Task: 

Choose a school whose School Educational Program (SEP) is accessible to you (meaning you are doing your teaching practice at the school, and the school has the SEP available on its website, etc.). Study the SEP and critically evaluate how the school presents itself. For this task, read the Chapter 2.1 of the publication by Pasch et al. (2005), that is available in study materials file for you. 

Answer the following questions: 

1. What is the declared characteristic of the school?

2. On what declared principles/strategies does the SEP rely?

Summarize your answers in one or two paragraphs. Express the essence and avoid merely copying the text passively.

What to be aware of? 

Please include precise citations of directly quoted passages from the SEP in quotation marks, including page numbers, and also list the document in the bibliography at the end of the portfolio task. Why do we ask this from you? Sometimes, it is not clear whether these are direct quotations from the SEP or whether they are paraphrases, or even your own interpretations or other original thoughts. It is necessary to clearly distinguish which passages are directly from the official document. If it is a direct quotation, put it in quotation marks. Please also include a link to the SEP, and if applicable, the web address. In some cases, this part of the portfolio task contains a lot of description, but the assignment is not fulfilled. This is because no principles/strategies on which the SEP is based are mentioned.

Why is this part important? 

It is useful and essential to know the visions that your school identifies with, and it is also expected that you will respect these visions during your practice. At the same time, it is useful and necessary to become acquainted with the goals and contents of the subjects you will be teaching at the selected school. These goals and contents may vary from school to school and often are not in line with the textbooks used. When preparing for teaching, it is important to consider the visions declared in the ŠVP.

Example of the fulfilled assignment: (by Monika Zetková) 

ZŠ a MŠ Horní is a school with nine grades. Each grade combines two parallel classes. A total of up to 500 students can attend the school. It is an institution that includes both a primary school and a kindergarten, with a school cafeteria and an after-school program. The capacity of the school's after-school program is up to 180 students. It is therefore a relatively extensive and comprehensive complex with good accessibility to the city. This institution supports the education of students with special educational needs by an individually designed educational plan for each student, which can be adjusted during their education.

The School Educational Program is titled "SCHOOL IN MOTION." One of the main goals is to support sports activities by "increasing the allocation of physical education hours" (SEP, 2019, p. 15). The school aims to provide students with a positive attitude toward sports, which is crucial for their physical and psychological development. Other equally important goals include "teaching foreign languages from the first grade" (SEP, 2019, p. 15) and "working with computational and communication technology" (ŠVP, 2019, p. 15). Both of these aspects are indispensable in today's world, so it is important for students to have a strong command of foreign languages and high information literacy. ZŠ Horní supports inclusive education and is a school that accommodates students with special educational needs as well as exceptionally gifted students. As a result, it is attended not only by students from the local area but also by students commuting from surrounding villages.

ZŠ and MŠ Horní naturally belongs to schools that aim to nurture intelligent individuals who possess not only excellent knowledge but also skills and abilities, making them a significant asset to society.

Bibliography:

ŠVP Škola v pohybu. [online]. Brno: ZŠ a MŠ Horní 16, příspěvková organizace, 2019. https://www.zshorni.cz/page/informace-o-skole?type=sub&id=47