computers. of the school network will be covered by weighted en- The MNE and local self-government authorities rollments. Teacher qualifications are not included in must design adequate policy for training managers the algorithm and do not change the allocations to lo- cal governments. 26. Standardized national tests will be administered at the beginning and end of each level oflearning. This should 27. The most common shortages exist for teachers of enable calculation of the added-value indicator. foreign languages and math. Educational institutions will continue to be fi- add more money than the norm? This practice may nanced by local self-government, whereas salaries- increase the inequity in achievement between rural which account for approximately 85 percent of the and urban pupils, which is already substantial as indi- entire budget-are set by the Teachers' Charter and cated by test scores. regulations on public school teachers. Central regula- Whether the algorithm weights really will ratio- tions determine how a considerable part of the budget nalize expenditures and diminish inequalities remains is disbursed; neither the principal nor the local self- to be seen. It might be more effective to give poorer government has any influence in this regard. districts a greater share of the taxes collected in their Self-governing provinces will be responsible for areas. At present, taxes that are collected go to the cen- teacher training institutions and public and private in- tral budget and are then sent back to be allocated to service teacher training, pedagogical libraries, and pro- local self-government. Many observers feel that a sim- vincial institutions; they will also be able to operate pler and less expensive solution would be to finance other types of educational institutions on a voluntary education and other public services directly from lo- basis. The new provinces will take control of the net- cal taxes, and that other revenues could be collected work of public lifelong learning and on-the-job train- and kept locally. On the other hand, the merit of the ing centers, which should be adapted to the new struc- principle of the educational standard introduced in ture to avoid having some institutions financed at the 2000 is that it simplifies the rules of payment and provincial rather than district level in accordance with makes educational policy more transparent for all the the level of service provision. local actors involved. The province will receive money, as do munici- palities and districts, on the basis of unit costs and Vocational, Continuing, and Lifelong Education number of pupils. All local self-government authori- ' -' L ties will determine the conditions for financing edu- cation in their area according to the principles laid out During the Socialist period of 1950-80, more than 70 in their ratifiedbudgets. The local self-government will percent of primary school graduates enrolled in some provide schools with funds for current expenses. sort of vocational training. Vocational secondary The principle of educational standard costs and schools were primarily preparing workers and techni- weights has its normative side, however. It is assumed cians for heavy industry. In the 1990s, the proportion that it will motivate local government to make spend- of those enrolled in secondary vocational education ing more rational: decrease labor costs, close small and decreased (see table 6.1). Often-cited evidence dem- more costly schools, and replace them with those where onstrates that vocational training is more costly than all the parameters (class size, teaching loads, and so general education and that there are more unemployed forth) yield unit costs relevant to the standard multi- among graduates of vocational schools than of lycees.25 plied by 30 percent. It also sets the value of vocational Cooperation between superintendent and princi- training as 18 percent more costly then general educa- pal offices on the one hand and provincial labor of- tion and encourages local governments to eliminate fices, trade union representatives, and employers on vocational programs that are more expensive. the other is now virtually nonexistent. As a result, The MNE acknowledges that the education teaching programs have been adapted too slowly to voucher (standard unit cost of enrollment) that it is labor market needs. If Poland's economy is to be com- introducing to finance education more naturally ra- petitive in an open market, vocational education must tionalizes employment and the teacher selection pro- be flexible and competitive. The specialties and in- cess, improves the school network toward optimal struction taught do not match labor market needs. school size, and eliminates excessively high vocational training costs in some areas. Setting the multiplier for 1.30, it is setting the norm of spending. What if future 28. See "Vocational Training as an Integrated System," evidence indicates that poor municipalities in rural ch. 1, on the MNE website http://www.men.waw.pl/. This areas will try to save money and will therefore send argument is sometimes questioned, however. Data show that lycee graduates, especially women, do not have much better the school less money than the multiplier provides per job prospects than graduates of incomplete lower level vo- pupil while wealthy urban governments will usually cational schools. P(a,le 8.- Too many schools teach specialties and skills that should play a greater role in mediating between em- have no real-world applications. Schools and employ- ployer expectations and school graduates trained in ers must be systematically linked and have access to certain profiles. Lasting and fruitful ties between the an information system that tracks labor market needs labor market and municipal or district schools will and supply. greatly depend on educational councils. On the basis of this diagnosis, the reform intends Rural postprimary schools require a different ap- to limit the proportion of pupils involved in vocational proach. Unequal access to education is likely to con- training on the secondary level and to make it of a tinue, but inequalities could be limited by organizing more general nature.29 The reformers also plan to post- postprimary and vocational education differently. Ag- pone a large part of vocational training either to post- ricultural schools should be transformed into second- secondary schooling or to lifelong learning, distance ary schools resembling vocational lyc6es or technical adult courses, and on-the-job training. In order to trans- schools that provide a more complete general educa- form different types of vocational education into an tion. Alternatively, schools and different courses could integrated system, vocational guidance and counsel- educate young people, especially in nonagriculture- ing will be developed, and national standards for vo- related services. Even under ideal circumstances, no cational qualification will be elaborated. Under the su- rural vocational schools network could fully satisfy the pervision of provincial examination commissions, needs of local municipalities, but better communica- external examinations will be coordinated to confirm tion, distance education, and stimulation of educational vocational qualification. aspirations of rural youth could help in this regard. Autonomous local governments, and the enabling In 1997, more than 64 percent of secondary school of lifelong and distance education institutions to com- pupils were enrolled in some kind of vocational school- pete in the market with private, profit-oriented schools ing. The reform's intent of moving a large part of vo- and firms, will reinforce the need for good local policy cational education outside of the regular education sys- involving the cooperation of labor market institutions, tem will create a big challenge for self-governments good data and indicators, reporting to local stakehold- and local policymakers. It will require the establish- ers, and accountability. Educational policy must regu- ment of lifelong learning centers that will coordinate late the continuing education market, especially in terms the functioning of all area institutions of further edu- of deciding which part of lifelong learning could be com- cation, both private and public. Ensuring the coopera- mercially and efficiently provided in order to match tion of these institutions with the labor market is also employers' demands and employees' expectations necessary. Additional problems may arise, as the re- quickly and effectively and which part should be pub- maining secondary vocational schools will operate un- lic and sponsored for those who need additional educa- der the aegis of district government, but provincial gov- tion but cannot afford it. In 1993-94, access to lifelong emments will control lifelong learning and on-the-job learning was, in many respects, more uneven in Po- training. Possibly the only thing that will keep the loose land than in comparable Organisation for Economic confederation of public and private vocational institu- Co-operation and Development countries.30 More af- tions located within and without the regular educa- fluent, better educated people with better jobs enroll tional system will be a system of external vocational more often in additional schooling. To mitigate against examination. current inequalities, lifelong learning mustbe available Lifelong learning, although outside the education for the most poorly educated, worst-paid persons re- system, should be an integral part of that system. Mul- siding in the countryside. Provincial employment offices timedia and distance learning create new possibili- ties for learning and vocational education and should become an important tool in developing lifelong learn- 29. Broad vocational knowledge will be delivered in ing. Appropriately staffed schools should organize lyc6es with a vocational orientation (profile). lifelong learning opportunities, and specialized insti- 30. Bialecki (n.d.). International comparisons show tutions should provide intra- and extramural educa- that fewer persons get additional schooling in Poland than in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Develop- ment countries. Also see OECD and Statistics Canada larger places of employment, associations, or private (1995). individuals. 88 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies IV. Conclusion Accountability must acknowledge school opportu- nities and resouTces; rural lycees cannot be expected to perform as well as urban ones. Ultimately, school Designing and implementing reform are processes in- indicators will need to be developed and a standard fluenced by different partners and by debates in Par- school assessment spreadsheet developed to capture liament, the MNE, the media, and groups of experts. information on financing, test results, pupil/teacher The reform involves several constituencies. Teach- ratios, and education levels of children's parents. An ers are the most important and most directly involved important task with regard to indicators and monitor- reform partners because school results depend on ing is building understanding and consensus around how they work and, symbiotically, because their or- educational policy. Developing tests and questionnaires ganizations, trade unions, and representatives influ- for monitoring together with representatives of em- ence education policy, albeit indirectly. Implement- ployers and universities will create a shared convic- ing reform often entails a strategy for negotiating a tion that what a school produces is relevant to stake- new agreement with teacher trade unions, creating holder expectations. This creates an agreed-upon new administrative and institutional roles, redefin- definition of the quality that a school should produce. ing training and requalification, and avoiding confu- Other implicit reform goals include improving edu- sion and excessive costs. Parents are another constitu- cation financing, mobilizing public and government ency whose interests and expectations should opinion to support education as a priority, and intro- coincide with educational goals, but whose perspec- ducing the changes required in instruction. The re- tives are usually individually oriented and less in- form must ensure that schools are effective and eco- clined to collective action. Higher education institu- nomically efficient and that they produce high-quality tions and the labor market are the main users of education that meets the expectations of all education school abilities and skills, but they remain tacit and partners and clients. not inclined to articulate their expectations. Research and postwar experience in several coun- While the reform is gaining momentum and tak- tries indicate that equity in achievement is not in the ing shape, it can be seen that decentralization, local nature of a school (Blossfield and Shavit 1993). Local discretion to allocate money to education, increased government striving for effectiveness, school rankings, local autonomy regarding what to teach and how, and and a push for excellence on the part of parents may a centrally set standard and examination all offer real minimize the issue of equity. In fact, equity may have opportunities to improve education in terms of using few dedicated supporters among the stakeholders in- money better and deliveringbetter quality educational volved in educational policymaking in poor areas. At services. The question arises, however, as to what to the local level, the issue of equity, declared as the main do to ensure that local policymakers will use these op- goal of reform, may be ignored. That is why clearly portunities to improve education. Conducive regula- defined goals and the mobilization of support around tions and procedures may not be sufficient. What is these goals are needed. Perhaps it will be sufficient to missing, it seems, are good data and indicators regard- define equity as providing minimum knowledge and ing what is important and necessary for policymaking most-needed life skills to those most exposed to school as well as appropriate motivations to fully use existing failure and exclusion. opportunities for change. Achieving reform goals requires a proper balance With the new regulations, principals may be able of interests among those involved in educational to better accumulate and use school resources, raise policymaking and those advocating adequate account- extra funds, hire better teachers and pay them more, ability procedures. Locally developed debate around and improve the quality of teaching. To do so, how- education as well as local public opinion may be help- ever, principals need to know what is the quality that ful. Reform always involves more efficient spending they are supposed to produce and how to measure it. and resource use. This inevitably creates losers; not Properly established accountability, by means of ap- everyone benefits, as some are dismissed or forced to propriately nominating, dismissing, and rewarding, requalify or to change their jobs. Public opinion must may help create adequate motivation for introducing be made aware, and induced to support the social costs, change. For this, a local monitoring system is needed. of rationalization. Poland 89 Ref erences Heyns, Barbara, and Ireneusz Bialecki. 