Present and Perspectives in the Teachers’ Continuous Professional Training in Romania

Complementing the initial training that provides the foundation for the professionalization of the teaching career, the teachers’ continuous professional development represents an area of analysis that has always been in the attention of the educational policy makers, at the level of all national education systems. In a study conducted at the European level (2007), concerning the concrete ways to achieve the continuous training of the teaching staff, it is noted that, although there are 28 different training systems as organizational manner, there are no major differences in functional terms. Also, in this context, a number of fundamental characteristics of the profession were identified; it represents a qualified profession, through university studies (in most cases), which involves the graduation of different programs of continuous professional development, a certain degree of mobility of teachers in the national and European space, as well as partnership relations between different institutions involved in initial and continuous training. The paper tries to illustrate several results gathered from the opinions of a Romanian group of teachers, about the effectiveness of the on-going training programs in Romania. At the same time, the purpose of the paper is to identify new ways of organizing and conducting those on-going training programs, in line with the views of direct beneficiaries and educational practices confirmed at the European level.