Abstract:

The aim of the presented paper is to introduce a new educational programme "Competencies for a Successful School" and to assess, or more precisely to evaluate the designed module educational programme for leading employees in education after it had been verified in practice (including evaluation by its participants). The educational programme consists of a basic thematic unit which focuses on the area of educational leadership of school directors and directors of educational facilities. The next part of the educational programme consists of six individual elective thematic units which focus on enhancing management skills of leading educational employees of nursery schools, small rural schools, elementary schools, secondary schools, halls of residence for youth, educational facilities for the provision of institutional and juvenile correctional education, and employees who work in leisure-based educational facilities in various areas of interest. Specifically, the thematic units deal with the following: introduction of formative assessment, rural school management, project management, management of halls of residence for youth and educational facilities for the provision of institutional and juvenile correctional education, management of leisure-based educational facilities, and implementing digital technologies into the life of the school.

Data were obtained through a questionnaire survey and a brainstorming session; the data were then evaluated and shaped into specific proposals of education. The new educational project focusing on enhancing competencies of educational employees was verified by full-time and distance workshops as well as by experience sharing. So far, 70 leading educational employees have participated in the verification process.

The important component of this programme is its innovativeness which lies in the fact that leading educational employees of schools and educational facilities contributed directly to the creation of the modules in the educational programme, and based on their hands-on experience, mutual sharing and problem solving with other educational leaders they improve their professional competencies in the field of the latest trends in legislation, educational process management, introduction of new methods or forms of education, formative assessment, HR management, change and safety management, all being areas of growing importance. Experience sharing, examples of best practices and mutual motivation are additional innovative components which should also be the result of the performed evaluation.

The aim of the educational programme itself is to enhance the quality of the strategic attitude to the management of schools and educational facilities, i.e. to improve the competencies of leading educational employees in the area of management and quality assessment in education.

The programme evaluation results will be the main contribution of the presented paper.

Keywords:

Education, further education, leading employee in education, evaluation.