Linking the curriculum to the national register of qualifications (NSK) is one of the key activities set out by the education strategy 2030+. The aim is to offer learners who drop out of their three- or four-year IVET programme a possibility to gain vocational qualifications and thereby to enable their re-entry in education at a later stage.  

Emphasis on necessity of partial vocational qualifications

According to key activity 2.1 of measure 2 of the 2030+ strategy, obtaining vocational qualifications in the course of their studies is targeted at early school leavers. Their absences do not necessarily occur solely during their studies but also at the end of the school year, in case of failure at the final examination or Maturita exam. The current system perceives such students as individuals who have achieved only the basic level of education, disregarding the knowledge and skills they gained in the course of their education. Activity 2.1 aims to offer a solution which allows the recognition of partly acquired learning for the purposes of obtaining partial qualifications, so that learners find it easier to continue or return to education at a later stage.

Flexibility through loose links between vocational qualifications and FEP

The Framework educational programme (FEP) will be enriched with a new chapter ‘Linking the IVET curriculum to the national register of qualifications’, which will determine the links to the relevant qualifications of the NSFFor VET programmes which end with the Maturita exam, the links to the NSK or other qualifications systems (such as pedagogy, healthcare, social work, etc.) will also be determined where possible (i.e. if there are respective NSK vocational qualifications at EQF level 4). While the assumed lifespan of the FEP might range from five to 10 years in a medium-term horizon, the lifespan of vocational qualifications can be significantly shorter in the case of fast-growing sectors of the economy (one to two years). Therefore, the FEP will only be loosely linked to specific vocational qualifications, so that it is possible to link upcoming or amended vocational education qualifications to the FEP without any adjustments to the programme. Continuous referencing of vocational qualifications will make it possible to keep IVET relevant in terms of labour market needs.

Supporting schools to incorporate vocational qualifications in their school curriculum

The methodological support currently planned for schools includes the NSK – FEP referencing map; this will enable schools, in cooperation with employers, to choose and incorporate vocational qualifications into their school curricula, taking into account the requirements of regional labour markets. Vocational qualification competences will be reflected in graduates’ profiles in the school curricula. At the moment, the vocational qualifications with the closest link to the fields of study, the so-called complete vocational qualifications, are available for 125 fields of study, which represents only 44% of all current fields of study. In the NSK, a total of 1 013 vocational qualifications were identified to be used for IVET. The NSK comprises a total of 1 212 vocational qualifications for EQF levels 2, 3 and 4, i.e. 88% of all vocational qualifications are published on the website of the national pedagogical institute of the Czech Republic.   

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STRATEGIE VZDĚLÁVACÍ POLITIKY ČESKÉ REPUBLIKY DO ROKU 2030+ [EDUCATIONAL STRATEGY POLICIES CZECH REPUBLIC UNTIL 2030+]

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