Milan Ftáčnik (source: Sme)
The document presented on March 15, which deals with changes to pre-school education, teachers' work, regional and university education, and more, should be discussed for the next six weeks. Subsequently, it is slated to be submitted to the government and parliament.
“This document should serve as a longer-term vision meant to ensure that political representations pass specific measures, including financial coverage, geared towards the optimum future education of children and youth,” said Education Minister Peter Plavčan (a nominee of the coalition party SNS). Plavčan wants to include both the community of experts as well as the public in the discussion on reform. After it is passed, the ministry will draft two-year action plans, the first one for the period 2018-2019 and slated to see its first measures come into effect as of September 1, 2018.
As one of reform architects, Milan Ftáčnik explained for the TASR newswire that the reform aims to introduce the individualisation of education, with the ultimate goal of developing in each child his or her best potential, as well as changes to the student evaluation system, a streamlined preparation of future teachers, the introduction of teacher assistants to free up teachers from tasks not directly related to teaching and new accreditation of universities.
Authors of the reform also expect the government to meet its obligations stemming from its government programme, in which it had pledged to bring Slovakia to the level of the European average in terms of education financing by 2020.
“Without an increased amount of financial resources, the targets proposed in the programme are unattainable,” Ftáčnik added, as cited by TASR.
