Our projects

Bullying in Schools – it doesn’t end when you report violence! aims to prevent bullying and violence in schools. It is divided into several phases.

Target group
Primary and secondary school pupils, pedagogical, professional and managerial staff of primary and secondary schools.

Baseline situation
Bullying is a long-standing problem that is not unique to Slovakia.The State School Inspectorate has also focused on this issue in the 2019/2020 school year. Its findings show that one in seven pupils in primary and secondary schools and one in 13 pupils in grammar schools has been a victim of bullying. More than a quarter of the pupils surveyed had experienced bullying once or more as a witness.
An important and alarming finding was the evidence of bullying in each of the schools inspected. Bullying affected the entire school community. The majority of primary and secondary school pupils interviewed thought that “inattention to bullying in the school environment has an impact on the deterioration of relationships between classmates” (SRI, 2021).

Project progress
To raise awareness of bullying prevention, a refresher training programme for PZ/OZ was developed, ranging from 10 to 20 hours. This issue was elaborated in more detail in the refresher training programmes of 50 hours. However, the implementation of knowledge and information into the educational process takes time.
The innovative tool we piloted in Slovak primary and secondary schools is an adaptation of a tool used in Poland. It has two levels.
An app for pupils, which can be downloaded to their mobile phone via a QR code, allows pupils to anonymously provide information about bullying or other types of violence to the teacher/school principal. They can give details of the place, time and persons involved. Any pupil can thus, through a primarily anonymous message, safely make contact and, if necessary, communicate with a competent adult who will take appropriate action after assessing the situation. The pupil is thus reassured that he or she is not alone in the crisis situation and is able to contact a competent person for help.

A web interface for educators allows teachers to collect information and respond to student reports. It provides school principals or the school support team with data on the extent and manifestations of bullying or violence in their school. In this way, schools can contribute to building a safe space.
We piloted the tool in ten Slovak schools. Primary schools, grammar schools and secondary schools from all over Slovakia (west, centre, east) were represented.
Refresher training on bullying was implemented in 9 primary schools, with 113 PZ participating.
Individual innovative training of 50 hours was successfully completed by 210 PZ/OZ.
From the experience of the pilot testing of the tool, we decided to add support materials and activities for schools.

An important point in the preparatory phase of the project was the creation of a landing page: https://resql.raabe.sk/

The third phase of the project focuses on the distribution of a package of support materials that will be part of the school’s access to the application, namely educational materials and activities on the topic: a methodological guide, a printed publication, a refresher training handout and access to innovative training. There will also be brochures for pupils with basic information and a QR code, as well as leaflets and posters that the school can place in safe places.
In the next phases, we plan to continue the project and increase the number of schools that will implement the online tool in their school. Our resources will fund the outreach and education activities, and the partner’s resources will fund the marketing campaigns. The tool itself should be funded by the schools, but we will try to get funding for it from various grants.

Project plan

Phase 1
04/2022 creation of refresher and innovative training
05/2022 – 12/2023 training of PZ/OZ
12/2023 evaluation of Phase 1 of the project

Phase 2
11/23 Outreach to schools across the country – “Peer Violence and Bullying in Schools” questionnaires
12/23 survey of interest in the project in schools, adaptation and preparation of the application for the implementation of the project
12/23 – 12/24 piloting the project in 10 Slovak schools
12/24 evaluation of the 2nd phase of the project

Phase 3
06/24 – RESQL officially presented to the professional public at the 11th International Professional Conference Teacher is not Google 8
08/24 informative webinar for school principals on the issue of bullying
09/24 – 12/24 production of publication and methodological guide
11/2024 – 03/2025 involvement of 80 schools across Slovakia in the project
01/25 in-person series of meetings in 8 cities in different regions of Slovakia
01/25 – 03/25 PZ/OZ training (webinars, refresher and innovative training)
02/25 – 03/25 individual consultation and support for the 80 schools that received the RESQL application free of charge
03/25 questionnaire sent to 80 schools to evaluate the beginning of the use of the application, preparation of an interim report
04/25 – 12/25 support to participating schools
12/25 evaluation of Phase 3 of the project

Phase 4
08/25 – approaching other schools
09/25 – 08/26 support to other schools in the field (educational, methodological, technical)

Throughout the duration of the project:
Marketing campaign on social networks, press releases, e-mailings and webinars.
Support to participating schools in the form of webinars for teachers, face-to-face meetings, individual consultations, emailing.

