Easing access to the teaching profession

A new Act on Pedagogical and Professional Staff (138/2019) was adopted addressing both aforementioned issues. It specifies that a practitioner not meeting qualification requirements can be hired as a teacher or trainer for a maximum of 10 hours per week or a maximum of 90 days during the school year.

This act also introduced modularisation of programmes of the so-called complementary pedagogical studies for practitioners. Those who have earlier completed such a programme for one position and would like to move to another position would only need to complete a module focused on the pedagogy part required for the new position.

In November 2020, the education ministry, implementing the Act on Pedagogical and Professional Staff (138/2019), approved a new programme for those (non-qualified) interested in a VET-trainer position. This two-module programme is offered by the Methodological-Pedagogical Centre. A basic module of 140 hours focuses on general pedagogy, psychology and legislation and the second module (100 hours) is subject-specific, focusing on planning, methodology of instruction in workshops, and on occupational health and safety. Existing pedagogical staff not qualified for the training profession can acquire this qualification after successful completion of the second module.

Within the new financial scheme, schools can apply for additional funding to cover the training costs of those employees who were already accepted for qualification studies up to EUR 400 per trainee. This can encourage skilled practitioners not meeting qualification standards to enter teaching/training positions in schools due to reimbursement of costs of their qualification studies.

According to the new amendment of the Act on pedagogical staff and professional staff (138/2019), adopted in October 2021, qualified trainers are now allowed to take over some lessons of the so-called practical exercises within the school-based VET that were previously taught by teachers. Higher education teachers can be encouraged to accept a teaching position in VET school by valuing their experience by skipping the initial phase of the teacher career path level, which is also linked to higher remuneration.

The Education Policy Institute estimates that the shortage of teachers in secondary schools including VET schools varies regionally. While no excess demand is expected in Eastern Slovakia until 2030, a 42% increase in demand is estimated in the Bratislava region, while other regions are expected to see an increase of less than 10%. Therefore the Education Policy Institute, affiliated to the education ministry, suggested regional wage bonuses in November 2022. Bonuses vary across the 16 regions (eight seats of regions and eight vicinities of regional capital cities). This indicates that it is considered more important to prevent leaving schools for alternative jobs and to provide financial incentives to stay in school than further efforts to facilitate access to teaching professions by lowering qualification requirements.

The Bratislava self-governing region extremely suffers from a shortage of teachers. Therefore, in 2022, it fully covered the costs of complementary pedagogical studies to attract not qualified practitioners and the additional qualification studies for the already qualified staff to expand their competences. This was financed from the regional budget of the Bratislava self-governing region as the national financial scheme with a ceiling of EUR 400 per trainee adopted in 2021 was not activated in 2022.

According to job portals, the biggest challenge is finding qualified teachers in physics, informatics and mathematics. Data from the regional information system (RIS) of the education ministry indicate that the lowest share of lesson hours taught expertly (i.e., not only by a qualified teacher in general but by one specifically qualified for the respective subject) is in the subjects of technology in VET schools, IT and subjects with a low number of teaching hours in the programme, such as ethics or civics. In the case of technology and IT, it is due to the lack of qualified teachers. For ethics and civics, it is because of the internal policies: hiring subject specialists is not considered essential by school directors. Instead, coverage by other teaching staff is accepted and welcomed, especially by teachers interested in additional income. Finding solutions for easing access to teaching professions still remains challenging, given the combination of unattractive wages and increasingly demanding working conditions in schools.

The Act on adult education (292/2024), adopted on 30 October 2024, introduced the possibility of acquiring the so-called professional qualification 'Master' that can be acquired by assessment of a relevant competence portfolio, thereby easing access to the training position of in-company trainer (instructor) for experienced practitioners. However, no similar measure has been introduced for trainers or teachers in VET schools. Complementary pedagogical studies are still requested for experienced people from the business world, with no alternative option to meet the requirements via assessment of competence portfolios. Due to the ongoing staff shortages, reducing pedagogy-related requirements for these roles can be expected in the future.