Will my 5th-grader switch to the new programme in September 2026?

No. The reform applies only to the cohorts that start on the new plan. Changes roll in gradually — one year at a time from grade 1 up. Your child continues under the old plan until the end of compulsory schooling.

Will new subjects appear in school, or does informatics stay the same?

In the lower grades, informatics is part of the Mathematics and Informatics educational area. Standalone STEAM subjects are not in the compulsory programme yet, but topics from that area are integrated into existing subjects. The real content depends on the specific school and teacher.

What does AI literacy mean as a cross-cutting literacy?

It means the ability to use AI tools, understand their limits, critically check their outputs, and be aware of ethical boundaries. In practice this means the school has a plan — but execution will vary by school and by classroom, especially in the first two years of the reform.

Do I as a parent have to teach my child to code myself?

Not required. The reformed school plan covers digital and AI literacy basics. If a parent wants the child to go further — to project-based coding, Python, or web development — the better path is a programme with instructor feedback, not self-study.

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Slovak Curriculum Reform from September 2026: What It Means for Parents of Children Aged 8–15

From 1 September 2026, every primary school in Slovakia switches to a new state educational programme. This is not a cosmetic update: the structure of subjects, the assessment system in lower grades, and the list of cross-cutting literacies all change. AI literacy appears in the list for the first time. The reform has been piloted in about 1,000 schools during the 2025/2026 academic year.

If your child is aged 8–15 and lives in Slovakia, this piece is for you. Czech parents will find it useful as well: the situation is largely parallel, since the Czech ŠVP reform started in 2021, and the specific Slovak design serves as a useful reference for where compulsory education in the region is heading.

What Changes in Subject Structure and Assessment

In grades 1–3, subjects merge into seven educational areas: Language and Communication, Mathematics and Informatics, People and Nature, People and Society, People and the World of Work, Art and Culture, Health and Movement. Marks are largely replaced by descriptive feedback, an approach the OECD recommends for younger primary pupils. Informatics sits in the same area as mathematics, signalling that the state treats it as a basic literacy rather than an elective.

Informatics sits in the same area as mathematics — a basic literacy, not an elective.

New Cross-Cutting Literacies: AI Literacy Joins Compulsory Education

The new plan keeps the classic literacies — digital, financial, social-emotional — and adds AI literacy as a standalone cross-cutting element for the first time. The expectation is that schools will develop not just the ability to use ChatGPT, but an understanding of what a model is, where its limits are, and how to verify its answers. Against the Ministry of Education partnership with OpenAI and the distribution of ChatGPT Edu licences to 80,000 teachers, this point now carries real weight.

What the Reform Means for Parents: Three Practical Takeaways

First: the transition is gradual. Changes apply year by year from the first grade up, so a child currently in grade 5 will finish compulsory school under the old plan. Second: descriptive assessment does not mean no expectations — teachers are given frameworks and indicators. Third: the new cross-cutting literacies set the ceiling of what schools aim for. A school will not turn a child into an AI-literate user in a single year; parents may want to close that gap at home or in an after-school programme with real feedback.

A school will not turn a child into an AI-literate user in a single year.

Free First Coding Lesson for Kids at Algonova

At Algonova we keep our curriculum in sync with what the Czech and Slovak states put into compulsory education: algorithmic thinking, digital and AI literacy through real projects. Regular classes run in small groups of up to 10 students or one-on-one with an instructor, at the parent's choice. The first trial lesson is always individual, 60 minutes, online and free; the child leaves with a finished mini-project.

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FAQ: Slovak Curriculum Reform 2026

Sources: minedu.sk (Štátny vzdelávací program — curriculum reform 2026), pravda.sk (the 7 key changes of the reform), studiumstem.sk (analysis of educational areas), forum-media.sk (methodological materials for schools), Scio Research AI Kompas 2025–2026, OECD Education Policy Outlook.