The Republic of North Macedonia has made remarkable progress in expanding access to education and strengthening institutional capacity. Yet, the majority of youth leave school without mastering basic competencies for life and work, and students’ socio-economic background continues to influence learning outcomes. The education sector in North  Macedonia requires strong and strategic reform to improve quality and equity, so that all young people in the country reach their full potential and realise their aspirations.

Since the last OECD review of the Republic of North Macedonia (hereafter referred to as “North Macedonia”) in 2003, more children now participate in education and remain in school for longer. Despite these improvements, low learning outcomes indicate that many young adults in North Macedonia leave education without mastering the basic competencies for life and work. Inequities remain large and children from minority communities are still less likely to access quality education and to successfully progress through the system.

The OECD last reviewed the education policies of the Republic of North Macedonia in 2003 (OECD, 2003[1]). Today, sixteen years on, more children and young people participate in education and remain in school for longer. There have also been major institutional improvements since 2003, with the creation of separate government agencies that now concentrate professional capacity for key evaluation and assessment functions. This includes the National Examinations Centre (NEC), which manages the country’s state matura examination that is recognised across the region for its innovative design and integrity. It also includes the State Education Inspectorate (SEI), which leads and supports regular external and internal school evaluations in North Macedonia. School evaluations focus on many of the aspects of the school environment that research recognises to be essential for learning.

Since the early 2000s, the Republic of North Macedonia has improved access to education and steps have been taken to strengthen inclusiveness. However, educational attainment and performance continue to be strongly influenced by a student’s background. Learning levels remain among the lowest in Europe and the Western Balkans. This reflects systemic challenges of low funding, unstable governance and limited capacity. Placing student learning at the centre of North Macedonia’s evaluation and assessment processes can help to focus the system onto raising standards for all.

This chapter looks at how the assessment system of the Republic of North Macedonia measures and shapes student learning. Classroom assessments are not based on established, national learning standards, and therefore do not convey reliable and meaningful information on student achievement. Teachers predominantly rely on summative assessment practices, which are limited to a narrow range of lower-order tasks, thereby providing students with little quality feedback. This chapter suggests that North Macedonia develop national learning standards to provide students with more consistent and accurate information of their attainment. It will also be critical to support and encourage formative assessment practices to support teachers monitor student learning.

This chapter looks at how the Republic North Macedonia evaluates teaching practice and supports teachers to improve through its teacher appraisal system. The country has made several attempts to create more robust methods for teacher selection and promotion, however efforts have not been sustained and the proposed merit-based career system has still not been implemented. Creating a more effective teacher appraisal system will help to address many of gaps in teacher policy. As a priority, North Macedonia should implement its existing proposals for a merit-based career structure and teacher standards. An essential complement will be greater investment in professional development, within and outside school, so that teachers can access learning opportunities to become expert teachers as they progress in their career.

This chapter looks at how the Republic of North Macedonia can align school evaluation with its core purposes of accountability and improvement. The country has developed a robust school evaluation framework, however it has not been fully implemented or appropriated by stakeholders. Rather than encouraging a culture of reflection in the country, school evaluation focuses largely on compliance. This is exacerbated by a useful, yet complicated evaluation framework, which inspectors and schools find difficult to apply, and little support to schools to use evaluation results to lead improvements. North Macedonia should take steps to bridge the gap between the purpose of school evaluation and its perception among stakeholders. Another key priority is to make the process more manageable and provide schools with greater support to ensure that they appropriate evaluation and direct improvement.

The system evaluation of the Republic of North Macedonia is at a nascent stage of development and, despite progress, still lacks basic components, such as clear objectives for improving learning outcomes and a national assessment that would support efforts to raise achievement. This chapter suggests that North Macedonia enhance its data collection and management to provide timely and high quality data with which to feed information into decision-making. The chapter also suggests how the assessment can be developed to monitor educational progress and provide formative information for improvement. Another priority is to elevate system evaluation to a key function in North Macedonia’s education system, by creating greater institutional capacity.