Education in Slovakia

Education in Slovakia 

Outline

EDUCATION IN SLOVAKIA

1. Compulsory (mandatory) school attendance

1. The system of education

1. TYPES OF SCHOOLS:

• coeducational schools (girls+boys):

1. State schools
2. Church schools
3. Private schools
4. Special schools

1. ORGANIZATION:
2. The school year
3. Classes
4. National curriculum

1. EDUCATION IN SLOVAKIA

• Pre-school education
• Créches
• Nurseries/kindergarten

• Primary stage

• Secondary education
• Secondary grammar schools -(4,5,8-year secondary grammar schools)
• Secondary technical and vocational schools
• Apprentice schools

• MATURITA

1. Written part (External + Internal)
2. Oral part

• Higher education

1. Post-secondary education

1. Universities and colleges/tertiaries

• Bachelor´s degree (after 3 years) → BA -Bachelor of arts

→ BSc-Bachelor of science

• Master´s degree (after 5-6 years) → MA-Master of arts

→ MSc-Master of science

EDUCATION IN SLOVAKIA

1. Compulsory (mandatory) school attendance

School attendance in the Slovak Republic is compulsory from the age from 6 to 16

(10-year -compulsory school attendance). Each child has to go to high school for at least one year.

1. The system of education

1. TYPES OF SCHOOLS

-all schools are coeducational (boys+girls)

1. State schools

-education at state schools is free of charge

-they are founded by state

1. Church schools

-supported by state

1. Private schools

-fee-paying schools

-they charge schools fees

1. Special schools

-for handicapped or talented children

-they are educated separately

1. ORGANIZATION

1. The school year

-the school year starts on 2^nd September and ends on 30^th June of the following year.

-it is devided into 2 terms and after each term pupils get a school report with marks from both compulsory and elective subjects

.

1. Classes

-classes begin at 8 AM in most schools and finish at 13.30 PM. So pupils usually have 6 lessons a day with short 10-minute-breaks between them and the main (lunch) break which has a 20-minutes length.

-1 lesson = 45-minute period

-in final grades there are afternoon lessons like seminaries or practical lessons.

1. National Curriculum

-it is a program that gives the organization of classes and the average number of lessons.

-the average number of lessons at a secondary school is around thirty a week.

-they are devided into cathegories:

• science subjects: Maths, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Geography
• humanities: History, social sciences, Geography, Art and culture.
• foreign languages: English (compulsory from the 1^st grade), German, French, Spanish, Russian, Italian.
• computer science- I.T.
• other subjects: P.E./P.T., aesthetics, ethics, religion.

These subjects can be also devided into:

• compulsory/ obligatory subjects: Slovak language (Mother tongue), 1-2 foreign languages,

science subjects, History, P.T.

• Elective subjects/electives/optional subjects → these are the seminars that pupils take in

their 3^rd and 4^th grade.

• Extracurricular activities: they are not involved in the nat. Curriculum, are not graded.

Pupils are evaluated/assessed by marks or grades from 1 to 5, when:

1 is excellent; 3 = good/average; 5 = fail

2 = very good; 4 = satisfactory-pass,

• unclassified- when we don´t have enough marks to be evaluated.

1. EDUCATION IN SLOVAKIA

-education in our country includes 3 stages (stupne).

1. Pre-school education

- Many children start their schooling in nursery school where they spend a few hours each day playing and doing some activities. They stars socializing with other children.

- is provided by creches for children up to 3 years and nurseries/kindergartens for children up to the age of 6.

-it´s voluntary, but it´s good to attend, because it prepares kids for compulsory school attendance.

1. Primary stage

- for children from the age of 6 to 15.

-a nine-year attendance of primary education has been introduced to provide enough time for pupils to choose their future career through the system of different kinds of secondary schools.

- it is devided into 2 stages:

• from 1^st to 4^th grade

-it provides children with a general education in different subjects:

 Maths, Slovak, Foreign languages, basic knowing in writing, reading and calculating, etc.

 Arts-drawing, music lessons, cooking, ethics, religions.

-they have only one teacher for all subjects.

• from 5^th to 9^th grade

-they have different teachers for different subjects.

-it´s more advanced education finished with monitor → Before leaving primary school pupils write the tests in Slovak and Maths called monitoring. Then most pupils move on/ transfer to secondary school.

1. Secondary education (high school)

-pupils attend secondary schools from 15 to 19.

-they have to take entrance tests mostly in Maths, Slovak language and foreign language or talent (aptitude) tests, intelligence tests.

-sometimes just marks are taken into account/consideration and pupils are accepted without tests.

