Early childhood care

Conditions for management staff in children's groups (dětské skupiny) are not set by the Act on Children's Group. The provider who can be physical or legal person is fully responsible for the services.

Early childhood and school education

According to the Education Act, the school head (ředitel) is responsible for the administration and management of the school or the school facility. At schools which have the legal status of a subsidised organisation or a school legal entity (i.e. most public and denominational schools), the school head is the authorised body. School heads have full responsibility for the quality and effectiveness of the educational process as well as for the financial management of schools, the recruitment and dismissal of teachers, etc.

The school head is responsible for the management of the school; this means that he/she:

• decides on all matters concerning the provision of education (unless legislation sets another decision-making body, for example the school organising body or regional authority);
• is liable for the school's providing of education in accordance with the Education Act and curricular documents / educational frameworks, for the professional and pedagogical level of education;
• creates conditions for inspections to be carried out by the Czech School Inspectorate and adopts measures resulting from such inspections;
• creates conditions for continuing professional development of teachers and for activity of the School Council;
• prepares the annual report on the school's performance, submits it to the school organizing body and then publishes it;
• ensures that parents and mature pupils are provided with information on the course and results of education;
• ensures cooperation in implementing programmes for the evaluation of educational achievements required by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports;
• is responsible for ensuring the supervision of children and minor pupils at schools;
• sets up the teaching council as its advisory body to discuss all of the main educational documents and measures concerning educational questions of the school. In making decisions the head takes into account the body's opinion. The teaching council consists of all school teachers.

The head of a school established by the State, a region, a municipality or a union of municipalities manages the institution he/she is responsible for, and carries out the role of an organisational head with authority in the area of financial management.

In the area of labour-law relations, teachers and school heads are employees of the schools; school heads appoint and dismiss their deputies.

Furthermore, the school head decides on the rights and duties in the following areas:

• admission of a child to a nursery school (mateřská škola)
• admission to an upper secondary school (střední škola), conservatoire (konzervatoř) and a tertiary professional school (vyšší odborná škola), transfer from another school
• content of admission examination and the VET final examination (závěrečná zkouška) and the Maturita examination (maturitní zkouška)
• recognition of education attainment with the aim of releasing a pupil from schooling and from assessment
• interruption of education, conditional expulsion and final expulsion from the school and a change of the field of education
• reducing and waiving fees for the provision of education and school services; awarding or revoking scholarships

The appointment of heads of public and state schools (i.e. those established by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports by the region, by the municipality or by the union of municipalities) depends on the organising body's decision on the basis of a recruitment procedure for the period of 6 years. The school organising body can announce the recruitment procedure every 6 years. The organising body can dismiss the school head only in certain cases set down by law.

The appointment and dismissal of heads of schools of other organising bodies (i.e. of denominational or private schools) is not regulated by school directives but by general laws.

The school head can have one or several deputies depending on the size of the school, but the extent of their responsibilities is decided by the head.

Requirements for appointment

Early childhood care

Specific conditions for management staff in children's groups (dětské skupiny) are not set by the Act on Children's Group.

Early childhood and school education

Requirements for performance

The preconditions for the performance of the function of the school head are set by the Act on Education Staff.

a) A school head can only be a person who meets the necessary requirements for exercising the function of education staff (including the teaching qualification).

b) A school head can only be a person who has obtained experience while performing direct educational activity, or activities for which the same or similar specialized knowledge is necessary, or while performing managerial activities, or activities in research and development. Length of required practice for school heads:

• the head of a nursery school (mateřská škola): 3 years
• the head of a basic school (základní škola), the head of a basic art school (základní umělecká škola) and the head of school facilities, except for school provisions of institutional and protective education and preventive education care: 4 years
• the head of an upper secondary school (střední škola), the head of a language school authorised to organise the state examination (jazyková škola s právem státní jazykové zkoušky), the head of a conservatoire (konzervatoř), the head of tertiary professional school (vyšší odborná škola) and school provisions of institutional and protective education and preventive education care: 5 years

c) Heads of public schools must fulfil yet another obligation: Except for the above mentioned requirements, a school head may only be a person who has gained a qualification in the field of school management by completing a study programme designed for school heads within the in-service training of education staff. Such knowledge has to be gained within 3 years from the day on which the person started performing the function of a school head. The obligation to complete a study programme does not apply to the school heads that have studied school management in an accredited higher education course in School Management, or completed a lifelong learning programme on the organisation and management of education run by a higher education institution (vysoká škola).

