Four school headmasters were awarded for the Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Equal Opportunities and the 2025 Headmaster of the Year categories
The winners of the 9th edition managed a total budget in excess of 9 million Euro
Mariana Stan, the headmaster of No. 1 Middle School in Dor Mărunt, was designated as the 2025 Headmaster of the Year
154 headmasters entered the competition
Bucharest, October 21, 2025. Four school headmasters were awarded as part of the 9th edition of the Headmasters of the Year Awards Gala, organised by The Association for Values in Education (AVE). The awards ceremony took place on Monday evening, at Bucharest National Opera House, in the presence of more than 700 guests: school headmasters, teachers, students, business leaders, representatives of local and central government and of NGOs.
The title of the 2025 Headmaster of the Year was won by Mariana Stan from No. 1 Middle School in Dor Mărunt (Călărași county). For the Innovation category, the award went to Marius-Cosmin Pintea, the headmaster of Teiuș Theoretical High School in Alba county, and for the Entrepreneurship category to Iulian-Ninel Nicolae, the headmaster of “Gheorghe Magheru” Middle School in Caracal (Olt county). The title of the 2025 Headmaster of the Year for Equal Opportunities was awarded to Sorina Marinela Perșinaru from No. 1 School Centre for Inclusive Education in Bucharest. The four winners managed a total budget in excess of 9 million Euro.
“With the 9th edition of the Headmasters of the Year Awards Gala, we have reached 38 awarded headmasters, role models of educational leadership. This year’s winners are examples to be followed by other schools: from effectively accessing European funds and setting up mobilities for students and teachers to conducting remedial classes or employing renewable energy sources. They are headmasters who have acted daringly, with a vision, and AVE’s aim through this Gala is to acknowledge their contribution to the transformation of education in Romania.”, stated Simona Pavelescu, AVE Executive Director.
Mariana Stan, the 2025 Headmasters of the Year: advocates shared leadership and professional autonomy
Mariana Stan, the headmaster of No. 1 Middle School in Dor Mărunt (Călărași county), implemented projects that have revamped the school’s dynamics, giving pupils a voice and a genuine space for expression, and teachers a teaching innovation opportunity. She changed the decision-making manner, setting up thematic task groups comprising volunteer teachers, who have the freedom to suggest and implement measures.
Through “The Morning Pill” initiative, she added 15 minutes a day to the school schedule for interdisciplinary learning and critical thinking training both for both pupils and the teaching staff. Teachers are encouraged to create open educational resources, and students have learned to use educational applications and create their own digital content (podcasts, online school magazines, infographics. Pupil participation in extracurricular activities and projects has grown by 40%, and more than 80% of the teachers are actively involved in working groups or resource creation.
She implemented remedial Romanian and Mathematics classes in the morning, between 7 and 8, when pupils are more rested, and the result is a Middle School Graduation Exam pass rate between 90 and 100%. The model was borrowed by other schools, as well.
She built a digital ecosystem adapted to the school’s actual needs, all the classrooms were equipped with IT infrastructure meeting European standards. She accessed European funds (POCU, PNRAS, PNRR), managing a budget of approximately 2 million Euro.
The video story of the 2025 Headmaster of the Year story can be watched here.
Marius-Cosmin Pintea, the 2025 Headmaster of the Year for Innovation: from full digitisation to social-emotional well-being
Marius-Cosmin Pintea, the headmaster of Teiuș Theoretical High School in Alba county, developed an all-in-one intervention model, focused on digital modernisation, infrastructure enhancement, inclusive education and social-emotional well-being.
The educational process was fully digitised by providing all the pupils and teachers with tablets and IT equipment. More than 90% of them actively use technology in class.
The “Learning with a sense of well-being” and “Detectives on the realm of emotions” programmes were a means to introduce elements of social-emotional and non-formal education into school and extracurricular activities. The teaching staff were trained in using psycho-pedagogical tools to nurture well-being, applied thereafter in direct activities with the pupils. More than 700 primary, middle and high school pupils took part in social-emotional activities.
