Slovakia

Compulsory Attendance

5 years of age: compulsory pre-primary education

6–16 years of age: compulsory attendance (10 years of compulsory school attendance is required)

Estimated Number of Homeschoolers

2,000 children

Legal Status

Compulsory education/attendance is mandatory for children with a legal permanent residence in Slovakia. 

Homeschooling was officially legalized in the year 2008 by the Education Act No. 245/2008 Coll. (§ 23 - § 25 and § 28b)

The Education Act defines homeschooling (referred to as “individual education” in the Act) as an accepted form of education that meets the attendance requirements put upon a child.  

Homeschooling is allowed under the following conditions:

• For children in preschool or primary school, based on a Letter of Request by a legal representative of a child (e.g., a parent). This applies only to the children at preschools or primary schools. Children attending their last year of compulsory attendance in the first grade at a secondary school are not allowed to be homeschooled.
• For children with health conditions, based on a Letter of Request.
• For children living abroad, based on a Letter of Request.

Qualification requirements for persons providing home education are the following:

• To educate preschool children: completed secondary education (with the Certificate of Leaving Exam).
• To educate children in primary schools: higher education of the second level qualified for teachers of the appropriate stage of primary school (e.g., a teacher for the lower stage of primary school or a teacher for the higher stage of primary school). 

A child´s legal representative (e.g., parent) should fulfill qualification requirements or hire a teacher fulfilling these qualification requirements. 

In the case of homeschooling due to health reasons, children are taught by the teachers of the school where the children have been admitted for at least two hours a week, thus legal representatives of these children do not need to meet qualification requirements or hire a teacher.

The permission for homeschooling should be granted by the principal of the school where the child was admitted, based on a Letter of Request submitted by the legal representative of the child.

Children who are homeschooled are required to be taught the same curriculum as children at school and are required to be board examined at school every 6 months, except:

• children at preschool, where individual education is not examined but is assessed in preschool once a year,
• children homeschooled due to staying abroad, who are board examined once a year or at least in 4th grade and in 9th grade of primary school, and
  
• children homeschooled due to health reasons, who are not board examined.

Based on the results of the board examination, the school issues a certificate to the child. 

Homeschooled children have the same rights to use textbooks provided by schools as other children attending the school. 

The control of the quality of home education is carried out by the State School Inspectorate.