At the beginning of every calendar year Czech newspapers are published with very thick supplements. Major dailies issue lists of secondary schools and fields of study, which children can apply to after they have completed their elementary school education. The entrance examinations for these schools usually take place in April.
Future students can choose from a fairly large number of schools. Their choice should also include a decision for a certain type of school and field of studies. In recent years lyceums have undergone the most extensive development in the Czech Republic. Their numbers have been growing exponentially. While in 2003 there were fewer than a hundred of these schools in the Czech Republic, within three years their number practically tripled.
Lyceums can be perceived as a specific intermediary level between secondary schools (gymnazium) and secondary vocational school with school leaving examination. As in secondary schools general subjects are taught here, however, students acquire expert knowledge in fields of technology, science, economy, medicine or pedagogy. Graduates of lyceums are not qualified for execution of a profession, however they receive very good training for continuing their studies at
universities or at colleges . The statistics issued by the
Ministry of Education confirm that graduates of lyceums are as successful during entrance examinations for universities as their colleagues from secondary schools. Compared to classic secondary schools, which provide general education, lyceum students acquire deeper knowledge of expert subjects, which they encounter again during their studies at universities or colleges.
The most widespread types of lyceum in the Czech Republic are economic lyceums. Other types include technical, science, pedagogy and medical lyceums. Waldorf lyceums X6 have been opened in Prague, Ostrava and Semily. Compared to others these differ by the fact that their students have more time to decide which field they would like to specialise in. They begin to specialise from their third year at this type of school.
You can find a summary of lyceums here (only in Czech).