Czech Business Today

Representatives from the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic (SP ČR) and the Czech Society for Cybernetics and Informatics (ČSKI) signed a Memorandum on Monday, April 22nd, in Prague, outlining cooperation in advancing the digital competencies required and expected by the job market.

In order to maintain competitiveness and further develop the Czech economy and society, the enhancement of not only professional but also user digital competencies is crucial. SP ČR and ČSKI agree that both current and future employees, as well as self-employed individuals, need to be adequately prepared for the digital revolution we are currently experiencing. While ČSKI, as the national guarantor of the international concept of digital literacy and skills ECDL/ICDL, possesses hard data, SP ČR can leverage its extensive network of member entities to provide this data to firms and critically assess the efforts and activities of individual ministries and the government in this field.

Practical ECDL tests in the education sector currently highlight a mismatch between the Ministry of Education’s efforts to reform the education system regarding information and communication technologies in primary and secondary schools (the so-called small revision of the Framework Educational Program from 2021) and the results of these efforts regarding the practical user digital skills of school graduates.

“The data from internationally standardized ECDL tests indicate a significant decrease in the number of high school graduates equipped with user digital skills to such an extent necessary for successful entry into the job market. Because the international concept of ECDL primarily focuses on certifying user digital skills, we can only speculate whether this trend is a consequence of the widespread prioritization of teaching professional digital competencies, often utilized by only a relatively narrow group of students who have the potential to find professional employment in this field,” says Prof. Olga Štěpánková, President of ČSKI.

“In light of the significant changes in job performance requirements and user needs, we perceive the Ministry of Education’s efforts to develop students’ professional digital skills as ineffective if not effectively complemented by teaching the necessary range of user digital competencies,” adds Mgr. Milena Jabůrková, MA, Vice President of SP ČR for Digital Economy and Education. This will be the first area the memorandum signatories will focus on.

Source: The Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic