Annual report of the organisation for 2021
Schola Empirica
Spreading best practices in education
We are an educational and research organisation. We educate teachers, social workers and parents so that they can provide the best possible care for children and help them reach their full potential. We draw on scientifically proven approaches and methods from abroad, adapt them to the Czech Republic, test them in practice together with our partners, evaluate their impact in the Czech environment and then disseminate the best practices.
Our mission
We are changing education so that children to succeed in school – and in life. There is little focus in our education on developing important soft skills. We want to change that. Through scientifically proven methodologies, we help educators develop children’s social and emotional skills so that they can succeed in school and in life and fully develop their talents and personality.
Our strategy
We start from foreign scientifically proven approaches and methods (evidence-based, evidence-informed), which we adapt to the conditions in the Czech Republic, together with our partners we verify them in practice and evaluate their impact in the Czech environment (evaluate). We continue to improve the implemented approaches and methods based on practical experience from pilot implementations and evaluation results. In cooperation with our partners, we continue to spread the methods proven by practice and research in the Czech Republic (scaling).
our values
Scientifically verified - Evidence
We make maximum use of and respect current knowledge with respect to the content and process of implementation of our formulated and piloted solutions. We are well aware that experience and well-reasoned opinions are often insufficient without supporting relevant scientific knowledge (evidence). We are consciously working on
to increase our knowledge of relevant scientific knowledge (evidence), each for ourselves and the organisation as a whole. We try to base our internal expert discussions as much as possible on existing scientific knowledge and current expert discourse in the world.
Impact and Diligence - Working hard
We want our joint efforts to have the greatest possible impact. We try to use our working time in such a way that
to be of the greatest benefit. We value benefits such as flexible working hours and high control over your own activities.
They help us achieve the best possible results for our collective efforts and create a balance
between work and personal life. We value not only our time, but everyone else's as well. We are aware that time is
the most valuable resource.
Everything is possible – Can do attitude
We are not looking for obstacles, but for solutions. When we identify a problem, we try to suggest how to deal with it as an organisation
the best way to deal with it, and we do not limit the options for solutions up front by saying "it can't be done". We accept responsibility for the implementation
the agreed procedure. We actively lend a helping hand within the team.
Responsibility - Responsibility
We build on personal responsibility and autonomy for the tasks or areas entrusted to us. We are aware that we have
responsibility not only to our clients, but also to our partners and donors, without whom our work would not be possible. Administration
required by donors is a necessary part of our work. We are trying to deal with it as efficiently as possible. Every man for himself
strives to have up-to-date knowledge of administrative and formal requirements so that administrative solutions are
least burdensome for all and that our substantive decisions do not conflict with our commitments to donors.
We fully respect the decision of whoever is ultimately responsible.
Openness and cooperation
We work internally and externally in linking mode, not ranking (cooperation, not competition). We know that our strength and our impact lie
in the ability to cooperate. We actively co-create a friendly environment in which individuals thrive most
and cooperation. We resolve any disagreements openly one-to-one and with the involvement of management if necessary. External
we coordinate the cooperation together. We always meet external commitments and ensure that there can never be
to damage the reputation of the organisation. Where possible and appropriate, we promote the School and its activities. We share
our toys 🙂
Learning organisation
We continuously strive to improve based on reflection of our activities. We are trying to develop as an organization and as
Individuals. We're not afraid to experiment. We actively develop our own expertise and strive to contribute to the growth of the entire
Team. We are working on professional growth not only due to our core expertise, but also due to the skills for
efficient work of the whole team.
What we are working on
Our team
Egle Havrdová
Egle manages the running of the organisation and a number of educational projects focusing on wellbeing and soft skills development for children and adults. She holds an MA in Sociology from Central European University and a PhD from the Department of Public and Social Policy at Charles University in Prague. She has worked at a number of Czech and foreign universities. Her research interests focus on comparative crime prevention policy, social intervention strategies and the implementation and evaluation of educational programmes.
havrdova@scholaempirica.org
Mgr. Anna Petrova Kubesova
HR support team, Educational methodologist, The Good Start project
More information
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Anna Petrova Kubesova
At the Schola, she takes care of the background and development of the staff and is methodically involved in the Good Start® project. The field of education and human resources has been with her all her professional life. After studying at the Pedagogical Faculty of Charles University in Prague and a study internship in London, she worked in France as a linguistic assistant at a small primary school, led a team of English teachers and broke into HR as an HR consultant. For over 15 years she has been intensively involved in informal education of children and family mediation. She enjoys spending her free time with her family in nature, traveling, yoga and creative dramatics.
