The European Commission (EC) presented their 2016 Education and Training Monitor, an EC staff working document that presents a yearly evaluation of education and training systems across Europe. 

According to the report, public expenditure on education in the Czech Republic has increased between 2011 and 2014 from -0.9% to 3.5% (each is a year-on-year real change), with the share of the total public expenditure rising from 11.8% in 2011 to 12.2% in 2014. The share of public expenditure on education on GDP increased from 5.1% in 2011 to 5.1% in 2014.

Also, in the Czech Republic, the share of early leavers has risen from 5.5% to 6.1% between 2011 and 2014. The share of those who attained tertiary education has increased to 30.1% in 2014, which is still below the EU average of 38.7%. The employment rate of 25-44 years-old who attained tertiary education is 73% (2015 data) and the employment rate of recent graduates has been stable around 82% both in 2012 and 2015.

Nevertheless, Czech adults’ (25-64 years-old) participation in learning fell between 2012 and 2015, from 11.1% to 8.5%, respectively.

Also, in 2015, population aged 25-64 with at most a lower secondary education qualification counted 408,000 (6.8% of the total population); the figure is the 2nd lowest in the EU after Lithuania.

According to the report, in the Czech Republic in 2014, the share of vocational education & training students in the total upper secondary student population was 73 %, compared with the EU average of 48%. The share of all students in a vocational programme at upper secondary, post-secondary non-tertiary, and short-cycle tertiary education is 66%, compared with the EU average of 54 %.

The report uses the Czech Republic as an example in the field of early childhood education and care (ECEC). To increase the participation rate in ECEC with the objective of reducing inequalities and improving educational outcomes, the Czech Republic is increasing capacity through the Fund for the Development of Capacities in Kindergartens and Primary Schools, with co-financing from EU funds. Moreover, amendments to the Education Act adopted in 2016 will extend compulsory education to the last year of ECEC from September 2017 and ensure entitlement to a place for younger children in the following years, the report says