Since 1990 Romanian society has been passing through a crisis of all its structures. The reform of schooling and education is considered a fundamental part of the change, inasmuch as the democratization of society cannot be accomplished without the democratization of the educational system. By the value system that it proposes, education makes a fundamental contribution to overcoming the present crises without assuming the pretension to resolve everything. The main tendencies of the reformation of Romanian education cannot be analyzed without having in view its tradition and evolution in time (four time-frames). The traditions and this historical evolution also provide the starting point for the elaboration of the new educational ideals, the new principles, finalities, structures and contents on which the reform is based. The structure of this chapter then is fourfold: a) the traditions of the Romanian education; b) the communist interlude; c) the beginning of the reform (1990-1995); and d) present tendencies and perspectives.

Like many other countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the present territory of Romania has been the scene of invasions, imperial and dictatorial, political and administrative arrangements, territorial changes, migrations of major ethnic groups, as well as a variety of cultural and religious currents. These factors have effected also the development of education in Romania, giving a specific path to its evolution, which is equally relevant to current post-communist educational transformations.

The system of public education was introduced only in the first half of the nineteenth century, although the first educational establishments on the present day boundaries of Romania existed for many centuries. A number of state-supported schools was established in the municipalities, while the opening of the schools in rural areas was still subject to the approval of the local nobility and the priest of the local Orthodox Church. One of the main consequences of this system of public education was that it gradually reshaped the function of schools by transforming them from ecclesiastical institutions into state — supported institutions offering secular education.

The period 1864-1918 is considered the period of the constitution of the modem education system. After 1848, Romania witnessed many social, economic and political transformations that generated essential changes also in the sphere of education. The historical context in which Romanian education was instituted was dominated by the ideals of the bourgeois Romanian revolution: modernization, independence, unity. Romania gained more favorable economic conditions and the emergence of a single political structure as a result of the union of two Danubian principalities, Wallachia and Moldova, which led to the foundation in 1859 of a new state — the Union of the Romanian Principalities. In this period capitalist relations matured, parallel to the emergence of the bourgeoisie liberal doctrine. From a political point of view, this orientation was materialized in the accomplishment of certain national aspirations: the Union of 1859, real independence in 1877 and a democratic constitution in 1866. The characteristics of this historical context can be found also in the first legislative measures — education and culture representing an important preoccupation in the period. There were also different conceptions — conservative, liberal and socialist — whose confrontation led to democratic legislation. From the mid-19th century on, clear new orientations concerning the organization of education appeared. By the end of the sixth decade, in the realm of educational policy there were three dominant ideas: the popular extension of instruction; the organization of the higher level schools; and their orientation toward the requirements of the national economy.

As early as 1869, Prince Alexandru loan Cuza initiated a coherent educational policy in which the school had a realistic and practical character. This context led to the foundation of the first Romanian university in Jassy in 1860. "The new university was regarded as the national university" and an important expression of the newly acquired statehood. This was not without significance due to the lack of recognition at that time by the European great powers (this took place only with ascendance to throne of King Carol I in 1866)." (Sadlack, 1995, p. 2)

However, education in the young state, created in 1859, was not yet uniform and equally developed in the two Romanian provinces. Legea asupra instructiunfi (The Law on Instruction) is the first school law of the modern Romanian national state, and regulated the organization and development of all levels of education. The law had a democratic character, especially in decreeing general, compulsory and free primary education. "Romania was therefore among the first countries in Europe — after Sweden, Norway, Prussia and Italy — that proclaimed the compulsory character of primary education" (Stanciu, 1977, p. 332). According to the law of 1864, instruction took place in public or private institutions. There were three levels of schooling: primary, secondary and superior. The administration of schooling was also clearly regulated. Despite the new and generous provisions of the law, the general curriculum was not in exact concordance with the orientations of educational policy, and there were numerous and serious differences between rural and urban schools. There is no doubt, the 1864 law had a fundamental role in the development of education in our country, but there were many gaps that prevented its uniform and integral application. The lack of material conditions for the observance of the principles of obligatory and free education, the small number of teaching personnel and their insufficient training, and the imprecise formulation of the legislative text — all vitiated the legal basis of education.

The effect of these laws for a more practical orientation in schooling was less successful. The number of vocational schools remained low and vocational education was neglected. The most important funds were channeled into theoretical high school education. This can be explained by the fact that the schooling policy of the liberal bourgeoisie was mainly concentrated on secondary school and superior education, considered as "a condition for the development of the national economy". The conservatives focused on the primary education as the premise for the development of a genuine culture." (Stanciu, 1977, p. 336) However, Haret oriented the liberal bourgeoisie also toward primary education by backing the development of rural schools, but this had limited effect. The two dominant political groups, the bourgeoisie and the landowners accused each other of deficiencies with regard to education. On the issues of school policy the socialist circles stressed the class character of education, the need for its democratization through instruction of the masses, the creation of equal educational opportunities, especially for workers and other economically disadvantaged categories, and the separation of school from church.

