On 1 October 2020, the Czech education ministry launched a pilot testing, seeking to determine whether it is possible to adequately replace the profile Maturita exam in the field of ICT with a successfully passed standardised examination verified by an internationally recognised certificate. The findings of the pilot will be evaluated and taken into account in the expected legislative process that might make the replacement possible. During the COVID-19 pandemic, several schools withdrew from the pilot. By decision of the education ministry, the pilot testing was extended from the originally planned 3 years to the end of September 2025, as the number of participating schools has more than doubled.
School headmasters may decide which internationally valid certificates will be recognised in the profile part of the Maturita exam. The condition is the consistency between the school curriculum in the relevant field of study and the educational content of the chosen international certificate. The certificate providers cooperate closely with the participating schools in order to adapt the documents so that they reflect as closely as possible the curriculum, making it easier for schools to recognise them. Students must submit the certificates to the headmaster of the school no later than by the end of March of the school year in which the Maturita exam takes place.
For the school year 2023/24, the expanded range of acceptable IT certification standards included the certificates issued by Autodesk, Cisco, Microsoft, ECDL/ICDL, Oracle and Solidworks. The use of multiple different certificates at a time is also possible.
Until recently, headmasters could recognise an ICT certificate as a part of one of the IT profile exams, but currently it can also be recognised as a full profile exam. This option was strongly advocated for by the schools themselves. The number of schools that recognise ICT certificates as a full profile examination is gradually increasing. In schools which recognise the relevant practical ICT Maturita exam only partially, students need to comply with further specified requirements.
The schools piloted the use of certificates in a total of 13 VET fields of study, including information technology, transport equipment, electrical engineering, telecommunications, tourism and public administration. ECDL certificates were the most common ones.
In the school year 2022/23, the vast majority of schools used the option to recognise certificates in the profile part of the Maturita exam in the form of a practical exam. Some schools did so in the form of oral exams carried out in the presence of the Maturita exam board.
Increasing number of schools using certificates
Piloting in previous years has shown that the success rate among students who got at least one certificate recognised is significantly higher than among those who did not submit any.
In the school year 2022/23, the schools participating in the pilot had a total of 933 students in the final year of study, of whom 557 (60%) submitted a certificate. The full profile part of the Maturita exam was recognised for 336 students (25% of the total number), while a part of the Maturita exam was recognised for 191 students (13% of the total number).
Interest by schools to participate in the pilot testing continues to increase after the problematic COVID-19 period. While in 2020/21, 19 upper secondary schools were involved in the pilot, in 2023/2024 the number of participating schools has more than doubled to reach 44, 33 of which are VET schools.
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- Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (accessed 25.6.2024)
| Please cite this news item as: ReferNet Czechia, & Cedefop (2024, August 20). Czechia: pilot recognition of international ICT certificates in 'Maturita exam' profile. National news on VET |