Geography for Education

The objective of the study programme is:

• to provide students with the basic professional skills based on expert knowledge in the field of geography as well as educational and psychological disciplines so that they could enter an appropriate profession or continue in a follow-up master’s degree study programme;
• to develop professional skills and acquire knowledge of geography and related disciplines which graduates will use in practice or in a follow-up master’s degree study programme;
• to acquire geographic knowledge and skills in school, in the GIS laboratory and outside the school environment during fieldwork;
• to develop geographic knowledge and skills in order to use them in practice;
• to prepare graduates for learning to teach geography at elementary or secondary schools.

Graduates have fundamental professional education combined with a field-didactic component, and they are ready for a follow-up master’s degree study programme specialised in geography teacher training or studying the field of geography. According to the Act No. 563/2004 Coll. on Pedagogical Staff and on the Amendment to Some Other Acts, they can work as teacher’s assistants, teachers in leisure centres, educators in youth homes, educators in after-school activity classes, and in different civil society organizations dealing with pedagogical work.

Through studying for the Bachelor’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 teaching assistant or other educational worker (e.g. free-time instructor in youth centres or after-school clubs, in various civic associations engaged in pedagogical activities) in an appropriate manner.

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/clients, colleagues in the workplace, with parents of pupils/clients 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); 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).

“Geographical thinking – the way to sustainability.”

Practical training

The system of compulsory teaching practice is aimed at developing the students’ professional competences and preparing them for the full-fledged role of a teaching assistant. The aim of the teaching assistant practice is to acquire the necessary skills for individual work with a pupil outside the process of teaching (tutoring at school in the pupils’ homes) and also when working with a teacher during lessons.

The teaching practice consists of a coherent system of consecutive subjects, which are taken from the third to the fifth semester of the degree. These are the subjects teaching assistant practice - tutoring 1, teaching assistant practice - tutoring 2, consisting of individual tutoring (60 hours), teaching assistant practice - teaching assistant 1 (60 hours) and teaching assistant practice - teaching assistant 2 (60 hours) and teaching assistant practice – teaching assistant 3. Overall, there 180 hours of teaching practice.

In the third and fourth semesters, the teaching practice is followed by the subjects self-experiential preparation for the profession 1 and self- experiential preparation for the profession 2, in which the students of the teaching assistant practice reflect (24 hours). Their aim is to enable students to have real experience with selected themes (see seminar topics) regarding personal and professional development through experiential learning with an emphasis on reflection; to encourage students to gradually take responsibility for their own learning process (self-directed learning); to enable students to become aware of and, if necessary, to revise their attitudes towards their future profession.

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

Further information

Information about studies is available on websites of the Faculty of Education MU: http://www.ped.muni.cz/ a Katedry geografie PdF MU: https://katedry.ped.muni.cz/geografie/

A graduate of the Bachelor’s study program is a qualified expert ready to work as a teacher’s assistant who gained the appropriate professional competence considered as a set of professional knowledge, skills, attitudes, experience, values and personal qualities that are reflected in particular professional activities.

No information available

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Minimum score and numbers of accepted applicants in past years

A graduate of the Bachelor’s degree study programme Geography for Education can (after fulfilling the admission requirements) continue studying in a follow-up Master’s degree study programme. The Faculty of Education enables graduates to continue their studies in a follow-up Master’s degree study programme Lower Secondary School Geography Teacher Training and subsequently in a Doctoral study programme Didactics of Geography.