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Description
Schools in general are places for growht of the civil society. The school actors experience it‘s procedures, hierarchy and ways of solving problems. According to recent researches, this experience determine their atitude towards other institutions of civil society and democracy in general.
Czech school system is one of the most decentralized in the world. The government provides schools with basic guidline and covers salaries of school staff, municipalities take care over facilities. Development of school curriculum and school culture are responsibility of schools. Overal responsibility is on the school director, that shall collaborate and report to School council. In this body, delegates of pupils and their parents, teachers and the municipality/school founder are presented.
The School counciles are a key tool for the participation of school actors. This institute has a strong legal position, but it is not well known and does not have needed prestige. School counciles are not efficient enough in their activities, there is no quality information platform to support them.
The project strengthens so-called performance triangle of the School counciles (to know, to want, to have the power), using a set of developed and verified tools, creating an organizational platform for ongoing communication and support. The online encyclopedia of relevant concepts will be developed as well as tools and manuals for democratic elections and efficient procedures. Good practise of restorative approach will be shared among schools, using also examples provided of parents and educators in Norwegian schools.
All the project outputs will be ready for ongoing development and service under management of Restorative school, z.s. , partner organisations and institutions.
Summary of project results
The topic of School Boards concerns approximately 1.4 million children and their legal representatives, pedagogical staff, co-workers of self-governing bodies, and directors (more in the Czech description). School is an institution close to most families in the Czech Republic. Research shows its fatal importance for shaping relationships, the degree of solidarity, and the involvement of all its actors towards other civic institutions. School Boards in the Czech Republic are far from fulfilling the function of a local platform for the implementation of the principles of civil society and participation of interested persons in School Councils, although there are legislative prerequisites for this.
During the project, we focused on several areas of activity:
Development of Support Tools
- We created an innovative model election regulation that activates interesting candidates for school boards and enables tactical and consensus-based voting.
- We compiled all areas that school boards work with into a set of interconnected entries in an online encyclopedia.
- We created a range of services for all target groups involved with school boards.
- We built a team of collaborators ready to provide support to specific school boards.
Utilization of Support Tools
- We presented the topic of school boards at various events, from local meetings of school principals to a seminar for members of the Parliament of the Czech Republic.
- We provided consultations on election regulations and other documents that school boards work with.
- We conducted workshops for forming school board teams.
- We updated our thematic information portal and the websites of other organizations.
Public Relations
- We established cooperation with a number of significant organizations and initiatives from both the public and non-profit sectors.
- We reviewed several educational strategies and development recommendations.
- Thanks to the publication of thematic articles on interest portals and an advertising campaign, we achieved a radical increase in the number of visitors to our website (before the project, it was tens of visitors per year, during the project, it was thousands of visitors).
Internal Development of the Organization
- We found that there is currently insufficient demand for services for school boards to make the program self-sustainable.
- Our organization has other development programs in its portfolio in addition to the School Boards program. During the project, we found ways to ensure that the programs support each other.
For the first time in the Czech Republic, this project has established an organization dedicated to providing ongoing professional support to all stakeholders involved.
Our support services include:
- An online encyclopedia covering over 60 key concepts related to school boards.
- A team of experienced professionals offering facilitation, mediation, and mentoring to support school boards, administrators, and founders in building strong teams.
- A wide range of services, such as consultations, training, and expert advice, available to school board members, school communities, principals, founders, policymakers, and more.
We have secured funding for the program''s continued development and have a plan in place to ensure its long-term sustainability.