The RADOV\u00c1NEK Leisure Centre has been involved in leisure education in the Pilsen Region for 45 years, and has long been one of its leaders. It\u2019s located in Pallova Street, in Pilsen, where leisure education began 75 years ago. It has sixteen outlets in the region, nine of which are in Pilsen, and others in Kazn\u011bjov, Man\u011bt\u00edn, Ne\u010dtiny, Kozolupy, Doln\u00ed B\u011bl\u00e1, and \u0160t\u011bnovice. Eva Tischlerov\u00e1, RADOV\u00c1NEK\u2019s long-time director, revealed in an interview what RADOV\u00c1NEK offers, and what it does, as well as how it works with young talents.<\/b><\/p>\n
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There are probably not many parents in the Pilsen Region who aren\u2019t familiar with the RADOV\u00c1NEK Leisure Centre. ut for those who may not know it, could you introduce it to them and tell us what you do?<\/b><\/p>\n
Everyone can find something here. Leisure education takes several forms. We organize regular leisure, educational, and recreational activities and camps. We are involved in awareness raising among children, pupils, and students, we provide them with the necessary information, and we also undertake activities aimed at the prevention of risky behaviour, along with education for volunteering. We carry out educational programmes for schools and educational institutions, building on the Framework Educational Programmes of schools.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n You\u2019re celebrating the 45th anniversary of the foundation this year, aren\u2019t you?<\/b><\/p>\n Yes, we are, and we will be trying to network our activities across the Pilsen Region. I\u2019m delighted to be able to work with a range of stakeholders in education, schools, and educational establishments, because I think that networking, participation, and co-operation across the region, in the field of formal and informal education, is very important for the support and comprehensive development of children and young people. We have 16 buildings in the region, and rent 21 more classrooms and gyms in primary and secondary schools. Without them, RADOV\u00c1NEK could not exist at all, as we have 420 clubs, and currently 4,625 registered participants. I\u2019m very proud that children and young people keep coming back to us, and that parents are making the most of the opportunity to join a variety of clubs in different areas and disciplines across the region. It\u2019s not an exception that a child attends, say, three of our venues. The capacity of our after-school clubs is 5,500 participants.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Such interest, that\u2019s amazing!<\/b><\/p>\n We are all very happy to see such interest. It\u2019s great that parents are aware that they can bring their children to a safe and stimulating environment. I think that children these days don\u2019t do enough sport, and don\u2019t develop sufficiently physically. There are a lot of children who are obese, have back and mental problems. We also have, as I put it, nervous children, who lose their attention and concentration easily, which is very bad. These children have trouble at school, and have poor results. It\u2019s good that they participate in activities in various organizations. Whether it is non-profits, sports clubs, children\u2019s and youth centres and leisure centres, or any after-school club run by a primary school. I\u2019m glad that children are developing, realizing their personal potential, and working on their self-esteem and self-image. By taking part in extra-curricular activities, they work actively towards their own well-being. It\u2019s certain that in the twenty-first century, when there is so much technology around us, aggression and inner tension in society is on the rise. That\u2019s not easy at all. It\u2019s all the more important to communicate with the children, to explain everything more thoroughly, to teach and support them. I\u2019m convinced that parents understand and support children, that teachers and educators try to be their friends and guides in education and the use of active leisure time. I\u2019m also pleased that secondary school pupils who attend our various technical and science clubs can do something extra while studying. They engage, e.g., in chemistry, astronomy, mathematics, physics, electrical engineering, or robotics, which is great. Their individual projects and enthusiasm act as a catalyst for other children, for whom these gifted pupils are great role models and authorities. <\/span><\/p>\n Let me mention, e.g., Jakub \u0160t\u011bp\u00e1nek, who started working with us as a boy, when he attended the grammar school in Mikul\u00e1\u0161sk\u00e9 n\u00e1m\u011bst\u00ed in Pilsen. Today, he\u2019s an engineer, a graduate of the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague, and he\u2019s still studying. He doesn\u2019t keep his education and the knowledge he has acquired to himself, but he tries to get involved in various projects across the Pilsen Region, collaborating not only with us, but also with the Regional Development Agency of the Pilsen Region, and promoting the GoHigher project, in which he took part, and with which we also co-operate. It\u2019s great that he\u2019s working with us and the Unipetrol Foundation on the Wonderful Days with Chemistry, projects that make children realise that chemistry is not just science, but that it\u2019s useful and fun, so that primary school pupils come to love maths, physics, and chemistry, and study these fields for use in their future professions. There are very few teachers who want to teach chemistry in primary and secondary schools, and there are declining numbers of chemists, physicists, and mathematicians who can teach children in a way that makes these subjects popular. We need these teachers not just to be teachers, but to be the pupils\u2019 guides in education, so that they can enthuse and motivate them. So that they pass on their knowledge and experience in such a way that the children love these subjects, and continue to pursue them in their careers.