Objective: The paper presents the results of a research survey focused on individual combination therapy in individuals with motor deficits during childhood. The research was carried out in 2020/2021. Two patients were selected based on predetermined relevant criteria and participated in the research survey. Intervention approaches within the research survey were focused on the development of the motor skills of the chosen patients suffering from cerebral palsy or dyspraxia. Furthermore, the patients’ social adaptability was supported together with their independence and self-sufficiency in coping with everyday tasks. Sample: Two patients (N = 2) participated in the research survey based on intended sampling (i.e., motor deficit, age 7–9 years, participation in rehabilitation interventions max. 4 times a month). Based on the predetermined criteria, the two patients were contacted, one of which (N = 1) was diagnosed with cerebral palsy diparesis (ICD-10; G80.1: spastic diplegic cerebral palsy, 8.8 years of age), and the other patient (N = 1) suffered from developmental dyspraxia (ICD-10; F82: a specific developmental disorder of motor functions, 7.4 years of age). The single-case research design method was applied to process the results. This type of qualitative research enabled us to study in detail a small number of participants, specifically in our research (N = 2), one individual patient who suffered from cerebral palsy and the other individual patient diagnosed with developmental dyspraxia. The choice of two individual patients would help us to obtain a better idea of the effect of the chosen combination therapy. A standardized modified FIM test (Functional Independence Measure) was used to present the results. Results: The presented results of the research survey using the single-case research design method point to the following findings. The chosen intervention method using combination therapy demonstrably improved the patients’ conditions within the monitored indicators. When the intervention was omitted and only the usual rehabilitation procedures were conducted, the patients’ conditions deteriorated and decreased to the initial values. Conclusion: Based on the presented results, combination therapy appears to be an effective approach for individuals with motor deficits at a younger school age. The combination of selected rehabilitation approaches using classical procedures as well as robotically assisted therapy is desirable in practice as it meets the requirements for rehabilitation in the 21st century. The survey results offer conclusions and recommendations for practice regarding the research topic.

Czech parents place particular emphasis on ensuring the overall quality of life of their child when choosing a school. Our study shows how rural state schools understand this demand. A mixed approach was used in our research. In the first step, administrative data from all schools in municipalities with a population of up to 3,000 was used to shortlist 91 schools in demand by both catchment and non-catchment families. In the second step, socio-geographic data on type of municipality, online presentations, and other documents of the shortlisted schools were analysed. In the last step, case studies of 13 schools were prepared on the basis of parent surveys and interviews with stakeholders. We present case studies of three schools with different explicitly expressed approaches to satisfying parental preferences through a specific mix of care for well-being and valued characteristics of the rural environment. Our study adds to the existing literature on school choice and school leadership by describing specific developmental and/or marketing strategies of rural schools based on the real or perceived characteristics of the countryside.

Current policies in education that support school choice can be a threat but also an opportunity for rural schools that are often at risk of closure or amalgamation/consolidation. Studies from Western Europe found two types of schools using the ‘capitals’ of the rural environment in different ways: ‘community’ and ‘magnet’ schools. Our mixed-methods study enriches the discussion on successful rural schools, considering both the school leadership strategies and the situation in the local quasi-market of schools in a post-socialist central European country, Czechia. In the first step, using data from all Czech rural elementary schools, we identified schools that were in demand by local and out-of-catchment-area students. We performed a detailed qualitative analysis of 13 selected case schools and their local quasi-markets in the second step. The usefulness of the analytical distinction between rural schools oriented towards the needs of the local community and those that use rural capital to meet the needs of liberal middle-class families is demonstrated. At the same time, there is a group of rural schools that try to balance the interests of both groups. The article presents vignettes of three such schools. The key feature of these 'catch-all' schools is negotiated innovation (i.e., sustainable change communicated with local actors and enabling the coexistence of tradition and innovation). Our study provides a deeper insight into the community/magnet typology, building on the perspective of a different part of Europe. It brings important insights for educational policy and the leadership of rural schools.

Research in attitudes towards people with disability has increased in last few decades for various groups. Therefore is important to focus research also to educational environment. Firstly teachers are often in professional contact with pupils with disability and have to work with them. Secondly they acts to the rest of pupils and have to prepare whole class for new possible classmate with disability. Although teachers work in this case need high competences but on the other hand attitudes are proved to be important part of it. Paper main goal is to determine possible differences between practicing teachers and teacher students in attitudes towards people with disability. We used validated questionnaire for measuring social distance towards people with disability made from Bogardus scale of social distance. In research participated 114 teachers and 118 teacher students of primary education from two universities. Results was analysed by nonparametric statistics.

The research was focused on monitoring the differences between primary and lower secondary school pupils in the Czech Republic in terms of their needs “to be successful” or “to avoid failure”. Its aim was to analyse the motivation of pupils divided by teachers into two groups: students endangered and those not endangered by school failure. The research approach was based on the application of the standardized School Performance Motivation Questionnaire. Through its twelve indicators, the differences between the above-mentioned groups of students were analysed with a special respect to the students belonging to the Roma ethnic group. The research used indicators of descriptive statistics (arithmetic mean, mode). The process of comparation of the acquired data confirmed differences in motivation of the group of students endangered by school failure as compared to that of unendangered by school failure. Pupils at risk of school failure showed a lower need to be successful than their classmates from the group at risk. Students at risk of school failure showed a lower need to be successful than their classmates from the other group. Also within these groups were found differences between the motivation of Roma pupils and their classmates. The Roma preferred the need to avoid failure much more strongly. The findings are important for educational practice because the ratio of the two needs identified affects pupils' learning strategies and affects not only the effectiveness of their learning, but also their relationship to cognition and school in general. Keywords: performance motivation, endangered students, unendangered students, Roma students, non-Roma students, descriptive analysis, school motivation indicators.

The following article introduces results of empirical research which verifies the tool created for metacognitive knowledge diagnostics in a specific domain of reading (it is important to point out that this tool hasn’t been tested in Czech school environment yet). Researchers of educational psychology don’t have enough available alternatives to metacognitive knowledge diagnostics amongst young students because the tools which measure the frequency of use of metacognitive strategies frequently fail in school performance predictions. The tool used in this case study has been constructed based on the knowledge that metacognitive knowledge level is determined by ability (or its lack) to choose adequate strategy (chosen from the repertoire of available strategies, which are described due to the declarative knowledge of the individual) depending on the specifics of a certain learning task (condition knowledge). Based on this research we may conclude that the tool statistically significantly correlates with the level of reader's literacy (according to the score in PIRLS task), but also with the performance of the student (grades in the school subject Czech language).