Results and impacts of the project
Expected:
– Increased engagement of the PZ/OZ in the issue as a result of the training,
– successful adaptation of the online tool in our schools,
– Positive feedback from schools (PZ/PA, pupils, parents),
– an increase in anonymous reporting of bullying and violence,
– support for preventive measures by school management,
– positive changes in the school environment.

Project impacts include:
Increased safety and well-being of pupils
Anonymous reporting provides pupils with psychological support as they are able to report uncomfortable situations without fear. This reduces the stress associated with peer violence and reinforces their sense of safety
Promoting trust in the school system
Transparency and efficiency in the handling of reports help to build the trust of pupils, parents and teachers towards the school. The school environment becomes a place where problems are addressed and not ignored
Improved relationships between pupils and teachers
Educators are better informed about classroom situations through the app, allowing them to intervene more effectively and build trusting relationships
Systemic change in bullying prevention
Schools have a workable and innovative tool to replace traditional, often ineffective methods of dealing with bullying. This creates a new space for prevention and intervention in schools

The focus of the innovation/project is in line with the objectives of the Action Plan to tackle bullying in schools and educational establishments.

Sexual (non) sexual education and its pitfalls on the web or How not to fall for porn

Relationship and sex education is an important element of modern education. Today, young people, and even children, are surrounded by a wealth of information on sexuality and sexual behavior from a variety of sources; however, they do not always know how to properly evaluate their content.

That why in 2022 we are preparing a project focused on relationship and sexual education of children and young people in primary and secondary schools. We believe that social, personal and health education is as important for children and young people as any other area of school education. We are convinced that only the cooperation of the school with the family can provide young people with a sufficiently safe space. While parents are the primary educators in this field, schools play a key role. Ideally, parents and schools will work together to provide comprehensive information in the field of relationship and sex education for young people.

With this in mind, we plan to prepare a series of teaching materials, supporting educational videos for teachers and to hold workshops for both teachers and students.

Initial situation

Nowadays, children’s lives are partially lived in a virtual space where they spend a lot of time. While this space can be an asset, it also has its pitfalls. Children often consume information without properly evaluating it, leading to misconceptions and a distorted sense of reality. The internet also poses risks such as exposure to pornography, sexting, cyber-stalking, and the threat of sexual predators. Therefore, education on relationships, sex education, and online behavior is crucial. Unfortunately, this area of education is often neglected not only in schools, but also in families. The goal of this project is to raise awareness and educate children, educators, and the general public about the potential dangers of online pornography in various forms.

The facts from which we proceed

• The age at which children have their first sexual experiences is constantly decreasing, which is related to earlier puberty.
• Young people on average first come into contact with pornography at the age of 11.
• There exist sites accessible to children under 18 without adequate security, making it easy for them to access unsuitable content.
• Many children seek out porn as a source of information about sex and sexuality.
• Watching porn creates a distorted reality of relationships and intimate life, which can have very negative effects on the development of children, including the frequent occurrence of violence, and can lead to addiction to porn.
• Games with erotic and sexual themes, often violent, also pose a threat as they give young people a distorted view of real relationships and sexual practices.
• Pornography is not only associated with watching it, but also with sexting, which can lead to cyber-stalking, sexual harassment, and even child pornography.

Target group

Every parent wants their child to be safe. Even the child himself can actively avoid threats, as long as he has enough qualified information and knows the possible consequences of irresponsible behavior. The primary source of information should be parents and the school, not the Internet. However, at a certain age, children are more open to a third person who will provide them with information from an area they do not want to talk about with their parents. That is why the school enters the scene. In the framework of education, teachers must first of all be educated so that they can subsequently convey information to students and also educate them in the area of ​​recognizing suitable sources of information in this area.

