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5.1 Instruction and Education
The Government considers the instruction and education of Slovak society to be essential for its further development, and a decisive precondition for its successful adaptation within the integrating European environment. Instruction and education shall develop in the spirit of modern European and world trends, and national, social and Christian traditions, while respecting the global outlook, and applying the principles of democracy. The dominant role in education is played by the State, while proceeding in coordination with self-governing regions, municipalities and citizens.
The Government shall create preconditions for the improvement of quality of instruction and education at all types of schools emphasising national, historical and cultural values and to patriotism. Due to this reason, it shall financially support the text-book literature and journals, as well as knowledge-oriented excursions, research projects, and other creative activities focused on becoming acquainted with personalities of Slovak historical, political, literary and cultural life that co-created the complex history of the modern Slovak statehood.
The Government is aware of the fact that mainly the education has undeniable effects on the economy of the State, on its economic growth, on the development of the social dimension, on the quality of life, as well as on the growth of professional level. It fully accepts the fact that education helps significantly in solution of local employment, in revival of development focused activities of municipalities and small regions with the low degree of territorial and qualification mobility of labour. The Government is also aware of the fact that education helps in assertion within the political system of modern democracy, and in increasing the level of critical perception in public sphere. Education also increases prevention against negative social phenomena, and helps in resolving issues of solidarity, justice, humanity, historical, cultural, national and civic identity and patriotism.
The Government shall improve the quality of conditions of the national system of education, mainly concerning instruction in the mother tongues of all national minorities within the framework of the European Charter of Regional and Minority Languages. But the instruction in the language of a national minority cannot be to the detriment of the quality of instruction of the State Slovak language. The Government considers the principle of life-long learning an important area for the improvement of the knowledge potential of society. This principle also became one of the priorities of the Lisbon Strategy, which responds to changes in the labour market, social cohesion and development of modern technologies. The Government intends to raise the level of education and the ability to apply this education to the highest level of social values. That is why it shall support the level of education, science and research and information technologies as the basic preconditions for formation of the knowledge-based, information and cultural society in the Slovak Republic.
The school is the basis of educational activities. Its task is to prepare children and youth for life and work under the new conditions of the European labour market. The right to receive high quality instruction means that the school has to provide the scope for independence, creativity, and modern methods of instruction and education. The Government is fully aware of the fact that the improvement of the social and economic status of teachers and educators, improvement of their working environment and regeneration of labour is the precondition for improving quality in education. Slovakia's Government will focus its attention on the conceptual addressing of the impacts of unfavourable demographic development. The objective of the Government is to achieve gradually, within this term of office, that the average salary in the education system shall reach the level of the average salary in the national economy. The Government will create the kind of legislative and economic framework wherein teachers would, to the greatest possible degree, be able to fulfil the professional and moral preconditions for performance of this challenging profession. The Government will support educational programmes for teachers at all levels of schools and it will elaborate the concept of the career growth of teachers. The Government will support establishment of a professional chamber of pedagogical workers in education. The European legislative standards shall be applied in education. If we want to develop further the system of education, we have to reverse the long-term lagging behind of its financing.
The Government will apply multi-source financing in the system of education, with the objective to gradually reach the level of 5 % of GDP. The key precondition will be the creation of a system of efficient and purpose-oriented implementation of European funds in the field of education, science and research. The Government will enforce fundamental changes in legislation and redistribution of funds - intelligent investments, so as to be able to implement the following decisions in all parts of the system of education, in science and technology, as well as in sports and working with youth.
The Government undertakes to make the governance and administration of the system of education more efficient. The activities and competencies of the Regional School Councils will be re-evaluated, with the objective to transfer the performance of the State administration to bodies of territorial self-administration.
Regional System of Education
The Government is aware of the significance of cooperation with the local and regional self-governments, with the Association of Towns and Municipalities of Slovakia and with the Trade Union of Workers in Education and Science in Slovakia, in connection with accomplishment of priorities in the system of education.
Elementary education is "the gate of entry" into the system of education. The level and quality of secondary schools, apprenticeship schools and other higher learning institutes depends on its level. The Government will create a legislative framework for the reorganisation of the content of instruction and education at elementary and secondary schools. The Government will support the pre-school preparation of children. It will assess the exclusion of kindergartens from the legal Act on School Establishments and its insertion into the School Act as the first level of the system of schools. While doing so, it proceeds from the knowledge that the kindergarten is irreplaceable in preparation of children from the cognitive, physical, social and emotional aspects. It plays an important role for children from a socially poorer family environment and for children with special needs.
In the legislative field the Government will prepare a modern legal act on instruction and education, as the basic precondition of the content reform in the system of education. As well, there will be a new act on the status of teachers and educators and other employees that are active throughout the system of education. The legal act will be characterized by a new motivating system of salaries, professional growth and social status. By doing so, preconditions will be created for a systemic change in the content of the system of education. Improvements in language preparation, the development of computer literacy and communication capabilities are all connected in this respect, with considerably more extensive use of modern didactic aids, mainly IT and multimedia technology in the process of instruction. The Act will also create preconditions for instruction and education of gifted students, disadvantaged groups of children, and monitoring of the level and quality of instruction and education. The Government will take steps to decrease the student-teacher ratio in respective classes.
