The institutional conditions of adapting to future challenges in the Romanian education system

This paper comprises a country study on Romania as part of the” Future Challenges to Education in Central-Eastern European Context” project developed by the Central European University – Democracy Institute. It offers an overview of the main factors influencing the Romanian educational system in the context of current and future challenges. Drawing from a systemic perspective, the paper tackles the topic of governance in an attempt to identify the missing links in the system, it analyses current challenges, such as school system preparedness in relation to digitalisation, demography, political and socio-economic factors, as well as learning pathways, including learning cultures and outcomes, and students’ and youth’s attitudes. Mirroring the systemic perspective, the second part of the paper approaches a school-level analysis, focusing on adaptation mechanisms, making reference to school autonomy, quality management and evaluation. Finally, the paper aims to shape a general image of the distribution of roles and inter-connections influencing resources and quality assurance in the Romanian educational system. The paper also advocates for a more strategic and future-oriented approach from both central and school governance, in a wider policy framework, taking into account both the national and international contexts.