Recalibrating the Evaluation of Vocational and Technical Education (VTE) in Romania

Recalibrating the Evaluation of Vocational and Technical Education (VTE) in Romania

Technological High Schools and the Baccalaureate Exam: a Structural Issue Long Ignored

Over the past two and a half years, HEKS/EPER Romania Foundation, together with CRPE and local partners – Diakonia Sfântu Gheorghe, Open Fields Foundation, Filantropia Ortodoxă Alba Iulia, and Filantropia Ortodoxă Sibiu – has organized 15 local working groups in the counties of Alba, Sibiu, and Covasna. These brought together three county school inspectorates, over 15 technological high schools, and more than 10 economic operators acting as practice partners.

Beyond other conclusions reflected in CRPE reports, these discussions repeatedly highlighted a difficult issue: the way technological high schools in Romania are “evaluated” – mostly informally, yet with increasingly concrete consequences – through the lens of the Baccalaureate exam, in relation to the actual educational outcomes of students in Vocational and Technical Education (VTE). We began to document this topic more thoroughly, and today we are launching a dedicated policy brief (in Romanian): Recalibrating the Evaluation of Vocational and Technical Education in Romania – Why the general Baccalaureate pass rate is a misleading indicator and how Romania can align the evaluation of technological schools with European standards.

High Demand for Medium-Level Qualifications, Misaligned Evaluation: the VTE Paradox

Although 68% of future employment opportunities in Romania will require medium-level qualifications specific to vocational and technical education, according to CEDEFOP, vocational training remains underfunded and insufficiently protected from persistent social stereotypes.

In practice, technological high schools continue to enroll, to a significant extent, students with low levels of basic competencies. Many enter ninth grade with very low admission averages and without the minimum skills needed to follow an upper secondary curriculum. Teachers and practice partners frequently report having to remediate elementary knowledge – basic mathematical operations, reading fluency, and correct writing. In many cases, by the time students enter VTE, educational failure is already deeply rooted, yet responsibility for the outcome is tacitly shifted onto the technological high school.

Every summer, once Baccalaureate results are published, rankings and lists appear that label schools and communities without context. In 2025, of the 49 high schools with a zero Baccalaureate pass rate, 42 were technological high schools. Over the past 16 years, the Baccalaureate pass rate among technological-track candidates has never exceeded 60%, despite extensive support programs. The public conclusion is often simplistic – “the school is weak.” In reality, the school is expected to repair, in four years, what the system failed to build in eight.

Year after year, stigma deepens, while in fact the way school success is measured – passing the generalist Baccalaureate, as it currently exists in Romania – is ill-suited to vocational schools and disconnected from the actual outcomes of vocational training.

VTE does not exist to produce general academic performance, but to build concrete skills – for work, for the economy, for life.

The report shows that evaluating VTE through the general Baccalaureate produces toxic effects on three levels:

1. Symbolic – technological high schools are publicly portrayed as “failures” every summer through rankings and lists.
2. Administrative – Baccalaureate pass rates are used as indicators in reports, diagnostics, and discussions about school networks, including decisions on class reductions or reorganisations.
3. Institutional – even the status of college/national college is tied to Baccalaureate pass rates. This means that a technological college may lose its status not because it fails to train students in a trade, but because it does not perform well in a general academic exam.

Vocational Education in Europe: Measuring Performance Through Progress and Employment

At the European level, the direction is clear – VTE is economic infrastructure. It is not a “secondary route,” but a strategic one. For example:

• France measures the “added value” of high schools (IVAL): not just final results, but student progress relative to their starting profile (academic level, social background, etc.). A school may have lower exam results but high added value if it successfully supports disadvantaged students.
• Spain publishes annual statistics on labour market insertion 1–4 years after graduation, by level and professional field. This allows students and parents to choose vocational pathways based on real employment prospects, not reputations built on grades.
• Germany clearly separates pathways: for employment, professional certification (such as apprenticeships) is what matters, while the Baccalaureate is mainly relevant for access to higher education.

Against this backdrop, HEKS/EPER and CRPE propose a shift in public policy thinking toward evaluating VTE based on its real mission and actual outcomes: skills, practice, and employment.

In the coming period, Romania also faces a legal constraint: the technological Baccalaureate in its new format will only apply starting in 2030, with the cohort entering ninth grade in 2025–2026. This means that for several more years, technological high schools will continue to be “judged” using an instrument that does not reflect their mission. Precisely for this reason, until the exam changes, an urgent shift in how schools are evaluated is needed.

The report proposes a minimum set of annual, school-level indicators that could recalibrate public debate and administrative decision-making regarding enrollment figures and other VTE-related policies:

• employment insertion rate at 6/12/36 months after graduation
• proportion of graduates obtaining recognized professional certifications
• proportion of students with real practical experience (and its quality: duration, relevance)
• added-value indicators (student progress relative to entry level)
• employer satisfaction (regular surveys)
• employee retention after 12 months

Read the policy brief (in Romanian) here:

This material was developed for HEKS/EPER Romania Foundation within the projects “Labour Market Inclusion of Young Adults from Vulnerable Backgrounds in Romania” and “From Education to Decent Work, Sibiu County”, which aim to increase access to decent work for young adults from vulnerable backgrounds.

Image by Yamu_Jay, on Pixabay