With the beginning of the new school year come further changes and uncertainty for teachers and students as to whether and when we should expect next waves of distance education. The situation is challenging for teachers, parents and, of course, students. We value schools all the more that they try to tackle the situation in such a way as to help children adapt to the school environment as much as possible after a long separation from friends and teachers and a long period of home education, which unfortunately often did not take place in ideal conditions.

We are pleased to have been able to support three schools involved in the project Schools Helping Vulnerable Children in the preparatory week. We have carried out a two-day training for the schools’ faculty focused on the introduction of the PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports) framework. Schools will be implementing PBIS with ČOSIV’s support for over the next three years. The three-tiered behavioral support (PBIS) framework enables schools to respond to students’ current behavioral and well-being needs, thus creating an environment that enables students to reach their maximum educational potential.

In the first year of implementation, schools will focus primarily on unifying behavioral expectations and routine procedures. This will strengthen the predictability and structure of the learning environment and increase students’ sense of security. When students feel safe at school and the environment is easy to understand for them, they can concentrate on learning better. School-wide expectations are formulated positively, thus creating a school culture of competence. As part of the feedback on students’ behavior, teachers strive to draw attention primarily to students who respect the agreed expectations, and thus the expected behavior is further strengthened.

During the two-day training, the lecturers supported the faculty of each of the participating schools in creating school-wide expectations, specific examples of expected behavior and procedures for teaching students the expected behavior in the adaptation period. Schools also reflected on the current course of distance education and the effects of quarantine on children’s mental health. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an important topic of the training was also the support of children’s mental health, relaxation techniques and ways of recognition and appropriate responses to a possible adverse experience of students.

We wish all children, students, teachers and parents the most pleasant start to the new school year. After such a difficult conclusion of the previous school year, we need to renew and build mutual relationships and a sense of security, which will help us to manage any further period of separation and insecurity

You can find more Czech materials about PBIS at https://www.pbiscr.cz https://www.podporainkluze.cz/material/pbis-podpora-pozitivniho-chovani-deti-a-zaku/