Background

Slovakia is a country located in Eastern Europe, in a highly important geopolitical location, next to Ukraine and landlocked by other key players in the region. It gained independence in 1993 and has hosted democratic elections since. It has a population of over 5.4 million, is a member of the OECD with both free healthcare and education.

Despite this, Slovakia is representative of wider areas of Eastern Europe, a country that still faces a Soviet legacy interfering with its way of life. This can be clearly seen in the attitude towards teachers in the country. Teachers are lacking in funding, support and the job is seen as low status. This combination of factors is contributing to a crisis in mental health, with neither teachers nor students receiving the help that they need. In fact, 95% of teachers report stress from school. This STRAWS project aims to push back on this variety of issues by developing a programme to support the teachers and therefore the students. The three key aims of this project are:

1. Develop an experiential programme to support teachers 
2. Improve eudaimonic and hedonic welfare of teachers
3. Allow these teachers to better support students in schools

Ďurïková, K. (2021). Teacher Wellbeing Index Slovakia 2021. Konvalinka. https://eduworld.sk/____files/upload/Teacher_wellbeing_index_Slovakia_2021_20210531_090646.pdf

Janík Blašková, L. (2024). Politika duševného zdravia na školách z pohľadu učiteľov [The politics of mental health at schools from the perspectives of teachers]. Policy Brief. University of Exeter.