European, global and intercultural dimension in curriculum development
Issues of internationalisation in state education programmes
Issues of internationalisation are a part of state educational programmes for kindergartens, 1st and 2nd level of primary schools, and gymnasiums in the educational area Man and Society (SK).
State educational programmes for primary and general secondary education integrate issues of internationalisation into the content of education also in a cross-cutting issue of multicultural education. By means of learning about their own culture as well as other cultures, history, customs and traditions, pupils learn to respect these cultures and communicate and cooperate with the members of these cultures in a constructive way.
Global education
The issue of global education is a part of School year guide (SK). It recommends schools to implement global context into educational content and increase children's and pupils' knowledge of global issues.
Global education also encompasses global development education (education about developing countries and poverty in the world), environmental education, multicultural education, peace education, as well as human rights education in the global context.
There are more non-governmental organisations dealing with global education in Slovakia using their own professional and creative approaches. People in Peril civil society creates methodologies for teachers and runs GlobálneVzdelávanie.sk portal (SK).
International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance
In 2005, the Slovak Republic became a member of an international International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). Schools take part in extra-curricular projects organised by museums and non-governmental organisations. The Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic cooperates with the Museum of Jewish Culture.
Consumer education
The European dimension is also characterized by integration of consumer education issues and support of consumer citizenship into citizenship education as well as into other subjects in the state educational programme. Support of consumer literacy is provided for all EU member states by an international project Consumer Classroom financed by the European Committee.
The Slovak Republic has direct representation in the Project group for modern languages as well as in the European Centre for Modern Languages in Graz. The network of school facilities in the Slovak Republic contains also 23 state and 6 private language schools.
Europe at School
Europe at School (SK) is an international project connected with a competition. The competition is designed for pupils aged 6-9. The project has been running in the Slovak Republic since 1992 with the support of the Ministry of Education and it is considered one of the tools of pro-European education and implementation of the European dimension into the process of education. The project is organised by the Slovak Secretariat of Europe at School and the Centre for European Clubs. Sponsors of the project are: The European Council, European Parliament, European Committee and European Cultural Foundation.
Partnerships and networks
European Schoolnet
Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the SR is a member of the European Schoolnet (EUN) since 2009. The consortium associates the Ministries of Education of the European Union and also of other countries with the aim to promote the use of information technology in education.
eTwinning
Slovak schools participate in the European Spring campaign. The Slovak Republic is also involved in the eTwinning (SK) project. Within the project, the National Service for Electronic Cooperation was established at University of Žilina. It promotes mutual partnership projects between schools from different countries by managing the website, organization of workshops, conferences, seminars and a competition. The projects are innovative in nature, they may be incorporated into curriculum, and they are based on students’ cooperation and creative use of information and communication technologies. During five years of existence, more than a half of Slovak schools were involved in the project.
ReferNet
ReferNet- the European Network of Reference and Expertise - is an information network focused on providing and disseminating information on the developments in vocational education and training in each EU country, Norway and Iceland. The processed information is published on special web sites and databases administered by the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop).
The national coordinator of the ReferNet activities in Slovakia is the Slovak National Observatory of Vocational Education and Training (SNO), which is a part of the State Institute of Vocational Education.
European System of Credit Transfer in Vocational Education and Training
As a part of its activities, Slovak Academic Association for International Cooperation – National Erasmus+ agency (SK) for education and vocational training created a National ECVET expert team which is financially supported by the European Committee. The national ECVET expert team aims to inform the professional public on the implementation of ECVET or its elements into practice, verify and create institutional, political and technical conditions for its implementation and use in Slovakia. The goal of ECVET is to enable recognition of results achieved by a learner during mobility .
National ECVET expert team (SK) consists of experts dealing with ECVET issues and its practical use be it at the level of schools, national institutions or employers. At the same time, their task is to provide counselling in the process of preparation of individual ECVET elements for practical implementation. This may be as a part of the project or daily organisation activities dealing with this issue. In addition to other activities, the national agency with the ECVET expert team organises workshops on ECVET issues.