Pedagogy from the heart

From what we proceed

The entire education system worldwide has been in a serious crisis for several years now. Bullying is prevalent in many schools, children are losing interest in learning and are fearful of the future. Teachers are increasingly insecure, experience that they are never enough and experience burnout. The same applies to those in leadership positions, they are constantly overworked and stressed. Many parents also feel overwhelmed and are dissatisfied with what is happening in school. And the educational authorities impose requirements that do not meet the needs of children. Children today are clearly different than they were just a few years ago.

Our inner ability to play

Whenever we humans gain inner access to our natural ability to play, doors open that previously seemed closed or blocked. Doors to our own capacity, creativity, drive, curiosity, ability to act, and also to the ability to love. And thus, doors to new possibilities in communication, personal development, and new perspectives on connections. All of this is connected to a general change in paradigms, with the old way of thinking and feeling no longer functioning. Old values and practices are no longer sustainable. This creates great challenges and poses previously unsolved questions to all of us. In all these questions, people ultimately rely on themselves. And everyone can only answer these questions with their own life attitude. In searching for new forms of coexistence for children and adults, it is crucial that our inner and outer work with ourselves leads the way. And that is where our course begins. It focuses on the question of how I can personally contribute to being a support for children while fully experiencing my own life.

Who the course is intended for

The training is aimed at pedagogically active people who are convinced that they and those around them benefit when they work on themselves. It is intended for those who want to discover, develop and deepen their own inner ability to play, expand their ability to act, their creativity and curiosity.

It is essential that the person truly plays and thus activates their own liveliness. We will also look at obstacles and limitations that arise and work with them.

It is not easy to express how exactly this will happen in words. One can experience it at the first autumn meeting, after which one can make a final decision.

For the application of the training in everyday pedagogical practice, it is especially useful if a larger number of teachers from one school participate, but it is important that each person comes for themselves and not because the management ordered them to.

Lectors

Both lecturers in the Czech Republic have been conducting seminars for a long time, supervise schools and are sought-after mentors of teachers, schools and school leaders.

Marcel Desax

“Because I have worked as both a classroom teacher and a principal, I am well aware of the challenges that schools often face. In my class, I had multiple children with different diagnoses such as ADHD, autism, or learning disorders and I learned how to have them in my class for all those years.

Playing, especially when I participated myself, was of paramount importance. As a principal, I was able to gain experience of what the challenges look like from a managerial perspective. I also worked with extremely autistic teenagers for several years.

In schools, complex issues often come to the forefront, such as:

How can we maintain a common vision without suppressing our own individuality?

Who actually makes decisions at our school? How can one work without overlooking oneself and becoming tired?

How can we be loving to each other despite all the difficulties?

What do today’s children actually need?

Many pressing everyday questions are hardly mentioned in teacher training institutions. Does every teacher have to gather all the experience from scratch? This does not seem like an effective approach and I would be happy to help with my long-term experience. As I am also the father of six children, I know schools very well from the perspective of a parent.”

Dieter Schwartz

“Since the age of sixteen, I have been a “teacher” in many contexts, I taught music instrument playing, led orchestras, was a teacher in schools, universities, and held free courses for pedagogically active adults, and worked as a mentor for teachers and schools. In all of these areas, I have experienced the following paradox:

The more I cared for my inner situation and inner development during my teaching, the more effective teaching was. This was particularly evident in situations such as:

When working with children who were trapped in rigid structures of bullying and had lost confidence in their ability to learn.

When working with parents who had great fear and doubts about their children’s path.

When colleagues looked at me skeptically in my teaching or when I was even questioned.

When working with members of the orchestra who were just going through the motions in their professional routine and not engaged artistically.

And of course, in the upbringing of my own son.

In such situations, I either feel helpless and desperate, or, on the other hand, I tap into my intuition and start acting decisively. If I am able to be sufficiently aware in that moment, I can consciously decide between these two options. Through my seminar and mentoring activities, I have observed that most teachers and parents are not aware of this option. However, since this difference appears to me to be much stronger in its impact than all the differences in pedagogical directions, methods, and systems, I have developed various formats in which I can share my knowledge gained from experience with pedagogically active adults, and help them develop their own pedagogy with a future in the context of a global pedagogical crisis.

