- 2018Implementation
- 2019Implementation
- 2020Implementation
- 2021Implementation
- 2022Implementation
Background
The 2015 Amendment to the Pedagogical Staff Act addressed continuing professional development (CPD) issues and a new career scheme. The proposed scheme, developed in cooperation between the education ministry and the National Institute for Further Education, complemented the existing opportunities with a new path helping staff acquire the relevant skills for specific positions: participative leadership skills; needs-based and individualised teaching and formative assessment to develop young people's potential; and fostering key competence development. The proposal, however, was not approved by the Parliament but further developed by the SYPO project.
Objectives
The project responds to the current situation, which lacks a comprehensive system of professional support for teachers and directors.
Description
The SYPO project (System for the support of professional development of teachers and directors) was launched in January 2018 and is carried out in cooperation with a range of stakeholders, including representatives of the Czech School Inspectorate, the National Institute for Education, higher education institutions, the Association of School Directors, and representatives of regions. Further education of these two target groups is, to some extent, unsystematic, lacking conceptual support for different phases of the career path. Therefore, the SYPO project prepares a new concept to support systematically and comprehensively professional growth with emphasis on quality, using methodological cabinets at national and regional level and the Permanent Conference of Directors.
Methodological cabinets are platforms where teachers can exchange schooling experience. A total of 12 methodological cabinets are planned to be set up in the areas corresponding to the education framework programmes. In 2019, three methodological cabinets were piloted (Czech language and literature, mathematics and its applications, informatics and ICT). Within the methodological cabinets, a network of regional ICT methodologists was created, whose task is to support school ICT coordinators, school leaders and teachers in introducing digital technologies into teaching and school management in accordance with the Digital education strategy until 2020. The first round of training (such as media training) and workshops (such as bench learning, individual and group consultations with mentors, using cloud technologies in effective leadership) for school management was prepared by the SYPO project in 2019; such events are planned to continue in 2020. Roundtables and conferences (Novice teacher II) were organised in 2019 (including the Teacher´s professional portfolio). Courses for novice teachers, supporting teachers and the management of schools were designed in 2019 and should start within 2020.
The Permanent Conference of Directors was established in February 2019. This is a committee, divided at the national level into sections by type of school: kindergartens, basic schools, secondary schools and basic art schools. Its members are school directors, deputy directors and representatives of the Ministry of Education, higher education institutions and universities, school founders and professional associations. The role of the Conference is to participate in the creation of a comprehensive model for the professional development of school management; set priorities for the professional development of school management; and identify appropriate forms of support by priority.
In 2020, the expert panels of the project continued (Teacher’s portfolio, personal journey of professions, portfolio as a continuous personal tool for the professional growth of a teacher). The expert panel organised in May focused on remote learning..
In 2020, three new methodological cabinets were launched: the first stage of basic schools, pre-school education and the cabinet of sciences.
In October 2020, training courses intended for schools with new/starting teachers were launched. Three different types of courses have been developed: for the starting teachers, for induction/guiding teachers, and for the school management. The courses provide inspiration for setting up the adaptation process at school and developing an adaptation plan, as well as the possibility to consult with an experienced instructor and to share experiences. They are offered to schools free of charge as an integral part of the project.
Methodological cabinets provided online and in-person tutoring to students who were adversely affected by the outage of in-person learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic; over 100 members of the Methodological cabinets’ network from across the country signed up to help. In 2021, almost 500 teachers were involved in the regional Methodological cabinets. More than 1 800 other teachers were involved at the district/local level network.
A competence model for school headmasters was finalised in line with the Strategy 2030+, which presents a headmaster as a pedagogical leader. The international conference, Professional development of school leadership in the light of experience, was the first step towards piloting the proposed model of the system of support for professional development of school leadership, which the project is developing based on f Czech and international experience. The model should become a self-reflection tool for headmasters on their work.
The expert panel organised in January 2021 dealt with pedagogical practice not only in times of remote learning; and in February 2021, it was entitled Further education of pedagogical staff as an inspiring challenge for school administration
In autumn of 2021, the first two meetings were held with 30 school leaders who showed interest in the so-called extended support. Extended support offers activities such as development portfolio and inspirational examples when working with pedagogical staff and/or students, discussions with a consultant with practical experience, self-development and self-reflection from a different perspective, several online and in-person meetings. In addition to the work on the support system model for school leadership, the piloting of school management individual support continued smoothly, particularly in the form of group and individual consultations.
