Lower Secondary School Teacher Training in Chemistry

The aim of the study field Lower Secondary School Teacher Training in Chemistry is to prepare graduates for teaching chemistry at lower secondary schools including lower grades of grammar schools.

The program provides quality education to future lower secondary school chemistry teachers in an inspiring, challenging and creative environment. The emphasis is equally on the development of professional skills and gaining knowledge in relevant disciplines that graduates will use in their teaching practice. The study develops the basic attitudes and values of graduates to become active, responsible and independent members of their professional community and society.

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/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) 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).

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

• use and apply his/her broad special knowledge of chemistry and chemical skills for his/her teaching practice;
• use the basic methods of teaching chemistry in lower secondary school;
• work with chemicals; he/she knows the safety principles and principles of health protection related to work in a chemical laboratory;
• apply the principles of good laboratory practice;
• evaluate the suitability of chemical experiments and chemical substances in the classroom;
• select (from a broad spectrum of new chemical knowledge) and use for teaching suitable current chemical issues and to present them appropriately in the classroom.
• plan, implement and reflect on their own teaching at the appropriate level of established professional competences;
• use basic professional terminology and information sources of pedagogical and school psychology in describing, analysing, interpreting and evaluating typical teaching situations, as well as describing the educational environment of the school
• use basic methods and tools of pedagogical diagnostics in teaching and gain data which is available for the support of an individual pupil/client. The results can be communicated appropriately to pupils, teachers, and possibly parents and professiona
• to explain and to reflect on the principles of inclusive education at the level of culture, politics and practice of the school in their educational activities;
• to create an inclusive environment in the classroom, to apply at least some strategies of individualization and differentiation in teaching;
• describe and individually explain specific learning processes with a specific example from their portfolio;
• to recognise the strengths and weaknesses of their professional performance, and propose personal development goals and how to achieve them.

The aim of the study field Lower Secondary School Teacher Training in Chemistry is to prepare graduates for teaching chemistry at lower secondary schools including lower grades of grammar schools.

• Teacher of the second level of primary school

The standard duration of the studies is 4 semesters. For admittance to the final state examination students must obtain a total of 120 ECTS credits in required, selective and elective courses.

During the course of their studies students should follow the "Study catalogue" for their year of matriculation. They can access the "Study catalogues" through the faculty website.

The principles of checking and evaluating the study are set out in the Study and Examination Regulations of Masaryk University.

Within the Master's degree the student takes Teaching practice I, II and III

Teaching practice I (1st semester) is chosen for only one of his/her study fields.

Teaching practice II (2nd semester) must be enrolled in for both study fields.

Teaching practice III (3rd semester) must be enrolled in for both study fields.

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. In the follow-up master's programmes, these are the subjects Teaching Practice 1 (1st semester), Teaching Practice 2 (2nd semester) and Teaching Practice 3 (3rd semester). In total, this makes up 280 hours (double-subject programme), followed by Seminar on Teaching Practice. Students enrol in the Seminar on Teaching Practice 1 twice during their studies (in the first and second semesters). 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.

The objectives of the qualification work are defined by specific standards. Specific standards theses for bachelor degree course in Chemistry in Education and the related field of study Teacher Training in Chemistry Schools specifies requirements for the goals, content and formal requirements, evaluation of undergraduate (BP), master's (DP) and theses (ZP LLP) above of these fields. The Standard follows the Dean's Instruction No. 1/2015. The standards are based on the profile of the graduate of the above mentioned disciplines, focusing on his / her conception of the professional competencies of the teacher / teacher of chemistry of the second elementary school, or of the lower grades of grammar schools. Standards are intended for students and final assessors as a methodical aid in the creation, but also for the evaluation of bachelor's and master's theses (leaders and opponents). A standard scope of a Master's thesis ranges from 96,000 to 144,000 characters including footnotes, cover sheet, content, index, list of literature, and annotations.

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.).

There is the possibility of continuing the studies in the Ph.D. study program: Methodology of chemistry.