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Slovak Republic

Publish the Outcomes of the Approval Process of Educational Resources on the Web-Site of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic. (SK0091)

Overview

At-a-Glance

Action Plan: Slovak Republic National Action Plan 2017-2019

Action Plan Cycle: 2017

Status: Active

Institutions

Lead Institution: Minister of Education, Science, Research and Sport

Support Institution(s): NA

Policy Areas

E-Government, Education, Open Data, Public Service Delivery

IRM Review

IRM Report: Slovakia Design Report 2017–2019

Starred: Pending IRM Review

Early Results: Pending IRM Review

Design i

Verifiable: No

Relevant to OGP Values: Access to Information

Potential Impact:

Implementation i

Completion:

Description

In relation to opening up to educational resources, the issue of their quality is raised. According to the sur-vey of Didaktis21 publishing house, 76.6% of primary and 84.2% of secondary school teachers are dissatis-fied with the quality of textbooks under the status quo. Teachers also mention the absence of supplemen-tary materials to textbooks, activities to practice understanding of the curriculum, as well as other short-comings. This situation persists despite a sophisticated approval mechanism for the creation of new text-books. In the context of increasing the transparency and in order to ultimately improve the quality of edu-cational resources, it seems appropriate to publish the results of this approval process (reviews, approval protocols, approval clause).
Commitment No. 34: Publish the outcomes of the approval process of educational resources on the web-site of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic.

IRM Midterm Status Summary

THEME - Promotion, publication and review 
Comm 33, 34, 42

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan[Note : The Office of the Plenipotentiary, “Open Government Partnership National Action Plan of the Slovak Republic 2017 – 2019”, http://bit.ly/2QYIlHV %5D:

Commitment 33: “Raise awareness of open educational resources among teachers, other educational staff, professional staff in primary and secondary education, as well as pupils and students.”

Commitment 34: “Publish the outcomes of the approval process of educational resources on the website of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic.”

Commitment 42: “Actively participate in discussion forums, programs and multilateral efforts in Europe and beyond to support the creation, improvement, mutual exchange and reuse of open educational resources; ensure international coordination of the activities in the area.”

Start Date: Not specified    

End Date: 31 December 2018 and ongoing

Context and Objectives

The commitments to raise awareness about open educational resources were already present in the previous action plan[Note : The Office of the Plenipotentiary, “Open Government Partnership National Action Plan of the Slovak Republic 2015”, http://bit.ly/2RevqCc%5D. The previous IRM report concluded that the progress of these commitments had been limited. As mentioned for the previous clusters of open education commitments, there is currently no engagement of teachers and a very limited engagement of civil society. At the same time, the awareness about open educational resources is low and is a consequence of other more structural problems. The interviewees argued that the ministry is not doing enough to inform schools and teachers about its activities more broadly, not only in the area of open education.

The director of a grammar school stated that in his position he did not receive any communication from the ministry: “I did not receive any strategy or official document that would deal with the topic of open education” [Note : Interview with Roman Baranovič (Narnia Grammar School), 26 October 2018. See Section ‘VI. Methodology and sources for details.   ]. He also mentioned that he did not notice that a ministry representative would publicly talk about this topic. He is not aware of any ministerial activity in this area. Other interviewees also echoed the concerns that little has been done to engage critical national stakeholders in open education commitments[Note : Interview with Zuzana Adamová (Creative Commons Slovensko and University of Trnava), 6 November 2018. Interview with Ján Gondoľ (worked for Deputy Prime Minister’s Office for Investments and Informatization of the Slovak Republic as a consultant on OGP commitments during the action plan implementation. He is also an open education expert), 5 November 2018. See Section ‘VI. Methodology and sources for details.   ]. In addition, very few references to open education can be found on the website of the ministry, and those few do not mention any activities that have been executed to engage teachers and CSO representatives[Note : The Ministry of Education, “Začleňovanie otvorených zdrojov vzdelávania do bežného vzdelávacieho procesu” (Inclusion of open education resources into the educational process), http://bit.ly/2QMnwD2 (In Slovak).

The Ministry of Education, “Na pôde rezortu sa rokovalo o otvorenom vzdelávaní” (There was a meeting on open education at the Ministry) http://bit.ly/2B66O7X (In Slovak).].   