A blog posting teacher contributions and experiences was created. In the form of motivational podcasts, articles and webinars, schools’ headmasters engaged in the Permanent Conference of Directors shared their personal practical experience from their professional life (what inspires them, what they are dealing with, what motivates them, what they would advise to future headmasters, or what they enjoy about their role) with colleagues from other schools.
In 2021, a two-year pilot of the support model for novice teachers entering teaching practice was finalised; and the preparation began for compiling all pilot results into the Comprehensive support system for novice teachers. In the second year, the pilot focused on the teacher portfolio as an important self-reflection tool and on their professional development plans. In the schools, functional mini-teams, the so-called triads consisting of an induction teacher, a novice (beginning) teacher and a representative of the school leadership, were created; thanks to them, each novice teacher gets an induction teacher as a mentor. The concept of the triad is a cooperation scheme implemented in schools with the aim to make the novice teacher transition to teaching practice as smooth as possible, to encourage their professional development and support them according to their individual needs. All participants of the triads were offered education through e-learning courses and workshops, which were prepared within the project.
In 2021, the project supported almost 200 schools with novice teachers, and that allowed for the implementation of the support system to begin. The support system offers each school the possibility to use (free of charge) the methodological manual, Model of support for novice (beginner) teachers, with examples of inspiring practice and ideas, training or consultations with an expert. In 2021, online consultations were launched to support novice teachers, and webinars for induction teachers were held, focusing on the insights and experiences of induction teachers and school leadership.
In 2021, an expert panel Quality of continuing professional development of teachers and its self-evaluation in education institutions took place. In individual cabinets, methodological manuals, focusing on aspects such as formative assessment in basic and upper secondary schools, were being developed.
In 2022, two national Methodological cabinets were established - one for foreign languages and the other for social sciences. That brought the number of national methodological cabinets to seven of the planned twelve. As part of their activities, the cabinets organised colloquia, provided methodological support to schools and ensured the production of methodological manuals. In 2022, 370 colloquia were held at national, regional and district levels. By the end of 2022, they have become a well-operating venue of collegial support involving 3,731 teachers, including volunteer collaborators.
In the second half of 2022, the system for evaluating qualification and specialisation studies was developed and piloted, and works were ongoing on a system for prioritising continuing professional development (CPD) for teaching staff and on analysing its funding. Three training programmes related to the evaluation system for qualification and specialisation studies were developed and piloted. Seventeen educational institutions of different types that offer this kind of programmes were invited to pilot the system in practice. As soon as the evaluation of the pilot is available, the system of studies’ evaluation will be adapted and prepared to be used by educational institutions providing qualification and specialisation studies, as well as by the members of the Accreditation Commission and other employees of the MŠMT.
The implementation phase of the support system for novice teachers combined the work with the ‘Model of support for novice teachers’ and the relevant training courses ‘Novice teachers in the adaptation period’, ‘Introducing teachers and their role in the adaptation period’, and the ‘School leadership and their role in the adaptation period’.
The courses were followed by specialised workshops designed to support novice teachers. There are also useful practice-oriented guides available on the project website for the triad of actors, i.e. for the novice teachers upon the entry into the teaching jobs, for the induction teachers (experienced teacher/mentor) to whom they provide recommendations and good practice examples and finally for the school leadership to whom they offer a wide range of basic principles and recommended actions.
Within this part of the project, 392 schools were supported. Based on the experience from the implemented activities, the model of support system for novice teachers was revised. In 2022, the piloting of the ‘Model of the system of support for professional development of school leadership’ and the implementation phase of the Permanent Conference of Headmasters continued. The international conference entitled “Support to Leadership in Education as a Way to School Improvement” was held in September 2022 to support this target group. In addition, there were also district conferences, group and individual consultations, online support events and bench-learnings organised.
