Another three schools admitted to the Helping Schools Succeed project

In September, the Tomáš Šobr elementary school in Písek [South Bohemian Region], the Křížanská elementary school in Liberec [Liberec Region] and the elementary school in Staňkov [in the Domažlice District, Plzeň Region] will join the program, which helps to improve the quality of education, placing emphasis on teachers taking an individualized approach to their students. It is based on the conviction that continued educational, material and personnel support can help teachers better identify students’ specific needs and adapt their teaching style accordingly, thus achieving the best pedagogic results. Leading educationalists and institutions participate in developing teachers’ skills every year.

“Every child deserves a chance for a good education and respect for their individual abilities and skills. This is why our project is intended for public elementary schools willing to learn how to develop every student to their full potential and, in the long term, share their experience with other schools. We seek to foster positive changes in the Czech education sector,” says Renáta Kellnerová who founded The Kellner Family Foundation together with her husband, Petr Kellner.

Schools involved in the project receive, for example:

• At least five-year intensive support focused on improving the quality of teaching;

• The Foundation finances teachers’ assistants, mentors, and school psychologists;

• The purchase of educational tools for both teachers and students;

• Three days a week, a teaching consultant works with teachers, giving them feedback upon request and assisting them when they try new things.

“The project has given us new ways to see our teaching and opened doors to new educational methods and approaches. It is really quite unique, in that it gives teachers a great deal of freedom in choosing what they want to develop in and at what pace. The key is for them to have the inner drive to improve their teaching so that the project can bring about the best educational outcomes for every student in the school,” Bohumil Zmrzlík, the principal of the Mendelova Elementary School in Karviná, one of the first schools to participate in the project since 2010, describes the project.

The new project schools were chosen in an intense, four-month selection process. A panel of twelve leading education experts chose the schools. The selection process included full-day visits by the expert team to the nine schools that made it to the second round. The primary selection criteria included a clear vision for the school, teachers that are motivated to get involved in the demanding project, and the qualities of the principal.

Source | http://www.tyden.cz/rubriky/domaci/skolstvi/ucast-v-projektu-pomahame-skolam-k-uspechu-ziskaly-dalsi-tri-skoly_345570.html#.VaytF_ni1-Y