Homepage for UWB Portal News

Researchers from the Faculty of Education at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen travelled to Africa as part of their research activities. In Kenya, they examined how schools can better support young people with developmental and intellectual disabilities in the transition from school to adulthood, compared systems of special and inclusive education, and explored how memory, traditions, and everyday experience are preserved in different cultural contexts. The outcome of the visit is a new partnership with Kisii University.

The cooperation was initiated primarily by the Department of Special and Inclusive Education and focused on the training of future teachers, support for students with disabilities, and opportunities for joint research. “Meeting colleagues in Kenya showed that the issue of supporting young people with disabilities has a global dimension. Although education systems differ from country to country, the challenges associated with the transition to adulthood are in many ways shared, and international dialogue helps to foster deeper understanding as well as new paths for cooperation,” explained Jan Šiška from the Department of Special and Inclusive Education at the Faculty of Education, UWB.

During their stay, academics from Pilsen also visited special schools, mainstream schools with special classes, and counselling centres in Kenya, allowing them to compare educational practice directly. According to Šárka Káňová, Head of the Department of Special and Inclusive Education, the visits showed that without coordinated support, young people with disabilities often find themselves without follow-up assistance during this transitional period. “As a result, the potential that schools work so hard to develop can be very easily lost,” added Káňová. This finding is also supported by research conducted by UWB experts with funding from the Czech Science Foundation (GAČR). The researchers presented their results in Kenya. Based on the research, they propose a targeted and systematic approach to identifying the individual needs and wishes of young people with intellectual disabilities and genuinely respecting them when preparing for the transition to adulthood.

Another area of potential cooperation opened up in Africa in the field of modern history and cultural memory. Naděžda Morávková, Head of the Department of History at the Faculty of Education, began discussions with colleagues from the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Kisii University on the use of oral history and life-story interviews. “We are interested in stories of everyday life – family memory, local traditions, rituals, or culinary customs. These ‘small histories’ often best reveal how people think about their past and their future,” Morávková explained.

Academics from Pilsen were able to travel to Kenya thanks to the support of UWB’s Credit Mobility program, initiated by Czech Africanist Jan Záhořík from the Faculty of Arts. For the university, the trip marks the beginning of a long-term partnership that connects research, teaching, and the university’s social responsibility. While in Africa, the Pilsen delegation also opened up opportunities for targeted cooperation with Czech organisations supporting developing countries and disadvantaged groups of children, pupils, and students. Further cooperation between Kisii University and UWB has also received personal backing from David Řehulka, representative of the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Nairobi. A delegation of Kenyan academics is scheduled to visit Pilsen as early as this March.