Incentives for VET schools to provide practical training

From the 2018/19 school year onwards, schools enjoy the full per capita funding for learners enroled in dual VET. Schools expressed the need for the funding system to be more cost-relevant in terms of teacher and trainer salaries, which have been raised in recent years. A new statistical tool providing exact data on pedagogical staff and the existing programmes has been set up. The move is expected to allow for detailed staff cost estimates and more cost-relevant calculations of per-student funding. However, legislation (355/2017) only led to refining allocation formulas.

115 projects were approved within five rounds of the IROP call. Subsequently, additional calls were launched, with results not yet published. Nevertheless, only applicants from the Nitra and Trnava regions were eligible to apply for the remaining EUR 4 428 540 by 20 February 2020 out of the original budget of EUR 98 832 378.

The newest 'black' and 'white' lists were developed in January 2020. In contrast to the earlier lists with the nationwide validity, the new lists address respective regions. Programmes are included in the 'black' list valid for a respective region if they belong to the top 10% of programmes with the highest graduate unemployment rate and 20% of programmes with the smallest indicated supply/demand difference. Regional sensitivity is a positive step, as regions are heterogeneous and, in the past, some regions were dissatisfied with placing some programmes into the national 'black' list. However, regional granularity might create problems in case of programmes preparing for professions (often leading to self-employment, e.g. masseur) that are over the limits in some regions but not in neighbouring regions. This signals a need for refining the methodology, as subnational labour markets are not identical with administrative regions.

Seven out of the 115 IROP projects, aimed at improving practical training and renewing equipment for practical training, are already completed. There are also six new IROP projects implemented from 2020 or 2021 in the Banská Bystrica region, and 11 new IROP projects implemented from 2020 or 2021 in other regions, responding to two calls under Increasing the number of secondary VET school students in practical training.

Five schools in the Prešov region and eight schools in the Banská Bystrica region were selected as pilot schools and were offered an investment that can also improve practical training within the Catching-up regions initiative of the World Bank and the European Commission.

The 2020 black and white lists remained valid, but there are no specific financial incentives from the State budget for schools to provide practical training in cooperation with companies. The ESIF projects allowing for better equipment or renewal of school workshops are also incentives to support provision of practical training. The flexibility of national curricula (State education programmes) allows for increasing the share of practical training based on an autonomous decision of the school. Putting stress on practical training is particularly visible within the Catching-up regions initiative and projects from the Integrated regional operational programme (IROP) related to this initiative.

The 2020 black and white lists and related financial bonuses remained valid. Supporting practical components of training within secondary VET programmes via diverse projects continues but the strongest effect is visible in regions involved in the Catching-up regions initiative. There is no systemic national measure that explicitly supports the provision of a quality practical component in VET, as there is only one measure that offers financial incentives for dual VET and companies, but not for VET schools.

The most visible recent impact of the promotion of dual VET is seen in the high share of prospective pre-school education teachers (290) and commercial academy learners (762). They account for 63% of all dual learners (1 671) in programmes offering 'maturita' school leaving certificates rather than certificates of apprenticeship.

In contrast to this, in programmes offering a certificate of apprenticeship, which are considered the traditional heart of VET where technical or crafts-related programmes dominate, only 14.4% of learners signed an individual contract on dual VET as of 15 September 2022. 63.1% of learners are trained in schools exclusively and 20.3% have spells of out-of-school training under an institutional contract between the school and the company, which is not considered as dual VET by law and, therefore, neither partner qualifies for any benefit from the State budget. The remaining learners (2.2%) received only theoretical training in the current school year.

There is no new developments in place although new initiatives are inevitable. As demonstrated by the 2022 data, participation in dual VET is extremely low in programmes offering certificates of apprenticeship and expanded to programmes providing a 'maturita' school leaving certificate, where other forms of work-based learning can be more efficient. There were 9 848 dual learners as of 15 September 2023, compared to 9 347 contracted dual learners as of 15 September 2022. Despite strong promotion of dual VET and the possibility of signing contracts during the ongoing school year, no substantial breakthrough can be expected. It is clear that measures focusing on making dual VET more attractive for small companies must be introduced, alongside addressing the administrative burdens induced by law concerning the provision of dual VET. Signing a learning contract does not change the status of a dual learner who remains a VET school student rather than an employee of the company. This system could be, therefore, replaced by a cooperation agreement between schools and a companies with reduced administrative burden. Furthermore, the State still does not support alternative forms of direct VET school-company cooperation aimed at providing practical training. There are no fiscal incentives available for companies ready to offer practical training outside the dual VET format based on an agreement directly between a school and a company without the involvement of employers' representatives as the intermediary body.

The 2024-26 Implementation plan of the National programme for the development of education (NPDE) addresses exposure to work-based learning during VET as the fifth of seven strategic objectives. Specifically, it highlights three of the 40 government manifesto-related projects: Modern education in secondary schools, Better quality of 'maturita' school leaving examination, and Vocational education of higher quality and more attractive. Of the 14 identified activities, the most relevant is expanding opportunities for practical training through new forms of work-based learning (WBL) including dual VET. Fulfilment of activities in support of WBL to achieve a 60% share of graduates benefitting from WBL is contingent upon an amendment of the Act on VET planned for 2025.