The inaugural congress was held at Civitas University (former Collegium Civitas – since April 8 the institution was given a status of a university). During the official part of the event, Marianna Hajdukiewicz, the Polish-American Freedom Foundation Program Director, pointed to the remarkable sustainability of the “Learning Schools” program that celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. She also pointed to the role of studies runs under the program as an initiative which offers real support to school directors and contributes to improvement of Polish education.

The program of inaugural congress combined workshops, lectures, small-group work and reflection on the role of a leader of education. The inspiring element was the “Values (in education) stupid!” lecture given by Prof. Grzegorz Mazurkiewicz of Jagiellonian University, that encouraged to the deep reflection on the significance of values in everyday school practice. The professor called the congress participants to be courageous and full of hope in shaping social reality of their schools.

During the “I am supported in the managing process. My managing staff” workshop participants analyzed the resources at their disposal in difficult situations and how many people – both from the school staff and from outside – give them real support. Thanks to the exercises and small-group conversations, they realized who they can be grateful to and who they can delegate tasks to in order to lighten their workload of everyday management.

Another important element of the congress was peer coaching – a method based on structure, trust and careful listening. It allowed the congress participants to join hands in looking for solutions to difficult situations and experience work methods that can be transferred to their staff and can strengthen cooperation and self-reliance.

The second day of the congress started with the lecture, given by Edyta Wąsik, on formative assessment – an approach based on dialogue, feedback, and building students’ responsibility for their own learning. The lecturer pointed to the fact that such practice facilitates deep understanding and creating safe, supportive relationships at school. During the Lesson facilitating learning workshop, the participants played the roles of students and observers who experienced the effectivity of formative assessment strategy at a well-designed lesson.

The inaugural congress was a meeting of engaged, courageous and reflective leaders who want to build better schools thanks to their own development.