Natural Science for Education

* to develop occupational knowledge and skills (with an emphasis on both inanimate nature and botanical-zoological-ecological and anthropological focus) that graduates can use in practice, especially in the next follow-up master's degree program;

* Establish skills and attitudes leading to further higher education of biological and geological disciplines and lifelong STEM education;

* the ability to reflect the process of education and training in nature-oriented institutions;

* Self-reflection skill as a naturalist lecturer.

The graduate of the study program Nature Science with a focus on education is a qualified professional ready to practice as a teacher assistant who during the bachelor study gained the corresponding professional competencies that we perceive as a set of professional knowledge, skills, attitudes, experience, values and personality characteristics that are manifested in selected professional activities.

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).

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

• further develop professional knowledge
• use the correct professional biological terminology
• to create positive attitudes towards expertise
• to generate and defend their professional decisions and to bear full responsibility for them;
• positive self-realization, self-education, self-education and self-reflection
• critically think about the use of pedagogical and psychological knowledge in practice as a pedagogue assistant or other pedagogical worker, read common pedagogical and psychological texts for educators and creatively understand them.
• can work in classes under their leadership, or in tandem with the teacher. After consulting the teacher, it sets educational goals and methods, plans, implements and reflects the teaching and activity sequences
• He uses his knowledge and skills to communicate with pupils, parents and teachers in practice.
• can better justify and evaluate their arguments, naming their emotions and their connection with the action or critically viewing their own attitudes towards education
• uses basic methods and tools of pedagogical diagnostics in practice and thus obtains data available for individual pupil / client support
• formulates arguments from the theory and practice of his own education concept that he would like to apply in his future profession
• explains the basic principles of inclusive and special education
• orientates in the basic concepts of developmental and social psychology. He has an overview of the dynamics of the developmental and social-psychological aspects of pupil life in the classroom

The graduate has a basic vocational education with an initial natural-science component and is ready to undertake a bachelor's degree or a follow-up master's study in the field of Natural Sciences. Under Section 20 of Act No. 563/2004 Coll., on Pedagogical Workers as amended, the graduate can work as an assistant teacher, an instructor in leisure time centers, as a teacher in youth homes, a teacher in cohorts, in various civic associations engaged in pedagogical activities.

• Teacher´s assistant

The system of compulsory teaching practices aims at the development of the student's professional competences and prepares him to fully master the role of teaching assistant. The goal of assistantships is to acquire the necessary skills both when working individually with a student outside of the teaching process (tutoring on the school grounds or in children's families) and when working with a teacher in the classroom during classes. The internship forms a comprehensive system of connected subjects, which are implemented from the third to the fifth semester of study. These are the subjects assistant practice, which consists of tutoring individuals (60 hours), assistant practice - teaching assistant 1 (60 hours) and teaching assistant practice - teaching assistant 2 (60 hours). In total, it is therefore 180 hours of field practice. In the third and fourth semesters, the practice is followed by the subjects self-experienced preparation for profession 1 and self-experienced preparation for profession 2, within which students of assistant practice reflect (24 hours). Their goal is to enable students to have real self-experience with selected topics (see seminar topics) of personal and professional development through experiential learning with an emphasis on reflection; encourage students to gradually take responsibility for their own learning process (self-directed learning); enable students to realize and possibly revise their attitudes towards their future profession. The practice system is regularly evaluated, both by using closed and open questions, by students and accompanying teachers. Reflective seminars are also evaluated.

The standard bachelor's thesis range from 72,000 to 90,000 characters, including footnotes, cover sheet, content, index, list of literature and annotations. The bachelor thesis has the character of independent research. Students work in the field or in the lab, and in terms of the overview of the topic, students can work with already published texts and data available to analyze the issue. They should demonstrate the ability to critically work with expert texts, process the concepts and theories found in them, and find relevant answers to the given question. Instructions for state final exams and elaboration of the bachelor's / diploma thesis are regulated by Dean's Decree No. 1/2010, effective from December 1, 2014 On state final examinations for students of the Faculty of Education of Masaryk University.

The final work 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 117,000 to 200,000 characters, including

gaps, i.e. 65-80 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.).

A graduate of a Bachelor's degree program may, after fulfilling the conditions of admission, continue in any follow-up Master's study at the Faculty of Education.