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Framework of Actions for the Lifelong Development of Competencies and Qualifications - Czech Republic
Source: European Union
The basic problem in the Czech Republic is still the lack of regulatory framework concerning lifelong learning (LLL) and continuous education. Neither has a clear and standard interconnection and link between initial and continuous education developed. There is no integral formalised system that would recognise and validate the results of non-formal and informal education which would lead to an increase in job opportunities and flexibility of individuals on the labour market. These facts must be taken into consideration as they strongly influence the development of the joint national report for the Czech Republic at all levels (national, sectoral and company level).
Actions taken at national level
In 2003, the Government Council for Human Resources Development in the Czech Republic was established by the Czech Government and, as one of its main tasks, the Council initiated the development of proposed draft legislation on lifelong learning. The Government legislation plan foresees that the Ministry of Education drafts this piece of legislation by the end of 2004 and then presents the full proposal to the Government in the first half of 2005.
So far the draft legislation has been consulted on with the representatives of professional associations, employers, trade unions, regions and Ministries. It has also been discussed internally at the Ministry of Education and it is now in the phase of a public debate. Social partners still have the opportunity to participate in this debate and thus influence the formation of the new law, especially by participating in the working group of the Council of Economic and Social Agreement of the Czech Republic (CESA) for education and human resources development.
According to the national strategy of the CESA and the strategy for human resources development, new regional CESA working groups are being gradually established, along with the regional Councils for human resources development. The main task of these groups of social but also of other partners is to initiate, coordinate and secure cooperation between local government bodies and state administrative authorities, labour offices and social partners leading to and providing information systems (IT) and material resources.
An inseparable part of the social partners´ work in the area of competences and qualifications is their participation in the sectoral groups meeting at the National Institute of Technical and Vocational Education (NITVE) which is one of the working units of the Ministry of Education. The work and programme of these sectoral groups is in accordance with the Statute agreed on by the social partners in the CESA working team for education and human resources development. The sectoral groups have been established to increase effectiveness and cooperation between relevant partners in the area of vocational training, representatives of labour and education areas. Their task is to monitor the development and changes in the various job and workplace positions and their qualification requirements. They participate in the development of professional profiles and also supervise the coherence of qualification requirements with the proposals of the new educational programmes. At present there exist 25 such sectoral groups with approximately 270 members.
• to recognise and validate competences and qualifications
The Department of Administration of Employment Services of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MLSA) has been the first to address the area of recognition and validation of skills and competences in relation to the Labour market, in cooperation with Trexima which has developed a wide circle of cooperating practice experts that have been preparing the so-called “Information system of typical positions” for five years now. This system is now in the last stages of preparation – meaning that it is being tested practically by the Labour offices. It is based on an analysis of qualification segments of more than 1,600 professions and occupations in order to compare the available job opportunities with the available workforce with the appropriate qualifications and thus choosing the most suitable candidates for a job and vice versa.
Another part of this project is also the harmonisation of school-leavers´ competences with the professional practice requirements and continuous training. Incorporated in the project is also the so-called “European Curriculum Vitae”, which aim is to provide the possibility of an international comparability of candidates´ qualifications from various EU Member States. Many employer but also trade union experts have participated in the development of this project.
Related to the development of the draft legislation concerning lifelong learning and vocational education and training (VET), the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) is being prepared by the NITVE. The National Qualifications Framework is derived from the National Profession Framework, administered by the Ministry of Labour. The NQF will contain the list of comprehensive and partial qualifications, their name, symbol, mutual relations, relationship to the National Profession Framework, contents and description. The NQF will be managed by the NITVE. The NQF is being prepared by the NITVE as a systematic project within the framework of the European social fund (ESF), as a project based on the European strategy on the learning society and lifelong learning and on the national programme for education development in the Czech Republic.
On 1 October 2004, the National Contact Point (NCP) opened and started working as a national implementation body for the Europass scheme. Its work is being managed jointly by the National Institute of Technical and Vocational Education (NITVE) of the Ministry of Education and the Centre of University Studies. An important role in all these activities is naturally played by the social partners from both the employer and employee sides.
• to foster mobility
In relation to the opening of the NCP for Europass, the social partners are preparing for the political process of the introduction of the new “Europass Mobility” tool which should take effect in the first semester of 2005 and which also means transforming the NCP into the National Centre for Europass (NCE). One of the main tasks now is to distribute and spread information concerning this tool and provide help and support to all the people interested in this area. The NCE will closely cooperate with the social partners and labour offices, etc., in the area of counselling.
