- 2015Design
- 2016Approved/Agreed
- 2017Implementation
- 2018Implementation
- 2019Implementation
- 2020Implementation
- 2021Implementation
- 2022Completed
Background
Within the project National system for the inspection evaluation of the Czech education system (NIQES), which was implemented in years 2011-15, the Czech School Inspectorate updated many methods, procedures and tools and also developed some new tools and procedures which were not available until then. However, there are fields for which an adequate methodologic and tool portfolio is not available; at the same time, several fields exist for which it is still desirable to develop further and use the methods, procedures and tools produced so far.
Objectives
The objective is to define a model of a quality school that allows for external and internal school evaluation.
It is planned that the project results in setting of a complex system through which the individual segments of initial education system is able to carry out evaluation of quality and effectivity of education based on sophisticated methods, procedures and tools synergistically linked to both national and international space while reflecting socio-economical aspects of education. At the same time, individual segments of the initial education system should have at their disposal very detailed and multidisciplinary analyses of inspection data on education. The data may be used for adopting effective education policies. Another expected result is the sharing of view on quality and effectivity in education across the segment of regional education. Outputs of the projects (methodologies, sets of evaluation tools, test tasks, analytical reports, national reports on pupils´ achievements, e-learning courses, methodology handbooks and publications, a map of school social-economy conditions, etc.) are expected to be at disposal of the Czech School Inspectorate and other actors in initial education - the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and its departmental organisations, schools and school facilities, teachers and founders. Using these outputs by all relevant actors in initial education enables to perform evaluation of quality and effectivity of education in an innovated and more complex way with the use of shared methods, approaches and tools. In this way the unification of the insight on education quality is to be supported.
It is planned to further elaborate the methodology for using the Quality school model elaborated, as well as the linked criteria of evaluation of the conditions, course and outcomes of education. The methodology sets out examples of inspirational practice in specific fields of real activities in Czech schools.
Description
In July 2016, the Ministry of Education Youth and Sport approved the Quality school model, which was developed by the Czech School Inspectorate (CSI) in 2015. It identifies and evaluates provision and outcomes of education, their compliance with school-based curricula and links to the national curricula. The model of a quality school allows for external and internal school evaluation in line with the EQAVET. It includes criteria and methodology for inspections in all types and levels of school. The six areas for school evaluation include:
- school concept and framework;
- school pedagogical leadership;
- quality of the pedagogical staff;
- learning and teaching (educational process);
- educational outcomes and needs of pupils/students;
- support provided to pupils/students (equal opportunities).
The Czech School Inspectorate launched the activities of an individual system project called Complex system of evaluation, jointly financed by the European Union (2017-22).
During the school year 2019/20, several important outcomes were created within the project Complex system of evaluation that are useful for education management and adopting effective education policies, as well as for increasing education quality at the level of individual schools, their directors and teachers.
A case study of a selected school, focused on one specific criterion, is prepared for each of the Quality school criteria. A total of 80 examples are to be created for different levels and types of school across the spectrum and circumstances (the size of the school, location, type of governance, will be considered). All information will be published on the CSI website upon completion of the project.
In 2021, the CSI worked on the preparation of a separate methodological website focusing on external evaluation and self-evaluation of schools. The development aims to provide inspiration for managing education in schools and school facilities with a focus on monitoring and evaluating the quality of education provided and ensuring the effective education of children and students.
Providing methodological support to advance the improvement of education quality while emphasising the interconnection of external evaluation with self-evaluation, the CSI offers specific reports to kindergartens, basic and upper secondary schools, basic art schools and leisure time centres. The reports provide more detailed and clear information about selected aspects of education in the relevant school and summary information allowing to compare the situation in the school with other schools of the same type within the region or across the whole country. The detailed reports are available to the participating school headmasters upon login in to the InspIS DATA system.
In 2022, the CSI launched a dedicated methodological portal Quality School [Kvalitní škola]. It offers school leadership and teachers a wide range of resources in one place to monitor the quality of education and to carry out activities leading to its enhancement. The core content of the portal comprises criteria for evaluating the conditions, course and results of education in modifications for pre-school, basic, upper-secondary and tertiary VET, basic art education and leisure-time centres. The individual evaluation criteria are linked to further methodological recommendations and examples of inspiring practice and tools to be used by the schools for self-evaluation. Overall, the support for linking self-evaluation is focused on different stages of self-evaluation process.
