What was achieved?
We entered the previous period with three main tasks:
- Completion of testing of the 3rd output of the LEADERSHIP ACADEMY project – professional circle methodologies, November 2024.
- Project meeting – Bratislava, December 2024.
- Planning a project multiplier event: online conference – April 2025.
We managed to accomplish all the planned tasks.
Testing the 3rd output of the LEADERSHIP ACADEMY project – professional circles methodology
The LEADERSHIP ACADEMY project seeks to combine various methods that would ensure that current school leadership can successfully recover from the crisis, cope with increased autonomy and lead their school towards an effective digital transformation. As part of the project, a ” Leadership Academy Handbook” was created, with the aim of supporting new school leaders and complementing senior leaders in their development in the field of leading people and the changes that we are experiencing in society today. However, reading the handbook is not enough. Our goal is to have a joint discussion, reflection on its content and, finally, based on the exercises in the handbook, specific discussions and sharing of good experience in four key topics. Therefore, the second step is to test the “principal circles”.
During the 6-month testing period, the directors met at regular intervals. Each circle consisted of six members, led by a facilitator. The pilot circle of directors in each partner country took the form of six facilitated meetings. Their content was to go through two predetermined chapters from the manual, reflect this knowledge in practice with the help of a facilitator, and thus learn together and develop specific solutions in the given topics for each participant.
- The meetings of the Pilot Circles of Slovak Principals were led by Ing. Dagmar Keryová. Slovak principals tested MODULE 1: School Principal in the Role of Leader and MODULE 4: Change Management.
- The meetings of the Pilot Circles of Czech Principals were led by PhDr. Václav Trojan, PhD. Czech principals tested MODULE 2: Leading a School with Clarity and Motivation and MODULE 4: Managing Change.
- The Bulgarian Principals’ Pilot Circle meetings were led by Katerina Vasileva, PhD. Bulgarian principals tested MODULE 3: Division of Labour and Co-Creation of Solutions and MODULE 4: Change Management.
Project meeting – Bratislava, December 2024
In December 2024, the fourth and final project meeting was held as planned:
4. 12. 2024 – Dr. Josef Raabe Slovakia, Heydukova 12-14, 811 02 Bratislava
5. 12. 2024 – Park Inn by Radisson Danube Bratislava, Rybné Square 1, 811 02 Bratislava
Content of the first meeting day was to evaluate testing the third output project and at the same time discuss improvements and suggest individual participants testing. The directors of each country described and evaluated as from the point of view target groups perceived participation in testing professional circles. For each country, suggestions were made for improving and supplementing this output. The testing was also evaluated from the other side, i.e. from the facilitators. After a joint discussion of all partners, we agreed on the next steps in finalizing the methodology of professional circles. We ended the first meeting day with a joint dinner in the centre of Bratislava. The pleasant meeting was associated with the useful sharing of experience of directors and education experts.
On the second meeting day, we moved to the Park Inn by Radisson Danube Bratislava hotel, where we continued discussions and had the opportunity to participate in professional lectures and workshops as part of the School 2024/2025 conference. Representatives of the project partners, PhDr. Václav Trojan, PhD. from the Czech Republic and Diyan Stamatov from Bulgaria spoke before the plenary session of the conference in Bratislava. They reminded the participants about our project and its main goals.
Planning a project multiplier event: online conference – April 2025
The last project meeting also included planning for the project’s multiplier event. The online conference – the project’s multiplier event (300 participants) will be held on April 23, 2025. The content of the conference will be to present the entire project with all its outputs, and to introduce the project partners. The conference language will be English.
Online conference program:
10:00 – 10:15 Welcome, program introduction
10:15 – 11:00 Introduction to the project and the Leadership approach Academy
11:00 – 11:15 Coactive coaching applied in education
11:15 – 11:30 Knowledge from the practice of associations of associations in individual countries
11:30 – 12:00 Leadership Platform Demo Academy
12:00 – 12:30 Coffee break
12:30 – 1:00 PM Leadership Handbook Academy
13:30 – 14:00 Methodology of professional circles Leadership Academy
14:00 – 14:30 Q&A Discussion. Conference participants will be asked to fill out online feedback forms.
What we are working on
- Finalization of the project and all three of its outputs.
- The next project multiplier event: online conference – April 2025.
- Project completion.
A final word
We are pleased that the project we brought to the school environment has received broad support among school principals, as well as among their representatives. The process and results of testing the third output of the project have convinced us of how important it is to discuss problems in school management with each other in a facilitated discussion. It is equally important to share our experience and inspire each other in schools at the regional and international levels. The experience of the countries involved in the project has shown us that school principals across the countries solve similar problems. Their interest in the methodology of professional circles (O3) and active participation in its testing suggests that the content and form we have chosen is beneficial.