We propose to the actors of education – politicians, researchers, managers and teachers, parents and students, etc. – a comparative study addressing integrity issues in pre-university education. This synthesis report (Romanian translation from English by Elena Suff) was prepared in the framework of the project Integrity of education systems (INTES): training for civil society organizations. The project was carried out by the Center for Applied Policy and Integrity and the Network of Education Policy Centers (NEPC) in 2019-2020 in partnership with civil society organizations – members of NEPC from Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, and Mongolia, with the support of the Open Society Foundations (Education Support Program)link.

Authors Mihaylo Milovanovitch & Olja Jovanovicsummarize key findings from locally-led integrity assessments, which were guided by two questions: do participants in school education in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, and Mongolia engage in practices that lead to the abuse of human and financial resources in education and if yes, what are the mechanisms and systemic weaknesses that facilitate and motivate such conduct?In Georgia and Moldova, the integrity assessments focused on the management of human resources in education, while in Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia the reports analyzed the integrity of using funds from private sources in the form of parental donations to public education providers.

The discussion of integrity offers a new take on old challenges and may provide the justification for the reopening of issues and problems that are considered closed or too difficult to tackle. For this to work, it is important to use the INTES findings and reporting for follow-up research that would be more focused on the very problems identified so far. In the same vein, efforts to prevent illicit conduct in all four countries will depend on how well these efforts will manage to address the underlying policy problems in the areas of teacher and financial resource management. Education participants have a good reason to do what they do, and even if their conduct is problematic from an integrity point of view, it is worthwhile investing in the understanding of these reasons in view of designing evidence-based responses that address their concerns and expectations as education stakeholders.

Coordinator: V. Goraș-Postică

INTEGRITATEA ÎN UTILIZAREA RESURSELOR UMANE ȘI FINANCIARE ÎN EDUCAȚIE