Fundacja Szkoła z Klasą

The School with Class Foundation was founded in October 2015 as a spin-off of one of the most successful educational programs in Poland (School with Class). We have collaborated already with over ⅓ of all Polish schools (9500), 200 000 teachers and 2 million students. Every year we support over 2000 schools and train directly over 10.000 teachers both in Poland and abroad. Thanks to our vast network of international partners we manage to involve over 1 million teachers and students every year in our programs.
Our programs, run both nationwide as well as internationally, support the development of XXI century skills and help young people to become active learners and citizens. We support teachers' professional development and help schools to become open environments engaged in solving social problems, with relations based on mutual trust and respect. Our goal is to prepare students for the future, enhancing their collaboration, critical thinking, social engagement and responsibility for their own learning. We support students' mental health, build their resilience and provide schools with tools for wide psycho-social support.

Our activities and programs cover 5 main areas that we believe are key for building a healthy, responsible, engaged and less polarized society:
1. Creating open and engaging learning environments
2. Building digital citizenship
3. Teaching how to think and understand the world
4. Supporting wellbeing, mental and physical health
5. Developing social awareness and engagement

Currently our main programs include:
1. SCHOOL WITH CLASS - a comprehensive school development program which helps schools address the most pressing societal issues, currently focusing on building resilience of children and youth. It offers a thorough and research-proven approach with 9 dimensions of intervention: 1. Confidence and self-esteem, 2. Commitment and perseverance, 3. Coping and emotional control, 4. Healthy life-style, 5. Connection and good peer relations, 6. Empathy, 7. Open communication, 8. Contribution and responsibility, 9. Curiosity and critical thinking.
The well tested and proven model of a whole-school engagement lasts at least one entire school year, with intensive individual mentorship support which allows schools to reflect on their needs and resources and build individual strategies for becoming modern and engaged learning environments that reinforce student's self confidence, help to build good relationships between peers, prevent bullying and promote digital well-being.
The program additionally supports teachers and directors through on-site training and ready-to-use materials with specific strategies to be applied in the classroom.
2. BE INTERNET AWESOME (BIA) - an educational program introduced in 2018 on digital citizenship competences, directed to schools of all educational levels (K-12 education, supporting educators and teachers of children of the age ranging from 3 to 18 y.o.).
Since 2021 SWC not only runs the program in Poland, but also coordinates the efforts of several partners in 11 Central and Eastern Europe countries (Poland, Romania, Greece, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Moldova and Ukraine).
The program has a strong focus on supporting underserved communities and different vulnerable groups in using the internet more wisely and responsibly, maintaining their digital well being and becoming aware of the mechanisms of the web.
Be Internet Awesome aims at strengthening the competencies of teachers in the field of digital citizenship education, changing the way cyber security is taught, building a bridge between teachers and students and allowing them to engage in genuine discussions, based on mutual trust and respect on the most pressing challenges we all face while interacting with new technologies.
BIA has a strong practical component - every activity for students is designed to allow for an on-hands experience, knowledge base and practical implementation in the future. We encourage teachers to run socially engaged projects based on the topics and challenges discussed in the classroom. For younger kids the program is designed to prepare them for using new technologies in the future and focuses on good and open communication, basic safety online and building bonds with their peers and grownups.
The BIA program supports both individual teachers and entire schools, through onsite and online training programs, webinars, interactive online lessons for students, and high-quality lesson scenarios and guidebooks. Teachers, parents and educators are encouraged to use free lesson scenarios and online game Interland to teach and learn with their kids. The program is implemented in cooperation with Google.org as part of the Be Internet Awesome initiative.
3. TOGETHER IN CLASS provides wide mental health and psychosocial support to schools hosting refugees (mostly due to the war in Ukraine). Each year it reaches 2000 schools with comprehensive materials and training helping teachers to deal with a multicultural classroom, providing tools for class integration, stress management and dealing with consequences of war trauma. The program also provides schools with grants for creating safe spaces in schools for students.
4. IMPULSE. YOUTH DESIGNING FOR SOCIETY aims at developing civic attitudes, sense of agency and social competences among students of Polish vocational schools that have welcomed Ukrainian refugees, by inviting them to run socially engaged projects connected to the needs of their local communities and allowing them to use the practical skills acquired in school. Throughout 2 school years 40 teachers from 20 vocational schools participate in in-depth training and mentorship support on: adaptive leadership, enhancing students’ participation, fostering students agency, multicultural competencies, public speaking skills, design thinking and agile methodology for project management.
Multicultural students’ teams, supported by their teachers, will be encouraged to run projects for their local communities, based on a need analysis and will also receive direct support in 5 areas we believe to be crucial for their projects’ success: problem solving, cooperation while working in multicultural teams, project management (design thinking and agile methodology), building local support and seeking allies, and public speaking, The training also contributes to a sense of empowerment, higher self-esteem and sense of responsibility for the community. Students with our support also have a chance to establish long term cooperation with local authorities and business to promote democratic values and support working together for society.
5. ADDED VALUE program introduces a new approach to teaching math in Polish and European primary and secondary schools. It helps to lower math-related stress, and shows students that maths is everywhere, focusing on solving everyday practical problems using maths. It also helps pupils believe that they can successfully learn and understand maths. The program offers high-quality materials, lesson and project scenarios for teachers and is currently implemented in 4 European countries (Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Ireland).
6. SCHOOL WITH DESIGN supports schools in modernizing their learning environments in the spirit of 21st century education. Young people are the process of planning and implementing changes in their learning environments. We believe that those changes deeply influence the learning, but our goal is also to awaken students’ social awareness and sense of responsibility. Each school receives intensive individual support throughout the school year: online coaching, and workshops with architects. For schools hosting Ukrainian refugees we also offer financial support for redesigning the school spaces, in order to build a sense of community and belonging, and foster integration of the newcomers.
7. LET’S PLAY THE FRATERNITY CARD is an educational response to growing negative trends including racism, discrimination, and social exclusion. Since 2017, every year, students from France, Poland, Croatia, Spain, Italy and Slovenia send postcards with messages of solidarity to randomly chosen people. The topics pictured in the photos are chosen by students and reflect the young peoples’ beliefs on what are the most pressing societal problems (the most important being: mental health crises, poverty, migration, transport exclusion, gender inequalities, climate change, discrimination, intergenerational dialogue). The program consists of a series of workshops, where students are trained in critical thinking and photo analysis.
8. ACCELERATOR PRO is a grant program directed at vocational school teachers and their students (of specialties like mechanics, logistics, mechatronics), that provides mentorship and financial support to run educational projects, and through them, develop students' XXI century skills. The program appreciates outstanding teachers and supports them in their professional development, equalizes educational opportunities, and helps students to believe in their own abilities.
9. CODE WITH CLASS provides programming and computational skills to primary, middle and high school teachers through educational materials, onsite training and online support. We have worked already with over 1000 teachers across Poland, forming an active on-line community of practice, sharing experiences, ideas for classes and new materials. Over twenty thousand students have already participated in our programming classes. The main goal of the project is to equip teachers of all educational levels with knowledge, resources and equipment necessary to run a local IT/programming interest club or course.
10. PE WITH CLASS helps to increase the young people’s physical activity and encourages them to lead a healthier lifestyle. It supports physical education teachers and inspires them to conduct attractive and innovative PE lessons. Over 3000 schools took part in the program, 10000 teachers and 400000 students from all over Poland.