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This document contains 18 policy, synthesis, and analysis papers and foreign experts' contributions examining the following topics: challenges facing vocational education and training (VET) in the Czech Republic; the main aims and strategies of reforming the country's VET system; the role of VET in transforming the republic into a learning society in the Czech Republic and elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe; reform strategies and policies that have been used in the West; and the Czech Republic's policy options with regard to reform of its VET system. The following papers are included: "Education for Prosperity: Towards a Learning Society"; "Curriculum Assessment/Certification/Quality Assessment/Teacher Training" (Bohumil Janys); "Management/Financing/Social Partnership" (Jaromir Coufalik); "Legislation/Research and Development/Internationalisation" (Jan Kovarovic); "Curriculum, Assessment, and Certification" (Pavel Petrovic et al.); "Teacher Training" (Jana Svecova et al.); "Management" (Frantisek Bacik et al.); "Financing" (Igor Hartman et al.); "Legislation" (Jaromir Krejci et al.); "Social Partnership" (Jan Hrabek et al.); "Quality Assessment" (Michal Karpisek et al.); "Research and Development/Internationalisation" (Jana Hendrichova et al.); "International Developments in the Area of Curriculum Development" (David Parkes); "Assessment and Certification of Vocational Qualifications" (Olivier Bertrand); "Qualification Structure and Quality Control in Vocational Education and Training" (Ben Hovels); "Preparing Educational Leaders to Implement Reform: Lessons from Eastern Europe" (David Oldroyd); "Management of Education: An Overview of the International Context" (Gabor Halasz); "The Financing of Vocational Education and Training in Europe: An Examination of Recent Developments" (Jean-Pierre Jallade); and "The Involvement of Social Partners in the Development of Vocational Education and Training" (Jean-Marie Luttringer). Appendices contain a brief description of the Phare VET reform program in the Czech Republic and 161 references. (MN)

This collection of short papers is an outcome of the third conference on virtual exchange in higher education hosted by the Pedagogical University in Krakow in April 2018. Following the focus of the conference on virtual exchange in service of social inclusion and global citizenship, the papers collected in this volume offer first-hand insights into theoretical and practical considerations on the most recent stage of this rapidly developing form of learning. The publication will be of particular interest to academic educators, researchers, administrators, and mobility officers planning to implement virtual exchange in their unique academic contexts.

The chapter discusses the participation of the Czech Republic in the European Union (EU). In this paper, ten member nations that were admitted to the EU in 2004 are enumerated, including the Czech Republic. In 2003, Czechs voted for membership in the EU in a historic referendum. Moreover, the split in public opinion in the country regarding the amount of decision-making control Czechs should surrender to the EU is also discussed in this paper.

The chapter provides information on people and culture in Czech Republic. In this paper, nationalities that comprise the non-Czech minority are enumerated. A background information on religion, food and drinks, education and sports is also presented. In addition, this paper also highlights several festivals and events in Czech Republic.

The chapter provides information on economic conditions of Czech Republic. In this paper, primary industries in the country are discussed including iron and steel production, metalworking and chemical production. This paper highlights the agricultural sector, energy sources, transportation and trade and investment. Quick facts on gross domestic product, export commodities and import partners are also presented.

This document contains 7 papers that evolved from 44 case studies of access to vocational guidance for people at risk of social exclusion in 5 European countries. The following papers are included: "Introduction" (Pamela Clayton); "Access to Vocational Guidance in Italy" (Silvana Greco, Marco Maiello); "Access to Vocational Guidance in Ireland" (Mary Ward, Elmer Kelly); "Access to Vocational Guidance in the United Kingdom" (Pamela Clayton, Paul McGill); "Access to Vocational Guidance in Finland" (Eija Makela, Johanna Hulkko); "Access to Vocational Guidance in the Czech Republic" (Robert Troska, Vavrinec Fojcik, D. Machackova, Lenka Sinorova, Miroslav Kostka, Pamela Clayton); and "Conclusions" (Pamela Clayton). The following are among the topics discussed: the problem of social exclusion; the role of lifelong learning and vocational guidance and counseling in preventing social exclusion; barriers to vocational guidance and what can be done to eliminate them; and educational and labor market policies favoring adult groups at risk of social exclusion. Each report also includes case studies and country-specific recommendations. The bibliography contains 305 references. Appended are the following: lists of case study locations and the case studies by target group; interview schedules; and list of 77 useful Web sites. (MN)

The chapter provides information on cities in Czech Republic. In this paper, a background information on Prague, the capital of Czech Republic, is presented. Aside from Prague, other cities including Brno, Ostrava and Plzen are highlighted. The history, culture and industries present in these cities are also discussed.

