Federica De Pace
OECD
OECD Economic Surveys: Czechia 2025
Abstract
School outcomes are strong, but students’ performance has been declining among the most vulnerable. Moreover, high skills shortages and mismatches pose a threat to productivity growth. Improving skills requires boosting educational outcomes for all students and expanding opportunities to reskill and upskill workers throughout their careers. There is scope to improve educational outcomes by expanding capacity and participation to high-quality affordable early childhood education and care, especially for disadvantaged children. Offering more individualised support to pupils with special education needs, delaying school tracking and reducing disparities in quality across educational paths are crucial to reduce inequality in education. Improving teachers’ working conditions and increasing the efficiency of the school network would enhance the quality of education. Enhancing the labour market relevance of vocational education programmes and promoting work-based learning, while expanding tertiary education attainment and boosting participation in adult learning for the low-skilled would improve the alignment of skills with labour market needs.
Education outcomes in Czechia are strong. In 2022, Czech 15-year-old students performed better than the OECD average in all subjects of the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) (Figure 4.1). A large share of Czech students (around 80%) met the minimum proficiency level (Level 2 or above) across all three subjects, surpassing the OECD average (OECD, 2023[1]). In addition, 10.6% of students were top performers (Levels 5 or 6) in mathematics compared to the OECD average of 8.7%. Moreover, the decline in PISA scores has been less negative than in other OECD countries. Specifically, in reading and science, results have been stable over the long term, and in mathematics 2022 results are on par with those observed in 2009 and 2015.
Mean performance by PISA cycle, score
Source: OECD (2023), PISA 2022 Results (Volume I): The State of Learning and Equity in Education, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/53f23881-en
However, the education system is characterised by strong inequalities. Pupils from weaker socio-economic background perform worse than their more advantaged peers in PISA (Figure 4.2 and (OECD, 2023[2])). In addition, the share of students who did not achieve minimum proficiency rose by 10 percentage points between 2012 and 2022 among students with the weakest economic background, while it remained constant among advantaged students (OECD, 2023[1]). Moreover, students from disadvantaged backgrounds and low-achieving students are often clustered in different schools (Figure 4.7). Roma students suffer from particularly high segregation in education, which has further increased in the past years (Figure 4.11 and (FRA, 2022[3])). In addition, the system tracks students into different streams earlier than most of OECD countries, exacerbating the role of parental background on students’ education choices and putting talented pupils who lack strong family support at a disadvantage.
The low attractiveness of the teaching profession and inefficiencies in the school network hinder the provision of high-quality education. Teachers’ salaries hardly rise with teachers’ skills and teachers face limited career progression. This contributes to high shortages of qualified teachers (Figure 4.3), and heavily weighs on students’ performance. Recent reforms have primarily focused on broadly increasing salaries, which could help attracting more graduates to the profession but can be very costly and may reduce motivation of high-quality teachers. Moreover, the high decentralisation of education policy in combination with high territorial fragmentation results in many small schools who struggle to hire qualified teachers and provide high-quality education (CSI, 2023[4]).
Difference in mathematics performance by national quarter of ESCS (top versus bottom quartile), PISA score, 2022
Note: Represents the simple difference in scores, not controlling for any other explaining factors. A socio-economically advantaged (disadvantaged) student is in the top (bottom) quarter of the PISA index of economic, social and cultural status (ESCS) in his or her own country/economy.
Source: OECD (2023), PISA 2022 Results (Volume I): The State of Learning and Equity in Education, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/53f23881-en.
Students in schools whose principal reported that the school's capacity to provide instruction is hindered to some extent or a lot by inadequate or poorly qualified teaching staff, %
Source: OECD (2023), PISA 2022 Results (Volume II): Learning During – and From – Disruption, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/a97db61c-en.
The skills of Czech adults are around the OECD average, with particularly strong performance in numeracy (Figure 4.4). However, the education system does not always provide students with the right skills, and there are limited opportunities for upskilling and reskilling of workers. Finding a job is relatively easy for graduates across all educational levels, but skill mismatches are high (Figure 4.5). Graduates from vocational education, especially of shorter 2-3 years programmes, rarely work in jobs directly related to their field of study (NPI, 2021[5]). Despite progress and high industry demand, tertiary education attainment is still significantly below the EU target of 45%, and a high share of tertiary education graduates work in occupations which do not require their degree (OECD, 2024[6]; EC, Forthcoming[7]). More women compared to men have tertiary education attainment, yet their representation in highly demanded scientific fields remains lower than that of men (OECD, 2024[6]). Work-based learning opportunities are limited, and participation in adult education is particularly low among low-skilled workers, primarily due to a lack of interest and time constraints. Firm engagement in training is also limited among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which tend to invest minimal resources in these activities (Eurostat, 2024[8]).
Average adult skills scores for literacy, numeracy and adaptive problem solving, 2023
Source: OECD (2024), Do Adults Have the Skills They Need to Thrive in a Changing World?: Survey of Adult Skills 2023, OECD Skills Studies, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/b263dc5d-en
Workers that have a qualification in a field-of-study that does not match their job's requirements, %, 2023
Source: OECD (2024), Do Adults Have the Skills They Need to Thrive in a Changing World?: Survey of Adult Skills 2023, OECD Skills Studies, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/b263dc5d-en.
While many of the described challenges affecting the Czech education system have been longstanding, the implementation of education reforms has lagged. The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) identified many of the described challenges faced by the education system as priorities already in the Strategy for Education Policy until 2020 (Strategy 2020). However, most of the objectives in the Strategy 2020 were not met and were subsequently incorporated into the follow-up Strategy for Education Policy until 2030+ (Strategy 2030+). A 2016 OECD review of the Czech education system highlighted several barriers to the implementation of education reforms (Shewbridge et al., 2016[9]). They include political instability and excessive fragmentation of local government administration. In addition, there is a lack of stable resources and an overreliance on one-off funding, such as EU funds. Recently, steps have been taken to enhance the implementation of the Strategy 2030+, including through the establishment of a special implementation unit within the ministry, and the outlining of specific objectives and associated indicators to track annual progress. Nonetheless, implementation barriers persist.
Boosting the performance of all Czech students and ensuring that the workforce is ready to meet labour market needs is essential to revamp economic growth. OECD estimates show that enhancing the quality of human capital through education reforms can raise productivity by 1.3% on average in the OECD and by 3.6% in Czechia (OECD, 2024[10]). Boosting education outcomes in Czechia primarily requires raising the performance of the weakest students, investing in the quality of teaching and improving the efficiency of the school network. This is also essential for expanding the size of the skilled labour force at a time of strong labour demand. Global trends, such as population ageing, digitalisation, and the low-carbon transition, which hinge on the creation of many skilled jobs, will further test the Czech labour market’s ability to supply labour in expanding industries. This calls for an education system that offers opportunities for all workers to upskill and reskill throughout their careers. This chapter examines the main structural challenges facing the Czech education system and proposes options to enhance equity, quality, and efficiency, and better align skills with labour market needs.
The education system is characterised by strong inequalities. Differences in Czech students’ performance in PISA between schools are more prominent than in other OECD countries (Figure 4.6). In addition, while the variation in test scores between children within schools is in line with the OECD average, it remains considerable, and the influence of students’ socio-economic background on their educational outcomes is high (Figure 4.2). Moreover, school segregation by socio-economic background and performance is high (Figure 4.7). Several factors contribute to such outcomes, including low participation of children from disadvantaged backgrounds in high-quality early childhood education and care, school admission policies and early tracking into different educational streams.
Variation in mathematics performance between and within schools, as a percentage of the average total variation in mathematics performance, 2022
Source: OECD (2023), PISA 2022 Results (Volume I): The State of Learning and Equity in Education, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/53f23881-en.
This section discusses options for reducing inequalities in education and boosting performance of underperforming students and schools. First, it looks at strategies to raise participation in high-quality affordable early childhood education and care for young children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Then, it considers measures to reduce segregation of disadvantaged and low-achieving students and to mitigate the negative effects of early tracking on students’ educational outcomes.
Isolation index, from zero (full exposure) to one (full isolation), 2022
Note: The isolation index measures the extent to which certain types of students (e.g. disadvantaged students) are isolated from other all other types of students, or from a specific group of students (e.g. advantaged students), based on the schools they attend. Low-achieving students are students who score among the bottom 25% of students within their country or economy on the PISA test.
Source: OECD (2023), PISA 2022 Results (Volume II): Learning During – and From – Disruption, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/a97db61c-en.
Enhancing participation in high-quality early childhood education and care for younger children from disadvantaged backgrounds
Participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is among the lowest in the OECD, especially for children below the age of 3. In 2022, only 3.6% of children under 3 years old were enrolled in ECEC (Figure 4.8), significantly below the OECD average of 24%, the national target of 12% and the EU target of 45% to be achieved by 2030. ECEC enrolment rates significantly rise with the children’s age, but participation of children between 3 and 6 years (the starting age of primary school), at 85.3%, remains below the target of 96% agreed at the EU level.
Participation in ECEC is uneven by socioeconomic background. It is lower in socioeconomically disadvantaged regions, such as Karlovy Vary and Ústí nad Labem (EC, 2023[11]) and for younger children of poorer households. For example, in 2020, ECEC participation was 2.2% for 0–2-year-olds in households in the lowest income tertile, compared to 6.7% in the highest income tertile (OECD, 2023[12]).
Enrolment rate in early childhood education and care (ECEC) and primary education, by age, %, 2022
Source: OECD (2024), Education at a Glance 2024: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/c00cad36-en.
Expanding the supply of affordable high-quality early childhood education and care
Efforts to increase participation in ECEC should continue. Besides facilitating mothers’ participation in the labour market, raising access to high-quality ECEC from early ages has a strong positive impact on the development of children from vulnerable groups, provides a crucial foundation for future learning, and raises equality of opportunity (Heckman et al., 2010[13]; Felfe and Lalive, 2018[14]).
Raising participation in ECEC requires expanding the supply of childcare places. Despite recent improvements, spending per child on ECEC is still lower than the OECD average (Figure 4.9), and the capacity of ECEC facilities, i.e. kindergartens (caring for 2-6 year-olds) and children’s groups (mostly caring for children under 3) (Box 4.1), is insufficient to meet demand. The Czech School Inspectorate reports that 27% of kindergarten applications submitted for the 2022/2023 school year were denied, mostly for 2-year-olds in the areas of Prague and Central Bohemian region (CSI, 2023[15]). While these numbers include rejections for multiple applications of the same child, they indicate demand pressures. Applications for children’s groups are not systematically monitored. Nevertheless, more than 70% of the children’s groups providers reported sharing a single slot between several children. Some children rotate throughout the day, while others rotate on a weekly basis, to address the challenge of insufficient capacity (RILSA, 2023[16]). Capacity constraints have worsened since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. As of June 2023, around 3% of Ukrainian children enrolled in kindergartens. Prague had the highest enrolment rate, with 6.7% of Ukrainian children attending kindergartens, followed by Karlovy Vary and Ústí nad Labem, where over 4% of Ukrainian children were enrolled (CSI, 2023[15]).
Investment in ECEC capacity should be based on better monitoring of ECEC supply and demand. While data on kindergarten capacity and attendance by age group is systematically monitored by the MoEYS for 3 to 6-year-olds and integrated into the national education information system, this is not the case for children’s groups enrolling younger children. In addition, systematic monitoring of demand is missing. The actual number of rejected applications and the use of alternative (out of school) childcare for 0 to 6-year-old children are not tracked. The authorities should start collecting this information regularly. Linking it with population developments across regions is also crucial to help providers, i.e., municipalities, plan capacity expansions where they are most needed.
