This report for the Slovak Republic forms part of the OECD Review on Evaluation and Assessment Frameworks for Improving School Outcomes (see Annex A for further details). The purpose of the Review is to explore how systems of evaluation and assessment can be used to improve the quality, equity and efficiency of school education. The Review looks at the various components of assessment and evaluation frameworks that countries use with the objective of improving student outcomes. These include student assessment, teacher appraisal, school evaluation and system evaluation.

Children must complete ten years of schooling and the majority attend public schools, but may be enrolled in different school types according to their interests and ability, with academic selection possible at ages 11, 14 and 15. National examinations at the end of upper secondary schooling (Maturita) certify student achievement with a view to higher education access. Since 2009, there is a full-cohort national summative assessment in Year 9 (Testovanie 9) in the Slovak language and literature, as well as, where applicable, in the major language of instruction (Hungarian or Ukrainian), and in mathematics. A new national summative assessment in Year 5 is expected to be introduced in 2014/15.

The majority of children in the Slovak Republic attend public schools, although they may be enrolled in different school types according to their interests and ability, with academic selection at ages 11, 14 or 15. There is not a high degree of grade repetition, but there is a well-established culture of transferring students to different schools due to their low academic performance. International and national student assessments reveal a large proportion of underperforming students and a highly inequitable school system. In 2001 the “Millennium” plan for educational reform set out a vision for reforming schooling in the Slovak Republic over a 15-20 year period. Since then, a series of legal reforms have sought to introduce more freedom throughout the school system.

Since 2008 several laws aimed to stimulate evaluation and assessment have been introduced in the Slovak Republic. This chapter details the governance and major components of evaluation and assessment. It finds that the legal framework is largely in place, but that there is some duplication of efforts and inconsistencies. It proposes some policy options to further integrate the evaluation and assessment framework, including a stronger strategic oversight of evaluation and assessment and building capacity throughout the school system, among other ways, through a greater engagement of stakeholders.

There is a strong focus on summative student assessment in the Slovak Republic. The reliability of final examinations at the upper secondary level (Maturita) has been strengthened with the introduction of an external written component. National assessments are administered at the end of lower secondary schooling and mainly serve the purpose to certify student achievement and help inform selection of upper secondary school. A competency-based curriculum has been introduced since 2008 and implementation has been problematic due to a lack of clarity on the minimum content standards and a lack of guidance, tools and training for educators. In this context, there is room to give more support to teachers, to develop models to assess skills and competencies and to phase in student assessment criteria linked to the standards in the national education programmes.

The Slovak Republic has a clearly defined career structure for teachers with the following career steps: beginning teacher, independent teacher, teacher with first certification level, and teacher with second certification level. Currently, about 40% of teachers have reached the second certification level. A clear strength of the Slovak approach is that school-based regular teacher appraisal includes the observation of classroom practices. However, external teacher appraisal is disconnected from classroom teaching and is based on professional development credits and qualifications. There is room to improve the status of the teaching profession and the quality and quantity of the professional development offer. The development of a single, authoritative set of teaching standards is expected to promote a shared understanding of accomplished teaching.1

There are requirements for both external and self-evaluation for all Slovak schools. External evaluation is conducted by the Slovak State Schools Inspectorate (Štátna školská inšpekcia, ŠŠI) against a standard quality indicator framework. Schools must also complete an annual school reporting exercise, including a two-year development plan. There are also efforts to feedback information to schools on how their students perform in comparison to students in other schools. Feedback from complex school inspections appears to be valued by schools. However, other, more bureaucratic types of inspection are perceived as burdensome with little value. The chapter presents options to make external school evaluation more relevant for school improvement and to further stimulate school self-evaluation that engages stakeholders and uses a broad range of evidence.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Sport holds overall responsibility for ensuring the quality of the education system, although it delegates the evaluation of different aspects of the education system to the Slovak State Schools Inspectorate (ŠŠI) and the National Institute for Certified Educational Measurements (NÚCEM). This chapter details the information base and reporting systems and notes considerable efforts to compile a broad set of evidence on the education system. However, it also identifies some important information gaps, in particular for monitoring equity, and sees room to build analytical and research capacity to make better use of existing information for policy development.

Children in the Slovak Republic must complete 10 years of schooling and the majority attend public schools, but they may be enrolled in different school types according to their interests and academic ability. Regional and municipal authorities exert a direct influence over public schools as their organising bodies (“school founders”). Children may transfer to an academically selective school (a gymnázium) at the start of Year 6 (age 11), Year 9 (age 14) or Year 10 (age 15). National examinations at the end of upper secondary schooling (Maturita) certify student achievement with a view to higher education access. Since 2009, there is a full-cohort national summative assessment in Year 9 (Testovanie 9) in the Slovak language and literature, as well as, where applicable, in the major language of instruction (Hungarian or Ukrainian), and in mathematics. A new national summative assessment in Year 5 is expected to be introduced in 2014/15.