12. Quality Assurance 12.1. School Education Uniform quality assurance arrangements are in place for the entire school education system. External and internal quality assurance is primarily part of the pedagogical supervision system, which covers both public and non-public institutions, including nursery schools and other preschool settings, schools and other educational institutions. The system consists of four elements: evaluation, legal compliance auditing, support, and monitoring. Evaluation of institutions, geared towards quality improvement, is the main quality assurance mechanism. Legal compliance audits or inspections aim to check whether the activities of institutions comply with legislation. Support covers various activities (for example, staff training) aimed at improving institutional performance. As part of monitoring, information is collected and analysed to ensure that institutions carry out their tasks properly. External pedagogical supervision is the responsibility of the Minister of Education and Science and other competent ministers, and of the heads of REAs (see also Chapter 2.2.), with external evaluations of institutions conducted by REA inspectors. Internal pedagogical supervision is exercised by the head of the institution (nursery school, school or another institution) in cooperation with other management staff, and with teachers also involved in internal evaluations. The other two elements which can be considered part of quality assurance are teacher appraisal and external examinations taken by pupils. For further details, see Chapters 11.1.3 (Teachers) and 4.6, 5.1.6 and 5.2.6 (External exams in school education).
External evaluation External evaluations are conducted according to the national education policy priorities and a pedagogical supervision plan established annually by the Minister of Education and Science, and detailed plans prepared on this basis by the heads of REAs. While the legislation does not specify the frequency of external evaluations, they are obligatorily carried out every school year, but their scope and the proportion of schools concerned vary between years.
Home
Quality Assurance
EVALUATION
111
