Slovak President Peter Pellegrini signed a package of school laws. The aim of the seven laws is changes from kindergartens to universities. TASR was informed about this by the communication department of the Office of the President (KP) of the Slovak Republic. According to the KP SR, the laws bring about the biggest education reform in Slovakia in the last 20 years.
- President Pellegrini signed a package of seven school reform laws.
- The law regulates school districts and public education providers.
- The new system will reduce funding for unregistered private and church schools.
- Pre-primary education will be compulsory for four-year-old children from 2027.
- The new law enables combined forms of education at universities.
Part of the package is the law on school administration, which will change the way school districts are determined. A new institute of public education provider will also be established, which will be obliged to preferentially accept children and pupils according to the jurisdiction of the public school district.
The range of reasons for reducing the normative contribution will also be expanded. As it follows from the law on the financing of schools and school facilities, private or church schools that will not be registered as a public provider of education and training, will be reduced by 20 percent.
The amendment to the Act on Pedagogical and Professional Employees will expand the categories of pedagogical employees. A new category of pedagogical employee – candidate will be created. The amendment to the Act on Vocational Education and Training introduces a new institute of the agency system of dual education, which is intended to make it easier for small and medium-sized enterprises to engage in dual education.
The Education Act is also being changed, according to which pre-primary education will be compulsory for all four-year-olds from September 2027. In some schools, a compulsory matriculation exam in mathematics will be introduced. Teachers will have the opportunity to verbally evaluate sixth- to ninth-grade students as well. They will also be able to use this form when evaluating behavior. However, some subjects, as well as secondary school students, will still be assessed by classification or a combination of classification and verbal assessment. A new type of secondary school will also be created – secondary industrial school. It will be transformed from the current type of secondary vocational school to a separate type.
For guarantors or lecturers of accredited educational programs of informal education, according to the amendment to the Act on the support of work with youth they will introduce minimum hours of practice to recognize their professional competence.
The package also includes a new law on universities. It brings the possibility to combine different forms of education, recognition of credits from other forms of education. The possibility of choosing between completing a final internship or writing a final thesis is being introduced for students. He is introducing a sabbatical for university teachers.