ECEC in Czechia is provided by:
Kindergartens (mateřské školy): primarily addressed to children between 3 and 6 years old. 2-year-olds can also enrol, provided that there is available capacity. Access to pre-primary education is mandatory and free of charge for 5-year-olds. Kindergartens are largely established by municipalities (only 8% are private) and operate the under the responsibility of the MoEYS, Kindergartens follow a centralised education programme prepared by the MoEYS and are subject to regular quality inspections by the Czech School Inspectorate.
Children’s groups (dětské skupiny): primarily addressed to children between 6 months and 3 years, but children between the age of 3 and 6 can also enrol paying a higher fee. Children’s groups can be established by public and private entities, and in groups of up to 4 children also by the childminders. They operate under the responsibility of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MoLSA). They were initially funded by European Social Funds (ESF), but since 2022, 88% of providers are covered by the state budget, while about 10% is covered by the ESF.
Additionally, private entities (overseen by the Ministry of Industry and Trade) can offer childcare options for young children, though these are less common.
Efforts should be made to enhance ECEC affordability, especially for families with children below the age of three. Net childcare costs are relatively high in Czechia (Figure 4.10). This is mostly due to high opportunity costs faced by families with 0–2-year-old children, who lose eligibility to the parental allowance when using childcare for more than 92 hours per month. This reduces incentives to use full-time childcare and discourages mothers from returning to work. Therefore, the time restriction on using ECEC while receiving parental allowances should be abolished. Positive steps in this direction have recently been made, and a proposal for this change is now before Parliament. In addition, the duration of parental leave should be gradually shortened, and the amount of commensurate cash benefits reduced accordingly, as discussed in Chapter 1. The savings could be redirected to expand affordable ECEC facilities and to extend subsidies of childcare fees for working parents in low-income families to children’s groups, as it is the case of kindergartens since September 2024.
The authorities should ensure that the whole ECEC system, for children from 0 to 6 years of age, is of high-quality and has educational content in addition to care. While kindergartens must follow a centralised education programme prepared by the MoEYS, children’s groups do not have such obligations, raising risks that the quality of services differs significantly. Moreover, quality in kindergartens is monitored by the Czech School Inspectorate, which conducts regular inspections of each school every 6 years. This is not the case in children’s groups, where information on the performed activities and quality of the staff and infrastructure is only collected through ad-hoc surveys (RILSA, 2023[16]). The authorities should ensure effective coordination between the two ministries overseeing the services to regularly monitor and maintain the quality of the entire ECEC system, safeguarding standards across providers (OECD, 2023[17]). A reform in this direction is currently underway. In September 2023, an EU-funded project was launched to develop a comprehensive framework for monitoring and evaluating the whole ECEC system for children from 0 to 6 years of age. The project will support the creation of an integrated data systems to collect information on demand, supply, and the quality of ECEC. Alternatively, the authorities should consider consolidating the responsibility of the entire 0-6 ECEC system under a single ministry, i.e., the MoEYS. A similar reform was enacted in Italy in 2017 through the Zerosei Integrated System, which formally recognised ECEC services for children below the age of three as educational in addition to social services, and led to the introduction of educational guidelines, objectives and monitoring for the integrated system.
Public expenditure on early childhood education and care, per child aged 0-5, in USD PPP, 2019
Source: OECD Family database.
Reducing late entry into primary school to alleviate demand pressures on ECEC
Delayed entry into primary school should be reduced to mitigate demand pressures on ECEC from families with older children. In the 2023/2024 school year, a quarter of pupils postponed entry into primary school, putting further strain on the demand for kindergarten spaces (CSI, 2023[15]; CSI, 2024[18]). This issue is particularly severe in some poorer regions such as Karlovy Vary and Ústí nad Labem, where the percentage of children who delay entry into primary school reaches 30% (CSI, 2023[15]). The reduction of the share of children who delay entry into primary school has been one of the goals of the MoEYS for several years. However, progress has been limited, with the share consistently above 20% since 2010, and higher than neighbouring countries, such as Germany (7%) and Slovakia (14%) (CSI, 2024[18]).
The authorities should define objective criteria for kindergartens and specialists to assess requests to delay entry into primary schools. At present, delayed entry into primary school may be granted at the request of parents who have concerns about their child's maturity, following consultation with kindergarten teachers and a general practitioner. These requests are often approved on the grounds of the child’s lack of maturity (CSI, 2024[18]). Establishing clear, objective methods in kindergartens to assess children's progress against predefined developmental goals and limiting postponements to cases evaluated by specialists, would help limiting delayed entries. In September 2024, the government approved a proposal which include some of these changes (i.e. the requirement of a diagnosis from a specialised doctor) and will be discussed in Parliament. This is welcome and should be accompanied by efforts to strengthen the quality of kindergartens’ staff and ability to support children with special learning needs. For example, raising the quality of initial kindergartens teachers’ education and offering more opportunities for continuous professional development would enhance their ability to provide timely support to children with special learning needs and improve children’s preparedness for primary school.
Primary schools should also be adequately prepared to support children as they transition from kindergartens. This requires more coordination and information sharing between kindergartens and primary schools, setting up verbal assessments in the first school year, and ensuring the presence of teaching assistants for children with special learning needs as planned.
Net childcare cost for parents using childcare, % of two-earners earning 100% and 67% of average earnings, 2022
Note: Cost figures report the user cost, net of any childcare allowance, tax concessions, fee rebates or increase in other benefit entitlements, to full-time working parents for two children aged two and three using full-time centre-based childcare. Two-earners earning 100% and 67% of average earnings.
Source: OECD Social and Welfare Statistics (database).
Supporting and boosting the inclusion of children from disadvantaged backgrounds and the Roma community
Students from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds are more often clustered in certain schools than on average in the OECD (Figure 4.7). International evidence shows that high segregation in education can have detrimental effects on the general performance of the school system (Sacerdote, 2011[19]). This is especially true for low-achieving students, who are more negatively influenced by low-performing peers, while high-performing students are generally less affected by the composition of their classes (Mendolia, Paloyo and Walker, 2018[20]).
Children from the Roma community suffer from particularly high segregation. The Roma community is estimated to be 2.2% of the population, and Roma children make up 3.6% of the population in elementary school. About 50% of Roma live in social exclusion, mostly in the Ústí nad Labem and the Moravian-Silesian regions (Slepickova and Bobakova, 2020[21]). Only 50% of Roma pupils between 3 and 6 years attend kindergartens, a significantly lower share than the 86% in the general population (FRA, 2022[3]). The percentage of Roma children attending schools where all or most pupils are Roma increased from 29% in 2016 to 49% in 2021 - significantly more than in neighbouring countries - (Figure 4.11, panel A), and Roma parents, guardians or students often experience discrimination (FRA, 2022[3]). Roma students are often enrolled in special education, with reduced hours and curricula compared to non-Roma children (PAQResearch and STEM, 2023[22]). This translates into lower education outcomes (Figure 4.11 panel B) which hinder their future opportunities and perpetuates social exclusion and inequalities.
Source: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), Roma Survey 2021.
Monitoring the impact of residence-based school enrolment
Segregation of students from different socio-economic backgrounds in different schools can be attributed to school policies and external factors, such as the level of residential segregation. Allocation of children in pre-primary, primary and lower secondary education in Czechia is primarily based on residence. With high residential segregation, prioritising the enrolment of students according to parents’ place of residence can hinder social integration in schools (PAQResearch and STEM, 2023[22]). This especially affects children from the Roma community. A significant portion of the Roma resides in Roma-only neighbourhoods, resulting in children mostly attending Roma-only schools (Černušáková, 2020[23]). Moreover, Roma families often don’t have a valid permanent residence address, reducing their chances of enrolling children in (non-compulsory) ECEC education, with negative consequences on their future educational outcomes (CSI, 2023[15]). Finally, there is evidence that some municipalities have established school districts to avoid the enrolment of Roma in predominantly non-Roma schools (Mijatović, 2023[24]).
The authorities should monitor the impact of residence-based allocation of children to schools and implement measures to reduce school segregation. For example, the authorities could consider reserving a given number or a share of places in schools to pupils from different socio-demographic backgrounds to maintain a balanced distribution of students. Another approach would be to redefine school districts and introduce a policy of school transportation (busing) (OECD, 2019[25]). However, experience from other countries, for example Israel (Israeli State Archive, 2024[26]), shows that in order to be effective such policies should be accompanied by adequate resources and efforts to foster inclusion, including by providing individualised support to disadvantaged students. The efficient definition of schools’ districts, which balances school diversity and quality of educational outcomes, requires regular monitoring of local demographic developments, student enrolment patterns according to their socioeconomic backgrounds, and measures of school performance. This information is crucial to evaluate the costs and benefits associated with different definitions of boundaries, e.g., the potential impact of students’ travel times and social diversity on educational outcomes under different scenarios. This calls for strong collaboration between levels of government, with higher levels providing guidance and support in data collection and analysis to local authorities.
Reducing over-representation of Roma children in special education
Roma students are disproportionately represented in special education, with reduced curriculum activities and learning hours, negatively impacting their educational outcomes, and perpetuating social exclusion and inequality. Before 2016, Roma pupils were disproportionately placed in special schools for students with mild learning disabilities, often based on their social disadvantages rather than actual needs, a practice considered discriminatory by the European Court of Human Rights in 2007 (PAQResearch and STEM, 2023[22]). After 2016, the Education Act was reformed to prioritise the integration of all children with special education needs into regular classes with the provision of additional support measures (e.g., a teaching assistant, the adjustment of the class organisation, curriculum content, and evaluation methods). However, the 2016 reform still allows children with special education needs to be educated in special schools and classes upon suggestion of pedagogical advisory centres based on a diagnosis of disability. Within the Roma population, 9% of students attended special schools in 2022, which is much higher than the only 1% in the non-Roma population. Roma pupils are also highly represented in special classes in regular schools, where their share among all pupils is 22% (PAQResearch and STEM, 2023[22]).
Inadequate diagnosis of disabilities contributes to explaining the high representation of Roma children in special education. In 2023, Roma children were 10 times more likely to be diagnosed with mild disabilities than non-Roma children (PAQResearch and STEM, 2023[22]). The methods for detecting disabilities for placing students in special education should be assessed and updated to avoid decisions based on social disadvantages rather than actual needs. In addition, the role of the Czech School Inspectorate could be strengthened, and shifted from merely monitoring to having the legal authority to challenge diagnoses made by pedagogical advisory centres and mandating independent re-assessments when deemed appropriate, as suggested by a previous OECD review (Shewbridge et al., 2016[9]).
Outreach to Roma parents should be enhanced to support them in making the best educational choices for their children. Roma parents often prefer special schools for their children as they are more easily accessible and offer a less demanding curriculum that can be handled at a slower pace and a more familiar environment (PAQResearch and STEM, 2023[22]). They are also often not aware of the negative effects of special schools on educational and labour market prospects. Social workers and Roma mediators could collaborate closely with Roma families to provide relevant information about schools and their impact on children’s development. There is evidence that Roma children can do well in regular classes if provided adequate support. A pilot project that followed Roma families who emigrated to the United Kingdom showed that children who had previously been placed in special schools were able to successfully complete primary and secondary education at mainstream schools (World Bank, 2012[27]).