The chapter provides information on the history and government of Czech Republic. In this paper, early settlers in the country are enumerated. The emergence of the Bohemian Kingdom during the tenth century is discussed. The article also highlights the status of the country under the ruling of the Hapsburg family of Austria in 1620. The nationalism of the country, its participation during World War I and II, the rise of communism and reforms in the country are also presented.

The chapter provides geographical information on Czech Republic. Several landforms that can be found in the country are enumerated, including mountains, valleys and forests. This paper also provides information on rivers and lakes in Czech Republic. In addition, the climate, elevation and terrain of the country are also highlighted.

The chapters in this book originated as papers for a conference, School Choice and Educational Change, held in March 2000 at Michigan State University. An introductory chapter provides a comparative analysis of the lessons learned from international experience with school-choice policies, based on a review of case studies in several countries. The papers/chapters are as follows: "Does Privatization Improve Education? The Case of Chiles National Voucher Plan" (Martin Carnoy and Patrick J. McEwan); "School Choice in New Zealand: A Cautionary Tale" (Edward B. Fiske and Helen F. Ladd); "School Choice and Educational Change in England and Wales" (Geoffrey Walford); "Market Forces and Decentralization in Sweden: Impetus for School Development or Threat to Comprehensiveness and Equity?" (Holger Daun); "School Choice Policies and Their Impact on Public Education in Australia" (Max Angus); "Education Reform and School Choice in South Africa" (John Pampallis); "School Choice in the Peoples Republic of China" (Mun C. Tsang); "Public Support for Private Schools in Post-Communist Central Europe: Czech and Hungarian Experiences" (Randall K. Filer and Daniel Munich). (WFA)

This book, which is designed primarily for undergraduate and graduate students of education, contains 12 papers devoted the New Labour's policies for schools in the United Kingdom. "Introduction" (Jim Docking) presents an overview of the book's contents and lists questions to help evaluate the effectiveness of New Labour's educational policies. "What Is the Problem?" (Jim Docking) examines the background to the standards debate and the government's rationale for increasing investment in education and intervention to raise standards. "What Is the Solution? An Overview of National Policies for Schools, 1979-99" (Jim Docking) recaps successive governments' policies to raise standards. "Target Setting, Inspection and Assessment" (Derek Shaw) explains how standards are monitored and considers problems of benchmarking. "Curriculum Initiatives" (Jim Docking) reviews national programs to raise standards in literacy, numeracy, and information and communication technology. "The Revised National Curriculum" (Jim Docking) traces the curriculum's development. "Early Years Education" (Peter Jackson) explores issues and developments in early years education. "Special Educational Needs and Inclusion" (Ron Letch) discusses the drive to place more special needs children in mainstream schools. "14-19 and Lifelong Learning" (Roger Marples) examines the complexities of provision for learners aged 14-19 and the policy to improve provisions for of lifelong learning. "The Teaching Profession" (Graham Welch, Pat Mahony) looks at policies for reforming the teaching profession. "The Role of Local Education Authorities" (Ron Letch) focuses on the changing role of local education authorities. "Choice, Diversity and Partnerships" (Peter Jackson) outlines New Labour's policies regarding choice, diversity, and development of partnerships. "Disengagement, Truancy and Exclusion" (Jane Lovey) is devoted to New Labour's policies to arrest pupil disengagement and reduce the incidence of truancy and exclusion. All papers contain substantial bibliographies. (MN)