1993. "Inequality in _______________________________________ |Education in Post-war Poland." In Hans-Peter Blossfield and Yossi Shavit, eds., Persistent Inequality: Changing Educational Attainment in Thirteen Countries. Boulder, Bialecki, Ireneusz. n.d. "On the Basis of International Re- CO: Westview Press. sults of Studies on Functional Literacy." Instytut Spraw Publicznych, Warsaw, Poland. MNE (Ministry of National Education). 1998a. "O reformie." Biblioteczka Reformy. Booklet #1. Warsaw. Bialecki, Ireneusz, and Elzbieta Drogosz. 1999. "Vocational EducationinPoland:LegacyofthePast." International . 1998b. "On the School Network." Biblioteczka Journal of Sociology 29(2):66-93. Reformy. Warsaw. Bialecki, Ireneusz, andothers. 1999. "Monitoring the School . 1998c. "Reform of the Educational System: Draft." System." Unpublishedreportpreparedfor the SMART, Wydawnictwa Szkolne i Pedagogiczne. Warsaw. Phare program, Warsaw, Poland. . 2000a. "Reorganization of the School Network." Blossfield, Hans-Peter, and Yossi Shavit, eds. 1993. Persis- Biblioteczka Reformy. Booklet #19. Warsaw. tent Inequality: Changing Educational Stratification in . 2000b. "O reformie po dw6ch latach." Biblioteczka Thirteen Countries. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Reformy. Booklet #20. Warsaw. Drogosz, Elzbieta. 1999. "Report on Self-government Role _ : http://www.men.waw.pl/ in the Implementation of the Reform of Education." MNE and Ministry of Agriculture and the Food Economy. Unpublished paper commissioned by the United Na- 1999. "National Program for Developing the Polish tions Development Programme, Warsaw, Poland. Countryside." Unpublished paper. Warsaw. Gazeta Wyborcza. 1999. February 6-7, p. 2. OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and De- velopment) and Statistics Canada. 1995. Literacy, Golab, Michal, and Adam Leszczyniski. 1999. "Methods of Economy and Society: Results of the First International Budget Allocation to Local Governments." Paper pre- Adult Literacy Survey. Paris. sented at Conference on Financing Education,June 16, Warsaw, Poland. Rocznik Gus. 1998. Statistical Yearbook. Warsaw. 7. Romania Gabriel Ivan, Mircea Badescu, Paul Blendea, Romulus Brancoveanu, Florin Diaconescu, Serban losifescu, Oakmara Georgescu, Lucia Marietta Gliga, loan Narosi, Roxana Petrescu, Viorica Pop, and Madlen Serban' I. Introduction teacher training according to centrally formulated guidelines. Schools had no autonomy for planning or Romania covers 237,500 square kilometers and has a implementing their budgets, and school directors and population of 22.7 million. In 1992, 45.5 percent of administrative councils could not define school per- the population was under 30 years of age. More than sonnel policy. Local communities participated only to half of all Romanians (54 percent) live in cities. Nearly a very limited extent in managing schools. Elected lo- 90 percent of the population speaks Romanian, the cal authorities had virtually no relationship with the national language and the language of instruction in local school system, nor did they want one. 96 percent of the schools. Several linguistic minorities In late 1989, Romania began to undergo a number also exist in Romania, including Hungarians, Germans, of major political changes that affected education. The and Roma. years 1990 to 1992 were a period of radical change. In the early 1990s, Romania's education system Efforts were made to reform the education system al- was one of the most highly centralized in Central and though no clear alternative was offered. The changes Eastern-Europe. The Ministry of National Education were primarily attempts to satisfy education stakehold- determined national and local school curricula, sec- ers. Compulsory schoolingwas reduced to eight years, ondary school entry and graduation examinations, and secondary education was diversified, academic lycees budgets, to which private sources contributed only received renewed attention, class size and teaching negligible amounts. Its regional, or judet, administra- loads were reduced, minority language education was tion included a school inspectorate, which had not only permitted, and education finance was reorganized. administrative responsibilities but also provided A readjustment period began in 1992. The Minis- try of National Education needed to revise curricu- lum and to eliminate the highly ideological orienta- 1. Gabriel Ivan, head of the management unit for the tion of school programs. It soon became clear that a Institute of Educational Sciences, is with the British Council; thorough reform required a systemic overhaul. Mircea Badescu, Paul Blendea, and Romulus Brnicoveanu are with the Institute for Educational Sciences; Florin Romania's tradition of a highly centralized political Diaconescu is with the Bucharest Town Hall, Education Unit; system, a totalitarian mentality, and the cultural atti- Serban losifescu is with the Institute for Educational Sciences; tudes it spawned were true obstacles to change and Dakmara Georgescu is with the Ministry of National Educa- impeded legislation to that end. Moreover, there were tion; Lucia Marietta Gliga is with the School Inspectorate of too few experts and no political consensus on reform Maramures County and serves as chair of the teacher train- ing component of a World Bank/Romanian government re- directions and priorities. form program on preuniversity education; loan Narosi is with The World Bank conducted its first exploratory the Education Free Trade Union's Association, a teacher trade missions to support government efforts to reform the union; Roxana Petrescu is with the Ministry of Finance; education system from 1991 to 1993. Ministry of Na- Viorica Pop is with the Institute for Educational Sciences; tional Education experts and the Institute for Educa- and Madlen Serban of the Ministry of National Education is director of the vocational education and training reform pro- tional Sciences, along with government representatives gram financed by the European Union. and World Bank experts, developed an institutional 91 92 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies and procedural scenario for a systemic reform of industrial chemistry, provides technical, vocational Romania's pretertiary education system. and, on occasion, academic secondary schooling. The reform began in 1994-95 before a new edu- Current revisions include increasing compulsory cation law was enacted in September 1995; it was education to grade nine, which would make the cur- modified again in 1997. The first educafion reform rent structure nine plus three. The Ministry of Na- project began in October 1994, financed jointly by tional Education is also proposing new types of aca- the Romanian government and the World Bank. The demic and vocational education. The new policy3 seeks second major reform program began in 1995, fi- to restructure the educational system to meet eco- nanced by the European Union's Phare to restruc- nomic, social, and political requirements. It touches ture vocational education. upon the entire education system, its programs, ac- A national assessment examination service was tors, underlying philosophy, and educational gover- created in 1998 to monitor national education qual- nance. A strategic vision has now been forged to coor- ity, to provide tests and other assessment tools to mea- dinate these far-reaching projects. sure student achievement, and to administer the two national examinations. The Ministry of National Edu- 11. Actors and Functions: The cation remained directly responsible for most manage- Current Romanian Education System ment and financing of preschool, primary, secondary, and higher education; established official curriculum; and organized textbook production.2 New elechives The Ministry of Finance defines the educationbudget were introduced into the high school curriculum, but on the basis of proposals from the Ministry of National schools still had little authority to make changes. The Education. After Parliament passes the national bud- many new general legislative changes were poorly dis- get, the Ministry of Finance approves monthly credits seminated; the transition was and continues to be tu- to the Ministry of National Education on the basis of multuous. The legal framework for decentralizing de- previous and anticipated expenditures and monitors cisionmaking-and particularly for community annual spending to ensure a balanced budget. It is re- participation in education-remains very loose, frag- sponsible for monitoring educational resource alloca- mented, and contradictory. tion and for collecting information concerning proce- The Romanian Parliament is again revising the edu- dures for implementing central and local budgets. It cation law. Today, compulsorybasic education includes works closely with the National Commission for Sta- the first four grades of primary school and four years tistics on data collection methodology and practical ad- of lower secondary school (gimnaziu), grades five ministrative issues. through eight. After the eighth grade, pupils take a com- The Ministry of National Education has final au- pulsory final examination (capacitate) to go on to up- thority for school governance and ensures general edu- per secondary education. Approximately 95 percent cation administration. Sometimes it has to deal with of students who complete the gymnasium continue into decisions already taken by the Ministry of Finance, secondary schooling at four- and five-year academic the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, and the high schools, four-year technical high schools with se- cabinet. The minister is assisted by a corps of advis- lective entrance exams and abaccalaureate upon gradu- ers; the national councils; the Legal Adviser's Office; ation, or two- and three-year vocational schools. Aca- the Public Relations Office; the Control Office; and demic high schools offer majors in mathematics, the Department of International Relations, with of- humanities, and languages, for example. An integrated fices for international relations, European integration, school unit (Grup Scolar), a common cluster specializ- and Romanians outside of Romania. ing in one or two technical areas such as textiles or 3. The most important lines of education policy are 2. The Ministry of National Education names a com- set out in Birzea (1993); World Bank (1994); the govern- mission and selects three textbooks per subject for compul- ing program chapter in Renaissance of Romania 7Through sory education and an unlimited number of textbooks for Education (1996); MNE (1998); and the educational policy the rest of pretertiary education from among which schools papers of Andrei Marga, Romanian minister of Education can choose. (1998). Romania 93 The ministry secretariat includes three secretaries teaching career for which there is as yet neither ini- of state who divide duties. The ministry establishes tial training nor professional accreditation. New regu- expert structures and relies on national consultative lations are being prepared under which the director bodies. These include the National Council for Edu- will become a regulated profession. The Statute of cation Reform; the National Council for Academic De- Teaching Staff, issued in 1995 by Parliament, defines grees, Diplomas, and Certificates; the National Higher the teaching as well as managerial duties of the staff. Education Funding Council; the National Higher Edu- Directors represent the school to the local adminis- cation Research Council; the National Councils of Li- tration and local community; determine the use of braries; the National Councils of Rectors; the national school facilities, equipment, and other material re- scientific societies; and the national commissions spe- sources; and coordinate all expenses. Directors adopt cialized by fields, among others. and apply provisions for financial and accounting The wide-ranging Ministry of National Education regulations at the school unit level. They identify and functions cover all facets of systemic issues, from con- monitor investments for school infrastructure, ex- structing schools to special-needs students, academic penses, and annual maintenance; justify projects and training and evaluation, personnel, research, librar- submit them for approval to the school inspectorate ies, reform strategies, and quality assessment. Beyond and local and/or county cotncils; develop and apply national borders, the Ministry of National Education strategies for raising extrabudgetary revenues; ap- establishes international agreements for Romanian stu- prove expenditures after an internal audit; implement dents and for validating Romanian diplomas. For financial procedures for purchasing goods and ser- pretertiary education, the ministry establishes prepa- vices; and involve the school unit in patrimonial ac- ratory groups within preschool education to ensure tivities with the chief accountant. continuity from preschool to primary school; approves Directors coordinate and monitor activities for schooling for nongraduates of compulsory eight-year developing, upgrading, and maintaining school infra- education; and develops the methodology for the na- structure. They establish contracts with designers and tional examination at the end of compulsory educa- private and public companies for technical documen- tion, for entrance examinations in postcompulsory tation and undertake capital and maintenance repairs. education, and for the baccalaureate examination. It They are