OECD Reviews of School Resources: Slovak Republic 2015

This report for the Slovak 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 Slovak 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 Paulo Santiago (OECD Secretariat), co-ordinator of the Review; Gbor Halsz (Professor of Education in the Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology at the University Etvs Lornd in Budapest), Rosalind Levai (Emeritus Professor of Economics and Finance of Education at the Institute of Education, University of London) and Claire Shewbridge (OECD Secretariat). 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 Slovak Republic, current policy initiatives, and possible future approaches. The report serves three purposes: i) to provide insights and advice to Slovak education authorities; ii) to help other countries understand the Slovak approach to the use of school resources; and iii) to provide input for the final comparative analysis 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 Slovak authorities, the focus areas of the Review of School Resources in the Slovak Republic are: i) the organisation of the school network; ii) the funding of school education (including distribution, incentives and transparency); and iii) the teaching profession and school leadership (including improving their attractiveness). Also, issues of special needs education and the education of the Roma minority are addressed from the funding perspective, i.e. how the funding system can facilitate the achievement of policy objectives in special education and the education of the Roma minority, including the development of inclusive education. While the review makes some considerations about the funding of vocational education and training (VET), it was decided not to give it specific emphasis in light of the fact that another OECD Review examined the Slovak VET system at the secondary level. The analysis presented in the report refers to the situation faced by the education system in October 2014, when the review team visited the Slovak Republic.