Learning a foreign language at school is very common in the European Union (EU), with more than 17 million lower secondary school pupils (or 98.6% of all pupils at this education level) studying at least one foreign language in 2015.

The Council conclusions of 5-6 May 2003 on reference levels of European average performance in education and training (benchmarks) stated that the share of early school leavers should be below 10 % by 2010, defining early school leavers as persons between 18 and 24 years old with only lower secondary education or less and no longer in education or training.

19. Advocates flexible, needs-based forms of learning at schools and stresses that this challenge must be addressed in particular by primary schools and in the early years of secondary schooling by means of early intervention, stronger bonds to be fostered with schools, and other measures; takes the view that teaching staff, educational psychologists, educational social workers and all relevant stakeholders should be qualified for this purpose and benefit from a high standard of training throughout their careers so as to enable them to reorient their practice and hence gear it to the ...[+++] new requirements and to be actively involved in the planning, organising, performing and evaluating of strategies to help people who are at risk of early school leaving or those who have already dropped out; therefore points out that education and vocational training institutions must exchange experiences and tried and tested practice and develop effective means of support for pupils in danger of dropping out;

There is a strong emphasis on learning and using foreign languages: all pupils study a first foreign language (English, French or German) from the first year of primary education and a second foreign language (any language taught in the school) from the second year of secondary school.

master in vocational education ("majster odbornej výchovy"), which represents education of a total duration of at least 12 years, comprising 8 years of basic education, 4 years of vocational education (complete vocational secondary education and/or apprenticeship in the relevant (similar) vocational training or apprenticeship course), professional experience of a total duration of at least 3 years in the field of the person's completed education or apprenticeship and supplementary pedagogical study at the faculty of pedagogy or at the technical universities, or complete secondary education and apprenticeship in the relevant (similar) voc ...[+++]ational training or apprenticeship course, professional experience of a total duration of at least 3 years in the field of the person's completed education or apprenticeship, and additional study of pedagogy at the faculty of pedagogy, or by 1 September 2005 specialised education in the field of special pedagogy provided for in the methodology centres for masters in vocational education at the special schools without supplementary pedagogical study.

All pupils study a first foreign language (English, French or German) from the first year of primary education and a second foreign language (any language taught in the school) from the second year of secondary school.