Theoretical seminars and practical workshops - visit of Norwegian partners in CZ
In mid-November, we welcomed representatives of Norwegian partners - Lorenskog high school and Sofienberg primary school - to our university. In total, 5 representatives of the Lorenskog school (Korhan Markussen, Hege Sneis Jensen, Pia Vikdal Sæten, Vibeke Mørch-Jensen, Odin Tellesbø) and 3 representatives of the Sofienberg school (Emil Wahlqist, Espen Hildre, Umit Bayraktar) took part in the visit.
The aim of the visit was to familiarize the Norwegian partners with the educational system in the Czech Republic, to introduce them to the current situation associated with the inclusion of children from Ukraine in education, and to contribute overall to the mutual sharing of knowledge and good practice in the field of inclusion of children (primarily groups from different cultural backgrounds).
As part of the visit, we organized a visit for the partners to the Archbishop's Gymnasium in Kroměříž, with which our faculty has been cooperating for a long time. The representatives of Norwegian schools had the opportunity to see the teaching, or to talk with the director and teachers of the school.
However, the main part of the visit consisted of 3 theoretical seminars, theoretical-practical workshops and a discussion meetings with primary school teachers across the Olomouc region, which took place on 15.11. and 16.11. at the Theological Faculty of the Palacký University Olomouc. These events loosely followed on from the already realized teacher discussions during the organization of HeartDays at the Fortress of Knowledge. The idea was to deepen this discussion and involve representatives of Norwegian schools, where they have long-term experience with multicultural inclusion.
In total, over 43 primary school teachers from the Olomouc region visited the event. Students of the Social Work with children and youth at Palacký University were also present at one of the events.
Theoretical seminars included presentations by representatives of the HeartDay project (Evžen Weigl, Lukáš Hodis and Ondřej Buchta) as well as members of the National Pedagogical Institute (Irena Balaban and Lucie Fóglová). The content of the presentations was to acquaint the audience with current situations in Czech primary schools and to share practical methods for making the inclusion of Ukrainian children more effective.
The theoretical-practical workshops then took place practically purely under the guidance of our Norwegian partners. During their presentations, they shared with the participants their experiences with inclusion in Norway, but also the specific procedures they apply when working with children coming from a different cultural background.
With the subsequent moderated discussion, we gave space to Czech teachers and offered the possibility of sharing experiences between them and their Norwegian colleagues. As bonus material, we also played a recording of an interview with the Czech teacher Eliška Tellesbø, who has been working at a school in Norway for a long time.
We received positive feedback from the Norwegian and Czech meeting participants. Both sides perceived the mutual sharing of knowledge and good practice in the field of inclusion of pupils with special educational needs as very beneficial.
Materials from the events
The presentation of both Norwegian partners from the meetings, as well as the recording of the interview with Eliška Tellesbø, can be found under the link below.