Nadacia Skola dokoran
 Nadácia Skola dokorán – Wide
Open School Foundation (WOSF) started its work
as the Head Start Program, which was founded on
July 4, 1994 by the Open Society Foundation Slovakia.
Operating in Slovakia since July 1994, Nadácia
Skola dokorán – the Wide Open School
Foundation (WOSF) started its work as the Step
by Step program in cooperation with the Open Society
Foundation Slovakia, and the Open Society Institute
New York. Initially focusing on reforming Slovakia’s
primary education system, WOSF has widened its
scope to include special initiatives on inclusion
of children with special needs and improvement
of Roma minority education systems.
Programs:
1. Institutional Change
The goal of the institutional change program is
the development of child- or learner-centered educational
strategies at local, regional and national levels
in the context of the European Union requests.
The goal is accomplished through many methods,
including the establishment of regional educational
centers; professional development of the core team;
training activities for students, teachers, administrators,
parents and community members; tutoring and mentoring
activities for beginning teachers; curriculum development
on anti-bias, multicultural, community and cross-curricular
approaches; implementation of child/learner centered
methodology - Step by Step program to HED; and
continual development of the Community schools
and Community centers.
The program has already been accredited by the
Ministry of Education, and is being widely implemented
throughout the country.
2. Integration
of children with special needs – Inclusive
Community education
Through its inclusion program, WOSF seeks to involve
the public and experts in addressing the education
of children and youth with special needs. The program
strives to change public attitudes, adjust the
social and learning environment for children with
special needs, and to develop an appropriate learning
atmosphere which meets the individual needs of
children. The program promotes the integration
of children with disabilities into mainstream classrooms,
collaborative relationships with their families,
attention to the special needs of each child, and
the encouragement of the valuing of all diversity
among all children and their families (e.g., ability,
cultural, racial, religious, gender, etc.).
In order to implement the program, WOSF continually
develops schools and community centers for inclusion
of children with special needs. It has arranged
professional development of special educators at
schools; ongoing training for students, teachers,
volunteers; seminars and workshops in different
areas of special education; networking - programs
and institutions (EPA, National Parent Association.,
PHARE); and a pilot project – initiation
of a competency based early childhood computer
training module for teachers and parents.
3. Roma Minority Education Strategy
The Roma Minority Education Strategy consists of
two coordinated efforts. The first aims to improve
the education to which Roma children have access.
The second effort aims to develop the Roma community.
WSOF’s school improvement for the Roma minority
program seeks to impeove the education system currently
in place for Roma students, adjusting the program
to more completely meet their special needs and
to give them better opportunities in the future.
In order to achieve this goal, WOSF implements
a comprehensive program of teacher, administrator,
and parent training to fend off cultural biases,
and, whenever possible, move Roma children into
mainstream classrooms. Roma teaching assistants
are also trained and included in classrooms, as
a bridge between cultures as well as to provide
a positive roll model to the Roma students.
Through the Roma Community Development program,
WOSF seeks to facilitate the creation of Roma community
centers. These centers will serve the Roma community
through training programs for children and parents,
after school activities, a teen and technology
program, a school and jobs program, and a community
advisory center.
WOSF hopes to achieve the following outcomes through
its Roma initiative:
•
proposals for legislative changes
•
development of alternative Community Education modules
•
implementation of child/learner centered approaches respecting different cultural
and social backgrounds to the school system
•
development of new educational materials, publishing activities, case studies
•
establishment of Regional Educational Centers
•
a network of schools, institutions, parents and NGOs on national and international
level, Web-Site, Internet
Partners:
Nadácia otvorenej
spolocnosti - Open Society Foundation
Slovakia (OSF)
The Inforoma Foundation
Civil Society Development Foundation (NPOA)
The Ministry of Education of the Slovak republic
Statistics:
Birth to three
No. of classrooms - 60
No. of children – 1,095
Kindergardens
No. of classrooms – 211
No. of children – 4,357
Primary schools
No. of classrooms – 163
No. of pupils – 3,291
Special Schools
No. of classrooms – 10
No. of pupils – 48
Universities – 7
Education Activities:
No. of workshops - 485
No. of trainings - 178
No. participants (administrators, teachers, Roma
Teaching Assistants, students,
parents) – 9,291 |
