Lower Secondary School Teacher Training in Czech Language and Literature for Pupils with a Different Mother Tongue

The main purpose of education in the field of Teaching Czech Language and Literature with a focus on pupils with a different mother tongue is to prepare a fully qualified teacher that will have all the necessary knowledge and skills in the field of Czech language and literature and its didactics as well as specialized professional competency for teaching foreign pupils, or pupils with a different mother tongue. The content of this study programme includes not only all of the ordinary disciplines involved in the study programme of Czech language and literature for primary schools (eg. Stylistics in theory and practice, Development of standard Czech, World literature in the 20th century) but also specialized linguistics (e.g. Czech phonetics for foreigners, Spoken Czech) as well as literary disciplines that focus on Czech literature in various contexts (e.g. Comparative literature, Literature in the context of religion) and its reception in a foreign language environment. Both linguistic and literary disciplines aim to promote understanding of language and literature as a means leading to the development of communicative and other competencies and to the development of positive relations to the cultural heritage.

“Helping to find our common language.”

Professional didactics is represented by several subjects that deal not only with teaching the Czech language and literature education for pupils with a different mother tongue, but also with appropriate methods of testing and using alternative teaching methods. Didactic disciplines are also designed to develop teachers' ability to teach in multilingual and multicultural classes.

Pedagogical and psychological constituent part of the study

Through studying for the Master’s degree graduates gain the necessary competences that allow them to critically apply the use of their pedagogical and psychological knowledge in practice as a teacher at a primary or secondary school. Graduates are fully qualified to pursue the profession of a teacher. They are ready to base their professional conduct on well-structured knowledge and skills from their fields of approbation (content knowledge). The effectiveness of their professional conduct is conditioned by their subject-didactic (pedagogical content knowledge) and broader pedagogical and psychological knowledge and skills (knowledge of the broader background of education, knowledge of educational practices, knowledge about people involved in education, etc.).

The degree develops students’ analytical and comparative skills, which enable them to understand the diverse pedagogical reality and to use subject-specific, pedagogical, and psychological publications in their work for planning, implementing and reflecting on educational activities. They develop communication skills important for communication and collaboration with pupils, colleagues in the workplace, with parents of pupils and with practitioners. An important benefit of the degree is the development of self-reflective skills that provide space for the development of attitudes towards one another, to educated individuals and to the profession: perception of the responsibility of the teaching profession, the acceptance of the moral obligations of a helping profession and its ethics.

The studies emphasise the principle of interdisciplinarity (interconnection of some pedagogical and psychological subjects) and the principle of sequence and gradation of themes and courses, from the more general to the more specific. The concept is also characterized by the interdependence of theory and practice. An important part of the concept is the reflective teaching practice. The principles of reflection on teaching practice and self-reflection are related both to practice and to other experience-oriented subjects. An important part of the concept is also the promotion of inclusion, which is perceived as a cross-curricular theme (also supported by a separate course).

Practical training

The teaching practice is conceived as a coherent and gradated system with an emphasis on interconnection with theory and reflection and self-reflection of the student as a teacher.

The aim of the teaching practice is to acquire the professional competences necessary in the daily work of the teacher, to become acquainted with the roles which the teacher enters into in their work, to realize their own professional needs and to gradually take responsibility for the planning, implementation and evaluation of lessons. Throughout the teaching practice, students get a real idea of what a teacher's everyday work involves.

The teaching practice forms a coherent system of consecutive subjects. The aim of the reflection is to provide students with a space for sharing and reflecting on experiences from their own teaching practice and helping them to deepen their reflective and self-reflective skills.

The system of teaching practice is regularly evaluated both through open and closed questions, both by students and the mentor teachers. The reflective seminars are also evaluated.

Further information

http://www.ped.muni.cz/en/introduction

http://www.ped.muni.cz/en/departments-and-institutes/cjl/about-the-department

The graduates of this study programme are fully qualified for direct pedagogical work as a teacher (or teaching assistant) of Czech language and literature in primary and lower secondary schools or at a corresponding stage of grammar schools with specialized qualification for teaching pupils with a different mother tongue. These competencies are also fully relevant for the work of a qualified teacher in language schools offering courses of Czech to foreigners; an instructor or skilled worker in centres for supporting the integration of foreigners; a teacher in centres for ethnic groups or in Czech teaching positions abroad as well as for work as an instructor in free-time or educational centres.

No information available

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Minimum score and numbers of accepted applicants in past years

After completion of the Master's studies, it is possible to continue further studies in the doctoral study programme "Linguistic and literary communication" which is also available at the Faculty of Education (full-time or distant form of studies). Graduates can attend a two-semester-long study of the Czech language and literature for secondary schools that is implemented as a course of lifelong learning by the Department of Czech Language and Literature of the Faculty of Education to gain a qualification to be a secondary school teacher of the Czech language and literature.