That’s why we want to carry out a whole series of educational activities in this area for primary and secondary school teachers. Education will also be accessible to the general public, especially parents, so that they can be an empathetic partner for their children in communication on such a sensitive topic.

Objectives of the project

• Breaking taboos in the topic (for pupils, teachers, parents, the general public).
• Provision of educational content, including methodical support in the given area, intended for teachers, parents, and then primary and secondary school students.
• Prevention of socio-pathological phenomena in the field of sexual behavior.

Target group

Every parent wants their child to be safe. Even the child themselves can actively avoid threats, as long as they have enough qualified information and understand the possible consequences of irresponsible behavior. The primary sources of information should be parents and schools, not the Internet. However, at a certain age, children may be more open to a third person who can provide them with information on topics they do not want to discuss with their parents. This is where schools come in. Within the framework of education, teachers must first be educated so that they can subsequently convey information to students and educate them on recognizing suitable sources of information in this area. That’s why we are conducting a series of educational activities for primary and secondary school teachers in this area. The education will also be available to the general public, especially parents, so they can be empathetic partners for their children when discussing such sensitive topics.

Project goals

• Breaking taboos on the topic among pupils, teachers, parents, and the general public.
• Providing educational content, including methodical support in the given area, intended for teachers, parents, primary school students, and secondary school students.
• Preventing socio-pathological phenomena related to sexual behavior.

Content of the project

The focus of the project is on sexual and relationship education within a specific area. Educational activities such as webinars and seminars will be provided for teachers, with the aim of providing them with the knowledge and skills to discuss this topic with their students. The project aims to demonstrate to teachers the importance of including this topic in their teaching at the first and second levels of primary and secondary schools, as it is crucial in the upbringing and education of children and students in the current generation. In addition, educational activities and content will also be provided to the general public, specifically aimed at parents. By acquiring information from this area, both teachers and parents can help ensure that important information reaches the target audience – the children and students. All educational materials will be made available not only to educators but also to the general public, and recordings of webinars and videos will be accessible even after the project ends. These educational videos will be useful not only for obtaining information but also for use directly in the classroom or at home with children. The project aims to help adults overcome their inhibitions, gain knowledge and skills, learn specific procedures and activities, and understand how to talk with children, even about sensitive topics. Thanks to collaboration with other entities, the project will also provide three teaching aids and workbooks for different age groups: 5-10 years, 10-15 years, and 15-18 years.

What we want to do

5 x face-to-face education in 5 district towns of the Slovak Republic

7 x webinar

4 x educational videos

9 x newsletter

11 x PR article

Recordings from the webinars, PR articles as well as educational videos will remain available on the websites of the project partners and will be usable by the general public even after the end of the project.

Already realized outputs

15/11/2022 – webinar: Relationship and sexual education

21/11/2022 – PR article: Sexual (non)education and its pitfalls on the web

24/11/2022 – newsletter: Can you talk to children about sensitive topics?

23/12/2022 – webinar: Sexual (non)education and its pitfalls on the web

12/01/2023 – PR article: Sexual education will be compulsory for pupils

07/02/2023 – newsletter: Sexual education will be compulsory. Are you ready?

17/02/2023 – PR article: Young people look for information about sexuality on the Internet

28/02/2023 – newsletter: Sexual education at schools. How to do it?

23/03/2023 – PR article: Sexual (non)education and its pitfalls on the web

14/04/2023 – educational video 1: What (not) to share and with whom?

14/04/2023 – methodological material for teachers for educational video 1: What (not) to share and with whom?

17/04/2023 – face-to-face training for teachers: Košice

18/04/2023 – face-to-face education for teachers: Banská Bystrica

19/04/2023 – face-to-face training for teachers: Žilina

20/04/2023 – face-to-face training for teachers: Trenčín

21/04/2023 – face-to-face education for teachers: Bratislava

23/04/2023 – PR article: The first educational video for teachers is out

24/04/2023 – newsletter: Do you dare to have relationship and sex education in schools?