responsible for all personnel issues; they ratifies the creation of preuniversity education insti- define staff duties, rights, salaries, and welfare allo- tutions other than compulsory and vocational educa- cations, and write contracts and job descriptions. In tion schools, establishes and names directors for sec- the teachers' board, directors evaluate teacher per- ondary and postsecondary schools, and establishes formance, design academic staff qualifications for enrollment limits and special classes. merit increases, verify and sign payrolls, resolve staff School directors, or principals, assisted by deputy issues, and apply curricular, finance, and manage- directors, manage pretertiary and vocational public ment reform programs. education units together with the teachers'boards and The deputy director sits on the administrative the administrative councils that they chair and to council and the teachers' board and chairs meetings which they report. They are appointed for four-year in the absence of the director. The head teacher del- terms by the general school inspector on a competi- egates curriculum management responsibilities, school tive basis. Candidates must demonstrate some profes- unit branch supervision (such as primary education), sional and management experience. The Ministry of or extracurricular activities coordination. National Education appoints high school and post- The teachers' board makes decisions concerning high-school directors based on the results of a compe- all teaching staff, including work plans, which teach- tition organized by the school inspectorate. ers will participate in teacher training, validation of Despite far-ranging responsibilities, a school di- student grades and assessment, and career counsel- rector is simply a recognized teacher who continues ing. The board involves all teachers in its processes so to teach while being principal and is paid a supple- that the teaching staff is actively involved in every peda- ment for temporary managerial tasks. Principals are gogical aspect of school unit activity. It advises and not fully recognized as managers and do not consider validates a director's decisions on curriculum, student themselves to be managers. The job is a step in the relations, and academic staff development. 94 Decentralizing Educatiori in Transitioni Societies The administrative council is the highest school pretertiary education. A school inspectorate is headed unit authority and includes at least 5, but no more than by an administrative council, which includes the gen- 11, members: the unit director, deputy directors, chief eral school inspector, assistant general school inspec- accountant, teachers elected by the teachers'board, par- tors, specialized inspectors, the professional develop- ent representatives, and local public authority repre- ment center director, and the school inspectorate legal sentatives. In secondary and postsecondary schools, advisor. Each inspectorate has an advisory board that the council should also include one or two pupils and includes school unit directors; prominent teaching staff; representatives of the lessors of physical facilities for and representatives of parents, local administrative school activities. The administrative council manages bodies, religious denominations, and economic agents. the school; approves the operation plan; deals with all School inspectorates are responsible for finance and staff hiring and nominations and facility allocation; operations of the pretertiary education network and proposes enrollment quotas; oversees budget imple- inspect schools and teaching staff to ensure regulatory mentation; and generally attends to such details as the compliance. They establish public kindergartens, pri- school calendar, student scholarships, textbook selec- mary schools, middle schools, vocational schools, and tion, and collective staff labor agreements. apprenticeship schools; they ensure school attendance The chief accountant plays a decisive executive role during compulsory education together with the local in financial oversight. The normative framework rec- public authority bodies. The school inspectorate over- ommends that the administrative council ask for con- sees the use, development, and protection of school sultation on financial decisions, among others. If a facilities; ensures adequate staffing; organizes continu- school unit is poorly run, the chief accountant becomes ing education for academic staff; coordinates entrance responsible for decisions. The chief accountant repre- and graduation exams; and monitors all privately sents the school unit and director in all negotiations funded preuniversity education activities and services outside the school, establishes quarterly and yearly to ensure legal compliance. plans for extrabudgetary revenues, follows up by es- At the pretertiary level, the school inspectorate is tablishing quarterly and yearly balance accounts, and largely responsible for inspections of curriculum, hu- analyzes financial activity during the meeting of the man resources, teacher performance, and financial re- school unit governing bodies. sources. Inspections examine enrollment levels, the A budget center is responsible for the financial and competency of teachers and directors, and how well accounting procedures of up to 15 schools. It is not a the official curriculum is observed. School inspectorate decisionmaking body but rather a conduit for money budgetary responsibilities include approving expendi- from the school inspectorate to the school units. Its tures from its own budget and from special budgetary structure is not legally regulated, thus giving the in- sources; it also transfers funds to the budget centers. spectorate some latitude for structuring the budget cen- The school inspectorate is responsible for spending ter depending on education level, location, and so forth. school unit allocations for capital expenditures, and The numbers of budget centers differ by county, but its budget consists of allocations from the state budget skilled accountants staff each one. as well as its own revenues. The school inspectorate is a territorial Ministry of The school inspectorate ensures that school units National Education administration for regional run smoothly at the pretertiary level. Local public au- pretertiary education. The ministry officially names thorities are responsible for the activities funded all inspectors and the professional development cen- through state and local budgets and their own revenues. ter director on the basis of a competitive assessment The school inspectorate establishes its own budgeting of professional and management competencies; in prac- procedures and those for the institutions within its ju- tice, however, candidate selections result from bargain- risdiction. The accounting department of the school ing among local politicians. The general school inspec- inspectorate is responsible for activities related to tor appoints school inspectors on the basis of a schoolunitbudgetdevelopment,budgetaryimplemen- competitive assessment of professional and manage- tation, and opening and distributing credits, including ment competencies. financial and accounting reports and statements. Funds All school units depend on school inspectorates for are made available through tertiary credit unit accounts extracurricular activities and auxiliary units for at levels established by the budgetary law. Romania 95 Local public authorities were created at the begin- marginality could allow them to link school and soci- ning of the public administration reform process. The ety and to facilitate the reform process; however, be- administrative system is organized into 42 judets and cause unions concentrate on promoting teachers' eco- 3 different types of local authorities, usually classified nomic well-being, they avoid responsibility for by number of inhabitants: communes of up to 5,000 development and reform. inhabitants, towns of up to 20,000 inhabitants, and municipalities with over 20,000 inhabitants. All act Ill. Distribution of Responsibilities as legal bodies with their own patrimony and can un- dertake administrative initiatives in the service of the public interest. Local councils act as deliberative bod- The educational reform establishes an institutional ies for communes and towns. Elected local adminis- structure and distributes decisionmaking responsibil- trations are responsible for implementing legislation ity. It foresees that the current school inspectorate will in the most appropriate manner and are accountable focus entirely upon quality assurance and ensuring to their local constituencies. compliance with national guidelines and standards, The largest local council is the General Council making its reports public.Judets could establish an edu- of Bucharest Municipality. It has created a Depart- cation department to run regional professional devel- ment of Education that makes technical recommen- opment centers as part of an independent local train- dations to the local council, which uses financial re- ing and advisory system. School units are to be locally sources provided by local public authorities. The managed to meet local needs and would be required to department monitors funds allocated from the local define and publish their plans, worked out with the budget and initiates and implements programs to local administration and used as the basis of inspec- develop education at the municipal level. The part- tions. School units could comanage their own budgets nership between elected and appointed local authori- with the local administration in view of short- and long- ties (local public authorities and school inspectorates) term goals; they could also be responsible for person- depends on personal contacts rather than on an effi- nel and discretionary salary decisions aligned with local cient institutionalized structure (such as the Admin- conditions and for building maintenance and training istrative Commission of the Prefecture, which the as needed. Where justified, the school unit could keep Education Commission organized by all county coun- unspent funds beyond the current fiscal year. A school cils and by the majority of the local councils). board, including parents, politicians, union represen- Teacher unions are nongovernmental organiza- tatives, business people and, where appropriate, reli- tions established by the 1991 law on syndicates to de- gious representatives, would appoint a school princi- fend the economic, social, professional, and cultural pal and be responsible for strategic planning and rights of 200,000 members in more than 10 unions. management. Rural schools in particular would enjoy This represents one-half of the nation's teaching and a new autonomy and be grouped around a pivot school nonteaching staff. The Federation of National Educa- to become an autonomous unit with a shared school tion, the Federation of Free Syndicates in Education, council. This is the vision suggested by some of the and the National Federation of Independent Trade authors of this study with reference to school board Unions "Spiru Haret" are the principal unions in Ro- establishment. manian preuniversity education. Teachers' unions have no decisionmaking respon- School Infrastructure sibilities but have created a wide local institutional net- work and play a consultative role to the adniinistra- Until 1999, there had been no systematic approach to tion. They are accredited observers of the decision- planning the development of school networks at ei- making process at central, regional, and local levels and ther the central or regional level. Schools do not man- try to influence the legislative process, policymaking, age their own funds for repairs or maintenance. Local education management, and funding. They are on the authorities have great power in this area but do not periphery of the school system but have a major im- want to be involved. This partnership is inefficient pact on implementing educational innovation through due to a lack of both efficient participatory structures their programs for teacher advancement. Their and communication between actors. 96 Decentralizing Education in Traiisition Societies The Ministry of National Education decides to includes nine laws and a cabinet regulation. Salaries, build or rebuild schools. Construction costs are cov- professional paths, in-service training, organization, ered directly by the local budget. The allocation pro- and evaluation are nationally regulated although school cess is very complex and totally informal. It involves inspectorates and universities determine initial teacher negotiation and influence-wielding among the Minis- training regionally. try of National Education, principals, the school in- Until 1999, school units were not allowed to de- spectorate, local political elites, influential persons in velop their own human resource policies and had only the central government and local government, and so limited authority or responsibility for personnel. The forth. Discussions or media scandals serve as public Ministry of National Education has recently issued an accountability mechanisms. These decisions are re- ordinance that allows the head teachers in school units gionally implemented by choosing a builder and by to hire teaching staff if the head teachers have been monitoring construction. qualified through an evaluation procedure run by the The school inspectorate is responsible for admin- ministry. Local elected authorities have no power over istering school buildings and educational facilities in education personnel. The teachers' unions try to in- its area. Local public authorities are responsible for fluence personnel issues through the Ministry of Na- financing school maintenance and repair expenses out tional Education, even though the ministry is not the of the intergovernmental transfers they receive (mainly main decisionmaker in this area. School inspectorates from the state budget) and from revenues collected lo- can determine some part of discretionary teaching sal- cally.4 In practice, different arrangements are observed. ary by supporting promotions ratified by the Ministry In some cases, the local council provides and directly of National Education. They can also select no more administers funds, and it determines allocations for than 4 percent of a region's teaching staff to receive a maintenance and repairs, estimates