Suchergebnisse

The results of students at different basic and secondary schools vary largely in the Czech Republic compared to other countries, and there is a strong connection between the results of students and family background. The Czech education system is also highly stratified, and student tracking begins at a young age. In this respect the most controversial element in the system are the multi-year gymnasia, the existence of which is nonetheless strongly supported by the public. This support is based on the conviction that multi-year gymnasia provide the most talented students with a good education, enable more rapid cognitive development for these students, and thus help cultivate Czech elites. This article sets out to verify whether multi-year gymnasia genuinely fulfi l the function associated with them. Hypotheses about the role of multi-year gymnasia are tested using data from the OECD PISA 2000 and OECD PISA 2006 surveys, the PISA-L longitudinal survey, and Higher Education Studies 2004 survey. The main analytic methods used are multi-level modelling and logistic regression.

The theoretical concept of second-order elections has become a useful tool to analyze sub-national and/or supranational elections. This paper tries to apply the concept to the regional elections in the Czech Republic and to challenge the concept by analysis of the personalization of the vote in the regional elections to the assembly of South Moravia in the year 2008. Working with the electoral results (especially with preferential voting), the authors argue that the decisions and preferences of voters were influenced not only by the situation in the main political arena (e.g. by the governing or opposition role of political parties) but also by the composition of party lists, in terms of candidates' connections locally.