The section Methodological recommendations on evaluation criteria - modification for upper-secondary VET - contains evaluation criteria for upper-secondary VET and methodological recommendations on how to meet them most efficiently. The criteria are formulated in the areas of schools' concept and framework, pedagogical leadership of schools, quality, teaching, students' learning outcomes and support for students' learning (equal opportunities). Each criterion in a given area is followed by a number of methodological recommendations and guidance on how to work with them.
The Overview of topics and inspirations provides examples of inspirational practice describing concrete experience of a particular school. In addition to describing the reality of the school in question, documents and materials made available by the school for the use of other schools are also included. Out of the 80 examples of inspirational practice published on the methodological portal, 15 are related to upper-secondary VET schools and 1 relates to tertiary professional school. The topics and inspirations also include methodological recommendations with different orientations followed by specific methodological recommendations related to the criteria in the area of promoting equal opportunities in education. They are specifically aimed at supporting students in transition between different levels of education, as well as other students in similarly demanding circumstances.
The examples of inspirational practice are intended in particular to inspire school leaders in pedagogical management of schools and to increase their understanding of what is expected by individual evaluation criteria for excellence. The emphasis was placed on truthfulness, realistic view, the schools' journey taken so far while recognising the potential risks arising from such a journey, and on separating exceptionally successful elements from those that are not particularly satisfactory.
Schools and their teachers can also draw further inspiration from tasks released by international surveys (PISA, TIMMS, PIRL), e.g. in the areas of numeracy, science or reading literacy, which always provide additional didactic stimuli for work in the classrooms. Further inspiration can be found in the videos available on YouTube presenting the findings and recommendations of the Czech School Inspectorate.
The self-evaluation tools available on the CSI's methodological portal in the Overview of self-evaluation tools section are based on the tools used by the Czech School Inspectorate for external assessment. In addition, some of the tools developed within various systemic projects have been adopted and, last but not least, there are also tools developed to support self-evaluation in relation to the set criteria and have been developed in cooperation with an extensive group of collaborating headmasters.
One of the benefits of the tools available is their inclusion in the CSI InspIS DATA information system. The set of published tools will be gradually enhanced. At the same time, the tools will be gradually published also in the information system so that schools are able to use them to obtain a comprehensive summary report.
The Complex system of evaluation project was completed on 30 November 2022.
Bodies responsible
- Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports
- Czech School Inspectorate (CSI)
Target groups
Learners
- Learners in upper secondary, including apprentices
- Young people (15-29 years old)
- Learners at risk of early leaving or/and early leavers
- Learners with disabilities
Education professionals
- Teachers
- School leaders
Entities providing VET
- VET providers (all kinds)
Thematic categories
Governance of VET and lifelong learning
This thematic category looks at existing legal frameworks providing for strategic, operational – including quality assurance – and financing arrangements for VET and lifelong learning (LLL). It examines how VET and LLL-related policies are placed in broad national socioeconomic contexts and coordinate with other strategies and policies, such as economic, social and employment, growth and innovation, recovery and resilience.
This thematic category covers partnerships and collaboration networks of VET stakeholders – especially the social partners – to shape and implement VET in a country, including looking at how their roles and responsibilities for VET at national, regional and local levels are shared and distributed, ensuring an appropriate degree of autonomy for VET providers to adapt their offer.
The thematic category also includes efforts to create national, regional and sectoral skills intelligence systems (skills anticipation and graduate tracking) and using skills intelligence for making decisions about VET and LLL on quality, inclusiveness and flexibility.
This thematic sub-category refers to further development of national quality assurance (QA) systems for IVET and CVET, for all learning environments (school-based provision and work-based learning, including apprenticeships) and all learning types (digital, face-to-face or blended), delivered by both public and private providers. These systems are underpinned by the EQAVET quality criteria and by indicative descriptors applied both at system and provider levels, as defined in Annex II of the VET Recommendation. The sub-category concerns creating and improving external and self-evaluation of VET providers, and establishing criteria of QA, accreditation of providers and programmes. It also covers the activities of Quality assurance national reference points for VET on implementing and further developing the EQAVET framework, including the implementation of peer reviews at VET system level.
Subsystem
Further reading
Country
Type of development
Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Quality school model: Czechia. In Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Timeline of VET policies in Europe (2024 update) [Online tool].
https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/tools/timeline-vet-policies-europe/search/28096