Academic guidance

Educational guidance and counselling for adults is carried out primarily by the education institutions, which provide above all information related to their offer, possibly to the offer of courses of further education in a given region. Adults can, if they are interested in higher education study, use educational guidance and counselling services of higher education institutions, or they can address the pedagogical and psychological counselling centre which is established by the region.

Higher education institutions offer to adults different courses in the scheme of lifelong leaning (according to Higher Education Act), upper secondary schools and tertiary professional schools in the form of further education (according to Education Act). Upper secondary schools and tertiary professional schools also organise accredited retraining courses according to the National Framework of Qualifications (according to the Act on Verification and Recognition of Further Education Outcomes) and other educational programmes (e.g. work on computer, communication, languages, labour law).

Since 2006, under the Act on Recognition of Further Education, a system of schools has been created. These schools are entitled to assess the professional skills that the applicant acquired outside the formal education and to issue on the basis of respective examinations certificate on recognition of the qualification. In agreement with implementing the lifelong-learning concept, these schools should also create an information system on offer of further education programmes (formal, non-formal, informal). The new system enables adult applicants to recognise knowledge and skills attained outside of school, supplementing easily and fast partial or complete qualifications and subsequent participation and success in the labour market in the chosen field.

Psychological counselling

Psychological counselling for the adult population is provided by state or private health care facilities and private counselling agencies or consultants. Guidance and counselling in the health sector is funded from the health insurance resources.

Career guidance

The career guidance for adults is provided by different institutions such as the Labour Office of the Czech Republic (for more information, see Institutions Providing Career Guidance), labour agencies, educational institutions, professional and interest associations or organisations for health and socially disadvantaged persons.

The National Pedagogical Institute administers the portal www.narodnikvalifikace.cz. It is intended for people who have acquired knowledge and skills in a field they have not studied and would like to obtain a certificate for specific work activities in their professional careers. Individual work qualifications and the procedure for their recognition are described in detail on the above website.