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education are more and more documented with hard data. For instance, a researchprepared by McKinsey & Company [The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap inAmericas Schools, 2009, pp. 5-6 et passim], the impact of bad education on GDP ishigher than the impact of the economic crisis: if the United States had, in recent years,closed the gap between its educational achievement levels and those of better-performing nations such as Finland and Korea, GDP in 2008 could have been $1.3trillion to $2.3 trillion higher. This means 9 to 16% of GDP (whilst the decrease of theGDP due to the crisis was less than 6.5%). If the gap between black and Latino studentperformance and white student performance, or the gap between poor and richstudents, or the achievement gap among US States had been narrowed, GDP in 2008

would have been higherwith 2 to 5% of GDP, for each kind of gap analysed.

Coming closer (geographically), in Europe, a research published by the EuropeanExpert Network on Economics of Education (EENEE)2, estimates that the gain forRomania, due to improvement of education could bebetween 699% and 2056% of thecurrent GDP (until 2090, depending on different scenarios), and, more important, theincrease in the long-run growth of the GDP could be between 1% and 2.4% each year[Hanushek and Voessmann, 2010]. Fantastic figures, arentthey?

And even more: the level of education correlates positively with Life Expectancy andnegatively with alcohol and tobacco consumption and with obesity; educationcorrelates positively with civic and Social Engagement (expressed by political

engagement, civic engagement, voting, trust - interpersonal and institutional -,tolerance and political knowledge) and negatively with crime3. For instance, in theUSA, an increase with 1% in high-school graduation for boys will save 2 billion USDin the anti-crime budget (3000 USD for each graduate).

We may say now, without any doubt, that education is good for individuals and societyas a whole because if you think education is expensive, try ignorance(as Derek Boksaid). And, even it seems that we tried, for the time being, too much ignorance, we may

2http://www.eenee.deorhttp://www.education-economics.org/;the network is financed by theEuropean Commission, DG Education and Culture3OECD, Centre for Educational Research and InnovationCERI athttp://www.oecd.org/edu/socialoutcomes;Social Capital, Human Capital and Health. What isthe Evidence?, 2010; Miyamoto, 2010
http://www.eenee.de/http://www.eenee.de/http://www.eenee.de/http://www.education-economics.org/http://www.education-economics.org/http://www.education-economics.org/http://www.oecd.org/edu/socialoutcomeshttp://www.oecd.org/edu/socialoutcomeshttp://www.oecd.org/edu/socialoutcomeshttp://www.education-economics.org/http://www.eenee.de/


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agree thatimproving education means a better life, for all of us and from all pointsof view. Now, we may go to the next (obvious) questions: Now that we knoweducation is important, do we need to reform it? And how to do this?

2. Questioning the educational reform

2. 1. Reform in education? Why?

To answer these new questions we must, first, define and measure the results ofeducation because all the top-performing systems also recognize that they cannot

improve what they do not measure (Barber i Mourshed, 2007, pp 35-36). So, weneed to define the learning outcomes4. We mention, only, the increasing consensusin defining the results of education as learning outcomes, aggregated in competencies(understood, mainly, as systems of knowledge, skillsand attitudes, resulting from theinvolvement of the learner in a particular set of educational experiences).

On one hand, learning outcomes are about what a specific5 learner should know,feel, will and is able to do, subsequent to a formal learning process - i.e. the goalsand objectives of the formal curriculum, delivered in a defined school system andassessed. On the other hand, the learning outcomes refer to what a specific learneractuallyknows, feels, willand is able to do, mainly if the accomplished resultsare the expected ones and fit to the identified needs of individuals and of society. In

this respect, it is always a gap between the plannedlearning outcomes and the actualones, and one of the functions of the evaluation and quality assurance systems is tonarrow and even to close this gap.

But, nowadays, both sides of this coinare subjects for debate. First, the traditionaleducational outcomes are challenged because the evolution of the human society