Therefore, commitment 33 to promote open educational resources to relevant stakeholders is an important one, and if implemented well could potentially have a minor impact. The commitment is specific enough to be verified once the implementation period is completed. On the other hand, the ministry has carried out some activities for the international audience. A high-level ministry representative attended international meetings and negotiations on open educational resources[Note : The Ministry of Education, “Štátna tajomníčka Oľga Nachtmannová rokovala v Ľubľane o otvorených vzdelávacích zdrojoch” (The state secretary Oľga Nachtmannová attended a meeting on open educational resources in Ljubljana), http://bit.ly/2L7VI74 (in Slovak). ]. Nonetheless, in the view of above, commitment 42 to cooperate internationally in the topic of open education is not relevant for OGP values, and its impact for local teachers and students is questionable. Commitment 34 to publish the outcomes of the approval process of educational resources has relevance for access to information and has a minor potential impact, as CSO representatives complained during the action plan development about a lack of transparency in this process[Note : The Office of the Plenipotentiary, “Správa z regionálnych workshopov k tvorbe Akčného plánu Iniciatívy pre otvorené vládnutie na roky 2016 – 2019” (Report from regional workshops on the development of the OGP Action plan 2016-2019), http://bit.ly/2zslNsy (report in Slovak).].           

Next steps

In this stage, given the views of interviewed stakeholders, it will be crucial for the Ministry of Education to focus on teachers as key local stakeholders, carry out activities to increase their awareness of open educational resources, and create opportunities for them to exchange knowledge and experiences. Similarly, the ministry should pro-actively search and reach out to the relevant CSOs which create open educational resources. As one interviewee rightly pointed out “many organizations and enthusiasts create open educational resources without being aware of that because they do not know the terminology[Note : Interview with Ján Gondoľ (worked for Deputy Prime Minister’s Office for Investments and Informatization of the Slovak Republic as a consultant on OGP commitments during the action plan implementation. He is also an open education expert), 5 November 2018. See Section ‘VI. Methodology and sources for details.   ]. The outreach is also very much linked to the development of the repository for educational resources, which was introduced in the previous sections, and critical for its success.     

In general, the ministry demonstrates a lack of continuity in awareness-raising activities. As one of the interviewed experts stated a tick-box approach is prevalent and once the projects are officially completed and resources are used, their sustainability is jeopardized. Moreover, frequent changes in staff on different organizational levels also do not help to maintain continuity. Following are two examples that illustrate the above statements. Although the project E-aktovka (which makes available digital textbooks for teachers and pupils) is still alive, its social networking site hasn’t been updated since 2014[Note : The Ministry of Education, “Facebook account of E-aktovka platform”, https://www.facebook.com/eaktovka/ (in Slovak). ]. Similarly, the platform’s official website has not been updated. There still is information that the content is being managed by the Institute of information and prognosis of education, which no longer exists. In 2014 it has become a part of the Center of Scientific and Technical information[Note : The Center of Scientific and Technical information, “Informácie o školstve” (Information on education), http://bit.ly/2CgX3FM (in Slovak). ]. Similarly, while Planéta vedomostí (Planet of Knowledge), an educational resources platform, also still operates, its social networking site hasn’t been updated since 2016[Note : The Ministry of Education, “Facebook account of Planéta vedomostí platform”, https://www.facebook.com/Planetavedomosti/ (in Slovak). ]. Also, the platform’s website has a very outdated section on the news. The latest contribution is from August 2017[Note : The Ministry of Education, “The official website of the Planéta vedomostí platform”, http://planetavedomosti.iedu.sk/ (in Slovak)]. These cases, which are not exceptional, would not happen if outreach activities for teachers were taken seriously. Despite the changes and high turnover in staff, the ministry should ensure that the projects are not ‘forgotten’ and build their brands systematically.   