Providing support to disadvantaged students and disadvantaged schools
Recent reforms have enhanced individualised support for children with special education needs, though some challenges remain. With the 2020 reform to school funding (primary and secondary), resources for teachers’ salaries are allocated according to the number of teaching hours considering teachers’ seniority, class size and the number of students with special education needs. In addition, since 2016, schools have received stable funding (0.16% of GDP in 2024) to hire teaching assistants to support children with special education needs in regular classes. However, severe shortages of qualified teachers, especially in disadvantaged areas (e.g., Karlovy Vary), hinder the ability to provide many of these children with the necessary support. Moreover, three-quarters of primary and secondary schools, and up to 90% of smaller schools suffer from shortages of non-teaching staff (psychologists and special educators) which, in addition to teaching assistants, are crucial to support disadvantaged students. State funding does not cover for such positions, and schools rely on unstable EU funds to fill the gap (PAQResearch, 2024[28]). There are also limited opportunities for high-quality training courses for teachers with a focus on assisting students with special education needs (CSI, 2024[18]).
Ways to attenuate shortages of qualified teachers and improving the quality of teaching are discussed later in this chapter and include bonuses and allowances to teach in schools located in disadvantaged areas, a greater variety in teachers’ career and improving the quality of teachers’ training. In addition, the authorities should provide disadvantaged schools more support. To do so, the funding formula should be modified to better align resources with the educational challenges faced by schools (OECD, 2017[29]). A reform along these lines is currently being piloted with the support of EU funds in the regions of Karlovy Vary and Ústí nad Labem. These regions are testing an index-funding formula to direct resources to disadvantaged schools for hiring additional teaching and non-teaching staff, providing individualised tutoring to low-achieving students, and offering specialised training courses to teachers to support children with special education needs. Schools eligible for this additional funding are selected on the basis of an indicator which combines the social exclusion conditions of the area where the school is located (based on an existing index), with information provided by the school principal (i.e., the number of foreign, Roma, socially disadvantaged pupils, pupils with special education needs, and the rates of early leaving and grade repetition in the school). The project should be evaluated and if found effective, the authorities should modify the funding formula accordingly. Such a reform would imply additional expenditure of around CZK 1 to 2 billion per year (0.01-0.03% of GDP) (PAQResearch, 2024[30]).
Targeting additional funding to disadvantaged schools through index-funding requires up-to-date and reliable data. The targeting methodology should be regularly evaluated and reviewed to ensure that the indicators determining school's eligibility for additional resources are in line with the desired educational goals and social outcomes. The selection of indicators should seek to minimise the risk of manipulation by schools, which is generally higher in case of self-reported data (OECD, 2017[29]). To achieve this, it is necessary to develop adequate analytical capacity within the MoEYS. Continuous consultation with stakeholders, including local authorities, school representatives, research institutes and NGOs, is crucial to maximise effectiveness, as illustrated by the Ireland experience (Box 4.2) (OECD, 2017[29]).
Postponing school tracking and mitigating its effects
Czech students are tracked into different education programmes earlier than the rest of the OECD countries (Box 4.3), and parents’ educational attainment has a strong influence on the choice of the education track. Pupils residing in regions where the educational attainment is lower, such as Karlovy Vary, Liberec and Ústí nad Labem are more likely to enrol in vocational education and training (VET) programmes. In contrast, their more advantaged peers who live in regions where more people have tertiary education attainment, such as South Moravia, and the capital city of Prague more often choose general education tracks, i.e., grammar school and lyceum (Figure 4.12). This reinforces inequalities, as general and vocational education tracks give different opportunities to graduates. Young VET graduates are more likely to be not in employment or in education (NEET) compared to their peers who graduated in general education tracks, and are less likely to access tertiary education, enhanced career opportunities and higher incomes (see last section).
The authorities should postpone tracking to the end of compulsory schooling to increase overall student performance and fairness of the education system, as recommended in other OECD Economic Surveys (OECD, 2014[31]). Pupils, especially at such early age, do not have reliable information about their own abilities or about individual secondary schools. Therefore, their decisions heavily depend on parental inputs, disadvantaging talented pupils who lack strong family support (Protivínský, 2023[32]). This is also confirmed by analysis on PISA results for OECD countries, which show that early tracking and inequality in education outcomes are strongly related (OECD, 2023[1]). Allowing students to select into the different programmes only at the end of compulsory schooling would reduce dependence of educational outcomes on their socioeconomic backgrounds. Evidence shows that de-tracking reforms, for example in some German states (see Box 4.4), have been successful in raising overall educational outcomes, especially by increasing the results of students with lower socioeconomic backgrounds (Piopiunik, 2021[33]).
In 2005 Ireland introduced an action plan, “Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools” (DEIS), to put in place a series of policy interventions to tackle educational disadvantage. A key outcome was to deliver a standardised system to identify disadvantaged schools eligible for additional funding.
Initially, a special survey of school directors and centrally held administrative data were used to predict the schools’ educational disadvantage. The survey gathered data on factors like unemployment among parents, local authority housing, single-parent families, traveller families, large families, and eligibility for free books. Administrative data provided information on retention rates, exam results, and fee waivers. Based on these characteristics, approximately 20% of all schools were identified as DEIS (803 schools).
In 2015, the methodology underwent a major review due to concerns about the objectivity of the information provided by school principals, and the reliance on outdated socio-economic data, which were revealed during consultations with stakeholders, including local authorities, school representatives, NGOs, and technical experts. From 2017, disadvantaged schools were identified using an index (HP index) derived from census-based data regularly collected by the Central Statistics Office (every 5 years), in combination with individual students’ data collected directly from schools on an annual basis. This HP index synthetises demographic, social and economic information (e.g., change in population by age, educational attainment and profession, unemployment rate) related to students’ area of residence to assess their level of disadvantage.
In 2022, after further consultation with stakeholders, the definition of disadvantaged schools was further refined, including by acknowledging unique challenges of additional groups such as the Roma. As a result, a third of schools and a quarter of students were part of the DEIS programme. The programme was evaluated at various points during the DEIS lifespan, yielding positive results in narrowing the gaps in test scores and student’ attendance between DEIS and non-DEIS schools.
Source: (OECD, 2017[29]) (OECD, 2024[34])
There are concerns about the fairness of the schools’ selection procedure into grammar schools and upper secondary schools leading to the maturita certificate. Pupils that want to attend schools leading to the maturita certificate can apply to at most three (two until 2023) secondary schools, and take a standardised test (jednotná přijímací zkouška, JPZ) assessing students’ core knowledge in the Czech language and mathematics. Schools evaluate students based on the results of the test (which needs to have a minimum weight of 60%) and in some cases consider additional credentials (e.g., language certificates). Basing the school admission on a standardised test can be an effective way to assess students from different schools with potentially varying curricula and resources in a comparable way. However, the fact that it is only taken by students who want to enrol in programmes with maturita certificate may disadvantage students from weaker socioeconomic backgrounds. These students might lack confidence or face difficulties in making informed school choices and end up opting out of the test to enrol in shorter professional schools leading to a VET certificate. There is evidence that parental engagement, through paying private tutoring, plays a crucial role in the test success (Straková, Greger and Soukup, 2017[35]; Zeman and Hrdinová, 2023[36]). In addition, the test's content cannot cover the full school curriculum, leading teachers to focus only on the topics assessed in the test, further disadvantaging pupils who do not take the test.
The selection procedures into secondary schools should ensure higher equity. This requires setting the conditions to ensure that the choice of the secondary school track is the result of a balanced combination of families and teachers’ guidance as well as pupils’ preferences. A standard national test could be maintained but should be extended to all students at the end of compulsory schooling to give all students similar chances to enrol in more demanded high-quality programmes. This is an objective of the MoEYS to be achieved by 2026. While this would be a positive step, it should be accompanied by efforts to equip teachers with the adequate skills to give valuable feedback and individualised support to all students through the entire school cycle. This can be achieved by offering high-quality initial and continuous training to teachers to enhance assessment practices (see below).
Enrolment in general education and tertiary education, by region, 2023
Source: DataPAQ, PAQResearch, https://www.paqresearch.cz/
At the same time, participation in school guidance and counselling services to students could be strengthened, especially in more disadvantaged schools. Currently, few students receive career guidance in school (Figure 4.13). This is fundamental for broadening and potentially raising students’ aspirations and expectations to boost social mobility from a young age. In Ireland, for example, schools with more disadvantaged students can expect greater financial resources linked to the delivery of career guidance. Within the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) programme, eligible secondary schools receive funding to provide for 44 hours of weekly dedicated staff time to support guidance activities (versus 18 hours in regular schools), including more one-to-one interactions with guidance counsellors, greater integration of career learning within academic subjects and greater engagement of families (OECD, 2024[37]). In Czechia, the piloted index-funding formula provides a good opportunity for enhancing career counselling in disadvantaged schools, where it would be most effective.
Percentage of 15-year-old students in schools with one or more dedicated career guidance counsellors, 2018
Source: OECD (2019), PISA 2018 Results (Volume II): Where All Students Can Succeed, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/b5fd1b8f-en
Students are selected into educational programmes for the first time at the age of 11 (in 5th grade) and for the second time at age 13 (in 7th grade) (Table 4.1 The Czech education system). At these ages, students choose between staying in elementary school (základní škola) or applying for the highly selective 8-year or 6-year grammar (gymnázium) or art schools (konzervatoř). At the age of 14 or 15, students who remain in elementary schools and aim to pursue tertiary education in the future choose between general education (4-year gymnázium or lyceum) and vocational education tracks leading to a school-leaving certificate (maturita) upon successful completion of a standardised exam (maturitní zkouška). They can also opt for shorter (2 to 3 years) professional tracks leading to a vocational education and training certificate, which prepares them for the labour market. This does not give them direct access to tertiary education, but VET graduates can take two-year follow up courses that lead to the maturita certificate.
Source: Simplified version of the Czech educational system based on Country Note for Czech Republic”, in Education at a Glance 2023: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9017362a-en
The capacity of programmes providing general education could also be increased to accommodate more students. Czechia has among the lowest enrolment rate in schools providing general education (OECD, 2024[6]). Despite low historical enrolment rates, the interest in general education tracks has been increasing over time with growing numbers of applicants for grammar schools and lyceum across all regions (CERMAT, 2023[38]). The rise in demand has however not been accompanied by adequate capacity expansion, resulting in high rejections rates, especially in poorer regions and large cities. In 2022, for example, 50% of students applying to grammar schools and lyceum were rejected in the regions of Karlovy Vary and Central Bohemia, and in Prague this share was close to 30% (CERMAT, 2023[38]; Zeman and Hrdinová, 2023[36]). Raising capacity of programmes providing general education would also accommodate the high and increasing demand of tertiary educated graduates and graduates with transversal skills on the labour market.
Finally, efforts should be made to reduce disparities in quality across educational paths. A reform of secondary education which strengthens the core knowledge of pupils in programmes leading to VET certificate would help mitigate social and economic disparities in educational outcomes and the effects of tracking. Weaker core skills are linked to limited adaptability and lead to weaker labour market outcomes of VET graduates later in life. At the same time, it would help better aligning skills with labour market needs, as employers are increasingly demanding greater expertise and flexible skills, which are provided to a greater extent by general tracks and universities (see last section) (Zeman and Hrdinová, 2023[36]).
