Slovak Republic Skilling Up the Next Generation

Abstract

Facing the prospects of rapid aging and shrinking population over the coming decades, Slovakia needs a highly skilled workforce to help generate the productivity growth that it needs to fuel its continued convergence of living standards with its West European neighbors. Skilling up the workforce starts with equipping youth with the right cognitive and socio-emotional foundation skills. International research has identified three dimensions of skills that matter for good employment outcomes and economic growth: cognitive skills, such as literacy, numeracy, creative and critical thinking or problem-solving; socio-emotional skills and behavioral traits, such as conscientiousness, grit or openness to experience; and job- or occupation-specific technical skills, such as the ability to work as an engineer. This report focuses on cognitive skills and examines results for Slovakia from the program for international student assessment (PISA), which assesses the mathematics, reading, and science competencies of 15-year-olds. Its findings suggest that Slovakia can do significantly better in helping students develop cognitive foundation skills. This note proposes several policy recommendations, based on an analysis of Slovakia’s PISA data as well as international evidence, to make Slovakia’s education system both stronger and more inclusive.