Czech Republic

The history and the achievements of the RWCT program and the Critical Thinking Association in the Czech Republic

Since 1997 the courses of the RWCT program in Czechia have been running every year. Every year the courses are realized in more places and more schools, more courses take place in the same year. The courses are open to all teachers or contracted by a team of teachers from a school, for principals of schools, or for specific subjects like universities, NGOs, entrepreneurs. All courses – basic or follow-up courses, often focused on specific problems or groups in education – are repeatedly officially accredited by the Ministry of Education.

We also take care for the RWCT trainers and we maintain a group of those who have participated in the development of the RWCT methodology. The aim of this is to reflect the actual needs of the teachers-in-the-field in the process of curricular reform. To that aim we also organize trainings of trainers and Summer Institutes. We publish the bi-monthly Kriticke listy journal as a help to refresh the network of the graduates of the RWCT courses and spread the information about RWCT among those who have not heard about it so far.

We co-operate with progressive teachers in teacher colleges and try to implement the methodology also to non-pedagogical faculties. We strive to enrich our activities by co-operation with colleagues from abroad: France, Belgium, Great Britain, the Netherlands.

Recently, we have focused on progressive forms of professional support such as mentoring or coaching.

We create and maintain long-lasting relations with other NGOs and educational institutions that target at similar objectives as we do. We are an active member of an influential Czech association of educational associations (NGOs). We aim at influencing the Czech educational policy so that good conditions for the quality in teacher work might be established in the Czech Republic.

1997

  • First acquaintance with the program at the Lake Balaton, Hungary (July)
  • The Prague office of the OSI – OSF Praha – decided to accept the program
  • The first run of the RWCT program with volunteers from the U.S. David Klooster and Pat Bloem, 29 participating teachers (October 1997)

1998

  • Spring:  two more runs of the RWCT course – with Jeanie Steel and Eva Miklusicakova, Sally Beach and two other trainers, from Slovakia
  • Fall: 4th run of the program, with David Klooster and Pat Bloem

1999

  • The first Czech-led course of RWCT (with Czech trainers and 20 participants of the second “wave” – spring 1999)
  • David Klooster and Pat Bloem – a round trip through the schools of the participants of the first wave
  • The first Summer Institute of RWCT – led by national trainers only
  • The RWCT training course for university teachers in pairs with teachers from practice

2000

  • 2nd February – the NGO Kritické myšlení – the Critical Thinking Association – was founded
  • The second Summer Institute  with David Klooster and Pat Bloem – the famous article “What is Critical Thinking” written by David Klooster for the initial issue of the journal Kriticke listy
  • October 2000 – the initial issue (No.1 and No.2) of the national journal of Czech RWCT Kriticke listy
  • Expert cooperation in writing the International Standard of the RWCT Teacher and Trainer
  • The start of the long-run cooperation with the WHO program “Health Promoting Schools”
  • Radio broadcast workshops on RWCT with teachers (15 workshops)

2001

  • The international RWCT certification visit: David Klooster and Pat Bloem certified the certifiers and trainers of RWCT in Kriticke mysleni
  • Participation in the international research and evaluation of the RWCT program – the Czech Republic among 4 nations, by the American Institutes of Research – proved that the children taught by the teachers trained by the RWCT are more effective in critical thinking and in the skill of independent decision making based on arguments
  • The start of the long-run cooperation with the Czech well known and prestigious People in Need Foundation in their new education-branch program Varianty on inter-cultural education, existing till today  and cooperating with Kriticke mysleni (in a project of cross-curricular topics and reading literacy in the Czech education)
  • Cooperation with the WHO project “Health Promoting Schools”: representatives of 100 schools trained in the RWCT methodology
  • The third Summer Institute of RWCT in Zahradky
  • The training RWCT course for university teachers
  • Radio broadcast workshops on RWCT with teachers
  • The Fair of Critical Thinking, Celakovice
  • The international RWCT-trainers certification project in Russia – two Czech certifiers helping to certificate Russian trainers

2002

  • The fourth Summer Institute of RWCT in Hlaska
  • Cooperation with the WHO project “Health Promoting Schools” – the course of curriculum writing led by RWCT trainers, as a for-runner of the government’s curricular project
  • The beginning of regular cooperation in the conception of the pedagogical skills of university teachers and training for the VSE in Prague (the University of Economy)
  • The Rainbow Conference in Praha-Suchdol, together with the Step by Step – CR, on the implementation of RWCT and pedagogical constructivism in various subject areas
  • Two Czech experts sent by PINF to Belarussia to lead a seminar about reforms in education

2003

  • The publication of the book “Ucim s radosti” (I teach with pleasure) – the experience and expertise of teachers-in-the-field
  • The fifth Summer Institute of RWCT in Lipnice
  • The cooperation with the Forum of University Teachers, publication of a chapter in an almanac
  • Moderating of the television program series “Rodina a skola” (Family and School)

