The peer review brought together five Slovakian self-governing regions and EQAVET members to discuss and assess existing quality assurance measures for VET and reflect on how to develop and improve them further

The Slovakian National Reference Point (NRP), the State Vocational Education Institute (SIOV), hosted their peer review on ‘Regional governance of VET and quality assurance’ on 23-24 May 2024 in Bratislava, Slovakia. Eight members of the EQAVET Network from Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Italy, and Romania participated as peers. Additionally, five self-governing regions were invited to present their quality assurance (QA) measures.

Regional governance holds an important place in the education system in Slovakia, with self-governing regions operating independently. SIOV, as a national organisation with a policy advisory role, launched a new ESF+ project in 2024 to introduce quality management in VET and adult learning at all levels of the education system. The project aims to:

• increase the quality of regional governance;
• strengthen QA tools and methods available (peer reviews, graduate tracking and school surveys);
• develop capacity building.

The EQAVET peer review was the opportunity to reflect on quality assurance in the self-governing regions, map existing measures and the different perspectives of QA in VET, and understand how the priorities of the regions reflect their actions.

Peers discussed the effectiveness of the QA measures in place in Slovakia and reflected on elements to strengthen and develop QA in VET, at regional level and, possibly, beyond.

Read the flash report summarising the main outcomes of the discussion.

Additionally, a separate report containing detailed feedback from the peer reviewers will be shared with the host country.