needs, bids for con- temporary 15 percent incremental increase to gross tracts, and makes payments. This is not consistent with salary. School inspectorates evaluate schools but have the legal framework because the school inspectorate no effective appraisal system for evaluating teachers, is generally responsible for these decisions. A second which makes the educational community suspicious situation occasionally arises in which the local admin- of these decisions. School inspectorates are plagued istration allows the school inspectorate to manage its by corruption. This is not surprising because a school maintenance and repair budgets. Here again, local pub- inspector has no incentive to make a fair decision about lic authorities are not performing their role. In other human resources but has many incentives for abuse. cases, the local public authorities and the school in- Teachers' boards participate in establishing an- spectorates create informal partnerships to make de- nual teaching staff incentives using a point system cisions on school infrastructure maintenance, depend- based on teacher self-evaluations. These incentives, ing on whether the local council has a specialized which total less than 10 percent of the school unit education department. salary fund, are questioned by teachers who reject the appraisal system. Personnel The school inspectorate takes part in decisions on all Curriculum personnel issues. In the area of salaries, decisions clearly Working groups of three to five or more national ex- remain central (primarily parliamentary). The educa- perts are currently designing new course syllabi for tion act, the teaching and managerial staff status act, the new curriculum and should finalize an annual the wage law, the general legal framework for labor course in three to four months, according to the basic and social protection in Romania, and the acts issued curriculum methodology. For subjects or fields span- by the cabinet provide the legal framework for employ- ning several academic years, a working group can re- ees in the education system. This legal framework work the curriculum from primary school, junior high school, or senior high school. Three coordination commissions-for primary 4. Many other direct expenditures on school units education, scientific subjects, and secondary instruc- were to be supported from local budgets starting in 1999. tion in the arts and humanities-advise working Romania 97 groups, facilitate their communication, and ensure the textbooks and materials. The ministry covers these integration of new curricula. A commission reviews costs and procures materials for general compulsory and modifies new curricula. education. For noncompulsory education, the govern- The National Council for Curriculum and Teacher ment and schools themselves, through their own or Training, which has been set up through the Educa- external sources, provide materials. tion Reform Project and is cofundedby the World Bank The ministerial Reform Project Coordination Unit, (the National Council for Curriculum since 1997), sits which administers funds from a World Bank loan, or- at the apex of this pyramid. It includes experts from ganizes the bid for alternative textbooks, and selects the Institute of Education Sciences, high-level repre- teachers for the assessment panel groups.5 The Re- sentatives from the Ministry of National Education, form Project Coordination Unit will be replaced by a and academicians. It approves the new curricula, de- Ministry of National Education department at the end termines whether to transmit them to the education of the loan program. reform coordination unit, and initiates the alternative Textbook selection is handled at the judet level, textbook publishing process. The council must define where teachers can choose from among the textbooks and revise the conceptual and methodological elements on display. However, information on alternative text- of the reform project and must manage crises or settle books and materials is not well circulated, and there disputes that may arise in the process. are no sensible deadlines for displaying books, collect- Until 1997, the curricular decisionmaking process ing data, and sending orders to publishing houses. Al- lacked coherence. New syllabi were developed on the though teachers and schools choose other materials, fi- basis of the prior centralized curriculum framework, nancial restrictions may confound orders, and, on and ultimate decisionmaking power was not clearly occasion, school principals or inspectors may intervene. delineated between the National Council for Curricu- The Ministry of National Education has recently lum and the national commissions for different sub- issued an order to regulate provision of textbooks for jects that, according to the 1995 education act, could high schools. This order has begun the transition to a approve syllabi and submit them for final approval to free market for textbooks at this level. the Ministry of National Education. When inJanuary 1998 the minister of education appointed a commis- sion to define the curricular framework, the missing Enrollment piece of the curriculum reform process was put in place. The Ministry of National Education organizes the pub- Ensuring that the new structures endure requires lic education network and proposes student enrollment amending the education act. The new national cur- limits to the central government. It establishes enroll- riculum should be based on a structural reform of cur- ment quotas in consultation with all schools, respon- ricular framework based on a new vision of the role of sible local authorities, and economic agents by cen- the school and of the players in an open society. tralizing school projections transmitted through The national curriculum for primary and second- regional school inspectorates. The education law es- ary education has been implemented since the fall of tablishes average, minimum, and maximum class and 1999. Beginning with the 1999-2000 school year, re- group sizes. The ministry approves exceptional enroll- sponsibility for making decisions on a third part of the ments for underpopulated rural regions and ensures curriculum that is delivered within schools resides with education for ethnic minorities. High school enroll- the teachers' board. ment decisions can be made on the basis of bargains with a school inspectorate or with principals to hire Textbooks and Materials more teachers or, for some special classes, to make the school more attractive. As a general rule, proposals The formal and informal frameworks for responsibil- from the school inspectorates are approved by the ity at all educational levels for textbooks and materi- als show that, in theory, all levels of the education system are involved in the decisionmaking process. 5. By 2000,250 new textbooks are to be written. New The Ministry of National Education makes decisions textbooks for all subjects in grades one through seven have on and approves curricula that are the basis for new been published since 1996. 98 1D ecentralizing Education in Transition Societies Ministry of National Education; the cabinet approves chapters and articles are rigid. Beginning with the student enrollments as a total number for each level 1999 budget, funds may be rerouted within budget of education (primary, lower secondary, upper second- lines, with the exception of staff and capital expendi- ary, high school, vocational education, education for tures, which can be approved and modified only by disabled students, and post-high school education). budget law. For school maintenance, the budget cycle School directors are responsible for verifying reg- involves local councils,judet-wide financial directions istrations. There are no legislative limits for school unit (services), the Ministry of Finance, the cabinet, and expansion if a school can accommodate more students parliament. Local public authorities have the great- in terms of space and number of staff. For first grade, est financial autonomy. School units are also funded schools make proposals based on estimated enrollments by other sponsors and the parent committee that ex- by evaluating proximate kindergarten enrollments. ists in every school unit. There are some difficulties regarding first grade en- Financial control involves several institutions: the rollments in other than the most proximate schools. court of auditors, the Internal Control Department of For other grades, a school usually maintains the same the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of National number of classes although enrollments can vary from Education/judet inspectorate internal financial control. year to year. Schools that work in shifts also have dif- School units and budget centers have almost no finan- ficulties addressing revolving enrollmentbecause they cial autonomy, even if head teachers are ultimately have no rules for it. If demand exceeds approved en- accountable for their expenditures. rollment limits, the school usually finds ways to ac- commodate the overflow. Student transfers are made Vocational Education and Training by a mutual agreement between two school units. In the 1998-99 school year, approximately 20 percent Quality Control of the schools in the Ministry of National Education Quality Control network offered traditional vocational education and The education law makes the Ministry of National training (VET). Based on the Phare-VET RO 9405 re- Education responsible for student assessment stan- form program, new training is organized in the remain- dards through the National Service on Assessment and ing network (the program started in 10 percent of the Examination. Curricular standards have recently been total number of VET schools and was gradually ex- introduced for primary and lower secondary educa- panded to 20 percent). Some largely specific vocational tion. training programs are funded by the ministries they The Ministry of National Education, through the serve. The military has specialized high school educa- National Service on Assessment and Examination, tion, organized according to needs and bierarchyby the determines how to assess student progress and defines Ministries of National Defense, the Interior, and Jus- the form and content of final exams. It also defines tice, the Intelligence Service, and other institutions re- student graduation standards. The ministry determines lated to national security. Businesses and interested in- how school inspections are carried out, and the judet stitutions finance postsecondary education upon request. plans them using a nationally defined assessment form. In 1994, the Ministry of National Education iden- Disciplinary measures are regulated by internal regu- tified vocational training reform as a priority. It sought lations. Teachers can propose school disciplinary mea- to create a flexible system responsive to labor market sures; these are then approved by the teachers' board. needs with regulated accreditation and certification. In addition, by integrating vocational training with the la- Financial Administration and Control bor market, social partnerships couldbe forged although legal restrictions and incomplete decentralization block Budget planning begins with budget centers and then an open, flexible vocational education system. moves to the judet inspectorate, the Ministry of Na- The vocational education curriculum is developed tional Education, and ultimately to the Ministry of based on training standards. These are developed with Finance and parliamentary approval. Allocations fol- social partners based on inputs offered by the occupa- low the same trajectory in reverse. The highly cen- tional standards elaborated according to the methodol- tralized process is slow and complicated, and budget ogy approved by the Council of Occupational Standards orlwlla 99 and Assessment. The curriculum is organized on a mull- Three major changes in the education finance pro- tilevel approach and has a tree-like structure that en- cess have occurred since 1989. In 1991, the process sures horizontal and vertical mobility for student in- became highly centralized at the level of the Minis- terests and delays narrow specialization. Thirty percent try of National Education. In 1995, the decentraliza- of the curriculum is developed at the local level in part- tion process was begun, and some expenditures (such nership with business representatives; this enhances as school unit maintenance and repairs) were trans- the relevance of vocational and technical education with ferred to local public authorities. Finally, in 1999, ad- regard to economic development needs. The law rec- ditional expenditure responsibilities on pretertiary ommends consultation with parties interested in voca- education were transferred to local public authori- tional training, but no mechanisms exist for forecast- ties. Thus, in addition to maintenance and repairs ing medium- and long-term labor market needs. and other such expenses, local public authorities will Beginning with the 1997-98 school year, a new now be financially responsible for investments, stu- certification system was put in place for students who dent scholarships, and other current expenditures. graduate from the new vocational and post-high The Ministry of National Education will remain re- school curricula. The philosophy behind that system sponsible for compensation of personnel, textbooks, is to seek the participation of employers in the final scholarships for foreign students, compensations for evaluation as well as the formal certification of student transportation, finance of international achieved competencies. projects (such as the School Rehabilitation Project Despite the government's declared intention, there and the Social Development Fund), and all expendi- is little suggestion that vocational training is organized tures related to special education. according to a market analysis or based on the inter- The budget law establishes the legislative frame- ests of graduates from compulsory education. Coun- work of the education finance process and provides seling and vocational guidance are just beginning. Vo- annual financial resources. The Ministry of National cational training results largely from trade union Education and the Ministry of Finance each negotiate measures to provide teachers with some pedagogical a total budget and allocate funds to budget lines on the norms, and the