De-tracking reforms in Germany have helped raise equality and boost educational outcomes. Almost all the 16 decentralised school systems in Germany track students at age 10 and many offer at least three different secondary school tracks: (i) basic schools (Hauptschule) which provide basic general education and typically lead to a certificate after grade 9; (ii) middle schools (Realschule) which provide a more extensive general education and last six years; (iii) academic track (Gymnasium) which covers eight or nine grades. Graduates from basic schools generally enter apprenticeship; graduates from middle school can enter apprenticeships but are also entitled to attend vocational schools that lead to a higher education entrance qualification (Fachhochschulreife) for applied sciences universities. Gymnasium graduates obtain the university entrance qualification.
Between 2009 and 2012, eight out of the 16 German states have implemented educational reforms that decreased the intensity of secondary school tracking. Some states have combined basic and middle school track into a new secondary school type which offers more than one school-leaving certificate. Others have established a new school type which offers two or even all three school-leaving certificates. In these new school types, students with different family backgrounds learn together in the same courses until they graduate. As a result, students with varying academic abilities and from diverse family backgrounds now tend to attend secondary school together for longer periods. In some states (e.g., Hamburg) to cope with the greater diversity of the student body, class size has been reduced, additional teachers have been hired, teacher training has been strengthened, and children with disabilities have been integrated in the new school type.
An evaluation of these reforms (Piopiunik, 2021[33]) found that reducing the intensity of tracking improved students’ educational achievements, especially for boys, students born abroad, and students with lower socio-economic status.
Source: (Piopiunik, 2021[33])
Building a strong teaching workforce and improving efficiency of the school network is critical for improving the skills of youth. A number of factors, including limited career opportunities and challenging working conditions, hinder Czechia’s capacity to attract and retain qualified teachers, with negative consequences on educational outcomes. Teacher shortages are particularly high in scientific subjects and in some poorer and rural regions. This issue is exacerbated by the existence of many small schools, especially in more rural areas, resulting from the highly decentralised education system coupled with significant administrative fragmentation.
This section discusses options to increase the attractiveness of the teaching profession through targeted financial incentives, improving career opportunities and the quality of working conditions. Then, it discusses options to raise the efficiency of the school network by incentivising enhanced collaboration and mergers of the smallest schools.
Developing an attractive and high-quality teaching profession
As in many other OECD countries, the Czech education system suffers from shortages of qualified teachers, especially in some regions and disciplines. In 2022, 30% of 15-years old students attended schools of which principals reported that the quality of instruction was hindered by the lack of qualified teachers, according to the latest OECD PISA survey (OECD, 2023[1]). This is slightly higher than the OECD average of 25% and has increased over time. Shortages of qualified teachers are present at all levels of education but are particularly severe in primary and lower-secondary education, and in some more socioeconomically disadvantaged regions such as Karlovy Vary, but also in Prague and Central Bohemia region (Figure 4.14) (CSO, 2024[39]). Some fields (computer science, foreign languages, mathematics, and physics) are particularly affected by this issue. For instance, the Czech School Inspectorate documents that around 60% of schools hire non-qualified staff to teach computer science and foreign languages, and 40% of schools hire non-qualified staff to teach mathematics, and physics (CSI, 2023[15]). At the OECD level, a high percentage of unqualified teaching staff is strongly associated to lower students’ performance, even after accounting for students’ characteristics (OECD, 2023[1]). Moreover, it can contribute to lower the status of teachers in society, as higher selectivity is generally associated with higher social status (OECD, 2023[1]).
Non-qualified teachers, by region and education level, %, 2023
Note: Non-qualified teachers hold master’s degrees but lack the required teaching qualifications, i.e. a bachelor’s degree in pedagogy or 300 hours of qualifying pedagogical courses.
Source: Czech Statistical Office.
Population ageing and the low attractiveness of the teaching profession contribute to severe teacher shortages. The teaching workforce is relatively old, with 44% of teachers above age 50 compared to 36% on average in the OECD. Only 7% of teachers are younger than 30 years old (Figure 4.15). Motivation to become a teacher among school graduates is low. In 2022, only 10% of students chose pedagogical fields in tertiary education, and only 50% of those who did were interested in pursuing a teaching career (Münich and Smolka, 2022[40]). In addition, only 50% of teachers with less than five years of professional experience considered teaching as their first career choice (OECD, 2019[41]). Retaining teachers is also challenging. A third of teachers leave the profession, mostly in the first two years of service, a higher proportion compared to neighbouring countries, such as Slovakia (19%) and Poland (25%) (Federičová, 2020[42]).
Relaxing teacher entry qualifications requirements whilst maintaining high teaching quality
Relaxing entry qualification requirements into teaching can be an effective way of filling vacancies. As many other OECD countries, Czechia has recently eased conditions to enter the teaching profession. Since 2023, graduates who hold master’s degrees can join the teaching profession for a maximum period of 3 years, during which they must obtain the required teaching qualifications (i.e., a bachelor’s degree in pedagogy or 300 hours of qualifying pedagogical courses) (EC, 2023[11]). This is a welcome strategy to attract professionals to teach, and is especially relevant for technical subjects and VET programmes where industry professionals can bring practical skills and up-to-date industry knowledge to the classroom and strengthen co-operation between VET systems and the world of work (OECD, 2023[43]).
Relaxed entry requirements should be accompanied by efforts to provide the necessary pedagogical skills to teachers. Providing flexible, modular initial teacher education and training (ITET) can allow prospective teachers to fill skills and knowledge gaps without having to go through a full ITET programme (OECD, 2023[43]). This is common in other OECD countries. In Denmark, for instance, the diploma in VET pedagogy programme can be organised in different ways according to individual needs. Courses can be provided full-time or part-time and can be delivered on the site of the college, in school premises or virtually. Participants also have an option of completing the diploma through self-study. Grants can also be provided to teachers to combine work and studies to obtain a teacher degree, as for example is done in Sweden (OECD, 2023[43]).
Share of teachers by age group, primary and secondary education, %, 2022
Source: OECD (2024), Education at a Glance 2024: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/c00cad36-en.
Introducing targeted financial incentives for teachers
Teachers' salaries influence the attractiveness of the teaching profession. Low salaries have been one of the main reasons that makes the teaching profession unattractive to Czech graduate students (Münich and Smolka, 2022[40]). Despite continuous improvements in recent years, in 2023 teachers (at all levels of education) in Czechia earned less than their colleagues in many other OECD countries, and their salaries were significantly lower than in other professions requiring tertiary education (Figure 4.16). This made it particularly challenging to attract graduates in STEM disciplines, who are paid significantly more in sectors other than education (EDUin, 2023[44]).
Increasing comparatively low teachers’ salaries has been a priority of the authorities for several years. In line with salaries in the public sector, teachers’ actual salaries have risen by 50% in real terms between 2013 and 2021, much faster than the OECD average of 15% (OECD, 2023[45]). In 2023, the government further amended the Education Act to index teachers’ salaries at 130% of the monthly average economy-wide nominal wage (of the 2 preceding years) starting from 2024. Such efforts can be effective in reducing teacher shortages (De Witte, De Cort and Gambi, 2023[46]). However, increasing salaries across the board is very costly, as teachers’ salaries are the largest components of educational spending. It could also have unintended effects on the quality of teaching, as untargeted salary increases may reduce motivation of high-quality teachers (Münich and Smolka, 2022[40])
Actual salaries of teachers relative to earnings of tertiary-educated workers by levels of education, ratio, 2023
Note: Ratio of salary, using annual average salaries (including bonuses and allowances) of full-time teachers in public institutions relative to the earnings of full-time, full-year workers with tertiary education.
Source: OECD (2024), Education at a Glance 2024: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/c00cad36-en.
To attract high-quality teachers in certain fields and areas, the authorities should consider introducing financial incentives, as bonuses and allowances, to teachers working in underserved areas or who teach certain subjects. Experience from OECD countries shows that targeted incentives can be more cost-effective than generalised salary increases in mitigating teacher shortages (De Witte, De Cort and Gambi, 2023[46]). For example, a bonus to certified teachers of maths and science in schools in disadvantaged areas in San Francisco led to a substantial increase in new hires (Hough and Loeb, 2013[47]). Recently, the Czech authorities have introduced a one-off recruitment allowance of CZK 100 000 (around 10% of the 2023 average actual annual salary) to (up to a maximum of) 100 recent graduates (within 5 years of their graduation) to teach in schools located in the Karlovy Vary and Ústí nad Labem regions. If considered effective, this measure could be extended to cover other areas with high shortages. Funding for this measure could be part of the envelope of agreed generalised salary increases.
A register of teachers should be established to better quantify shortages and target financial incentives. Administrative data on teachers’ characteristics, including qualifications, age and work location, are not available in Czechia. The MoEYS and Czech Statistical Office only collect and publish data on the total number of teachers in the country. More detailed information on teachers’ characteristics is only collected through ad-hoc national and international surveys, as well as school quality inspections of the Czech School Inspectorate, which inspects each school only once every six years. This significantly limits the authorities’ capacity to monitor and plan teachers’ supply according to needs and effectively target financial incentives.
Promoting a greater variety of career path for teachers
Teachers’ salaries follow a relatively flat trajectory. Over their career, Czech teachers see their salaries increase - mainly due to seniority - by around 30%, while this increase is around 65% in OECD countries (Figure 4.17). While recent reforms with across-the-board salary increases have narrowed the average wage gap between teachers and other tertiary-educated workers, they did not address the issue of flat salary progression. Such increases mostly benefit less experienced teachers, leaving mid-career teachers with low relative wages compared to their tertiary educated peers in other sectors, whose earnings grow more substantially with experience (Münich and Smolka, 2022[40]).
To attract high-calibre graduates to the teaching profession while also seeking to retain, motivate and recognise experienced, high-quality teachers, Czechia should provide opportunities for diversifying teachers’ salaries by implementing well-designed career structures. Even though by Czech law the teaching profession is characterised by a vertically differentiated career structure - within each broad category of education staff (i.e., teacher, teaching assistant, education manager, etc.) there are six career levels-, in practice there is no clear and concise competence profile stating what teachers are expected to know and be able to do to obtain a promotion. There is also a lack of standardised procedures and instruments to evaluate the performance of teachers. Appraisals are in most cases conducted by school principals based on observations of classroom teaching, but little is known on the procedures and criteria used in the process. Moreover, the law does not establish formal links between career steps and remuneration (Shewbridge et al., 2016[9]; Federičová, 2020[42]).
Promoting a greater variety of career path for teachers entails defining the competences, roles and responsibilities associated to each career step. Creating a complete teachers’ competence profile by 2027 is one of the objectives of the MoEYS in the Strategy 2030+. This is welcome and should be accompanied by the definition of formal requirements for appraisals and promotions, as well as formal links between positions and compensation mechanisms. Standardised certification systems, through high-quality continuous development opportunities, can be used to confirm teachers’ readiness to assume additional roles and responsibilities. To ensure transparency, fairness and consistency, certification procedures should involve external evaluations, such as a national teaching agency or a teacher council. To effectively motivate and reward professional growth, teachers’ access to higher career stages should be voluntary (OECD, 2019[48]).
Career step progression should be linked to salary increases. To do so, salary levels associated to career steps should be included in the statutory salary and therefore in the fixed component of state grants to school founders. This implies adequate cost calculations and budget provisions prior to implementation of the reform. Compared to performance-based payments—another approach countries use to motivate and retain high-quality teachers— linking salaries to career steps can help to mitigate issues linked to measuring teachers’ performance and the potential negative effects of doing so, such as narrowing the curriculum or reducing teachers’ efforts on tasks not explicitly rewarded (OECD, 2019[48]).
