News

The great pupil steeplechase

Daniel Münich and Miroslava Federičová collaborated on a new IDEA Policy Study - Preparing for the eight-year gymnasium: the great pupil steeplechase.

They inform that almost a fifth of all pupils undergo the admission procedure to eight year gymnasiums, sacrificing their free time, energy, and their parents' financial resources.

• Nearly 20% of all fifth-year pupils apply for entry to eight-year gymnasium, but fewer than half of them are successful. The vast majority apply on the basis of their own and their parents‘ joint interests.
• Preparation for the entry exams is a burden both for the children and their parents, whether in the form of lost free time, or in terms of financial outlayings for tutoring, preparatory courses and practice tests.
• Nearly 85% of those enrolled to take the entry examinations dedicate time weekly to their preparation, and each day sees almost one in two of these pupils busy with preparation.
• Intensive preparation vastly increases the likelihood of acceptance for the lower-achieving half of candidates. For the higher-achieving half, intensive preparation is rather an insurance measure, to ensure that the very hard-working candidates from the lower half will not overtake them.
• There are many indications that intensive extra-curricular study in preparation for the entry examinations for eight-year gymnasium significantly improves pupils‘ knowledge and skills. In this, will power, perseverance, ambition, rigour and pressure from the parents play a significant role.

The summary is available here.