1. Education and educational policy in the enlarged EU – the case of the Czech Republic NATIONAL CONTEXT New school act equity as a priority self evaluation now mandatory for schools Curricular reform key competences defined as outcomes role of schools: within a given framework, to find their way towards the outcomes provide an account  Curricular reform is a quality assurance process Accountability for improvement? are competences measurable?

2. EUROPEAN CONTEXT Equity is a factor of quality Performance of systems in terms of equity – Council of EU Feb 21st 2005 What structural factors can ministers identify in their own education systems which ensure their efficiency and equity? How do you evaluate the performance of the education systems in terms of equity? How do you use the results of these evaluations? Which form of quality assurance would raise accountability and improve (efficiency and equity) in schools?

3. SCHOOL ACT 2004, valid since 2005 § 2 Principles and aims of education (1) Education is based on principles of a)equal access of any citizen of the Czech Republic or of another member state of EU to education without any discrimination on the basis of race, skin colour, sex, language, faith, nationality, ethnic or social origin… health state or other state of a citizen, b)taking into account educational needs of every individual

4. RHETORICS The education system in the Czech Republic guarantees equal access to education for all citizens. The situation in education is good, illiteracy is practically non-existent in the country, and the percentage of persons failing to complete basic education is low as well (approx. 4%). 2003 JOINT MEMORANDUM ON SOCIAL INCLUSION OF CZECH REPUBLIC

5. IMPLEMENTATION GAP Czech Republic has a problem in the area of equal opportunities (….PISA 2000, PISA 2003…) KEY WORDS: awarenessbarrier values

6. EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM ( 3- 6) pre-school education ( 6-15) basic ( 6- 11) primary (11-15) lower secondary (15-19) upper secondary (19-…25) tertiary professional schools… universities) Edu system - Scheme.xls GENSHAGEN Scheme.xls (11-19) (= „11+“) lower + upper secondary

7. BUT “11+” schools Where are studying the best 15 year olds in their compulsory schooling? Among the best 8,5 % of all pupils, there is over 60% pupils of basic schools and less than 40% pupils of 11+ schools. Learning for Life Results of PISA 2003

8. 10 000 best pupils of 9 th grade attending basic school reach in average more than 30 points more than all pupils attending 11+ schools Learning for Life Results of PISA 2003

9. aspiration results aspiration Results, family background and aspirations of pupils the most succesful pupils of basic schools all pupils of gymnasia

10. Learning for Life Results of PISA 2003 aspirations results aspirations Results, family background and aspirations of pupils aspiration corresponds to the status of a school, not to that of the individual! GymnasiaVocational schools Apprenticeship schools results

11. Aspirations are formed not only according to abilities but also by family background and a type of the school „Sympathy does not raise achievement, aspiration does“ Learning for Life Results of PISA 2003

12. Effects of students’ and schools’ socio-economic background on student performance (Effects associated with half a standard deviation on the socio-economic index) PISA 2000 Andreas Schleicher

13. Low Performance Low Social equity Low performance Low social equity High performance Low social equity Low performance High social equity. High performance High social equity High Social equity High Performance (reading, math and science) PISA 2000 Andreas Schleicher

14. Early selection and institutional stratification Low degree of stratification High degree of stratification Low Performance High Performance Low Social equity. High Social equity PISA 2000 Andreas Schleicher

15. Learning for Life - PISA 2003 inertia of a selectiveness Differences in pupils´ results among and within schools

16. Learning for Life - Results of PISA 2003 Differences between boys and girls Differences between boys and girls in mathematical literacy in OECD countries „favour boys – significantly. The only country where girls achieve significantly better is Iceland. The fact that the differences are a conseqence of a broader cultural and educational context and not of different abilities of boys and girls is manifested by a success of many countries to press down or eliminate these differences. The Czech Republic belongs to countries with above average differences between boys and girls blindness to diversity

17. Differences in average results of individual countries between years 2000 and 2003