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Secondary education should change in the next four years to meet the interest of applicants and the demand of the labor market. The Ministry of Education's strategic document was approved by the government on Wednesday. Priority should be given to changing the subject structure of secondary schools and strengthening general education. The long-term plan also focuses on equalizing inequalities in access to quality education.
Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) informed about the approval of the document after the cabinet meeting.
The long-term plan for education and development of the educational system of the Czech Republic 2023–2027, which was prepared by the Ministry of Education and has already been published on the website , is a conceptual plan for the modernization of education for the next four years, which follows on from the Strategy 2030+. The document now travels to both chambers of parliament.
Balance the proportion of general and vocational education
The Department of Education wants to set the structure of the fields of secondary education in such a way that it corresponds to the needs of the labor market, the social and technological development of society and the interest of applicants. It wants to cope with the increasing demand for general education courses.
The proportion of general and vocational education should be balanced. At vocational schools, cooperation with employers should be deepened and practical teaching should be improved. Schools that provide general education include, for example, gymnasium and lyceum.
The imbalance between the demand and supply of secondary schools was recently highlighted by research in which experts from the Institute of Research and Development of Education focused on the admissions process in Prague and the Central Bohemian Region in the 2022/2023 school year.
The research showed that 85 percent of pupils in these regions want to get a high school diploma, but the school offer does not match this. The experts agreed that it is not possible to determine interest in individual fields from secondary school applications. According to them, the biggest discrepancy between the offer of secondary schools and the demand of pupils and their parents is in the insufficient capacities of matriculation subjects.
Representatives of the Czech School Inspectorate drew attention to the great differences between pupils from different families during the presentation of the results of the PISA international testing of pupils. They showed that the success of pupils is largely dependent on their family background.
The long-term plan also deals with the training of pedagogues and school management. The pedagogical practice of future teachers should be more connected to the school environment.