Standpoint

The Czech Rectors Conference (CRC) includes number of rectors of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) that educate future teachers. These are not only faculties of education, but also faculties of science, of arts and others. HEIs take care of the quality of education provided to future teachers, and the comments that were communicated by the CRC were also meant in this regard.

Although the Act on Pedagogical Staff allows since 2014 to consider a person without a pedagogical education a fully qualified teacher, however, it is a matter of a few selected fields at secondary schools and with limited working hours (typically: a native speaker of a foreign language for a maximum of 0.5 full-time, or sports coach, etc.). The amendment extends the work of unqualified persons to teaching at upper primary schools and to all general education courses.

Furthermore, the amendment aims to expand the range of providers of qualification studies for future teachers of general education courses at upper primary schools and secondary schools by other institutions, so-called facilities for further education of teaching staff. These can be educational agencies, commercial companies, non-profit organizations, etc., which are, unlike HEIs, that are bound by strict accreditation rules, subject to almost no regulation.

The concerns of many experts from HEIs in the Czech Republic are therefore related to this new setting, as they feel there is a lack of guarantee that this expansion will benefit quality. We therefore consider the amendment to be a threat to the professionalization of the teaching profession, which is clearly inconsistent with the Strategy for the Education Policy of the Czech Republic 2030+.

Brno, 2 February 2023