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Eurydice

EACEA National Policies Platform:Eurydice
Primary education

Romania

5.Primary education

Last update: 9 June 2022

Primary education is a part of the compulsory education and can be organised in public and private schools.

According to the provisions of the Law of National Education (Law 1/2011), primary education includes the preparatory grade and I to IV grades.

The measure of introducing the preparatory year in primary school is applicable beginning 2012 – 2013 school year.

A class of any grade in primary education works with one teacher and comprises in average 20 pupils, but no less than 12 and no more than 25. However, the Ministry of National Education can approve classes below the minimum or over the maximum number of pupils per class – according to the specific conditions (isolated areas, classes with tuition in the languages of the national minorities, etc.).

Textbooks for public primary education are provided free of charge.

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  • School-based assessment, summative and formative, is conducted at classroom and school level, according to The National Education Law no.1 / 2011, with the legal updates and changes;
  • A new Ministerial Order 5447/2020 promotes the Regulation for Organisation and Functioning of Pre-university Education Institutions updating the range of assessment instruments to be used at school level. These can include: a) oral questioning; b) written papers /tests; c) scientific experiments and practical activities; d) reports; e)projects; f) practical tests as well as other instruments elaborated by the school’s chairs/departments and approved by the head of school or elaborated by the Ministry of Education and Research and the County School Inspectorates.
  • There are no national standardized tests administered in pre-university education, at system level. 
  • The ”high stake” National Assessment at the end of Grade 8” took place in June 2020, with supplementary sanitary measures imposed by the COVID-19 pandemy. The only changes implemented were at the corresponding examination syllabi level, by the removal of some chapters / content areas which were not studied due to school closure in March-May 2020. During school closure The Ministry of Education and Research published on the official websites www.edu.ro and on https://rocnee.eu/testeantrenament/ weekly ”training tests” for the candidates  to practice in preparation. These resources have been largely promoted by various media and used at system level by students, teachers, various organisations;

Update referring to changes during the COVID-19 pandemy (March – December 2020) In the school year 2019-2020, due to COVID-19 pandemic constraints, Ministry of Education and Research introduced some changes through ministerial order, operating at pre-university education system level:

  • The Students’ National Assessments at the end of Grades 2, 4 and 6 have been suspended through M.O no. 4019/2020. The same order suspended also the “mock” National Assessment at grade 8; 
  • Regarding the national, high stake examinations, both The National Assessment at the end of grade 8, and the National Baccalaureate (with both the June sitting, and the August sitting) with their written tests took place successfully under strict sanitary rules;

Regarding the school year 2020-2021, the main changes introduced at system level by The Ministry of Education and Research are as follows:

  • At the beginning of school year 2020-2021 Ministry of Education and Research issued Order no. 5545/2020 for the approval of The Framework Methodology regarding the didactic activities using technology and www, and personal data management. The methodology regulates the online / offline learning in schools, using open educational resources establishing the rights and responsibilities of the main educational stakeholders for all the components of the teaching-learning-assessment process at school-level;

Regarding both curriculum implementation, and school-based assessment at pre-university level the main changes are as follows:

  • In order to regulate both the National Curriculum reform and implementation, and the assessment within curriculum at pre-university level, Ministry of Education and Research issued MO no. 5765/2020 regarding The Guidelines for the Development, Updating and Evaluation of The National Curriculum. This MO promotes a new Reference Framework for The National Curriculum in pre-university education. Having in view that the former reference framework has been issued in 1998, this policy of education document is very important from the point of the curriculum reform prospective;
  • In the same line of change, Ministry of Education and Research issued MO no. 5915/2020 promoting a new methodology regarding the development of the school based curriculum, focused on the development of the eight European key competences;
  • Operating at system level, a strategic project of Ministry of Education and Research introduced Open Education Resources (OER) for both primary education and gymnasium. CRED-Curriculum relevant, educație deschisă pentru toți” – cod SMIS 2014+:118327 Proiect cofinanțat din Fondul Social European prin Programul Operațional Capital Uman 2014-2020. (https://www.creatorideeducatie.ro/) has a teacher training component, and an OER’s development component targeting both curriculum, and school-based assessment The 7200 OER’s developed are free of charge, supported by 18 methodological guides for all the school subjects. During the project lifetime more than 55.000 teachers will be trained to develop and extensively use OER’s at classroom level. 
  • Other  initiatives are coming from both public, and private sector: new school textbooks, both in  traditional form, paper-based, and in digital version, for grades 1 to 8 (www.manuale.edu.ro); assessment platforms (e.g. www.brio.ro), new educational resources for all grades, to be used in formal, nonformal, and informal education (https://www.rocnee.eu/manualeauxiliare/).