In recent years, Romanian legislation has changed so often that entrepreneurs have become disoriented. Each minister came up with a different set of proposals and measures, so the line between opportunity and threat became very fine.
In an unstable environment, the only certainty is that we are in control of our own personal and professional development. Citizens are the ones who keep Romania alive, and investing in people means investing in the country's future.
All types of learning, regardless of whether it is called a professional school, course, masterclass, training, workshop, conference, etc., means a step closer to success.
Education starts from childhood
The training of future employees is primarily determined by the good upbringing provided by parents. "I believe that everything starts from the education received at home. Parents no longer hold their children responsible and teach them to work", claims Maria Pușcaș, former teacher at the Economic High School in Brașov, currently owner and director of the Maripusc Brașov Confectionery. The less the little ones are responsible for "dutiestheir, the more likely they are to keep their habits when they become adults. "Unfortunately, the existing vocational schools lack students because very few children are educated in the spirit of actual physical work", confirms the president of ROMPAN, Aurel Popescu.
The secondary school cycle, an important stage
In addition to the education received at home in the first years of life, the education system is another important factor influencing vocational training and specialization. The foundation on which a future job is built must be solid, so that young people can manage to face the challenges that will follow.
The Ministry of Education has proposed that students who finish secondary school with a grade lower than 5 attend vocational schools. Practically, these educational institutions, and so few in number, are obliged to accept children with weaker training.
Daniela Vișoianu, president of the Coalition for Education, declared in September 2019: "Such a measure is unnecessary and brings even more inequity. What this measure tells us is this: if a child came to school for nine years and failed to get a minimum of 5 on the National Assessment, he becomes a good child for vocational school. He'll end up at cooking school where he won't like it, but he'll have to stay for three years".
In addition, Daniela Vișoianu adds: "It is abnormal for an exam with such an important stake to measure only the knowledge of mathematics and Romanian and to decide almost "on the spot" the professional future of a 14-15-year-old child".
By applying the above measure, vocational schools could gain a negative reputation. Unfortunately, one of the reasons why students end up in this situation is that they do not benefit from career counseling. With the help of professional guidance, young people could manage to discover themselves better and find out what their inclinations are, so that the choice of the field in which they will continue their studies is as conscious as possible.
"In general, children are disinterested in the profession and that is the big problem", emphasizes Mrs. Maria Pușcaș. Practically, a large part of them do not even have the opportunity to find out during secondary school what skills they have. Who is to blame for this lack of concern for trades? Most likely a combination of factors.
The role and importance of vocational schools
After the 1990s, Romania's skilled workforce began to disappear little by little, which is why today we are facing a severe personnel crisis among craftsmen. The situation worsened with the economic decline of 2008.
The number of vocational school graduates is much lower than the demand on the labor market, although the Ministry of Education has increased the number of places, from 54.000 in the 2018-2019 school year, to 60.000 in 2019-2020.
The harsh reality is that many students who enroll in vocational schools end up dropping out before graduating. So, to get results, quantity should not be prioritized over quality. Supplementing places in educational institutions, given the limited organization and resources, is an ineffective long-term strategy.
In the period 2009-2010, arts and crafts schools were abolished. Although these were reintroduced in 2012, the results are nowhere near what was desired.
On average, only 5.000 of those enrolled manage to complete their courses, 20 times fewer than in 1990. In contrast, the number of college graduates has more than quadrupled to 111.000/year.
Maria Pușcaș, master instructor between '78 and '90 at the Economic High School in Brașov, remembers with a smile the years in which she was a teacher: "The period in which I taught was the most beautiful of my life, because then there was a completely different generation of students. The Economic High School was usually attended by children with average education, grade 7-8. I say it was a very good time, because those children were interested, and what they were doing was with love.
Vocational schools were very welcome. Students studied for three years for the professions of cook, baker and confectioner. Also, in addition to specialized subjects, general culture was also taught. Basically, when they finished the 78th grade, they were very well prepared. In addition, the emphasis was on practice. About a third of the hours were for practice. He worked both in the confectionery laboratories on the premises of the high school and on the seaside during the summer. Between '90 and 'XNUMX, young people went to the seaside for six weeks, where they trained, being able to work immediately after. Now it's not like that anymore".
Internships are very important, as evidenced by the results they brought in the 90s. Today, the practice is only on paper, in many cases.
Aurel Popescu, president of ROMPAN, believes that practice in production can only be possible if "the educational units are equipped with the necessary equipment, or it would be best if this were done together with the bakeries in the area where the school is located". In short, the basics of a job can be outlined in the framework professional or dual education.
Active involvement from companies
Many voices in Romania claim that a cooperation between the state, educational institutions and the private sector could be a viable solution to train the specialists that the market needs so much.
"Vocational schools, unfortunately, can no longer be organized in the same way as before 1990. They have to operate alongside large companies, which can organize students' practice in production", said the president of ROMPAN, Aurel Popescu.
"Dual education could also be successful in baking, especially since there are advantages on both sides. Economic operators can select their future employees, qualified according to their own requirements, being able to benefit from facilities for the payment of taxes, fees and contributions due to the state budget. The students will have the opportunity to accumulate the practical experience so necessary to practice the profession of baker, baker - pastry chef - flour products preparer and confectioner - pastry chef", is the opinion of Mr. Aurel Popescu.
It should be noted that, currently, companies can enter into collaborative partnerships with educational institutions without the need for a specific authorization or accreditation. In addition, each company must designate practice tutors, who will coordinate the activities.
A very important attribution of them is to convey the organizational culture and values to the students, so that the young people would later want to work for the respective company.
Young people are no longer interested in learning a trade
Mrs. Maria Pușcaș declared for Arta Albă that she is willing to professionally train those interested, only that there is no openness in this regard.
