- 2021Pilot
- 2022Pilot
- 2023Implementation
- 2024Implementation
Background
The education system in the Czech Republic is characterised by a high degree of decentralisation of governance and it is one of the countries with the highest degree of school autonomy. This has its advantages, such as the possibility to adapt the content and methods of teaching to the students' needs, to respond in a flexible manner to shifts or developments in teaching, and disadvantages, such as the risk of overburdening schools with administrative tasks, fragmentation of school leaders´ capacity, increasing inequalities between schools or regions and complicated communication among a large number of stakeholders. In connection with the reform of State administration and territorial self-government, as of 1 January 2000, local school authorities were abolished pursuant to the Act on the creation of higher territorial self-governing units. Since 1990, they had carried out the role of the middle component of the education sector governance. Their competences were subsequently transferred to the regional authorities that became the governors of upper secondary and tertiary professional schools while enjoying considerable autonomy in their administration. Responsibilities for the pedagogical processes and organisational operations, including mandatory legal person, were fully transferred to the headmasters of schools. As a result of this reform, the Czech school system has become one of the most decentralised in Europe.
As there is no return to centralised governance in the decentralised context, the system's weaknesses need to be addressed by supporting effective and high-quality school management. All stakeholders need to know their roles and responsibilities and embrace their primary tasks. Also, the focus on improving two-way communication between the centre and individual schools or municipalities is an integral part of the solution.
Objectives
The middle component of support is embedded in the Strategy 2030+, specifically in Strategic Line 4 - Increasing professional capacities, trust and mutual cooperation, measure 4.1.2.: Introducing the middle component of support.
The middle component of support does not have a direct decision-making power but plays only a supporting and coordinating role. It provides targeted support to schools, secure coordination of their activities in a given location, and acts as an intermediary in communication between the centre and districts, particularly in terms of providing support to individual schools and of mediating their feedback to the centre.
The purpose is to establish an efficient system of school support, contributing to increasing the quality of education, cooperation, streamlining the management of schools and the school system, and reducing inequalities in education. Schools should gain enough time and energy to be able to devote themselves to quality pedagogical work adapted to the specific conditions in particular location. The middle component will be piloted in two districts of two selected regions of the Czech Republic. The piloting will verify not only the organisational functioning of the middle components of support, connection to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MŠMT) and methodological guidance, but, above all, the real needs of schools and the capacity of the middle component of support to meet these needs. The possibilities of methodological support leading to the improvement of education itself shall also be verified.
Description
Through their activities in schools, the middle component will contribute to reducing administrative and non-pedagogical burden on schools, creating space for headmasters and other members of school management to develop pedagogical leadership and increase the quality of education. Impacts of development and support activities in schools on improving the quality of students' learning, key learning outcomes and securing equal opportunities in education will also be monitored in cooperation with the Czech School Inspectorate.
An important area will be the methodological support provided to the governors of the schools while fulfilling their governing role, in exercising delegated powers or self-governance. Methodological assistance to school principals will cover the topics of school and labour law, administrative processes, headmaster selection procedures, acts to appoint and remove schools' headmasters, community aspect of education, founding regulation, changes in the school register, management of organisations part funded by the State budget, school evaluations, self-governing role of school boards.
It is also vital to foster effective communication between the governors and the schools, to encourage cooperation and active participation in plans aimed at support and further development of the schools.
The pilot was launched in January 2021 (to last until 2023) in two districts. It first focuses on kindergartens and basic schools governed by municipalities where a support mechanism is needed the most. After that, upper secondary schools governed by the regional authorities are scheduled to follow in mid 2023. Each regional middle component team consisting of four methodologists will spend most of their time directly in schools. The decision on the place of the middle component within the system of governance will be made following the results of pilot and analysis. The piloting at the Ministry of Education is managed by the Department of Education Policy, specifically the School Support Unit, which methodically leads the individual regional teams and coordinates their activities.
In the two districts, the headmasters of the schools have reported very good experience in most cases. They particularly appreciate the provision of practical advice provided via telephone, e-mail or social networks and the fact that they save a lot of time that would be spent on looking up the answers, information and often even legal advice and interpretation. To some headmasters, however, the middle component is a disappointment in a sense that it focuses mainly on bureaucratic burdens and aims to reduce paperwork and the headmasters feel there should be more focus on pedagogical guidance, such as classroom observations and teacher feedback. According to the MŠMT, the activities of the middle component shall cover the identified areas in the future.
In the course of the year, webinars were organised focusing on topics such as financing of schools, enrolments, formative and summative assessment of students or distance learning. The middle component of support also offered methodological assistance to the schools' founders (governing bodies/regions). The assistance focused on selection procedures for headmasters: appointing, dismissal, as well as strategic planning and school evaluation. The support provided to schools and their founders consisted mainly of identification of needs in methodological and legislative areas, interconnecting the local actors in education, coordinating the exchange of experiences and examples of good practice. The future anchoring of the middle component in the education system was also discussed at two expert panels, whether it should function as a self-governing organisation within the State administration, or whether it should adopt another legal form.
In 2022, the pilot has been extended to Karlovy Vary Region. It will last only half a year and will cover the needs of kindergartens and basic schools in this structurally affected region. In October 2022, the MŠMT and the Karlovy Vary Regional Authority signed a Memorandum of mutual cooperation on the implementation of the middle component of support.