Pupils can choose among a variety of secondary schools:

• SECONDARY GRAMMAR SCHOOLS (gymnázium)

-a 4-year school providing general academic=theoretical education

-prepares students for higher education

-it is finished with a school-leaving examination.

-except for this type of secondary grammar school there are also:

- Eight-year ´gymnázium´ - talented 11-year-old children take entrance examinations from Math and Slovak language. It´s possitive effect is that talented children are given an opportunity to develop their knowledge and skills by means of the demanding curriculum. But that same curriculum can sometimes lead to overloading that can result in loss of a childhood full of fun and taking things easy. Another advantage is that they can smoothly transfer to higher education.

-Five-year (bilingual) ´gymnázium´-It´s for children who are interested in a foreign language they in which they would like to continue their studies.

• SECONDARY TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS

- four-year schools finished with school leaving exam.

-they are specialized in different fields.

-it´s a professional education.

-it´s a combination of theoretical education with practical training

- they are technical colleges specialized in building, chemistry, engineering, electrotechnics,

business/ hotel academies, agricultural schools, music and art(design) schools

• THREE-YEAR VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS (FORMER APPRENTICE SCHOOLS) (učňovky)

-three-year vocational schools which are finished with a final exam both theoretical and practical exam.

-they get a certificate; pupils graduating from them get a specific qualification needed for a particular job/profession -in a certain field of study.

Comparison of secondary grammar schools, vocational schools and three-year vocational schools:

POINTS:

• finished with school leaving exam or not
• prepares students for higher education or gives specific qualification needed in a certain field of study?
• What kind of education does it offer?
• The length of study
• graduation
• who is this type of school recommanded to?
• Possible further education after finishing this

MATURITA

• written part
• oral part

• it´s a final exam at a secondary grammar school which students take in the 4^th grade It is to show our knowledge and it´s results are very important especially for those who want to go to university or college.
• we graduate from high school with a School-Leaving Certificate which helps us when applying for a study at university or college, because students are usually accepted according to their achievements and results from maturita+ they write entrance tests.
• We graduate from four subjects which are compulsory. two of them are obligatory: mother tongue and a foreign language and two more are elected according to our interests. + we can choose a 5^th subject, but it´s voluntary.
• It consists of two parts:

1. Written part

-it takes place in the middle of March

-it´s a national standardized test- it´s the same for all schoolsin Slovakia.

-they are centrally distributed and centrally evaluated/assessed.

-it´s devided into two parts:

• EXTERNAL – this is when the tests are written→ English: comprehensional reading, listening.
• INTERNAL-composition- which is assessed at school

1. Oral part

-consists of 30 topics- in English there are pictures-description and comparision of pictures, roleplay and the specific theme we are given.

-Each student has 20 minutes for preparation and 20 minutes he speaks on the topic and solves given tasks.

-it is held in May or beginning of June.

- In Central and Eastern Europe a new process of the school-leaving examination is on/has been introduced. New trends in these countries, the high mobility of students, the possibility to seek for work or study in other countries has brought about the necessity for exams which will be objective, valid and acceptable in a variety of concepts. Students who would take this exam will be accepted to a university without any further accepting exams.

1. Higher education

-First-year students (freshmen) usually have to get accustomed to an independent system of attending lectures and tutorials.

-while during their primary and secondary education they were given marks, at universities they have to get credits and grades A,B,C,D,E (if they pass) and FX (if they fail).

-Slovak universities use two-term system, which means that winter and summer terms are regular periods of the academic year.

• POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION (non-university educ.)

-education specializing in such fields of study such as accounting, processing information, tourism, entrepreneurship.

-it is a three-year study and is completed with final exams.

• UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES / TERTIARY

-these studies last from 3 to 6 years. It depends on the field of study.

-after completing three-year study students write a bachelor thesis and get the

Bachelor´s degree. They can finish their studies with degrees: Bachelor of arts- BA

Bachelor of Science- BSc

- they can also continue studying and after 2(in some cases 3 years) if they pass all the exams they write a thesis, take a state exam in their field of study and get the

Master´s degree: Master of Arts- MA

Master of science- Msc

-The most advanced type of degree is a PhD when postgraduate students study on their own for several years,doing research work and writing a dissertation explaining what they have discovered. They also have to defend their work in front of a panel of professors.

WHAT EXAMS ARE REQUIRED DURING OUR STUDY?

-monitoring-school-leaving examination taken before leaving primary school.

-entrance examinations – when applying for studying on secondary school and university.

• maturita-school-leaving examination taken before leaving secondary school.
• bachelor thesis-before getting Bachelor´s degree
• master thesis
• state exam-taken after writing a thesis before getting Master´s degree
• dissertation- postgraduate students who want to get PhD degree do research work and write a dissertation. They have to defend their work afterwards.