Career diversification can also involve specialisation in a particular aspect of teaching, allowing teachers to progress more horizontally than vertically. In OECD countries, lateral career moves are generally compensated by reducing teaching hours rather than additional pay (OECD, 2019[48]). Recently, opportunities for such lateral career moves have increased in Czechia, and the role of some specialists, such as ICT specialists and mentors, has been strengthened. This is welcome and should be further promoted, given that it provides an important source of motivation to teachers.
Reforming teachers’ career structures can pose a series of implementation challenges. Plans to reform the teachers’ career structure in Czechia were already advanced in 2016 (Shewbridge et al., 2016[9]), but were not implemented. The proposed reform had insufficient support from the teaching profession, which perceived the introduction of new formal positions associated with additional responsibilities and remuneration as threatening to the profession’s egalitarian norms (OECD, 2019[48]). Limited financial resources to link the newly created roles to compensation were also a major obstacle to the implementation of the reform. To increase the acceptability and implementation success of such a reform, authorities should first design and evaluate pilot projects. These projects can address concerns about new teacher roles and build consensus before finalising and fully rolling out the reforms.
Annual salaries of teachers in public institutions, thousand USD PPP, 2023
Source: OECD (2024), Education at a Glance 2024: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/c00cad36-en.
Boosting the quality of initial teacher education and training programmes
Initial teacher education needs to be improved. A primary reason why university students do not pursue teaching careers is the low perceived quality of the courses at universities (Korbel Václav, 2021[49]). This is confirmed by studies highlighting that only 23% of students feel prepared to manage the challenging behaviour of pupils in classrooms, interact with parents and collaborate with colleagues (MoEYS, 2023[50]).
Efforts are underway to improve the quality of initial teaching education. Pedagogical courses have increasingly introduced practical work in the curriculum, with the share reaching 10 to 15% of the current curriculum in the 2023/2024 school year. Moreover, a new pilot project by the MoEYS was launched in 2023 in some schools with the aim to improve the quality of practical in-school work. The project focuses on enhancing the role of teaching mentors in schools - i.e., experienced teachers who assist the interns - by providing them methodological support and some financial remuneration (MoEYS, 2023[51]). These efforts are welcome and should continue. The authorities should ensure that the role of teaching mentors is adequately recognised and rewarded, for example by including it in a horizontal career structure and reducing teaching hours to allocate more time to the mentoring activity.
Participation in continuous professional development (CPD) programmes should be strengthened. Evidence shows that teachers’ participation in high-quality CPD programmes can effectively lower dropouts in the profession while improving education outcomes (De Witte, De Cort and Gambi, 2023[46]). In Czechia, all schools must formulate a plan for CPD, and all education staff is entitled to 12 days of leave per year for self-study purposes (EC, 2021[52]). However, more than 20% of the teaching staff do not participate in CPD (CSI, 2023[15]). One of the main barriers to participation is the overlap with the teachers’ work schedule (OECD, 2020[53]). Lack of time is not only related to their teaching activity, but also to administrative tasks. A large share of teachers (61%) reports being stressed by administrative activities compared to 49% in the average OECD country (OECD, 2020[53]). Improving teachers’ working conditions, for example by reducing the number of administrative tasks, could free up time for training. One way to achieve this could be by incentivising schools to collaborate and share administrative tasks as discussed below. To raise participation further, the authorities should make participation in CPD a requirement for career progression. Experience from other OECD countries, such as Estonia, shows that the development of the new career structure provides strong incentives for teachers to engage in professional development (see Box 4.5).
The authorities should also ensure that CPD programmes are of high quality and meet the specific needs of the individual schools. While there is an obligation for each school to outline a plan for CPD, there are no specific requirements for the content of the programme, or defined expected outcomes of professional development activities (EC, 2021[52]; OECD, 2023[54]). Quality assurance mechanisms exist in the form of accreditation and qualification requirements of the providers of the activities. However, there is no information collected to monitor quality, i.e., participation and completion rates, number of certificates issued or satisfaction with the course (OECD, 2023[54]). This should be changed. The authorities should support schools in outlining their training plans, content requirements and expected outcomes to match the particular needs of their community and students and provide learning opportunities to teachers to reflect these needs. This also requires more efforts in collecting data on the specific training needs of the teachers in different schools and on the quality of the courses. In Portugal, for instance, a network of School Association Training Centres (Centros de Formação de Associação de Escolas, CFAE) has been created to learn about schools’ pedagogical and curricular needs, and deliver locally provided training courses corresponding to school and teacher needs (OECD, 2019[48]). Finally, the Czech School Inspectorate could regularly monitor if the objectives of CPD courses are met.
Raising the efficiency of the school network
The Czech education system is highly decentralised. Municipalities are responsible for organising and providing pre-primary, primary and most of lower secondary education (elementary schools), while regions are responsible for upper secondary education, as well as the whole cycle of grammar and art schools (gymnázium and konzervatoř). School founders (municipalities and regions) responsibilities include appointing and dismissing the school principal; setting the school districts (see above) and participating in the school decision-making process by establishing the school council and nominating 1/3 of its members. They are also responsible for funding operating and capital expenditures, while teachers’ salaries are covered by the central government. Czech schools have high autonomy both in defining the curriculum and allocating resources (OECD, 2023[1]). Within the national framework set by the MoEYS, school principals are responsible for the learning material, students’ admission and evaluation criteria. School principals also have autonomy over financial matters, such as the management of school property and staff, the possible development of additional school activities, as well as accounting.
The management of the school system is hampered by the high administrative fragmentation. Czechia has 6 254 municipalities with an average size of 1 710 inhabitants, compared to an OECD average of 10 016 inhabitants. A large majority of municipalities (90%) have only one school and two-thirds of primary and lower secondary schools are in small municipalities (with up to 5 000 inhabitants) (PAQResearch, 2024[55]). In small municipalities, school administration is generally a direct responsibility of the mayor’s office, who frequently lacks the time, capacity, and staff necessary to provide professional support to school principals. This includes tasks such as evaluating and rewarding their work, alleviating administrative burdens, and managing school buildings and equipment (Zeman et al., 2024[56]). As a result, most school principals are overburdened with administrative, legal, and financial tasks, and are left with little time to dedicate to pedagogical work and teachers’ support, with negative effects on the quality of education. Over 90% of school principals in the TALIS 2018 survey identify administrative duties as a major source of stress, significantly higher than the OECD average of 68% (OECD, 2020[53]).
In 2014, Estonia introduced a vertical career structure alongside a reformed system of teacher professional qualifications. For general education, it comprises four distinct stages, reflecting different levels of professional skills and experience. Unlike many other multi-stage career structures, the stages are not formally linked to salaries and access to higher stages is voluntary.
Teacher (Level 6): Applies only to pre-primary teachers upon entrance into the teaching profession, following the completion of an initial teacher education programme (at bachelor’s degree level) or following the recognition of professional qualifications for this level by the teacher professional body.
Teacher (Level 7.1): Awarded upon entrance into the teaching profession, following the completion of an initial teacher education programme (at master’s degree level) or following the recognition of professional qualifications for this level by the teacher professional body.
Senior teacher (Level 7.2): Awarded to teachers who, in addition to their regular teaching activities, support the development of the school and of other teachers and are involved in methodological work at the school level.
Master teacher (Level 8): Awarded to teachers who, in addition to their regular teaching activities, participate in development and creative activities in and outside their school and closely co-operate with a higher education institution.
The Estonian Qualifications Authority has developed professional standards that define the competencies associated with each stage of the career structure. A teacher professional organisation (the Estonian Association of Teachers) is responsible for the certification process that determines teachers’ advancement across career stages. Twice a year, teachers can apply for a new certification. A three-member committee oversees the two-stage application process, which involves an evaluation of the candidate’s application materials and an interview.
A 2016 OECD report found that the new structure offered significant advantages, including strong incentives for teachers to continually update their knowledge and skills, particularly through ongoing professional development (Santiago et al., 2016[57]).
Source: (OECD, 2019[48])
Many schools are inefficiently small and fail to attract high-quality teachers, with adverse consequences on educational outcomes. Class size in Czechia is lower than the OECD average, especially in less urban regions such as Zlín and Olomouc (Figure 4.18). Around 20% of schools fail to meet the legal requirement for the minimum number of pupils per class and operate under exception to the rules (PAQResearch, 2024[55]). While smaller classes are often perceived as beneficial since they allow teachers to focus more on the needs of individual students, this is not always the case in Czechia. Students in small schools have a higher probability of repeating a class and worse grades compared to students in larger schools (CSI, 2023[4]). This is mostly because these schools face greater challenges in attracting qualified teachers, as they lack the number of classes required to offer full-time teaching contracts due to their smaller size. For example, in 2022, a high share of physics (51%) and computer science (72%) classes were taught by non-qualified teachers in small schools (CSI, 2023[4]; EDUin, 2023[58]).
The central government should provide stronger incentives to consolidate the school network in primary and lower secondary education. The central government provides some financial incentives to encourage undersized schools to merge into larger units. For example, the amount of state grants to fund the performance-based component of teachers’ salaries is based on the number of pupils enrolled, with higher funding going to larger schools. Moreover, municipalities managing schools that fail to meet the legal requirement in terms of number of pupils must contribute to the funding of teachers’ salaries. However, financial incentives are not sufficient to spur consolidation of the school network. Municipalities tend to be highly attached to their local schools, even when these schools are underperforming (OECD, 2020[59]). International experience shows that, to be effective, financial incentives should be complemented by direct government regulation and support (see Box 4.6). For instance, the government could establish a minimum school size to stimulate mergers and/or cooperation between schools located in different municipalities. In Finland, for example, in 2005 the government restructured local government services by setting minimum population targets for a number of activities, including education, and left municipalities the choice to meet these targets through mergers or cooperation (OECD, 2020[59]).
Average number of pupils per class, primary and lower secondary education, 2022
Source: Czech Statistical Office; OECD (2024), Education at a Glance 2024: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/c00cad36-en.
Transferring the responsibility for establishing and managing elementary schools in primary and lower secondary education and the related funding to the municipalities with extended powers would support the consolidation process. The municipalities with extended powers (i.e., municipalities that fulfil several administrative functions on behalf of smaller surrounding municipalities) could have greater resources to effectively manage education. They can employ more specialised officials, who can provide better support to school principals in managing administrative tasks, allowing them to dedicate more time to pedagogical matters, with positive consequences on students’ performance (Fischer and Mazouch, 2024[60]). They are also better positioned to identify inefficiencies in individual schools’ management and find adequate solutions to allocate resources more efficiently. Alternatively, the authorities could promote transferring such responsibilities to the communities of municipalities, a form of intermunicipal cooperation established in early 2024 (see Chapter 1). This arrangement establishes a new institutional framework for collaboration as communities of municipalities can also hire shared staff.
Consolidating the school network would facilitate the hiring of full-time high-quality teachers and free up resources to provide other services, such as free transportation, to the newly created schools. A cost-benefit analysis indicated potential financial savings up to about CZK 3.8 billion (0.05% of GDP) per year mainly through improved cooperation and sharing high fixed costs (e.g., accounting, maintenance, energy, communal services) among schools within the same administrative jurisdiction (Fischer and Mazouch, 2024[60]).