Synthetically, the reform initiated by Spiru Haret, Minister of Education in a liberal government, was supported by personalities of different political orientation: C. Dimitresculasi (socialist) and Titu Maiorescu (conservative). At that time, the conservatives paid special attention to rural primary education, and the liberals to secondary education, the former having in view an agrarian society, the latter an industrial society.

The laws of this period aimed at: the generalization of primary education and the realization of its unitary content; the training of the young at higher levels of education and the pragmatic scientific orientation of the content at these levels, including regional organization of higher secondary education; training the young for the immediate and prospective needs of the national economy.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Romania, after several decades of capitalist development and gradually extending her economic relations with other European countries, remained economically a weak country with a strong agrarian character. The peasantry represented almost 90 percent of the population. At the time, Romania’s main problems were: the peasant problem and the union with the territories under the occupation of Austria-Hungary Empire. In 1918 the Great Union took place and opened a new period in the history of the Romanian education.

The law of 1939 concentrated on primary and secondary education and provided for the organization of experimental schools for adapting some pedagogical theories to the particular needs of the primary school. Despite the economic difficulties in the interwar period, education developed through an increasing number of kindergartens, schools, and especially through the influence of some theorists of education, experts and critics of the most advanced pedagogical ideas from all over the world.

The schooling legislation of this period stipulated the specification of goals according to educational levels: primary education was aimed at the assimilation of maternal and mathematical language, some knowledge and skills absolutely necessary for life and moral and civic education; middle school education was to have in view the formation of general and specific abilities, and professional training according to the requirements of the economy (local included); high school education was aimed at the development of the capacity for synthesis, and of the original, critical thinking needed for superior studies. Generally, the goal of education was the formation of individuals able to act freely, creatively and responsibly in the democratic framework.

Altogether, it can be said that while significant progress was made, Romanian education at the time was elitist, particularly academically-oriented in secondary and higher education, and rather loosely linked to the economic and social needs of the country.

The incremental approach to the development of education came to an end in 1948 when Romania came under control of the communist party, the Romanian Worker’s Party. A new constitution adopted on April 13, confirmed the new political reality in Romania. It established the fundamental political, economic and ideological conditions under which Romanian education was to function, with some later changes, until the end of its communist period. As a result of the new law (a decree adopted on August 3, 1948), all levels of the Romanian educational system were transformed. The new system was composed of seven years primary education which became compulsory; four years of secondary education or vocational and apprenticeship education with various types of programs which lasted two to six years; and higher education which was offered in universities as well as in institutes for four to six years.

The new law declared that education must be secular, conducted only by state institutions and based on the scientific as well as ideological principles of Marxism-Leninism. The ideological context and the considerations of a centrally planned economic system became the principal orientation of Romanian education and science. It also provided political arguments for increased access to the post-secondary education of the "workers’ children" and for the education of students in the "spirit of patriotism and socialist internationalism." The new vision of the Romanian educational system moved it from the French-inspired model towards that one based mainly on Soviet educational concepts, policies and practices. Synthetically, the communist education had the following basic features:

- "The aim of education is the collectivist-type socialization based on the egalitarian utopia and the paternalist premise of providence-state, the sole owner and beneficiary of the educational system;

- There is a sole universal truth, the one guaranteed by the ideology of the governing party,

- The Marxist-Leninist ideology, foundation of knowledge and social action;

- Because man is first a production force, education has to be organized in such a way as to provide the necessary qualified staff imposed by socialist planning, mainly in hard industry, the energy branch and in agriculture;

The law of 1948 is associated with the educational developments in terms of quantitative progress in Romanian education, as well as an attempt to enhance the geographically balanced provision of education.

Altogether, the 1948 reform of education, initiated by the communist regime, sought to combine the genuine interest in the development of Romanian education as a precondition of its economic and social development. But the ideological and political purposes of the regime towards education were given priority. As a consequence, Romania’s education was marked by imposed, profound transformations whose main result was the abolishment of the pre-communist educational system. Its founding principles and operational structures were rejected and replaced, in many cases, by slavishly adopting "solutions" coming from the Soviet educational model and practice.

The reform of 1948 also changed the governance and administration of education in Romania. Within the country’s highly centralized political system, the ministry of education was responsible for the implementation, in cooperation with some other state organizations, of the educational policies determined by the communist party. Under the veneer of societal participation and a collectivist approach to governance, various councils and boards were created at the central and institutional levels. In most of them, besides representatives of the educational institutions, there were representatives of the communist party, local industrial enterprises, and youth or student associations.