07/05/2023 – PR article: After the reform, schoolchildren will also learn how to protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases

18/05/2023 – webinar: Healthy and unhealthy relationships

30/05/2023 – newsletter: Dont be afraid of relationship and sexual education

15/06/2023 – educational videa 2: How not to fall for porn

15/06/2023 – methodological material for teachers for educational video 2: How not to fall for porn

20/06/2023 – PR article: How not to fall for porn

26/06/2023 – newsletter: We will advise you how to do it

20/09/2023 – PR article: Webinar fot teachers about puberty a friendship

21/09/2023 – newsletter: You know how to teach teenagers?

28/09/2023 – webinar: About puberty and friendship

25/10/2023 – webinar: Sexual and reproductive health and intimate relationships

27/10/2023 – newsletter: Did you miss our webinar?

27/11/2023 – educational video 3: Advertising and its influence on our decision-making and self-image

27/11/2023 – methodological material for teachers for educational video 3: Advertising and its influence on our decision-making and self-image

27/11/2023 – PR article: The third educational video is devoted to advertising

07/12/2023 – webinar: Prevention od violence and harassment

08/02/2024 – educational video 4: The movie is not reality

08/02/2024 – methodological material for teachers for educational video 4: The movie is not reality

13/02/2024 – PR article: So that children and young people can distinguish fiction from reality

15/02/2024 – webinar: Equality as the basis od healthy relationship

Cooperating entities

Society for Planned Parenthood (inTYMYta) – lecturers, author collaboration

RAABE Slovakia – promotional and publishing activities, video creation

EXPOL PEDAGOGIKA – creation of teaching materials, implementation of webinars/seminars

Duration of the project

November 2022 – February 2024

The project was supported by the SK-NIC Fund.

Čitateľský oriešok 9

In the 2022/2023 school year, OZ European Pedagogical Club became a partner of the largest reading competition held in Slovakia for schools. The Čitateľský oriešok competition was created nine years ago with the aim of developing students’ reading comprehension, perception of intersubject relationships, logical thinking and artistic creativity. It consists of two parts – textual and visual. The competition is free for children and teachers and is intended for pupils in the first, second, three and fourth grade of primary schools and pupils of special primary schools. An average of 20,000-30,000 students from all over Slovakia participate in the competition every year. The reading and art competition is regularly supported by well-known personalities – the ambassadors of the competition in the past were, for example, announcer Adela Banášová, actress Petra Polnišová, singer Miro Jaroš, actors Vladimír Kobielsky, Juraj Kemka and Dávid Hartl. The face of the current year of the competition is the popular actress Zuzana Kubovčíková Šebová.

Be the minister of your money!

Conclusions of a survey conducted among teachers have shown the need for financial education in Hungarian language for pupils of primary schools with Hungarian as a language of instruction, as there is currently no publication on financial literacy in Hungarian designed for primary schools on the market. Similarly, there is a lack of teaching materials for primary school pupils with special educational needs that would take into account these needs and, at the same time, provide at least the basics of financial education.

Young people in re-education centres and centres for children and families, refugees and pupils from socially disadvantaged backgrounds belong to the most vulnerable groups in this area. Their financial literacy skills are at a low level (due to non-existent or flawed role-modelling behaviour of adults around them, or eventually due to their ignorance of how the system works in the world of financial literacy).

Our Intentions

People who come into contact with vulnerable groups often encounter parents, teachers and peers. In most cases, however, parents are not able to provide their children with relevant information in the area of financial matters and explain to them, in a comprehensible way, how to manage money and provide for their future. Many times parents themselves struggle with existential problems as a result of their financial illiteracy. That is why we have chosen the pedagogical and professional staff of schools and other educational institutions as mediators of financial education for the primary target group. However, we know from experience, that even the pedagogical and professional staff themselves do not have sufficient professional and didactic training in the given field.

The objective of our project is to educate marginalised and vulnerable groups of children and young people in financial matters. In order to put all this into practice we need:

–to train (professionally and didactically) pedagogical and professional school staff and social workers,

– to adapt teaching materials to the needs of the different groups involved (refugees, minorities, pupils with special educational needs, children and young people from re-education centres and centres for children and families).