On the basis of a social partners´ agreement, a conference focusing on Europass is being prepared for the first half of 2005, under their management. However at present, the main role in the provision of counselling and guidance stays within the labour offices supported by the Ministry of Labour, especially by the Administration of Employment Services. The Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions (CMKOS) and the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic (SP CR) both use their own Internet and Intranet systems as well as educational and counselling systems to provide the necessary information in this area.
• to mobilise resources
Regarding the mobilisation of resources for lifelong learning and continuous education, a new working group has been established within the Government Council for Human Resources Development; it is composed of social partners and other relevant experts and tasked with the development of individual proposals to be submitted later to the Czech Government.
Results of the working group debate:
- To develop a system for the financing of LLL and VET making it possible to distribute the financial burden on employers, employees and state administration and therefore not expecting the employers to be the only sector providing financial support in this area:
- To motivate employers with the possibility of using a preferential tax (tax assignation, education investment deduction from overall tax duty and reimbursement of certified programmes from tax payments);
- To initiate the development of an educational fund within CESA based on the percentage part of the wages paid. The rules for its establishment and use are to be specified by legislation.
- To motivate employees to co-finance their own education and training by the deduction of investment into education from the basic income tax (similar to the mortgage support tools).
- To motivate employees to adopt an active approach to lifelong learning as an indispensable basis for a flexible and widely employable workforce.
- To legislatively ensure that employees receive time off for training, including wage compensation (a workers´ right) as an important motivation aspect for education.
- To support the internal employer programmes for human resources development using tax relief.
- To contribute to the development of an efficient motivating environment for employers by providing focused training programmes which will be a benefit for business activities and will thus support the interest of LLL and VET, e.g. training programmes concerning the current changes in legislation, etc.
- To amend Law No. 140/1968 Coll., on “workplace concessions and economic support of employees who study along with their job” to bring it into line with the subsequent regulations, in order to provide and promote a possibility to better use LLL and continuous training, to motivate both participating parties and to allow the specified percentage of the tax directly for employment policy to be used for educational purposes following specified and precise conditions.
- To increase the possibility to use both short-term and part-time employment, especially with regard to school-leavers, job candidates or possibly the use of secondary school students, who could substitute an employee undergoing company training (study), to use job rotation, job sharing, etc., and in this respect, to amend the respective legal regulations.
- To support employer initiatives leading to the development of the LLL system in such a way as to make it effective for the employer needs through:
- the requirements concerning the vocational and qualification conditions;
- participation in the theoretical and practical preparation in schools;
- participation in defining the needs for retraining;
- following the procedure to achieve inter-connecting the education and training systems/categories (sector-topic-findings/knowledge) with the systems related to the enterprise environment (sector-activity- product/service);
- involving the employers in the evaluation of the educational outcomes within the school system and in the evaluation of the quality of educational programmes;
- initiating a strengthening of employers´ role as social partner in the regional context;
- supporting development of the validation system for non-formal education.
- In order to achieve all these aims, to make particular use of the available support from the ESF and also partly from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) thus providing sufficient economic incentives.
Examples of good practice
At the beginning of 2004, the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions (CMKOS) adopted its own Human Resources Development Strategy in which three fundamental priorities were specified:
The above-mentioned priorities were also, at the preparation stage , incorporated into the document “Implementation of human resources development strategy in the Czech Republic”. CMKOS has strengthened its position and role and has become an initiator of a whole range of proposed activities of the Government Council of the Czech Republic.
In the second half of 2004, the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic (SP CR) developed in cooperation with the SP CR Institute (ISP) its own Human Resources Development Strategy. The basic points of this strategy are:
For these main priorities the strategy contains proposals on how to achieve them.
In the energy sector, principles of mutual cooperation between power companies and vocational schools providing training for these professions in the framework of the Czech Association of Employers in Energy (CSZE) were adopted. This measure facilitates cooperation particularly at the regional level. At national level a certified unified system of final apprentice exams for graduates of electro-technical professions was established. This system is compatible with the dual and modular system used in the EU and the national certification system makes it possible to compare qualifications at international level.
Within the sectors affiliated to the Union of Employers’ Associations, the best educational system exists in the printing sector: The required qualification demands are formulated in relation to the technical progress of printing technology and the teaching and study curricula are adapted to these demands, both at the secondary printing apprentice schools and the higher special school for printing. The printing sector has its own university in the city of Pardubice, whose graduates conclude their studies either as Bachelors (Bc.) or as Magister (Mgr. – Master of Arts equivalent) The verification of qualifications is addressed by recognising the competences of individual schools by the association of printing enterprises (SPP). The so-called “Integrated system of education in printing industry" is in this way both accredited and also supervised by the association. Information and consultation is provided by the association in the form of its own plan of vocational actions, at the following levels:
Financial support is provided by multiple sources: from the association of printing enterprises itself, from the regions and activities by the individual schools themselves to EU funds.
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