The communist regime succeeded in introducing an all-embracing and totalitarian vision of the educational system. There has been hardly any area of learning, teaching, formulation of research plans, administration of physical infrastructure, as well as appointing, promoting, transfer or dismissal of personnel, which did not require approval or prior consultation with the communist party and state administration.

In the late 1950s, Romania, unlike other socialist countries, reacted mildly to the local forms of dogmatic Stalinism. The most distinct change of this period was the appearance of "de-Sovietization" of the political and social life, also with regard to education. In 1960, Romania started to make declarations against Soviet political and economic domination and began to act some what independently of the USSR and Soviet-dominated international bodies, such as the CMEA (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance). This "gave impetus, tacitly stimulated by the party, to the revival of nationalist feelings, couched in the language of "socialist patriotism", combined with a campaign to re-Romanianize the country’s education and science." (Sadiack, 1995, p. 8) At the beginning of 1960, in response to a new program of accelerated industrialization, decisions were made to increase the number of students in vocational, secondary and higher educational institutions, particularly those in engineering studies.

The deficiencies of Romanian education were further criticized at the congress of the Romanian Communist Party which was held in July 1965. Its newly elected secretary general, Nicolae Ceausescu, declared that the reform of education and the development of science were the major objectives of the new policy of the party and the state in its new strategy of modernization for the country and its opening to international cooperation. A short period of relative liberalism in Romania was initiated.

The Education Law of 1968 brought a number of far-reaching changes to the country’ educational system directed towards its expansion and modernization. The most significant structural changes were: the extension of compulsory education from eight to ten years and the concurrent reduction of the school age for the first grade from seven to six years; the diversification of secondary schools; introduction of a new shorter form of technical studies; and reorganization of post-university and continuing education.

Under the revised system, two types of schools for secondary education were created; academic secondary schools and specialized industrial secondary schools. The keyword for the reform of higher education was "training highly qualified manpower", while the role of higher education as an agent of social transformations was less frequently emphasized. Consequently, the main task of higher education was to respond to the needs of the economy for highly qualified manpower. For the next two decades, higher education operated within a rigid correlation of the number of students and fields of study with the arbitrary, bureaucratically-established national manpower plans. (Sadiack, 1995, p. 12)

Even if political and administrative supervision over education had not been altered, there were indications that educational policy was formulated more in academic and meritocratic terms than in the previously dominant ideological context. Significantly, the late 1960s and early 1970s was also a period of further quantitative expansion of education in Romania. The modernization process of education, of which the law of 1968 could be seen as a promising beginning, ceased when the political and economic situation rapidly deteriorated in the mid 1970s.

In the mid-1970s, the emergence of the party and government bodies responsible for education became more evident, accompanying a growing concentration of power in the hands of Nicolae Ceaucescu. There appeared a new doctrine for the whole educational system, seeing education, research and production as a unitary process. The new educational doctrine was affirmed in the new law on education and instruction which was adopted in December 1978, which was the last educational law under the communist rule in Romania. "In many regards, it was the law which reduced education to a narrowly understood need for training and indoctrination." (Sadlack, 1995, p. 12) It stipulated that programs of study had to be organized not only according to the needs of the academic curriculum, but also in view of the development of students’ "interest in, and love for work, as well as the development of practical abilities in accordance with the students aptitudes and future demands of the labor force. "If such tasks for polytechnic education and work experience could be found in the educational policy of other communist countries of the region, the uniqueness of the Romanian doctrine was that it required training in the industrial setting to be implemented already in primary and mid-school education (grades 1-8)." (Sadlack, 1995, p. 13) In the second half of the 1980s more than 90 percent of the students were admitted to one of the following three profile-schools: industrial, agro-industrial and economic. In the case of higher education, both students and staff were required to undertake "productive activities."

The law of 1978 formalized, on the one hand, a nominally prominent role in educational matters for bodies representing so-called direct socialist democracy, and, on the other hand, placed a concentration of actual legislative decision-making power in the hand of Ceaucescu, particularly after he became the president of the country.

The deterioration of the political and economic condition in which education had to function in the 1980s is statistically confirmed. With the exception of the generalization of compulsory ten-year education, it was a period of stagnation, rapidly followed by the overall contraction. For example, in the late 1980s, the number of teachers in all types of educational institutions was lower than in the mid-1970s. The total number of teachers in higher education steadily declined in the 1980s, in the second half of the 1980s falling to the level of the mid-1960s. Higher education for a relevant age cohort became one of the lowest among all European countries. The decrease of the number of students and graduates in such fields as the humanities, teacher training, mathematics and the natural sciences was substantial.

