Pupil/students assessment

All educational programmes must contain a pupils assessment system, which must comply with the relevant legislation that is the Education Act (Školský zákon), Decree no. 224/2022 on secondary school (vyhláška č. 224/2022 Z. z. o strednej škole), Methodological guidance No.21/2011 (Metodický pokyn č. 21/2011) defining the evaluation and marking procedure of secondary school pupils in the Slovak Republic).

According to the legislation, pupils have the right to:

• know what will be assessed and in what manner,
• be informed of the result of each assessment,
• impartial evaluation.

Formative and summative assessment of pupils is performed throughout pupils’ education and training. Formative assessment is used to assess pupils’ partial results and behaviour during the school year. Summative marking is performed at the end of each term. Schools define the form of formative and summative assessments for each subject in their school educational programmes.

Formative assessment in secondary school subjects is done by marking, verbal assessment, a combination of the two, or in other forms that comply with the principles and goals of education and training. Summative assessment in secondary school subjects is done by marking or a combination of marking and verbal assessment. Pupils take oral, written, and practical examinations and the results are recorded. 

In a term, pupils should be examined at least twice in a subject taught once a week. Pupils should be examined at least three times in subjects that are taught twice a week or more. Pupils’ final marks in a subject are determined by the teacher. If more teachers are teaching a subject, the teachers will agree on the final mark for the marking period.

When determining the final mark in each subject in the summative assessment, teachers will assess the quality of work and study results achieved by the pupils in the term. Factors taken into account include: the pupils’ systematic approach to work, expressed personal and social competencies, responsibility, effort, initiative, willingness, and ability to cooperate in the course of the whole marking period. 

Assessment in individual subjects in the form of marks is performed on the following classification scale:

• 1 – excellent,
• 2 – very good,
• 3 – good,
• 4 – satisfactory,
• 5 – unsatisfactory.

Verbal assessment is an evaluative description of how pupils met the education goals in a subject.

A combined assessment is an assessment in a subject expressed by a mark and a verbal assessment or assessment by marks in some subjects and verbal assessment in others.

The verbal summative assessment contains information on whether the pupil met all the subject requirements to progress to a higher grade. If the subject is taught only in the first term, the information is given at the end of the first term. If a subject is taught in both terms or only in the second term, the information is given at the end of the second term. If a pupil has not met the requirements to progress to a higher grade, they are assessed as follows: 'The pupil did not meet the requirements to progress to the higher grade.'

If a pupil was not assessed in a subject in any of the forms mentioned above, the certificate and the pupil information sheet will state

• 'actively completed', if the pupil actively attended the lessons,
• 'completed', if the pupil did not attend the lessons and justified their absence or attended the lessons but did not work due to serious reasons,
• 'not completed', if the pupil did not attend the lessons and did not justify their absence or did not work in the lessons, or
• 'exempted', if the pupil was fully exempted from attending the subject.

Pupils’ behaviour is assessed by the following marks:

• 1 - very good,
• 2 - satisfactory,
• 3 - poor,
• 4 - unsatisfactory.

Secondary school pupils’ summative assessment at the end of the first and second term is stated in the certificate as follows:

• Passed with honours,
• Passed with merits
• Passed
• Failed

Schools may give pupils commendations for excellent results or exemplary behaviour and admonitions or reprimands of varying degrees for misdemeanours. For serious or repeated misdemeanours against school rules, principles of coexistence, human rights, or moral standards of the society, pupils may be conditionally expelled or expelled from the study if they have already completed their compulsory school attendance.

At the end of the school year, pupils will receive a certificate with summative assessment for the first and the second term. The certificate contains pupil assessment in each subject, an assessment of behaviour, and the summative assessment.

A pupil may take the commissional examination in cases defined by law if the pupil takes a differential examination at a secondary school if an adult pupil or a minor pupil’s parent requests the reexamination, a teacher or a school head requests the reexamination, the pupil failed a subject, or the pupil studies according to an individual study plan at a secondary school. A pupil may also take the commissional examination if the pupil is exempted from attending school in person, the pupil takes an examination in artistic practice and profile subject at a conservatory or a school of applied arts at the end of the first or the second term, fulfills school attendance in a special way, studies individually, or takes the commissional examination to obtain lower secondary education.

Schools do internal evaluations of pupils’ results and publish them on their websites in the Report on the Educational Activity at the end of each school year.
 

Progression of pupils/students

All pupils of secondary school, except for those who failed, move on to the next grade. Pupils’ parents are informed about the pupils’ bad marks in the respective term of the school year. 

Pupils who fail in two compulsory subjects at most may take the commissional examination with the approval of the secondary school’s head (usually in the last week of holidays before the start of the school year). After passing the commissional examination, the pupils move to the next grade. If the pupils fail, the secondary school’s head can allow them to repeat the grade. 