The funding required to implement in-school interventions was accessed via a combination of European programmes (FEDR, PNRR), national and local budgets, partnerships with NGOs and the community and the educational establishment’s own resources. The total amount of the managed budget is approximately 2.6 million Euro.
The video story of the 2025 Headmaster of the Year for Innovation can be watched here.
Iulian-Ninel Nicolae, the 2025 Headmaster of the Year for Entrepreneurship: a good practice example in the use of renewable energy sources
Iulian-Ninel Nicolae, the headmaster of “Gheorghe Magheru” Middle School in Caracal (Olt county), managed to revamp the school as a local example of sustainable development and modern education. By implementing the Moderate Energy Efficiency Increase project, amounting to more than 2 million Euro, the school became a good practice example for the use of renewable energy sources.
The modernization works covered the entire premises of the school, both outside and inside. The heating and electrical installations, as well as the fire extinguishing systems, were completely overhauled. Solar panels for hot water, photovoltaic panels for heating fitted with storage batteries, and heat pumps were installed. As a result of the project implementation, there were an average reduction by 34% in electricity and heat consumption and a 27% decrease in total utility costs.
The video story of the 2025 Headmaster of the Year for Entrepreneurship can be watched here.
Sorina Marinela Perșinaru, the 2025 Headmaster of the Year for Equal Opportunities: she obtained the permit for the only special needs high school in Bucharest
Sorina Marinela Perșinaru, the headmaster of No. 1 School Centre for Inclusive Education in Bucharest, set up the only authorised special needs high school in the capital city, for pupils with intellectual disabilities, ensuring the implementation of a functional all-in-one intervention model that interconnects education, therapy, professional training and the European dimension. The high school was created to ensure educational continuity within an adapted setting, after the completion of middle school education, and offers youth from vulnerable groups the chance to pursue relevant professional qualifications under technical high school conditions, with embedded educational, therapeutic and social support.
As of 2021, the school has dual Erasmus accreditation (in the areas of school education and VET professional training), and in 2025 it was issued the national European School certificate for the third consecutive time. It switched statuses from one-off beneficiary to leader of educational consortium for professional training, promoting the principle of inclusion, diversity and equal opportunities within Erasmus+ projects, with more than 30 mobilities for pupils and 46 for teachers over the past two years, in eight European countries. Through projects from the Erasmus+ programme, it accessed European funds exceeding 2.4 million Euro.
The video story of the 2025 Headmaster of the Year for Equal Opportunities can be watched here.
The headmasters had two months to enter the competition. Eligible to apply were all the headmasters and deputy headmasters who held this position during the 2024-2025 period at a public preacademic educational establishment. 154 school headmasters applied this year, and 178 individuals relevant to education were involved in their assessment.
The award granted to each category is 3,500 Euro, an amount provided to help continue a project commenced at school or to start a new one, also complemented by a secure spot within the Program for the Transformation of Schools in Romania, coordinated by AVE. The four winners also receive the invitation to be part of the jury at the next edition of The Headmasters of the Year Awards Gala. Furthermore, Bucharest Business School within Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE), in partnership with AVE, grants each winner a scholarship for the “MBA in Education” programme.
The 12 national finalists will have one-year free access to the EDUS educational platform and the management platform dedicated to implementing administrative and quality assurance processes in education.
All the regional finalists will receive a mini-library for their school from Bookster.
This year, supporting AVE as partners of The Headmasters of the Year Awards Gala, are: DEDEMAN Association, BCR Asigurări de Viață Vienna Insurance Group, BDO, Deloitte, EDUS, Up Romania. The media partners supporting the 9th edition of the Gala are: PRO TV, Republica, BIZ magazine, Libertatea, Viitor pentru România, Agerpres, Spotmedia, Vocativ, CCIFER and România pozitivă.
About The Association for Values in Education
The Association for Values in Education is a non-profit organisation that has been assisting for 10 years the transformation of the education system in Romania via programmes and projects developed starting from the needs of the schools. AVE has outlined and implemented programmes designed to have an impact among both school management and the teachers. AVE facilitates collaboration among private companies, school headmasters, civil society and NGOs active in education so as to create successes with an impact on the education system. You can stay in touch with AVE’s endeavours by following the LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram pages.