Appointment

The Education Act stipulates that the appointment of heads of public and state schools (heads of schools established by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, by the region, by the municipality or by the union of municipalities, the head of the subsidised organisation or the head of the state structural unit) depends on the organising body's decision on the basis of a competitive recruitment procedure for the period of 6 years. If the organising body, before termination of the period, does not announce another competitive recruitment procedure for the position of the head, the current head's employment relationship is extended (by another 6 years). The organising body can announce the competitive recruitment procedure according to its own decision. It must announce the competitive recruitment procedure, provided the Czech School Inspectorate or the School Council suggests a particular date. With Decree on Appropriateness of Competition Procedure and Competition Commissions, the Ministry defines the conditions of the announcement of the selection process, the structure of the assessment board, and the rules for the formation, activities and decision-making of such boards. Although the board's opinion is recommended, the organising body may not follow the advice.

Therefore, the office of a head of a private or a denominational school is performed by an authorised body, by a member of the authorised body or another person employed by the school who fulfils conditions (a) and (b) or a different entity or a person in a labour-law relationship to the school fulfilling these conditions. The appointment of school heads of private and denominational schools is not applicable; employment is always established on an employment contract.

Conditions of service

Early childhood care

The conditions of service and requirements for continuing professional development of the management staff of children's groups (dětské skupiny) are the same as for all other employees.

Early childhood and school education

Remuneration

The remuneration of school heads of schools and school facilities follows, in general, the same rules as teaching and other staff of schools and school facilities. The only exception is the fact that the salary of the school head as a school statutory body takes into account all overtime work (Section 127, Paragraph 3 of Labour Code) and compared to the teachers, the school heads are not entitled to remuneration or time off for overtime work; however, additional pay for direct teaching activities beyond the specified scope is due to them. Particular salary conditions for heads of public/state schools (among others, the amount of allowances and bonuses) are set by the organising body. The basic salary and allowances are regulated by the rules set for teachers. The range of allowances for leadership in schools and school facilities is stipulated by the Labour Code according to the level of leadership (related to the organisational structure of the school), it is 15–60 % of the highest step in the salary category in which the school head is placed.

Working time and holidays

Working time and holidays of school heads are the same as those of other education staff. Heads of public, private and denominational schools also have teaching duties. Teaching duties do not necessarily have to mean the performing of only direct teaching. It can also include working, for example, in a position of educational childcare staff (vychovatel), psychologist or SEN specialist (speciální pedagog). The extent of the direct teaching activity of heads of schools established by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, by the region, by the municipality or by the union of municipalities is set by the Government Regulation on Determination of Direct Educational, Special Needs, and Educational and Psychological Activities of Education Staff.

In-service training

Except for in-service management training, which is a legal requirement for school heads of public schools according to the Act on Education Staff, there are no other requirements relating to the training of school heads. However, like other teaching staff the school head is obliged to participate in continuing professional development.

Dismissal

School heads can be dismissed by the organising body of a public or State school but only in accordance with certain reasons set by the Education Act. These reasons are divided into the obligatory ones (the organising body must dismiss the school head) and the reasons where it is up to the school organising body if the school had will be dismissed or not.

The organising body must dismiss the head of school for the following reasons:

• the head has lost some of the assumptions to carry out his/her work (for example integrity or has not finished the necessary study programme for school heads)
• there have been some organization changes that have resulted in the job termination (for example the school has been cancelled or it has merged with another school)

The organising body is authorised to dismiss the school head for the following reasons:

• serious violation or failure to comply with the legal obligations arising from his/her activities, tasks and competences
• following a proposal by the Czech School Inspectorate
• as a result of a final decision of the court in a dispute about the termination of employment or the dismissal of the former school head

The pension conditions are set by the Act on Pension Insurance in the same way as for other employees.