The Government will provide for the coordination of vocational education and the labour market, adaptation of the apprenticeship and educational areas of specialisation to its requirements, including support for the creation of new fields of study. It will propose a two-level model of educational programmes at the State and at school levels. The Government will support the continuum of different stages of vocational education and educational programmes with the objective to prepare specialists with a better adaptation capability. The Government will consider introducing motivational criteria for the participation of unions of employers and of employers in the vocational and practical preparation of students. Within the framework of financing of schools, it will amend the present methodology based on the principle of financial equality, so as to apply the economic exaction of the process of instruction and education.
The Government will devote its attention to artistic education within the framework of the elementary level of education in the field of arts. It will provide for the education of special needs children and learning-challenged pupils, in co-operation with the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and the Family, in order to ensure that they can find their dignified place in the labour market.
Institutions of Higher Learning
The Government is aware of the fact that the institutions of higher learning play a substantial role in the concept of a knowledge-based society. They will participate to the largest degree in attaining the fundamental principles of the Lisbon Strategy in Slovakia. In this, it will be necessary to elaborate a new concept of education for the institutions of higher learning, and also with respect to the European legislation applicable to institutions of higher learning. But also other fields will be a part of the concept: education, institutional assessment and financing of institutions of higher learning, guaranteeing of equal opportunities connected with studying at institutions of higher learning. This also entails student mobility, language and digital skills, research and its link to the process of education and application in social life, especially in the entrepreneurial sector. This will also include the area of strategies and priorities of support and orientation of science to projects of international programmes of equal significance. Emphasis will be placed on building centres of excellence and integrated projects that are preconditions of participation of Slovak scientists within the framework of EU research programmes - the areas generally considered as the main financial and legislative instruments of the EU for implementation in the research sphere.
The Government will take the necessary steps leading to expedite the differentiation between the university and non-university types of institutions of higher learning. The Government will provide for their systemic evaluation in an effort to attain qualitative growth at institutions of higher learning. The Government will ensure that schools without valid accreditation will not be established and will not be active in the field of education. At the same time it will support considerably the role of institutions of higher learning in the field of science and research. The Government will support university research and it will pay increased attention to the use of its outputs in industry and in social practice.
The Government will prepare an amendment of the legal Act on Institutions of Higher Learning in connection with the creation of the European environment in the field of institutions of higher learning and science, taking into consideration the new needs of the institutions. The Act must bring about higher mobility of students, improvement of the process of education and the scientific and research process, linking them with topical requirements of practice. The Act will also create conditions for the efficient functioning of the system of institutions of higher learning fully compatible with international standards. The Government will focus its attention on solving the problem of multi-source financing of institutions of higher learning. The Government will draft a new methodology of financing of the State and public institutions of higher learning, as the present methodology does not contribute to the rationalisation and economic efficiency of institutions of higher learning but leads them rather to being subordinated to the number of students. Especially in the first years of study, the number of students exceeds the capacities of institutions of higher learning, the quality of education is declining and the rate of failure grows enormously. The new methodology of financing will be amended by the Government so as to suit the economic exaction of the study, quality of education and the level of science and research.
The Government will not introduce fees for the full-time study at the institutions of higher learning. It will motivate legislatively the entrepreneurial sector to invest into education, science, research and development. The Government will extend conditions for education at institutions of higher learning, specifically in the Information Technology field as well as nanotechnology and biotechnology. It will continue supporting the development of basic and applied research at the institutions of higher learning that stimulates and improves the quality of the process of education.
The Government is aware of the fact that the modern integrated system should extend the possibilities of further education and re-training, first of all of the middle-aged and older generations, which continuously have more difficulty becoming active in the labour market. Hence the Government will create such legislative conditions at the institutions of higher learning that the system of life-long learning will take into consideration the needs of Slovakia in a way that will be economically advantageous for the schools. The Government will support introduction of new supportive educational programmes for institutions of higher learning by means of a system of scholarships, tax adjustments and modification of salary conditions. It will create a new form of subsidy - in co-operation with professional associations and unions and the private sector - to support activities at the institutions of higher learning that will make it possible for students to obtain additional financial support for their studies.
The Government will create conditions for investment incentives - intelligent investments supporting creation of technological incubators at the institutions of higher learning - involving higher added value. The Government will address the issue of the low social status of scientific and research workers and of lecturers at the institutions of higher education, and specifically of university professors. They have the greatest responsibility for the overall profile and professional level of the institutions of higher learning in Slovakia. And of no lesser significance is their responsibility for development of fields of study, for the quality of links between the research and education at the institutions of higher learning, for the level of international mobility, for the quality of scientific results of the corresponding institution of higher learning. The level of the process of education, the preparation of fellows and the qualification development of the institutions of higher learning are all encompassed within this sphere.
