This is how, 31 years ago, I stood as one of the many on the square in Trnava and rattled the key. I did not realize how important a historical moment I was experiencing together with thousands of people around me.
Today I know that the road to freedom does not begin with politics or man.
Each and every one of us has the opportunity to contribute to the transformation of our society, which, although painful, protracted and at times may seem to us to be unattainable. It is up to ourselves how we approach life and man.
In this article, I would like to explain to you how we subscribe today to the message of November 17, 1989. It is based on a brief reflection on the reasons for the need to transform systems and approaches in education in our country in Slovakia, as well as the needs of (not only language) schools, which, thanks to the support of the Erasmus+ programme, have the opportunity to use EU funds and thus develop themselves, their lecturers, managers or students and pupils.
Today, the world is different. We hear it from every side, and are you as interested as I am in how we perceive it? What does it mean, "the world is different"? Who or what is the world? Doesn't every generation happen to say that our world was more beautiful, better, and the one that came after us is at least different, but often worse or even bad?
What does it do to us? How do we feel about it? Do we know how our children, the young millennial generation (born since 1994-95), feel and need?
Pain is a natural part of life. As well as joy or enthusiasm. We are human and we have the ability to feel. The palette of feelings is varied for each of us, and it is natural that we have days in which we feel more joy, peace or enthusiasm, and vice versa, there are days when we cry, feel pain or are angry.
When we enjoy ourselves, we tend to share those experiences with others. We are happy in the company of others and naturally integrate ourselves among them. But what about experiencing pain? How do we react when something hurts us, we feel hurt and disappointed? Someone is angry, someone is screaming, someone is alone with their pain. Only some of us are willing and able to admit what we feel and look for the reason why we feel that way. How is it necessary to change our school and work environment to be closer to people and especially to the younger generation?
As part of our application for Erasmus+ accreditation for 2021-2027, we identified the following needs for the transformation of the (language) school environment:
1. The need to develop entrepreneurial and strategic thinking in organizations
- Implementing the learning organization model requires a transformation of the mindset of the entire management as well as gradually all its team members
- it is necessary to communicate with people in schools and companies how, why and what they actually do, what their goal is and how to approach obstacles on the way to achieving them
2. Needs for the development of lifelong learning systems across the organisation
- In order to stay in the labour market, it is absolutely essential to provide working conditions that enable and guide individuals on a lifelong learning path that ensures that both the individual and the organisation succeed in surviving this challenging period of transformation
3. The need to increase competencies in all positions in organizations
- competently managed learning is transparent, motivating and ensuring the entire learning process
- it is essential to fine-tune old or build new jobs in schools and companies that reflect the current needs of our company
4. Needs to improve the quality of services and attractiveness of the organization
- Competitive schools have a unique opportunity to distinguish themselves from others by their quality of processes across the entire organization, not just the teaching process
- The school is a living organism, where everything is related to everything, one cannot "only" monitor the quality of teaching and forget about the whole process of managing the organization, which contributes and influences what ultimately takes place in the classrooms
5. The need to develop customer relationships
- In communication with customers, it is essential to update the program offer of schools and, in dialogue with them, to complete and create such programs that will help customers in achieving their set goals
- a clear definition and analysis of customer needs forms the basis for the success of the current school
6. The need for networking and international cooperation
- language learning is attractive today and allows the opportunity to travel and communicate with other people around the world, knowledge from other countries, their cultural as well as historical richness contribute to the creation of new original educational content, strengthen international cooperation and cultural awareness of the countries in our EU community
7. The need to raise awareness of the mental resilience and health of teachers and lecturers and other educational staff
- huge pressures on the mental health of teachers, lecturers and other staff in language schools often result in their burnout, so it is necessary to pay attention to their work, analyse their needs and raise awareness of the increasing added value of real experts-professionals in education, which is essential to communicate in the price offer of services for customers
- it is essential to think about rest, relaxation and the ratio of work-learning-rest with each working lecturer-teacher-manager-admin worker
8. Economic sustainability in the labour market
- The pressure on the prices of services in (language) education creates a very highly competitive environment and it is therefore essential to communicate an original product offer that is unique in its content
- original content together with experts in education and a secure process of monitoring the quality of work is the way to ensure a sustainable place in the market
We believe that we will have the opportunity to continue to develop people and their organizations so that we contribute our part to the whole. After years of rigorous observation and development of the original Learn & Lead quality management system, we are today strengthening our communication with the lay and professional public alike and are open to working with anyone who identifies with these needs.
These days, we are launching a campaign called EVERY CHILD MATTERS, through which we are going to organize a series of webinars for parents, teachers and adults who care about building a better work or family environment for a healthier life for all of us.
With love,
Jana Chynoradská