Slovak Republic's Commitments

  1. Open Data Portal

    SK0058, 2017, Open Data

  2. Submit a Draft Law on Data to the Government.

    SK0059, 2017, Legislation & Regulation

  3. Public Administration Employee Training

    SK0060, 2017, Capacity Building

  4. Data Publication Standards

    SK0061, 2017, Capacity Building

  5. Update Open Data Portal

    SK0062, 2017, Open Data

  6. Open Data Publication

    SK0063, 2017, Open Data

  7. Open Data Awareness-Raising

    SK0064, 2017, Open Data

  8. Survey About Open Data

    SK0065, 2017, E-Government

  9. Publish Open Data

    SK0066, 2017, Open Data

  10. Analysis of Open Data

    SK0067, 2017, Open Data

  11. Open Data Strategy

    SK0068, 2017, Open Data

  12. Develop Standards for Publicly Available Application Programming Interfaces and Submit Them to the Commission for the Standardization of Information Systems in Public Administration.

    SK0069, 2017, E-Government

  13. Ensure Open Data Publication

    SK0070, 2017, Open Data

  14. Survey of Public Demand for Application Programming Interfaces

    SK0071, 2017, E-Government

  15. Publish Application Programming Interfaces

    SK0072, 2017, Open Data

  16. Enable the Disclosure of Source Code and Development Using Open Methods for Newly Developed Plug-Ins and Extensions of Web Browsers and Client Applications.

    SK0073, 2017, Open Data

  17. Custom-Made Information Systems

    SK0074, 2017, Open Data

  18. Publish Open Source Software Data

    SK0075, 2017, Open Data

  19. Study About Open Source Software

    SK0076, 2017, Open Data

  20. Feasibility Study on NGO Satellite Account

    SK0077, 2017, Civic Space

  21. Define the Minimum Scope and Structure of the Disclosed Data on the Use of European Structural and Investment Funds, the EEA Financial Mechanism, Norwegian Financial Mechanism, the Swiss Financial Mechanism and Subsidy Schemes From the State Budget.

    SK0078, 2017, Aid

  22. Publish Financial Data

    SK0079, 2017, Aid

  23. Propose Changes to Central Register of Contracts Regulation

    SK0080, 2017, Legislation & Regulation

  24. Create Space for the Publication of Local Self-Government (Municipality) Contracts in a Single Central Repository.

    SK0081, 2017, Open Contracting and Procurement

  25. Establish and Operate a Repository of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic for Storage, Long-Term Archiving and Access to Educational Resources.

    SK0082, 2017, E-Government

  26. Open Education Resources

    SK0083, 2017, E-Government

  27. Reach Out to Partners Who Have Provided Educational Resources After 2008 to the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic Or to Its Directly Managed OrGanizations, with a Suggestion to Make Educational Resources Available Under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) Public License.

    SK0084, 2017, E-Government

  28. Enforce Public Licensing

    SK0085, 2017, Education

  29. Make Educational Resources Available in Local Langage

    SK0086, 2017, Education

  30. Ensure Availability of University Textbooks

    SK0087, 2017, E-Government

  31. Introduce Specific Rules for Open Publication and the Obligation to Provide Free Access of Selected Publicly Funded Publica-Tions

    SK0088, 2017, E-Government

  32. Analyze the Possibility of Applying Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) Public License As Standard for Selected Works Mandatorily Published in the Central Registry of Theses and Dissertations.

    SK0089, 2017, E-Government

  33. Awareness-Raising About Open Education Resources

    SK0090, 2017, E-Government

  34. Publish the Outcomes of the Approval Process of Educational Resources on the Web-Site of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic.

    SK0091, 2017, E-Government

  35. To Introduce the Basic Principles of Open Access to Scientific Publications Under a Public License Under the Operational Program Research and Innovation.

    SK0092, 2017, E-Government

  36. Ensure the Implementation of Public License Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)

    SK0093, 2017, Open Data

  37. Establish Contact Office for Open Access.

    SK0094, 2017, Open Data

  38. Establish Conditions for Passportization of Open Research Data Under a Public License and Monitor Its Implementation in Practice.

    SK0095, 2017, E-Government

  39. Establish and Operate a Repository to Provide Storage, Long-Term Archiving and Ac-Cess to Slovak Scientific and Academic Publications, Research Data and Gray Literature.

    SK0096, 2017, Open Data

  40. Design Systematic Benchmarking Monitoring Mechanisms for the Measurement and Comparison and Propose Further Analyses Related to Acquiring, Processing and Re-Use of Research Data and Open Access Scientific Publications.