In this context, the last educational goal formulated by the communist party and approved by its congress in November 1989 to introduce, in the course of the next 10 years, a 12-year compulsory primary and secondary education, only confirms the idiosyncrasy of the regime and its failure to see a growing discrepancy between its political objectives and the reality created by its previous decisions.

Overall, the educational policy of this period, which in the beginning was met with great expectations, both inside and outside of Romania, failed to bring the expected modernization of education. It is true that some decisions such as the introduction of 10 years of compulsory education and a comprehensive system of vocational training, as well as various forms of non-formal education, all expanded opportunities for learning. But this policy was carried out in view of narrowly-interpreted technocratic schemes for the mobilization of human resources or designed to serve the ideological indoctrination of various segments of the population.

Romania, like all post-communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe, faces a fundamental challenge: the need to re-think and reconstruct education.

The above analysis of the conditions under which education had functioned indicates one aspect of the required changes to be undertaken by the newly democratic regime. The particularly repressive character of the previous regime requires special attention to public expectations concerning a de-communication of the concepts and practices in education, as well as a restoration of the basic democratic principles for the governance of the educational system. 1990 was the year of the rejection of the all educational system and its ideological foundations. At the middle of the school year, under the impact of the political changes which occurred in December 1989 and of the action of the various pressure groups, the main tools of communist education, i.e. political indoctrination, polytechnic education, excessive centralization, abusive control of persons and institutions and rigid planning were eliminated. Without a coherent policy or program of change, these actions had an ad hoc, sometimes chaotic and destructive, character.

- the guarantee of basic education for all citizens of the country in the form of some minimal competencies necessary for life and work in a democratic society;

- the promotion of an open and flexible education able to answer the most different interests, abilities and aspirations;

- the formation of conscious and responsible citizens, preoccupied with the evolution of society they live in, and willing to engage in the realization of the different reforms of the transition;

- the formation of new professional abilities, of managerial and trade skills, of economic and financial behavior, of the attitudes and social relations required by the market economy;

- the development of interest in education and permanent emancipation through an educational process centered not on the limited needs of a profession, but on the incessant interest for knowledge and action, for cultural and moral perfection, for social reflection and critique, for adaptation to a social context in change.

The educational ideal, as an essential part of the educational policy and a regulative element of the new curriculum, is no longer represented by "labor force formation" but refers to the free, complete and harmonious development of the human individuality, the formation of the autonomous and creative personality.

The reform of education in Romania, during the first years of post-totalitarian transition, has been characterized by the three following stages: deconstruction, stabilization and reorganization.

The essential and long-term aim of the reform is the abandonment of the model specific to industrial society and the gradual passing to a dynamic and flexible model adapted to the present and prospective changes of society, open to the infusion of the new and able to self-regulate. Such an aim provides guidelines for an outline of both a coherent conceptual basis and the strategic and tactical components of the promotion of the stipulated evolutions.

The first attempt at a coordination of these spectacular and dramatic changes, produced within merely a few months, was the Decision of the Government of May 1990 regarding the organization of education in the new school year. This decision joins together, in an coherent form, the main decisions taken during the CPUN (Provisional Council of National Unity) period,respectively:

- reduction from 10 to 8 years of compulsory education (stress being laid on the quality, not on the quantity of studies);

- abandonment of polytechnical education as a basic principle of the educational policy;

- development of the secondary schools (lycées) of general culture, a traditional institution, with excellent results in the interwar period (in 1989, these schools represented five percent of the institutions of secondary education, a figure which increased to 40 percent in 1992);

- diversification of secondary education, by widening the student profiles and specialties;

- elimination of the useless examination between the two levels of secondary education;

- reduction of the number of pupils in a class (the maximum number of pupils admitted being 36);

- lowering of the didactic norm from 22 to 18 hours weekly (16 hours in rural area);

- warranty for the possibility to organize teaching in the languages of the national minorities;

- introduction of a new curriculum, in order to assure a minimum training for all pupils in the following curricular fields: humanistic and social disciplines, scientific training, physical culture and optional instruction (for which 2-4 hours weekly were allotted, i.e. approximately 15 percent of the program);

- intensive study of foreign languages;

- introduction of the disciplines which stimulate the reflection and synthesis ignored in the previous curricula: philosophy, psychology, sociology and civic education;

- introduction of the post-lycée schools, with a duration of 2-3 years;

- assurance of university autonomy.

Considering the reform’s principles and finalities during the transition period, the priority objectives of educational policy for the following years of the 90s were democratization of the educational system, improvement of teaching quality, and increase in the social role of education.

In the same period were outlined important references of the reform, namely: the legitimacy of reform objectives, quality standards, rational processes of reform, legislative stipulations concerning the reform, a value system that determines the structures of reform, administration of human and financial resources, strategies, projects and programs of diagnosis, innovation and reorganization.