2004

  • The sixth Summer Institute of RWCT for trainers only in Lipnice
  • The beginning of the cooperation with the PINF and the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the project of Implementation of Modern Teaching Methods in Ethiopia – the RWCT trainer sent to Ethiopia as the guarantee of expertise
  • The beginning of transferring the MBTI typology into education
  • Active cooperation in the Czech SKAV (Standing Conference of Associations in Education)
  • Moderating of the television program series “Rodina a skola” (Family and School)

2005

  • The seventh Summer Institute of RWCT in Doubravka
  • The cooperation with the Czech-Ethiopian project going on – the RWCT trainer sent to Ethiopia as a guarantee of expertise
  • Program development and training leadership in the Ministry curricular-reform project The Coordinator (6 RWCT trainers)
  • The beginning of the intensive cooperation with the Tereza Association in projects on environmental education (all Tereza-trainers trained in RWCT and continuing till today – through them the cooperation with other environmentalist NGOs)
  • Participation in the team of authors of the two-volume study on educational policy in the Czech Republic „Na cestě ke znalostní společnosti“ (On the Road to the Society of Knowledge) Praha, ISEA 2005, 2007

2006

  • In cooperation with the SKAV – a project focused on a new concept of assessment and evaluation in education
  • The Re:Fine project of the OSI: Facilitating Curricular Reform through Strengthening Curriculum Development and Writing Skills of Teachers (Country dissemination), together with the Orava Association for Democratic Education – Slovakia, and Latvia, Russia, Moldova, Romania
  • Freinet Pedagogy and Constructivism: conference for teachers with French and Slovak colleagues
  • The eighth Summer Institute of RWCT in Popelna
  • Preparing the scenarios of the television program series “Rodina a skola” (Family and School)
  • Expert lecturing about the development of the Czech Curricular Framework – for the Association of Educational Subjects, Riga, Latvia

2007

  • The European Structural Funds project Rovnovaha (The Equilibrium) focused on the implementation of the methodology of RWCT and training new trainers
  • Decroly Pedagogy: Reading Conference with Belgian colleagues
  • The ninth Summer Institute of RWCT in Oucmanice
  • The publication “Hodnoceni: duvera – dialog – rust” (Evaluation:  Trust – Dialog – Growth) in the SKAV
  • The certified trainers of RWCT published the book “Skolni hodnoceni zaku a studentu” (The School assessment and evaluation of pupils and students) about the assessment and evaluation in a well known and respected education publishing house Portal
  • Publication of chapters in the teachers-guide for the implementation of new key competences in the basic school curriculum (Klíčové kompetence v základním vzdělávání. VÚP Praha 2008)
  • Training of RWCT for university teachers in the Palacky University in Olomouc
  • Going on of regular cooperation with the VSE in Prague (the University of Economy), writing a publication for the university teachers

2008

  • Participation in the ministerial expert group developing the State Standard of Teacher Work and in the preparation of a complex system of support for the teachers’ work quality – a SKAV conference on the topic
  • Participation in the ministerial expert group analyzing the White Book of Czech educational policy
  • Celebration conference „The Tenth Anniversary of RWCT-CZ“ for active Czech trainers and teachers of RWCT with the participation of the international volunteers Pat Bloem and David Klooster
  • The tenth Summer Institute of RWCT in the Open Gate School
  • Training of RWCT for university teachers in the Palacky University in Olomouc
  • Publication of chapters in the teachers-guide for the implementation of new key competences in the high-school curriculum (Klíčové kompetence na gymnáziu. VÚP Praha 2008)

2009

  • The eleventh Summer Institute of RWCT in Brejlov
  • Member of the Steering Committee of the SKAV (Standing Conference of Associations in Education)
  • Going on of regular cooperation with the VSE in Prague (the University of Economy), writing a publication for the university teachers
  • Participation in the ministerial expert group developing the Teacher Professional Standards and in the preparation of a complex system of support for the teachers’ work quality
  • Teacher Professional Standards – organizing a seminar of the British educational center „Creative Education“, together with the Pedagogical Faculty in Prague and the Czech Step by Step NGO
  • Participation in the ministerial expert group analyzing the Czech White Book on educational policy – publishing a critical study in the preparation of a complex system of support for the teachers’ work quality
  • Developing a system of reading-literacy monitoring instruments, commissioned by the Czech State School Inspection
  • Participation in the panel of experts for the reading literacy, organized by the VUP – the Czech Ministry’s of Education Pedagogical Research Institute, preparing the analysis and a study of Czech reading literacy

2010

  • Teacher Professional Standards and teacher portfolio – organizing a seminar with experts from the Windesheim University, the Netherlands,
  • The twelve Summer Institute of RWCT in the Open Gate School
  • Participation in the panel of experts for the reading literacy, organized by the VUP – the Czech Ministry’s of Education Pedagogical Research Institute, preparing the first volume of a publication on the implementation and support of reading literacy in  schools
  • Developing a system of reading-literacy monitoring instruments, commissioned by the Czech School Inspection, publication on the methodology of reading literacy education
  • Work in the ministry-led project of expert discussions about the cyclic revisions of the National Curricular Framework (we have 7 of 9 members of the expert panel whose goal is to prepare the  reform of the curriculum for reading and readership)
  • Cooperation with five other NGOs in the ESF project on the cross-curricular topics and reading literacy in elementary schools