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n You mentioned the GoHigher project, which focuses on working with young talents. Can you describe the work with the gifted and talented in more detail?<\/b><\/p>\n I believe in linking formal and non-formal education. If, for example, a child is highly gifted or phenomenal at school from a very young age, and has excellent grades, we want RADOV\u00c1NEK to open doors for them, and to further develop them in areas and fields that they find exciting at school, and motivate them to grow further. We give them a kind of, as I say, icing on the cake, by preparing afternoon activities for them, so that they can work on their personal projects with us, for example. We take a very individual approach to them, and provide additional, above-standard tuition, with the participation of experts. That\u2019s why we co-operate with many different schools here in Pilsen. Pupils develop further opportunities with us, they can carry out research in the fields of technology and natural sciences. They take what they learn in school in maths, physics, or chemistry further, by creating their own projects and works of art and science. By supporting them, we help them to reach a prestigious level in various competitions held not only by the Pilsen Region, be it the \u201cA Trade in Hand Finds Gold in Every Land\u201d competition, or the Technical Olympiad. I really appreciate the fact that we live in the Pilsen Region, which I think is very supportive of the development of education across generations. The Department of Education is making sure that nursery schools, primary schools, art schools, secondary schools, and also university-educated people are given the green light to create and develop. This is what non-formal and extra-curricular education helps to do. Three years ago, the JETOTU project was launched. We\u2019ve already held three editions of this major event at Republic Square in Pilsen, where a small town always grows, and where we invite our collaborators in education, such as the National Institute for Further Education, the Regional Centre for Education, Europe Direct Klatovy, and the Regional Development Agency of the Pilsen Region. We also co-operate with secondary schools across the Pilsen Region.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In your opinion, is help from an educational-psychological counselling centre necessary to identify gifted children?<\/b><\/p>\n I think that it definitely does if the child has special educational needs, and if any support measures are needed or recommended. When a child requires support measures of the first level, there is no need for the involvement of the counselling centre. Here, we can tell that they are gifted as well. Then it\u2019s good to give them attention and develop them from an early age. I feel it this way because I sit on a lot of different committees, including at the Ministry of Education, where I also try to have a say in strategies and policies, both for extra-curricular education and youth programmes, and so on. We\u2019re unique in the Pilsen Region. We try to work a lot with children in a targeted way, and I don\u2019t think there are many leisure centres and children\u2019s and youth centres across the country that do this individual work with the gifted. In our region, it\u2019s not only us, but also the larger children\u2019s and youth centres, such as Rokycany, Klatovy, Doma\u017elice, but also Tachov, whose situation isn\u2019t at all easy in the area of the former Sudetenland. Yet they still try to find talents and gifted kids there, and work with them. The Pilsen Region is a cradle of talent, and I would like the whole of the Czech Republic to do more about this, because I think that children really deserve it, and that gifted and talented children who have the right direction and the right self-reflection are our future. I always say that in order to be able to be creative and well educated, you have to create your personal portfolio, and have a personal development plan. To love one\u2019s community, one must first of all love oneself and believe in oneself. I always tell children that it is not important to win, but that even if I do something stupid, it\u2019s good to correct the mistake and move on, and to avoid those mistakes in the future. Every mistake gets us into different dimensions, and actually sets us up to learn new things and new attitudes.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n You say that educational-psychological counselling is not always completely necessary, unless the child has special needs. So how do you know if a child is gifted, if there\u2019s a simple answer to that?