Teaching assistant (TA)

Educational staff working in a class or a group in which a pupil or pupils with special educational needs are educated. This position is established by the principal pursuant to the Education Act. The school advisory facility must issue its opinion if the position is established for children, pupils and students with disabilities. Pursuant to the amended Education Act, the teaching assistant is considered one of the support measures.

(Valenta a kol. (2015) Slovník speciální pedagogiky)

Individual education plan

A plan drawn up for children, pupils or students with special educational needs pursuant to the Education Act. It is part of the pupil’s file. It is based on each school's Framework educational programme (School educational programme) as well as on the opinion of the special needs educator (medical opinion, if necessary) and the consent of the pupil’s legal representative. The principal is responsible for its creation. But in practice, it is usually the class teacher who draws it up, supported by the SCC staff and in cooperation with parents and other experts, if necessary. It contains mainly the goals of education, scope and scheduling of the curriculum, assessments methods, list of compensatory and learning aids, the conclusions of the opinion(s), expected increase of the student’s normative, assessment methods of the plan’s implementation, and notes on the cooperation with the school counselling centre.

(The term normative per pupil is an amount of funds a school gets for a pupil. The amount depends on the level of education, type of school, number of pupils, etc. The amount will be higher for a pupil with SEN - in the individual education plan this has to be specified.)

(Valenta a kol. (2015) Slovník speciální pedagogiky)

Support measures catalogue

Set of practical measures, resources, methods, forms, aids, and procedures provided by the educational staff to children, pupils or students with SEN who have been granted a certain level of support measures by the school advisory facility or are provided with first-level support measures by the school.

(Valenta a kol. (2015) Slovník speciální pedagogiky)

Crisis book

All unusual events concerning a class or individual pupils should be recorded for further investigation or as potential alibi. The crisis book serves this purpose. It should be placed in the teachers' lounge, and you should be familiar with how to use it. You should know who to contact, what forms to fill in and what to record. The crisis book consists of two parts – instructions on how to proceed in various challenging situations and the notebook of challenging or unusual situations. If you feel like something odd is happening in your class, yet you cannot quite put your finger on it – write it down in your diary along with the date.

(Krizová kniha, https://bein.ped.muni.cz/sumar-dobre-praxe/jsem-ucitel/reseni-problemovych-situaci/krizova-kniha)

Minimal prevention programme

The minimal prevention programme is a document focused mainly on the teaching of personal and social development, social communication skills as well as how to lead a healthy lifestyle. The minimal prevention programme aims to increase the pupils’ active involvement in classes, the variety of forms of preventive work, the involvement of the entire educational staff of a school, and cooperation with the pupils’ legal representatives. The minimal prevention programme is drawn up for each school year by the school methodologist for prevention. It is subject to the assessments of the Czech school inspectorate and is assessed continuously. The written evaluation of the effectiveness of its implementation for the given school year must be included in the school’s annual report.

(Pražské centrum primární prevence, Manuál pro tvorbu Minimálního preventivního programu, 2010, https://www.msmt.cz/file/16437?highlightWords=minimáln%C3%AD+preventivn%C3%AD+program)

Education support plan (ESP)

Drawn up by the school itself as part of a first-level support measure. Education support plan contains the description of the pupil’s difficulties, goals of the support, and assessment methods of the plan's implementation.

(https://digifolio.rvp.cz/view/view.php?id=11994)

Support measures

Is a term from Czech school legislation and is defined as a compendium of special needs educational forms and methods of work and support as well as necessary adjustments in the education of a child, pupil or student with special educational needs. Support measures mean adjustments required in education and school services corresponding to the health conditions, cultural background or other living conditions of a child, pupil, or student. There are five levels of support measures based on the scope, content, nature and degree of disadvantage to which they react.

(Valenta a kol. (2015) Slovník speciální pedagogiky)

Preparatory week

It is the week at the end of August when teachers need to commence the work before the school year officially starts. There will most likely be a meeting of all the teachers/school staff where the administration will address all the changes that have happened over the holidays as well as the plans for the next school year. At the same time, you will receive some tasks for the preparatory week. And, of course, the necessary introductions will take place. The preparatory week is traditionally filled with training (first aid, safety), decorating classrooms (mainly at elementary schools; applies only to class teachers) and paperwork, mostly writing thematic plans. Subject commissions also meet; all the teachers of a particular subject discuss where to go on a field trip, who organises the Olympiad, whether to buy new books or change the School educational programme and maturita exam questions (at secondary schools), etc. You should get help from a mentor-teacher. This is a position specifically designed to help newcomers and is performed by experienced teachers. The problem is that one-fifth of all the schools do not provide this service, and therefore new teachers do not receive any official support.

(https://www.zacniucit.cz/pripravny-tyden/)

Social educator

The social educator deals with the social conditions of a pupil and their negative impact on education, regular school attendance, functioning of basic social mechanisms in a family and presence of essential social and hygienic habits of pupils. A social educator is a member of a broader counselling team that addresses overall social, psychological, and educational potential of pupils as well as educational problems and the impact of absence from school on pupils’ education and development. WHAT DOES S/HE HELP WITH: A social educator seeks to mitigate or eliminate the harmful effects of socio-culturally disadvantaged background on a pupil. S/he proposes and cooperates on implementing support measures to assist and promote pupils' education and social development. S/he collaborates closely mainly with parents and educators as they are the key people for the pupil’s education and overall development. S/he consults with educators on how to best deal with the harmful effects of social neglect and advises parents on how to respond to difficult social situations so that they do not hinder the pupil’s (not only) intellectual development. On behalf of the school, s/he approaches other organisations, potential sponsors and official authorities asking for help in dealing with particular cases of difficult social situations. S/he cooperates closely with various kinds of volunteers and institutions to facilitate the functioning of the family in the field of education as well as other social areas.