This journal issue describes in detail the work of a Trans-European Mobility Schemes for University Studies (TEMPUS) project, directed by John Sayer and based in the Department of Educational Studies of the University of Oxford. The project's activities, concerned principally with the development of democratic processes in the elementary, secondary, and higher education systems of the Czech Republic and Poland, are illustrated through 20 papers. Part 1 offers John Sayer's background and description of the Developing Schools for Democracy in Europe (DSDE) project, a TEMPUS initiative and includes a multi-university final report on teacher preparation and continuing development. In part 2 the professional development of teachers and the role of the university in the Czech Republic are examined by program participants, Jan Beran, Jitka Kazelleova, Jana Kohnova, John Sayer, and Jaroslava Tomancova. Part 3 presents the following Polish teachers, tutors, and researchers: Grzegorz Chomicki, Roman Dorczak, Dawid Friedmann, Aleksandra Kwiecinska, Andrzej Mirski, Malgorzata Niemczynska, and Andrzej Szyjewski, viewpoints on educational reform, democracy education teacher training, and the school setting in Krakow, Poland. In part 4 home (family) and school relationships, one of the eight areas of the DSDE project, are examined by Tatyana Bourmina and Milada Rabusicova. In part 5 David Martin, Hugh Starkey, and Eva Foldes Travers focus on aspects of citizenship and values as they relate to democracy education in the "New Europe." Taken together, these papers provide an extensive case study of a democratic collaboration of four European universities from very different social, economic, political and cultural settings, working with local schools and authorities across disciplines in an attempt to develop schools for democracy in Europe. (CB)

This book contains papers presented at a conference focused on the subject of funding for higher education and providing comparative perspectives on, and case studies of, educational financing from around the world. After an introduction by Ernest L. Boyer, the papers and their authors are as follows: "The Costs of Higher Education: Worldwide Issues and Trends for the 1990s" (D. Bruce Johnstone); "Optimizing Allocation Strategy" (William F. Massy and Michael C. Hulfactor); "University Strategies for the Third Stream of Income" (John Furstenbach); "The Future of Higher Education Financing" (George Psacharopoulos); "Sources of Revenue" (Ihsan Dogramaci); "Are University Funding Systems in Need of an Overhaul?" (Karel Tavernier); "Industry-University Research Collaboration: An Option for Generating Revenue" (Linda Parker); "Higher Education Funding in Open Door China" (Richard A. Hartnett); "Toward Understanding the Economics of African Higher Education" (Teshome G. Wagaw); "Allocating Budgets Using Performance Criteria" (Michael A. Brown and David M. Wolf); "Changing Patterns in the Funding of University Education and Research: The Case of the Netherlands" (Cornelius A. Hazeu and Peter A. Lourens); "Issues in Funding Higher Education in Eastern Europe: The Cases of the Czech Republic and Slovakia" (James E. Mauch and Daniel S. Fogel); "Problems of Funding the Transformation of Higher Education in East Germany" (Helmut de Rudder); "Higher Education Funding in Australia" (Brian G. Wilson); "Canadian Universities and the Politics of Funding" (Howard Buchbinder and P. Rajagopal); and "Constructing the 'Post-Industrial University': Institutional Budgeting and University-Corporate Linkages" (Janice A. Newson). Contains an index. (GLR)

This book presents the status quo of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Education, with a focus on China and the 17 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs), including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia (the "17+1" cooperation mechanism, as an incubator for pragmatic trans-regions cooperation platform, created by China and the 17 CEECs). With recent advances in ICT in China and the CEECs, it has assumed increasingly important roles in education, including the improvement of the quality of teaching and learning, as well as the promotion of equity in education. The significant contribution of ICT in education is an enabler to achieving the goals of the "17+1 cooperation" mechanism between China and the CEECs, which has attracted considerable attention worldwide, given fresh impetus to cooperation between the two parties, and opened a new chapter in China-CEEC cooperation. The contributors, all of whom hail from these 18 countries, describe the state-of-the-art of ICT in education in their respective country, and focus on three major aspects, namely: the country profile, general status of education development, and ICT in education. In turn, leading experts in educational informatization research compare the situations in different countries. Taken together, the papers offer valuable insights for policymakers and educators on how to integrate ICT into educational processes, and on inter-regional cooperation with regard to ICT in education.

