Page 17 - Information-on-the-Lifelong-Guidance-System-in-the-Czech-Republic
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the low- skilled (38)� On average, 1 in 5 people   adoption of a comprehensive strategy for edu-
                wanting to work participate in such schemes�   cation� Young people from low socioeconomic
                Overall, Czech investment in ALMP is highly   backgrounds, including Roma, are shown to be
                dependent on ESF funding� A lack of systematic   less successful in education and on the labour
                impact assessment and evaluation of ALMP   market�
                hampers transparency� The level of employ-
                ment among young people is increasing, and
                public employment services try to target their
                services towards young people in particular�
                The Labour Office of the Czech Republic (PES)
                was reorganised in 2012 but no fundamental
                changes were made to provide better support
                for vulnerable groups� The lack of affordable and
                quality childcare services and the limited use
                of flexible working-time arrangements make it
                difficult for women with children to participate
                in the labour market� Steps have been taken
                towards increasing the availability of childcare
                but policies supporting public childcare for the
                youngest children are still insufficient�

                The quality and labour market relevance of
                the Czech education system are a cause for
                concern� The Czech Republic's educational
                outcomes have improved in recent years but
                structural challenges still remain� Participation
                in tertiary education has increased rapidly, but
                concerns have emerged in relation to the de-
                cline in skills of younger tertiary education grad-
                uates� The overdue higher education reform
                adopted in 2016 will introduced institutional
                accreditation� Other expected changes, mainly
                concerning improvement of financing higher
                education institutions were not included in the
                amendment of the Higher Education Act� More
                teachers need to be recruited into the compul-
                sory education sector, but low salaries and a
                negative perception of the profession make it
                difficult to attract talented candidates� A new
                career system designed to improve both the
                recruitment of teachers and their professional
                development was not approved by the Czech
                Parliament�

                A comprehensive approach to evaluating and
                supporting low-performing schools and pupils
                is, meanwhile, still lacking� The introduction of
                such an approach could help improve efficiency
                and equality in the education sector� Limited
                progress has been made in making education
                more inclusive, despite the Government's




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