Proceedings of the 3rd European Conference on Intellectual Capital

2.2 Future challenges
Marta-Christina Suciu et al.
The <strong>European</strong> education system and national education systems are going to be confronted with
major transformations. Some are determined by <strong>the</strong> globalization phenomenon, <strong>the</strong>refore <strong>the</strong>y are
going to be difficult to predict as <strong>the</strong> causes are too complex to be exactly determined. However,
some <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m are worthy to be mentioned (Horner, W., Dobert, H., Korp, B. 2007).
First is <strong>the</strong> suzerainty <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> education <strong>of</strong> national state and national specificity. An example is <strong>the</strong> one
<strong>of</strong> Switzerland and Germany (Bundeslaender), divided in administrative territorial units; <strong>the</strong>y have
<strong>the</strong>ir own sub-regional administrative, organization and evaluation structures as far as education is
concerned.
The second issue is related to <strong>the</strong> closer relationship developed nowadays between intercultural
socialization and education as a result <strong>of</strong> migration. Unfortunately, not many countries are ready to
deal with it. The consequences are mixed classes which function inefficiently and determine <strong>the</strong>
management to create ‘foreign classes’. Things become even more complicated: <strong>the</strong> beneficiaries are
in need <strong>of</strong> support in order to learn <strong>the</strong> language and <strong>the</strong> social norms, losing track <strong>of</strong> abilities and
skills formation.
Third, changes in <strong>European</strong> education systems will be severely influenced by <strong>the</strong> demographic crisis.
Two aspects that have to be considered: <strong>the</strong> ageing population and low fertility rates as <strong>the</strong>y translate
in a drop in school population and later on in a shortage <strong>of</strong> skilled labour force, posing an additional
burden on <strong>the</strong> economies. In <strong>the</strong> EU <strong>the</strong> impact <strong>of</strong> this crisis will strongly affect <strong>the</strong> national education
systems both in terms <strong>of</strong> structure and requirements.
The last issue is <strong>the</strong> ra<strong>the</strong>r uncertain future <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> teaching pr<strong>of</strong>ession. The formation <strong>of</strong> teachers is in
need <strong>of</strong> improvements, requiring lifelong training and developing supplementary social skills (teachers
are in charge <strong>of</strong> communicating with students, <strong>the</strong>ir families and community).
Overall, <strong>the</strong>se future evolutions are much prejudiced by <strong>the</strong> perception <strong>of</strong> society as many <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
deficiencies <strong>of</strong> education systems are transferred to teachers without looking for <strong>the</strong> real cause <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
problems. The economic crisis made things worse, lowering wages and teachers in <strong>the</strong> social
hierarchy, thus causing a great number <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m retire early or reconsidering a second career.
3. Romanian education system
3.1 Historical background
In order for Romania to manage <strong>the</strong> integration in EU and to gain a strong competitive advantage in
<strong>the</strong> long run, and to sustain economic growth, a pr<strong>of</strong>ound reform <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> education system was
necessary.
After <strong>the</strong> 1989 Revolution things transformed; <strong>the</strong> political regime was a democratic one, free access
to education was guaranteed by Constitution in 1991, <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong> Education Law in 1995 and numerous
adjustments tried to ensure <strong>the</strong> correlation between economy, social realities and school. In 2003 <strong>the</strong>
new Law <strong>of</strong> Education entered intro force, aligning it to <strong>the</strong> <strong>European</strong> model.
The latest changes are imposed by <strong>the</strong> Bologna process, focusing on decentralisation <strong>of</strong> education
system, ensuring quality, especially for superior education, elaborating a national framework <strong>of</strong>
qualifications compatible with <strong>the</strong> <strong>European</strong> Qualifications Framework by <strong>the</strong> National Agency for
Qualification in Higher Education and Partnership with Economic and Social Environment in
collaboration with <strong>the</strong> higher education institutions- <strong>the</strong> National Qualifications Framework in
Romania, <strong>European</strong> transfer credit points, involvement <strong>of</strong> Romania in programmes which increase <strong>the</strong>
internationalization <strong>of</strong> higher education (Prepelita-Raileanu, B. 2010). Even more, ‘Economic
alphabetization’, as mentioned by <strong>the</strong> President <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> National Council <strong>of</strong> Economic Education
(NCEE), Robert F. Duvall, ‘ is a vital skill, just as vital as reading literacy’ (Stern, G.H. 1998, pp.1).
‘Economic alphabetization’ contributes also to a better understanding <strong>of</strong> functional literacy.
In Romania, at secondary and upper-secondary level, <strong>the</strong> curriculum has a national compulsory
component, representing 90% <strong>of</strong> what children are thought, leaving less than 10% to school’s
decision. However, <strong>the</strong> structure is primarily focused on quality <strong>of</strong> educational services and integration
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