In 1991 there was launched the process of changing the legislative framework of education as the legal basis for the stability of the beneficial changes already accomplished, a process stimulated by the adoption in November of the new Constitution of Romania, that stipulated, in Article 32, fundamental guidelines for the educational system.

There were established the documents that orient the reform process in education, the institutions that project and apply the reform, the reform programs that refer to different sectors of education and aim at the improvement of the quality of formation programs for teaching personnel, the contents’ modernization (schooling plans, programs, handbooks), the modernization of managerial and financial mechanisms with a view to the achievement of a decentralized system which increases local and individual responsibility. These elements of reform aim at the improvement of the quality of education, a process based, on the one hand, on the valuable traditions of Romanian education and, on the other, on a modern pedagogical conception connected to the international context into which we are integrating.

Education is one of the most sensitive areas of social life. Today, the Romanian national educational system involves approximately five million persons (children, pupils, students, teachers and their auxiliaries and instructional personnel). Every fourth person is involved in one way or another in the instructional-educational process. In order for the pupils and students not to become another "sacrificed generation," it was necessary to go through a stabilization stage, realizing that the theory of educational reform limits change at any one time to no more than five percent of the components of an educational system.

Synthetically, the educational policy of the years 1991-1992 was aimed mainly at strengthening the policy of the reform decisions and at the stabilization of the education system. This concern manifested itself in two ways:

- Governmental Decision No. 961/1991 introduced some significant innovations: the acceptance of alternative pedagogical models (Freinet, Montessori, Waldorf, Petersen); the return of special education to the coordination of the Ministry of Education; the diversification of options in secondary education; the organization of higher education in three successive cycles; the introduction of the selective admission to cycles II and III of higher education.

- The modification process of the legislative setting of education launched from 1991. In 1992 the Ministry of Education elaborated a first project of the Law of Education, which was submitted to public debate. More than 10,000 amendments were proposed by the main actors of reform: teachers, parents, pupils and students, journalists, researchers, professional management, representatives of non-governmental organizations and professional associations, etc.

Romanian education is situated in an economic and social context specific to the transition period, along with other countries that confronted totalitarian regimes: strict economic constraints with a fluctuating macro-social realm, with contradictory and even conflicting accents, a different constellation of values and !deals. However, teaching presented a certain stability even though it was subjected to perturbation and to specific internal tensions and distortions. At the educational level the tendencies of change were dominated by the structural and functional modifications with a view to accomplishing democratic values in a new system characterized by pluralism and the will of positive change.

At the beginning of 1993, two major political options had direct impact on the reform of education:

- the decision to continue and accelerate the economic reform, on the basis of the structural adjustment principle and

- the decision to bring Romania close to and to integrate it into the structure of the European Union (Romania having already been admitted to the Council of Europe), which imposed new qualitative standards for Romanian education.

On the ground of these options, beginning from 1993, the policy of education pursued the following great objectives:

- definition of a coherent policy in the field of education;

- association with foreign partners, in the co-financing of the reform of education;

- adoption of a new law for the educational system in accord with the new economic, social and political requirements; and

- specialists consider all these objectives to have been achieved.

Education concerns an increasing number of social groups: parents, researchers in educational sciences, social managers, non-governmental organizations, trade unions, representatives of economic agents, politicians and members of Parliament and the mass media. Theoretically, a strategic role for the future evolution of the society is seen for education. For that, educational reform was globally and coherently tackled and linked to other sectorial reforms. The structure of the reform project of pre-university education (in cooperation with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) was determined by the major orientations of restructuring strategies. Among these, the following had priority:

- an updating and modernization of educational content at the level of school programs, handbooks, evaluation systems and examinations (for the first and second grade these textbooks were already elaborated);

- the reorganization of the system of formation and the professional development of didactic personnel;

- the reorganization of professional-vocational secondary education, aiming at the elimination of narrow specializations and the introduction of occupational standards;

- the creation of new markets for school handbooks and the removal of the monopoly on their production;

- the gradual decentralization of the mechanism of the financing and administration of educational institutions and units through partial and gradual delegation of competencies to school inspectorates, schools and centers for the teaching staff;

- the creation and functioning of the mechanism of evaluation and accredition of private and public educational institutions;

- the development of financial resources allotted to the improvement of conditions of instruction, such as augmentation of the level of investments for school construction and instructional equipment.

With a view to the ongoing reformation process, in keeping with the economic-social strategy of the governing program for 1992-1996, there is in view pre-eminently the reorganization of the pre-university educational system, including the professional-vocational, a reformation of higher education, and the completion of the legislative framework.

For the evaluation of the achieved results, we shall take into consideration the following elements that also represent important guidelines for the changes from other sectors: the normative framework, managerial aspects, free initiative, international cooperation, European integration.

