The Step by Step (SbS) program was established in the early 1990s as part of a broader effort to reform education systems in post-communist countries. The aim was to support the emergence of open, democratic, and child-centered pedagogy to replace the authoritarian and centralized models of education typical of the previous régime (Klaus, 2004; Krywko, 2010). Step by Step now offers comprehensive education based on constructivist pedagogy, a friendly approach to children, and close cooperation with families. This approach to education inherently includes inclusive values. The program has been operating in the Czech Republic for 32 years. Currently, more than 160 kindergartens and elementary schools are registered in the Start Together program network (the Czech name for Step by Step), and nearly 20,000 teachers have been trained (Šíp & Denglerová, 2025).

In previous research surveys (Denglerová et al., 2024), we answered the question of what the Step by Step program brings to students educated within its framework. We used a quantitative survey among students to examine the so-called soft skills that contribute primarily to the formation of knowledge and skills and their long-term use, in which students are developed and supported in the program. This survey focused on measuring students' self-perception, classroom climate, emotional abilities, and creative and metacognitive abilities. Furthermore, within the framework of a qualitative research paradigm, we used ethnographic inputs into the classroom and subsequent situational analysis to try to understand the teaching environment and all its specifics that enable students to develop these soft skills above the standard (which was reflected in higher values in the quantitative part of our research). Looking at the school environment through the benefits for pupils with heterogeneous needs is an important factor (Beronilla & Natividad, 2025). We also recognized that, in order to develop a comprehensive understanding of the phenomena under investigation and, in particular, to capture their underlying dynamics, it was essential to examine the perspectives, attitudes, and motivations of teachers who enter the SbS program and choose to work within its pedagogical framework. Therefore, this paper focuses primarily on the statements of experienced primary school teachers who describe the benefits of the SbS program for their personal and professional growth.

The main research question was to find out what motivates teachers to join the SbS program, what benefits the program brings them, and how they assess their overall personal and professional development within the program.

The data was collected in 2023 among teachers of the SbS program in three different ways. 1. Focus group interview with SbS program lecturers and experienced teachers – nine informants participated. All of them had many years of experience in education and had started teaching at least ten years ago (including breaks from the profession due to maternity and parental leave). Most of them also work for Step by Step ČR as SbS program lecturers during summer schools and ongoing seminars. The informants were therefore convinced of the program's usefulness and its benefits for them personally and were willing to share this conviction. 2. Free statements from class teachers of classes involved in the quantitative survey among pupils – as part of this survey, we always communicated with the teacher in charge of a specific class in schools. Usually, it was a class teacher, in one case it was a substitute teacher, and in one case it was two paired teachers. We asked these teachers to fill out an unstructured questionnaire in which they freely expressed their opinions on four questions. There was no time limit for completing the questionnaire, and the informants usually sent it to us a few days after we contacted them at their place of work. In this way, we obtained statements from 18 informants. 3. Individual interviews with teachers – in two schools where the qualitative part of the previous research took place, we also collected interviews with teachers. The interviews lasted between 52 and 100 minutes. The presented analysis is based on interviews with three informants. All of the above-mentioned data sources support each other and describe the positive motivation of all participants in the ZaS program. For the data analysis phase, we used situational analysis procedures, which emphasize the systematic capture of relationships that influence the specific forms of the environment under study (in our case, the environment of classrooms and schools). Situational analysis (SA) was essential for us for several reasons. First, the ethnographic approach is included in the very foundations of SA; second, it is consistent with the interactive systemic nature of Bronfenbrenner's model; third, the construction of the so-called elements, it is based on an abductive approach to scientific research, and finally, it emphasizes the participation of the actors themselves in refining the meanings of the processes and events under investigation (Clarke, 2005; Clarke, Friesse, & Washburn, 2015).

The analysis showed that the key elements that motivate teachers to work within the SbS program can be described by the terms STRUCTURE and PROCESS. A solid STRUCTURE is essential; we can view it as a "skeleton" around which the "body" of a functioning learning community grows organically. The skeleton provides stability and predictability. At the same time, it is not rigid. It can change without losing its stabilizing function. For example, the rules are constantly updated, negotiated, and their list changes. The most significant PROCESS reported by the respondents was the transformation of the teacher into a competent professional and their personal growth. For the informants, the term "competent" expressed a situation in which a teacher becomes a professional. It does not matter how many years the person has been teaching, but rather the quality of the processes of personal and professional growth they are undergoing. The ability to reflect is a reference to a key transformation of the teacher. This occurs when they realize that they are "still-on-the-path" and that they cultivate and moderate this path through constant self-reflection. The interviews most emphasized changes in planning, in the organization of teaching, and changes in their own psychological attitude (building self-confidence, accepting mistakes as opportunities for growth, focusing on their own growth). The informants also agreed that DEMOCRACY and the possibility of developing it are central values for them. That is why they remain in the SbS program. According to the respondents, rules play an important role in creating a respectful, democratic environment (referring back to structure). Rules create space for freedom, in which students are guided toward responsibility. Democratic values were repeatedly evident in the interviews in the way teachers want to guide students toward conflict resolution or encourage them to express their different opinions.

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