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

1
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?
2
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?

3
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

4
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
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IMPLEMENTATION GAP

• Czech Republic has a problem in the area of equal
  opportunities
• (.PISA 2000, PISA 2003)
• KEY WORDS

awareness
barrier
values
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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
7
BUT
Learning for LifeResults of PISA 2003
Where are studying the best 15 year olds in their
compulsory schooling?
11 schools
Among the best 8,5 of all pupils, there is over
60 pupils of basic schools and less than 40
pupils of 11 schools.
8
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

9
Results, family background and aspirations of
pupils
aspiration
aspiration
results
results
the most succesful pupils of basic schools
all pupils of gymnasia
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Learning for LifeResults of PISA 2003
Results, family background and aspirations of
pupils
aspirations
results
results
Apprenticeship schools
aspirations
Gymnasia
Vocational schools
aspiration corresponds to the status of a school,
not to that of the individual!
11
Learning for LifeResults of PISA 2003

• 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

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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
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High Performance (reading, math and science)
PISA 2000 Andreas Schleicher
High performance Low social equity
High performance High social equity
Low Social equity
HighSocial equity
Low performance Low social equity
Low performance High social equity
Low Performance
.
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Early selection and institutional
stratification Low degree of stratification Hig
h degree of stratification
HighPerformance
Low Social equity
HighSocial equity
PISA 2000 Andreas Schleicher
Low Performance
.
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Learning for Life - PISA 2003
Differences in pupils results among and within
schools
inertia of a selectiveness
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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
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Differences in average results of individual
countries between years 2000 and 2003