On Wednesday, Minister of Education Mihai Dimian urged experienced and competent educators who aspire to lead educational institutions to prepare for the competition for the more than 7,800 vacant positions for principals and deputy principals, maintaining that a mandate secured through a competitive process ensures stability, predictability, and legitimacy in the exercise of the role.
"I know that such a competition entails considerable effort, but the Romanian school system needs people to fill leadership positions based on competence demonstrated through a competition, rather than through the endless extension of temporary arrangements. A mandate secured through a competition means stability, predictability, and legitimacy in the exercise of the role. It means the opportunity to build a long-term management plan. I believe we need to move beyond the culture of provisional appointments," the minister stated, according to a press release from the Ministry of Education.
In his view, a stable education system requires stable principals selected through a competitive process who possess the authority and time needed to implement their plans for the institutions they lead.
"At the ministry level, we have prepared the legislation necessary for this competition to take place; the administrative stages are already underway, and I hope this process will continue regardless of who heads the ministry," Dimian stated.
He recalled that, under the PNRR investment "Training of education management personnel," over 10,000 educators were trained in educational management.
According to the Ministry, tenured teaching staff in the pre-university education system with at least five years of teaching experience are eligible to participate in the competition for the positions of principal or deputy principal in state pre-university educational institutions. All the requirements that must be met cumulatively to register for the competition are listed on the MEC website.
The schedule for the competition to fill the positions of director is:
submission of competition application files - September 14 - October 2;
conduct of the competency assessment test, evaluating the candidate's personal capabilities and aptitudes, and posting of the results - October 13;
* administration of the written test and posting of the written test results - October 20;
* administrative evaluation of the draft management plans and draft action plans by the interview committees - October 21 - November 4;
* conduct of the interview stage - November 12-27;
* posting of the final competition results - December 9.