delays in economic restructuring have basis of student numbers, average teaching staff sal- not enabled the system to meet a structured training ary, equipment needs, scholarship students, and so needs demand. Therefore, expansion of Phare-VET forth. When ministerial proposals are different, the program achievements is tremendously needed along cabinet must break the deadlock before the budget is with the related financial investment to reach the pro- submitted to Parliament. The Ministry of National posed learning environment standards. Education receives almost all of the money allocated to education from public funds.7 The new legislative Financing Public Education framework on local budgets established a new spend- ing pattern by changing the structure of financing from The 1995 education law, completed and modified by public funds (see table 7.1). The state budget will re- Government Ordinance 36/1997, stipulates that the main the main source of funding with 61.5 percent of state budget cover public education expenditures for the expenditures, but the share of local public authori- most budget lines.' Permanent competition for public ties will increase to about 24 percent of the total. funds has meant that education finance has come un- Expenditures are broken down on the basis of der scrutiny, particularly given the changing demand transfers to the school inspectorates for each of the for education and the system's evolving relationship two budget lines: current expenditures (compensation with public and private institutions, nongovernmen- of teachers, expenditures for textbooks, and so forth) tal organizations, and local public authorities. and capital expenditures. Funds may be rerouted within the current expenditure line, but the law does 6. A budget line (heading) groups the credits opened according to the budget law to cover the expenditure of a public institution (that is, ministry). The financial resources 7. The official figures are as follows: 99.2 percent in must have the same characteristics in terms of a fund's source 1994, 98.4 percent in 1995, 96.9 percent in 1996, 96.5 per- and destination. cent in 1997, and 96.5 percent in 1998. 100 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies Table 7.1. Education Expenditures no data to show that, when there is a shortage of re- by Source, 1993-98 sources from the central level, the local public author- ity will cover the deficit. Total 1993 1994 _ zI r 9 : * | . S Regional policy has recently become a priority be- As %of GDP 3.20 3.10 3.47 3.65 3.66 3.64 cause regional disparities are more or less related to Source (%) the political issues of public finance and intergovern- State budget 96.1 96.7 82.6 82.0 79.7 81.6 mental transfers. The current system transfers money as a percentage of total local taxes, up to 50 percent of the amount transferred. This has primarily benefited Other _ _ _ 3.9 3.3 4.0 3.3 8.8 9.2 the wealthy counties, but the system has become ob- GDP Gross domestic product. solete as populations become more mobile. A compara- Source: Ministry of Finance data. tive analysis of local educational expenditures would reveal major discrepancies among regions depending not allow increasing the funds for salaries and invest- on their economic development. Moreover, the cur- ments. Savings are not encouraged. At the end of the rent system for transferring money to the local public fiscal year, unspent money is transferred to the state authority from the state budget seems to be affected budget. School inspectorates collect revenues from by the transfer neutrality process.9 sponsoring activities, donations, and third parties. In 1999, its own revenues were used to cover about 12.5 Iv. Internal Contradictions percent of the total funds allocated for education. The V Ie Cn d i current financial system is plagued by a largely cen- tralized decisionmaking process and allocation crite- The Ad Hocracy: Many Rules, Poor ria. School unit needs go largely ignored by the central Accountability government, but there seem to be no clear-cut options for correcting this. Until 1999, the institutional arrangements and poor Local public authorities finance their contributions managerial tools for education governance explain to education from intergovernmental transfers and lo- some of the system's inefficiency, lack of equity, and cal revenues. They receive the lion's share of their poor quality. Many contradictions emerge in the legis- funds from state budget transfers.8 In 1998, equaliza- lation or in efforts to implement education reform. tion transfers to local public authority budgets were Whereas the strictly centralized education system was based on total population (5 percent), street network shaken up in the early stages of the reform, the pro- length (5 percent), pretertiary school-age population cess remains unfinished and poorly coordinated. The (25 percent), and so forth. The spending pattern at Romanian school system resembles an "ad hocracy," the national level is almost the same in each region with many formal regulations that are poorly coordi- (that is, the local public authorities tend to spend about nated, occasionally contradictory, often unclear, and 10 percent of the revenues collected locally on educa- therefore difficult to apply. The paradoxical result of a tion). The interest in education couldbe higher in some system with too many rules is that many participants parts of the country, but this does not compensate for (such as school inspectorates) act in an independent the lack of locally raised financial resources. There are fashion, in the best of cases, according to their own interpretation of the rules. The overburdened and excessively centralized sys- 8. In 1998, transfers to local budgets represented 37 tem is overwhelmed with operational decisions and percent of all salary taxes collected. cannot focus on strategic planning and national policy 9. A transfer neutrality process is the return to the issues. A single department manager from the Minis- local public authority budget of a portion of collected rev- try of National Education runs a lower level staff too enues, independent of what they collect from income and large for effective oversight. Internally, intricate, par- other taxes. For example, in 1998, Bucharest alone received allel, and overlapping responsibilities among its boards almost 20 percent of the money transferred to the state bud- get from salary tax compared to the national average of ap- lead to endlessly contradictory information. This is proximately 10 percent. further aggravated by the almost complete separation Romania 101 of responsibilities for pretertiary and university edu- authorities, local authorities, and social partners has cation. Furthermore, the hierarchical and territorial been established by the European Union Program for organization of education management obliterates Technical and Professional Education Reform. communication channels within the education system. Given this control vacuum, school inspectorates There are no institutional consulting mechanisms for have become the most powerful institutions in the sys- public and private education. The Ministry of National tem. Inspectors are appointed by the Ministry of Na- Education has not yet managed to ground the consult- tional Education, and local political leaders can influ- ing process among concerned parties or to mobilize ence some appointments on the basis of cronyism. available know-how. School inspection missions, objectives, and routines Poor relations among the ministries also thwart are regulated in a general and inconsistent way, but the reform process. Strategies among ministries or with inspectors set their own rules. Inspections are there- central agencies are not coordinated. For example, the fore subjective and arbitrary and are usually provoked Ministry of National Education defers to the Ministry by teachers' complaints about a principal or by an ad- of Finance and the Ministry of Labor and Social Pro- ministrative vendetta against a teacher. The absence tection on teacher employment and salary norms and of local external accountability mechanisms together merely implements their decisions. How can too much with barely functional vertical reporting to the minis- poorly coordinated legislation and ineffective central try further strengthen the power of the inspectors. power be transferred to obviously unprepared The school inspectorate is responsible for school subnational governments, particularly when there are assessment, administration, and budget and has re- too many rules with too little cohesion among them? cently been made responsible for some teacher pro- The system is supposed to rely on central evalua- motions. There is a conflict of interest because school tion and control as the main accountability mechanism, inspectorates run hundreds of schools and must also but no standardized reporting, performance grading, assess their own management. In addition to commu- data analysis, or feedback procedures exist to make it nication problems and the lack of will to change, the happen. How, then, can the Ministry of National Edu- inspectorate is an apathetic bureaucratic organization cation make objective evaluations? The central admin- resistant to innovative changes that would reduce its istration answers to citizens through parliamentary power. Today, annual inspectorate reports to local au- and media control in the rare moments when educa- thorities go unquestioned. tion comes into the public limelight. However, given Locally, there is little accountability to those who that inspection reports and academic performance re- are supposed to benefit from education. Local gover- sults are confidential, there can be little public scru- nance is held financially responsible by the court of tiny of school performance. auditors and the Ministry of Finance and politically Departments and government organizations tend responsible by the community (the voters); however, to work in isolation, with little will to cooperate, little citizens are only theoretically in control of education know-how, and no accountability mechanisms. Re- management. A teachers' board, which includes all the sponsibilities are often spread out among several ad- teachers from a school unit, does not really participate ministrative levels; school inspectorates, professional in school management and cannot exercise its deci- development centers, and universities all make deci- sionmaking powers. Unbalanced leadership structures sions about innovation or teacher upgrading. School promote authoritarian management, isolate school inspectorates and local governance cooperate on school management, and hinder accountability mechanisms. maintenance and construction, but this partnership is School principals are not required to report to the ad- dysfunctional, even on the rare occasions when politi- ministrative council, whose meetings have no appeal cal controversy and personal rivalries are tempered. to teachers or to local authorities. If parents generally Partnerships depend exclusively on personal relation- heed teachers, it is because they do not see themselves ships. School personnel generally take a dim view of as clients purchasing services offered by schools and the involvement of local authorities in education. They as therefore entitled to quality. Teachers perceive pa- feel the authorities should attend to water, roads, and rental criticism as an abusive intrusion. sanitation problems, which they deem more important. School ownership creates further accountability The only partnership between appointed education problems. School employees see themselves as school 02 [)eGen1ta ;;: E!wj Xf d S) t. ar. 5t:. 0\ owners. Teachers' interests prevail over those of stu- admission procedures, personnel, and budget, many dents and influence curriculum and education financ- stakeholders in the school system opposed these ing and management. More than 85 percent of the edu- changes. cation budget is allocated to salaries as a result of the The gap between official rhetoric and practice re- vacuum in lateral reporting, the absence of external flects the ambivalence toward the Law of Local Public accountability mechanisms, and the strong trade Finance and of Local Patrimony, or the Local Public unions. Authority Law redefining local governance involve- There are no incentives for improving performance ment in education management. In a decade of effort, or educational efficiency. School inspectorates are too neither Parliament nor, until the appointment of the burdened by administrative responsibilities to focus new minister of education, the National Education on education quality. Attaining or maintaining qual- Ministry Board have managed to define the reform's ity brings no financial reward or prestige. In fact, aca- legal framework by adopting coherent legal strategies demic results and management performance reports to truly decentralize education. are kept confidential by the school inspectorate and School rhetoric displays the same demagoguery. the Ministry of National Education. An inspector can Teaching staff express the need for greater autonomy earn more from manipulating a school rebuilding ser- and want school boards to be able to employ the teach- vice auction than from developing a better school cur- ers they choose, establish flexible teaching obligations, riculum; job security depends upon personal political and apply disciplinary sanctions. They also request contacts. Schools have no effective performance evalu- greater financial and curricular autonomy. However, ation systems to reward improved learning outcomes it is difficult to evaluate how much teachers or princi- or to help assess or improve teacher performance. pals believe in their own statements and how much Teachers are not rewarded for participating in man- responsibility they would truly accept. The Statute on agement. As long as incentives and opportunities re- Teaching Staff, for example, has blocked institutions main nonexistent, teachers and administrators alike from accommodating shifting enrollments and rev- will be affected very little by decentralization. enues. Statute provisions on teacher mobility need revision, and performance wage innovations need to A Culture Resistant to Change? be implemented. Changes in the power structure during the decen- The decentralization of educational services is based tralization process are