ECEC
Responsible Bodies
In accordance with the Law on the Education System Foundations, on local level, district school authorities are responsible for expert pedagogical monitoring in preschool institutions and for supporting the development planning, preschool programme development and quality assurance. Preschool institutions on their own or in collaboration with district school authorities are responsible for improving and development the quality of work, programmes for children and parents and conditions for its realization.
In accordance with this law, responsible bodies for quality assurance relevant for all levels in pre-university education are:
- Ministry
- Institute for Education Quality and Evaluation
- National Education Council
- Institute for the Improvement of Education
On the national level, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development oversees the achievement of prescribed goals and quality standards in pre-university education.
Institute for Education Quality and Evaluation performs activities in the area of quality assurance, conduction of general educational principles, achievement of educational goals and achievement standards. More specifically, the Institute is responsible for the following:
- develops educational standards;
- develop quality standards of institutions work;
- participates in the external evaluation of the institutions’ work;
- develop methodology and instruments for self-evaluation and external evaluation of institutions' work;
- develop and implement training programs in the field of self-evaluation;
- develop and implement training programs for assessing the pedagogical added value of the school as an indicator of the quality of the work of the institution;
- develops and implements training programs in the field of monitoring the progress of students and assessing the preparation and publishing of publications in the field of quality assurance of institutions;
- prepares publications in the field of external evaluation of the system, self-evaluation of institutions and promotion of the quality of institutions.
In terms of quality assurance, National Education Council has the following responsibilities:
- on current education status and its correspondence with European education principles;
- on directions for development and improvement of education;
- on strategic plans and documents related to education development;
- on general and special achievement standards, standards of teachers’ competencies and their professional development, standards of school management competencies, standards of textbooks and teaching aids quality, standards of special education programmes implementation and standards of schools’ quality;
- on preschool and school curricula fundamentals;
- to propose solutions for preventing dropouts and early school leaving;
- to make proposals regarding the education of teachers, early childhood teachers and professional associates;
- to give an opinion on the proposal for the final examination programme; to give suggestions on the needs for new textbooks and teaching aids;
- to collect opinions of other relevant bodies and groups, etc.
Institute for the Improvement of Education performs expert activities within preschool and school education, as directed by the Ministry and in accordance with legislation. The Institute consists of three centres, but for the ECEC system there are two relevant centres:
- Centre for Curricula and Textbooks Development, responsible for determining standards of textbooks and teaching aids quality, curricula and conditions on implementation of special programmes within preschool and school education.
- Centre for Professional Development of Education Staff is responsible for determining the standards of teachers and other education staff competencies and their professional development, improvement of the system of continuing professional development of education staff and approving the professional development programmes.
According to the Law on the Education System Foundations, the Ministry manages the work of national education inspectors and educational advisors.
Education inspectors control the educational institutions’ compliance with the legislation within the education system, realisation of children/pupils/students, parents and school staff rights and their protection, provision of protection from discrimination, violence and neglect, admission procedures, examination procedures and school records and documents. The inspection is organised on two levels: local (municipal) inspection is the first instance body, and the national education inspection under the Ministry is the second instance body.
Moreover, the work of educational advisors is under the surveillance of the Ministry. These experts control and evaluate different aspects of preschool institutions and programmes quality.
Educational advisors’ work is regulated by the Bylaw on Professional Educational Supervision. Educational advisors control the quality of work in educational institutions, professional development of teachers and standards of teachers’ competencies. Evaluation may take place on a regular basis, according to the annual plan of activities, or on call of any of the education actors, in case of emergency situation. The evaluation of an educational institution work may occur in several forms:
- Direct monitoring of teaching by visiting group activities
- Attending activities of preschool institution management or parents council meetings
- Analysing the external quality assurance report
- Reviewing school records and documents
- Reviewing pedagogical documentation
- Reviewing preschool development plans, improvement of quality of work plans, individual education plans, self-evaluation reports and other documents.
The evaluation of school management and preschool management, teachers and other staff work is individual and it may include different sources of information.
The educational advisor composes a report on the performed evaluation, which includes suggestions for future actions of the institution. The report is delivered to the institution’s head.
Advisors’ work is regulated by the Bylaw on Professional Educational Supervision. Advisors are appointed by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, in order to provide for counselling and expert help to teachers, preschool teachers and education staff, heads of institutions, and managing and school boards.
Approaches and Methods for Quality Assurance
In accordance with the Law on the Education System Foundations, internal evaluation plan is regular part of the preschool programme. Also, according to the Bylaw on the evaluation of institutions, external and internal (self-evaluation) evaluation refers to the monitoring of different aspects of individual preschool institutions.
Internal quality assurance is continuous process of re-thinking and re-evaluation of current practice. It is performed each year for some areas of evaluation (areas that are in focus), while complete quality assurance procedure (with all areas of evaluation included) is being performed every 4-5 years. The internal evaluation covers a whole set of inputs provided by the institution leadership, preschool teachers, other staff, parents, children and the local community.
The Internal Evaluation Team is in charge of the internal evaluation process (data collection, planning, reporting, etc.). Main support to the Team is given by the district school authority and the Institute for Education Quality and Evaluation. Preschool institutions use feedback on their performance and quality (which is given as evaluation results) to identify the ways for improvement of their practices, further development and management.
Internal quality assurance is accomplished through self-evaluation of:
- programme quality and the quality of its realisation:
- teaching forms and methods quality;
- achievement of educational goals and standards;
- professional development of staff in preschool institution;
- working and teaching conditions and kids’ and parents’ satisfaction.
