Job-shadowing

Mr. Kolena, a teacher from our school, gained a new opportunity and experience through "Job-shadowing" – observing at work – when he visited a primary school in Staki, Latvia in April. He participated in classes focused on environmental education throughout the week.

The education system is similar to ours in Slovakia. The main difference is that students start school at the age of seven and finish at sixteen. Written assignments are graded by percentage rather than letter grades. Ninth-grade students take final exams, similar to our ninth graders. In addition to their native language and mathematics, they also have an English language exam. Classes start at 9:00 AM and end around 3:30 PM, with lessons lasting 40 minutes.

During his stay, he had the opportunity to observe teaching methods both in the classroom and in the field. In class, students mostly worked in groups on practical tasks such as creating a herbarium. Many activities also took place outdoors, such as bird watching, making birdhouses, and planting trees.

As part of the project, he gained a lot of new ideas and experiences, especially environmental activities that can be used at our school. (Mgr. Róbert Kolena)