4See, for instance, UNESCO (http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Pages/observatory-of-learning-outcomes.aspx), The European Commission (http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc/eqf/note4_en.pdf), The World Bank(http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTEDUCATION/0,,contentMDK:21911176~menuPK:5495844~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:282386,00.html)orEHEA (http://www.ehea.info/article-details.aspx?ArticleId=119)5In terms of age, previous education or experience, his/hers situation on the labour market etc.
http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Pages/observatory-of-learning-outcomes.aspxhttp://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Pages/observatory-of-learning-outcomes.aspxhttp://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Pages/observatory-of-learning-outcomes.aspxhttp://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Pages/observatory-of-learning-outcomes.aspxhttp://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc/eqf/note4_en.pdfhttp://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc/eqf/note4_en.pdfhttp://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc/eqf/note4_en.pdfhttp://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc/eqf/note4_en.pdfhttp://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTEDUCATION/0,,contentMDK:21911176~menuPK:5495844~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:282386,00.htmlhttp://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTEDUCATION/0,,contentMDK:21911176~menuPK:5495844~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:282386,00.htmlhttp://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTEDUCATION/0,,contentMDK:21911176~menuPK:5495844~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:282386,00.htmlhttp://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTEDUCATION/0,,contentMDK:21911176~menuPK:5495844~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:282386,00.htmlhttp://www.ehea.info/article-details.aspx?ArticleId=119http://www.ehea.info/article-details.aspx?ArticleId=119http://www.ehea.info/article-details.aspx?ArticleId=119http://www.ehea.info/article-details.aspx?ArticleId=119http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTEDUCATION/0,,contentMDK:21911176~menuPK:5495844~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:282386,00.htmlhttp://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTEDUCATION/0,,contentMDK:21911176~menuPK:5495844~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:282386,00.htmlhttp://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc/eqf/note4_en.pdfhttp://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc/eqf/note4_en.pdfhttp://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Pages/observatory-of-learning-outcomes.aspxhttp://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Pages/observatory-of-learning-outcomes.aspx


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became faster than ever and, besides this, unpredictable: we dont know, now, how thesociety will look like not in 25 years, the regular length of a generation, but not evenin 5 years. In this context, no information, no skill, no work place or profession isgranted to be useful for good. Thus, the debate 6on these learning outcomes is vivid,passionate and it began to shake the classroom practices, established by tradition(including its architecture and design7). On the evaluation side of this issue, wemention only the debate (at least as passionate as the previous mentioned one) on theresults at PISA, TIMSS or PIRLS testing: most of the systems of education began newreforms on the basis of thepupilsresults at international testing.

So, if we agree that education means a better life, for all of us (as individuals andsocieties), improving education is a must because the needs (of individual and

societies) changes very fast and, besides this, the existing learning outcomes are,obviously, unsatisfactory. Consequently, the reform should embrace both sides ofthe coin: to redefine the expectations and to change, accordingly, the way theoutcomes are evaluated. In this context, we may formulate a new question: Now thatwe know education is important and we must reform it, how should we define the newlearning outcomes and how to proceed in order to get them?

2.2. Reform in education? How?

Starting from the existing social needs, the debate regarding the (new?) desired

outcomes of education produces its first results. For instance (the inventory is notexclusive), the future education should: Be life-long and life-wide. Be focused on learners, not on teachers. Develop critical thinking and problem resolution.6See, for instance: Robinson (2009, 2010), Gardner (2005, 2007, 2011), Veen (2006) or IanJukes, Ted McCain et alii(2010); websites likehttp://www.21stcenturyfluency.com/, orhttp://www.fieldingnair.com/Publications/.7The Third Teacher. 79 Ways You Can Use Design to Transform Teaching and Learning,2010; Beadle, 2011; The 30 ways of innovating in education proposed by Prakash Nair(http://www.fieldingnair.com/Publications/EdInnovationNair5.pdf), including the way theseideas are put in place in a school transformed in a learning center(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ojBaxxdPz4)
http://www.21stcenturyfluency.com/http://www.21stcenturyfluency.com/http://www.21stcenturyfluency.com/http://www.fieldingnair.com/Publications/http://www.fieldingnair.com/Publications/http://www.fieldingnair.com/Publications/EdInnovationNair5.pdfhttp://www.fieldingnair.com/Publications/EdInnovationNair5.pdfhttp://www.fieldingnair.com/Publications/EdInnovationNair5.pdfhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ojBaxxdPz4http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ojBaxxdPz4http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ojBaxxdPz4http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ojBaxxdPz4http://www.fieldingnair.com/Publications/EdInnovationNair5.pdfhttp://www.fieldingnair.com/Publications/http://www.21stcenturyfluency.com/


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Focus on analysis, synthesis and transfer of information not on information itself. Develop autonomy, flexibility of mind, creativity and adaptability, the divergent

thinking(K. Robinson) and lateral thinking (E. DeBono), and not conformity. Enhance communication skills and, generally, the key competencies, including the

capacity to use of the new technologies for information and communication.

