Czech Language and Literature for Education

The objective of the Czech Language and Literature with a View to Education Bachelor's study programme is to prepare qualified specialists with a university degree who are able to work at institutions requiring expert knowledge of the Czech language and Czech literature. The graduates receive basic specialized education that contains inter-subject didactics. They are prepared to study for a Master’s degree in Education or in the field of the Czech language and literature, journalism etc.

The objective of the study is to actively acquire special knowledge and skills from the fields of the Czech language and Czech literature, including the skill of working with texts, i.e. to analyse a text from the aspect of linguistic correctness, stylistic refinement, and also from the literary-theoretical and literary-critical aspects. The study programme is designed in such a way that graduates are able to apply the acquired theoretical knowledge, evaluate texts critically, analyse and correct texts, undertake literary-scientific evaluation and interpret texts. They also acquire the skill of developing creative activities with literary texts and literary activities. During their studies, the students’ linguistic and literary-theoretical prerequisites for creative literary and journalistic authorship and their prerequisites for giving consultations in the field of the Czech language and literature are developed.

The graduates are also equipped with basic didactic skills that are required for working as an assistant to a Czech language and literature teacher. Primarily, they are able to teach pupils to interpret literary texts and to help pupils to express themselves in a cultivated manner appropriate for a particular situation.

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).

The study also includes foreign language teaching. The requirement of students' level of one foreign language knowledge is at least the level A2 (according to Common European Framework of Reference for Languages). The teaching follows in this level.

After successfully completing his/her studies the graduate is able to:

• express themselves fluently, respect and observe linguistic correctness and stylistic refinement;
• explain the contemporary form of the Czech language on the basis of knowledge of diachronic language development; be knowledgeable in the theory and system of contemporary Czech;
• characterize basic stages, work and personalities of Czech literature from the 19th and 20th centuries, of literature for children and young adults and selected world literature; characterize literary terms; be knowledgeable in methodology;
• carry out linguistic and stylistic analysis, linguistic proofreading and an arrangement of stylization of a text;
• analyse a literary text on the basis of knowledge of theory of literature and literary criticism, write their own professional text (comment on a professional issue, literary study, critical review, resume, annotation);
• practically apply knowledge of basics of textology and succeed in editorial work with a text;
• develop pupils’ abilities to interpret a text and to understand literary and non-literary texts; help pupils to express themselves in a cultivated manner and support development of their reading and interest in literature and literary affairs;
• cooperate with various teachers at school and under their leadership to plan, implement and reflect on the sequence of teaching and activities in relation to the appropriate school curriculum;
• describe and analyse an educational situation using special terminology and rules of effective pedagogical communication and to propose a change; use their knowledge and skills in communication with pupils, parents, teachers in the school context;
• use self-reflective skills to reflect on their actions: for example, to better justify and evaluate their arguments, to give voice to their emotions and their connection to some behaviour or to critically review their own attitudes towards education;
• use basic methods and tools of ped. diagnostics to support differentiation and individualization, thus gaining data which is available for the support of an indiv. pupil. The results can be commun. to pupils, teachers, parents or other professionals;
• express his own conception of the education that he/she would like putting into effect in his/her future profession and give the reasons by arguments of the theory and practice for that educational conception;
• explain the basic principles of inclusive and special education; to reflect on their attitude towards diversity and its influence on their own teaching;
• explain the basic concepts of developm. and social psych. and identify potential develop. difficulties in social competences or pupil adaptation at school based on the knowledge of develop. and social-psych. aspects of pupil’s live in the classroom.

Characteristics of professions and institutions where the acquired education can be used:

- assistant in the studied field of education, i.e. the Czech language and literature in the primary school or lower secondary school;

- instructor at free-time centres;

- educator at youth centres and at after-school clubs;

- instructor or teacher at various citizens' associations connected with education;

- editor or proofreader;

- employee at cultural institutions requiring education in the Czech language and literature (linguistic consultant for radio and TV, theatres, etc.).

• Teacher´s assistant

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.

The processing of the themes of linguistics, literary theory, literary history or of the Czech language or literary didactics are the goals of the bachelor diploma thesis of Czech language and literature in the study programme. There are preferred:

– the themes that have not been worked out or the themes that are worked out by a new way (method);

– the themes applying new linguistic, literary or didactic/pedagogical methods when being worked out texts that have not been analysed or when being worked out new data of the school practice.

That is presupposed that the students prove when creating the thesis:

– the ability to create professional text that is written in standard Czech respecting the norms of the professional texts and the contemporary orthographical norms;

– the ability to compile the list of the secondary literature of the theme and to choose the knowledge of the literature taking a critical hard look;

– the ability to choose appropriate methodology when cooperate with the tutor: (a) to the language analysis of the texts, to the literary analysis of the texts or to the data collecting and classification (i.e. the data of the language/speech, literature or of the empirical didactic research);

– the ability to evaluate and adequately work out the collected data or the results of the language analysis of the texts or of the analysis of the literary text.

The principles of the creating and the evaluation and marking of the thesis of Czech language and Czech literature are given by the directive Standard pro realizaci závěrečných prací z českého jazyka a z české literatury na katedře českého jazyka a literatury PdF MU, see https://is.muni.cz/auth/do/ped/dekanat/ved/2016/standardy/ode/final/

The final work of the pedagogics or psychology of the student demonstrates the ability to apply the knowledge and skills acquired during the course of study in working on a specific professional-pedagogical problem. The type of final thesis corresponds to the content and level of the given degree of study. The student chooses from the following types of works: a) theoretical-applied, b) theoretical-empirical (research), c) theoretical. The types of work and recommendations for their implementation are further guided by the APA manual. The length of the final thesis ranges from 81,000 to 130,000 characters, including gaps, i.e. 45-60 standard pages.

The standards for the implementation of the final theses at different departments are in accordance with the Dean's Instructions No. 1/2015 on implementation of the final work (Bachelor's, Master’s, post-graduate non-PhD and final works for Life-long Education) in the version effective from 1. 11. 2015.

The thesis follows the following goals based on the profile of the graduate of the Faculty of Education of MU. Students:

– demonstrate an awareness of the current issues of their field of study, they can clearly and comprehensibly define the topic of the final thesis and its objectives, describe the initial state of knowledge and propose appropriate methods of achieving their stated goals;

– work with appropriate primary and secondary sources of information, cite them according to a valid standard (APA) and in accordance with the ethics of academic work;

– through the creation of their own text they demonstrate stylistic competence, and the ability to create an academic text;

– demonstrate the ability to ask questions and solve problems, to formulate new ideas and conclusions that bring at least some new knowledge about the phenomenon being studied, or enrich the methodological (in the area of research) or methodical (in the area of education) procedures in relation to clearly defined target groups (pupils at primary and secondary school, groups with specific educational needs, etc.).

After completion of the Bachelor's studies in Czech Language and Literature with a View to Education, it is possible to continue further studies in the following Master's degree programmes:

- Lower Secondary School Teacher Training in Czech Language and Literature, which is taught at any faculty of education in the Czech Republic;

- Lower Secondary School Teacher Training in Czech Language and Literature or Secondary School Teacher Training in the Czech Language, which are implemented at a faculty of education or faculty of arts;

- professional studies of the Czech language and literature and related fields (journalism, Czech literature etc.).