Parallel Audit on reading literacy in Austria and in Slovenia

Report ID: 333

In 2019 the Austrian Court of Audit (SAI Austria) and the Court of Audit of the Republic of Slovenia (SAI Slovenia) agreed to engage in a joint project focusing on reading literacy in children in Austria and Slovenia in the period from 2014 to 2018. For this purpose they decided to carry out a parallel performance audit, based on a set of common reference points.

Both Austria and Slovenia pledged to ensure that all youth achieve literacy by 2030 within the scope of the UN sustainable development goal 4 as a necessary skill for the development of all other forms of literacy, such as functional literacy, digital literacy, scientific literacy, technological literacy and academic literacy, to name a few, reading literacy is crucial for the personal and individual empowerment of each individual. It enables active participation of the individual in all areas of life and significantly improves the choices and possibilities for one's wellbeing and economic independence.

Both supreme audit institutions chose PISA study, the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment, intended to evaluate educational systems by measuring 15-year-old school pupils' scholastic performance on mathematics, science, and reading as a reference point of the joint project. Both countries have been participating in the study for many years and the majority of the children in both countries reach the age of 15 years upon completion of compulsory primary education programmes. Thereby the results of the study offer valuable information and insights not only on the children's achievements but also on the role, impact and efficiency of the national education systems and policies in developing reading literacy in children.

Approaches for the audit

The  Sai of Austria looked closely at the promotion of reading skills in primary and lower secondary schools in the school years 2014/15 to 2017/18.  The audited entities were the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research, the provincial school boards/education directorates of Lower Austria and Salzburg and the provinces of Lower Austria and Salzburg. The audit was aimed at presenting the development of the reading proficiency of children as well as assessing the objectives and provisions with regard to the reading literacy of Austrian children, the organizational implementation of the promotion of reading skills in schools as well as measures and resources used to increase reading literacy.

The SAI of Austria addressed the lack of a comprehensive strategy on the improvement of reading literacy in primary schools and lower secondary schools and sees considerable room for improvement with regard to the promotion of reading skills in schools.

The  Sai of Slovenia chose a system-based approach to identify the factors and their impact on developing reading literacy in children in Slovenia in the period from 2014 to 2018.  The audited entities were the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, the Ministry of Culture, the National Education Institute Slovenia and the Slovenian Book Agency. The audit was aimed to assess whether the goals and activities for developing reading literacy in children were designed and planned adequately, and whether these activities were performed efficiently. The Court of Audit expressed an opinion that the auditees have been efficient in part in designing, planning and performing activities for developing reading literacy in children and issued several recommendations to improve the operations in the future.

Detailed information on audits and both audit reports are available at both SAIs websites. This was a parallel audit without a joint report but with a joint press release taken as basis for this abstract to provide the context and methodology of the audit.

Source: http://www.rs-rs.si/fileadmin/user_upload/Datoteke/Revizije/2020/Bralna-pismenost/EN/Reading_Literacy-Press_Release.pdf

Parallele Prüfung der Lesekompetenz in Österreich und Slowenien

Report ID: 334

Im Jahr 2019 vereinbarten der österreichische Rechnungshof (ORKB Österreich) und der Rechnungshof der Republik Slowenien (ORKB Slowenien) ein gemeinsames Projekt zur Lesekompetenz von Kindern in Österreich und Slowenien im Zeitraum von 2014 bis 2018. Zu diesem Zweck beschlossen sie, eine parallele Wirtschaftlichkeitsprüfung durchzuführen, die auf einer Reihe gemeinsamer Referenzpunkte basiert.

Sowohl Österreich als auch Slowenien verpflichteten sich, dafür zu sorgen, dass alle Jugendlichen bis 2030 im Rahmen des UNO-Ziels 4 der nachhaltigen Entwicklung Lese- und Schreibkenntnisse erwerben, da diese für die Entwicklung aller anderen Formen der Alphabetisierung, wie funktionale Alphabetisierung, digitale Alphabetisierung, wissenschaftliche Alphabetisierung, technologische Alphabetisierung und akademische Alphabetisierung, um nur einige zu nennen, notwendig sind. Sie ermöglicht die aktive Teilhabe des Einzelnen in allen Lebensbereichen und verbessert die Wahlmöglichkeiten und Chancen für das eigene Wohlbefinden und die wirtschaftliche Unabhängigkeit erheblich.

Beide Obersten Rechnungskontrollbehörden wählten die PISA-Studie, das Programm der OECD zur internationalen Bewertung von Schülerinnen und Schülern, das die Bildungssysteme durch Messung der schulischen Leistungen 15-jähriger Schülerinnen und Schüler in den Bereichen Mathematik, Naturwissenschaften und Lesen bewerten soll, als Bezugspunkt des gemeinsamen Projekts. Beide Länder nehmen seit vielen Jahren an der Studie teil, und die Mehrheit der Kinder in beiden Ländern erreicht nach Abschluss der obligatorischen Grundschulausbildung das Alter von 15 Jahren. Dadurch bieten die Ergebnisse der Studie wertvolle Informationen und Einblicke nicht nur in die Leistungen der Kinder, sondern auch in die Rolle, Wirkung und Effizienz der nationalen Bildungssysteme und -politiken bei der Entwicklung der Lesekompetenz von Kindern.

Ansätze für die Prüfung

Die Sai von Österreich befasste sich eingehend mit der Förderung der Lesefähigkeiten in Grund- und Hauptschulen in den Schuljahren 2014/15 bis 2017/18.  Die geprüften Stellen waren das Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Forschung, die Landesschulräte/Bildungsdirektionen von Niederösterreich und Salzburg sowie die Länder Niederösterreich und Salzburg. Ziel des Audits war die Darstellung der Entwicklung der Lesekompetenz von Kindern sowie die Beurteilung der Ziele und Maßnahmen im Hinblick auf die Lesekompetenz österreichischer Kinder, die organisatorische Umsetzung der Leseförderung in den Schulen sowie Maßnahmen und Ressourcen zur Steigerung der Lesekompetenz.