revealing. The Ministry of Na- on a system of shared responsibilities, a participatory tional Education recently announced three changes decisionmaking process, and very intense vertical and implying a transfer of responsibility to school units. lateral communication within the educational admin- In some representative school units, the academic istration or with actors outside the administration. De- boards would employ teaching staff and directly ad- centralization has been highly debated for about eight minister some expenditures. Beginning with the years, but there is little progress to show for it. A very 1999-2000 school year, all school units are supposed strong paternalist tradition reflected in social and or- to design up to 30 percent of the curriculum, the so- ganizational habits discourages the public frombecom- called local school curriculum. The institutional ar- ing involved in public service governance. Can the rangement at national, regional, and local levels is be- devolution of power to local communities go forward ing restructured. New roles are being defined, and the without a change in this cultural legacy? distribution of responsibilities and authority will be People in the education sector discuss the neces- handled accordingly. It is planned to have the new in- sity of decentralization and proclaim their determina- stitutional arrangement in place in the 1999-2000 tion to promote more decentralized intergovermmen- school year. After the Ministry of National Education tal roles. They complain about having too little power managerial team was confronted with these changes, to run their schools, but local administrators are re- many respondents discovered disadvantages rather luctant to accept much more decisionmaking power. than advantages and emphasized the difficulties of re- When the Ministry of National Education announced form. The costs of decentralization weigh more heavily its intention to give schools control over curriculum, than the benefits in their eyes. Rornai-, 03 Remaining Gaps: Training and Educational equitybecause the children of needy families have little Equity chance of attending the best high schools or universi- ties. No mechanisms exist to ensure equity, and there Another stumbling block to the reform process is the are few incentives to promote it. dearth of appropriately trained staff. Training is needed at all levels, from teachers to principals to budget cen- V. Many Problems, Few Solutions: ters, school councils, and ministerial offices, to intro- Suggestions for Reforms duce norms and values associated with educational leadership and to provide essential skills such as plan- ning, evaluation, and decisionmaking. Private provid- Although policymakers and experts must resolve many ers could train teachers and principals and could offer problems, there are a limited range of solutions, imple- professional development in regional centers. The Min- mentation resources, and time. The following strategic istry of National Education would have to rebuild its package of governance reform options aims at improv- training and support capacity during the reform pe- ing the effectiveness of education services while remain- riod and provide sustainable levels of national re- ing compatible with stakeholders' visions for change. sources for improving the quality of education, and All changes should be relevant, sustainable, able to management in particular. be integrated into current school practices, and Those who favor centralization argue that decen- implementable for the medium and long term. They tralization would increase disparities among schools should successfully resolve most of the contradictions; and regions and would therefore affect educational op- be effective for education quality, efficiency, and equity; portunity. Many studies point to greatly deteriorated and have the ability to handle change. Transforming equity due to devolution policies in developing coun- intergovernmental roles in education should focus on tries. In Romania, however, under centralized educa- four issues; these are partially under way as of 1999. tional administration, more than half of all schools First, power should be transferred from the central (mainly in rural areas) provide no basic instruction administration and regional offices to governing bod- because they lackbasic teaching resources. Like all cen- ies in individual schools. A possible solution suggested tralized educational organizations, individual special by some of the authors of this study is to refer to the needs go unmet. There are no specific programs for individual schools enrolling more than 1,000 students addressing underserved areas or for gifted or poor stu- in urban areas or clusters of schools, especially in rural dents. The system tends to differentiate rather than areas. This kind of managerial consortium allows a level instruction on the basis of social and intellectual more school-based educational governance while re- background. At the same time, principals and teachers ducing the risk of decentralizing decisionmaking to are generally unhappy about having recentlybeen made small or medium-sized schools that are still unable to responsible for administering state-allocated funds to manage themselves. Setting up school councils as core support children of impoverished families. They con- governance units would not exclude local public au- sider this responsibility to be incompatible with their thority involvement. The school councils would insti- professional status. Teachers have no incentive for tutionalize education partnerships between schools, working with difficult students in substandard schools. local public authorities, and other stakeholders. Regard- The school inspectorate does not help resolve lo- less of the ultimate institutional arrangement, all the cal unequal access or to develop programs for needy authors strongly believe that local authorities must de- schools. Some school inspectorates do not try to give liver educational service from within educational com- schools in impoverished areas more support. To the munities. Romanian local public authorities have long contrary, the conservative school inspectorate tends been unprepared and unmotivated to take local school to multiply local disparities by assigning more money systems under their jurisdiction. to affluent schools because the inspectorate has a spe- Second, it is possible to retain as much authority cial relationship with their managers. and responsibility as possible for managerial functions The system of private tutoring for wealthy chil- within the central government. Underlying this con- dren is one of the most obvious threats to educational servative approach is the belief that decentralization 104 Decentralizing Education in Transition Societies must not be a goal in itself. Devolving power has to be but has not simultaneously transferred authority or a means to increase quality, equity, and efficiency to realigned accountability lines. It has created a chasm deal with educational innovations and reforms. Con- between responsibility, authority, and accountability. sequently, it must go beyond political disputes and in- Educational management and finance will only change tellectual fashions. The central government must en- if power is transferred from the central state to other sure quality and equity. Keeping the Ministry of public bodies that are more accountable to the public, National Education or its regional offices central in cer- more motivated, and better able to make decisions that tain areas is a pragmatic approach to education reform. satisfy national objectives, students, families, and lo- Third, rebuilding the regional institutional network cal communities. for managerial and pedagogic support, professional The current centralized education structures in guidance, advisory services, and training for teachers Romania must change, but decentralization is only one, and school managers reflects one of the current albeit the most important, ingredient in a viable policy strengths of the school system that future reforms must agenda. It is not a panacea for deficiencies in gover- consider. Restructuring the school inspectorate would nance. The central administration must focus on stra- mean canceling current administrative responsibilities tegic decisions by resolving local problems at the local and strengthening its capacity to monitor education level. The decisionmaking site and the area in which quality and to provide technical assistance. School au- decisions are implemented need to be more proximate, tonomy needs sufficient support. Improved institu- and information must be accessible to administrators tional capacity to deliver this support should include and teachers alike. Schools within a school unit must regional Ministry of National Education or national communicate and cooperate more effectively, must agency centers and private and nongovernmental train- adopt new teaching and curricular innovations, and ing and providers of consulting services. must be made responsible for managing their scarce Fourth, developing staff and improving manage- financial resources more efficiently. Operational costs rial systems would help make school management can be reduced by cutting central administrative staff. more professional. Redesigning lines of authority and External financial resources must be mobilized, and accountability or reviewing responsibilities requires partnerships must be developed between schools and developing instruments for improved governance. In- communities so that schools interact more effectively dividuals and institutions need new skills, new mana- with their social, cultural, political, and economic en- gerial instruments, and a new organizational culture vironment. The main clients of educational services to perform their duties in the best way possible. must be more involved in decisionmaking. Education quality must be improved by diversifying supply and making it compatible with local needs. All parties need to be motivated. The transition from administrative This study strongly urges going beyond the govern- to political decentralization will pose a choice: school- mental pattern of deconcentration or administrative based management or devolution to local authorities. decentralization. This option, implemented since 1990 Who must be responsible for prior state responsibili- as regional power was extended to school inspectorates, ties, the local government or the governing body es- is largely responsible for the current governance prob- tablished at the school level? lems in the school system. Indeed, the power of the Devolution is radical decentralization. In this school inspectorate is one of the most damaging con- model, local public authorities can make and imple- tradictions in the governance of public education, along ment decisions. This means transferring power to with the vacuum of public accountability and the gap subnational political institutions that sit above the between local authority and responsibility. The mar- local level. Delegation, by contrast, confers local, re- ginal involvement of local elected administrations with gional, or central governments (other than elected education is due to a lack of means to stimulate, sanc- subnational public authorities) with the power to act tion, or control appointed inspectors. Partial decentrali- as agents for the central government and to carry out zation has dispersed responsibilities to regional Minis- specific functions on its behalf. The central govern- try of National Education offices or to school managers ment maintains control and can withdraw delegated Fi o inari a I 35 power if these bodies do not meet national established tion as an alternative and that it values neither the requirements. election of local and regional officials sufficiently nor Those who argue for devolution are primarily the possibility of public surveillance of local authori- motivated by political considerations. However, the ties. There is no local pressure for devolution. Local objective of reorganizing educational governance is to elites have coexisted with the centralist order, and improve educational quality. This is a national, rather transferring authority for education would be doing than a local, problem and must not be assessed from a them an unwanted favor. The pressure for devolution local point of view. The main criterion for evaluating comes from national politicians or researchers rather decentralization is how well it serves national objec- than from the heads of local ccmmunities. tives. Delegation would transfer goverrunent tasks and Local and central cultural conservatism are there- functions to publicly funded autonomous organiza- fore among the greatest obstacles to efficient devolu- tions (school councils and national or regional agen- tion and can be attributed to Romanian civic and po- cies) that would ultimately be accountable to the cen- litical culture. There is no local tradition of civic tral government. culture, whereas informal civic institutions, trust in This chapter favors the delegation model. Empow- fellow citizens, respect for local government, engage- ering the local public authority to organize public edu- ment in public issues, and solidarity are very impor- cation implies costs that might exceed expected edu- tant. Local communities have lost their sense of au- cational and econornicbenefits of decentralization and tonomy, the tradition of self-reliance, and the spirit of important risks that could imperil decentralization competition that they had prior to Communist rule. policies. No political or sociological studies suggest that Theyhave adopted the centralist organization in which the fundamental conditions for devolution or the ba- communication and power structures are vertical and sic requirements for improving quality and efficiency hierarchical. Long-standing attitudes are hard to break. in education exist in today's Romania. Local dependence on central govermment for resources Many independent evaluations express serious and ideas does not dovetail with the central doubts about whether local public authorities can administration's tradition of monopolizing resources manage education services effectively. In countries and initiatives. where regional and local governments have virtually Devolution requires thatlocal govemments or com- no administrative ability, there is