On July 24, 1995, the Education Law was adopted and passed, which proposes restructuring, the educational system on new philosophical, cultural and pedagogic foundations. One hundred years after the elaboration in 1864 of one of the most progressive laws in the world, Romanian education is regulated by a modern law, the first post-communist law in the field of education. The main options clearly stipulated are:

- the definition of education as a national priority;

- the definition of the educational ideal as a unifying element to orient the fundamental values of education for the Romanian society;

- the development of a civil society with an impact on the educational process, in parallel with the introduction of some elements of social protection;

- the clear delimitation of education and schooling from ideological and political pressures;

- the guarantee of the right of access and of educational opportunities for all social, ethnic, cultural, religious or linguistic categories.

The provisions adopted by the law respect all the agreements and international documents signed by Romania concerning the problems of respecting human rights and child rights, as well as the pledges made in the field of the human dimension of the OSCE. Thus, the education law represents a turning point of reform, its normative expression that confers legitimacy and coherence on the present system of regulation of schooling.

Managerial aspects. The managerial dimension of the schooling system alms at the ensuring the competencies, resources, relations, and optimal and efficient managerial style required by the context of reform, the formation of competencies in order to provide an effective use of the resources for strategic planning, and replacing the former imperative, centralized and rigid methodologies by the participant approaches.

The decentralization and autonomy imposed by the new democratic framework require today a re-definition of national and local responsibilities in education.

The Free Initiative in Schooling and Education. Due to its fundamental character, schooling involves the efforts of all social factors with the aim of optimal and full scale use of all the resources and energies of a nation. The Romanian Government has stipulated a staged program of strategies in the field of education and schooling aiming to promote and develop activities based on free initiative.

International Cooperation. Contacts, exchanges and collaboration with partners from abroad has been developed and deepened. Over 40 inter-governmental accords and programs for cultural and scientific cooperation also include different actions pertaining to education. There are many agreements and protocols of direct cooperation with the ministries of education and schooling; almost 90 direct university agreements were signed by the Romanian educational units; programs and projects initiated, coordinated and financed entirely or partially by such international organizations or organisms as The Council of Europe, the European Union, UNESCO, OECD.

European Integration. Romania had been accepted into the Council of Europe and the Peace Partnership, theoretically a first step on the way to integration into Euro-Atlantic structures. Following the interwar tradition, when it was naturally integrated into the exchange of ideas on the European level, Romanian education is proposing, as an integration strategy, the orientation of its actions toward the formation of a pro-European civic culture, of a consciousness of belonging to a unique space of culture and civilization, dominated by unity in diversity and identity in community. In this process, the role of education in European integration is primordial. It emphasizes the set of common European values, it ensures basic knowledge about the rights and duties of European citizen, it brings nearer and harmonizes the objectives and contents, the methods, programs, structures and normative framework of the pedagogic realm. Synthetically, the policy of education available for this period conceived education as a specialized segment and institution of the global challenges occurring in all the segments of Romanian society. To this end, the Romanian education proposes:

- to prepare the pupils and students to solve the new, increasingly complex problems with which former generations were not faced;

- to teach the pupils and students to behave as citizens of a free society, to appropriate and develop the perennial values of humanism and democracy;

- to enable pupils and students to adapt themselves to the requirements of a market economy, teaching them to be competitive, have initiative and assimilate the corresponding organizational culture;

- to develop the values of Romanian culture and to promote the identity of the national culture in the framework of the universal culture;

- to train active participants in the political and civic life of the Romanian society;

- to develop readiness for permanent education and training.

On the whole, the official school documents establish the following priorities of the reform of education:

- decentralization of the education management;

- reform of curricula in all the disciplines and at all the education levels;

- reform of the assessment and examination system;

- reorganization of the teaching staff training system;

- reform of vocational education;

- introduction of alternative textbooks and the liberalization of the pedagogical market;

- modernization and diversification of the system of financing of education;

- reform of higher education.

The restructuring, which refers to all the educational aspects, components, institutions and processes, may be the following:

Pre-university Education:

- organization of education: introduction into the national education system of both the State and private institutions, pilot school units for basic and vocational education, compulsory kindergarten attendance as preparatory for the beginning of school attendance, organization within the lycées of classes of various profiles and of classes for pupils with superior capabilities and performance, founding centers or other institutionalized forms aimed at the training and improving of the managing, guiding and control staff, etc.

- curricula and school textbooks: according to the project co-financed by the World Bank, the whole curriculum of pre-university education was changed by 1997. By 2000, 250 new titles of schoolbooks, approved on the basis of intereditorial competition were drawn up. In this way the paradigm of the unique textbook, subsidized and protected by the State, is abandoned; which leads to the liberalization of the pedagogical market. With respect to the content of the new curricula and textbooks, there have been the following innovations: stress is laid on the integrated teaching of the scientific disciplines; a balance between compulsory, optional and optional disciplines; the modular organization of some curricula, etc.

