Global Education and European Teaching Strategies
2018-1-ES01-KA101-049441
Gymnazium Bilingvalne Zilina - Job Shadowing November 2018
Monday 19th November
9:00 Meeting with Patricia Tuncerová, head of studies of the GBZA Gymnazium Bilingvalne Zilina
(Bilingual Highschool of Zilina). She highlights the basic aspects of the school organisation.
It’s got two sections, a French one (thanks to an agreement with the Belgian government) and a
Spanish one (together with the Spanish Ministry of Education).
In Slovakia, there are 9 years of primary education (students access school aged 6 and leave aged
14) and 4 years of secondary education (ages 15 to 19). In order to finish secondary studies, they
have to pass an exam (Maturita) and they can continue to graduate programmes if they choose to do
so. When a student has been born in the last quarter of the year (after September) they are registered
into school with children born the following year. In the case of the GBZA there are 5 years of
secondary education, as the first year is almost completely devoted to teaching the vehicular foreign
language (French or Spanish). In that first extra year, students take 20 hours of foreign language, 2
hours of scientific language in that same L2 and science in Slovak. As students progress higher in
the four remaining years, the percentage of L2 hours is smaller (one hour of linguistics and one and
a half of literature per week in the last year).
Spanish / French are the vehicular languages for science (Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Biology).
Each subject takes three hours per week, two in L2 and one in Slovak. Thanks to the agreement
with the Spanish ministry of Education, students of the GBZA can also get the Spanish “Bachillerato”
in Sciences.
Lectures are taught from 8 to 13:30, in 45 minute lessons, with 15 minutes breaks between lessons.
Students can opt to add more subjects to their curriculum by taking extra classes from 7:15 to 8 or
13:30 to 15:30.
The GBZA started as a bilingual section with an agreement with Belgium. It is the last remaining
school with such an agreement, and it is not going to be renewed when it expires in three years.
Unlike students in the Spanish section, the French students will not obtain any Belgian qualifications
or studies.
The agreement with the Spanish Ministry of Education involves 6 lecturers, who can remain in the
school for 6 years. The school covers their accommodation, housing expenses and a Slovak salary.
Apart from the agreement, there’s an extra lecturer, hired by the school itself.