Develop social, moral, civic and intercultural competencies.It is obvious the priority shift from pure knowledge to applied knowledge and toother components of the learning outcomes (defined as competencies): skills and,foremost, attitudes: "The need to know the capital of Florida died when my phone

learned the answer, said a student in the US, in his personal blog8.

The consequence of this shift, for the reform in education, is dramatic: the oldfashion ways of reforming had shown their limits9: Enforcing and enhancing standards(we are not expecting enough or the right

things from the students) led to drill for exam, pressure for cheating anddiminished motivation for learning, whilst there is little evidence that this concernfor standards has resulted in better teaching, more favourable learningopportunities, or increased skills in problem solving and higher order thinkingskills.

Upgrading school staff (hiring new teachers or mass retraining of teachers) de-motivate teachers (they feel they are seen as incompetent and go up against the

reform measures) and, often enough, instead changing the practices, reinforcethem, because the school hire teachers who fit the existing culture and practices (see, for instance, in the Romanian education system, the open classes and theusual refresh coursesin didactics, which reinforce the traditionalist practices).

Reorganizing and restructuring (restructuring the school day, redesigninglearning sites, changing governance and management, building partnerships andnetworks, increasing the participation of parents and the community etc.) mayprovide the occasions for change, but they do not ensure it. Besides the opposition

8http://www.chivetta.org/2008/01/22/21st-century-education-thinking-creatively/9Maehr and Midgley, 1996, pp. 6-11, make a critical analysis of the traditional ways ofreform, highlighting their negative side effects and the sources of their failure. We make, here asynthesis of their findings.
http://www.chivetta.org/2008/01/22/21st-century-education-thinking-creatively/http://www.chivetta.org/2008/01/22/21st-century-education-thinking-creatively/http://www.chivetta.org/2008/01/22/21st-century-education-thinking-creatively/http://www.chivetta.org/2008/01/22/21st-century-education-thinking-creatively/


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at school level (What does know about education the illiterate / uneducated parent/ mayor?), granting authority do not guarantee commitment. Because of this, itwas naive to assume that classroom quality would improve just because wechanged our structure [Barber and Mourshed, 2007, p. 11].

Improving the work environment for teachers (including salary raise) led tohuge expenditures, which poor countries are unable to sustain. Moreover, whatmay be good work environments for teachers not necessarily translate directly intobetter learning for students: studies in education economics demonstrate that thereis no correlation between increased funding or better teachers salaries, on onehand, and the students results at national or international testing, on the other10.

Changing the curriculum: the schools were not teaching the right things. Theexperts, in different areas claim that the children learn less physics / history /geography than they need. But changing the content (what is learnt) ismeaningless without considering the learning process (how students learn) ,without changing the teaching itself.

Increasing choice (developing a system responsive to consumer demand andchoice by school based curriculum and competition among schools, forinstance) may influence negatively the fairness of education provision: if choicedepends on the availability of transportation, then some families will "choose" tosend their children to the neighbourhood school. On the other hand, the differencesin the resources may increase, and equity in education provision may decrease.

Improving financing of education may seem a way to attract and retain goodteachers, to have better equipped schools and to reduce the class size. But, again, itis already demonstrated that the amount of per capita funding is not correlatedwith the quality of education. Besides this, impact of class size on studentslearning outcomes is, still, a subject of heated discussion 11. So, more money forschool means, in a lot of cases pouring new wine into old bottles [Maehr andMidgley, 1996, p.11].

10Hanushek, 2003. See also Pink, 2009 for the influence of financial reward on individualperformance.11Regarding the impact of class size reduction on learning outcomes, seehttp://www.classsizematters.org/research-and-links-2/for pros, and Hanushek, 2003; Barberand Mourshed, 2007, for cons.
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As a conclusion of this introductory chapter, even if we agree that improving

education is a must, nowadays, the old ways of reforming education are no

more suitable because they are not likely to generate the expected results.

3. A new pattern for reforming education: teacher centred cultural changes

The main reason of the situation presented in the previous chapter is that there is,however, a growing awareness of a deeper underlying problem: philosophical ortheoretical bankruptcy. Schools and school staff have lost a sense of what they areabout. They have lost the "tie that binds." The "why" questions have been pushed aside

by the "how" questions [...] Schools have lost sight of or perhaps are seriouslyconfused about their purpose, their values, their role, and why they exist. They have a"culture crisis" [Maehr and Midgley, 1996, p.11].