- assessment and examination. The following objectives have been especially aimed at: the creation of a permanent assessment mechanism of the education system under the form of public yearly reports regarding the state of education at the district or national level, modernization of the end-of-study examination, progressive introduction of standardized tests aimed at the assessment of pupils at the end of distinct educational cycles, elaboration of national standards by education subjects and levels which should take into account the new developments of knowledge and the psychology of the different age, the organization of a new institutional setting for assessment, etc.

- initial and post-graduate training of the teaching staff. In order to support the psycho-pedagogical training of future teaching staff, the weight of the profile disciplines and options has been increased and a distinct organizational form has been introduced at the level of the institutions of higher education. As regards the post-graduate training of the teaching staff, the new legislation conceived methodical and psycho-pedagogical improvement of activities at the level of chairs or of specialization in education units, conferences, seminars, debates, roundtables at the inter-school, district, national or international level, and postgraduate courses in education for teaching grades.

- management: passage from the paradigm of centralized, rigid planning, exclusively limited to the need for manpower, to the paradigm of participation and decentralization entailing significant changes in the field of management and financing. There is an important co-financing project with the "Know-how Fund", which became operative from 1996. With respect to decentralization, the new law stipulates the foundation and financing of school units by local authorities and economic agents, the choice at the local level of a discipline in the profile of the lycée, competitive entrance examination to the lycée, development by the respective education units of admission tests to vocational schools, etc.

- financing and material base: the minimum financing threshold of State education represents at least four percent of the RIP (Raw Internal Product). The law also encourages alternative sources, the decentralization of the administration of funds, the involvement of the local communities and extra-budgetary resources.

- vocational and technical education is no longer neglected; it became a decisive lever, with foreseeable effects on reforms in other fields. It benefits by a special program of assistance granted by the European Union and represents a priority in the national development program of human resources.

- social protection: the social costs of the transition are already very difficult for a great part of the population. The law pays great attention to social protection under various specific forms: free services, institutions, studies, medical and psychological care, logistical base; integral financing from the State budget (of the costs for the children attending the preparatory kindergarten group, financing of scientific research programs on the higher education required by the Ministry of Education, of the postgraduate training of the teaching staff etc.); the assurance of specific institutional services and facilities; social protection of children, pupils and young persons with special educational requirements (handicapped or with special needs); standards in the services of school guidance and counseling for professional careers; social protection respecting the rights of cultural and linguistic patrimony, intellectual property, etc.

- cooperation and partnership: although The Ministry of Education coordinates the whole educational system in Romania, some activities are performed in cooperation with other ministries, institutions and organizations. The reform of education should be correlated with the reforms in such other field as economy, culture, health, communications, information, etc. Carrying out educational activities entails more and more interdepartmental cooperative action and searching for new partners in the management of national education.

- European integration has become a priority for the educational policy; the new Law of Education, the new curricula and text-books, the professional qualification standards and the types of diplomas granted are conceived in the perspective of an easy interrelation with respect to the requirements of the European Union.

Higher education:

- institutional financing: introduction of the miked financing, associating the basic with complementary financing, differentiated financing of the institutions according to results, type and level of education; introduction of the financial autonomy; increase of the per unit expenses per student, increase of the weight of capital expenses in the total amount of expenses for higher education, etc., self-financing of the public higher education institutions;

- efficiency in the utilization of funds with regard both to the higher education system and to the organization and functioning of institutions.

- curricula: stress is being laid on updating contents, increasing the weight of learning activities or of those centered on the students, as well as on the consistent coupling of the quality objectives with those existent in the most developed higher educational systems.

- accreditation and academic assessment imposed by four distinct factors: the quantitative explosion of higher education after 1989: the appearance of new institutions, faculties, departments, etc.; the fast and completely uncontrolled development of private higher education; the promotion of university autonomy. Actions to be undertaken are assurance of the conditions for starting an accreditation procedure, assessment of all the curricula and institutions, elaboration of performance indicators and assessment procedures of curricula and institutions according to these indicators, participation in the regional and Pan-European programs of academic assessment and accreditation, organization within each higher education institution of a permanent self-assessment unit, introduction of a national license examination, etc.

- university autonomy: at present we are in the stage of transition from the (political) claim of university autonomy to the building of the institutional and managerial base of self-administration under conditions of efficiency and responsibility. As the legal basis of university autonomy does not entail construction problems, the main question consists in the introduction of achievement mechanisms for these changes and monitoring the autonomous management and functioning of institutions under the conditions of available specific indicators of academic and financial efficiency.