To better inform the school network consolidation process, the government should ensure regular collection and sharing of data on the capacity and quality of schools, as well as demographic projections. This is crucial to identify underperforming schools which could be potential candidates for closures. Data collection should be accompanied by solid analysis of the benefits and costs of consolidation policies, which include the feasibility and acceptability of different alternatives, such as transporting commuting students and teachers to the new schools and/or housing them at boarding schools, as for example was done in Estonia and Portugal (see Box 4.6). Recently, the authorities have made some progress in this direction by establishing a “middle link” institution at the level of the region or municipality with extended power to provide methodical guidance to school founders for school mergers and promote cooperation between neighbouring schools (MoEYS, 2020[61]; EDUin, 2023[62]). Implementation is still in early stages and should be accelerated. Finally, good communication with stakeholders about the benefits in terms of educational outcomes of closing small underperforming schools, and introducing compensation policies such as ensuring free transportation to the new schools for students and teachers is crucial to gain political acceptability (Santiago et al., 2016[57]).
Indices of school responsibility for resources and for curriculum by type of school, 2022
Note: In panel A, indices of school responsibility for resources and for curriculum measure the extent to which members of the school staff (principal, teachers or the school governing board) assumed governance responsibilities in their schools. They are calculated as a ratio between the responsibilities granted to the school staff and the responsibilities retained by education authorities. The index of responsibility for resources combines the six tasks related to human and financial resources, and the index of responsibility for curriculum combines the four tasks related to the curriculum and assessment. Higher values in the indices imply that the school staff assumed more responsibilities than education authorities. In panel B, the measure is a weighted average of schools with an accountability policy, defined as mathematics results are posted publicly (e.g., in the media).
Source: OECD calculations based on PISA 2022 Results (Volume II): Learning During – and From – Disruption, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/a97db61c-en.
Finally, reducing the number of underperforming schools requires pairing school autonomy with stronger accountability (Égert, de la Maisonneuve and Turner, 2023[63]; OECD, 2023[1]). Currently, the share of schools with accountability policy is limited (Figure 4.19). External evaluations by the Czech School Inspectorate are the main accountability tool. However, schools are inspected only once every six years and, although inspections are increasingly overseeing the quality of teaching and learning, they remain focused on monitoring school compliance with legal requirements (Shewbridge et al., 2016[9]). To enhance accountability, the Czech School Inspectorate could take a more proactive role by following up on recommendations and promoting the dissemination of evaluation reports that are also accessible to non-experts. In addition, motivating principals through performance-based incentives and enhancing their initial education and professional development, as discussed above, would support this goal.
Belgium
In 1999, the Flemish Community of Belgium introduced “school communities” for primary and secondary education. The government aimed at reducing the managerial burden on school directors to allow them to focus on pedagogical leadership, optimise resources in terms of teaching and non-teaching staff, and promote collaboration in curriculum activities. To incentivise participation, the government provided additional resources to school communities. The reform led to improved collaboration among schools, through sharing resources and rationalising course offerings, and savings.
Estonia
Estonia's demographic challenges have left many rural schools with small classes, few students, and underused facilities. In response, stakeholders—municipalities, school heads, unions, and parent associations—agreed on the need for restructuring the school network. Between 2005 and 2013, 9.5% of schools closed, while others were restructured or clustered. The central government recentralised the management of general upper secondary schools, establishing one state school per county, reducing municipal upper secondary schools, and offering grants to municipalities that reorganised their school network. To support families, the government covered transportation costs to state schools and invested in dormitories.
Portugal
Before 2008, rural schools were typically small with limited facilities, low academic performance, and high teacher turnover, while urban schools were overcrowded and ran double shifts. In 2005–08, the government closed 2 500 small schools with above-average repetition rates and formed school clusters with minimum size of 150 students. The reorganisation of the school network in Portugal was successful thanks to several factors: i) the government set clear rules for school closures and minimum school size based on research and data analysis; ii) local governments received financial support to accommodate students from the closed schools; iii) parents were informed about the benefits of closing small schools such as expected better educational outcomes; iv) school accessibility was ensured through free transportation to the newly created schools.
Source: (Santiago et al., 2016[57])
Skills shortages and mismatches are a longstanding issue in Czechia. After some easing during the COVID-19 crisis, the labour market has become tight again. The unemployment rate, at 2.6% in 2023, is among the lowest in the OECD, and companies complain of labour shortages as a major obstacle to growth (OECD, 2023[17]; Czech Chamber of Commerce, 2024[64]). Shortages are particularly severe in technical professions, such as mechanics and lab workers, but also customer care services (Eurobarometer, 2023[65]). Moreover, a high share (77%) of Czech enterprises - the second highest in the European Union - reported difficulties in finding ICT specialists (EC, 2021[66]; Eurobarometer, 2023[65]). In addition, assessments of the skill set of the labour force and labour market needs in Czechia suggest significant skill mismatches. More than 40% of workers experience an education mismatch, which is higher than the OECD average (Figure 4.5). This major imbalance between the supply and demand for skills on the labour market comes with a cost: it has been estimated to reduce the productivity and salaries of Czech workers by an estimated 9%, a high level by international standards (Giorno, 2019[67]).
Population ageing and the ongoing digital and green transitions are exacerbating the existing shortages of qualified workers. Occupations will increasingly require higher education and/or professional training, and workers will need to upskill and reskill to adapt to the evolving skill demand (Cedefop, 2023[68]). More than a third of current jobs in Czechia face a high risk of automation or may be significantly changed by technology, one of the highest shares in the OECD (Figure 4.20). The development and deployment of AI in tasks and jobs is leading to evolving skills requirements (e.g., complex problem solving, high-level management, and social skills) (Lassébie and Quintini, 2022[69]). OECD research also shows that the acquisition of specialised AI skills often requires advanced tertiary education and substantial in-company training (OECD, 2023[70]). In addition, the share of brown jobs is the highest in the OECD (see Chapter 2), and the green transition is leading to increasing demand for specialists in green professions, such as insulation workers, civil engineers and construction managers (EC, 2024[71]). For example, estimates suggest that to meet its projected contribution to the EU’s 2030 renewable energy target by 2030, Czechia will need between 2 300 and 6 600 additional skilled workers for the deployment of wind and solar energy (EC, 2024[71]). Moreover, the Czech population is aging rapidly. While retaining older workers could help alleviate labour shortages, significant efforts are needed to update their skills, especially in the digital area (Czech Chamber of Commerce, 2024[72]).
These challenges highlight the need for an adaptable education and skill provision system that provides opportunities to re- and upskill workers throughout their career. This section discusses options to align skill provision with skill needs by enhancing the quality of vocational training, boosting the supply of tertiary education workers and participation to adult learning.
Share of employment in occupations at the highest risk of automation, %, 2019
Note: The SOC 3-digit occupations at highest risk of automation (top quartile). The results are based on a survey of experts who evaluated the degree of automatability for 98 skills and abilities. The risk of automation measure is then computed by occupation as the average rating for each skill or ability used in the occupation across all expert responses weighted by the skills or abilities’ importance in the occupation as rated by O*NET.
Source: OECD (2023), OECD Employment Outlook 2023.
Making vocational education and training more responsive to labour market needs
Czechia has a strong tradition of vocational education and training (VET). In 2022, about 70% of students graduated in VET, which is much higher than the average OECD country (44%). Upper secondary VET comprises two main tracks. The first is a 4-years VET track leading to a maturita certificate, which allows students to access the labour market or tertiary education. Within this track, students can opt for a more academic vocational track or a more applied track, with 50% apprenticeship. The second track is shorter, it lasts 2 or 3 years and grants students only a VET certificate (Table 4.1 The Czech education system).
The VET system is not providing all students with the right set of skills. Up to 40% of recently employed VET graduates work outside their field of study, more than the national average of 30% (NPI, 2022[73]). Moreover, unemployment rates among young VET graduates are high. For example, in 2023, the unemployment rate of graduates who obtained a VET certificate in the previous year was 7.3% (compared to the general unemployment rate of 2.6% in 2023), reaching more than 15% in certain VET specialisations (e.g., textile production, food industry, gastronomy and tourism) (NPI, 2022[74]).
Reducing the fragmentation and enhancing the labour market relevance of VET programmes
Despite significant consolidation in the past years, VET programmes are still highly specialised and have not adjusted to labour market developments. Students can choose from among over 281 vocational education study fields, each with its own curriculum. Excessive specialisation leads to programme overlaps (i.e., the same qualification can be acquired through different programmes), complicating student choices and the signalling of which qualification is appropriate for specific jobs, resulting in high skill mismatches (OECD, 2023[43]). It also undermines quality by leading to the proliferation of many small schools, who face challenges in attracting high-quality teachers and securing resources for modern equipment, both of which are essential for delivering high-quality VET education (EDUin, 2023[75]). Over time, regional authorities – the founders of upper secondary schools – have adjusted the supply of VET fields of study only marginally. Adjusting fields of study to labour market needs has been hampered by the fact that a substantial part of practical training is provided in schools, and changes in provision impose extra costs, for example related to the cost of acquiring new equipment, adapting physical infrastructure to the new courses, and hiring new teachers with the relevant qualifications (OECD, 2014[31]).
The authorities should adjust the whole VET system to allow for more flexibility and make learners more adaptable in a changing labour market. A very large number of VET qualifications may mean that qualifications are defined narrowly to match the needs of a handful of employers, limiting labour market mobility of the qualification holder (OECD, 2023[43]). Various countries have been broadening their vocational programmes (hence reducing the number of specialisations) to make graduates more adaptable to rapidly changing labour markets. Recently, in an effort to increase flexibility and occupational mobility, Finland reduced the number of VET specialisation from 351 to 164, and similarly, the Republic of Türkiye reduced the number of VET study fields from 203 to 109 (OECD, 2023[43]). The 2019 VET reform in Hungary simplified and updated qualifications, reducing the number of qualifications from 760 to 175. In Czechia, the Strategy 2030+ outlines a plan to reform, reduce and modernise the total number of study fields in VET. This is welcome and implementation should be expedited.
Strengthening data collection and analysis is crucial to align the supply of VET programmes with labour market needs. The Czech Statistical Office regularly collects statistics about the unemployment of VET graduates, while other relevant statistics are collected by the National Pedagogical Institute only through one-off and ad-hoc surveys (EC, 2018[76]). There is scope to improve graduate tracking by conducting surveys more regularly and collecting data on the quality of employment (e.g. type of contract, working hours, salary, mismatch rates, participation in further education and training), as is done for example in Germany or Austria (EC, 2018[76]). In addition, the authorities should regularly forecast future skill needs. Forecasts of future skill needs, and labour market trends have been provided from 2017 to 2022 within the framework of the KOMPAS project supported by EU funds. The project delivered employment forecasts by region, sector, and field of study, which can be used to help the education sector identify shifts in skill demand and can help adjust public education funding to labour market developments. However, the project ended in 2022 due to the end of EU funding. This programme should be evaluated and, if considered effective, resumed.
Disseminating information about labour market outcomes can help align student choices with industry demand. The National Pedagogical Institute has established an electronic portal to disseminate the results of ad-hoc surveys and administrative data on labour market outcomes, including employment, mismatches and job satisfaction of graduates (infoabsolvent.cz). This is welcome and the authorities should ensure that the portal includes information about wages and that is regularly updated. In addition, the portal could include forecasts of future skill needs, making it a comprehensive one-stop shop for all relevant labour market demand information. At the same time, career guidance in schools should be expanded.