Die ORKB Österreichs befasste sich mit dem Fehlen einer umfassenden Strategie zur Verbesserung der Lesekompetenz in Grundschulen und Schulen der unteren Sekundarstufe und sieht erhebliches Verbesserungspotential in Bezug auf die Förderung der Lesekompetenz in Schulen.

Die Sai von Slowenien wählte einen systembasierten Ansatz, um die Faktoren und ihre Auswirkungen auf die Entwicklung der Lesekompetenz bei Kindern in Slowenien im Zeitraum von 2014 bis 2018 zu ermitteln.  Die geprüften Stellen waren das Ministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Sport, das Kulturministerium, das Nationale Bildungsinstitut Sloweniens und die Slowenische Buchagentur. Ziel der Prüfung war es zu beurteilen, ob die Ziele und Aktivitäten zur Entwicklung der Lesekompetenz bei Kindern angemessen konzipiert und geplant wurden und ob diese Aktivitäten effizient durchgeführt wurden. Der Rechnungshof vertrat die Ansicht, dass die geprüften Stellen bei der Konzeption, Planung und Durchführung der Aktivitäten zur Entwicklung der Lesekompetenz bei Kindern teilweise effizient waren, und gab mehrere Empfehlungen zur Verbesserung der Abläufe in der Zukunft ab.

Ausführliche Informationen zu den Prüfungen und beide Prüfungsberichte sind auf den Websites beider ORKBn verfügbar. Es handelte sich um eine Parallelprüfung ohne gemeinsamen Bericht, aber mit einer gemeinsamen Presse

Quelle : https://www.rechnungshof.gv.at/rh/home/news/Reading_.html

Coordinated Audit on Education Indicators - Executive Summary

Report ID: 370

The summary presents the findings of performance audits on generating education statistics, conducted by 11 Latin American Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) - Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama and the Dominican Republic. This audit was supported by the german technical cooperation through GIZ.

The audit deals with the production of education statistics and takes into account the need to monitor and follow objectives and targets set nationally as well as the international commitments taken on by United Nations member countries.

In terms of good practices it was concluded that of the twelve administrative units audited, two showed low adherence to practices recommended by the Statistical Office of the European Union (EUROSTAT), four showed medium adherence and six, high adherence.

The audit aimed to assess three issues:

1) The adoption of international good practices by the administrative units responsible for generating education statistics;

2) The capacity to produce statistics for monitoring the education system in each country, the delivery of data and indicators to international agencies, the timeliness of these activities, as well as the way in which these data and indicators are disseminated and disseminated;

3) The progress of countries in relation to target 2 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and in relation to the goals of the Dakar Framework of the Education for All Programme (EFA) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). 

Source:https://portal.tcu.gov.br/biblioteca-digital/auditoria-coordenada-internacional-em-indicadores-educacionais.htm

Auditoria Coordenada sobre Indicadores de Educação - Sumário Executivo

Report ID: 371

O resumo apresenta os resultados das auditorias de resultados sobre a geração de estatísticas de educação, realizadas por 11 Instituições Superiores de Auditoria (ISC) da América Latina: Brasil, Chile, Colômbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, República Dominicana, Equador, Guatemala, Honduras, México, Panamá e Panamá. Esta auditoria foi apoiada pela cooperação técnica alemã através da GIZ.

A auditoria trata da produção de estatísticas de educação e tem em conta a necessidade de acompanhar e acompanhar os objectivos e metas estabelecidos a nível nacional, bem como os compromissos internacionais assumidos pelos países membros das Nações Unidas.
Em termos de boas práticas, verificou-se que das 12 unidades administrativas auditadas, duas mostraram baixa aderência às práticas recomendadas pelo Serviço de Estatística da União Europeia (Eurostat), quatro mostraram média aderência e seis mostraram alta aderência.

A auditoria visava avaliar três questões:

1) A adopção de boas práticas internacionais pelas unidades administrativas encarregadas de gerar estatísticas de educação;
(2) A capacidade de produzir estatísticas para monitorizar o sistema educativo em cada país, a entrega de dados e indicadores a agências internacionais, a oportunidade destas actividades, bem como a forma de divulgação e disseminação destes dados e indicadores;
(3) O progresso dos países em relação à meta 2 dos Objectivos de Desenvolvimento do Milénio (ODM) e em relação aos objectivos do Quadro de Dacar do Programa Educação para Todos (EPT) da Organização das Nações Unidas para a Educação, Ciência e Cultura (UNESCO). 

Fonte: https://portal.tcu.gov.br/biblioteca-digital/auditoria-coordenada-internacional-em-indicadores-educacionais.htm

Main characteristics, findings, messages of the coordinated audit of the Graduates’ Career Tracking Systems

Report ID: 418

As part of the Network on Europe 2020 Strategy Audit, as one of the Network’s subprojects, the State Audit Office of Hungary (as coordinator), the Bulgarian National Audit Office and the Romanian Court of Accounts decided to carry out a coordinated audit to allow for better use of shared knowledge for competitiveness – revealing the good practices of graduate career tracking systems. The subject of the audit is closely linked to the main objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy.

https://www.curteadeconturi.ro/uploads/c416f257/c6af294c/44d31a03/cbbadeae/16e488b1/b669b0c5/546eaf88/6379166d/Joint_study_BG_HU_RO_final_signatures_cover_0608.pdf