The three-year training “Pedagogy from the heart” is a new format for imparting these experiences, which I created with my colleague Marcel Desax.

Training is recommended by

“By organizing this seminar, I would like to give an impulse to deepen the personal development of teachers and school leaders, and to connect those schools that want to develop in a deeper sense. For me, the work of a teacher stands on three pillars:

1. Playfulness and improvisation, the ability to find the right form at the right time

2. The ability to tune in properly to oneself and others, thereby opening the possibility of open communication on an emotional level

3. General awareness and interest in the world, realizing how my life is related to the broader events on Earth. How the world shapes me and how I shape the world.

The first two pillars are well covered by working with Marcel Desax and Dieter Schwartz. Ten years of collaboration with them taught me to approach class leadership completely differently than is usual and than I would have been able to without them. I learned to approach conflicts between adults with gratitude and trust, whether I am a part of them or not.”

Pavel Kraemer, Classroom Teacher and Director of the Institute for support of innovative education

“As a teacher and school principal, I often find myself in situations where I have to resolve conflicts and problems. Such situations are usually associated with a lot of feelings, emotions – on both sides. During seminars with Dieter and Marcel, I learned to observe my emotions and take them seriously, to make the most of their awareness. When communicating with others, it helped me to set and maintain my own boundaries, to support myself at a time when someone else was questioning my positions, opinions, actions. At the same time, I touched upon the possibility of not judging others when they disagree with me, to maintain a rational view along with the emotions that were passing through my body at the same time. The games connected me with the playfulness and joy of children, and also provided me with the opportunity to see the learning process in a different light. The experience of the game I bring into the educational process, in which I can see what each child is experiencing in that moment. Each game became an opportunity to see the strategies and actions of individuals, each child individually. Play is communication for me, communication is play.”

Daniela Vodová, teacher and principal at ZŠ Hůrka

Organization

The training consists of four meetings per year divided into three years. In total, there will be 12 meetings.

We will be meeting at the ZŠ Hůrka in Kutná Hora (Vocelova 394), always starting on Thursdays at 5:00 PM and ending on Sundays at 2:00 PM.

Dates for 2022-23: October 13.-16.22, December 8.-11.22, March 2.-5.23, June 1.-4.23

Accommodation and food

Eating will be possible in school or in nearby restaurants, we will be staying in school or in the nearby area.

Price

We have tried to keep the price as low as possible. The exchange rate for the 2022/23 school year is 6,000 CZK per seminar, including accommodation at school.

(To make training as accessible as possible to all interested parties, individual financial solutions will be possible to seek.)

Registration

Register at this link.

For the next seminar, please send 6,000 CZK to account 2101064512/2010, in the note please include: Nitro říjen, name and surname. For payments from abroad – IBAN – CZ81 2010 0000 0021 0106 4512, BIC – FIOBCZPPXXX.

Brochure for distribution

The brochure for distribution with detailed information in pdf format can be downloaded here.

schools that have already applied for participation:

ZŠ Hůrka in Kutná Hora, ZŠ Kairos in Dobřichovice, Scioškola Olomouc, ZŠ Krásná Lípa, Waldorfská ZŠ Dobromysl Plzeň, ZŠ Lesves in Turnov, LŠ Jsem lesem in Dobříš, ZŠ Vitae Praha, Lipová škola Bratislava, Škola Na Radosti in Žďár nad Sázavou, Waldorfská ZŠ Praha Jinonice, ZŠ 2ika in Zlín, Scoškola Praha 11, Scioškola České Budějovice, MŠ Litvínov, Sportovní SZŠ Litvínov, ZUŠ Choceň.

If you have any questions, please call us at 731 429 096 (Pavel Kraemer) or 777 556 282 (Daniela Vodová, ZŠ Hůrka)

or write to pedagogika-z-nitra@inovativnivzdelavani.cz

Pavel Kraemer and Daniela Vodová, organizers