In Slovakia, April 2024 was the third Month of Quality in VET. EQAVET NRP awarded prizes for quality to four secondary schools in the categories: feedback in VET, practical experience in the workplace, citizenship education in VET and outstanding personality in quality assurance. The final conference of the Month of Quality featured the Dutch EQAVET NRP and their leadership and student engagement programme. The Croatian NRP shared their experience in tracking graduates through close cooperation with vocational schools.

In Slovakia, April 2024 was the third Month of Quality in VET. EQAVET NRP awarded prizes for quality to four secondary schools in the categories: feedback in VET, practical experience in the workplace, citizenship education in VET and outstanding personality in quality assurance.

The final conference of the Month of Quality featured the Dutch EQAVET NRP and their leadership and student engagement programme. The Croatian NRP shared their experience in tracking graduates through close cooperation with vocational schools.

The Slovakian EQAVET NRP organizes the Month of Quality in VET, which takes place regularly in April, since 2022. This year, the Month of Quality included the richest programme to date – in total we organised:

• The National Award for Quality Assurance in VET in four categories: feedback in VET, practical experience in the workplace, citizenship education in VET and outstanding personality in quality assurance;
• 3 trainings for VET school staff relating to the implementation of peer review;
• 1 film screening for VET schools on occupational safety and health in cooperation with the National Labour Inspectorate;
• The final conference with international participation and the announcement of the National Quality Award.

The total number of participants reached 123, among whom were mainly school principals, teaching staff, representatives of the Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic, employees of the local authorities and employers. The total number of applicants for the National Quality Award was 42. We visited 6 cities across Slovakia and welcomed participants from every region in Slovakia as well as international VET experts from Croatia, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic to our events.

In addition to sharing information about the peer review tools and opportunities to improve the quality of education from our side as the European Quality Assurance Framework in Slovakia, we gained important insights directly from people working on a daily basis with pupils, whether in schools or with employers. 

The Month of Quality 2024 concluded with a conference in Trnava on the topic of quality assurance as part of school life from different perspectives. Our EQAVET NRP colleague from the Netherlands, Daisy Thermorshuizen, presented their activities within the Leadership in VET and student engagement in the quality improvement process. The representatives of the Croatian NRP, Tamara Hudolin and Suzana Durdevic, the principal of VET school in Dubrovnik, presented their approach to graduate tracking based on close cooperation with vocational schools. As one of the categories of this year’s National Award for Quality in VET was “citizenship skills development”, Jana Feherpataky-Kuzmova from the Institute for Active Citizenship provided insights into the cooperation with schools through the programme Schools Changing the World which leads to improving citizenship education of secondary VET pupils. The programme, which was awarded the European Citizen Award by the European Parliament, was also presented in the EQAVET Peer Learning Activity “Quality assuring education for democratic citizenship in VET” which took place online 24-25 April 2024.

We are already looking forward to next year’s Month of Quality 2025 in Slovakia.