Qualification requirements
Primary and secondary school teachers' qualification requirements are defined by the act on pedagogical employees and professional employees (zákon o pedagogických zamestnancoch a odborných zamestnancoch) (see Initial Education for Teachers Working in Early Childhood and School Education). Teaching staff in schools providing adult education (e.g. second chance projects) do not have to take specific training in teaching adults. More information on extending or deepening qualifications of pedagogical employees and professional employees can be found in the chapter Continuing Professional Development for Teachers Working in Early Childhood and School Education.
Academic staff in higher education that provides further education programmes do not have to meet any specific requirements for teaching adults. In general, the requirements given in the chapter Initial Training for Academic Staff in Higher Education apply to them.
Different professional organizations, associations or unions define their requirements for the competence of teachers working in internal systems of each sector’s education. These are usually governed by separate legal regulations (e.g. Act on Mountain Rescue Service (Zákon o horskej záchrannej službe); Act on Health Care Providers, Health Care Professionals and Professional Associations (Zákon o poskytovateľoch zdravotnej starostlivosti, zdravotníckych pracovníkoch, stavovských organizáciách v zdravotníctve); etc.).
Neither the qualification of teachers/trainers nor the quality of education at commercial educational institutions on the free education market is legally required to be monitored.
Accredited further education programmes are usually a specific case. The accreditation process of these programmes (see also Quality Assurance in Adult Education and Vocational Training) also evaluates the professional competence and competence of both the educational programme teachers/trainers and the guarantor.
Depending on the content focus of an accredited further education programme, teachers/trainers have to meet some of the following requirements and demonstrate their teaching competence:
- bachelor’s or master’s degree in the field of the educational programme, at least two years experience in the area covered by the educational programme,
- a bachelor’s or master’s degree, at least four years experience in the area covered by the educational project,
- full secondary education with maturita (secondary school leaving examination) in the relevant field of the educational programme, at least two years experience in the area covered by the educational project,
- full secondary education with maturita (secondary school leaving examination), at least five years’ experience in the area covered by the educational project,
- vocational certificate in the relevant field of the educational programme, at least five years’ experience in the area covered by the educational project,
- certificate of partial qualification or certificate of full qualification in the relevant field of the educational programme, at least five years’ experience in the area covered by the educational project.
Teachers/trainers prove their professional competence with a relevant certificate of education and an employer’s confirmation of the length of professional experience.
Teachers/trainers prove their professional competence by a certificate of completion of education focused on the development of teachers/trainers' competencies or a confirmation of their activity in teaching/training in a given period of time stating its content focus and scope over a minimum of a six-month period.
Training of adult education specialists
Higher education institutions train adult education specialists teacher training and pedagogical sciences bachelor programmes and the follow-up master programmes.