External quality assurance is under control of the Ministry, district school authorities and the Institute for Education Quality and Evaluation. External quality assurance is conducted at least once in every five years. The Ministry publishes an Annual External Quality Assurance Plan, comprising number of institutions to be evaluated, timeline, and composition of the Evaluation Team. The Team then composes the Evaluation Report, giving evaluated institutions marks 1 to 4, with 4 being the highest mark. Based on the report, the institution produces a Plan for Quality Improvement.
Apart from external quality evaluation, there are occasional pedagogical supervisions focused on teacher appraisal which are performed by educational advisors and are coordinated by Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development. These supervisions are planned in annual plans, but can be done upon a request from top-level, local-level authorities or school staff. After the professional educational supervision is done, educational advisor who performed the supervision reports on it to the Ministry and local authority (which than informs school in a form of feedback on their work).
Primary Education and Secondary education
Responsible Bodies
As prescribed by the Law on the Education System Foundations, on local level, district school authorities are responsible for expert pedagogical monitoring in schools and for supporting the development planning, curricula development and quality assurance. Schools in collaboration with district school authorities are responsible for improving and assessing the quality of work, education programmes and conditions for its realization.
As previously mentioned, responsible bodies for quality assurance relevant for all levels in pre-university education are:
- Ministry
- Institute for Education Quality and Evaluation
- National Education Council
- Institute for the Improvement of Education
On the national level, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development oversees the achievement of prescribed goals and standards of education.
The National Education Council is also responsible for quality assurance in schools in line with European education principles, strategic plans and relevant documentation, standards etc.
The Institute for the Improvement of Education performs expert activities within preschool and school education, as directed by the Ministry and in accordance with legislation. Beside the Centre for Curricula and Textbooks Development and the Centre for Professional Development of Education Staff, the third centre is relevant especially for school education. This centre is called Centre for Vocational and Adult Education and it is responsible for determining the standards within vocational and adult education, preparation of curricula and final exam programme, determining the standards of textbooks and teaching materials and assessing the fulfilment of all standards through quality assurance procedures.
Moreover, the work of national education inspectors and educational advisors is under the surveillance of the Ministry. These experts control and evaluate different aspects of educational institutions and programmes quality.
Education inspectors control the educational institutions’ compliance with the legislation within the education system, realisation of children/pupils/students, parents and school staff rights and their protection, provision of protection from discrimination, violence and neglect, admission procedures, examination procedures and school records and documents. The inspection is organised on two levels: local (municipal) inspection is the first instance body, and the national education inspection under the Ministry is the second instance body.
Educational advisors’ work is regulated by the Bylaw on Professional Educational Supervision. Educational advisors control the quality of work in educational institutions, professional development of teachers and standards of teachers’ competencies. Evaluation may take place on a regular basis, according to the annual plan of activities, or on call of any of the education actors, in case of emergency situation. The evaluation of an educational institution work may occur in several forms:
- Direct monitoring of teaching by visiting classes, exams and other school activities
- Attending school management, parents council or students parliament meetings
- Analysing the external quality assurance report
- Reviewing school records and documents
- Reviewing pedagogical documentation
- Reviewing school development plans, improvement of quality of work plans, individual education plans, self-evaluation reports and other documents.
The evaluation of school management, teachers and other school staff work is individual and it may include different sources of information.
The educational advisor composes a report on the performed evaluation, which includes suggestions for future actions of the institution. The report is delivered to the institution’s head.
Approaches and Methods for Quality Assurance
Document Bylaw on the evaluation of institutions defines procedures of external and internal evaluation, their connection with school development plan and indicators of evaluation and monitoring. Described procedures of evaluation refer to primary schools, general and vocational secondary schools.
According to this bylaw, evaluation refers to the monitoring of different aspects of individual schools as institutions. This procedure covers internal (self-evaluation) and external school evaluation.
Internal quality assurance is continuous process of re-thinking and re-evaluation of current practice. It is performed each year for some areas of evaluation (areas that are in focus), while complete quality assurance procedure (with all areas of evaluation included) is being performed every 4-5 years. The internal evaluation covers a whole set of inputs provided by school leadership, teachers, other staff, students, parents, school and the local community. Internal quality assurance provides and strengthens the school autonomy and ensure professional development of teachers.
The Internal Evaluation Team is in charge of the internal evaluation process (data collection, planning, reporting, etc.). Main support to the Team is given by the district school authority and the Institute for Education Quality and Evaluation. Schools use feedback on their performance and quality (which is given as evaluation results) to identify the ways for improvement of their practices, further development and management.
Internal quality assurance is accomplished through self-evaluation of:
- programme quality and the quality of its realisation:
- teaching forms and methods quality;
- achievement of educational goals and standards;
- professional development of school staff;
- working and teaching conditions and pupils/students and parents’ satisfaction.
Upon completion of the self-evaluation process, and based on the report published, the institution produces a Development Plan.
External quality assurance is under control of the Ministry, district school authorities and the Institute for Education Quality and Evaluation. External quality assurance is conducted at least once in every five years. The Ministry publishes an Annual External Quality Assurance Plan, comprising number of institutions to be evaluated, timeline, and composition of the Evaluation Team. The Team then composes the Evaluation Report, giving evaluated institutions marks 1 to 4, with 4 being the highest mark. Based on the report, the institution produces a Plan for Quality Improvement.
Apart from external quality evaluation, there are occasional pedagogical supervisions focused on teacher appraisal which are performed by educational advisors and are coordinated by Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development. These supervisions are planned in annual plans, but can be done upon a request from top-level, local-level authorities or school staff. After the professional educational supervision is done, educational advisor who performed the supervision reports on it to the Ministry and local authority (which than informs school in a form of feedback on their work).