School Inspectorate of Bacau County, Romania

Partner Coordinator: Ana-Maria Rotaru

The School Inspectorate of Bacau County, Romania is a public body, under the authority of the Romanian Ministry of Education. Our main task is to coordinate, monitor and control the schools of all levels in the county of Bacau (about 300 public educational units: kindergartens, primary schools, gymnasiums and trades schools and 20 private education units). The schools educating minority students have an important place in the strategic plan, as inclusion is not only a local strategy, but also of European importance. The inspectorate is structured in departments: management, curriculum and other departments (judicial, accounting, study documents, registry, investment). All our 27 school inspectors are experienced teachers and many have also worked as school principals or deputy principals. Many have experience in curriculum design and the implementation of assessment practices, in school management and in educational research. Our institution also coordinates and monitors the activity of the Teaching Staff House which offers free courses for all teachers in our county, as well as Children’s Palace, institution which primarily focusses in extracurricular activities, where Roma students develop and exercise their talents and abilities, under direct coordination of teacher-trainers with expertise.

Our Inspectorate (Inspectoratul Scolar Judetean Bacau) also provides an assurance of quality and public accountability in the education system in our county. We offer equal opportunities to schools belonging to different backgrounds and try to include as much as possible minority students from local educational institutions. Through the inspections in schools and centres for education we carry out, we promote best practices and school improvement by advising teachers, principals and boards of management in the school units in our area. We are also in charge of providing reports on curriculum provision, teaching, learning and assessment in the educational system and we provide advice to policy makers in the Department of Education and to the wider educational system. We have effective partnerships with the school units in our region, authorities and institutions responsible for education and we have established effective local, regional, national and international partnerships so far.

We have had previous LLP, Erasmus+ cooperation and we consider these actions a real way of changing something in the educational process by exchanging ideas and practices with other institutions in the respect of adapting some features to our own system in the immediate interest of our staff and students. The local projects and training activities focusing on developing teacher’s competences, such as “School without Discrimination”, “A Second Chance” and “Roma’s Origin: theory, legend, fact” are just some examples of how the Inspectorate meets the needs of the target groups.