TTünde Kovacsünde Kovacs--CerovicCerovic

Serbia, State Secretary for educationSerbia, State Secretary for education

Piloting the INTES Piloting the INTES assessmentassessment

in Serbiain Serbia

Fighting corruption in education

Content

Not about the report! Multiple motivation for

undertaking INTES– Educational perspective– Governmental perspective– Social inclusion perspective *

Added value of INTES and plans for using the results

1. Educational perspective

Create the best context for human learning and development

School learning and motivation is rare event

Situated in an imperfect context

Educationalists try to maximize the frequency of learning and minimize contextual “intrusion”

Rare event

Schools are expected to be Places of intimate experience:

– Learning – Deep understanding– Motivation – Creativity – Respect – Values

Places of development of the Self-concept:– Self-regulation– Self-efficacy– Self-esteem – Self-description/attribution

Can they easily become that?4

Rare event Serbia

Imperfect context

1. Huge system - covers about 20% of the population in the country, but is fragmented into small and dispersed units

example of country of 6mil

No of schools

No of facilities

No of classes

No of teachers

No of students G1-G12

1.800 4.500 40.000 70.000 1.100.000

Imperfect context

2. Perceived as major mechanism for social/economic promotion –high motivation, high incentives

Imperfect context

3. Huge system of human interactions: interests, negotiations, conflicts, clans – all aspects of human nature present

4. Asymmetric relationships in its core: student-teacher, child-parent, parent-teacher (lack of voice, protectionism)

Imperfect context

Imperfect context

Parents excluded (Roma parents even more excluded) – recent OSI study

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Attended ...

Listened ...

Heard ...

Understood ...

Remembered ...

Will apply ...

Anti-corruption measures are genuinely welcomed

Learning can become a reallyrare event

2. Government perspective

Education reforms Equity, Quality, Efficiency Education Development Strategy

for Serbia 2020

Niches of corruption in education can diminish all the reform effects – Education is human capital development– Corruption creates the opposite – waste of human capital*

AREAS OF CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS

QA, self-evaluation,

external evaluation

maturaAnti-discrimination measures, Violence prevention

Outcomes and standards New curricula

Quality of teachers (36 ECTS)

Capitation formula

EIS

Clearer roles of schools, parents,

students

Extended preschool Inclusion of marginalized groups Individual education plansRoma pedagogical assistantsFree secondary edu.Recognition of prior learning

Current moment

Formulating priorities 2008 Legislative acts 2009 2010 Implementation from 2010 Monitoring and fine-tuning 2011 Long-term strategy development 2012-

2020

Good timing: Independent assessment very important

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Social benefits

Personal benefits

teachers

efficient

equitable

accountable

regulated

participatory

textbooks curriculum

financing managementassessment evaluation

SCHOOL

Research

Development Policies

2025

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Potential niches fi

nan

cin

g

Allocation of resources:Leakage in money flow

Private use of resourcesGhost teachers

Creativity of deception

Procurement:construction,refurbishing, maintenance,

equipmentschool materials

utility bills

Allocation of allowances, stipends, places in dormitories

Decentralized distribution of funds, many transfer steps, many actors (tracking the funds needed)

BOR

Potential niches

assessm

en

t

evalu

ati

on

Assessing students•Examinations frauds (entry/exit)

•Grading•Promotion based on bribes

•Selling diplomas

Evaluating institutionsmanipulating external evaluations

inspection

Accrediting institutions, programs

Major frauds: cases in Serbia:Law School University of Kragujevac + Ministry, 2007

JanuaryEnrolment exam for secondary education, 2008 June

Potential niches te

ach

ers

Teacher management: • Hiring/firing

•Deployment•Licensing

•Promotion•Training

Teachers’ responsibilities distorted:•undue reporting•private tutoring

•absenteeism, use of sick leaves•accepting extra fees, gifts

•biased grading

New regulations, but still low salaries, strong teacher unions (case of June 2011

legislation)

Potential niches

man

ag

em

en

t

eth

os

Who is managing and overseeing the schools?•Appointment of principals/deans/rectors

•Appointment of school boards• selecting the Inspection

Use of information systems:•Withholding information,

•changing, manipulating data, •not producing data..

Accountability to students, parents•Student placements

•Manipulating school boards•Manipulating parent councils

•Not including studentsMajor area of protectionism: student

placements – each SeptemberSchool principals PE teachers

Policy consequences

Public expenditure of education and % of GDP in 2007 ( State Treasury data for Serbia,

EUROSTAT for other countries)

Policy consequences

• Low participation rate (especially of

Roma childeren)• Drop out in

primary education• Drop out between

primary and secondary education

• Drop out within secondary educationHigh percentage of

early school leavers

Data source: EUROSTAT (2008) and National Statistic Office for Serbia

(drop out rates)Data for Serbia underestimated due to

the data shortages

Added value of INTESfor Serbia

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Added value of INTES

Confirmation of vulnerable areas from independent angle (important for fine-tuning)

Assistance in understanding bottlenecks in the system (important for strategy)

Assistance in “labeling” risky practicestrengthening the reform agenda

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Based on impressions Based on evidence

lowquality

high quality

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Added value general:Evidence for policymaking

LEARNING OF STUDENTS

LEARNING OF TEACHERS

LEARNING OF SCHOOLS

LEARNING OF THE SYSTEM

Added value general: Contributing to a developmental context

Research and

monitoringEducation

Developmental priorities

(equity and efficiency)

Legal instruments

Anti-corruption solutions in other countries

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Way to go

At least two strands Select areas – for quantitative

analysis Select areas – stakeholder

discussions, participative planning

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Way to go: stakeholders

Thank you for your attention

(PS the slides used proved useful for communicating education

reform priorities and processes to the wider public in Serbia)

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