petrova@scholaempirica.org
Romana Šloufová
graduated with a Master's degree in Civic Sector Studies from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, where she worked on international research and lectured courses on social economy and social entrepreneurship. She has been bringing the topic of entrepreneurship and closely related soft skills development to Czech primary schools since 2017.
sloufova@scholaempirica.org
Mgr. Kateřina Michalová
Education Methodologist and Cordinator of the Good Start methodology ®
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Kateřina Michalová
Kateřina graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Humanities and a Master's degree in Pedagogy at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, with a focus on the development of pupils' learning competences. As part of her work experience, she has been a primary school teacher, a teaching assistant in an international school and the founder and leader of the "Spielgruppe" preschool groups in Zurich. She is now working at Schola Empirica to support teachers in kindergartens and coordinates activities related to the Good Start methodology.
michalova@scholaempirica.org
Martina Koutná
Martina is the project manager of the Good Start for Parents programme and an evaluator. After studying Sociology and Social Policy and Public and Social Policy at FSV UK, she focused on predicting skills needs on the labour market and analysing the links between education, skills and success on the labour market. She has also published several articles on this topic. At Schola, she is involved in the development and dissemination of methodology to support parenting skills and qualitative evaluation of projects.
She likes to spend his free time in nature, sports and deep conversations with kind people.
koutna@scholaempirica.org
Monika Kotrbová
Monika holds a Master's degree in Sociology from the Faculty of Social Sciences of Charles University. At Schola Empirica, she coordinates the KiVa anti-bullying programme, of which she is a certified trainer.
kotrbova@scholaempirica.org
PhDr. Irena Zárubová
Education Methodologist,
certified trainer of the KiVa program for prevention and solution of bullying More information
certified trainer of the KiVa program for prevention and solution of bullying More information
Irena Zárubová
She uses her experience from teaching practice in the Czech Republic and abroad (internships, European School in Brussels, 2009–2018) to train and guide teachers. She helps and guides teachers in the introduction of the Skills Builder methodology (targeted soft skills development). Her focus is building a safe school environment. She sees formative assessment, meaningful learning, open and respectful communication as the most important elements of education.
zarubova@scholaempirica.org
Mgr. Ivana Hokešová
Education Methodologist and Cordinator of the Good Start methodology ®
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Ivana Hokešová
Skills Builder methodology consultant whose aim is to facilitate the development of essential skills in elementary school children (and beyond). After completing her Master’s Degree in teaching, she had been working as an English teacher and became a teacher trainer upon completing her DELTA qualifications working for a state institution. She believes that soft skills are a prerequisite for success in life and is an avid supporter of all who try to push education in the Czech Republic forward.
hokesova@scholaempirica.org
Pavel Fiala
At Schole Empirice, I am involved in the Skills Builder project, which I believe in and support - that's why I put my energy into it 🙂 Skills Builder is a methodology that helps develop key competencies. I am a teacher and I know how important soft skills are and how we need to address them in schools. Before coming to the Schola, I taught at the da Vinci School and before that I worked at the Karlin Business Academy. Some time ago I was approached about coaching, which I am now intensively involved in. I like tennis, badminton, sauna and nature. And of course my girlfriend and our two cats 🙂
fiala@scholaempirica.org
Veronika Švomová
After studying pedagogy, she started to work with children and methodically lead a team in the field of education. The motivation for joining the KiVa Anti-Bullying Methodology Team was personal experience with bullying as a parent. Her goal is to help educators create a safe school climate with an emphasis on building relationships and open communication. She is currently studying Applied Ethics at the Charles University.
svomova@scholaempirica.org
Alexandr Strnad
At Schole Empirice, he is the methodologist of the KiVa program. He graduated from the Faculty of Education of the University of Ostrava, majoring in Mathematics - Civics. In recent years, he has gained experience as a director of a small private school or as a project manager in education. In his spare time he enjoys running, reading, travelling around the world and photography.