In this chapter well try to suggest some answers, coming from the existing literature,for this new question: how to change the education in a way that learning outcomes(planned andmeasured) are suitable for the society in which our children will live (andabout which we know almost nothing)?

3.1. "The quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers"

We begin this chapter with this quote12, because underlines the importance of the

teacher, as the main lever for reforming education. And we continue with anotherquote, from the same report13: "The only way to improve outcomes is to improveinstruction" because it expresses the impact of the concrete teacher on the studentslearning outcomes.

For instance, the available evidences suggest that the main driver of the variation instudent learning is the quality of teachers. Fifteen years ago, a famous research[Sanders and Rivers, 1996] demonstrated that, if two average eight-year-old studentswere given different teachers - one of them a high performer, the other a low performer-, their performance diverge by more than 50 percentile points within three years.

12Barber and Mourshed, 2007, pp. 16-2313Barber and Mourshed, 2007, p. 17


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Moreover, as teacher effectiveness increases, lower achieving students are the first tobenefit. The top quintile of teachers facilitates appropriate to excellent gains forstudents of all achievement levels.

Several years later, other researchers find out that teachers account for 4% to 30% ofthe variance in student achievement at standardized tests14. Since then, data began toaccumulate. Other researches15demonstrate that:

student placed with high performing teachers will progress up to three times as fastas those placed with low performing teachers;

in England, students that were failing at age 11, had only 25% chance of meetingthe standard at age 14 and 6% when leaving school, at age 16;

two years of effective teachers could not remediate the achievement loss caused byone year with a poor teacher;

in just six years, Boston increased the number of its students meeting the standardsfrom 25 percentile points to 74 percentile points in Math, and from 43 percentilepoints to 77 percentile points in English, only by changing the teacher trainingsystem;

in England (where there had been little improvement in student outcomes fornearly half a century), by using government funded new national training programswhich employed best-practice training techniques, the number of students meetingthe standards in literacy, increased from 63 percentile points to 75 percentilepoints, in only three years.

In the last decade, available data began to refine. For instance, it is known that teacherinfluence is higher for students coming from disadvantaged groups or with learningdisabilities (gaining 50 percentile points, in three years, due to teachers) than forstudents coming from privileged families, and / or with high level of schoolachievement, (gaining about 10 percentile points, due to teacher). But, on the otherhand, the low-achieving students were twice as likely to be assigned to ineffectiveteachers three years in a row [Babu i Mendro, 2003].

14Bembry, Jordon, Gomez, Anderson, and Mendro, 1998; Teachers Matter: Evidence fromValue-Added Assessments , 200415See, a synthesis of these researches in Barber and Mourshed, 2007.


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Starting from these results, there is an increasing number of initiatives aiming to bringexcellent teachers where they are needed the most: in disadvantaged areas. We mentiononly two such initiatives: The New Teacher Programme16and Teach for America17(both in the USA). The second initiative becomes worldwide, with programmes andadepts in 25 different countries18, including Romania19.

As a conclusion for this paragraph, the impact of effective teachers overwhelmsalmost every other intervention, at school level20, including class size reduction.

3.2. If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow

It is obvious that every change we introduce in the educational system should havepositive effects at student level, on learning outcomes. But, the main problem is thatMany of the reforms we studied failed to deliver improvement because they had littleeffect on what happened inside the classroom. Cuban's analogy of the effect of manyschool reforms on teaching practice is that they have a similar effect to that of a stormon the ocean: the surface is agitated and turbulent, while the ocean floor is calm andserene (if a bit murky). Policy churns dramatically creating the appearance of majorchanges ... while deep below the surface, life goes on largely uninterrupted. [Barberand Mourshed, 2007, p. 32]

Consequently, having in mind that the teacher has, at school level, the largest influence

on the learning outcomes, the next step should be to define what this new teachershould do,what kind of learning experiences he/she must create, so that learnerscan demonstrate, at the end of a specific learning process, the required learning

outcomes.

16http://www.tntp.org17http://www.teachforamerica.org18http://www.teachforall.org19http://www.teachforromania.ro20Having in mind that, according to all researches made in the last decades, the most importantpredictor for the school results is the students economical, social, personal and educationalbackground, which explains (according to OECD) 85% of student achievement.
http://www.tntp.org/http://www.tntp.org/http://www.tntp.org/http://www.teachforamerica.org/http://www.teachforamerica.org/http://www.teachforamerica.org/http://www.teachforall.org/http://www.teachforall.org/http://www.teachforall.org/http://www.teachforromania.ro/http://www.teachforromania.ro/http://www.teachforromania.ro/http://www.teachforromania.ro/http://www.teachforall.org/http://www.teachforamerica.org/http://www.tntp.org/


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In the first place, we need to establish the position of teacher as professional. Thelatest European Documents consider the quality of teacher as one of the main elementsfor improving the quality and efficiency of education and training: At the same time,there is a need to ensure high quality teaching, to provide adequate initial teachereducation, continuous professional development for teachers and trainers, and to maketeaching an attractive career-choice21.