<\/b><\/p>\n My colleagues and I always say that a gifted child \u201cshouts out\u201d to us. They\u2019re different, usually introverted. It\u2019s quite common that such a child is unhappy being in a group, and gives us impulses. A lot of our colleagues do recognize that this is a gifted child, because even their parents say, we don\u2019t know what to give him\/her anymore, we\u2019re not good enough for what he\/she wants. A colleague had a boy in a technical club who would just like to help or invent things. He draws attention to himself, it is necessary to keep him busy all the time, and prepare an individual programme for him. And we give them such opportunities. Not only in science, it might be in dance, or any other thing. Gifted children show ability to improvise, a fast development, faster than other children. They don\u2019t need to study so much, it\u2019s just there, and it shows. We take these kids further, because we give them the opportunity to participate in both the regular and individual activities. It\u2019s not that they are the \u201cteacher\u2019s pet\u201d exactly, but we give them the possibility to help us with others, to use their talents to help others develop much faster, too. The gifted and talented often act as natural role models and motivators, and natural authorities for their peers. For example, our support is also in giving them their own space, and telling them that they can come and work on their own project or creative work, or even their own training. Whenever they need it. We know how to work with the gifted and talented, and we appreciate that. I think that we\u2019re unique on the countrywide level, as evidenced by the national meeting of directors, where the Pilsen Region reported the highest number of gifted and talented, thanks to us and other colleagues who know about them, and support them. We develop them individually, and give them opportunities, above all, by treating them as equal partners, and trying to make sure that they pass on their experience, talents, and gifts to other children. We realise that parents are also of great help in this.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I sometimes hear opinions that interest in science and technology is declining among children. Is that true? Are today\u2019s children really different? Are they interested in other things, do they enjoy doing other things than the previous generation?<\/b><\/p>\n It might be true to some extent. Fewer and fewer pupils pursue technical subjects. I think it\u2019s a nationwide mistake that today\u2019s teachers aren\u2019t able to get kids excited, can\u2019t guide them and make science fun at school. I think interactivity is lacking a lot in education in general, that it\u2019s not just about getting kids from page 2 to page 4. It\u2019s not about getting them to learn the formulas by rote, it\u2019s about showing them more experiments and more exciting things in school. Show them in class what a crank mechanism or inclined plane looks like, so that the kids can make it themselves, assess the parameters, and figure out for themselves where they made mistakes, and where they got things wrong. In maths, more independent projects and things like mechanics, what is compression, tension, and shear stress, teach them some mechanics in maths, introduce electrical engineering and more robotics. Explain that everything in life is actually mathematics, chemistry, and physics, that these are simply sciences we encounter every day. The teacher should have something interesting prepared for each lesson, something that will get them up from their chairs in the classroom, and that they will want to try at home, or in a club. I think it\u2019s also the Ministry\u2019s fault for not seeing that children can learn far more in a fun, interactive way than from textbooks from a fancy curriculum. There are schools in the Pilsen Region where this opportunity exists, for example in Zbiroh and Holoubkov, where they focus on metacognitive education. There are many teachers who can do this, but there are too few such schools. <\/span><\/p>\n I think a lot has changed at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, and those who teach there are well aware of this. I know that students are now learning a lot on the job, and realise that interactivity is important. But if the mindset of us educators and teachers doesn\u2019t change, we will have trouble finding students who will want to study science subjects with enthusiasm and commitment. Sometimes, I meet students from the Faculty of Education who say that they really want to teach, and that their motivation is also to be able to influence children and to instil some values in them. They\u2019re already beginning to think interactively, they do their internships with us, and I know that\u2019s a good thing, they\u2019re going to be good teachers. But then there are students who come and ask if they can do an internship with us, but they don\u2019t want to teach. They admit that they are only studying to get a university degree. I think that those interested in studying at the Faculties of Education should pass some interviews or tests to prove their motivation, to show that this is a teacher who wants to develop children further. It would probably be a good idea to think about how to boost the social prestige of the profession. I don\u2019t know how to do it, but I think something will have to change so that we can spot the talents at a young age, and have enough physics, chemistry, and maths teachers, because it\u2019s not the case now.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I\u2019m wondering if it\u2019s getting more and more challenging to be an educator. Kids can find any information online, tutorials for anything on YouTube, they often speak English better than the teachers themselves, and they are often better with technology than adults. Isn\u2019t that frustrating for both sides sometimes?