Education

 

Education system

 

Secondary schools

If you want your child to study at a Czech secondary school, gymnasium or lyceum, it is now the time to decide where to send your application. You must submit your applications to the headmasters of selected schools by 15th March. Every child can apply to up to three schools. Application forms are available at either the elementary school that your child visits or you can download them here.

In general the same rules that apply to Czech children for studying at alls types of secondary schools in the Czech Republic also apply to foreigners. This means for example that where Czech children do not pay for tuition, children of foreigners do not pay either. However, these children can also acquire a minor advantage when starting a new school – they do not have to take their entrance examinations in the Czech language, all they have to do is prove, during a verbal examination, that they are capable of fluently responding to questions concerning standard situations in daily life, in the Czech language. The Czech Ministry of Education even issued an instruction according to which teachers of first years students do not have to grade the child in Czech at all, if the child is not yet very fluent in Czech.

In its last investigation of foreigners studying at Czech schools the Czech School Inspection states that even though it is not standard practice to allocate a foreign child a special assistant to assist them during their studies, it has been shown to be very effective when fellow students take on the role of such an assistant: “These fellow Czech students provide assistance to foreigners, particularly during class hours and make understanding the discussed subject matter easier for them. The activities of “student assistants” significantly contributed towards adaptation of new students and also made the teachers’ work easier,” states the Inspection in its report.

For a number of years now bilingual secondary schools, where some of the subjects are taught in a foreign language, have been a matter of course in every larger town in the Czech Republic.

The impending deadline for submitting applications concerns the following types of school:

• Four-year gymnasiums – students of the ninth year of elementary school (ES) (age 14-15 years) apply here to these schools.
• Six-year gymnasiums – are intended for children who complete their seventh year of elementary school this year (age 12-13 years).
• Eight-year gymnasiums – children who have completed their fifth year of elementary school become students of these schools (age 10-11 years).
• Secondary vocational schools with final school leaving examination – vocational subjects are taught here (electrical studies, economics, medical....); studies are completed by a final school leaving examination.
• Secondary vocational schools – studies as in the abovementioned type of school, but without a final school leaving examination.
• Vocational schools – this type of school focuses on professions; they teach vocational subjects, but trainees also spend many hours in work experience. They can train as a chef, auto mechanic, machine repairman, shoemaker, seamstress, hairdresser or other. Studies do not usually end in a final school leaving examination, so graduates of these schools cannot apply to a college (university).
• Lyceums – these provide studies on a level between gymnasium studies and studies at a secondary vocational school with final school leaving examination. General subjects are taught here (history, geography, mathematics, natural history…), but students also acquire professional knowledge in the field of technical or natural science, economics, health or pedagogy. Lyceum graduates do not acquire qualifications for carrying out a profession but they will have a final school leaving examination.

Useful links:

Ministry of Education, Youth and Physical Education www.msmt.cz/areas-of-work
Secondary Schools for Foreigners /www.en.domavcr.cz