A total of 91 webinars in the field of subject didactics were organised, with corresponding methodological cabinets that were set up, and with a total of 8,604 participants. The webinars are available in three versions: live on-line webinars, recorded webinars which are part of the on-line school (e-learning) and finally publicly available webinars posted on the YouTube channel. Another form of support represented regional workshops - in 2022, there were 285 of them with a total of 5,415 participants.
Bodies responsible
- National Institute for Further Education (until 2019)
- Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports
- Association of School Directors
- National Pedagogical Institute of the Czech Republic
Target groups
Education professionals
- Teachers
- School leaders
Thematic categories
Governance of VET and lifelong learning
This thematic category looks at existing legal frameworks providing for strategic, operational – including quality assurance – and financing arrangements for VET and lifelong learning (LLL). It examines how VET and LLL-related policies are placed in broad national socioeconomic contexts and coordinate with other strategies and policies, such as economic, social and employment, growth and innovation, recovery and resilience.
This thematic category covers partnerships and collaboration networks of VET stakeholders – especially the social partners – to shape and implement VET in a country, including looking at how their roles and responsibilities for VET at national, regional and local levels are shared and distributed, ensuring an appropriate degree of autonomy for VET providers to adapt their offer.
The thematic category also includes efforts to create national, regional and sectoral skills intelligence systems (skills anticipation and graduate tracking) and using skills intelligence for making decisions about VET and LLL on quality, inclusiveness and flexibility.
This thematic sub-category refers both to formal mechanisms of stakeholder engagement in VET governance and to informal cooperation among stakeholders, which motivate shared responsibility for quality VET. Formal engagement is usually based on legally established institutional procedures that clearly define the role and responsibilities for relevant stakeholders in designing, implementing and improving VET. It also refers to establishing and increasing the degree of autonomy of VET providers for agile and flexible VET provision.
In terms of informal cooperation, the sub-category covers targeted actions by different stakeholders to promote or implement VET. This cooperation often leads to creating sustainable partnerships and making commitments for targeted actions, in line with the national context and regulation, e.g. national alliances for apprenticeships, pacts for youth or partnerships between schools and employers. It can also include initiatives and projects run by the social partners or sectoral organisations or networks of voluntary experts and executives, retired or on sabbatical, to support their peers in the fields of VET and apprenticeships, as part of the EAfA.
Teachers, trainers and school leaders competences
Competent and motivated VET teachers in schools and trainers in companies are crucial to VET becoming innovative and relevant, agile, resilient, flexible, inclusive and lifelong.
This thematic category comprises policies and practices of initial training and continuing professional development approaches in a systemic and systematic manner. It also looks at measures aiming to update (entry) requirements and make teaching and training careers attractive and bring more young and talented individuals and business professionals into teaching and training. Supporting VET educators by equipping them with adequate competences, skills and tools for the green transition and digital teaching and learning are addressed in separate thematic sub-categories.
The measures in this category target teachers and school leaders, company trainers and mentors, adult educators and guidance practitioners.
This thematic sub-category refers to all kinds of initial and continuing professional development (CPD) for VET educators who work in vocational schools and in companies providing VET. VET educators include teachers and school leaders, trainers and company managers involved in VET, as well as adult educators and guidance practitioners – those who work in school- and work-based settings. The thematic sub-category includes national strategies, training programmes or individual courses to address the learning needs of VET educators and to develop their vocational (technical) skills, and pedagogical (teaching) skills and competences. Such programmes concern state-of-the-art vocational pedagogy, innovative teaching methods, and competences needed to address evolving teaching environments, e.g. teaching in multicultural settings, working with learners at risk of early leaving, etc.
This thematic sub-category refers to measures aimed at engaging more professionals into teaching and training careers, including career schemes or incentives. It includes measures enabling teaching and training of staff, managing VET provider and trainer teams in companies to act as multipliers and mediators, and supporting their peers and/or local communities.
This thematic sub-category is in line with the EU policy focus on the digital transition, and refers to professional development and other measures to prepare and support teachers and trainers in teaching their learners digital skills and competences. It also covers measures and support for them to increase their own digital skills and competences, including for teaching in virtual environments, working with digital tools and applying digital pedagogies. Emergency measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic also fall into this sub-category.