We're building a training laboratory for teacher-guides
Our mission and vision
By training educational guides we want to help people cultivate their full potential in a prosperous, open society.
Why we train future teachers
We believe that education (and upbringing) are key for society's future. The educational system can only be as good as its teachers. We believe that one of the most effective places for fostering professional growth among teachers is the place where they receive their initial training.
Vision: building a laboratory
On a practical level we want to create a laboratory that will develop, test out and disseminate new models for training future teachers. A laboratory in which everyone in the system can participate and from which they can each draw inspiration. The laboratory's first course is the Teach Live initial teacher training course. In future we also hope to run bachelors and masters degree courses for teachers.
What kind of teachers we want
We want teachers who build and maintain relationships with children based on mutual trust, create challenging learning opportunities for each child, and reflect on their work with evidence-based work.
Our values and principles are based on the outcomes of an extensive discussion at thePermanent Conference of Educational Associations (SKAV), entitled the Ten Commandments of Education (Czech only).
Our values and principles
People-centred
We believe in an education that enables every individual to develop to their full potential, find their place in society and live a fulfilling life. In the end, each person must take responsibility for their own education.
The teacher is a guide
We understand teachers to be like tour guides on the journey to learning. They are responsible for creating the right conditions, environment and stimuli. They also provide targeted feedback that aids learning and personal development.
Relationships and community
True self-fulfilment happens in fellowship with others. We learn from one another and high quality learning and personal development can only happen where there is mutual trust, safety, and meaningful stimuli. Sharing our experiences, values and goals makes us stronger.
Reflective, evidence-based approach
Reflection on our own experiences is a powerful tool for learning and improvement. Scientific reflection and research provide us with information and collected practical experience regarding what is and isn't useful. Teachers base their approaches on their own reflected experience and on the latest research.
Internal motivation
High quality education is achieved on the basis of a natural inner desire to learn. We respond to pupils' real needs so as to work with this inner motivation. We believe that self-respect, responsibility and independence cannot develop without internal motivation.
You never stop learning
The learning process is never complete, never finished. Any training course is only a part of our life-long learning.
Collaboration
It's only by looking after one another that we can create an environment in which high quality education is available to all.
International dimension
Education crosses national borders. Cross-border co-operation and inspiration can speed up our development and enhance our know-how.
Our story
A group of people with broad and varied experience came together at the Depositum Bonum Foundation. We sought out and actively support the Hejný method in mathematics, the Heuréka initiative focused on enquiry-based learning in physics, and other educational initiatives. Within our projects we have worked with teachers in school, teachers in training and people who had never before thought about teaching. We have tested out numerous models of collegial support and paired teaching.
The Teach Live course is the logical outcome of our efforts so far.
Know-how and theoretical grounding
We base our approach on positive psychology and social cognitive constructivism. We have chosen a fusion of know-how from contemporary teaching theory and connect three – currently central – approaches to the understanding of teaching and teacher training:
- Evidence-Based Education – Mareš, 2009
- Reflective practice model and understanding the teacher as a reflective practitioner – Korthagen et al., 2011
- Knowledge base for teaching – Shulman, 1987; Janík, 2005, 2009; Spilková, 2006
We also take inspiration from work focused on:
- Adult education – Boud, 1981; Jarvis, 2011; Knowles, 2005; Mezirow, 1990; Schön, 1983, 1987
- Raising the quality of basic education – Levin, 2008; Fullan & Boyle, 2014; Sharratt, Harild, & Fullan, 2014
- The results of Czech research into clinical schools – Píšová, 2005; Spilková, V., Tomková, A., Mazáčová, N., Kargerová, J. et al., 2015
- International models - Fred Korthagen, Institute of Education PGCE Teacher Training, Shady Hill School v USA a další.
Institutional setting
The Teach Live course was developed and is (in its pilot year 2016/2017) run by the Depositum Bonum Foundation in co-operation with the Duhovka Group.
The Depositum Bonum Foundation was founded in 2012 by Česká spořitelna, in order to administer the extraordinary yields from cancelled anonymous pass-books. The Depositum Bonum Foundation's mission is to support education and contribute to raising the Czech Republic's competitiveness. In its activities the Foundation focuses in particular on developing and supporting systemic innovation, the spread of new educational cultures and promoting education.
Duhovka Group has created a comprehensive educational system for children aged 1.5 to 19. This unique educational project is largely based on a Czech-English bilingual environment and Montessori methods.
Teach Live and universities
A true change can come about only through everyone's combined efforts. That is why one of our project's key values is collaboration.
Laboratory
We are building a teacher training laboratory, where the conditions and financial support will be such that innovation can emerge without compromise, on an international level. It is to be a laboratory that openly offers know-how and opportunities for collaboration to the entire system.
It is our intention that the results of the laboratory's work should offer inspiration, specific examples, well-grounded arguments and evidence to strengthen the preparation of future teachers. The aim is that, at some point, thousands of new teachers will be trained in this new way and under decent conditions at all sorts of institutions across the Czech Republic, every year.
Among others, our board of experts is helping us to achieve this goal.
Are you involved in training future teachers?
Would you like to collaborate with Teach Live?
Project outcomes
We always look at the results our projects have: