ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the Teach for Slovakia programme, an inclusive education initiative designed to foster greater equality and better study outcomes from a social-innovation perspective focusing on the processes of change initiated by the programme. The chapter uses a ‘bottom-up’ perspective to provide a deeper understanding of how the programme’s methods and practices intend to contribute to satisfying unmet local needs, changing social relations, and enhancing empowerment and access to resources with the aim of igniting changes in the Slovak education system by mitigating its detrimental characteristics.
As the first step of this analysis, the Slovak education system is presented through the lens of equity, inclusion, and excellence, providing underlying reasons for its persisting problems such as unequal chances for success provided to children from disadvantaged backgrounds and generally below-average scores achieved by students in each subject measured, with a focus on its post-socialist traits and its adaptation to European Union social inclusion policies.
