On 1 June 2021 the Roma Education Support Trust (REST) launched a website for Czech educators, “Záleží na každém dítěti” (Every Child Matters) which presents a practical guide describing how schools in the Czech Republic have approached educating different kinds of children together in the same classroom. This unique guidance was published in 2020 in partnership with Czech primary schools.
“In this guidebook you will find tried-and-true advice, tips and strategies that Czech principals and teachers exchanged with their British and Czech colleagues during reciprocal working visits to each others’ schools and then adapted to their own local conditions,” a press release sent to Romea.cz says. The guidebook first introduces the idea of how to educate children of different backgrounds together and covers the legal framework for such education in the Czech Republic (inclusion).
The next part of the guidebook presents case studies from Grafická Primary School in Prague and the Trmice Primary School in Trmice, Czech Republic. The third section shows what an inclusive classroom and the education of children of different backgrounds together looks like in practice, including classroom planning and how to differentiate instruction so all pupils become and remain engaged.
The fourth section presents tried-and-true learning and teaching strategies, including differential learning strategies, and describes 46 different activities that can be used during instruction. The closing section gives other practical tips about working with pupil uniqueness.
“You’ll find tips here on how to work with pupils whose mother tongue is not Czech (e.g., tips on working with images or visual aids), practical advice about educators working with pupils who have autism spectrum disorder or cerebral palsy, tips for working with the behavior of pupils and their guardians/parents, or examples of school strategies for combating bullying and racism,” the authors say. The dedicated website for the guidance, https://www.zalezinakazdemditeti.cz/, is where one can download the publication after registering and includes excerpts from each section.
