EduPort

Dear readers of Education Support journal,

With the arrival of winter you receive another issue of our journal, which differs from the previous ones in two aspects. The first is that the issue is in English, and the following ones will be as well. The main reason is the entrance into the field of international scientific-pedagogical interconnection. Based on the questions from the readers, we have further decided to focus on topics that are closer to the field of special education this year. In the last of the published issues, it is possible to get acquainted with a total of five articles from colleagues from Ústí nad Labem, Prague, Olomouc, and Hradec Králové.

In their articles entitled „Support measures and their implementation as a part of education of individuals with the special needs“, colleagues Lanková, Vostrý, Zilcher, and Landová deal with the issue of support measures with regard to the education of individuals with special education needs. In this way, they more deeply develop the issue, which is accentuated in society but, from a scientific perspective, is still not given enough space. The authors consider it essential that all educators know how to work effectively with these pupils and what methods and approaches to use in education. Although this issue is not new, in practice, there are still educators who do not work according to current trends when working with pupils with special needs.

In her contribution “Community circle as a teaching strategy for the development of prosocial dialogue in a family-type primary school”, Michaela Pachelová presents a case exploratory study. The subject of this study is the teaching strategies of four respondents and it is focused on the analysis of community circle activities that support communication skills at the 1st stage of a family-type primary school in the context of teaching prosociality. Her conclusions are based mainly on observations, semi-structured individual interviews with the teachers, and content analysis of teaching artifacts. It turns out that teachers, in accordance with the expressed teaching strategies with observations, organize a space for development of communicative skills in the context of prosociality.

Karel Pančocha deals with the issue of problem behavior in children with autism. He bases his conclusions on experimental design to evaluate the effects of a demand fading procedure to reduce the occurrence of tantrums and self-injury during natural environment teaching sessions. Pančocha’s work had interesting results. His results show that the withdrawal of all requirements and consequent gradual weakening of instructions during lessons can act as a viable prior strategy to reduce problem behavior maintained by escape.

The team of authors Zuzana Truhlářová, Jana Marie Havigerova and Tamara Pokorná from the Faculty of Education, University of Hradec Kralové try to answer the question whether the risk of burnout depends on the profession in relation to special kindergartens. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of burnout syndrome and analyze the professional context of specialists in special kindergartens. Based on a standardized questionnaire, the authors conclude that in special kindergartens it is necessary to take into account the risk of burnout syndrome, paradoxically especially in younger and beginning teaching assistants, and to provide sufficient support for beginning professionals, especially in the adaptation phase.

The last study, from Roman Kroufek and his team, focuses on the benefits ouf outdoor education in primary school. Authors conducted a review study with total of 67 articles was analyzed. Observed benefits of outdoor education can be divided into the four dimensions: educational, emotional, health and physical activity and social competencies. The results of this deep review study highlightes the usefulness and effectivity of outdoor education. Together with the authors, I hope that the study will contribute to expanding this educational approach to schools.

I firmly believe that the submitted articles will give their readers a sense of enriching their knowledge or experience.

Vlastimil Chytrý, main editor

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