The middle component of support communicated with school headmasters in two districts on regular basis through social media. In 2022, the middle component organised in two regions regular get-togethers of school headmasters (experienced as well as novice), where the methodologists presented the possibilities of working with the methodological portal of the Czech School Inspectorate and the interim outcomes of the project System for the support of professional development of teachers and directors (SYPO) in the area of school leadership training.
A project proposal from the Jan Amos Komensky Operational Programme was also prepared and submitted for approval. The Operational Programme foresees the extension of the middle component of support to the whole country as of 1 July 2023, including the expected support provided to the upper secondary schools.
A survey evaluated the effectiveness of the mid-level support component in the two pilot districts (2021-2023). 68% of nursery and primary school head teachers and 71% of school founders rated the support positively. Respondents suggested increased non-teaching management and administrative support. Headteachers praise support during emergencies (e.g., COVID-19 or inclusion of students from Ukraine) and legal services, requesting more support on procurement, payroll, general accounting and grant advice.
These survey results were reflected in the setting up of the regional mid-level support teams, which was extended to all regions of the Czech Republic from 1 July 2023 with support from the Jan Amos Komenský (Jan Amos Comenius) Operational Programme, running until 30 June 2029.
Founders see the biggest benefit of the middle link as a single channel for schools and founders, and a reduced bureaucratic burden. Half of the founders consider it important to extend the middle link to other districts.
A new six-year project (approximately EUR 36 million / CZK 882 million budget) aims to systematically support head teachers and school founders, focusing on school and people management, aligning with school and founder needs and improving communication between the education ministry and schools. This project has three main objectives:
a. set up a communication and methodological support system for school management in the area of organisation and people management and for founders;
b. provide general information and non-addressed methodological support in the field of organisation and people management for all schools and their founders;
c. provide individualised methodological support in the field of organisational and people management to all nursery and primary schools and their founders.
The original intention included as a middle component the support for reskilling and methodological support for pedagogical leadership. However, the Pedagogical Leadership Shop is already being implemented by the National Institute of Education in another project. The unified methodological portal of the education ministry (edu.cz) provides methodologies, FAQs, and sample documents. A dedicated section on the portal is designed specifically for school founders and principals (https://www.edu.cz/podpora-skol/). Regular monthly Infoservices (news, legislative updates, recordings of webinars, presentations) and methodological materials) further support schools.
Regional coordinators and methodologists, together with a central field team, provided support to head teachers and school founders in management and non-teaching areas. This includes personalised approach, consultation according to needs, dissemination of guaranteed information, but also networking of educational actors and intensive cooperation in the territory. Improved information consolidation, directly from the Ministry of Education, has enhanced information support, providing schools and founders with greater legal certainty in interpreting legislation and methodological recommendations. Methodological materials for aspiring head teachers are also being prepared. Support is targeted at nursery and primary schools.
Bodies responsible
- Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports
Target groups
Education professionals
- School leaders
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 both to formal mechanisms of stakeholder engagement in VET governance and to informal cooperation among stakeholders, which motivate shared responsibility for quality VET. Formal engagement is usually based on legally established institutional procedures that clearly define the role and responsibilities for relevant stakeholders in designing, implementing and improving VET. It also refers to establishing and increasing the degree of autonomy of VET providers for agile and flexible VET provision.
In terms of informal cooperation, the sub-category covers targeted actions by different stakeholders to promote or implement VET. This cooperation often leads to creating sustainable partnerships and making commitments for targeted actions, in line with the national context and regulation, e.g. national alliances for apprenticeships, pacts for youth or partnerships between schools and employers. It can also include initiatives and projects run by the social partners or sectoral organisations or networks of voluntary experts and executives, retired or on sabbatical, to support their peers in the fields of VET and apprenticeships, as part of the EAfA.
Teachers, trainers and school leaders competences
Competent and motivated VET teachers in schools and trainers in companies are crucial to VET becoming innovative and relevant, agile, resilient, flexible, inclusive and lifelong.
This thematic category comprises policies and practices of initial training and continuing professional development approaches in a systemic and systematic manner. It also looks at measures aiming to update (entry) requirements and make teaching and training careers attractive and bring more young and talented individuals and business professionals into teaching and training. Supporting VET educators by equipping them with adequate competences, skills and tools for the green transition and digital teaching and learning are addressed in separate thematic sub-categories.
The measures in this category target teachers and school leaders, company trainers and mentors, adult educators and guidance practitioners.
This thematic sub-category refers to all kinds of initial and continuing professional development (CPD) for VET educators who work in vocational schools and in companies providing VET. VET educators include teachers and school leaders, trainers and company managers involved in VET, as well as adult educators and guidance practitioners – those who work in school- and work-based settings. The thematic sub-category includes national strategies, training programmes or individual courses to address the learning needs of VET educators and to develop their vocational (technical) skills, and pedagogical (teaching) skills and competences. Such programmes concern state-of-the-art vocational pedagogy, innovative teaching methods, and competences needed to address evolving teaching environments, e.g. teaching in multicultural settings, working with learners at risk of early leaving, etc.
Subsystem
Further reading
Country
Type of development
Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). School support and governance: piloting the middle component of support: 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/39049