The Main Objective

Our aim is to provide the primary target groups with learning materials tailored to their needs to help them in financial education in an appropriate, understandable and effective way. We expect to change attitudes and behaviours related to financial decision-making. It is supposed that pupils will acquire the basic knowledge and skills necessary to function independently in their future life. In the long term, there might be expected a reduction in number of people at risk of poverty.

The main activities include the development of methodological support and worksheets that will be pilot-tested in selected primary schools; online training of teaching and professional staff and subsequent training of the participating groups of children and young people.

Target Groups

The primary target group consists of refugees (aged 6 – 15 years), pupils of primary schools with Hungarian as the language of instruction, young people from re-education centres, young people from centres for children and families and pupils of primary schools with special educational needs (medically or socially disadvantaged). Participants will be included in the project on the basis of a field survey (interest of schools in financial education of the abovementioned pupils, interest of centres in cooperation).

The secondary target group consists of pedagogical staff (teachers, educators, pedagogical assistants), professional staff (psychologists and school psychologists, special educators, school special educators, field special educators, social educators) and social workers, who will be selected on the basis of the following criteria:

• The number of persons of the primary target group in the organization in which they work,
• activities/interactions with persons of the primary target group,
• interest in financial education.

In this year, we prepare the project aimed at recruitment, instruction and support for tutors of primary and secondary schools.

Within the project, we plan to carry out methodological support of tutors by means of a specialized educative platform for pedagogical staff in the extent of minimum two hours per month in the form of online group meetings. In the same time, we will provide an individual support in the extent of at least one hour monthly. We will prepare accompanying methodological materials adapted to nature and type of the school and particular school subjects to which the tutoring will be provided.

The way of realization of dissemination campaign, choice and selection of tutors, providing of the education itself as well as the methodological support enables us to carry out the activities in all regions of Slovakia. We will focus predominantly on the regions with the greatest number of pupils threatened by school failure.

COVID-19 and pandemics has affected everybody, teachers and pupils included. Practically from one day to another, school principals and teachers had to deal with the issues how to provide education online with the technical equipment which is insufficient in many schools in Slovakia. Another side of the problem were the families facing a serious trouble, where there was impossible to provide even the elementary education to many children due to insufficient financial resources.

That was the reason we started a project dedicated to helping families with children, so called home schooling, in the second half of 2020. The project was aimed at supporting the teachers without their own personal computer and children from socially disadvantaged or large families. The project was carried out in settlement Varhaňovce near Prešov and in the area of Topoľčany. In the same time, we provided support for one hospitalized child with an oncological diagnose in Pezinok.

The funding was provided by a grant from Granvia Foundation.

In 2018, we presented an unusual project to schools in Slovakia aimed at media education for the pupils and students of primary and secondary schools. By means of this project, we wanted to give an opportunity to young people to express their opinion and to teach them to accept the opinions of others, since the question of citizen responsibility has never been so poignant as it is nowadays.

The departure point of the concept of a modern media education was to become patient enough and acquire the ability to discern the truthful from untruthful information, by which we are literally flooded nowadays. It is of an utmost importance to teach this ability to children and young people.

Our intent was to:

• Develop critical thinking and argumentation abilities of pupils in primary schools
• Teach pupils to work with various sources of information
• Teach them to discern the manipulation in media
• Teach the pupils to analyse and detect conspirational news
• Contribute to transforming the children, so they will not become just passive recipients of information, but make them participate actively and take interest in the public events

Using an attractive form of so called open-space discussions, i.e. discussions in small groups led by experienced speakers, we gave the young people an opportunity to discuss actively and to express their attitude and, if you like, to accept the point of view of others, not just repeat the learned facts. These were some of the discussion topics:

Patriotism – what are you proud of and what is heroism according to you?

Cultural differences – is, according to you, Slovakia a generous place to minorities?

Extremism – in your opinion, how do young people become extremists?

Emigrants – Which circumstances would make you leave Slovakia forever?

The open-space concept was realized for the first time in the Primary and Maternity School of Ján Amos Komenský in Hubeného street in Bratislava, and it was held on 2nd October 2018, an International day of non-violence.

A wise man once said that the school is supposed to be a place that should help to overcome the differences and not reinforce them, so all children would have a chance to future – to the big adult world which is not that simple.