(http://katalogpo.upol.cz/obecna-cast/personalni-podminky/12-2-7-socialni-pedagog/)

Special educational needs

A term used in Czech school legislation as well as in practice. It refers to the needs of children, pupils, and students who need to be provided with necessary adjustments of education consisting of, e.g., the use of specific forms and methods corresponding to their educational abilities.

(Valenta a kol. (2015) Slovník speciální pedagogiky)

Special needs educator

The special needs educator is an expert dealing with educational, diagnostic, therapeutic, logopaedic and counselling activities. S/he assesses corrective, re-educational and compensatory procedures for children with special educational needs. S/he cooperates with families and parents of children during the implementation of the corrective methods. S/he can also provide special needs educational services.

(Slowík, J., (2007) Speciální pedagogika; Valenta, M. a kol. (2014) Přehled speciální pedagogiky)

School special needs educator

S/he deals primarily with the timely identification of pupils with the need of support measures. Their job is also the development (and implementation) of strategies and procedures to eliminate or mitigate educational problems. Unlike special needs educators at the school advisory facilities, the school special needs educators cannot provide special needs educational diagnoses to recommend the pupil's integration, which is connected to raising financial funds normatively tied to such pupil’s education. However, suppose the communication with educational staff is set up well. In that case, the school special needs educator can be a significant help and counsellor to educators in questions of educating children and pupils who do not conform to the expectations of regular educators. WHAT DOES S/HE HELP WITH: Educating heterogeneous groups of pupils in one class. Educating a pupil with a higher degree of need for support measures (unable to fully engage with the class) in a group of intact pupils. Creating conditions for teamwork. More opportunities for individual work with such a pupil (and with other pupils in a class). Opportunities to get to know the personality of the pupil (pupils) better.

(http://katalogpo.upol.cz/obecna-cast/personalni-podminky/12-2-3-skolni-specialni-pedagog/)

School methodologist for prevention

The school methodologist for prevention works on the prevention of socially pathological phenomena. S/he provides methodological support as well as coordination and counselling services concerning the prevention of risky behaviour such as, e.g., bullying, use of addictive and psychotropic substances, truancy, aggressive behaviour, risky sexual behaviour, risk of school failure etc. S/he raises the general awareness of parents, teachers, and pupils to ensure maximum primary prevention of these phenomena. S/he cooperates closely with class teachers and promotes a safe and healthy class and school atmosphere. S/he assesses warning signs associated with the possible presence of risky behaviour and provides counselling services. S/he is part of drawing up and implementing the School minimal prevention programme. S/he organises lectures and debates concerning their expertise.

(http://www.nuv.cz/projekty/rspp/skolni-metodik-prevence)

School counselling centre

Set of counselling services provided by schools as defined by Decree no. 72/2005 Coll. It includes an educational counsellor, a school methodologist for prevention, a school special needs educator and a school psychologist if these positions are established at the school.

(Valenta a kol. (2015) Slovník speciální pedagogiky)

School advisory facility

The school advisory facility focuses on education. It provides informational, diagnostic, counselling and methodological services for children, pupils and students, their legal representatives, schools and other school facilities. Moreover, it offers special needs educational, educational-psychological services and preventive educational care, and helps select appropriate education for children, pupils and students to prepare them for their future occupation.

(Valenta a kol. (2015) Slovník speciální pedagogiky)

Educational counsellor

The educational counsellor is “the cornerstone” of a school counselling centre. This specialised activity is established mandatorily at every elementary and secondary school. Section 21 (6) of the Education Act states that pupils have a right to information and counselling services provided by a school. School counselling services are specified in section 7 of Decree no. 72/2005 Coll. Annex no. 3 of this Decree lists all the usual activities of an educational counsellor: an educational counsellor acquires qualifications for the performance of the job by studying within the framework of the lifelong learning programme at university in the extent of 250 hours. … … The primary role of the educational counsellor in this process is to coordinate activities related to the education of pupils in need of support measures. The educational counsellor's job includes coordinating the teachers in the process of drawing up and finalising various documents (IEP), making sure that each teacher has considered all the recommendations of the school advisory facility when preparing her/his part of the IEP, monitoring the implementation of support measures recommended to a pupil, coordinating the cooperation of school and school counselling centre and other institutions involved in a pupil’s education.

(http://katalogpo.upol.cz/obecna-cast/6-skola-a-podpurna-opatreni/6-7-vychovny-poradce/)

Tandem education

Tandem (or paired) education is a form of education where two teachers share responsibility for planning, implementing and evaluating the education – in the context of internships, it means cooperation of an experienced teacher (mentor) and a student in teacher training.

(https://www.ped.muni.cz/pedagogika/tandemova-vyuka/)