Czech School Inspectors Visited Schools in Burgendland (Austria)

Bilateral cooperation between the CSI and its Austrian counterparts successfully continues. Between November 3^rd and 6^th a study visit of representatives from the Olomouc inspectorate and from the CSI Headquarters  took place in one of nine Austrian federal countries – Burgendland. Accompanied by their Austrian colleagues the Czech school inspectors visited a bilingual Austrian- Croatian Volksschule in Parndorf, Neue Mittelschule in Markt Allhau and a polytechnic school and a special school in Mattersburg. Together with the President of the Burgenland School Council and other professionals the Czech party had the occasion to get acquainted with activities of Austrian school inspectors and with their evaluation system. At the same time the problems of contemporary Austrian education system were discussed.

The position of a school inspector is on the top of the pedagogue promotion ladder. Each federal country has a team of country and region school inspectors. Each inspector has in his/her assignment a certain number of schools and he/she has a duty to be in a close contact with them (control, counselling, human resources). Once a year the inspector together with the school principal elaborate an evaluation report. Through this act he/she carries co-responsibility for school quality and educational process.

The Czech School Inspectorate signed an agreement on abroad cooperation with Landesschulrat für Burgendland on September 16, 2014. The objectives is a mutual exchange of experience and information on external evaluation of schools and school facilities as well as broadening mutual knowledge on educational systems of both countries. The date of hosting the Austrian delegation at the Olomouc inspectorate was preliminarily set on spring 2015.