OECD Reviews of School Resources: Czech Republic 2016

This report for the Czech Republic forms part of the OECD Review of Policies to Improve the Effectiveness of Resource Use in Schools (also referred to as the School Resources Review , see for further details). The purpose of the review is to explore how school resources can be governed, distributed, utilised and managed to improve the quality, equity and efficiency of school education. School resources are understood in a broad way, including financial resources (e.g. expenditures on education, school budget), physical resources (e.g. school infrastructure, computers), human resources (e.g. teachers, school leaders) and other resources (e.g. learning time).

The Czech Republic was one of the countries which opted to participate in the country review strand and host a visit by an external review team. Members of the OECD review team were Claire Shewbridge (OECD Secretariat), co-ordinator of the review; Jan Herczyski (consultant on funding mechanisms), Thomas Radinger (OECD Secretariat) and Julie Sonnemann (consultant on teaching workforce development). The biographies of the members of the review team are provided in . This publication is the report from the review team. It provides, from an international perspective, an independent analysis of major issues facing the use of school resources in the Czech Republic, current policy initiatives, and possible future approaches. The report serves three purposes: i) to provide insights and advice to Czech education authorities; ii) to help other countries understand the Czech approach to the use of school resources; and iii) to provide input for the final comparative report of the OECD School Resources Review.

The scope for the analysis in this report includes early childhood education and school education. At the request of Czech authorities, the focus areas of the Review of School Resources in the Czech Republic are: i) the organisation of the school network; ii) the funding of school education; and iii) the teaching profession and school leadership (including improving their attractiveness). The analysis presented in the report refers to the situation faced by the education system in May 2015, when the review team visited the Czech Republic.

The Czech Republics involvement in the OECD review was co-ordinated by Michael Vlach, Strategies and Interdepartmental Affairs Unit, Department of Strategy and European Affairs, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic. An important part of the Czech Republics involvement was the preparation of a comprehensive and informative Country Background Report (CBR) on school resource use authored by Petr Mazouch and Kristna Vltavsk, Researchers at the University of Economics. The OECD review team is very grateful to the main authors of the CBR and to all those who assisted them in providing a useful basis for questioning during the review. The CBR is an important output from the OECD Project in its own right as well as an important source for the review team. Unless indicated otherwise, the data for this report are taken from the Czech Country Background Report. The CBR follows guidelines prepared by the OECD secretariat and provides extensive information, analysis and discussion in regard to the national context, the organisation of the education system, the use of school resources and the views of key stakeholders. In this sense, the CBR and this report complement each other and, for a more comprehensive view of the effectiveness of school resource use in the Czech Republic, should be read in conjunction.