During their study, secondary school pupils can transfer to another secondary school. The transfer of a pupil is decided by the head of the secondary school that the pupil chose to transfer to. The transfer is conditional upon the pupil passing the differential examination. The content, scope, and date of the differential examination to be taken are set by the head of the secondary school to which the pupil chose to be transferred.

Certification

Secondary school study is completed by the school-leaving examination ('Maturita'), the final examination, or the graduate examination.

Pupils can take the school-leaving examination, final examination, or graduate examination within three years after having completed secondary school study. The day after taking any of the above-mentioned examinations the ‘graduate’ ceases to be a pupil of the school. If a secondary school pupil did not take the final examination, school-leaving (maturita) examination, or graduate examination on the set date and he/she was allowed to resit or defer the examination, the pupil will keep his/her rights and responsibilities until the end of the school year the pupil was supposed to finish the study.

School leaving examination ('Maturita')

School-leaving examination completes the study:

• At minimum a four-year and at the maximum eight-year educational programme in a field of study at the gymnasium, 
• at minimum a four-year and at the maximum five-year educational programme in a field of study at a secondary vocational school, 
• follow-up courses which continue after the previous vocational education and training in a related field of study, 
• in the fourth grade of a six-year educational programme at conservatories and in the eighth grade at dance conservatories.

The Certificate of school-leaving examination serves as a certificate of the achieved level of education.

In compliance with the state educational programme, the National Institute for Education and Youth (NIVAM) created the Catalogue of Target Requirements for the School-leaving Examination (Katalóg cieľových požiadaviek na maturitnú skúšku) (hereinafter referred to as „Catalogue“). The Catalogue is compiled of target requirements for the school-leaving examination in individual subjects. The school-leaving examination aims to verify pupils’ knowledge and skills in the extent of the subject matter defined by the Catalogue and to verify how pupils are prepared to use the acquired competencies in further study or the pursuit of professions and vocational activities for which they are being trained. The Catalogue defines the requirements for the expected pupils’ level for each subject in secondary education and at the school-leaving examination. It aims to ensure a comparable level of pupils that complete secondary education study throughout the whole of Slovakia. The latest Catalogue has been valid since 1st September 2018. 

The school leaving examination consists of 

• an external part and
• an internal part.

The external part of the school-leaving examination consists of a written test taken at the same time all over the territory of the Slovak Republic. It is arranged by NIVAM in the following subjects: the Slovak language and literature, foreign languages (English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, and Russian), national minority languages of instruction (Hungarian language and literature and Ukrainian language and literature), and mathematics.

The internal part of the school-leaving examination is taken in all school-leaving examination subjects. With languages, the internal part is also comprised of a written form, which has a nationwide character and is taken at the same time at all schools. (In addition to the written form), the internal part of the school-leaving examination in individual subjects can have several forms:

• oral examination,
• practical examination,
• performing a complex task or giving an artistic performance,
• defense of a complex specialist thesis, project, or successful competition work,
• implementation and defense of an experiment,
• combinations of forms according to the previous points.

The internal part of the school-leaving examination is public, except for its written form.

Each part of the school-leaving examination is assessed separately for each subject and the assessment is stated in the certificate of school-leaving examination. The external part of the school leaving examination is assessed in percentage. If the external part of the school-leaving examination is taken by at least 30 pupils, it is assessed in percentile terms. The oral form of the internal part of the school-leaving examination is assessed by a mark.
If pupils fail the school-leaving examination, they can retake it.

Pupils are allowed to take the internal part of the school-leaving examination (except for the written form) in at most three subjects in one day. Pupils will take the internal part in five working days at most in the language in which they have studied the subject. Before the start of the internal part of the school-leaving examination, except for its written form, pupils do not take part in lessons for five consecutive days. These days are meant for pupils to prepare for the examination. 

The school-leaving examination is to be taken in the regular examination period from March to June of the respective school year or in the special examination period from April to May of the respective school year or in September, or February of the following school year.

Pupils with special educational needs that do not allow them to take the school-leaving examination in a standard way take the examination under adapted conditions, e.g the school-leaving tests will be adapted according to the degree of the pupils’ disability, using enlarged letters, clearly divided text, the underlined substance of the assignment. The blind pupils will work with texts in Braille. 

In classes with two languages of instruction, in which the education is regulated by international agreement, the school-leaving examination is taken according to this agreement.

If a pupil, his/her parent, or another person authorised by the latter is not satisfied with the school-leaving examination assessment, or its written part, he/she may ask the school head to examine his/her written work and compare its assessment with the answer key and the rules for assessing work within five days from the date of learning the results. If the complaint about the assessment of the school-leaving examination is justified, the re-sit exam is held before a subject commission in its original composition.

School-leaving examination ('Maturita') subjects

All pupils at gymnasiums with Slovak as the language of instruction are obliged to take the school-leaving examination in the Slovak language and literature and a foreign language at the B2 level of the Common European Framework.

