Miroslav Michalko michalko@elfa.sk

1. National Overview of Educational System in Slovakia Miroslav Michalkomichalko@elfa.sk

2. Content Vocational schools in Slovakia ICT in Education Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics Problems Future plans – Curricula reform 9/2008

3. Vocational schools secondary professional school (stredná odborná škola) – usually age 16 to 19; usually also prepares for higher education, secondary vocational school (stredné odborné učilište) – usually age 16 to 19; training center, 'grouped' secondary school (združená stredná škola) – usually age 16 to 19; rare.

4. Vocational schools – numbers Secondary professional schools + professional schools "public": 191 (74258) state, 35 (3974) private, 6 (1223) church, - (1178) external st. at these schools, 4 (2778) external schools; comprise: in terms of school type: 81 industrial, 98 economic, 20 agricultural, 3 forestry, 1 librarian, 11 pedagogical, 10 conservatories, and 12 girls's professional schools; professional schools of the Ministry of Health: 22 (6637) state, 8 (1441) church, - (2693) external st. at these schools professional schools of other ministries: 3 (1014) state, 1 (715) external school

5. Vocational schools – numbers "Grouped" secondary schools (združené stredné školy): 105 (62772) state, 3 (1310) private, 1 (656) church, (1248) external st. at these schools;

6. Vocational schools - numbers Secondary vocational schools + vocational schools (stredné odborné učilištia + učilištia): 202 (63886) state, 26 (8433) private, 5 (1206) church, (3848) external st. at these schools;

7. Types of schools Public schools of higher education are the basic case. They are established by law. The vast majority of schools of higher education is of this type. They are financed by the government and possible business activities. State institutions of higher education are all military, police and medical schools. They are established through the corresponding ministries of the government. They are financed by the government and possible business activities. Private institutions of higher education are established and financed by non-government institutions, but approved by the Ministry of Education. This type of school is still quite rare.

8. Structure of Education “superstructure” studies (nadstavbové štúdium): 2 years 4-years school with a maturita 5-years school with a maturita 2-3-years school without a maturita specially adapted curricula (zvlášť upravené učebné plány, ZUUP): 1-3 years gradual preparation (stupňovitá príprava): 1-3 years

9. Financing state (central), self-governmental region, local governance own business activities

10. ICT & schools • Primary schools: 537 000 pupils (PC users - 335 000 (62 %)) • Secondary schools: 317 000 students (PC users - 260 000 (82 %) • University level: 199 000 students (PC users - 147 000 (74 %) 45 000PCs at school

11. ICT in education • Situation in ICT using is not very well balanced and differs from school to school: • There are innovative schools very well equipped with ICT and video-conference systems • On the other hand the number of pupils or students to one computer is not positive: • Primary schools (18,8 : 1) • Secondary schools (10 9,2 : 1) • Universities (11,5 : 1)

12. Internet access - situation • ALL SCHOOLS IN SLOVAKIA HAVE ACCESS TO INTERNET SINCE 2007 BUT • Critical point: different and very often insufficient quality (especially primary schools): • ISDN, 128 kbps – cca 37 % connected schools • ADSL, 1536/256 kbps – cca 63 % connected schools • Secondary schools – 30% - SANET (goal – 85%) Universities: all of them are connected to SANET (min. 100 MB) Generally: - expensive internet connection - Internet connection does not bear the parameters required for the future innovative interactive teaching - only 5% of primary and secondary schools meet such parameters.

13. SANET

14. Institutions responsible Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic – using its institutions: • 1, National Institute for Education – curricular guidance • 2, State Vocational Education Institute – support for teachers, improvement of teachers skills and further education • 3, Institute of Information and Prognoses of Education – Infovek is part of this institute, HW and SW support for schools

15. Mathematics & Chemistry & Physics • Mathematics: 4 hours per week • Physics: 3 hours per week • Chemistry: 2 hours per week Maximum number of hours for all topics is set to 33 per week. Ratio to other subjects is for Mathematics 12%, Physics 9% and Chemistry 6%.

16. Mathematics & Chemistry & Physics PHYSICS • fundamentals – 81 hours in total • extended lessons using modules – 93 hours in total (extra for schools with more than 3 hours of physics per week) • laboratory works (theoretical and practical) – 18 hours in total CHEMISTRY • Essentials – min. 40 hours • Selected (advanced) classes – max. 20 hours • Laboratory works – min. 6 hours MATHEMATICS • Plan is based and accommodated to this two variants: • Variant A – 12 hours per week • Variant B – 8 hours per week

17. Problems • insufficient promotion of independent thinking and student initiative • complete absence of creative learning • unreformed and outdated teaching material • methods and syllabi inherited from the former communist educational system • relatively low remuneration of teachers, leading to a decrease of the number of qualified (and of well qualified) teachers

18. National Program of Training and Education (digital curriculum) Project goal: Launch of the Slovak National Digital Curriculum into the Slovak educational system in accordance with its content reform. Increasing of the education quality and preparation of new teachers competence. Utilisation of Slovak NDC for the public lifelong education Establishment of deposit for the national digital content Project target group: Students, Teachers from all school levels, parents, public

19. National Program of Training and Education (digital curriculum) Goals: • 5 students per 1 PC in secondary schools • not more than 2 teachersper 1 PC • Priority: till 2010 to achieve the situation that the graduate of pedagogical university who starts and continues working in education system will be equipped with notebook, • To arrange the broadband internet connection through academic network SANET: till 2010 to arrange access for cca 85 % students of secondary schools