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Description
According to a representative survey aimed at mapping the first year of implementation of the amendment to the Education Act, referred to as Joint Education, pupils with severe behavioral disorders and mental illness are the most demanding group of pupils for teachers to educate. They feel the lack of competencies in supporting these pupils and declare the need for further education and methodological guidance.
Research shows that teaching socio-emotional learning, together with increasing mental health literacy, can provide pupils with the skills and knowledge to fulfill their potential and the right to a satisfying and quality life. The risk of developing mental problems is been reduced as well.
The target groups of the project are children and youth, as well as teachers as mediating subjects.
In the project, we will provide education to 80 pedagogical staff of schools and school counseling facilities in region Hradec Králové through an education, which will focus on increasing knowledge and competencies in the field of mental health. The project will involve 25 schools, in which we will provide methodological support to teachers through education, case seminars, and supervision. For direct work with children, we will develop 2 methodologies of psychoeducational education and a training program to increase mental health support, which will be attended by 2000 participants either in school teaching or in leisure activities.
At the end of the project, we will organize a regional conference entitled Possibilities of mental health development in education, where we will present the outputs of the project and examples of good practice.
All activities of the project will be aimed at fulfilling the result of the program, which is to increase the support of mental health and well-being in children.
Summary of project results
The need for the project stems from a society-wide mandate to focus on mental health promotion. Educators need support in the development of competencies aimed at developing wellbeing. Challenges were associated with a lack of confidence to accept a different way of seeing the world
and varying degrees of willingness to understand the specifics of mental health development. Invite educators to collaborate if they believe in the importance of the performance component of education.
The response of the participants to the whole project was excellent. This is evident from the reactions at the final conference. Work continues with schools.
Thanks to the ceiling (long-term systematic training, supervision, case study meetings and methodical meetings), teachers are more competent for the development of DZ in schools both in themselves and in their pupils. It is important for pupils to have within their reach competent adults who can help create a safe environment and promote personal well-being. And thanks to the project, it succeeded. Children and pupils went through a program for the development of mental health, where they developed especially in communication skills and cooperation, emotional adjustment, psychohygiene and coping strategies.
28 schools were involved in the project, a total of 80 teaching staff were trained, and 2107 children and pupils went through the DZ development program. For support, supervision (780.75 hours) and methodical meetings (392), case study seminars (29) took place 2 methodologies were created for working with collectives. The Center for Prevention was established at Pedagogical-psychological counseling center and Special pedagogical center of the Hradec Králové region.
The expected impact lies in the awareness of teachers and the development of skills on how to create a safe climate and how to contribute to the reduction of anxiety in pupils. Thanks to the psychoeducational programme, pupils know how they can take care of their mental health, they know psychohygiene techniques, they have information on where to go for help, they know how to define and take care of mental health. There is an increase in mental health literacy for both children and adults.