“In local-level planning and management, formulating goals and strategies at national and local levels, and monitoring and reviewing progress, genuine partnerships have to be built for the government authorities and the non-governmental bodies to work together. Initiatives are needed on both sides to change mind-set, perceptions and attitudes in order to foster the spirit of genuine partnership for working towards the common goals in education.” (UNESCO, 2008, p. 4)

The need for effective and efficient life-long learning calls for more complex actions which include more mature governance approach emphasizing the role of network relations with stakeholders such as parents, students, principal, teachers, public administration, enterprises and non-profit organizations (Salvioni et al., 2015). The fact that education cannot be just reduced to formal learning, as it cannot survive in a social and economic vacuum, is highly recognized. Thus, “compensatory” non-formal education offered by various stakeholders has its importance. All educational institutions together generate the "configuration" of education. (Dandara, 2014; European Commission, 2017). This approach is also supported by the Proposal for a Council Recommendation on Key Competences for LifeLong Learning (2018) which highlights moving to a competence-oriented approach in education, interactive learning and teaching styles, combining formal with non-formal and informal learning, more collaboration with non-education stakeholders and local community. UNESCO (2015) claims that both public and private sectors have a stake in the building of inclusive knowledge societies which can have an impact on curricula frameworks, textbooks and policies concerning affirmative action.

NPOs gained a new place as educational service providers at the beginning of 21^st century, as there was a necessity to have more responsive organ which serves better to local needs and is more efficient in the delivery of basic social services than governmental organizations (Mundy and Murphy, 2001). The Global Partnership for Education sees essential to include NPOs (in their terminology: civil society organizations) into the education and considers them as partners who “help shape education policies and monitor programs; and hold governments accountable for their duty to fulfil the right to education” (Global Partnership for Education, n.d.).

Our study focuses on non-profit organizations (NPOs) as partners in education, particularly in the area of inclusion of language diverse students, so-called students with different mother tongue. The presented part of the study was conducted in two European countries – the Czech Republic and the Autonomous Region of Spain, Castilla y León. Our aim was to see the approach and gain opinions of non-formal stakeholders, in our case NPOs, as professionals in inclusive education for children with different mother tongue.

Using a qualitative case study methodology (Creswell et al., 2003; Creswell & Plano-Clark, 2007) we conducted mixed questionnaires consisting of closed as well as open-ended questions. This contribution relates only to three open-ended questions: (1) According to you, what are the obstacles preventing full inclusion of students with different mother tongue in schools? (2) According to you, what are the topics which could empower teacher training in education of students with different mother tongue? (3) What are your suggestions and recommendations for better cooperation of NPOs with educational institutions? To obtain relevant data, we firstly had to identify NPOs that work in the area of language diversity in Castilla y León Region, Spain and the whole Czech Republic. We addressed the Authorities of both countries asking them to provide us with the list of organizations which focus on or deal with topics such as: immigrants, education for minorities, education for foreigners, second-language learners, language and cultural diversity, children with different mother tongue, teacher training. In-depth selection was done on the basis of information gained from websites of these organizations and/or telephonic conversations. Finally, we were able to address 40 NPOs in Castilla y León Region and 15 in the Czech Republic and received 19 responses from Spain and 9 responses from the Czech Republic. Each question was subject of individual examination within particular country and subsequently the results of both countries were compared between themselves. Based on received responses we identified the groups of representative answers.

The study reveals that 36% of NPOs (39% in Spain, 29% in the Czech Republic) see the biggest obstacles for full inclusion of students with different mother tongue in students` input settings, such as: language and cultural barrier and different educational background. 32% of NPOs (28% in Spain and 43% in the CR) recognize a teacher as an obstacle who is not sufficiently prepared, keeps his inner prejudices and stereotypes and is reluctant to changes. The lowest percentages represent the obstacles attributable to school (i.e. luck of human resources, luck of finances, reluctance to cooperate with other stakeholders etc.) and to the state (insufficient inclusive educational policy, political and/or public reluctance). NPOs recommend more education for teachers especially in inclusive methodology and intercultural education and claim that also the teachers` change of approach plays necessary role. To improve the cooperation between schools/teachers and NPOs, in most cases NPOs suggest deepening the mutual communication in terms of increasing the awareness of offered services, follow-up meetings and greater involvement of top management of schools. Another crucial point which might contribute to better cooperation and which NPOs highlight is to include appropriate social issues into teacher training plans right from the pre-service education, as it will help students – future teachers – to understand the value that NPOs can bring and thus motivated them to form partnerships. In the further step of the study we will concentrate on areas in which NPOs offer their services either to teachers or schools, their forms and their current application. Furthermore, during the upcoming months we also plan to involve Italy into our research. We plan to publish results of our research in journals such as International Journal of Inclusive Education.

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