Published this month, the new economic survey of the Slovak Republic highlights that improving education outcomes is vital for achieving convergence with GDP per capita levels in Western European countries and for reducing income inequality. While some education outcomes in Slovakia are applaudable, education achievement is below the OECD average and strongly influenced by socio-economic background, in particular for the Roma population. The report commends the reforms made in recent years but says that much remains to be done. In particular, the needs for the tertiary education sector are:

• higher education needs to be made more attractive for technical secondary school graduates;
• segmentation must be reduced through the integration of technical secondary schools (55% of students), which prepare students for tertiary education, and vocational secondary schools (20% of students), which lead to early labour-market entry;
• further increases in teacher salaries would bring salaries in relation to average OECD earnings;
• improving teaching quality, the authorities should ensure that recruitment and selection mechanisms are well designed, that initial teacher education prepares candidates well, and that teachers are encouraged continuously to upgrade their practice.

OECD report
Policy brief