2022

Ukrainian children in the nursery schools and children’s groups 

Ukrainian children who have been granted temporary protection have access to pre-primary education (mainly in nursery schools) according to the Education Act as the Czech citizens. Compulsory pre-primary education applies to children in last pre-primary year (5-year-olds), provided that they stay on the territory of the Czech Republic for more than 90 days. The children are entitled to language support as other foreigners. In connection to temporary protection of the Ukrainians, the Act no. 67/2022, in force from 21 March 2022 to 31 March 2023, has been adopted. It implements specific measures in education, which are described in the section Education of Ukrainian pupils in the Czech Republic. Various supporting projects are also mentioned in this section.

Ukrainian children can be admitted to children's groups in the same way as Czech children. Act no. 66/2022, in force from 21 March 2022 to 31 March 2022, introduces certain transitional measures for children with temporary protection to facilitate their access to the service. The children´s groups established by the employers can admit also children whose parents are not the employees of the employer. The operators can apply for the additional contribution even after 31 January, for the purposes of this allowance, parents do not have to fulfill the work / study condition in the first 6 months from the beginning of the temporary protection. Under certain conditions, children's groups may employ foreigners with temporary protection who do not meet the standard qualification requirements.

Before entering nursery schools and children’s groups, completion of mandatory vaccination of children (except for children with compulsory pre-primary education) should be proved, but their parents often do not have appropriate documents. A strategy to ensure necessary vaccination of these children is being prepared.

Pre-primary education of children-foreigners

Top-level documents define newly details on the supports of children-foreigners and other children with different mother tongues.

From 2021/22 school year, the Framework Education Programme for Pre-primary Education (FEP PpE) includes a separate section for the language preparation of children with insufficient knowledge of Czech. Language support is intended for children-foreigners as well as children who come from a different language and cultural environment and should be provided from the very beginning of entering a nursery school.

Since September 2021, the Decree on Pre-primary Education has introduced language training groups for those children-foreigners, for whom pre-primary education is compulsory (i.e., from the age of 5). The prerequisite is that there are 4 or more such children in a nursery school, if the number of these children exceeds 8, another group is established. For the language training, 1 hour per week is set aside. If there are less than 4 of such children, they will be provided with individual language support within the educational activities according to the school education programme. The school head may also include younger children or children with the Czech citizenship in the group but there is no legal entitlement for these to be included. 

In relation with these changes, methodological materials were published, which are available on the website cizinci.npi.cz, administered by the National Pedagogical Institute. Teachers have at their disposal the Curriculum of Czech as a Second Language for Pre-primary Education.

The group for language training is paid from the state budget within the financing of pedagogical work (by an increase of one teaching hour per week).

For more information, see Specific support measures – foreigners.

2021

Amendment to the Act on children's groups approved

At the end of August 2021, an amendment to the Act on the Provision of Child Care Services in a Children's Group was approved. Among other changes, the amendment ensures stable and predictable financing for the children's groups themselves and, at the same time, also sets the maximum amount that parents of young children should pay for this service.

The amendment will enter into force on 1 October 2021, some changes will apply from 1 July 2022. Existing providers have a sufficient transitional period to adapt to the changes.

Overview of important changes:

• the obligation to use in the name the designation "children's group"

• care in small children´s groups (max. 4 children under 4 years) will be available to childrenalready from the age of 6 months of age

• small groups up to 4 children can be established by individual childminders (with appropriate qualification)

• newly required professional competence of staff members:

  • at least 1 person with a medical education or with a new professional qualification nanny for children in a children's group
  • person with a pedagogical qualification for 20 hours per week for children over 3 years of age
  • qualification without the Maturitaexamination, i.e., ISCED 353, are no longer sufficient

• obligatory continuing professional development for care persons in the range of at least 8 hours per calendar year and once every 2 years a first aid course focused on children's age

• in the children's groups with 13–24 children at least 3 care persons must take care of the children, regardless of the age of the children (the number of care persons does not change for smaller groups)

• the standards for quality of care were set, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs monitors compliance with them

• the amendment is the setting stable financing from the state budget, i.e., an operating allowance and expenses associated with catering

