The Helping Schools Succeed project encourages improvements in tuition quality in three more Regions of the Czech Republic

The project helps in improving 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 intensive support focused on improving the quality of teaching for at least five years. For example, the Foundation finances teachers’ assistants and school psychologists as well as the purchase of educational tools for both teachers and students. Three days a week, a pedagogic 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 of 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.

The new schools will get their first taste of Helping Schools Succeed with a two-day session for their entire teaching staff this August. Teachers will meet their colleagues from the elementary schools that have been participating in the project for three to five years. In particular, they will focus on efficiently planning the pedagogic development of their schools and on taking full advantage of working with teachers’ assistants and pedagogic consultants. Prague’s Kunratice Elementary School will induct the Tomáš Šobr Elementary School in Písek and the Křížanská Elementary School in Liberec. The Zdice Elementary School in the Central Bohemian Region will assist the Staňkov Elementary School.

The Helping Schools Succeed project will involve seven model schools in seven Bohemian and Moravian Regions in the next school year. The Foundation’s goal is to get one model school in every Region of the Czech Republic involved in the project.

Overview of schools participating in the Helping Schools Succeed project

Model schools
Mendelova Elementary School, Karviná, Moravian-Silesian Region
Kunratice Elementary School, Prague
Zdice Elementary School, Central Bohemian Region
Horka nad Moravou Elementary School and Preschool, Olomouc Region

New schools involved in the project with effect from 2015
The Tomáš Šobr Elementary School and Preschool, Písek, South Bohemian Region
Staňkov Elementary School, Plzeň Region
Křížanská Elementary School, Liberec, Liberec Region

Collaborating schools
Šromotovo Elementary School and Preschool, Hranice, Olomouc Region
The 2nd Elementary School – Propojení school, Sedlčany, Central Bohemian Region
Dobronín Elementary School and Preschool, Vysočina Region