Degree programme specification
Do you want to become the first person after the parents to accompany children on their sightseeing trip to learn about the world around, to encourage their ideas and experimenting, and at the same time support them when they do not know what to do and where to go?
You will find a study programme whose priority is its multiple disciplines of study at Masaryk University. It enables you to understand different scientific fields that besides education and psychology include, for example, Czech language and literature, natural sciences and physical, fine arts and music education. This wide-ranging study opens opportunities for labour-market prospects, from very young children’s care in a private sector, pre-school children education in public institutions up to organizing extra-curricular activities in a non-profit sector.
We try to connect a theoretical component to a practical one in all subject of this study programme. And how? Each semester there are practical training courses in kindergartens with different educational programmes. Kindergartens were selected upon the recommendation of the Czech School Inspection recommendation that evaluated them as examples of good practice. Therefore, you can still test your professional skills in practice.
During your studies you can gain experience with pre-school education abroad provided by the programme Erasmus+, e.g. in Estonia, Austria, Spain, and Great Britain. Within one year, you can not only study abroad, but you can also undertake an internship. You can develop both your foreign language and teaching skills. Foreign experience can be gained in this country as well, since foreign students are involved in everyday teaching, and we offer subjects taught in English.
Study plans
Studies
- Objectives
The learning objective is teacher training for kindergartens according to the requirements of the current curriculum for pre-school education. It focuses on creating and developing subject and subject-didactic, educational, psychological, communicative and other personality cultivating competences for performing a profession of a kindergarten teacher.
The focal point of the personal development model is a pedagogical-psychological component that consists of subjects derived from pedagogical and psychological disciplines relevant to a teaching profession, such as Introduction to Education and Psychology, Pre-school Education, Educational Psychology, Theory and Practice of Pre-school Curriculum, Pedagogical-psychological Diagnostics, etc. Subject and subject-didactic components are designed in order to correspond to the complex characteristics of a kindergarten teacher work. A pedagogical-psychological component is followed by disciplinary subjects with didactics (Czech language and literature, nature and society discovery, development of pre-mathematics notions). An important part consists of educational subjects (theatrical, fine arts, music, physical education and health education) and subjects reflecting current issues today (environmental and global education). A subject-didactic component aims at the development of didactic content knowledge that enables graduates to think about the content in terms of pre-school education. Its subjects gradually broaden and modify a spectrum of educational strategies and take new educational trends in consideration. They are designed in order to interconnect students’ practical and theoretical knowledge by means of reflection of their practical experience.
Syllabuses of all subjects are designed to support students’ theoretical knowledge and application skills.
Reflected teaching practice is set with a view to systematically support the development of students’ professional competences gained on the basis of educational reality reflection and self-reflection in order to prepare them for successfully managing a teacher’s role with a view of further education
The principles of controlling and evaluating studies are formulated in the Study and Examination Rules of Masaryk University. A precondition of successful graduation from the study programme is to get 180 credits.
- Learning Outcomes
After successfully completing his/her studies the graduate is able to:
- to apply theoretical knowledge necessary for pre-school children education in practice;
- to communicate well and effectively in interactions with all participants of the educational process (pupils, parents, colleagues and other specialists and school partners); to apply forms of verbal and nonverbal communication;
- to plan educational offer related to the objectives set in the curricular documents; to use adequate strategies that develop key competences in accordance with children’s needs and abilities; to create stimulating and safe psychosocial environment;
- to diagnose children’s progress and development; to reflect one’s own professional skills and effects of educational offer.
- Occupational Profiles of Graduates
After graduating from this study programme, you will be knowledgeable in the issues of education and training of pre-school children. You will be prepared for kindergarten teacher work in both public and private sector. You can apply comprehensive knowledge in different areas of your life to other areas related to work with little children, such as nannies, assistants and caretakers in children’s groups, nurseries and the like.
- Regulated Professions
- Nursery school teacher
- Practical Training
Practical teacher training takes part in each semester and it has a culminating character.
In the first semester, you get an opportunity to learn about different programmes in kindergartens, such as the Dalton Plan, To Begin Together, Support Health in Kindergartens or common kindergarten. Then you choose a kindergarten where you teach for the next three semesters while focusing on your own and your support teacher’s communication skills. You learn to recognise a child’s unique personality and organize education in order to meet individual children’s mentality, etc.
During these three semesters, a number of practical training courses increases due to so called didactic practical training that provides educational offer according to individual branches of science, for example, aiming at the development of your reading, mathematics and natural science pre-literacy. In the last two semesters, three-week and five-week practical training courses are included where your own educational projects are carried out. During your studies, you can see alternative educational systems, such as Montessori and the Reggio Emilia approach in both private and public sectors. Next, optional practical training in the institutions of your choice is offered.
- Goals of Theses
The goals of the master’s thesis should demonstrate knowledge and skills framed by a graduate’s profile. For this reason, the theses should be predominantly methodological. Intermediate goals of final thesis are: to demonstrate the ability to orientate in current issues of pre-school education; to frame the thesis topic in a clear and understandable way and describe state of the art, suggest methodological procedure; to work with adequate pre-school and secondary literary sources, cite them according to established standards and scholarly ethics, discuss and argue with authors, draw one’s own conclusions and recommendations; to interpret and draw conclusions from one’s own teaching practice in order to demonstrate reflective skills; to prove stylistic competence in writing one’s own text, compose scholarly text, keep logical structure of the thesis without grammatical mistakes; to demonstrate ability to ask relevant questions and solve problems in a creative way, come up with new ideas and conclusions of one’s own work that bring at least partially new research findings and methodologies in the field of pre-school education.
- Access to Further Studies
Graduates from this study programme can continue their studies in the master’s study programmes focused on special education or social education.
At present, we are preparing to open a follow-up master’s study programme aimed at pre-school education.
Basic information
Czech