2025
Proposal for the innovation of the system of fields
The National Pedagogical Institute (NPI) in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS) prepared a proposal for the innovation of the system of fields for upper secondary vocational education. The innovation of the system of fields brings changes aimed at increasing transparency and flexibility, which will guarantee easier interdisciplinary permeability and higher employability of graduates. The task to innovate the system of fields of upper secondary vocational education also stems from the Strategy 2030+.
The innovation proposal is based on four pillars:
- Broader fields of education: Restructuring existing fields into broad fields with a common vocational basis
- A competency-based approach to education
- Clear qualification profiles of graduates
- Links to practice
The proposal is designed to create the conditions for horizontal and vertical permeability between different fields of education, flexibility in terms of the possibility to respond to the different needs of pupils, schools, employers, and the employability of graduates in the labour market (source: Current IOS proposal).
The innovation of the system of fields will be followed by a revision of the framework education programme for upper secondary vocational education.
2024
Digitalisation of upper secondary school admission procedure
As of 1 January 2024, an amendment to the Education Act is in force, which regulates the digitalisation of the secondary school admission procedure. In practice, this means an increase in the number of schools on the application form, easier access to information on the results of the admission procedure and, newly, the prioritisation of selected schools.
More detailed information can be found in National reforms in school education.
Vocational education of Ukrainian pupils
In the school year 2024/2025, there are several changes in the education of Ukrainian pupils, which are described in the National reforms in school education.
2023
Amendment to the Act on Education Staff
Amendment to Act No.563/2004 Coll., on education staff and on amendments to certain acts, and Act No.561/2004 Coll., on pre-primary, basic, secondary, tertiary professional and other education (the Education Act), brings a number of significant changes to the Czech education system. These changes also affect the field of vocational education and training. More detailed information on the amendment and the relevant changes can be found in National reforms in school education.
Vocational education: Czech language teaching of pupils-foreigners in language groups 2023
For information on this education, see the section on Czech language teaching in upper secondary schools.
Vocational education of the Ukrainian pupils – news from January 2023
New year 2023 brought several updates in the upper secondary and tertiary professional education of the pupils with temporary protection coming from Ukraine. The amendment to the Act No. 67/2022 on the measures in education of January 2023 prolonged its validity until August 2024. The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports issued three binding general measures, which adjusted the conditions for the mentioned pupils during the admission procedure to education in upper secondary schools (střední školy) and tertiary professional schools (vyšší odborné školy) for the 2023/24 school year and during the Maturita examination (maturitní zkouška) and the VET final examinations (závěrečné zkoušky). The financial support of the Ministry for the employment of the Ukrainian teachers’ assistants and for the adaptation groups also continues. The details are described in the section Education of the Ukrainian pupils – news from January 2023.