<\/b><\/p>\n No, it\u2019s not frustrating for me or for my colleagues , but on the contrary, it\u2019s a challenge. Sometimes it\u2019s also great fun and thought-provoking. I have great admiration for my colleagues, they\u2019re wonderful partners in education, great personalities, friendly, and very experienced. They have enormous potential, and engage in continuous professional development. About five years ago, a journalist asked me what my view of today\u2019s generation was, and whether I, having worked in education for so many years, perceived that today\u2019s children were different from the ones I knew in the 1980s. And I said no. The kids are still the same, but they have different opportunities and different values, that\u2019s true. Even a young child can operate a mobile phone or tablet with absolutely no hesitation, and at tremendous speed. They can look up anything. I remember a colleague and friend from Nov\u00fd Ji\u010d\u00edn, V\u011brka Jan\u00edkov\u00e1, who said a remarkable thing. Children and parents are the same, but the world is changing so fast that neither the parent nor the child is aware of it. Imagine a dad walking down the street with his child. They\u2019re walking side by side, and the dad says, \u201cLook, there\u2019s a beautiful car in the shop window, and there\u2019s a big Lego set. What are you going to choose? Do you want a big remote-control car, or do you want the Lego that you can build a perfect robot from?\u201d The little boy raises his head, looks at his daddy and says, \u201cDaddy, I don’t want this expensive car or this big Lego. I want you to take my hand and we\u2019ll talk.\u201d And that\u2019s the generational difference. Parents used to spend more time with their children and give them simple presents, but more of their time and love. Today, they don\u2019t talk to them, and give them expensive gifts. So, it\u2019s a completely different time, and as a grandmother who has seven grandchildren, I always think about what I am going to buy them, what am I going to give them, these kids today have absolutely everything. I think it\u2019s up to us to pass on experience to them, to talk to them, to be nice to them. These kids are really no different. I would say that because they have so many more opportunities than we do, we adults should take them more as partners, and listen to them more. <\/span><\/p>\n Sometimes, when I talk to students or pupils they surprise me, whether they are girls or boys, with their thinking, flexibility, and eagerness to be seen, and to be understood and acknowledged. We have to admit to ourselves that we can also learn from them, that they, by virtue of where they live and the possibilities they have, think differently, and are far more perceptive than we were as children. It\u2019s just that whether we want to or not, they find an awful lot of information, and we must not allow them to think that they are smarter than we are, but we must feel that any information from us to them and information from them to us must be complementary and interrelated, in order for us to understand them, to understand each other. If we approach the younger generation in a way that we trust them and we know how to listen to them, I think the education system will do well. Sometimes, what happens is that a teacher says, \u201cLook, I\u2019m a teacher, I have a degree, you\u2019re a student, so if I say it\u2019s green, it\u2019s green!\u201d, but it’s not always the case. We must give them a choice, we must allow them to accept that we are educators who are guiding them. I think we still have something to give them, and I think we do it gladly and enthusiastically.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n RADOV\u00c1NEK Leisure Centre is a publicly funded organization of the Pilsen Region for extra-curricular education for children, pupils, students, educators, and others. RADOV\u00c1NEK is located in the former House of Pioneers and Youth, which was opened for leisure education seventy-five years ago, and there are activities for everyone. Extra-curricular education takes a number of forms.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWe are a cultural, social, and educational organization that teaches extra-curricular education participants of all ages to use their free time actively, to cultivate their life and interest in their favourite activities, using their talents. Acquiring new knowledge, experience, skills, and habits is exemplary for life. We give everyone an opportunity to realise their potential in a group of other participants, or to be able to adapt in different types of groups and environments. We also work with groups of children and pupils who are gifted, exceptionally gifted, children and pupils with special educational needs, minorities, and participants from disadvantaged socio-cultural backgrounds,<\/em>\u201d said Eva Tischlerov\u00e1, director of the LTC RADOV\u00c1NEK.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Interview with Eva Tischlerov\u00e1, long-time director of the RADOV\u00c1NEK Leisure Centre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4957,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,25,31,38],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmart.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4956"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmart.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmart.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmart.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmart.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmart.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmart.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmart.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmart.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmart.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}