January 2015 Educational Policy Institute Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic OECD Review of Policies to Improve the Effectiveness of Resource Use in Schools COUNTRY BACKGROUND REPORT FOR THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC This report was prepared by the Educational Policy Institute, Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic, as an input to the OECD Review of Policies to Improve the Effectiveness of Resource Use in Schools (School Resources Review). The participation of the Slovak Republic in the project was organised with the support of the European Commission (EC) in the context of the partnership established between the OECD and the EC. The partnership partly covered participation costs of countries which are part of the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme. The document was prepared in response to guidelines the OECD provided to all countries. The opinions expressed are not those of the OECD or its Member countries. Further information about the OECD Review is available at www.oecd.org/edu/school/schoolresourcesreview.htm. Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic Educational Policy Institute OECD Review of Policies to Improve the Effectiveness of Resource Use in Schools Country Background Report for the Slovak Republic Matej Šiškovič, Ján Toman1 January 2015 This report was prepared by the Educational Policy Institute, Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic, as an input to the OECD Review of Policies to Improve the Effectiveness of Resource Use in Schools (School Resources Review)2. The participation of the Slovak Republic in the project was organised with the support of the European Commission (EC) in the context of the partnership established between the OECD and the EC. The partnership partly covered participation costs of countries which are part of the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme. The document was prepared in response to guidelines the OECD provided to all countries3. The opinions expressed are not those of the OECD or Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic. Further information about the OECD Review is available at http://www.oecd.org/education/schoolresourcesreview. Abstract The Country Background Report (CBR) was prepared as an integral part of the international project OECD Review of Policies to Improve the Effectiveness of Resource Use in Schools (OECD Review). The CBR depicts key policies, processes and factors related to the management of resources and their use in the Slovak pre-primary, primary and secondary education system. The first chapter briefly outlines key economic, social, demographic, political and cultural characteristics that influence the school system in Slovakia. The next chapter describes some of the key characteristics of the school system, mainly in terms of its organization, management and outcomes. The third chapter takes a look at the total amount of financial resources in the school. The next chapter deals with distribution of financial, human, and physical resources from central and regional to local level. The fifth chapter deals with resource use related to students with special needs, organization of school management, career and professional development of teachers and school leaders, and school evaluation system. The concluding chapter focuses on resource management at all levels of the school system, monitoring the utilization of resources and transparency of managing financial funds. Key words: Slovak education system, effectiveness and distribution of resources, management 1 Contact: [email protected], [email protected] The authors would like to thank Daniela Zápražná (Educational Policy Institute) for technical support and help regarding data collection and data analysis. Also the authors would like to express special gratitude to Paulo Santiago, the coordinator of the project, for excellent cooperation and coordination of necessary activities. The authors would like to thank the whole OECD review team for support, cooperation as well as helpful and inspiring comments and suggestions. Not in the least, the authors would like to acknowledge the input from Rastislav Molnár (summer intern) and cooperation with the colleagues from Ministry of Education. All remaining errors are the sole responsibility of the authors. 2 The OECD Review intends to provide recommendations to improve effectiveness and quality of the school system drawing on the comparative framework of the project and taking into account countries’ specificities. 3 The guidelines were prepared in line with the analytical framework and the key issues and questions for analysis proposed in the “Design and Implementation Plan for the Review”. Table of content Table of content ..................................................................................................................................... 3 List of tables ........................................................................................................................................... 5 List of graphs ......................................................................................................................................... 6 List of boxes ........................................................................................................................................... 6 List of acronyms .................................................................................................................................... 7 Glossary .................................................................................................................................................. 8 Executive Summary .............................................................................................................................. 9 1 The national context .................................................................................................................... 12 1.1 The economic and social context .......................................................................................... 12 1.2 Demographic developments .................................................................................................. 13 1.3 Political context ..................................................................................................................... 14 1.4 Public sector management ..................................................................................................... 15 1.4.1 State administration ....................................................................................................... 15 1.4.2 Self-government ............................................................................................................ 16 2 The school system ........................................................................................................................ 17 2.1 Major milestones in the development of the Slovak school system ...................................... 17 2.2 Description of the school system ........................................................................................... 17 2.3 Education environment .......................................................................................................... 22 2.4 Objectives of the education system and student learning objectives ..................................... 24 2.5 Distribution of responsibilities within the school system ...................................................... 25 2.6 Market mechanisms in the school system ............................................................................. 29 2.7 Performance of the school system ......................................................................................... 30 2.7.1 Access to education ....................................................................................................... 30 2.7.2 Quality of education ...................................................................................................... 34 2.7.3 Further study of secondary school graduates and their situation on the labor market ... 35 2.8 Policy approaches to equity in education .............................................................................. 37 2.9 Main challenges and stakeholders’ opinions ......................................................................... 37 3 Governance of resource use in schools ...................................................................................... 39 3.1 Level of resources and policy concerns ................................................................................. 39 3.2 Sources of revenue ................................................................................................................ 40 3.3 Planning of resource use ........................................................................................................ 41 3.3.1 Procedures, policies and budgeting ............................................................................... 42 3.3.2 Demography and school network .................................................................................. 42 3.3.3 Challenges in school capacities and policy solutions .................................................... 44 3.4 Implementation of policies to improve the effectiveness of resource use ............................. 45 3.5 Main challenges and stakeholders’ opinions ......................................................................... 47