Health Education

The programme places a strong emphasis on the development of professional and practical competencies, including the ability to work with evidence-based information, design and implement health promotion and prevention activities, and support the health and well-being of individuals and communities. Students gain practical experience not only in school settings but also in institutions and organisations focused on health promotion and primary and secondary prevention.

Graduates are well prepared to apply their competencies in professional practice and to continue their studies in the follow-up Master's degree programme in Teaching Health Education for Primary Schools.Through the bachelor's degree program, graduates will acquire the necessary skills to critically reflect on the application of pedagogical and psychological knowledge in the practice of teaching assistants or other educational professionals (e.g., youth workers in youth homes, after-school club workers, various civic associations involved in educational activities) and to act appropriately.

The program develops analytical and comparative skills that enable students to understand the diverse realities of education and to use subject-specific, pedagogical, and psychological curriculum documents in their work for planning, implementing, and reflecting on educational activities. It develops communication skills that are important for communication and cooperation with students/clients, colleagues at work, parents of students/clients, and professionals in the field. A significant benefit of the study is the development of self-reflective skills, which provide space for the development of attitudes towards oneself, towards the individuals being educated, and towards the profession: perception of the responsibility of the teaching profession, acceptance of the moral obligations of the helping profession and its ethics.

The study emphasizes the competency model of the curriculum, the principle of interdisciplinarity (the interconnection of certain pedagogical and psychological subjects); the principle of transdisciplinarity; the principle of progression and gradation of topics and subjects, from more general to more specific. The concept is further characterized by the interconnection of theory and practice. Reflective pedagogical practice is an important part of the concept. The principles of reflection on practice and self-reflection are linked to both practice and other experience-oriented subjects. An important part of the concept is also the support of inclusion and the support of digitization and internationalization, which are perceived as cross-cutting themes (also supported by a separate subject).

Upon successful completion of the programme, the graduate is able to:

• explain health from a holistic perspective and interpret findings relating to the protection and promotion of health, the prevention of risky behaviour and the promotion of safety;
• search for, critically evaluate and make use of appropriate sources; produce specialist texts, presentations, educational materials and projects;
• analyse factors affecting health, lifestyle and safety, and propose measures to promote the health of various target groups;
• to work together and communicate effectively with children, parents, teachers and specialist organisations in promoting health;
• apply the above knowledge, skills, and abilities in the work of a health education teaching assistant at a primary school;
• understand the role of an individual and society in health promotion and protection;
• think critically about the use of pedagogical and psychological knowledge in the practice of a teaching assistant or other pedagogical worker, read familiar pedagogical and psychological texts for educators and understand them creatively;
• 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;
• 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;
• 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 pedagogical diagnostics to support differentiation and individualization, obtaining data for individual pupil support; communicate the results appropriately to pupils, teachers, parents, or other professionals;
• formulate their own concept of education they would like to implement in their future profession, supporting it with arguments from theory and practice;
• explain the basic principles of inclusive and special education; to reflect on their attitude towards diversity and its influence on their own teaching.

The knowledge, skills, and attitudes acquired during the course of study form the basis of the competencies required to practice the profession. Graduates have a basic professional education with a subject-specific didactic component and are prepared to continue on to a master's degree program in health education for elementary schools. According to §20 of Act No. 563/2004 Coll., on pedagogical workers, as amended, they can work as teaching assistants, instructors in leisure centers, educators in youth homes, educators in after-school clubs, and in various civic associations engaged in pedagogical activities.

• Teacher´s assistant

The system of compulsory teaching placements is designed to develop students’ professional competences and prepare them to fully fulfil the role of a teaching assistant. The aim of the teaching assistant placements is to acquire the skills necessary both for working individually with pupils outside the classroom (tutoring on school premises or in pupils’ homes) and for working alongside a teacher in the classroom during lessons.

The practical training comprises a comprehensive system of interlinked modules, which are undertaken from the third to the fifth semester of the programme. These are the modules ‘Teaching Assistant Placement’, which involves tutoring individuals (60 hours), ‘Teaching Assistant Placement – Teaching Assistant 1’ (60 hours) and ‘Teaching Assistant Placement – Teaching Assistant 2’ (60 hours). In total, this amounts to 180 hours of fieldwork. In the third and fourth semesters, the practical training is followed by the modules ‘Self-Experiential Preparation for the Profession 1’ and ‘Self-Experiential Preparation for the Profession 2’, during which students reflect on their teaching assistant placements (24 hours). The aim of these modules is to enable students to gain real-life experience of selected topics (see seminar topics) relating to 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, where appropriate, revise their attitudes towards their future profession.

The placement system is regularly evaluated, using both closed and open-ended questions, by both students and supervising lecturers. The reflective seminars are also evaluated.

Reflective teaching placements form an integral part of the programme. The placement system is designed to systematically foster the development of students’ professional competences, which are refined through reflection on educational practice and self-reflection, and to prepare them to become fully-fledged professionals in the field of health education.

Graduates from the Bachelor’s degree may (subject to accession criteria) continue in the follow-up Master’s degree programme Lower Secondary School Teacher Training in Health Education.