little likelihood of munities have their own sources of tax revenues and achieving any of the positive outcomes of devolution, voluntary contributions and can administer them ef- such as improving cost efficiency and accountability ficiently. Devolving power to local governments with- or mobilizing more resources. Decentralizing the gov- out these necessary financial conditions risks having ernment structure can take a few months or years; them undertake responsibility for delivering public improving institutional capacity takes far more time services without appropriate funding. Devolution will and resources. require increased transfers from the central govern- Smooth devolution also requires a positive public ment. Even though the new Local Public Finance Law attitude toward such processes. Local public authority allows local public authorities to collect and adminis- involvement in the provision of public services is dis- ter locally 50 percent of the revenue from the salary tinctly unpopular at the grassroots level. A public opin- tax, some of them raise only negligible revenues from ion poll conducted five years ago by the Institute of this tax. Educational Sciences showed that just a tiny minority No relevant studies on decentralization costs have of teachers and head teachers agreed with increasing been undertaken in Romania. Besides, none of the local involvement in education. The teaching staff in impact studies or evaluations of devolution policies in Romanian orphanages, which have come under local developing or industrial countries of the last decade administrative authority since 1996, refused to relin- provide any evidence for gains in educational effec- quish their status as employees of the central state. tiveness or efficiency. These studies do prove a decline Only 30 percent of voters voted in the recent elections of equal educational opportunity because of regional for the general mayor of Bucharest. Such absenteeism economic disparities. It is not at all certain that em- proves that the public continues to view centraliza- powering local administrators to govern education 0O6 £ecentrlzing Fdc,ation inl Transitionl Societies makes education more efficient or more effective, devolve money and authority to it. Local public au- whereas the national school system clearly does not thorities and school inspectorates would coordinate become more equitable for disadvantaged populations. school associations and make them into viable mana- The expectation is that devolution would make gerial consortia. School councils would be responsible local education systems more accountable and respon- to local authorities, the Ministry of National Educa- sive to local communities. However, it may not increase tion, the local community, and parents. They would participation because local authorities might notbe the be held accountable through public progress reports, most appropriate institutional facilitators for local in- regional school inspectorate evaluations, and national volvement with schools. In Romania, citizens and tests. The school council would contract with the subnational governments do not communicate. Even Ministry of National Education to be autonomous if locally elected authorities were to truly represent and to use the rights and funds delegated to it. their electorates, it may not be appropriate for local Democratically elected school councils must be voters, especially when poorly educated, to select cur- responsible foT most managerial school-level functions. riculum and to set accreditation standards. When lo- Such radical restructuring would require clustering cal authorities do make educational spending decisions, schools under school council control. A school coun- they ignore overall educational benefits and spend too cil would be a registered corporate body with its own little. Local politicians increase the bureaucracy or fund bank account and an elected chairman and vice- programs that bring them votes rather than take the chairman; it would employ a technical staff. School long-term view, which can worsen the financial situa- councils would determine school goals and policies and tion of the school system. Denationalizing school build- would improve standards. They would run schools, ings would motivate local authorities to repair and allocate budgets, hire and manage principals and teach- rebuild them, but might also change the function of ing staff, and be the intermediarybetween schools and current school infrastructure. Furthermore, the ben- the community although school heads would manage efits of educational services are not limited to regions daily school operations and would consult with the or local areas, another argument for central govern- school council for general guidance. School directors ment involvement. would continue to have managerial duties, but the School councils or similar alternative managerial school council would be responsible for seeing that the arrangements should be accountable to the goverranent schools under its authority ran effectively and legally, and to the public for providing government-funded respecting national and regional education policies. services. Decentralization will only improve quality After inspection procedures run by the school inspec- and efficiency if there is accountability to the public torate, the school council would establish and imple- for student achievement, needs assessment, budget ment an action plan. A school unit executive manager management, and staffing policies. would be responsible for the first stages of disciplin- ary action; appoint, appraise, and monitor teaching and nonteaching staff; propose incentives; plan and execute Pductic Coatiomns S school budgets; determine school maintenance; work with other heads; and seek advice from the academic This chapter proposes that the Romanian state del- boards in curricular or pedagogical matters. egate its power and funds to public corporations, or A school council would include parents, local au- school councils, that would govern a number of clus- thorities, teachers, and students when a high propor- tered school units.10 A school council would be an tion of high school students are registered under coun- agent of central and local authorities, which would cil authority. It would also include head teachers in associated schools, members from the local business community chosen by parents, local authorities, 10. Some of the authors do not agree with the idea of teachers, students, cultural institutions, universities, clustering medium-sized and small school units. A recent foundations, churches, and nongovernmental orga- notification issued by the ministry suggested an alternative nizations. The council as a whole, rather than idi- solution based on the opposite strategy of abolishing budget centers and giving each school unit the power to manage its vidual members, would be responsible for actions and own budget autonomously. decisions; individual members would be appointed Ro,niioa iiti 7 or elected although not as any group's delegates. determined curriculum. Converging competencies School councils would help schools provide the best within a school council might produce better local cur- possible education and would be responsible for en- ricula. The school council would develop and approve suring high quality in subordinate schools where head a local curriculum consonant with national guidelines. teachers and staff would report on their performance. Schools would encourage teachers to explore new as- Council composition should strengthen professional sessment methods and curricular guidelines and to control to make better use of teachers' knowledge and adapt courses to student interests. To support these to increase overall accountability to parents and the innovations and to improve teaching and learning, the community at large. school day and week would be reorganized to give Under this system, government micromanagement teachers time for planning and peer discussion ses- of education financing would be limited. School bud- sions. Heads would determine, and the school council get management would devolve to the schools them- would approve and monitor, the organization of teach- selves. The school council budget would be the aggre- ers' time and would assess the results based on infor- gate of allocations for salaries and operations and mation supplied by head teachers. would be determined by a fair formula. Formula fund- School staff, parents, and community representa- ing is based on objectively measured needs rather than tives would be responsible for personnel. The school on past spending patterns and helps ensure equitable council would hire a principal every four years; sign a resource allocation among schools. More than 90 per- contract; carry out an annual evaluation; and recruit, cent of a school's recurrent budget must be directed to train, elect, assign, assess, and promote staff. It would the school for salary and operating costs, calculated be responsible for a staff development policy because on per capita funding. The school council would de- funds for professional development would be concen- termine school policies and would manage school trated at the school level to be spent on a discretionary funds, would be responsible for allocating funds for basis to improve teaching and teacher training. Teach- operations and salaries, and would have the flexibility ers' unions would negotiate master contracts with a to allocate resources on the basis of local needs. A spe- wide range of options for individual schools. School cialized school council office would ensure school fi- heads would define disciplinary policy, but the school nancial management, and a technical staff would un- council would approve it. Head teachers would deploy dertake accounting procedures and routine financial staff to professional duties. Setting responsibilities management. The school council would be responsible closer to the school would make personnel policy more for strategic plans, overall financial policies, budget, relevant for student learning needs and would enable routine financial management, and monitoring. Each school managers to motivate staff. budget center would become a school council finan- School councils would have the discretion to main- cial department. Implementing a global school budget tain and construct school buildings to be used in inno- would be a move toward student-based funding and vative and community-oriented ways; the councils away from a system of separate resources. would select maintenance and repair providers. After school councils chart their educational goals, Schools would be free to contract for all types of ser- they would create an action plan and produce an an- vices and purchasing and would purchase services in nual report outlining school progress and the use of clusters to use resources to best advantage. Schools taxpayers' money. Council members would remain would formulate and school councils would approve accountable to the community and to the central gov- student behavior standards, but only the head teacher ernment. New intergovernmental arrangements would be authorized to suspend a pupil; the school should ensure improved external control aimed at in- council would decide appeals and could require read- creasing accountability to the central administration mission. The school council would also request infor- for the efficient use of resources. mation from head teachers on any matter relating to Curricular and instructional authority would be school management. vested in schools where teachers, principal, parents, Organizing and managing schools with about 2,500 community members, and students would work to- students and 100 teachers in clusters would reduce gether to develop a challenging curriculum based on some of the major costs of decentralization and would high standards rather than a strictly national, centrally improve school management. Merging expertise could 1I8 G NI' e n)t,ai g EdtWAtoy W T(a;siftiol So.iee.s compensate for the lack of managerial competence so resembles the situation that existed in the Romanian often cited as the main obstacle to decentralization. school system between 1980 and 1989. During that The current lack of adequately qualified financial staff time, clusters of schools, mainly in rural areas, were in the approximately 30,000 school units forces each unified under a single management unit that included budget center to handle, on average, 30 to 40 schools. representatives of local authorities and businesses. To- A school council could rely on the accounting person- talitarianism had disastrous consequences, whereas de- nel inbudget centers, and the central government could mocratization could maximize benefits. thus avoid two budgets per school unit and could elimi- nate the need for 20,000 qualified school accountants. The Regional Level: Quality Assurance and Devolving money toward school clusters rather than SuppoT R Institutions individual schools makes economically nonviable schools (usually small rural ones) less likely to sur- Delegation requires schools to be self-governing with vive. Subsidizing small schools is a major source of no intermediary bodies between school councils and inefficiency in the educational system. School coun- the Ministry of National Education. Successful decen- cils could deal locally with closing such schools. tralization, however, requires vertical links or mecha- The Ministry of National Education has an- nisms so that the central government continues to con- nounced, but has not yet implemented, a series of mea- trol and support the decentralized entity. Regional-level sures to bring the school system closer to a school-based governance ensures an appropriate inspection, advi- management model. This model would give school sory, and training infrastructure to help schools im- management new responsibilities and greater author- prove educational quality and operational efficiency. ity to develop local curriculum, administer the school Effective decentralization therefore involves strength- budget with greater flexibility, silect in-service train- ening governmental territorial agencies and reorient- ing and other service providers, manage school build- ing them. In a decentralized educational system, the ing repairs and maintenance, hire heads for the best Ministry of National Education facilitates management high