Educhange

Societal problem 

Over the past 30 years, society’s needs have changed substantially.  Although there are a number of great examples that show that Czech education can be adapted to the needs of the 21st century, the overall operation and teaching methods at Czech schools only reflect the developments in society to a limited extent. The Czech education system lacks a clear vision for the future. Among OECD countries, our ranking is among the lowest in terms of investment in education at all levels.  The interest in the teaching profession among students is low.  As a result, pupils often do not acquire the skills they need in contemporary society and see no sense in learning.  They do not learn collaboration, critical thinking, problem-solving or social and media skills – the skills needed for a democratic society to function properly.  Moreover, without education in line with current developments, the Czech Republic is losing its competitiveness and is going to fall behind other countries. 

Our solution 

We want to change this state but we know we cannot do it by ourselves. That’s why we’ve joined forces with Nadace České spořitelny (Česká Spořitelna foundation), Nadace Karla Janečka (Karel Janeček Foundation) and Nadační fond Avast (Avast Foundation) and together we founded Eduzměna (Educhange Foundation).

It is a unique entity of its kind, with bold ambitions.  The Foundation acts as a platform that connects representatives of the private, non-profit and state sectors with the aim to support a fundamental change in the education of children in the Czech Republic.  We are the initiators of change and implement projects and approaches that have a chance to move the education system forward.  To do so we get assistance from our expert partners and cooperating organisations, whose experience and know-how we rely on.

We want to improve children’s attitude to learning and school, build on their natural curiosity, strengthen their mathematical, science, and literacy skills and improve their capacity to solve everyday problems.

What We Do:

  • together we create conditions for all children to learn fully, with joy and equal opportunities
  • so that they leave school ready for the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century
  • we support activities that help schools further development
  • we are able to identify projects and approaches that can work in the long-term and in a sustainable way
  • we are also able to ensure that these projects and approaches are adopted at all levels – among pupils, parents, teachers, headmasters, bodies establishing schools and politicians
  • our priority is a pilot project in a selected region – a municipality with extended competence, where together with partners and cooperating organisations we want to prove that thanks to the involvement of all we can achieve a positive change in education
  • we then want to offer our experience to other regions of the Czech Republic

Impact of our work:

  • we cultivate donor cooperation – we have joined forces with 3 other foundations to prepare EduChange and with this unique philanthropic achievement we want to set an example to others: representatives of state administration, academia, the non-profit sector and the business sector;
  • people from all these areas are represented in our expert council, including the Ministry of Education and the Czech School Inspectorate, teachers, headmasters, parents, founders and organisations that have long been involved in education – all working together to develop a regional support model to cooperate in a particular region within a pilot;
  • we support data-based approaches that demonstrably improve the learning of all children;
  • we are able to spread these approaches to other schools and help adopt them in the Czech educational system;
  • we help raise public awareness about the state of the Czech educational system and the reasons why it needs to be significantly transformed;
  • we have published a clear Analysis of Educational Challenges in the Czech Republic and work with our partners on further publicising various topics related to education.

For more information, please visit the EduChange website.