Education and educational policy in the enlarged EU – the case of the Czech Republic

NATIONAL CONTEXT

New school act equity as a priority self evaluation now mandatory for schools

Curricular reform key competences defined as outcomes role of schools: within a given framework, to find

their way towards the outcomes provide an account Curricular reform is a quality assurance process

Accountability for improvement?

are competences measurable?

EUROPEAN CONTEXT Equity is a factor of quality

Performance of systems in terms of equity – Council of EU Feb 21st 2005 What structural factors can ministers identify in

their own education systems which ensure their efficiency and equity?

How do you evaluate the performance of the education systems in terms of equity? How do you use the results of these evaluations?

Which form of quality assurance would raise accountability and improve (efficiency and equity) in schools?

SCHOOL ACT 2004, valid since 2005

§ 2 Principles and aims of education (1) Education is based on principles of a) equal access of any citizen of the Czech

Republic or of another member state of EU to education without any discrimination on the basis of race, skin colour, sex, language, faith, nationality, ethnic or social origin… health state or other state of a citizen,

b) taking into account educational needs of every individual

RHETORICS

The education system in the Czech Republic guarantees equal access to education for all citizens. The situation in education is good, illiteracy is practically non-existent in the country, and the percentage of persons failing to complete basic education is low as well (approx. 4%).

2003 JOINT MEMORANDUM ON SOCIAL INCLUSION OF CZECH REPUBLIC

IMPLEMENTATION GAP

Czech Republic has a problem in the area of equal opportunities

(….PISA 2000, PISA 2003…)

KEY WORDS:

awareness

barrier

values

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

( 3- 6) pre-school education

( 6-15) basic ( 6- 11) primary(11-15) lower secondary

(15-19) upper secondary

(19-…25) tertiary professional schools… universities)

Edu system - Scheme.xls GENSHAGEN Scheme.xls

(11-19) (= „11+“) lower + upper secondary

BUT

“11+” schools

Where are studying the best 15 year olds in their compulsory schooling?

Among the best 8,5 % of all pupils, there is over 60% pupils of basic schools and less than 40% pupils of 11+ schools.

Learning for LifeResults of PISA 2003

10 000 best pupils of 9th grade attending basic school reach in average more than 30 points more than all pupils attending 11+ schools

Learning for LifeResults of PISA 2003

aspiration

resultsresultsaspiratio

n

Results, family background and aspirations of pupils

the most succesful pupils of basic schools

all pupils of gymnasia

Learning for LifeResults of PISA 2003

aspirations

results

aspirations

Results, family background and aspirations of pupils

aspiration corresponds to the status of a school, not to that of the individual!

Gymnasia

Vocational schools

Apprenticeship schools

results

Aspirations are formed not only according to abilities but also by family background and a type of the school

„Sympathy does not raise achievement, aspiration does“

Learning for LifeResults of PISA 2003

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Ger

man

y

Aus

tria

Cze

ch R

epub

lic

Pol

and

Hun

gary

Ital

y

Sw

itzer

land

Kor

ea

Uni

ted

Kin

gdom

Uni

ted

Sta

tes

Irel

and

Can

ada

Sw

eden

Spa

in

Nor

way

Fin

land

Eff ect of students' economic, social and cultural statusEff ect of schools' mean economic, social and cultural status

Effects of students’ and schools’ socio-economic background on student performance(Effects associated with half a standard deviation on the socio-economic index)

PISA 2000 Andreas Schleicher

Low Performanc

e

Low Social equity

Low performance

Low social equity

High performance

Low social equity

Low performance

High social equity

.

High performance

High social equity

HighSocial equity

Finland KoreaJ apan

Iceland

Canada

I relandSweden

Spain

I talyPoland

GreecePortugal

Luxembourg

Denmark

Austria

Norway

New ZealandAustraliaUnited Kingdom

BelgiumFrance

United States

Switzerland

Czech Republik

HungaryGermany

430

450

470

490

510

530

550

-25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25

High Performance (reading, math and science)

PISA 2000 Andreas Schleicher

Early selection and institutional stratification

Low degree of stratification

High degree of stratificationFinland KoreaJ apan

Iceland

Canada

I relandSweden

Spain

I talyPoland

GreecePortugal

Luxembourg

Denmark

Austria

Norway

New ZealandAustraliaUnited Kingdom

BelgiumFrance

United States

Switzerland

Czech Republik

HungaryGermany

430

450

470

490

510

530

550

-25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25

Low Performanc

e

HighPerformanc

e

Low Social equity

.

HighSocial equity

PISA 2000 Andreas Schleicher

Learning for Life - PISA 2003

inertia of a selectiveness

Differences in pupils´ results among and within schools

Learning for Life - Results of PISA 2003

Differences between boys and girls

Differences between boys and girls in mathematical literacy in OECD countries „favour boys – significantly. The only country where girls achieve significantly better is Iceland.

The fact that the differences are a conseqence of a broader cultural and educational context and not of different abilities of boys and girls is manifested by a success of many countries to press down or eliminate these differences.

The Czech Republic belongs to countries with above average differences between boys and girls

blindness to diversity

Differences in average results of individual countries between years 2000 and 2003