Expanding work-based learning
To improve alignment of skills with labour market needs, work-based learning should be expanded. Only 18% of VET students are exposed to work-based learning compared to 60% in the average EU country, and 94% in countries with leading VET systems (i.e., Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland) (Figure 4.21). Expanding quality workplace training for VET students requires the development of national rules defining standards of the training provision. In more than a quarter of in-company learning experiences, the expected learning outcomes of training are not defined, and in 40% of companies there is no clear person allocated for professional practice or professional training of pupils (NPI, 2022[73]), limiting the effectiveness of training. As suggested in previous OECD Economic Surveys, the authorities should establish rules defining how training is provided in terms of content, duration, assessment criteria, as well as requirements for trainers’ qualifications (OECD, 2014[31]). For example, to ensure quality standards, training companies in Germany need to be accredited in order to offer work-based learning for VET students and they must have at least one qualified trainer (i.e., a trainer who passed the trainer aptitude examination), and in Switzerland trainers at companies need a special qualification that is awarded upon attending 100 hours of training in pedagogy, knowledge of the VET system, and problem-solving methods for adolescents (OECD, 2023[43]).
Collaboration between VET schools and social partners in the area of VET, including work-based learning, should be strengthened. By law, the MoEYS should consult social partners in the design of VET curricula and the long-term plan of education policy. Social partners also participate in the final exam committees of VET programmes and in work-based learning activities on a voluntary basis. Moreover, since 2010, social partners jointly with educators and policy makers actively contribute to the development of the National Register of Vocational Qualifications (NSK) - a state-guaranteed public register defining all required competences for each qualification - by taking part to sector councils. Nonetheless, the participation of social partners in VET education and work-based learning activities has long been regarded as insufficient (Cedefop, 2022[77]; NPI, 2022[73]). To strengthen the collaboration with social partners, Czechia could expand the responsibilities of sector councils, for example by involving them in shaping the content and implementation of work-based learning. This is standard practice in other VET-leading systems, such as Austria, Denmark, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands and Switzerland, where institutionalised arrangements at local and national level allow social partners to provide their input regularly, timely, and in all relevant areas of VET (curriculum design, examinations, in-company training, etc.) (OECD, 2023[43]).
The funding system of VET could be modified to enhance schools’ engagement in work-based learning. VET schools receive funding based on the number of lessons, giving them few incentives to reduce programmes with poor labour market outcomes and few possibilities for opening new programmes in response to changing skills needs in the labour market. To better match VET education and training to labour market needs, funding for vocational schools should be also linked to the number of students in work placements. For instance, failing to find work placements for VET students should have negative financial implications for the school, which would avoid channelling students into programmes with few work-based learning opportunities. Alternatively, apprenticeships could start only once a placement with a company for the work-based part of the programme is secured, as done, for example, in Denmark, Germany and Switzerland (OECD, 2021[78]).
Exposure of VET graduates to work-based learning, %, 2023 or latest available year
Note: The indicator measures the share of recent graduates from VET (vocational education and training) benefitting from exposure to work-based learning during their vocational education and training. The indicator is defined as follows. (1) The denominator covers people aged 20-34 with an upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary educational attainment of vocational orientation who had successfully completed their highest level of education in the last three years. (2) The numerator covers those of the denominator who indicated a work experience while studying of at least one month. “Work experience while studying” refers to work experiences at a workplace e.g. in a company, government institution or non-profit organisation that were part of the curriculum of the formal programme that led to the highest level of education successfully completed. Purely school-based work experiences are not considered. The indicator is based on the EU Labour Force Survey.
Source: Eurostat.
Efforts to encourage companies to provide apprenticeship contracts for initial and continuous training could be boosted. Fewer small and medium companies engage in work-based learning activities in initial VET compared to large companies (Figure 4.22). In addition, investment in continuous VET, at just 0.9% of total labour costs, is among the lowest in the European Union, particularly for SMEs, which allocate only 0.3% of total labour costs to such initiatives. (Eurostat, 2024[8]). To support small companies engaging in work-based learning activities, the authorities should consider arrangements that allow cooperation between employers. The provision of training involves some fixed costs, such as filling administrative duties, applying for subsidies, organising training on the site, appointing and training employees who are responsible for trainees. These costs can be shared among employers, easing the financial burden on small firms. In Austria, for example, small companies may form training alliances (Ausbildungsverbünde) to share apprentices with the support of the Economic Chambers. Evidence shows that the institution of training alliances has helped improving the quality of apprenticeship provision (Lachmayr and Dornmayr, 2008[79]). This can be accompanied by a system of training levies collected by employers as a share of payroll and then pooled across companies and sectors to finance training. Evidence from their introduction in Korea shows that, by promoting the provision of joint training involving several firms, they are effective in incentivising SMEs to offer high-quality training. Levy schemes do not require public funds and help to overcome employer concerns that other employers will poach staff in whom they have invested. Moreover, they secure a stable source of funding, regardless of the availability of EU funds (OECD, 2022[80]). However, a levy will increase the tax wedge –already high in Czechia (Chapter 1). Therefore, as a complementary measure, the government should reduce employer social security contributions and rely more on property and indirect taxes (see Chapter 1).
At the same time, financial incentives for firms to participate in work-based learning could be better designed. Tax deductions for training in the workplace of CZK 200 per person-per hour, and of up to 110% of the costs of assets acquired for the purposes of vocational training were introduced in 2014 to encourage employers to engage more actively in VET. Given the low participation in work-based learning, these instruments should be evaluated. In Austria, for example, tax incentives for apprenticeships were phased out in 2008 and substituted with direct subsidies, which were considered more effective in targeting SMEs that require additional support to offer apprenticeships (OECD, 2023[43]).
Enterprises employing IVT (Initial Vocational Training) participants by size, %, 2020
Note: Initial Vocational Education and Training within enterprises is defined as a formal education programme (or a component of it) where working time alternates between periods of education and training at the workplace and in educational institutions or training centres. The survey covers enterprises with at least 10 or more employed persons for all sectors excepts agriculture and related, public administration, education, and health and social work.
Source: Eurostat.
Strengthening general and transversal skills of VET graduates
VET graduates also need sound basic skills (such as in literacy and numeracy) and generic skills (such as in communication, ICT, and problem-solving) to secure their capacity to learn and adapt to changing skills needs and thus their long-term labour market success. VET graduates have on average weaker core skills than their peers in general education. VET students enrolled in programmes leading to maturita examination and those that choose to take it are more likely to fail core subjects (Czech language and mathematics) compared to their peers in general education programmes (Figure 4.23) and exhibit lower literacy proficiency as adults as measured by PIAAC assessments (Figure 4.24). This hampers not only their ability to remain adaptable and flexible in a changing labour market with negative effects on their career, but also reduces their opportunities to pursue higher education.
Limited labour market opportunities and lower likelihood of success in tertiary education discourage students to enrol in VET programmes. Students have been increasingly showing interest in general education programmes (grammar schools and lyceum). Low capacity in these programmes, however, limit enrolment in such tracks (see first section). As a result, over 40% of VET graduates in courses with maturita certificate and 50% of VET graduates in courses with VET certificate are not satisfied with their chosen field after graduation (NPI, 2021[5]).
A reform of the VET system should aim at strengthening the core skills of all VET graduates. Strong core skills are key to supporting lifelong learning and adapting to new technologies and innovations throughout careers. In Czechia, general education constitutes 15% of the curriculum in 3-year VET programs and 30% in 4-year programs with apprenticeships leading to a maturita certificate. To strengthen core skills of VET graduates, the share of the core subjects in the 3-year VET curriculum could be increased. In addition, more efforts should be made to raise the quality of the core knowledge component in the VET curriculum of all programmes, as planned in the Strategy 2030+. This does not necessarily require more time for instruction, but more effective teaching practices. Innovative pedagogical approaches can be explored, such as learning approaches that focus on investigation and problem solving (i.e., inquiry-based learning), which have been shown to foster the development of soft and transversal skills (OECD, 2023[43]). This requires inter alia improving the quality of teachers as discussed above.
Net failure rate in the Maurita exam (end of upper secondary school), by type of school, %, 2022
Source: Cermat, Centre for Education Results, June 2022.
Difference in average literacy skills between vocational education and general education students, score points, 2023
Source: OECD calculations based on OECD (2024), Survey of Adult Skills 2023
Increasing tertiary education attainment
The supply of tertiary education graduates has not kept pace with demand. Despite progress, tertiary attainment still lags behind the OECD average. In 2022, 34.6% of young adults had a tertiary education degree, compared to 47.4% in the average OECD country (Figure 4.25). The share of tertiary education graduates has not been in line with the growing demand, resulting in a high wage premium (Figure 4.26). Demand is projected to further rise. In 2022, the KOMPAS project, a tool to forecast the future skill needs on the labour market (see above), predicted a 16% increase in the overall demand for tertiary educated workers by 2026 and a 26% increase in more technical fields such as civil engineering, ICT and natural sciences (OECD, 2023[17]).
Share of population (25-34 year-olds) with tertiary educational attainment, %, 2023
Source: OECD (2024), Education at a Glance 2024: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/c00cad36-en.
Relative earnings of workers with tertiary education attainment compared to those with upper secondary attainment; 25-64 year-olds; upper secondary attainment = 100, 2022
Source: OECD (2024), Education at a Glance 2024: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/c00cad36-en
Helping more VET students to transition to tertiary education would help increase tertiary educational attainment. VET graduates are less likely to apply and enrol to university than their peers from general education tracks. Between 2018 and 2022, only about 26% to 30% of graduates from shorter VET programmes (after two additional year of courses leading to the maturita certificate) enrolled in tertiary education, compared with 55% to 60% of graduates from VET tracks leading to a maturita certificate and 91% of general education graduates (NPI, 2024[81]). Moreover, VET graduates record much higher university drop-out rates. While only 6% of general education graduates drop out, this figure exceeds 40% for VET graduates (NPI, 2024[81]). As discussed above, supporting VET graduates requires reducing quality disparities between general and vocational educational tracks, and enhancing their core and transversal skills.
Boosting tertiary education attainment also requires increasing efforts to raise participation and success rates among students from vulnerable backgrounds. Only 18% of tertiary-educated graduates have parents with low educational attainment (below upper secondary education), compared to 28% in the EU-27, and this share has remained unchanged over the past decade (Eurostat, 2019[82]). Despite the absence of tuition fees in public universities in case of study programmes taught in Czech, students from vulnerable backgrounds still encounter significant financial challenges. Czech students bear high living expenses – for example, housing represents 43% of their expenses, the highest share in the EU -, and a large majority (92%) balance studies with employment to meet their living costs (Gwosc et al., 2021[83]). Difficulties in combining work and studies contribute to high drop-out rates from tertiary studies, especially among students from weaker socioeconomic background (Gwosc et al., 2021[83]). The support to students in tertiary education is low compared to other European countries (Figure 4.27). Accommodation scholarships are the most widespread support. However, the amount is very low, covering roughly 10% of housing costs, and not linked to parents’ income. There are other direct instruments, such as social scholarships and child benefits for students from poor socio-economic background. However, they reach very few students (about 1% of students received social scholarship in 2020), and the amount is low. Indirect support exists, such as non-refundable tax breaks to students’ parents, and a tax credit for students was available until January 2024. These instruments, however, would benefit mostly higher income families and students given their higher tax liabilities (Münich and Kořínek, 2021[84]; Eurydice, 2020[85]).