That means, among other measures, to position the teaching profession at the highestlevel of qualification at levels 6, 7 or 8 within the European QualificationFramework22. For instance, this means, for EQF Level 7 (corresponding with the

master degree, the required qualification for teachers as established by the Law ofNational Education): highly specialised knowledge, some of which is at the forefront of knowledge in a

field of work or study, as the basis for original thinking and/or research criticalawareness of knowledge issues in a field and at the interface between differentfields;

specialised problem-solving skills required in research and/or innovation in orderto develop new knowledge and procedures and to integrate knowledge fromdifferent fields;

manage and transform work or study contexts that are complex, unpredictable andrequire new strategic approaches take responsibility for contributing toprofessional knowledge and practice and/or for reviewing the strategic

performance of teams.

We quote extensively from these two European Official Documents to underline thelevel of complexity, creativity and autonomy needed for a teacher. On the other hand,teacher education must change, as well, in order to be consonant with the traits of thefuture education (some of them already mentioned in chapter 2.2.). The reason is

21Council conclusions of 12 May 2009 on a strategic framework for European cooperation ineducation and training (ET 2020). Official Journal of the European Union, C 111 from6.5.2008.22Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of theEuropean Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning. Official Journal of t he EuropeanUnion, C 119 from 28.5.2009.


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obvious: a teacher not demonstrating specific skills and competencies in these areaswill not be able to teach them. Consequently, the teacher must:

Be a life-long and life-wide learnerhimself/herself. Focus on learners, on learning processes and outcomes, not on his/hers own

teaching.

Be a critical thinker and a problem solver, and focus on analysis,synthesis and transfer of information (= processes) and not on informationitself(= contents).

Bemorally and intellectually autonomous, have aflexible mind, becreativeinthe classroom, butadaptableto the different ways and styles of learning.

Demonstrate high level communication skills and, generally, in all keycompetencies(including proficiency in using the new technologies).

Be a moral person and demonstrate social, moral, civic and interculturalcompetencies.

What does this means for teacher education? For instance:

Instead of focusing on teachers behaviour (as in the existing Didactics orMethodology courseware), teacher education should focus on the understandingof the learning processes, by using the newest scientific data in this regard,including from neuroscience.

In order to personalize the learning experiences for different learners, the teachermust be able to pluralize the teaching, by dealing, in specific ways, withdifferent intelligences (H. Gardner), different learning styles (D. Kolb andothers) or different sensory dominances (NLP). Thus, teacher education mustapproach, consistently, in theory and practice, the whole range of the ways peoplelearn.

Teaching means high level abilities for communication in mother tongue and in atleast one foreign language, regarding the use of ICT and, as a matter of fact,regarding all key competencies. Consequently, the key competencies shouldbe one of the main criteria for selecting the future teacher and cultivating them, aconsistent part of the curriculum for teacher education.

The teachers must be educated as researchers (including for producing and usingstatistics), and as knowledge managers(including by using the new informationtechnologies).


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Without any doubt, the teacher will teach in more than one cultural setting. Thus,he/she must be aware of cultural differences (national, ethnical, among differentgroups etc.) and to approach them consistently, in an inter-cultural way (bearing inmind that each culture has something to offer to another).

Finally, teacher education will need to have a more consistent part of practice.Besides aptitudes and education, any professional needs to practice thecompetencies, in different situations and conditions.

3.3. The educational reform as cultural change

When I observe teaching, visit schools or look into the new textbooks, I feel youngagain: the teachers approach pupils and students like I was approached, as pupil, fiftyyears ago, or as student, thirty years ago. All the new solutions in teaching (pupilshaving individualized tasks or working in small groups, using multimedia, multi-disciplinary teaching etc.) were in usewhen I was in high school, forty years ago. Therelative weight of different subjects is the same: the math as the apex in the hierarchyof subjects, followed by mother tongue, sciences and humanities, with arts(bearing creativity as the main value) and technology (which grows at an astoundingrate and of which we are, today, completely dependent), on the last place. Even thetext fragments I (fifty years ago) and my children (ten to fifteen years ago) learned toread are the same. Even the Pedagogy and Didactics curricula and syllabi I used tograduate and to pass the exams for becoming teacher and, afterwards, permanent

teacher (around thirty years ago) are, mostly, the same.

