Welcome

“Respect the child, respect him to the end, but also respect yourself. Be the companion of his thought, the friend of his friendship, the lover of his virtue…” Helen Parkhurst, Education on the Dalton Plan

It has been already twenty years ago, on 30. March 2001,  when the official notary act of Dalton International was signed. It was the concrete result of an intensive cooperation between my Dalton school in the center of Utrecht/NL with four innovative primary schools in Brno/CZ. Together we started to search for more international Dalton contacts, and organized visits to the Dalton schools in New York and Sydney.

We have built our Dalton International community from trust and respect. It is from this perspective I would like to share with all Dalton community a vision and mission of Dalton International. From where we stand, we can firmly state that the Dalton International community worldwide, after twenty years,  is stronger than ever. Owing to trust and respect, but also hard work we achieved a success.

The core of Dalton International’s mission is to preserve the legacy of Helen Parkhurst. We have been doing our best to protect  that legacy consequently. We are proud today of the high quality of our implementation processes and high standards in certification of schools and teachers. In taking care of the high standards, we became protective. Our protection came from love, respect, devotion and trust. During our work we have also became critical and judgmental for those who benefit from our organization for own profit, or who add the name ‘Dalton International’ illegally to their school name.

Over time, more than forty  schools worldwide are `Member of Dalton International` and we supported and trained even more ‘International Dalton Schools’ worldwide in: Australia, Austria, Czech Republic, China, Hungary, Germany, Slovakia,Turkey and The Netherlands.

During the twenty years of our activities we have managed to:

• Initiate and guide the development of ‘International Dalton Schools’
• Initiate and support the Austrian, Czech, Slovak and Polish Dalton Association
• Initiate and support yearly Dalton conferences in several countries
• Contribute actively to local Dalton magazines
• Initiate the research in connection with ‘NENU University’ in China on quality and effectiveness of Dalton education in International Dalton Schools
• Cooperate with universities providing students the option to receive the certificate of ‘International Dalton teacher’
• Cooperate with the Chinese embassy in The Netherlands
• Cooperate with the Ministry of Education and local Educational Bureaus in China
• Initiate the Chinese and Turkish Departments of Dalton International in cooperation with academic environment and ministry of education in China and Turkey.

Currently, we are constantly open to the new initiatives and we look forward to work hard on the future of Dalton education worldwide. We continue to open our hearts and our minds to the future united in the service of the children. We must speak on behalf of them. That is our legacy and our mission. We are focused on building bridges between the countries, we want all to speak one voice and look in one direction. That is the way to honor our legacy and ensuring our future.

Today we thank all of our friends and educators with great vision and creative minds to support our activities and effort in building a world where the voice of the children can be heard.

Roel Röhner, President Dalton International   

SEE UNDER ACTUAL

Webinar with ‘Wenzhou Dalton Elementary School’

Something more about the targets of Dalton International.

Dalton International want to stimulate the innovation of the Dalton education by international exchange of expertise. The International Dalton conferences in different countries in Europe give that opportunity.

But a conference is not the only platform.

Dalton International is specialized in training of school staffs by executing Dalton courses on international level.  Only  official International Dalton Consultants  with an actual certificate  from 12. January 2019 are involved in this process. Schools that have followed the official Dalton training process get the predicate of “International Dalton School”. The training process is always established in joint consultation with the management of the school.

After such training period Dalton International give the individual teachers who participated the official certificate ‘International Dalton Teacher’ (LEVEL A)

Dalton International is the only institution,  with exception of the Netherlands,  who can give the Dalton predicate to schools. The local Dalton Associations are taking over this procedure from the moment they are officially registered.

No other institutes have the right to give the Dalton predicate to schools or Dalton certificates to teachers.

Dalton International initiated the founding of local Dalton Associations in Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland, and is initiator of the ‘German Department of Dalton International’. Dalton International is strongly cooperating with the Dutch Dalton Association and is leading partner in Chinese Dalton development, executed by the ‘Chinese Department of Dalton International’.

Welcome ceremony in Wenzhou Elementary Dalton School      November 2019

Network of challenges.

A modern teacher creates a learning setting in which children are challenged to take initiatives. The time of only one teaching method is far behind us. The necessity to work on differentiation is not only connected to children who are lagging behind or leading the group. In Dalton education differentiation also comes from the simple attitude: respect each individual child. Modern education is more and more development-oriented education. This approximation is just the point to give children the space to take initiatives.

Teachers nowadays have more a coaching role. They aren’t just instructors who deliver a lesson. Rather, they support and guide student activities as coaches do. They provide feedback and coaching to the class so that students receive the appropriate information and academic training. Teachers guide students in developing skills in problem solving, research, and decision-making. The actual Dalton education is focused on 21st Century skills.

International contacts on the level of Universities, vocational and secondary education belong in the meantime to the normal potentialities. But for primary education the world is still an open field. Dalton International want to stimulate international contacts on that level. Therefore we created a special platform called ‘Webcam Classes’. Internet connections are the ultimate chance to exchange Dalton assignments and to get insight in each other’s classrooms. What a thrill to open the possibility for young children in different countries to work with the assignments developed abroad. And is the great opportunity to practice the English language.

Dalton International composes innovation of the Dalton education. This is one of the reasons to develop an intensive contact with local Dalton Associations in different countries. Dalton specialists and representatives of Dalton schools all over the world are participating in Dalton International and work together on the future of Dalton. The yearly International Dalton Conference is the ultimate platform for new Dalton inspiration.

And when we honor schools as “Member of Dalton International” with the official certificate, it is the result of their merit and activities for the national and international Dalton development. We are proud to have so many highly qualified schools as member.

We hope that this renewed website will be an impulse for new initiatives and contacts between Dalton schools, universities and other institutes.

Roel Röhner
President Dalton International