The English International School, Prague (EISP) is on a mission to make sure all its classroom assistants are up to UK standards. Two staffers recently completed an intensive yearlong assessment course to become certified classroom supervisors, and the school is hoping this is just the beginning.

Officials say they'd like to make EISP an assessment center for other schools that want to ensure their staff is UK-certified. According to one England-based assessment center, there are few, if any, schools in the Czech Republic that offer such programs.

"This is the first time we've done this," said Lesley Tollett, an assessor with the Ware Assessment Centre who worked closely with the two EISP staff members studying for their UK certificates.

"My boss never says 'no' to anything," Tollett said. "Our philosophy is we will always say 'yes' and think about the consequences later."

The assessment center doesn't seem to have anything to worry about. The test run at EISP went smoothly. Both candidates passed the National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) course with flying colors.

"I am very pleased that we can give something back to the Czech staff," said Philip Selbie, the head of the school's Early Years campus. "We are actually investing back into the Czech staff who work very hard here. It is actually giving them a chance to broaden their horizons."

The NVQ course covers theories of child development. Selbie said certification candidates learn how to formally observe children, plan lessons and work with parents, among other things. The course also covers child protection issues. Classroom assistants at EISP's main campus will be invited to take the NVQ course next year, said Shelley Leighton, the school's marketing and admissions officer.

"NVQ candidates have to show they can do their job ... and understand why they work the way they work," Tollett said. "Because of the logistics of working outside the United Kingdom, [the Prague candidates] were assessed more intensively."

In addition to improving their credentials, these UK-certified classroom supervisors will now also be eligible for employment at schools in England.

"I hope I will work with children more effectively, but I think that the other aspects [of the job] will be the same," said Eliška Strnadová, one of EISP's "lead classroom carers" who went through the NVQ course.

"It's also different to work in an English environment. You are given opportunities you won't be given with a Czech company," she added.

Strnadová, 22, has worked at EISP since 2004 and said she has no desire to leave anytime soon. She works with kids between 18 and 30 months old.

"At the moment, I am happy here," she said.

EISP is moving to a new site next September. Selbie said he hopes the school can become a NVQ assessment center for other schools around Prague. Tollett said the Ware center plans to offer assessor-training courses at EISP, subject to demand.

"Assessors need to be occupationally competent, which means they need to be working or have recently worked in the field in which they aim to assess," she said.

The goal is to have a couple of teachers trained as certified assessors by next summer, Leighton said.

Selbie first heard about the NVQ course during an education conference he attended last year. One of the speakers was from the Ware center, and Selbie immediately inquired about the feasibility of bringing an assessor to EISP.

"The assistants who work with the teachers don't have the formal qualifications to work with young children or any knowledge about how a UK classroom here would work," Selbie explained.

That, however, is quickly changing.

Tollett, who is based in England, flew out to Prague three or four times over the past year to observe the teaching methods of the two candidates. Normally, the course takes 18 months to complete. The EISP candidates finished in 12 months, however, because the program was "developed especially to meet their needs," Tollett said.