On the other hand, we complain that education changes too often. But, despite therhetoric, the changes in education of the last two decades did not produce major


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improvement of the Romanian pupils results at international testing23, and theproblems revealed by different analysis and studies24did not vanish.

So, the changes in the systems were only superficial, not reaching the teacher-learnerrelationship and not changing the educational practices, one of the reasons being, thelack of reform in teacher education. Analysing the content of initial teachereducation, especially the main courseware, we may see that the content and, as well,the conditions for acquiring professional degrees are almost the same as 20-30 yearsago. For instance, the teachers are requested to be, in the first place, proficient in aspecific field of knowledge and, on the second place (or on the third, on the fourth or

not at all...) to be proficient in communication, even if we know that knowing a thing isnot enough to make others to understand and use it. We ask students to reproduce thepieces of information we gave them and we wonder why they copy them from theInternet. We live in a global, multicultural way, but our curriculum is obviously mono-cultural. School inspection promotes conformism and discourages innovation.Moreover, none of the new areas of interest mentioned above are in themainstream of teacher education (being, best case, optional courses).

It is easy to notice that all the problems mentioned above are not technical. They arerelated to the valueswe share, to the perceived social role of education, to the norms(explicit and implicit) and models of behaviourshared by teachers. They are related tothe organizational cultures (at school level) and to the professional culture (at

23TIMSSTrends in International Mathematics and Science Studyadministrated by theInternational Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA -http://timss.bc.edu/) 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007. PIRLS - Progress in International ReadingLiteracy Studies (IEA -http://timss.bc.edu/)2001, 2006. PISA - The Programme forInternational Student Assessment(Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

OECD -www.pisa.oecd.org)2000, 2006, 2009.24Reforma nvmntului din Romnia: Condiii i perspective (1993). Bucureti: Ministerulnvmntului - Institutul de tiine ale Educaiei; Reviews of National Policies for Education.Romania (2000). Paris: OECD; Reviews of National Policies for Education: South EasternEurope 2003 - Volume 2: FYROM, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia (2003). Paris:OECD; Romnia Educaiei, Romnia Cercetrii - Raportul Comisiei Prezideniale pentruanaliza i elaborarea politicilor din domeniile educaiei i cercetrii (2007). Bucuresti:Administratia Prezidentiala
http://timss.bc.edu/http://timss.bc.edu/http://timss.bc.edu/http://timss.bc.edu/http://timss.bc.edu/http://www.pisa.oecd.org/http://www.pisa.oecd.org/http://www.pisa.oecd.org/http://www.pisa.oecd.org/http://timss.bc.edu/http://timss.bc.edu/


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teachers level. And this culture is passed on, from a generation of teachers to another,by teacher education.

Thus, if we really want a reform in education, if we really want an improvement in ourpupils and students learning outcomes, if we really want more confidence in schoolsand teachers at social level, we need a cultural change. It is obvious that this kind ofchange is feasible only on long term and having a real constancy of purpose. But,anyway, we have to begin the change, by learning from our own experience but alsofrom others: the literature of the last decade had already disclosed some privilegedreform interventions, which produce rapid improvement of quality in education

(expressed by pupils/ studentsresults)25

.

So, my personal conclusion of this paper is:

If we want to prosper, we need education and, moreover, a new kind of education. If we want a proper education, we need better teachers. If we want better teachers, we need to educate them differently.Before closing this paper, this conclusion was confirmed by a brand new press releaseof the European Commission26, announcing the creation of a High level group to focuson quality and excellence in teaching. As the Commissioner for Education, Culture,Multilingualism and Youth, said: "Everybody remembers a teacher who inspired ormotivated them. With the help of the high level group I want to ensure that every

student, regardless of where they live or study in Europe, will benefit from qualityteaching. This is a pre-condition for innovation, jobs and growth. Teaching excellenceis also a fundamental requirement for identifying and supporting sustainable pathwaysout of the current crisis."

BILBIOGRAPHY

1. Babu, S., Mendro, R. (2003). Teacher Accountability: HLMBased Teacher EffectivenessIndices in the Investigation of Teacher Effects on Student Achievement in a StateAssessment Program, AERA Annual Meeting, 2003, Chicago, IL., April 21 -25

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