schools, implement educational innovations, and through its territorial offices; schools would have bud- develop educational partnerships. gets for outside consultants and would freely select There are two risks to school-based management nongovernmental or private sources. If regional Min- from the point of view of local authorities. First, there istry of National Education resource centers can ef- is no advantage to being a member of a participatory fectively sell their services to the payers, the school body in a small or medium-sized individual school, and councils, they should be kept. local authorities have too few incentives to become The main challenge of the reform may be to rede- involved in very small schools. Second, a local public fine the role of school inspectorates. The central gov- authority in a large municipality cannot designate a ernment must define and implement standardized in- minimum of one representative for every school unit spection indicators and procedures to ensure under its jurisdiction. Local interests and educational comparability among schools and must use new infor- demand cannot be specified for a single school unit, mation tools for public evaluations of education pro- whereas they could be for a cluster of schools covering grams and institutions. School inspectorate adininistra- a broader geographic area. From that perspective, the tive functions would devolve to the school, but they local public authorities tend to perceive many more would continue to be responsible for teacher training, advantages by participating in a decisionmaking body educational development and innovation, and advisory (that is, school council and/or administrative council) school services. Judet inspectorates should no longer set up for clusters of schools. Establishing participa- manage schools because their involvement in finance torybodies for tens of thousands of individual schools, and managementbiases them and undermines account- however, does not encourage local and professional ability and evaluation objectivity. The school inspec- interest in schools, whereas this should be the primary torate would only evaluate the quality of education benefit of decentralization emphasizing local control against a normative framework, goals, performance in- for local needs. dicators, and precise standards. Regional inspectors Lastly, establishing school councils as managerial would be responsible to the Ministry of National Edu- consortia for geographically proximate schools cation and would be supervised by the General RoGnasia 1 09 Directorate for Education Quality in verifying the imple- public bodies able and willing to fulfill them. It is pref- mentation of education laws and regulations and over- erable to delegate power to school councils. all inspection standards. A new inspection model would define the types . . and forms of inspection, their timing, and their meth- Moder odology and would include standardized inspection Procedures forms. National curricular standards would be a fun- Devolving the education budget to more than 2,500 damental prerequisite for autonomy. Inspections school councils depends on the ability of the Ministry would use published criteria, made freely available to of National Education to calculate the funding for each parents and schools in published reports leading to ac- school council and the ability of the banking system to tion plans. electronically transfer funds to school council accounts. Inspections would determine whether national The Ministry of National Education would have to de- curriculum is being implemented and whether a lo- sign a budgetary formula based on per capita student cal curriculum meets local needs. They would ensure allocations, average staff salaries, school capacity, and that national standards for educational facilities, fi- area and would have to vary it according to specific re- nance, assessment, management, and community gional needs and weighting factors. This formula would relations are met. They would appraise pedagogical be reviewed and modified on an annual basis. quality and assess student achievement and would The Working Contracts at National Level that em- consult with parents and the community to see barrass local managers have to be revised in order to whether the school is providing appropriate services. make them more flexible. The Statute on Teaching The school inspectorate would evaluate overall school Staff has made it more difficult to administer the sys- unit management; its use of human, physical, infor- tem efficientlybecause it is virtually impossible for in- mation, and financial resources; and school council stitutions to modify their teaching staff when enroll- appraisal systems and procedures. ment patterns and revenues change. Statute provisions The primary goal in the reform of the inspectorate must be more flexible regarding teacher mobility and would be to go from appraising individual teachers to must introduce innovations that link remuneration evaluating institutions and processes, identifying and performance. strengths and weaknesses so that schools could im- A school performance evaluation system is needed prove the service they provide and could raise student to assess students and to establish incentives and pre- achievement levels. The inspection process and reports miums to teaching teams that show improved learn- would determine a school council's strategy by pro- ing outcomes. An education information management viding a rigorous external evaluation and by identify- system should cover internal school performance in- ing key issues for action. Inspection findings would dicators, interschool performance indicators forjudet, also provide a basis for the national school evaluation local and national information for planning, and data and the annual report of the minister, by recommend- relevant to decisionmaking at the local and national ing special measures for the Ministry of National Edu- levels. All schools should have an effective system for cation to take in school administration or by offering managing school performance, including student re- support for a school that fails to provide an acceptable sults. For management systems to be effective, there standard of education. must be performance standards and evaluation crite- This chapter suggests creating a regional depart- ria. Staff roles and responsibilities must be defined on ment for education that would be subordinate to the the basis of a school development plan that clearly de- regional local council to handle the financing of school fines the school's objectives and the criteria for mea- maintenance and repair. The regional local council suring success in meeting these objectives. This im- would channel funds into budgets administered by the plies an appraisal system applied to all schools. school councils. However, widening the authority and To improve teacher competence and student responsibilities of local public authorities to cover per- achievement, teachers and head teachers must set per- sonnel functions or to direct professional development sonal goals that would be integrated with other school centers is not a functional reform in our context. These improvement efforts. Teachers' professional devel- kinds of responsibilities must be transferred to local opment needs to be addressed more consistently and 11 [.Decetoiadq Educlation in Transitfin Societies systematically. The central administration needs na- current responsibilities for daily administration and tional funding standards for the school system and curriculum and to recast the ministry as an institution indicators for measuring its overall efficiency. for national strategy and standards. It would retain over- Legislative guides are needed to eliminate the dis- all responsibility for funding and the allocation of funds crepancy between administrative practices and the le- to school councils, which would be subordinate to its gal framework and to implement the new formal rules. budgetary controls according to a national, enrollment- The legal framework needs to be harmonized to en- based formula; it would also be responsible for techni- sure its compatibility with local interpretations. The cal services, monitoring, and quality control, in addi- duties of the school council and the regulations gov- tion to its role as powerful policymaker. erning its relationship with heads and regional and The Ministry of National Education would develop central administration need to be clearly defined. Ex- a system of indicators for individual schools and school amples of good practice should also be included. inspectorates to measure, monitor, and compare per- Reformers must help develop individual manage- formance and would assist themby creatingbroad stu- rial autonomy so that structures work. Senior manag- dent achievement standards and by providing the ers would continue to decide on school-level issues, needed resources to help schools meet these standards. and subordinate staff would ask for assistance from It would also directly intervene in the school system, superiors. The transition from a bureaucratic culture encourage a school culture of self-assessment and re- to one that encourages people to take risks in order to view, assume distant but necessary school oversight, get the best results is a singularly important challenge. and monitor educational progress at the territorial or Beyond legislation, the issue of institutional capac- other levels by conducting standardized tests. It would ity looms large. Successful decentralization requires have final authority and responsibility for taking ac- creating the conditions that promote it and the exper- tion where schools fail to provide standard education tise that allows it to function. or equitable opportunities for quality education and would take affirmative action through special invest- The Role of the Center ments and upgrading programs. Central institutions were organized to carry out In summary, the authors conceive of an institutional administrative functions in a central command-based reform in which centralization and decentralization educational system. This differs from a decentralized are not mutually exclusive. A system of centralized system. Therefore, as the Ministry of National Educa- guidance and local initiative can be envisioned wherein tion is reorganized, what needs to be borne in mind is schools are not entirely autonomous, but the state does the clear definition of decisionmaking responsibilities not exercise total control. The balance of national stan- and the areas in which they are exercised, separating dards and diversity would ensure high standards, sup- political and technical spheres of central administra- port meaningful assessments, allow for curricular and tion and eliminating the overlap between school man- pedagogical variety, and promote collaboration and agement and functional departments. The General development among teaching staff. Directorate for pretertiary education and its preschool, A central curriculum and administrative guidance primary, and secondary education divisions would be is compatible with school-site management. Decentrali- eliminated, and new, specific, systemwide -managerial zation paradoxically requires more central government functions would be defined. and more sophisticated national political skills. Al- Independent agencies would become responsible though there is some evidence that school autonomy for developing and administering national exams and could increase cost efficiency by requiring fewer teach- tests. New Ministry of National Education depart- ers, less bureaucracy, and lower per pupil expenditure, ments and institutions would support the strategic no data prove that increased effectiveness, as expressed reform priorities of school governance. Some of these by academic achievement, would ensue. Reforms must units are consistent with the most recent decisions of therefore enhance the role of the central administra- the minister of education. These decisions have estab- tion in quality assurance and equity enhancement. lished the National Center for the Development of Vo- The reform of educational finance and management cational Education, the National Services for Assess- seeks to delegate the Ministry of National Education's ment and Exams, and autonomous centers for teacher Rormatc I 11 training, curriculum development, and so forth. Some References proposed departments or agencies already exist, but their competencies need revision or expansion. Implementing reform means more than transmit- Birzea, Cezar. 1993. Education Reform in Romania: Condi- tions andPerspectives. Institute for Educational Sciences. ting papers from the Ministry of National Education Bucharest, Romania. to the school inspectorates. It requires specialists with more than administrative competencies. The central Marga, Andrei. 1998. "Educational Policy Papers." Minis- .. . . . ~~~~~~~~~~~~try of National Education, Bucharest, Romania. Pro- administration must increase its ability to manage edu- cessed. cational reforms to reduce the gap between intention and achievement. Therefore, the authors of this study MNE (Ministrr of National Education). 1998. VETReform fully uphold the recent support actions put in place by the ministry to achieve reform objectives at the school World Bank. 1994. Romanian Pre-university Education Re- level. Implementing these changes will require signifi- form Program. Washington, DC. cant efforts that will not be possible without the com- mitment of motivated teachers and specialists. UD TTHE WORLD BANK WBI Learning Resources are designed for use U 18t8 H Streetl N.W. in WBI courses and seminars. They discuss 1818 H Street, NM.W Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A. issues in economic development policy and lessons from experience in a way that can be Telephone: 202 477 1234 understood by persons without extensive .. - Facsimile: 202 477 6391 U Internet: www.worldbank.org background knowledge or technical expertise. R E-mail: feedback@worldbank.org They will be of particular interest to readers concerned with public policy. i~~~~~~~~~~~ The Fiscal Decentralization Initiative 41 for Central and Eostern Europe U11 Local Government and Public Service Rieform Inittative FDI Secretariat POBox 519 P 1397 Budapest R Hungary Telephone: 36-1-327-3862 Faesimile: 36-1-327-3105 4 EEmaIl: osimek@osi.hu 0-821 3-4876-0