Definition of target groups
Support measures in adult education focus mostly on
- the long-term unemployed,
- foreigners,
- socially excluded communities,
- people with special educational needs,
- various vulnerable target groups (senior citizens, people at risk of or subject to gender-based or domestic violence, ...)
The target groups are defined based mainly on the documents approved by the Government of the Slovak Republic such as:
- National programme for active aging for 2021-2030 (Národný program aktívneho starnutia na roky 2021 – 2030)
- Strategic Priorities for Employment Development in the Slovak Republic (Strategické priority rozvoja zamestnanosti v Slovenskej republike)
- National Plan for Strengthening the Youth Guarantee in the Slovak Republic with a view to 2030 (Národný plán posilnenia Záruky pre mladých ľudí v Slovenskej republike)
- Action Plan to reinforce the integration of long-term unemployed in the labour market (Akčný plán na ďalšie posilnenie integrácie dlhodobo nezamestnaných na trh práce v SR
- National Action Plan for the Prevention and Elimination of Violence against Women 2022-2027 (Národný akčný plán pre prevenciu a elimináciu násilia na ženách na roky 2022 - 2027)
The section dedicated to education and further education is a crucial part of these documents.
Immigrants and foreign nationals comprise a specific group. In their case, measures in education focus primarily on state language learning.
Specific support measures
Slovak language teaching
Teaching Slovak as a foreign language to foreigners is not provided systematically. There are several possibilities for learning the Slovak language. Based on a grant from the Ministry of Education, Science, Research, and Sport of the Slovak Republic, the national project Studia Academica Slovaca – Center for Slovak as a Foreign Language (Studia Academica Slovaca – centrum pre slovenčinu ako cudzí jazyk) is being implemented at the Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava
The Centre’s objectives include:
- Education of foreigners interested in Slovak language and culture,
- Promotion of Slovak science, culture, and arts abroad,
- Coordination and performance of the research of Slovak as a foreign language,
- Work on international and domestic science-research projects
Slovak language courses for foreigners are offered by language schools or higher education institutions, such as the Center for Lifelong Learning at the Slovak University of Technology (Centrum celoživotného vzdelávania STU).
The portal Slovake.eu is a project of an educational platform for learning Slovak. It includes language courses at various levels (A1, A2, B1, and B2) with numerous exercises, tests, and dictionaries.
The unemployed and other defined target groups.
Requalification is an active labour market policy tool and it enables people to acquire qualifications for a new position or to keep their current work position.
Registered job applicants have a possibility of requalification in the form of further education funded from public sources. To be provided financial support, the education applied for must be assessed with regard to the applicant’s career development.
Labour Offices (Úrady práce) also provide support to employers who pay for their employees’ requalification education or create a job for a long-term unemployed person. Labour Office can provide employers with contributions for the education and training of employees for the job market (príspevok na vzdelávanie a prípravu zamestnanca pre trh práce), as well as contributions to support the employment of disadvantaged job applicants (príspevok na podporu zamestnávania znevýhodneného uchádzača o zamestnanie).
Migration Information Centre (MIC)
The Migration Information Centre (MIC) (Migračné informačné centrum) is a counselling centre of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Slovakia, providing services to foreigners for their integration since 2006. MIC is the first and currently the only information centre in Slovakia that offers comprehensive services in one place, including legal, social, and employment counselling, further education, inclusion in the labour market, and support for the community life of foreigners. MIC offers free legal and social counselling, and employment counselling including assistance with job search, organises courses on social and cultural orientation with information on various aspects of life in Slovakia, and supports the community life of foreigners in Slovakia.
Since 2022, MIC has been implementing activities from the Recovery and Resilience Plan of Slovakia, specifically targeting talents, highly qualified foreign workers, foreign students from EU and non-EU countries, as well as Slovak returnees. It provides consultations and services aimed at attracting and retaining talent in Slovakia. MIC has also expanded its counselling services for employers of highly qualified foreign workers from EU and non-EU countries, providing consultations and specialised training on employing foreigners. As part of supporting integration and requalification, MIC also offers contributions for the recognition of education and contributions for education and requalification.