Reflecting first benchmarking visit

After a few days rest at home it is time to get back to work, and this time again in Finland. The benchmarking visit to Prague went well and we got a lot to think about concerning the project themes as well as developing and applying a model for benchmarking in educational institutes.

The most interesting part of this benchmarking visit was meeting the local hosts, visiting different schools, working with students and discussing with the staff of different schools. It was interesting to hear and discover both similarities and also the differences within the school systems in Finland and in Czech Republic and within the organizations in terms of guiding students and pupils with special needs.

Discussing with students of councelling programme (upper), Hanna trying to make a nail in blacksmith workshop (Vocational School of Hadicrafts Prague).

The gardening school in Kopidlno cooperates with the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague for example in terms of teacher practice.

The delegation and local hosts from the left: Emil, Milan, Hanna (with a strange light effect), Päivi, Maija, Annikki and Sanna (Sari taking the picture).

Because the time of our visit was limited and there is a lot to reflect and think about, we agreed with our project partners to meet online by Skype in January. Before that meeting we have had a little time to make conclusions and discover the high-lights of this benchmarking process so far. The next step is to advance the analysing of the benchmarking process and the materials connected to that process.