An evidence-based approach in school prevention means an everyday fight: a case study of the Czech Republic's experience with national quality standards and a national certification system
Abstract
The Czech Republic has reached the end of a 15-year-long period of the development of a nationwide preventive system in schools. Reflection on this development can offer an interesting case study that demonstrates the general difficulties involved in creating a national prevention policy and implementing the principles of an evidence-based approach.
Through its historical context the up-to-date outputs of the latest projects are presented as "key documents" (quality standards, textbook, explanatory dictionary, examples of good practice etc.) and a national system of assessment of quality called a certification procedure, which has a practical impact on the grant system of the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic. This context is also used to show how certain European networks (EUSPR, IREFREA, etc.) can be very helpful in generalizing this idea across Europe.
All the examples of activities on the national or international level seem to be promising and supportive of the increasingly noticeable trend of using research evidence in real practice and making the whole field more attractive for students and young researchers.