Educational policies in Romania from Ceauşescu’s heritage to European mimicry

After the fall of communism educational policy in Romania was called upon to ‘shake up’ the communist heritage and effectively translate European and international prerogatives into the national context there. The main focus of this article then is the educational reforms occurring since the Ceauşescu era. The author examines key vectors of educational policies by analysing the discourse of officials from the international organisations UNESCO, OECD, ILO, and the Council of Europe and that of policy makers and educational actors from the European Union and Romania. Her threefold approach highlights the persistence of communist heritage and the scope of European mimicry, as she shows that corruption, nepotism, and favouritism are among the most common features of Romanian educational policy. She uncovers too a lack of perspective, with a mimetic reproduction of external standards, and absence of landmarks, no team-work and poor organisation of debate, all in a climate of political instability.