Your presence at this international Dalton conference here in Brno can have different reasons.

*You are interested because you heard about Dalton education.

*You are not interested, but the director of your school heard about Dalton 

 education.

*You left your group of children, because you think that it is good to learn and to

 teach.

*You left your group of children, because you think that is better to sleep in a room  

 like this than to teach in a classroom.

*You want to be the first to buy the new book about Dalton education.

*You were in Holland and you promised to come.

*You are a Dalton expert in the meantime and have to give a workshop this 

 afternoon.

*Or you are invited by the Czech Dalton Foundation or Skolsky Urad or the City of  

 Brno to support this conference.

So you see that this room is filled up by a very heterogeneous group.

Believe me, you can compare it with the group of children in most of your classrooms.

Human beings differ and we all accept.

Well, children are just like human beings.

What about their motivation by going to school ?

Some love to go to school, because you as a teacher are able to create a good atmosphere in your group.

You challenge your children to do the things they are able to.

Of course you don’t ask them to do what they can’t .

There is no child that wants to demonstrate the things they can’t do.

Every child knows that it is unwise to enter into this risk.

Children don’t go to school to score. You want them to score, but they don’t.

Children go to school to go through a deal. Is something special happening ?

They don’t remember you later as the teacher who made excellent  assignments or tests, but as the teacher who played the piano so beautiful , played football during the school camp, or you were the teacher who did the things that were important for them personally.

Teachers and pupils meet each other in the first place as persons, they judge each other on basis of personal values.

So education in the first place has inter-human importance and at a second place an educational or professional.

Helen Parkhurst simply said at this point : respect the child.

Only in a good relation children are able to show what they can.

 Children are full fledged partners  and totally equipped for their own development.

When you express your confidence in their development (with a nice word : development potential)  you give children the chance to grow.

People which develop to the best of their abilities can’t under-perform

Speaking about development : if there is anyone who has knowledge about it, it is the teacher.

But in this sense we only use a limited part of our observations and experiences.

Development in school is judged only compared with the achievement of children.

The question is if development as product, as result, is more important than development as a process, in other words : the way the pupil develops.

The more you know about that process, the better you are able to help.

Pupils don’t need teachers to measure their results.

They need the confidence of the teachers that they will be successful ,

they need their patience and questions after the problems they met.

An example of a stereotype that we think in products or achievement, is to ask the group for the good answer. “Who can tell me the good answer?”.

When someone gives the good answer, education stops.

Nothing to add.

A wrong answer is much more interesting. One can learn from it.

It forces you to reconstruct the process of problem solving.

In the light of education, there is nothing wrong in a false answer

In other words :  when we differ from each other, it starts to be interesting.

The development of Dalton education in our countries followed different roads.

This Dalton conference is not organised  because of a result, but to stimulate a process. 

Dalton is not the only reply to renew our education, we don’t ask for the one and only good answer.

Czech and Dutch educators developed a process to improve the education in their schools.

We recognised that the Dalton plan of Helen Parkhurst was the good answer for that process.

Together we got a new impulse when we visited the Dalton school in New York.

That outstanding school there in the United States.

Speaking with teachers and students and having discussions with Richard Blumental, Judith Sheridan and Marion Plexico, we are convinced that success of educational  improvement is interdependent to the exchange of thoughts.

Dalton education needs that impulse.

On school level it is very effective to work together with a mate, a companion.

Taking consult together gives the possibility to have a better look at yourself.

When teachers learn to co-operate , they exchange ideas , look at problems and find solutions together.

Fundamental is an open atmosphere.

That’s why cities are looking for partnership and that is the main reason that Brno and Utrecht have such an intensive contact.

“Partnership in development” is the device.  

In my opinion we can change that device in the meantime into

“successful partnership”.

The first international Dalton contacts were originated between New York and Japan and in Europe between the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.

Two isolated processes, but based on the same need.

Today , at the 4^th Dalton conference here in Brno, we will start a new period.

Dalton International is not longer an idea.

Dalton International is an initiative for a new partnership.

It gives the possibility to exchange experiences, to learn from each other, to stimulate each other, to improve our education and to innovate new Dalton teaching practice.

It is a big opportunity for all participants.

And as far as the director of a school has to give facilities to the teachers who want to co-operate and work out their partnership, in this case we have to thank our school boards, our municipalities for the facilities they give us to work on the improvement of education.

International projects give new impulses.

This international Dalton conference can stimulate you to improve your education.

Except for those who came here to sleep.

I hope I didn’t disturb them too much.

Have a good conference. At zije skola !

Roel Röhner

28^th March 2000