Piloting Good Practices in External Evaluation of schools and Development of Regional Internal Quality Guidelines
Within the EQET SEE project and its Quality Assurance (QA) component, efforts were directed at improving external evaluation practices in schools through the promotion of methodologies and practices from South Eastern Europe, Republic of Moldova, and the European Union.
In May 2024, the publication Good European Practices in the Implementation of External Evaluation Methodologies was published. This comprehensive document presents over 70 examples of good practices in external evaluation from South Eastern Europe, Moldova, and the European Union. It offers a detailed overview of various stages of the external evaluation process, from preparation and site visits to data analysis and reporting. The publication also includes sections dedicated to quality assurance within external evaluation agencies, emphasizing the importance of implementing quality standards in their operations.
Based on this publication, national working groups in seven economies— Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, Republic of Moldova, Republic of North Macedonia and Serbia identified a number of practices most suitable for piloting within their national frameworks. These practices were then tested in five schools per economy, showcasing innovative approaches to external evaluation during regular evaluators’ visits. The pilot activities provided an opportunity to present these new practices to other external evaluators, school principals, teachers, and other stakeholders, enabling insights into the potential for improving external evaluation practices in the region.
In parallel, the Regional Internal Quality Guidelines for Institutions in Charge of External Evaluation in Pre-Tertiary Education were developed by the Education Reform Initiative of South Eastern Europe (ERI SEE) and external experts in quality management practices. These guidelines compile most of the results achieved by the EQET SEE project’s QA component. They offer an overview of the outputs generated throughout the project, including standard of competences, competence assessments, training needs analysis tool, training programme for external evaluators and the use of international standards for quality management such as ISO and the Common Assessment Framework (CAF).
The Regional Internal Quality Guidelines were presented at the Regional meeting on November 11, 2024. During this meeting, members of the working group, representing institutions responsible for external evaluation in the SEE region and Moldova, provided their feedback and final recommendations for finalizing the document.
The next step involves integrating these guidelines into the operations of institutions responsible for the external evaluation in Pre-Tertiary education at the national level across seven economies.
* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNCSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.