Purpose: The purpose of this scientific monograph is to show new and creative approaches to different school subjects in primary and secondary level. Methodology: Interdisciplinary and international comparative approaches were used. Now according to the 7th Framework Program, the preferred form of Science Education (www.scientix.eu) is preferred inquiry-based learning. Chapters in the monograph bring a lot of different kinds of motivation for teachers in practise. Results: Results indicate that using constructivist and inquiry-based learning methods bring positive results in motivation and development of key competencies by pupils in primary and secondary level. Conclusions: Results show that pupils who are working in groups and led by teachers as managers of theirs own activities have better results than pupils led in transmissive form. Recommendations: Educators need to increase their knowledge of the effects of constructivist teaching to pupils and need international and interdisciplinary exchange of best practices. Additional data: Monograph was supported by Erasmus Intensive Program. [Contents of this monograph are as follows: (1) Some Interactive Elementary Mathematics Lessons (Edith Debrenti); (2) Origami and Mathematics (Asuman Duatepe Paksu); (3) New Inequalities in Higher Education: Pre-Service Teachers in Partium Region (Agnes Reka Dusa and Edina Kovacs); (4) Instructional Software with Focus on Instructional Games in Mathematics and Chemistry Education (Pavla Hanzalova and Katerina Chroustova); (5) On a Method Solving Some Mathematical Problems Using Quantifier Elimination (Lukas Honzik); (6) Importance of Narration in Primary Education (Zuzana Chanasova); (7) Use of Educational Software for Mathematics and Computer Science (Jan Guncaga, Janka Majherova, and Hedviga Palasthy); (8) Education in Smart Cities (Sevinc Gulsecen, Serra Celik, Sebnem Ozdemir, Tuba Ugras, and Mustafa Ozcan); (9) Education of the Pupil for Life in the Complex Society and the Role of the Teacher in this Process (Giuseppi Mari); (10) Curricula and Values in Teacher Training (Silvia Matusova); (11) Introduction to Computer Animation and Its Possible Educational Applications (Sajid Musa, Rushan Ziatdinov, Carol Griffiths); (12) Pedagogical Training from the Pre-Service Teachers' Point of View at the University of Debrecen--A Pilot Research (Zoltan Nagy, Krisztina Banoczki, Eszter Gerjak, Daniel Karai, Jozsef Katona, Edina Malmos, and Eva Fruzsina Racz; (13) Sprachliche Attituden der Slowaken in Sudostungarn--Einfluss zum Schulwesen (Sandor Janos Toth); and (14) Science Education--Formal versus Informal Education (Zuzana Vaclavikova). [Individual papers contain bibliographies.]

"Education Policy and Equal Education Opportunities," published by the Open Society Education Support Program, examines the role of public education in addressing a wide variety of unequal educational opportunities found across the world. The publication brings together analyses from countries in Europe and Asia (Albania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Ireland, Mongolia, Montenegro, Nepal, Turkey, and United Kingdom) that examine the fundamental question of how public education policies are either mediating or reinforcing unequal education opportunities. "Education Policy and Equal Education Opportunities" focuses on key areas that are shaping the debates and issues of contemporary inclusive education policy: educational equity; education politics, policy, and governance; financing educational services; and creating educational opportunities for marginalized groups such as the Roma. By presenting this set of papers, the publication aims to provide fresh insights about educational inclusion and how it can enhance equal education opportunity.

The article provides information on administrative agencies of Czech Republic and the European Commission. In this paper, location, telephone numbers and web sites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and embassy of Czech Republic are provided.

The article presents a profile of Czech poet Miroslav Holub. Topics covered include the characteristics of his poetry such as a sophisticated detachment which allows him to explore historical questions, the sardonic humor he brought to questions of totalitarianism and oppression and his investigation of the world's ironies with courage. A selection of books dedicated to Holub is also presented.

This document, described as both a "research report" and the seventh item in a series dealing periodically with various educational issues, contains six articles discussing diverse educational topics. Papers include: (1) "Problem Posing in Mathematics Education" (Andras Ambrus); (2) "Cooperating Teachers and Their Role in Students' Teaching Practice" (Friedrich Buchberger); (3) "Teacher's Purposes and Student's Intentions. Do They Ever Meet?" (Pertti Kansanen); (4) "On Some Psychological Contributions to Theory and Practice of Instructional Design" (Andrei Podolskij); (5) "Some Characteristics of Education in Finland and in the Czech Republic: A Comparative View" (Jan Prucha); and (6) "Den inlarningspsykologiska grunden for didaktik" (Claes-Goran Wenestam). (ASK)