The 3rd edition of the unique Talent City conference, organised by the Statutory City of Ostrava, took place in several locations in the Moravian-Silesian metropolis on 9-10 October 2024. The central theme of the conference was approaches to talent recognition, retention and development in the educational process. The conference included workshops, presentations and debates. All this was done with the active participation of domestic and foreign experts as well as about 20 Ostrava associations, organisations and institutions. All events within the conference were free of charge.
Deputy Mayor Andrea Hoffmann among the pupils during one of the workshops. Photo: Adolf Horsinka
The first day of the programme started with attractive workshops for children from kindergartens and primary schools in the territory of the municipality with extended competence (ORP) Ostrava. The content of the day involved both Ostrava organisations and non-Ostrava actors such as the group Kroužky, Prototypci and Úžasné divadlo fiziky. Children from kindergartens and schools immersed themselves in clever entertainment in the Futurea building, located in Dolní Vítkovice.
In the afternoon, a meeting of parents of gifted children attending Ostrava schools took place in the New Town Hall. During the discussion with psychologist René Gavlas, parents gathered a lot of stimulating information and useful advice. The discussion with the expert, who specializes in working with exceptionally talented children, was a welcome enrichment for them.
On Thursday, October 10, it was time for the adult participants. The day’s programme was tailored for teachers, education students, artists, youth workers, educators and those who are actively interested in the relevant topics.
All of them could – and did – participate in 3 thematic blocks, running between 9 am and 2 pm. These were the blocks “Talent and Education”, “Talent and Creativity” and “Talent and Entrepreneurship”. The content of these sessions introduced the attendees to different approaches to working with talented children. This was done through workshops, demonstration sessions, debates and presentations on the topics of creativity, experiential pedagogy, technological literacy or multimedia creation and artificial intelligence.
The highlight of this year’s event was an informal networking session followed by a big debate at the Steamboat Club. Markéta Beková, Editor-in-Chief of EduRevue magazine, moderated the information-packed afternoon, which also featured contributions from world-class capacities. For example, Ota Michálek, secretary of the Czech Rocket Society, a student of aerospace engineering at the University of Bristol, and Sara Polak, Czech researcher, anthropologist, artificial intelligence archaeologist and popularizer of artificial intelligence, shared their views and experiences. Then Radko Sáblík, the headmaster of Smíchov School in Prague, who presented an innovative school approach to supporting student startups with one of his students. There were also Lenka Eckertová, director of the RSJ Foundation supporting projects targeting gifted children, teachers and schools, Dorota Madziová, co-founder of the Competence Centre, psychotherapist, career counsellor, and Josef J. Roušar, lecturer and mentor of schools, consultant of balanced inclusion, educator, head of the Synapse project focusing on school legislation, financing, strategic management and planning of the educational process.
The conference was prepared by the Department of Culture and Education of the Statutory City of Ostrava in cooperation with the Moravian-Silesian Innovation Centre. It was held under the auspices of the wife of the President of the Czech Republic, Eva Pavlova.
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Talent City conference again showed how to work with the talents of pupils and students – Ostrava
