The main difference between our public school system and yours is that ours is centralized.

That is, a
school here is not like a typical business, in which the manager/director makes hiring and firing
decisions. The boss, so to speak, is the Minister of Education and each year, the jobs that become
available in the system, have to be centralized. Of course, the Minister him/herself delegates the job to
the County School Inspectorate, who is responsible for monitoring all available positions, organizing
exams for people who want to occupy a teaching position and so on. For example, if school X has a
number of positions available in any school year, it communicates this to the Inspectorate, which
centralizes all of the available positions.
Each discipline has its own Inspector. Ours (for French and English) is a bitch! Nuff said! After all the
positions available have been communicated (there is a deadline, usually in March/April), the
Inspectorate begins to make the necessary arrangements for examining teachers who want to enter the
system and in July/august an exam is held.
If I want a position, the first thing I should do is go online and search the National Database, narrowing
down results to my county/city. If I see something I want, I apply for it. Read: LOTS of paperwork and
certified copies, even if Ive taken that exam more than once (youll see why if you keep reading and if
youre still awake) and I SHOULD already BE in the @$$^^&U system!!! But thenhow will the notaries
make a living? Anyway, if I decide on a position/more of course, provided that there ARE more
positions available, I note the center that holds the examination, apply there and then I go home and
study.
If I take a grade higher than 7 (our grades are from 1 to 10, 10 being the highest), I qualify for a
permanent teaching position. I shouldnt have to take the exam again, and Im pretty much set. I think
thats more or less like your tenure system. If my grade is higher than 5 (the passing grade), but less than
7, I only qualify for a substitute position and every 3 years, or every year, if I cant stay at the same
school, I have to go take the exam over and over again.
Now, that should be simple enough, shouldnt it? Of course, since ROMANIA is totally the land of all
opportunities (in the negative), nothings plain and simple. And here comes WHY Ive taken that stupid
exam more than once. No, its not because I couldnt get a grade higher than 7. Im smarter than that:
every friggin year that I took that stupid exam, I got grades higher than 8 -last year, I got 8.15. Also, Im
usually in the top 3 candidates the exams are VERY difficult and some people are barely able to get
that 5!! Youd think theyd appreciate smart people. However, they dont!!!
Each year, theres only one, MAYBE 2 positions available in the city, if any; this year, there was none,
thats why I didnt even bother with the exam. For the past 2-3 years, NO positions were available in the
city, or near it. I refused 3 positions that were too far; I wouldnt even have made the $$$ needed for
gas to get there! And the people here have really supported me, especially the head of the English
Department my school and Ive managed to stay at the same school for 5 years, even if only as a
substitute teacher. But that is not because I didnt qualify for a permanent position, but because there
WERE none! As a substitute, you sign a contract for a year and you usually substitute a person whos
home on maternity leave (which is 2 years here in Romania), or away for studies, etc.
In 2008, when I got the position at the high school Ive been at, there was one permanent position,
which went to the candidate with the highest grade, not me, unfortunately) Since I had the second
grade (:wall :wall :wall), I took the next available position, as a substitute *sigh*. I managed to stay at
the same school for 2 years, replacing a colleague on maternity leave. For the other 3 years, I replaced
the one who took the aforementioned permanent position, but who, in the meantime, had/has a better
paid job and took an unpaid leave, but kept her position. Yup, you can DO that. Told ya everythings
possible!!
This year, she had to choose: teaching or the other job. Guess what? She chose both! Yup! She only took
half a teaching norm in school: 9 classes = 2 days/week. There goes half of my teaching norm! The other
half, went to this stupid @!$$#%%^pensioneer who retired LAST #$%%^Y year!!!! But the law is that
after retiring, you can still teach for up to 3 years with the School Boards/Teacher Councils approval. Of
course, the law is for schools where there are no available teachers and NOT when a young person
becomes unemployed, butwho gives a shit about these small details? Especially where there are other
arrangements at work: like, the highschool being the best in Sibiu, is also the place where the Mayors
wife works; shes also a teacher of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) and she only comes to school to
say hi and bye. Somebody HAS to cover her classes as well: enter this pensioner friend of hers. There
goes the other half of my teaching norm. I kid you not! I know it sounds made up, but I swear my mind
could NOT come up with such twisted things!
So this little arrangement leaves me where Im at now: jobless. Ive started sending out CVs,
talking to people, asking around, but so farnothing. When it rains, it pours! And to be honest, I dont
have high hopes. In Romania and Sibiu especially, which is a fairly small town, there arent many chances
if you dont have the right acquaintances, which sadly, I dont. Ill keep looking and offer private English
classes and translation work in the meantime. But as hope springs eternal, I hope to at least find at least
a decent paid job. I really dont have ideals anymore. My dream was to teach; but after being treated
like that, after being stuck in a system which does not value its good people, that dream has faded away,
soif I get a job I hate, I might as well get PAID well, right?
There ya go, thats why Ive been so out of touch these days: apart from my car which I LOVE, I
hate everyone and everything, including the PC and the internet and wasting time online, doing
practically nothing!

Hugs,

Patty