- academic research and post-graduate studies: the foundation in 1994 of CNCSU, the National Council of University Scientific Research and the allocation in 1995 of a special fund aimed at subsidizing on a competitive bases research in universities. The whole community should be aware of the competitive character of research financing, of the transparency of the mechanisms, of the assessment criteria of the projects and of the results of the research. There was a strong quantitative increase of doctoral studies which are being developed, and, from 1994-1995, master courses were initiated.

In this chapter I tried to investigate the main traditions and the evolution of Romanian education in order to understand the desired and achieved transformation within the education system from 1989 till now. The main periods focused on revealed the interconnections in education from the beginning but especially the social system as a whole with its political, economic and cultural features.

The change of political regime required a reconsideration of education’s role. Education had been recognized as a priority, in terms of its impact on the whole society and especially, for the future. The reform of education has been stipulated as a priority of the transition period. However the first three years of transition were characterized by a lack of coherent policy in the field of education. This has been followed by systemic reform. This is aimed not simply at relieving timetables or programs but at global reform, which modifies the whole education system according to the significant democratic changes which occurred in Romania after December 1989. In this perspective, especially after the adoption of the new Law of Education in 1995, the goals and objectives, as well as the managerial structures, programs, text-books, assessment tools, and training system for teaching staffs has changed.

The definition of a new policy of education, involving external co-financing and change in the legislative setting and restructuring of the education system represent the main elements. While theoretically accepted and legally stipulated, these elements must be seen in connection with society as a whole, because these are long term processes. The transition requires a process of social learning and of individual and collective emancipation whose main dimension is psychological and moral. The impediments to real reform are neither financial nor political, as is usually thought, but are related to the human resources field. Consequently, education must really become one of the main levers for social change.

1. Spiru Haret (1851-1912) is one the most famous Romanian scientists and politicians and former Minister of Public Instruction. The policy of education he initiated emphasized the importance of the education for national identity and unity. He was deeply concerned with the development of the rural milieu by means of school. His main pedagogical ideas concentrated upon the cultural unity of the Romanian people, patriotic and practical education, diversity, selectivity and professional orientation within the secondary school, and extra-curricular education. He also worked for the improvement of teacher training and supported many publications concerning the educational system. The most important one is Revista generala a invatamantului, founded in 1905.

2. See Legi ale invatamantului din Romania (1864-1978) (Laws of Romanian Education [1864-1978]) (Bucuresti: Institutul de Stiinte ale Educatiei, 1991), p. 2.

3. Ibid., p. 3.

4. Petre Andrei (1891-1940) sociologist, philosopher and politician, representative of the National Peasant Party. He made important contributions to the explanation of the internal mechanism of social life and to the development of philosophy and sociology. His main contribution within the pedagogical field was the axiological foundation of the education process and the analysis of the axiological function of education, especially in Filbsofia valorfi [Philosophy of Value] (1918), published posthumously in 1945.

5. Constantin Angelescu (1869-1948) physician, professor and politician, representative of the National Liberal Party and Minister of Public Instruction several times; he carried on a sustained activity for the development of all levels of education.

6. See Cartea alba a reformei [Carte Blanche of the Reform of Education in Romania] (Bucharest: Ministry of Education, 1995), p. 6.

7. See Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, Articole si cuvantari [Articles and speeches], EPLP (Bucuresti, 1952).

8. See L.M. Imangulova, "Partidul Muncitoresc Roman, organizatorul revolutiei culturale din RPR" (Romanian Working Party, Organizer of the Cultural Revolution in the Romanian Popular Republic), in Revista de Pedagogie 7, nr. 6, lunie, pp. 1-8.

9. See J. Sadlack, "Romania: Forming and Reforming of the Country’s System of Education", in Education Reform and Policy in East Central Europe (New York: Garland Publishing, 1995), p. 7.

10. This happened in such fields as medicine, history, linguistics, teaching of foreign languages, mathematics and computer sciences in which Romanian academics also began to gain international recognition for their scholarly achievements.

11. See Reforma invatamantului din Romania: conditii si perspective [The Reform of Education in Romania: Conditions and Perspectives] (Bucuresti: Institutul de Stiinte ale Educatiei, 1993), p. 7-8.

12. One of the most adequate approaches to this problem is given by the constructivist conception of the learning process. In this respect, school would have to provide occasions favorable to acquiring the following capacities: cognitive and linguistic, affective and personal equilibrium, relational, active and social.

13. See Carlea alba a Reforme (1995), p. 8.

14. Ibid., p. 11.

Carte Blanche of the Reform of Education in Romania, (1995) Bucharest, Ministry of Education Cartea. "Cartea alba a reformei" (1995), in Tribuna invatamanntului nr. 306, decembrie, 1995, pp. 6-7.

Romania: Education Reform Project (1992), Washington D.C., The World Bank.