Neither schools, nor teachers have been sufficiently prepared for inclusion by the Ministry of Education. Moreover, joint education is financially dependent on EU money.
Press Release on audit No 19/19 – 12 October 2020
The Supreme Audit Office examined the financial aid for the joint education of pupils in the Czech Republic between the years 2015 and 2019. The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS), the Ministry of Regional Development (MoRD), and the City of Prague allocated the financial aid from European funds as well as from the State budget. By mid-2019, this represented a significant amount of money, over CZK 32 billion. In the future, it may prove difficult to finance inclusion since it is heavily dependent on EU money. The audit also revealed that the MoEYS did not sufficiently prepare schools and teachers for the planned changes in inclusion. Only half of the funds allocated for the inclusion of pupils in socially excluded localities was used, which was due to the lack of interest from the part of the municipalities. In some cases, funds were allocated to projects where it was questionable whether they would help pupils with special needs or socially disadvantaged pupils.
The money to support joint education is allocated from three operational programmes: Research, Development and Education (OP RDE), Prague – Growth Pole, and the Integrated Regional Operational Programme. The SAO examined specific projects that received over CZK 9 billion from these programmes. The beneficiaries of the grants came from both the state administration and non-profit organisations, as well as from regional and university schools or regions with socially excluded localities.
Systemic changes in the education system started as early as 2009, but the change in legislation initiated by the MoEYS in 2016 was key for inclusion. However, the Ministry did not manage to prepare teachers in regular schools in time for work with pupils with various special needs. As such, projects for training teachers and methodological support have actually only started in 2018.
Another problem is that schools receive aid to finance professionals such as school psychologists or special needs teachers only for the duration of the subsidised project. Inclusion is thus highly dependent on money from EU funds. The MoEYS has not been able to secure an additional source of funds for these services. In the past 10 years, the number of pupils with special needs has increased by more than half, and if this trend continues, the financial requirements will also continue to increase if all pupils are to have equal access to education.
According to the auditors, another problem is that the MoEYS has set only vague objectives for inclusion in its strategic documents, and this fact is reflected in the projects themselves. For example, the aim of some projects is to “promote joint education”.
Inclusion is also supposed to help socially disadvantaged pupils. In support of these pupils, the MoEYS allocated almost CZK 1.7 billion from the OP RDE. Only half of this sum has been used. This is mainly due to the municipalities’ lack of interest in socially excluded localities.
For some projects, it is not clear how they will help the target group of pupils. This is the case of a project focusing on inclusion in socially excluded localities, which received support amounting to almost CZK 229 million. It is managed by the Agency for Social Inclusion. The impact on the target groups of children, pupils and parents is not monitored at all. In addition, the residents of excluded localities are only marginally involved in the project and this also holds true for the involvement of schools. Ultimately, the subsidy serves to finance the running of the Agency.
The SAO looked into the impact of the legislative changes related to inclusion on regular primary schools through a questionnaire. It contacted 3 842 primary schools and 47% of them took part in the survey. Only 3% of the schools surveyed had no special needs pupils.
The questionnaire showed that, according to the schools surveyed, the barriers to successful inclusion were excessive administration, high numbers of pupils in classes and insufficient facilities for classes and schools. The schools also lack qualified teaching assistants. Only 3% of the assistants have a degree in special needs education, and, overall, there are less than 16% of university-educated assistants in the schools surveyed. The educational background of assistants varies considerably from one region to another. Most of the schools surveyed are also dissatisfied with the fact that the funding of professionals in schools is covered only by EU funds. This dependence may pose a problem in the future.
For more information on the survey and for a visualisation of its results, see: https://www.nku.cz/scripts/detail.php?id=11151.
Communication Department
Supreme Audit Office