Pupils at gymnasiums with a national minority language of instruction have to take the school-leaving examination in the national minority language and literature, Slovak language and literature, foreign language at the B2 level, and an optional subject.

Pupils at bilingual gymnasiums have to take the school-leaving examination in the Slovak language and literature, the second language of instruction at the C1 level of the Common European Framework, and 2 -5 other optional subjects.

Pupils at secondary vocational schools, secondary sports schools, schools of applied arts, and conservatories with Slovak as the language of instruction must take the school-leaving examination in the Slovak language and literature, a foreign language at the B1 or B2 level, and the theoretical and practical part of the vocational component.

Pupils at secondary vocational schools, secondary sports schools, schools of applied arts, and conservatories with a national minority language have to take the school-leaving examination in the national minority language and literature, Slovak language and literature, a foreign language at the B1 or B2 level, and the theoretical and the practical part of the vocational component.

Pupils at bilingual secondary vocational schools have to take the school-leaving examination in the Slovak language and literature, foreign language at the C1 level of the Common European Framework, and the vocational component – theoretical part in the second language of instruction and the practical part in the Slovak language.

Pupils at secondary sports schools in the study field of sports gymnasium must take school-leaving examination in the Slovak language and literature, a foreign language, and two optional subjects.

Pupils at secondary sports schools with a minority language of instruction in the study field of sports gymnasium must take the school-leaving examination in the national minority language, Slovak language and literature, a foreign language, and one optional subject.

In the post-secondary qualification study, the school-leaving examination subjects include the theoretical part and the practical part of the vocational component of the school-leaving examination.

The internal part of the school-leaving examination (except for the written part) in each subject is held in front of a subject school-leaving examination (‘maturita’) commission. The subject school-leaving examination commission has a chairman and two examining teachers from the school. The commission members must be pedagogical employees and meet the qualification requirements to teach the subject in which the school/leaving examination is taken. The chairman of the school maturita (school-leaving examination) commission cannot be a teacher employed in the secondary school where the school-leaving examination is held. 

Final examination

The final examination concludes the lower secondary education and secondary vocational education study fields.

The final examination aims to:

• verify pupils’ knowledge and skills in the extent of the subject matter defined by the educational standards of the State educational programme and
• verify, how the pupils are prepared to use the acquired competencies for the pursuit of professions and professional activities for which they are being trained. 

Pupils may take the final examination if they have successfully completed the last year of the educational programme of the respective field. The final examination is held in the regular examination period or an additional examination period. The dates of both are set and published by the Ministry of Education on its website by 30th September. The final examination verifies pupils’ knowledge and skills through a question/topic drawn by pupils.

The final examination is comprised of a theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part of the final examination has at least 25 topics and takes 15 minutes at most. Pupils have between 15 and 30 minutes to prepare for the theoretical part. The practical part of the final examination is held before the theoretical part of the final examination. The practical part of the final examination of a dual education pupil is held at the practical education workplace (i.e at the employer’s place where the pupil attended practical education). With regard to the difficulty and specificities of the field of study, the practical part of the final examination has between 1 and 15 topics that consider activities for the pursuit of which pupils are training. The practical part takes 24 hours at most. The character of the final examination in some fields of study may require more time, in that case, the practical part may take up to 4 weeks at most.

The final examination is organised by the examination commission. The examination commission members include the chairman, vice-chairman, and the class teacher. The chairman and vice-chairman can be only those pedagogical employees who meet the qualification requirements to teach the respective subject. The examination commission chairman for the final examination cannot be appointed from pedagogical employees of the secondary school where the final examination is held. Other commission members can include the head of vocational training, teacher of theoretical vocational subjects or teacher of vocational practice, and examiner representing professional associations or employers.
 

Graduate examination

The graduate examination is a complex vocational examination which verifies the level of pupils’ specific knowledge and skills. As regards artistic fields of education at conservatories and schools of applied arts, the examination verifies the level of artistic and pedagogical-artistic activities. The graduate examination is comprised of:

• at music and drama conservatory, a graduate performance in profile subject(s), written graduate thesis and its defense, and the cumulative examination(s) in pedagogical training,
• at dance conservatory, a graduate performance in the main field of study and a cumulative examination in pedagogical training at the dance conservatory,
• at the school of applied arts, practical examination including the defense of the written graduate thesis, theoretical examination in vocational subjects according to the character of the respective field of study; the graduate examination may include a cumulative examination in pedagogical training at the school of applied arts,
• at a secondary healthcare school, a complex theoretical-practical examination in the respective field of study, a written graduate thesis and its defense,
• at other secondary vocational schools, written graduate thesis and its defense, and a complex examination in vocational subjects.

The graduate examination is held in the regular examination period in June of the respective year or in the additional examination period in September or February of the following school year. The date of the graduate examination is set by the Ministry of Education. The additional examination period is designed for resitting graduate examination or replacement graduate examination.