    SK0097, 2017, E-Government

  41. Raise Awareness About Open Access in Academic Community

    SK0098, 2017, Education

  42. Participate in International Coordination on Open Education Reforms

    SK0099, 2017, Education

  43. Participatory Public Policy

    SK0100, 2017, E-Government

  44. Citizen-Traingin on Public Policy Making

    SK0101, 2017, Capacity Building

  45. Create Engaging Public Policies

    SK0102, 2017, Capacity Building

  46. Government Employee Peer-Exchange

    SK0103, 2017, Capacity Building

  47. Evaluate Identified Participatory Processes of Creation and Implementation of Pub-Lic Policies and Disseminate Examples of Good Practice Based on This Evaluation.

    SK0104, 2017, Capacity Building

  48. Promote Partnership and Dialogue Between Public Authorities, Citizens and NGOs at National, Regional and Local Level in the Area of Participatory Public Policy-Making.

    SK0105, 2017, Capacity Building

  49. Propose a Recommendation of Internal Guidelines on the Use of Free On-Line Tools in Participatory Creation of Public Policies.

    SK0106, 2017, Capacity Building

  50. Create Learning Tools in the Field of Participation.

    SK0107, 2017, Capacity Building

  51. Use Educational Tools About Participation in Formal Education Using Informal Learn-Ing Methods.

    SK0108, 2017, E-Government

  52. Develop Recommendations for Embedding Participatory Processes Into Organiza-Tional Processes, Internal Guidelines and Other Documents for the Needs of Central Government Bodies.

    SK0109, 2017, Capacity Building

  53. Reassess the Implementation of the Publication of Assessments of Judges in Terms of the Clarity and Making Further Analysis Easier

    SK0110, 2017, E-Government

  54. Specify Which Court Decisions Do Not Need to Be Published.

    SK0111, 2017, E-Government

  55. Standardize Submission Requirements for Slov-Lex Portal

    SK0112, 2017, Capacity Building

  56. Draft Legislation About the Responsibility of Judges

    SK0113, 2017, E-Government

  57. Draft Legislation to Ensure Public Scrutiny of Judges

    SK0114, 2017, Judiciary

  58. Prepare Legislation That Will Ensure the Publication of the Seat of Office of Individual Prosecutors

    SK0115, 2017, E-Government

  59. Create Draft Legislation to Extend the Right to Recommend Candidates for the Post of Attorney-General.

    SK0116, 2017, Legislation & Regulation

  60. Participatory Analysis of Prosecutor's Affairs

    SK0117, 2017, E-Government

  61. In a Participatory Manner, Analyze the Selection Procedures

    SK0118, 2017, Justice

  62. Awareness-Raising About Anti-Social Activities

    SK0119, 2017, Legislation & Regulation

  63. Analyze and Evaluate Preliminary Information and Reports on Public Participation in the Process of Drafting and Commenting on Draft Legislation.

    SK0120, 2017, E-Government

  64. Analyze and Evaluate the Effectiveness of the Electronic Collective Petition.

    SK0121, 2017, E-Government

  65. Identify the Person Responsible for Implementing the Tasks of the OGP National Action Plan 2017-2019 in the Organization.

    SK0122, 2017, E-Government

  66. Coordinate the Working Group on the Implementation of the OGP National Action Plan 2017-2019.

    SK0123, 2017, OGP

  67. Develop the Final Evaluation of the OGP National Action Plan 2017-2019.

    SK0124, 2017, E-Government

  68. Prepare and Submit for the Government of the Slovak Republic the OGP National Action Plan for the Following Period.

    SK0125, 2017, E-Government

  69. List of Open Data Datasets

    SK0023, 2015, E-Government

  70. Publish Open Data

    SK0024, 2015, E-Government

  71. Survey of Open Data

    SK0025, 2015, Open Data

  72. Publish Relevant Open Datasets

    SK0026, 2015, E-Government

  73. Starred commitment Open Data Publication Strategy

    SK0027, 2015, Open Data

  74. Grant Scheme Open Data Portal

    SK0028, 2015, E-Government

  75. Web Portal Promotion Campaign

    SK0029, 2015, E-Government

  76. Evaluate Grant Funding Open Data Application

    SK0030, 2015, E-Government

  77. Digital Education Resources

    SK0031, 2015, Education

  78. Map Existing Repositories

    SK0032, 2015, Education

  79. Analyze Procurement Process for Education Resources

    SK0033, 2015, E-Government

  80. Textbook Procurement Process

    SK0034, 2015, E-Government

  81. Pilot Procurement Process

    SK0035, 2015, E-Government

  82. Raise Awareness of Education Resources

    SK0036, 2015, Education

  83. Join Multilateral Activities in Europe and Beyond That Support the Creation, Improvement, Sharing and Re-Use of Open Educational Resources.

