Czechia: new programme for school headteachers

Headteachers: multiple roles and challenges

Czechia has a decentralised education system and, according to a recent OECD study, ranks second among the EU countries in terms of school autonomy level in organisational, staff, curricular and financial agendas. Czech headteachers often report above-average stress levels caused by workload and low job satisfaction. This can potentially be explained by the fact that they spend up to 40% of their time on paperwork and administrative tasks, while their OECD counterparts report spending only 27% of their working hours on similar tasks. As a consequence, they can dedicate only less than one fifth of their overall working time to teaching visits, mentoring teachers, coordinating educational content or professional development activities.

The demanding nature of the role is reflected in the small number of applicants entering the selection procedures to become a headteacher, leading to an increase of the average age of the current headteacher workforce. In response to the current situation, the Czech Strategy for Education Policy 2030+ aims at strengthening the role of headteachers as leaders of the pedagogical process.         

How to become a headteacher

Several requirements need to be met for someone to become a headteacher:

• practical teaching experience (at least 5 years in upper secondary or tertiary professional schools);
• qualification for the performance of the professional activity of a pedagogical worker;
• managerial and leadership skills;
• competences of human resource manager, economist, lawyer or building/campus manager.

A headteacher without specific qualifications is required to complete qualification training within the first 2 years of taking up duties; around 600 headteachers per year participate in such training. It includes a minimum of 100 hours of direct instruction focused primarily on administrative and legislative areas. However, little attention is paid to human resource management or pedagogical leadership, which is of paramount importance to ensure quality of teaching and educational outcomes in schools and VET institutions. Thus, compared to their EU counterparts, Czech headteachers feel that they are not sufficiently trained.

New training programme: Leadership for school leaders

The new training programme combines the best practices of the National Pedagogical Institute, the major provider of qualification studies for school headteachers, and the innovative training programme ’Lead Live’ developed by the Teach Live organisation. The training programme lasts 250 hours and will be piloted until May 2024. It includes a total of 215 hours of training (179 hours of in-person training and 36 hours of e-learning) and 35 hours of internships with experienced headteachers. The training programme covers:

• basic legislation;
• labour law;
• school organisation;
• finance;
• development of pedagogical leadership skills;
• ability to improve the learning process for all students and VET learners.

The programme builds on experiential learning principles, regular reflection, collegial support and collaborative learning. It is concluded with an exam and an essay submission. Its current capacity is 100 persons but the Ministry expects this number to double in the future.     

Read more

• Národní pedagogický institut České republiky [National Pedagogical Institute of the Czech Republic]
• Ředitel naživo [Lead live programme]
• OECD. (2018). How decentralised are education systems, and what does it mean for schools? (Education Indicators in Focus. # 64- November 2018).