THE EVALUATION COUNCIL OF THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CATALONIA Núria Aguirre, May 2010 Núria Aguirre May 2010

Some facts and figures zPopulation: people zArea: km2 zCapital city: Barcelona zLanguage: Catalan zSpanish is also official language and known and spoken by everybody

Catalonia in Spain: share of Catalonia in some of Spain's basic figures

The Catalan language z Spoken by more than 6 million people in: z Catalonia z Valencia z The Balearic Islands z Borders of Catalonia z L’alguer (Sardinia)

The GENERALITAT Restored with the reestablishment of democracy in Spain (1977) Three essential bodies: zThe Parliament: directly elected every four years, elects the President of the Government zThe Executive Council or Government zThe President of the Generalitat: appoints the ministers (Consellers)

Local government in Catalonia z 946 municipalities y482 under inhab. y345 from to y109 from to y10 over z 41 counties called “comarques” z 4 provinces: Girona, Barcelona, Lleida & Tarragona

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM z1979 Transfer of educational competences started in 1980 after the enactment of the Constitution (1979). The Department of Education of the Generalitat has whole responsibility over the administration of the educational system. z1980 Transfer of power in education z2009 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia z2009 Education Act of Catalonia

Educational system: Laws z1970: Ley General de Educación. z1978: Spanish Constitution. z1979: Autonomy Statute for Catalonia z1985: LODE z1990: LOGSE (compulsory ) z1995: LOPEG z2002: LOCE z2006: LOE z2006: Autonomy Statute for Catalonia z2009: LEC (Education Act from Catalonia)

A mixed school model zTypes of schools : yPublic schools (State maintained) yGrant-aided private schools yIndependent private schools

Private schools Public schools School year

School population: School year

Number of teachers: School year

COMPETENCIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION zTransfer of educational competences started in 1980 after the enactment of the Constitution (1979) zSince then Catalonia has been responsible for its own model of education within the framework of the shared legal context common to the Spanish state as a whole

COMPETENCIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION zCreate new schools zAuthorise new grant-aided schools zDecide about education agreements zSchool staff (global and per centre) zCall for public competitive examinations (school staff) zIn-service teacher training and development of professional career zDevelop basic regulations about school governing bodies zCurriculum (45%)

The Evaluation Council THE EVALUATION COUNCIL OF THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

WHAT IS IT? zCREATED BY THE DECREE 305/93, 9th DECEMBER zIT IS AN ASSESSMENT BODY OF THE CATALAN DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION zITS MAIN OBJECTIVE IS THE EXTERNAL EVALUATION OF THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM AT PRE-PRIMARY, PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

STRUCTURE zPRESIDED by the Minister of Education who delegates the functions in the PRESIDENT zEXECUTIVE SECRETARY zTECHNICAL TEAM z6 EXTERNAL ADVISERS zEXTERNAL WORKING TEAMS

FUNCTIONS zElaborate reports on the attainment of the educational goals established by the current legislation and the improvement of education quality zTo perform studies and write reports about different aspects of the Catalan education system zParticipate in assessment studies carried out at state level zParticipate in international assessment studies (PISA, SITES, EBAFLS, etc) zExchange experiences with similar institutions from the rest of the country and from abroad

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STUDIES zThey refer to the different areas of the educational system zThey may be quantitative or qualitative studies zThey provide achievement data but also data on context or educational processes zThey provide data for comparison and for tendency analyses

SEMINARS ON EDUCATIONAL EVALUATION zEvery year The Council organitses seminars on evaluation zThey give an undepth perspective on different subjects zNational and international experts participate zThey involve people who work in the sector

zEducation Quality Indicators in Catalonia (since 1995) zVocational Education and Training (VET) Assessment in Catalonia zDiagnosis of adult education in Catalonia zReport for the improvement of the education system MAIN STUDIES WITHIN CATALONIA

zAssessment of student achievement in Primary Education zAssessment of student achievement in Secondary Education zAssessment of student achievement in English in Secondary Education MAIN STUDIES AT STATE LEVEL

zPISA - OCDE zSITES - IEA: Study on ICT in Education z PIRLS - IEA zEBAFLS zSURVEYLANG MAIN STUDIES AT INTERNATIONAL LEVEL

PUBLICATIONS zQuaderns d’Avaluació zdissemination tool zpublished every 3 months zthe first results of our studies zdifferent articles related to assessment

PUBLICATIONS zSistema d’Indicadors zPresent yearly data about the educational system zindicators of context, resources school enrolement and processes, achievement zallow international comparisons zsince 2005 educational indicators for the euro area are also included

PUBLICATIONS zInformes d’Avaluació (Reports) zQuantitative studies zThey explain and analyse student achievement: - Report for the improvement of achievement of the Educational System in Catalonia - PISA results in Catalonia - English in Batxillerat

PUBLICATIONS zDocuments zdocuments related to our studies that are not assessment results of quantitative studies: - conceptual frameworks, - released items from PISA, - qualitative studies

WEB SITE yWeb site in Catalan yInformation in English and Spanish