strnad@scholaempirica.org
Jan Netík
After graduating from the Faculty of Arts of Charles University with a degree in psychology, Honza is now broadening his horizons with a PhD at the Faculty of Education, where he is working on psychometric analyses of knowledge tests. At Schole Empirica, he is mainly involved in analysing the quantitative parts of evaluations of our educational methodologies and external projects.
netik@scholaempirica.org
Kateřina Hudáčová
Currently completing her bachelor's degree in psychology at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University. Her studies have led Katka to an interest in quantitative research and data analysis, which she also pursues within the framework of project evaluation at Schola Empirica. She firmly believes that the evidence-based approach has an indispensable place in the field of education.
hudacova@scholaempirica.org
Marek Pour
Marek is a psychologist from the Faculty of Philosophy at Charles University. Currently a PhD student at Masaryk University with a focus on Social psychology. For Schola Empirica, he is working on evaluations of projects related to education and social work. Marek focuses mainly on qualitative research methods – interviews and focus groups.
pour@scholaempirica.org
Kryštof Petr
Kryštof is a graduate of Master's degree in Psychology from the Faculty of Arts of Palacký University in Olomouc, where he is currently a PhD student. It deals with models of psychopathology, personality diagnosis and other concepts from various data. At Schole Empirice, he tries to make electrons do the math for him, analyzing meaningful data from projects. In his spare time, he enjoys talking to people on the phone about their hard times or being somewhere in the mountains.
petr@scholaempirica.org
Kateřina Netíková
She has been involved in project management for 20 years and has been drawn to education for children and adults for the last 10 years.
Since 2021, Schole has been helping to disseminate soft skills development methodologies.
netikova@scholaempirica.org
Eliška Horáková
During her undergraduate studies in sociology and social policy she participated in participatory research at the Institute of Planning and Development of the City of Prague. In cooperation with Charles University she analysed data from sociological surveys of students and as an external researcher she cooperated with the Ministry of Education and Science on the evaluation of strategy implementation. She is now continuing her studies in sociology, where she wants to focus her thesis on researching Czech education, which is both her passion and her sore heel. Her hobbies include organizing various events and group fire dancing.
horakova@scholaempirica.org
Membership in professional organisations
Stálá konference asociací ve vzdělávání
A voluntary grouping of educator associations, programs, and civic associations working to promote and protect progressive change in education and to facilitate the exchange of ideas among educator initiatives, the nonprofit sector, state and local governments, and the public.
Platforma pro včasnou péči (Early Care Platform)
The platform is dedicated to the support and development of early care in the Czech Republic. Its goal is to promote and advocate for services and programs provided to at-risk children and to support the building of a functional early care system in our country.
Asociace Podnikavé Česko (Association Enterprising Czechia)
The Association was established with the aim of jointly streamlining and facilitating the preparation of the Czech Republic and its education system for a future in which the only certainty is change. It advocates a proper understanding of entrepreneurship as the ability to seize opportunities and ideas and create value for others, whether financial, cultural or social.
Partner organisations
Center for Evidence Based Early Intervention
(CEBEI, Centre for Empirically Validated Early Intervention), Bangor University, Wales
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Center for Evidence Based Early Intervention
The Centre for Empirically Validated Early Intervention (CEBEI) is a research centre that works closely with the Children's Early Intervention Trust (CEIT), a charitable organisation, to evaluate local empirically validated early intervention programmes and the subsequent development of these programmes in Wales. CEBEI is part of Bangor University in Wales, but also collaborates with many American academics (e.g. Carolyn Webster-Stratton from Seattle, Washington, USA). CEBEI is led by Prof. Judy Hutchings, a recognized expert in the field of early intervention. CEBEI is actively involved in the evaluation and implementation of Incredible Years programmes for Wales.
www.centreforearlyinterventionwales.co.uk/
KiVa International
KiVa is an innovative bullying prevention and intervention programme that has been developed by combining a wealth of experience from previous intervention programmes and cutting-edge research in more than 1,000 schools in Finland and around the world. The programme was
further implemented e.g. in the Netherlands, Estonia, Italy and Wales. The methodology is based on a comprehensive approach with a wide range of tools - it targets teachers, pupils and parents and includes a variety of activities for the whole school year.
kivaprogram.net
Parenting for Lifelong Health (PLH) Consortium
Parenting for Lifelong Health (PLH)
PLH is a set of non-commercial programs for parents to prevent violence in low-resource settings. The programmes have been developed and extensively tested in a collaboration between the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, the Universities of Bangor, Oxford, Cape Town and Clowns Without Borders South Africa. Based on positive evaluation results, programmes are being scaled up in more than 20 low- and middle-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa, South-East Europe, South-East Asia and the Caribbean. At the same time, several studies are underway to develop the evidence base for these interventions. Schola Empirica is a partner of the Lifelong Parenting for Young Children Programme (PLHP) in the Czech Republic and contributes its data to international research on these interventions.
