At the J. A. Komenský elementary school in Daruvar, there are currently three of our second year students of the Special Education study programme on a two-month Erasmus+ traineeship.

The aim of the visit of two members of the Institute of Special Education (Doc. PhDr. Mgr. Jarmila Pipeková, Ph.D. and PhDr. Mgr. Jan Viktorin, Ph.D.) was to visit the kindergarten and elementary school in Daruvar and the elementary school Češka osnovna škola Josipa Ružička in Končanica. Both schools are bilingual, education takes place in both Croatian and Czech. The members of the institute had the opportunity, under the guidance of school principals, to familiarize themselves with the running of schools, the content of education and the overall issue of education within a bilingual school. In the next part of the practical training, we were introduced to the Union of Czechs in the Republic of Croatia by Mrs. Anna-Maria Štrumlova-Tučková, which is the main institution of all Czech associations in Croatia. The aim of this institution is to preserve the language and culture of the Czech ancestors who came to Croatia almost 200 years ago.

As part of the practical training, a discussion with selected school teachers, who were mentors to our students during their traineeship, took place. Part of the discussion, which was also attended by students, was a comparison of approaches to the education of pupils in Czech and Croatian elementary schools. Due to the study programme of our students, attention was also paid to the inclusive education of pupils with special educational needs and staffing options in elementary schools.

Part of the program of the members of the institute was an inspiring and stimulating discussion with our students at the end of their traineeship. The discussion reflected the benefit of the traineeship for further study and the expansion of students' competencies in practice.

Our visit supported the recently established cooperation with bilingual schools in Daruvar and Končenice.

The members of the Institute of Special Education gained a lot of new information and ideas during their short stay, which they can use in their further teaching activities.