IV news:
Under the title “Protestant profile and new forms of learning – Christian schools in the balance of tradition and innovation”, the General Assembly of the International Association for Christian Education took place from 29th November to 1st December 2024 in Bratislava/Slovakia. Invited by the Association of Evangelical Schools in Slovakia (AESS), whose president Marián Damankoš is also a member of the IV board, almost 40 leading school practitioners from the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Ireland/Northern Ireland, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia came together. After an introduction to the Slovakian school system and the meaning of the Lutheran schools in this country, the participants could view the impressive exhibition “An Empty Chair”, which was worked out by students and teachers of the Evangelical school in Prešov following the tracks of Jewish students in Prešov during the 2nd World War.
On the second day, the lectures by Martin Kríž und Jozef Sopoliga on the nationwide curriculum reform in Slovakia were initiated through a biblical reflection by General Bishop Ivan El’ko, who also recurred to the pedagogical-theological legacy of Johann Amos Comenius. In the afternoon, the participants could gain a vivid impression of Protestant school practice in the Evangelical Primary School of Bratislava before the assembly, according to the statutes, took place in the evening. On the third day, a historically orientated city tour rounded off the programme in this beautiful city with its changing German-Hungarian-Slovakian history.