Page 27 - Compendium

Award for implementing innovative and eff ective approach to
development of career management skills of pupils from socially

disadvantaged environment:

Tomáš Macko and Ján Smolka
Experience-based course of personal development was developed specifi cally
for the 9th graders at a primary school. Three main goals were set before
the course started: fi rstly, to lead pupils towards a better self-knowledge and
refl ection over one’s interests and capabilities; secondly, to pass a message on
to pupils that the future is in their hands; and fi nally, to stress the importance
of self-improvement and self-development.
The course was spread out into 5 days, and during the fi rst three days pupils got
to experience a real working life experience. On each of the three days, pupil

worked in jobs with diff erent qualifi cation and educational requirements, from
positions requiring no or minimum qualifi cation (e.g. warehouse worker, shop
assistant) to positions requiring tertiary education attainment (e.g. teacher
assistants). On the third day, they symbolically lost their jobs and experienced
community service works. After completing the fi rst phase of the course,
pupils moved to a cabin where the second (refl ection) phase followed under
the professional supervision of a school psychologist and a teaching assistant.
Participants were asked to have a think about previous days of the course and
share their experience and impressions through multiple interactive activities
(games, teambuilding activities).
The course was developed by Tomáš Macko and Jan Smolka themselves, and
responded to the pupils’ need for a better self-awareness and self-knowledge.
The key message that the course was meant to pass on to the pupils was that
they can positively infl uence their future by constantly working on themselves.

The programme was piloted at the elementary school in Spišský Štvrtok where
50% of the pupils come from the socially disadvantaged environment.
Success rate was assessed before and after the course via questionnaires,
which showed a positive change in the pupils’ attitude. To ensure and facilitate
transferability to other schools and contexts, authors wrote down a detailed
description of the methods employed during the course with all the practical
activities and exercises explained.

Link to the video from the course:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tdAQ32lLDQ

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