The same idea is also supported by the president of ROMPAN who states that he wants to train future specialists, through the association, only that they are not interested: "We tried with the professional schools in Bucharest to hire children directly from the school's benches, to perfect them, to qualify them, and when they finish school, they should be ready to work.
No one is coming! The encouragement of unemployment and the shame of being a worker created this state of affairs, so that no one wants to be an electrician, mechanic, welder, baker, miller. If we call him a specialist in I don't know what field, we might be able to attract them. The problem is complex, the determining factors being both the educational policies in Romania and the mentality of the family".
Many of today's young people choose to go abroad in order to earn better, or they start with the preconceived idea that a qualification in a field brings with it a "shameful work". These represent only some of the barriers to strengthening the specialized workforce.
Alternatives to state education
Given that the Romanian state fails to fully satisfy the main actors of the country's economy (pupils/students, employees, employers), many of those who want to learn a trade turn to qualification or specialization courses offered by private companies.
In Romania, there are several such vocational training centers, some with reputation, others with just the name. It is essential that future learners or entrepreneurs, who send their employees to improve, are very well informed about the quality of the courses.
Mirela Cața, pastry chef and Senior Pastry Chef Instructor at ICEP Hotel School, believes that a person can become a good pastry chef if he goes through a consistent training process focused on a lot of practice: "The first step is following a confectioner-pastry qualification course, which lays the foundations for the profession. Here they learn about raw materials and basic work techniques, classic and modern, international and domestic products, workplace organization, machinery, food safety elements, etc.
There follows a period of 3-4 years in which the trade is practiced to develop the skills and skill, then in-depth courses by product category, in the country or abroad. You must constantly inform yourself, study specialist websites and books, first apply other people's recipes and then try your own recipes. This is the moment when you can truly call yourself a PASTRY COOKER. It takes a lot of work, passion, the desire to know and learn continuously, the desire to perform and be the best. And last but not least, you need creativity, ability, skill, qualities you are born with. In this job, if you want to continuously improve your level, you never stop studying, informing and learning. I know it from my own experience".
ICEP HOTEL SCHOOL – The International School of Hospitality Management is an organization that offers educational programs for pastry chefs. The program includes professional training and specialization courses, international certificates, but also improvement courses (trainings, workshops and workshops).
Another vocational training and specialization center is Horeca Culinary School from Bucharest. Within this institution, students are trained in the fields of confectionery, pastry and gastronomy, the team of trainers being made up of 18 specialists. At the Horeca Culinary School, the emphasis is on the practical side, which is why the spaces are equipped with individual workbenches, similar to European schools in the field.
Another vocational training option is represented by courses made with European funding. ROMPAN has such a project underway and intends to attract as many European funds as possible for this purpose.
The current project, "Improving the level of knowledge, skills and abilities of employees in the milling, bakery industry" has as its general objective the increase of professional competitiveness by facilitating the access of personnel from the milling, bakery and flour products industry to continuous professional training services. The target group includes 537 people from the North-East, South-East, South Muntenia, South-West Oltenia and Center regions. During the implementation period, October 2019 – April 2021, the following professional training programs will be organized:
– BAKER qualification course – 15 participants;
– qualification course level 2 OPERATOR PROCESSING FLOUR PRODUCTS – 332 participants;
– BAKING training course – 95 participants;
– evaluation and certification processes of professional skills obtained by other than formal means for the BRUTAR qualification – 95 participants.
Prospects for professional training
An old saying goes that "the job is gold bracelet". Unfortunately, it seems that the job has somewhat lost its former value.
It is not news that in many sectors of activity there is an acute lack of workforce unqualified, but mostly qualified. The causes are already known: massive migration, the low number of specialized schools and their inefficient organization, the lack of cooperation between educational units, the private and state environment, fiscal legislation, etc.
In order to stabilize the labor force, the president of ROMPAN believes that the salaries of the employees and implicitly the prices of the products should be increased - "we can keep the labor force in the country only through wage increases, in such a way as to create a balance between the incomes from outside and those from Romania".
Regarding this subject, Mr. Aurel Popescu also added that "a good collaboration between the organized education system and economic operators could bring great benefits to both sides and solve some of the current problems". Maria Pușcaș, director of Maripusc Confectionery in Brașov and former teacher at the Economic High School in Brașov, is optimistic and hopes that in the next 2-3 years there will be a law on vocational schools.
Adaptation of policies implemented by other states is also an avenue to explore. Countries such as the Czech Republic, Germany or the Netherlands have a well-organized vocational education system, which is why they have a low unemployment rate.
"They are doing now what we were doing before the 90s", emphasizes Mrs. Maria Pușcaș.
The education received at home and the organization of the education system are the main factors that lay the foundations for learning a trade. Training young people and instilling love for an occupation has its roots in childhood, to be "polishedduring the study period.
Specialization and continuous assessment of theoretical and practical knowledge ensures a continuous flow of well-trained people who are passionate about their chosen profession.
A quarter of the future craftsmen are trained in the north-east of the country
According to the data presented by the Ministry of National Education, in the 2018-2019 school year there were 920 vocational schools and technological high schools. Most students enrolled in vocational and dual schools are located in the north-east of the country, especially in Iași county.
At the opposite pole is the western area, namely Caraș-Severin county. Only 10% of the total educational units offered the opportunity to obtain the qualification of baker - pastry chef - flour products preparer or confectioner - pastry chef. Most professional schools where young people can train to become pastry chefs are in Galati and Buzau, three educational units in each county.
Regarding the qualification for baker - pastry chef - flour product preparer, in Iași county there are the most specialized public institutions, five in number. Therefore, young people from the eastern part of Romania tend to learn a trade, one of the reasons being that this region is less developed.
Nicoleta Banu, editor of Arta Albă
