Availability and quality of school facilities as determinant of local economic development: The Slovak experience

Abstract

The availability and quality of school facilities has long been a hot topic, not only at the level of self-government, but also in respect of the whole public administration within the context of Slovakia. COVID-19 and the current military conflict in Ukraine are jointly putting increased pressure on local self-governments as the founders of kindergartens and primary schools. Whether the availability and quality of school facilities is a determinant of local development is a question for which there are very few studies. The aim of this paper is to identify long-term satisfaction with the availability and quality of kindergartens and primary schools in the Cerven ˇ ý Kame ˇn microregion; this is understood in the context of these institutions serving as an important determinant of local development. In this paper, a qualitative evaluation (survey) of parents of students in the Cereven ˇ ý Kame ˇn microregion was conducted. In order to increase the objectivity of the obtained results, the survey was conducted two times with an interval of 7 years (2014 vs. 2021). Our results show that parents perceive the availability and quality in the same way even over a long period, but without confirmed statistically significant differences. At the same time, however, we found that satisfaction with the analyzed school facilities changed over time.