We wanted to build on our experience in international contexts, so we needed to improve our (foreign) language and intercultural competences, which would enable us courses abroad and transfer good practices to our school. We would encourage the internationalisation of our institution and increase our network of European cooperation. Through the mobility of different profiles of participants, we wanted to improve practice and approaches, gain a broader insight into the work and the motivation to create a flexible learning environment with different physical environment set-ups. We wanted to support the learning methods with games, positive social interactions, thematic corners and by creating floor decals and board games. We would improve foreign language learning with new approaches and the CLIL method, and learn about modern approaches to teaching in combined groups. Motivation and creativity in an ICT-enhanced learning environment would be enriched with new approaches and professional English language programmes. We wanted to increase the proportion of teaching in non-conventional learning environments to increase student engagement, motivation and active approaches. We would transfer modern European practices and adaptations for special needs students and improve the areas of leadership and management of innovative learning environments and learning organisations.
We are an institution with a heterogeneous age structure of teachers. More than 1/3 of our employees are over 55 years old, 1/3 are teacher beginners. Many cannot keep up with the development of the profession and rapid changes. Despite continuous improvement, we have problems with changing the routine and transferring innovations into practice. The knowledge of teachers beginners is not enough in practice. Highly professional staff is required when facing new challenges. Due to complex deficits, special needs children need demanding adaptations. In the branch school, the situation is further complicated by challenges of combined classes and a small number of employees. Due to the heterogeneous needs, it is almost impossible to carry out lessons that would cover all the needs of students, including emotional, social, etc., not only for special needs children, but for the rest, including the talented students. Teachers having teacher-centred lessons and using classical approaches have problems with differentiation and adjustments, with educational problems, lack of motivation and poor interest in learning, which causes poor quality of knowledge. Classical classroom arrangements represent an obstacle to modern forms of teaching and do not correspond to the vision of the educational environment for the 21st century. We do not have our own experience in organising the learning environment effectively, we have not yet been educated in the wider European area.