We are persuaded that school belongs to all children. Regardless of what family they come from, what the colour of their skin is, what handicap they were born with or what obstacles they are facing in life. Every year in September, a large number of children whose starting line is, compared to the majority, unfavourably shifted from various reasons, enter their classrooms. Inability to respect these differences leads to resentment, non-respect of individuality and intolerance.

This is one of the reasons why it is so often talked about inclusion and inclusive school as a school for all, where every pupil (not only the one with evident disability, handicap or more significant special needs) has the right to individual approach, to education by use of such methods, modalities, approaches and forms which are the most appropriate, the most acceptable and which maximize his/her personal and scholarly growth.

For this intent, there are more and more professionals and supporting teams joining our schools in order to help the teachers to realize such supporting measures and find such solutions, that will ensure the personal and scholarly development and progress to children and help them in various situations in life without stigmatization.

Special education teacher or school psychologist are quite new „elements“ in our schools, which have been brought along by the changes in education of present times. They have been perceived in various ways in schools – from rejection, non-acceptance, incomprehension of their role and mission in school, to equal and enriching partnership and heartfelt joy from mutual cooperation and common search for the way how to educate and lead our unique and heterogeneous children throughout life.

In accordance with our objective to support, disseminate and present the role of an educator in the area of schooling and education, we participated in 2018 in creation of a practical handbook for educators with the title Special education teacher – a way to an inclusive school. It was aimed at several practical issues that often afflict special education teachers in newly created jobs in schools. The handbook delivers a view on the possible exercise of this profession in common schools, a summary of knowledge and information about how can special education teachers fulfil their mission in school with enthusiasm and good will, being full-valued and important cooperators, helpers, partners and eventually even mentors or methodologists for teachers, parents and guides and supporters for children/pupils with a clear vision, what and how they want to proceed and to what they want to contribute.

The expert guarantor of the project was the Research Institute for Child Psychology and Pathopsychology in Bratislava. The handbook is available online here.

Chemistry is an experimental science and if it is taught only theoretically, it can become difficult and boring. The interest in the subject has been decreasing and the number of chemists has been diminishing. The comforting fact is, that the innovated state curriculum includes a reinforcement in hourly dotation of chemistry classes. The importance is given to development of literacy in natural sciences, where one of the objectives is acquiring manual skills, intellectual and social competencies of students during realization of experiments.

With the intent to fight this situation, we gladly joined the competition of pupils from primary schools and grammar schools named Experience an experiment, which takes place every year since the school year 2016/2017 and encourages the interest of young people in natural sciences.

Experience the chemistry was the central idea of the project. In agreement with this idea, we helped the schools without the necessary means for providing the material equipment to create suitable conditions for experimental activities of pupils and realization of experiments. Selected schools were provided with basic equipment and chemicals, as well as the activity books and we offered them instructions for their use. All equipment was portable and it would be available for lending to other schools or other organizers of activity groups, camps or educational events.

The highlight of our project was the participation of pupils in the competition Experience an experiment, in which they presented short videos with the realized experimental activity.

In the course of three years, we have carried out a successful project named Chemico-social laboratory, which was aimed at educating children from less socially stimulating environment in the field of chemistry.

The objective of the project was chiefly to create suitable conditions for emergence of pastime activity groups with chemistry orientation for a long-term development of children’s skills and knowledge and hence a meaningful spending of time after the end of classes.

Thanks to the project, we were able to create and fully equip the activity groups in sixteen schools in Slovakia. Maximum of ten children could take part in activity group in order to maximize the individual attention provided by lectors. In this way, it was possible to carry out funny and interesting chemical experiments and related pastime activities. Such approach seemed to be efficient. Activity groups were instructive and interactive, protected the children from discrimination and offered them a safe environment outside the streets.

The project was carried out in Šaľa, Dunajská Lužná, Trakovice, Voderady and Abrahám, where chemistry laboratories were equipped with interactive boards, tablets, computers for lectors, kits for organic and inorganic chemistry and other laboratory equipment.

The funding was provided by a grant from Granvia Foundation.