The Ministry of Education is preparing the competition for principals. What news does it bring and what profile should a school leader have?

After five years in which no competition has taken place, the school principals will hold a national competition next year. The methodology is not yet finalised, but Minister Daniel David has announced that he wants the written test to focus less on memorizing legislation and more on application. We analyzed the changes announced so far with a high school director and an Education specialist, together with whom we also created the profile of the manager who could effectively manage schools in Romania.

PHOTO Inquam Photos/ Octav Ganea

What the minister said

The competition for the director positions was supposed to take place this year, but it was postponed. The Minister of Education, Daniel David, said, in an interview with Prima News, that the methodology must be finished by August next year. Even if the document is not ready, the minister said that he would like to show the written test, which since 2016 was only in the form of a grid, and teachers were given questions from the legislation.

“We have to get rid of the idea that he has to have rules and regulations in mind, to know them, so to speak, by heart. In the end, we have to give the director a problem and he has access to the computer, what he wants as legislation, to find the solution to the problem. I don't want to test him if he knows the order of Minister Daniel David regarding homework, on the article I don't know which one. He should know where to look”said the minister.

High school principal: The most important thing for a principal is to know where to look for the answer to a question, not to already have an answer memorized

Consulted by “Adevărul”, Marian Ursu, director of the Neagoe Basarab National College from Oltenița, commented:

“The grids from the previous exams had their role, they eliminated the subjective grade of the evaluation, so it cannot be considered outdated. If in the new methodology of the director's competition we will also have problematic subjects, in front of which the candidate's ability to search and find solutions with a computer at hand, can only be commendable. The most important thing for a manager is to know where to look for the answer to a question, not to already have a memorized answer that possibly fits the given situation, so that he can then distribute tasks to the authorized/competent. The director must not be a traveling library, but must have culture and vision”.

He also says that the proposals announced so far seem appropriate, but that there is still a need for clarification regarding leadership positions in research organizations at home and abroad.

Specialist in Education: “The director's function is not one of reproducing legislation, but of making decisions in real contexts”

Education specialist Gabi Bartic also looks favorably on the initiative to focus on the application side, instead of memorization. And he gives as an example the international systems.

“The function of director is not one of reproducing legislation, but of making decisions in real, complex contexts, with high educational, human and administrative stakes. In performing systems, executives are evaluated on the ability to interpret the legal framework and apply it judiciously, not on memorizing the articles. The OECD consistently emphasizes that effective school leadership involves professional judgement, decision-making autonomy and accountability, not bureaucratic conformity (OECD, Improving School Leadership, 2008; OECD, Education Policy Outlook, 2023)”. says Gabi Bartic.

According to her, there are a number of skills that can be tested by,,moving from dry legislation questions to case studies and open-ended items“. And it provides the example of prioritizing problems and the ability to build solutions.

“It is, in fact, a recognition of the fact that the director is a manager of a complex organization, and his responsibilities clearly go beyond the didactic sphere”Gabi Bartic thinks.

But this also speaks to a potential problem:

“It is very true that here we will bet on the commissions' ability to objectively analyze and rate these exercises. Otherwise, we will move from the subjectivity of a type of evidence (what does dry regurgitation of legislation help) to the subjectivity of an interpretation of a concrete exercise. But, in theoretical terms, the approach proposed by the minister now makes much more sense. I hope it will be better in practice.”

Portrait of the effective manager

We asked both interviewed specialists what profile the director of an educational institution should have.

,,Directors need only one thing initially: culture, which their proper training should create. Then, open eyes and availability for involvement and effort. Empathy, self-control, not to be confrontational. To accept with joy the representation of the school, and not to expose it. Solidarity and empathy towards colleagues. All colleagues, regardless of their personal relationships. The rest will come along, wisdom comes with time, of course.” answered director Marian Ursu. It also added humanistic spirit and open mind to the list of qualities.

Gabi Bartic comes with a longer list of skills.

“The principal is not >, but the leader of the school community. They are different roles with different skill sets.

Based on international research and data collected from the Romanian school, the profile of an effective director includes: leadership of human resources (motivation, conflict management, team development); decision making based on data and analysis; communication and relationship with the community; strategic thinking and operational organization; ability to handle change and pressure; ethical leadership and clear values”.

The specialist also cites studies according to which the principal's influence on student learning is second in importance, right after that of the teacher, through its indirect effects on school culture and teaching quality.

A tangled history of appointing directors

Until 2016, in Romania there was no clear procedure for occupying the position of education director. The principals were appointed by the school inspectorates and there was often talk of political influence.

“Before 2016, I was in two stages director and school inspector, as a result of the appointment. It was obvious that you needed “a support”, “a recommendation”. Perhaps it is not bad at all for the ministry to have its own representatives in the school inspectorates, as general and deputy general inspectors, but politics should stop at the school gate. Each time with its good and bad”says Marian Ursu.

“Before 2016, the process of appointing directors was predominantly administrative and opaque. Even where there were well-intentioned professionals, the mechanism itself was vulnerable to political, relational and arbitrary influences. This practice reinforced an organizational culture in which the principal was perceived more as a representative of the central authority, rather than as a leader of his own school community. The focus was on compliance and reporting, not on strategy, institutional development and student outcomes,” Gabi Bartic also comments.

Director mandates are theoretically four years. However, in practice they have been prolonged. In the spring of 2020, when a new national competition should have been organized, the ministry invoked the state of emergency and the impossibility of carrying out the interviews and the grid-type written examination, important parts of the evaluation. However, the contest was not organized even in the fall, when the school activity was resumed and the tenure exam was held. It took place, instead, at the end of 2021.

“This instability sends a dangerous message: that the position of director is not treated as a strategic one. Prolonged mandates, successive interims and postponed contests produce uncertainty, demotivation and decision-making deadlock”Gabi Bartic thinks.

A new national competition was supposed to take place this year, but it was postponed precisely because the minister wanted a new methodology.

What is happening with the inspectorates?

In the Prima News interview, the minister was also asked about the reorganization of school inspectorates. A reform in this sense will come together with the director's profile, said Daniel David:

“Practically, when we have the draft methodology, we also know what the director should look like and we know, one important thing, how we think about the inspectorates. I think it would be much safer for all of us to undertake the professionalization of the inspectors, except for the position of inspector general and maybe deputy. The two should come and go with the government program, because in a way I see the two actors as the representatives of the ministry in the territory, as you have the prefect for the government, you should have the inspector and possibly the deputy inspector for the Minister of Education”.

Gabi Bartic believes that a rethinking of the role of school inspectorates is also needed.

“In their current form, inspectorates are predominantly perceived as control and compliance structures, not as professional support mechanisms. In many performing systems, the intermediary role has been redefined: from control to support, mentoring, data analysis and development support. This requires the professionalization of the inspector function, clear selection criteria and a real reduction in bureaucracy. I don't think the solution is to abolish the inspectorates, but to transform them deeply, so that the directors have real autonomy, but also professional support. Otherwise, we risk asking for modern leadership in an administrative framework that structurally blocks it”is the opinion of the specialist in Education.