PLH website
Skills Builder Partnership
Enabling Enterprise has developed a methodology to develop soft skills in children and young people aged 3 to 18. The methodology is based on research and practical experience and has been in use in schools in the UK for over 10 years. A pilot version has been tested in more than 20 basic skills organisations. The programme has been independently evaluated twice and has so far been used with more than 200,000 children and young people.
The development of the 8 basic skills, according to available resources and data, is the foundation for success at different stages of life: in primary and secondary school, preparing students for successful transition to university and for success in employment or business.
skillsbuilder.org
Erasmus+ foreign partners
Centrum för flexibelt lärande (CFL), Hälsinglands utbildningsförbund (Sweden) http://www.hufb.se
Tiny Signers (UK) http://www.tinysigners.co.uk
SPOLECZNA AKADEMIA NAUK (Poland) http://www.san.edu.pl
Skola dokoran – Wide Open School n. o. (Slovakia) http://www.skoladokoran.sk/
PIA, information systems and services d.o.o. (Slovenia), https://www.pia.si/
Asociación Mi Hijo y Yo (Spain) http://asociacionmihijoyyo.org
Consultancy for autism, special educational diagnostics, counselling and education, Maja Skrubej Novak s.p. (Slovenia) www.avtizem.net
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION (Slovenia) www.pei.se
Faculty Primary School and Kindergarten Barrandov II at PedF UK, Prague 5 – Hlubočepy, V Remízku 7/919 (Czech Republic) http://www.fzsbarr.cz
AUTISME-EUROPE AISBL (Belgium) www.autismeurope.org
Kocaeli Kültürel Gelişim ve Dayanışma Derneği (KOGED)
Kartepe Halk Eğitim Merkezi (HEM)
Bulgarian Development Agency (BDA)
International Organisation for Migration (IOM)
International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education (Germany) icsspe.org
European Paralympic Committee (Austria) oepc.at
Pedagogical Institute (Slovenia) pei.si
Informa Psicologia y Deporte (Spain) informapsicologia.com
HASKOLI ISLANDS (Iceland) hi.is
Heilsuleikskólinn Krókur (Iceland) krokur.skolar.is
Finance & Banking, Associazione per lo Sviluppo Organizzativo e delle Risorse Umane (Italy) asseffebi.eu
Opera Nazionale Montessori (Italy) operanazionalemontessori.it
Natsionalna Asotsiatsia na Resursnite Uchiteli (Bulgaria) narubg.org
Tallinna Lasteaed Palliponn (Estonia) palliponn.edu.ee
Gradinita cu Program Prelungit Nr. 25 iasi (Romania) gradinitapp25.ro
Gymnasium Franca Miklošič Ljutomer (Slovenia) gfml.si
International College of Cosmetology (Latvia) skk.lv
Harmony Academy (Slovakia) harmony.sk
Catholic University of Ruzomberok (Slovakia) ku.sk
Euroreso (Italy) euroreso.eu/organisation
Eurofortis It Sia (Latvia) mobilitiesinlatvia.eu
Aspire-igen Group Ltd. (United Kingdom)
Business Foundation for Education (Bulgaria) fbo.bg
CIAPE – Centro Italiano per l’Apprendimento Permanente (Italy) ciape.it
Step by Step Association (The Netherlands) issa.nl
Link Campus University (Italy) linkinternational.it
History
Annual Reports
Annual report of the organisation for 2020
Annual report of the organisation for 2019
Annual report of the organisation for 2018
Annual report of the organisation for 2017
Annual report of the organisation for 2016
Annual report of the organisation for 2015
Annual report on the organisation's activities in 2014
Annual report of the organisation for 2013
Annual report on the organisation's activities in 2012
Annual report on the organisation's activities in 2011
Annual report of the organisation for 2010
Annual report on the organisation's activities in 2009
