Dalton in the Czech Republic

15 februari 2018 1975 views

20 years … that long is the history of Dalton teaching in the Czech Republic.
20 years ago four schools in Brno (Husova, Chalabalova, Krídlovická and Mutenická) started to create a modern tradition of the Czech Dalton education, with the great support from their Dutch colleagues Roel Röhner and Hans Wenke.

Czech Dalton

The Association of Czech Dalton Schools was founded in 1996 and it was also that year when the first international Dalton conference took place in Brno. A number of the schools in Brno started a close cooperation with some Dalton schools from the partnership city Utrecht, in the Netherlands. In the following years, more than 500 educators mostly from Brno visited several Dalton schools in the Netherlands. The Association of Czech Dalton Schools was also a party in the creation of the organization Dalton International.
With the support of the Education Department of the South Moravian Region three publications have been published by The Association of Czech Dalton Schools. They are titled: “Long Live the School” (Atžije škola!), “Dalton education: Always the Fresh Inspiration” (Daltonské vyucování: Stále živá inspirace) and “Hello Dalton” (Hello Dalton). The authors are Roel Rohner and Hans Wenke. A series of Dalton Magazine (2004 – 2009) were edited, containing articles written by Dutch specialists and educators from all over the world.

Dalton teaching has become an inspiration for many schools interested in a membership of the national association and sharing principles of the Dalton teaching among teachers and parents. The aim of these schools was to openly declare their Dalton ways of teaching and that’s why these schools were enabled to apply for the certificate Czech Dalton School. The condition for receiving the title was to get through the standardized approval procedure.
In 2013 The Association of Czech Dalton Schools discontinued the activities and was followed by a not profit-making organization Czech Dalton. This organization has adopted all the areas authorized by The Association of Czech Dalton Schools.

School certification

Today the tradition of the Czech Dalton teaching continues and the Dalton schools try to keep and increase the level of their education. The evidence is not only the number of members in the organization Czech Dalton, but also the schools interested in receiving the certificate Czech Dalton School. There were 14 schools applying for this status this year. Those were the traditional schools using the Dalton teaching in the long term and also new schools which started with the Dalton education later and got their motivation at the Dalton conferences. The principle of receiving the certificate follows the tradition of the past years but the conditions were revised and adapted to the present. The certification procedure runs in two stages. Firstly, the self-evaluation of the school is taken. It is based on the questionnaire of the Dalton qualification. Next, it is submitted to a team of evaluators. Then the examination of the level of Dalton teaching at that school is taken by the team of evaluators. If the school succeeds, this team can recommend it for the certification.

Interest of parents and cooperation

Czech Dalton also continues in organizing of international Dalton conferences and further training of educators. This year the 20th International Dalton Conference took place in Brno, with the support of the city leaders and in the presence and active participation by lectures of Roel Röhner and Hans Wenke.
One of the important motivational elements for the Dalton schools is the interest of parents which is essential for the work of these schools, as well as the support of the school creators.
High-quality functioning of Dalton schools is also connected with the cooperation with universities educating the future teachers. Today Czech Dalton cooperates with The Charles University in Prague, Masaryk University in Brno and The University in Pardubice.
Dalton teaching in the Czech Republic started with the international cooperation and it couldn’t exist without it even today. These contacts are very important for mutual sharing of experience, progress and support. Our foreign partners are the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Spain, England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Australia, China, Senegal, Japan and the USA.