Osnovna šola Dobje is a small countryside school located in the middle of Kozjansko region near Celje in Slovenia. The school provides preschool and basic (primary) education for learners aged from 1 to 15 years. There are around 220 learners and 45 staff members, including teachers.

Strong areas of our organization are: developing cross-cultural competences, continuation of tradition, taking care of our health, sports, gardening, beekeeping, use of specific ICT tools in everyday life, coding, early years language acquisition, ecology, entrepreneurship etc. 

We are the first Microsoft Showcase primary school in Slovenia. For almost 10 years our teachers have been using Office 365 in everyday teaching. They have been using an online notebook as an equivalent accessory in the classroom and started to perform innovative ways of teaching. Our teachers have been awarded by the National agency for the outstanding use of ICT in the classroom. 

Besides OneNote Class Notebook, teachers and learners have been using other ICT tools. The most important one is MS Teams which has become an indispensable tool during the COVID situation. Teachers and students have created a perfect virtual classroom – including an online notebook and a conference room. Furthermore, our school’s practice of long-distance learning has become a role model practice at the national level.  

Using ICT confidently enables us to look for opportunities of working internationally. The beginnings of the international collaboration go back to 2006. A few teachers joined eTwinning community and started to develop and share simple projects. In 2016 our school coordinated the first Erasmus+ project and is currently involved into 7 Erasmus+ projects, supported by eTwinning community. 

 A successful and confidential network of teachers has been established at the international level. The main goal of international collaboration is to establish a cross-cultural learning environment for teachers and learners, to promote and upgrade an out-of-the-classroom learning environment, to support learners’ overall development and growth. Moreover, international collaboration brings a breath of fresh air into our club – methods and approaches.

Being a small countryside school hasn’t prevented us from presenting our teaching practices at European level. Many foreign teachers have already visited our school to experience the innovative learning environment. We are looking forward to welcome more of them.