The authorities should evaluate the existing system of support measures for university students and introduce a mix of targeted grants and subsidised loans to support students from vulnerable backgrounds. Targeted grants can remove liquidity constraints for disadvantaged students, improving education access and outcomes. Research has shown that a rise in publicly funded grants increased educational attainment and the probability of attending college in the United States (Dynarski, 2003[86]). In addition, a system of income-contingent repayment could be introduced. Student loans help solve liquidity constraints without excessively weighting on public finances (OECD, 2020[87]). In such a system, repayment is conditional on the borrower’s income up to a threshold and debt is forgiven after a certain period. As evidence from Australia and the United Kingdom shows, the introduction of income-contingent repayment has contributed to close the gap in participation rates between advantaged and disadvantaged students, in spite of higher tuition fees (Chowdry et al., 2012[88]). At the same time, a systematic tracking of beneficiaries, linked to their socio-economic characteristics should be put in place to better monitor the effects of such policies. Recently, some progress has been made, and a working group for the creation and implementation of student loans was established in cooperation between the MoEYS the MoF, the Student Chamber of the Council of Higher Education Institutions, the National Development Bank and the Czech Association of Banks.
Conditional on introducing the support measures described above, the authorities could consider raising tuition fees to partially cover the financial costs of higher targeted students’ support. Tertiary education is largely publicly funded in Czechia (90% of students attend public universities), with no tuition fees for students enrolled in study programmes taught in Czech language (Figure 4.28). Raising or introducing tuition fees and making them dependent on households’ income could increase equity of the tertiary education system, and the high private returns to tertiary education justifies cost-sharing with students (OECD, 2020[87]). In addition, research shows that higher tuition fees can reduce the risk of drop-out by boosting students’ academic effort and raising motivation to complete their studies in time (Beneito, Boscá and Ferri, 2018[89]).
Financial aid from government to households and students, tertiary education level, Euros PPS per student, 2021 or latest available year
Note: Financial assistance for education to households or students includes scholarships, public loans and allowances contingent on a student's status.
Source: OECD calculations based on Eurostat.
Most common annual student fee amounts, higher education, home students, first cycle, Euros, 2022/23
Note : Students of public higher education institutions in study programmes in Czech don’t pay tuition fees. Students are required to pay tuition fees in case of study programmes in English, and if they significantly exceed the standard duration of the study programme. Tuition fees are paid in all programmes at private universities.
Source: EURYDICE, https://eurydice.eacea.ec.europa.eu/data-and-visuals
Incentives in tertiary education should be further strengthened to better align outcomes with labour market needs. Education mismatches among university graduates are high. Around 46% of the 2020/2021 cohort of graduates works in fields where higher education is not required. This share is higher than the 20% in the average EU country and has increased compared to 2016 when it was 38% (EC, Forthcoming[7]). A way to improve matching would be to modify the funding mechanism of higher education. Public universities receive 80% of their institutional funding for study programmes according to a formula which takes into account input indicators such as the number of students, and the normative costs of programmes by field of study, through a field-specific coefficient. The remaining 20% of funding is linked to outcome variables including graduation rates, international mobility of students, and employment of graduates (Eurydice, 2024[90]). To better align the supply of tertiary education with the demand, the funding formula could be refined to take into account a wide dimension of employability of graduates, e.g., earnings and mismatch rates. This requires strengthening data collection and analysis. Information about detailed labour market outcomes of tertiary education graduates in different fields, such as wages and education mismatch, is in fact only currently available through international surveys. More efforts could be done to regularly collect such information within the country. Such information should also be made available to prospective students and the wider public, for example on the online platform developed by the National Pedagogical Institute (infoabsolvent.cz), to support students making informed choices about study programmes. In addition, Czechia should raise awareness of the importance of careers guidance among university management teams and secondary schools to improve matching between students and study programmes and reduce risks of drop-out.
Broadening access to under-represented categories in highly demanded study-fields could help reduce skills shortages and mismatches. In 2023, 60% of higher education graduates in Czechia were women (CSO, 2024[91]). However, only a third of STEM graduates and only 19% of ICT graduates were female (CSO, 2024[91]) . Making female role models more visible, fighting gender stereotypes in careers guidance and providing girls with mentoring and opportunities to interact with technology at earlier stages could help change gender-specific perceptions about ICT careers. For example, a one-hour intervention in French secondary schools by female scientists has increased girls’ enrolment in the most selective and math-intensive STEM fields of study at university (such as mathematics, engineering and computer science) by a statistically significant 3.8 percentage points from a baseline of 16.6 percent (Breda et al., 2021[92]).
Efforts to attract more international students can help further address skill shortages. In 2022, the share of international students enrolled in higher education was 16%, significantly higher than the OECD average of 6% (OECD, 2024[6]). Half of these students come from Slovakia and benefit from courses taught in Czech (Czech Republic Alumni, 2022[93]). To attract a more diverse international student body, further steps could include expanding courses taught in English and providing training to help teachers adapt their teaching to an international audience (Pleschová, 2024[94]).
Increasing tertiary education attainment also requires diversifying higher education provision to serve multiple students from a diverse range of backgrounds and sources of funding to limit costs increases. Most of the funding for tertiary education (75%) in Czechia comes from public sources (OECD, 2023[54]). In 2020, public spending on higher education was 0.8% of GDP, lower than the OECD average of 1% (Figure 4.29). Thus, bringing tertiary education attainment close to the OECD average will significantly impact the state budget. To limit such costs, Czechia could consider diversifying higher education provision, by promoting applied programmes and short-cycle degrees, which can be designed and delivered in partnership with employers (OECD, 2020[87]). Applied tertiary education programmes have the advantage of meeting the growing demand for skilled professionals in fields not typically covered by traditional universities, and offering alternative tertiary education opportunities for those, including vocational secondary students, less inclined or able to pursue highly academic university programmes (OECD, 2020[87]).
Total expenditure on educational institutions, tertiary education, % of GDP, 2021 or latest available year
Source: OECD (2024), Education at a Glance 2024: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/c00cad36-en.
In 2021, only 1% of students enrolled in short cycle, applied tertiary degree programmes in Czechia, a much lower share than the OECD average of 19% (OECD, 2023[54]). Incentivising participation in these programs requires to enhance their quality. One way of doing so would be to place them under the assessment of the university accreditation office, as recently proposed by the authorities, and to allow the transfer of qualifications obtained to the second or third year of bachelor's programs at other universities, as for example is done in the US.
Raising participation in adult and life-long learning
A relatively low proportion of adults participates in education and training. On average, around 45% of adults participated in formal and informal education and training in 2022, and less than 10% do so on a regular basis (Eurostat, 2023[95]). Participation in adult learning is particularly low among low skilled workers (Figure 4.30). The main reason mentioned by adults for not participating in education or training is lack of interest. Among those who are interested, participation is hindered by a shortage of time (for family or work-related reasons) and lack of financial resources to cover the costs of education and training (OECD, 2023[43]; OECD, 2024[96]).
Flexible provision of adult education and training is crucial to overcome the time constraints faced by many individuals. Providing more distance and part-time learning opportunities, during weekends and evenings, would effectively allow people to work at the same time as studying. Participation in distance learning in Czechia was low in 2019. Only 6.2% of individuals participated in courses providing distance learning, versus 12% in the average OECD country (OECD, 2019[97]). However, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated government efforts to promote its expansion by improving broadband connectivity and providing IT devices in education institutions (OECD, 2023[98]; SAO, 2023[99]). Over CZK 8 billion (EUR 314 million) was spent by the ministry during 2019-2021 on supporting digital education, with a significant proportion (80%) coming from EU funds. Going forward, the authorities should establish a sustainable system for financing ICT in education, which requires regular maintenance and upgrades. This requires that financial contributions to the operation of educational institutions come primarily from the state budget and only minimally rely on one-off sources.
Education and training programmes should be modular to offer greater flexibility in adults’ learning. Formal education and training programmes, especially VET programmes, are often relatively long, reducing incentives to participation, especially of low-skill workers (OECD, 2023[43]). Offering modular learning implies breaking up long programmes into self-contained pieces, each with its own learning outcomes, and providing qualifications upon successful completion of the module, i.e., micro-credentials. This allows adults to focus on developing the skills they currently lack, and to work towards a full formal qualification by successively combining single modules.
Micro-credentials are still under-developed in Czechia compared to other European countries, but there is a rising interest in expanding their use (Cedefop, 2023[100]). For example, a pilot project has been launched to recognise the ICT certification obtained in VET programmes as a standalone qualification (Cedefop, 2023[100]). In September 2024 an OECD project has been launched to develop micro-credential programmes in VET, tertiary education and adult learning. In expanding the use of micro-credentials, the authorities should implement a transparent and reliable assessment system to certify the competencies acquired through them. This would ensure that these certifications are recognisable by all stakeholders in the labour market and education institutions. Including micro-credentials in the national register of qualifications (NSK), which links each qualification to a specific set of competencies and an assessment standard, would be an effective way of ensuring quality and allow candidates to obtain a nationally recognised certificate of their professional qualifications (OECD, 2023[43]). This has started to become common practice in other OECD countries. In Ireland, for example, the National Register of Qualifications (IRQ) contains more than 10% micro-credentials (see Box 4.7).
Participation in formal and non-formal education and training, 25-64 year-olds, %, 2022
Source: Eurostat.
Giving employees the right to take leave for education and training purposes can increase participation in adult learning. Statutory education and training leave exists only for civil servants and teachers who have respectively the right to take 5 and 12 days of paid leave per year (OECD, 2019[101]). Statutory leave could be extended to all employees to upskill or reskill for labour-market relevant occupations. To ensure its uptake, compensation for both learners and employers could be provided. In the Flanders region of Belgium, for example, since 2019 employees have access to up to 180 hours of education leave per year to attend vocational training courses to build skills in occupations with high shortages. During their training leave, workers receive full pay, while employers are reimbursed by the regional government up to a capped amount (OECD, 2019[101]).
Well-targeted financial incentives to employees can help to increase take-up of training, especially among low-income groups. Around 20% of adults do not participate in adult learning programmes because they are considered too expensive (OECD, 2023[43]). Financial support provided by the state for training activities is very low in Czechia (see Chapter 3), and until recently most existing schemes have only targeted (registered) unemployed persons. To address this gap, in 2023 the MoLSA introduced a system of individual learning accounts (ILA) with training vouchers as part of the EU recovery and resilience programme. Through this project all Czech citizens (employed and unemployed) have access to CZK 50 000 (EUR 2 000) to spend within three years for some selected retraining courses, with a greater focus on boosting digital skills. This amount covers 82% of the cost of each course, while the remaining 18% is paid by individuals. This initiative is welcome. ILAs have the advantage of decoupling the entitlement to training from the employer and of transferring from one job to another. This has the potential to improve the alignment of training with labour market needs, provided that individuals have access to sufficient information, advice and guidance. However, international experience shows that ILAs are more likely to be used by high-skilled workers, if not accompanied by other incentives (OECD, 2020[102]). This is also the case in Czechia where, in 2024, tertiary educated workers were over-represented among the applicants of ILAs courses. Therefore, this scheme should be modified to better target the low-skilled, for example by linking the amount of the vouchers to workers’ skills, as it is for example done in France (Perez and Vourc’h, 2020[103]).
In Ireland, micro-credentials can be offered as stand-alone qualifications which can be combined to form a full formal qualification, and most of them (10%) are included within the National Framework of Qualifications, which provides quality assurance mechanisms. The majority of these credentials are delivered on a part-time basis. They are mostly offered by private higher education colleges, private further education providers, universities, institutes of technology, and education and training boards. They are delivered in both vocational and non-vocational fields. The movement towards shorter credentials has been boosted by COVID-19 restrictions, which accelerated the process of online approaches of teaching and learning, assessment and certification, making learners experience more accessible and flexible.
Source: (OECD, 2023[43])
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