    SK0037, 2015, Education

  84. Map Existing Scientific Repositories

    SK0038, 2015, Open Data

  85. Identify Barriers to Open Data Access

    SK0039, 2015, Open Data

  86. Submit Analysis of Open Data Publication

    SK0040, 2015, Open Data

  87. Data Publication Mechanism

    SK0041, 2015, E-Government

  88. Raise Awareness About Open Access in Academic Community

    SK0042, 2015, Capacity Building

  89. Assist Other Countries with Open Access Strategy

    SK0043, 2015, E-Government

  90. Participatory Policy-Making

    SK0044, 2015, Public Participation

  91. Workshops on Public Involvement in Policymaking

    SK0045, 2015, Capacity Building

  92. Starred commitment Develop Public Policy with Civil Society

    SK0047, 2015, Civic Space

  93. Starred commitment Develop Criteria for Evaluating Participation in Policymaking

    SK0048, 2015, Public Participation

  94. Evaluate Policy Creation

    SK0049, 2015, Public Participation

  95. Map Legislative Environments

    SK0050, 2015, Legislature

  96. Carry Out a Public Campaign to Promote the Collective Electronic Petitions.

    SK0051, 2015, Capacity Building

  97. Publish Evaluation of Justices

    SK0052, 2015, Judiciary

  98. Analyze Publication of Judicial Decisions

    SK0053, 2015, Judiciary

  99. Uniform Reporting of Judicial Decisions

    SK0054, 2015, Judiciary

  100. Publish List of Names of Prosecutors

    SK0055, 2015, Judiciary

  101. Final Evaluation of OGP Action Plan

    SK0056, 2015, OGP

  102. Develop Next Action Plan

    SK0057, 2015, OGP

  103. Starred commitment Open Data Portal Launch

    SK0001, 2012, Open Data

  104. Publishing Datasets

    SK0002, 2012, Open Data

  105. Datasets Mapping

    SK0003, 2012, Open Data

  106. Data Standards

    SK0004, 2012, Open Data

  107. Improved Register of Contracts

    SK0005, 2012, Fiscal Transparency

  108. Starred commitment Continuous Dataset Publising

    SK0006, 2012, Open Data

  109. Starred commitment ITMS Dataset

    SK0007, 2012, Open Data

  110. EU Funds and Subsidies Monitoring

    SK0008, 2012, Fiscal Transparency

  111. EU Funds and Subsidies Monitoring – Prepare Tender for Web Application

    SK0009, 2012, Open Contracting and Procurement

  112. EU Funds and Subsidies Monitoring – Portal Launch

    SK0010, 2012, E-Government

  113. Participatory Policy Making

    SK0011, 2012, Capacity Building

  114. Starred commitment Apply Participatory Policy Making

    SK0012, 2012, Public Participation

  115. Lawmaking Public Participation Rules

    SK0013, 2012, Legislation & Regulation

  116. Participatory Policy Making

    SK0014, 2012, Public Participation

  117. Collective e-Petitions

    SK0015, 2012,

  118. Collective e-Petitions – Draft Amendment

    SK0016, 2012, Legislation & Regulation

  119. OGP Steering Committee

    SK0017, 2012, OGP

  120. Transparency Council and Openess Barometer

    SK0018, 2012, Capacity Building

  121. Develop Criteria for Transparency Council and Openess Barometer

    SK0019, 2012, Capacity Building

  122. Conduct First Evaluation Using Openess Barometer

    SK0020, 2012, Capacity Building

  123. Whistleblowers Protection Act

    SK0021, 2012, Legislation & Regulation

  124. 2014-2015 Action Plan Development

    SK0022, 2012, OGP