  • for children older than 1 year, the contribution is based on the per capita amount of the Ministry of Education for a child in a private nursery school and school canteen – dispensary
  • for a child under 3 years of age it is 1.7 times the per capita amount per child in a private nursery school, currently CZK 9,637 / EUR 380 per month
  • for older children the per capita amount is the same as in the case of a private nursery school, currently CZK 5,669 / EUR 223.3 per month

• parents of children under 3 years of age will pay a maximum of CZK 4,000 (EUR 158) per month for thecare of a child in a children's group (if the provider applies for a state allowance)

• catering for children aged 6 to 12 months, the parent always provides food

• if the provider applies for a food allowance, he/she is obliged to comply with nutritional standards (for children under 3 years the standards will be set by a new decree of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the diet of older children will follow nutritional standards according to the Decree on School Catering).

• outside opening hours, the premises of the children's group may be used for other purposes

• a new decree will be issued adjusting the hygienic requirements for the premises and operation of a children's group of up to 12 children, for cleaning after other activities outside the operating hours, for quality standards and nutritional standards for children under 3 years of age

• an amendment to the Decree on Technical Conditions for Fire Protection of Buildings is being prepared

Strategy for Education Policy of the Czech Republic 2030+

On 19 October, the government approved the Strategy for Education Policy of the Czech Republic 2030+ (hereinafter referred to as the “Strategy 2030+ ”), which sets out the direction of education development and investment priorities for the next ten years (see also Ongoing reforms and policy initiatives). The aim is to modernise the education system of the Czech Republic in the field of regional education, leisure time activities and non-formal education and lifelong learning. The Strategy 2030+ has two main strategic objectives, which will be implemented through five strategic lines. Within these lines, e.g. the measures to support of preprimary education will then be elaborated (increasing participation in pre-primary education, reduction of the number of children per teacher etc.). For more details, see New Strategy for Education Policy of the Czech Republic 2030+ approved.

2020

Two-year children in nursery schools

According to the amendment to the Education Act, the nursery schools are intended for children already from 2 years from September 2020. Although the previous definition allowed the attendance of 2-year-olds, the schools were „as a rule“ intended for children from 3 years of age. The children under 3 years of age still do not have a legal entitlement to pre-primary education (see Place guarantee in ECEC).

At the same time, a measure has been implemented into the Decree on Pre-primary Education to reduce the number of children in a class in case of placement of 2-year-olds there (see Group size and child/staff ratios).  

Frequently asked questions about education and coronavirus

For more see Frequently asked questions about education and coronavirus in chapter devoted to the National Reforms in School Education.

Distance education as an official form of education and the manual for operation of schools in the 2020/21 school year

In the Czech Republic, the school year 2020/21 will start on September 1 in schools.

Nevertheless, in August 2020, the government approved an Amendment to the Education Act, which legislatively enshrines distance education as an equivalent form of education.

At the second half of August, the Minister of Education also presented a manual for the operation of schools and school facilities in the school year 2020/21 (manuál k provozu škol a školských zařízení ve školním roce 2020/2021) issued in accordance with the current measures of the Ministry of Health.

For more see Distance education as an official form of education and the manual for operation of schools in the 2020/21 school year  in chapter devoted to the National Reforms in School Education.

The new system of nursery schools funding

In 2020, the new system of funding public schools from the State budget, which has been introduced by the Amendment to the Education Act, is in force. The changes have an impact also on the funding of nursery schools. The resources for individual schools are now set by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, largely on the basis of the real amount of financial means for tariff salaries in the given school, not of the formula funding per pupil. This method, among others, allows extension of the operating hours of nursery schools and gradual reduction of the number of children in the classroom. For details on the reform, see section The new system of public schools funding has started.

Regional centres of teacher support

The regional centres of teacher support, which are part of the new National Pedagogical Institute, provide to the nursery schools, as well as other schools, the CPD programmes and methodological support. For more details, see section The National Pedagogical Institute offers methodological support in regions.

Current calls within the Operational Programme Research, Development and Education

In the area of the school education, including pre-primary education, following calls were announced within the framework of the Operational Programme, Research, Development and Education: the call Implementation of Regional Action Plans II and the call Inclusive education for socially excluded locations II. For more information, see section New calls within the Operational Programme Research, Development and Education.