State of play (excerpt from the last annual National Report on validtion of Non-formal and informal learning)
After 1998 important progress in creating a favorable legislative framework for lifelong learning has been made. The Law no. 133 of 21st July 2000 which approves the Government Ordinance no. 102/1998 on the organization and functioning of the lifelong learning system in the educational institutions opens the way to a common framework for lifelong learning. Nevertheless, each of the educational levels and segments (compulsory education, vocational education and training, continuous education) and active employment measures have developed their own legal framework, which include some principles of lifelong learning, but they do not link to a common framework of public policies. Moreover, there was some inconsistency in applying the lifelong learning principle even within the same reform action field.
Some efforts to correlate legal framework concerning education and IVET and the one regarding the continuing vocational training have been made, but there is still no unitary vision of lifelong learning policies, able to ensure the coherence and the flexibility of an individual lifelong educational path. One of the main causes behind this fragmentary vision is the institutional separation of responsibilities relating to lifelong learning (Ministry of Education and Research – education and IVET, the Ministry of Labour, Social Solidarity and Family – the employment and vocational training, the National Adults Training Board – the adults vocational training) and insufficient cooperation among the decision makers. Hence, the Education Law reflects recommendations of the reforming programmes concerning the initial vocational education and training, while there is a different law regarding the adults’ vocational training: the Law of Vocational Training for Adults (Law no. 375/2002).
There is a significant gap between the provisions of the laws (many of these are often very complex and carefully formulated) and their actual implementation.
Some progress has been made in monitoring and assessing the implementation of the lifelong learning principle based on specific indicators due to the Romania’s participation in different European surveys (EUROSTAT, ETF, PISA), as well as some other national surveys on the features of lifelong learning in Romania, carried out by the National Institute of Statistics. However, the policy documents on lifelong learning do not establish evaluation and monitoring strategies of the recorded progresses and also do not define the measurable targets and performance indicators for the next years.
