Lower Secondary School Teacher Training in Health Education

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).

The objective of the two-year Master’s degree is to prepare primary and lower secondary school teachers of the general educational programme of Health Education (in a combination of two program) as part of the educational area People and health (overlapping in the educational programme Health education), as defined by the Framework educational programme for elementary education. The study provides the students with integrated knowledge and skills based on Health education and related didactic skills, educational and psychological disciplines based on current research findings, reflections on the teaching process in appropriate types and stages of schools, self-reflection in the role of a teacher and acceptance of the moral obligations and ethics of the teaching profession.

The aim of the programme is to prepare graduates for the profession of Health Education teacher at lower secondary and, where appropriate, secondary schools and to further develop their professional competencies in health sciences, psychosocial and related disciplines. Emphasis is placed on developing professional and didactic competencies in health promotion, health literacy, healthy lifestyles, prevention of risk behaviours and safety, and on their application in school practice. The programme also develops graduates’ professional attitudes and values, enabling them to become active, responsible and independent members of their professional community and society, while providing a foundation for further professional development and, where appropriate, doctoral studies.

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

• apply the knowledge in various didactic situations;
• formulate research questions related to health education and its application in the teaching process; formulate hypotheses, use research techniques;
• develop their own educational project;
• evaluate the resources for use in teaching health education in schools;
• apply the competences of a teacher in teaching health education;
• demonstrate knowledge of the basic documents that govern the educational process in schools;
• apply the knowledge and skills in the capacity of a professional in health promotion and health protection in the public sector, non-profit organizations and the private sector;
• 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 other;
• 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;
• 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;
• reflect on the experience of their own teaching practice in the professional community and to use reflection and self-reflection as a tool of professional learning.

The knowledge, skills and attitudes acquired during the studies form the basis of professional skills. By completing the Master’s degree the graduate will gain the necessary teaching competences pursuant to Act No. 563/2004 Coll., on educational staff as amended. Moreover, the graduate will be qualified to work in other (for example free-time) institutions. The graduate will be capable of professional conduct based on well-structured knowledge and skills in the field of health education. The effectiveness of the graduate’s professional conduct is subject to didactic knowledge of the curriculum of health education in primary and lower secondary schools and general educational and psychological knowledge and skills (general knowledge of educational roots, knowledge of educational practices, knowledge of the participants in the educational process, etc.)

• Teacher of the second level of primary school
• Secondary school teacher

Teaching placements are designed as a comprehensive and progressive system, with an emphasis on linking theory to practice and on students’ reflection and self-reflection in their role as teachers.

The aim of the teaching placements is to enable students to acquire the professional competences necessary for the day-to-day work of a teacher, to familiarise themselves with the roles a teacher assumes in their work, to become aware of their own professional needs, and to gradually take on responsibility for the planning, implementation and evaluation of the educational process. During the placement, students gain a realistic understanding of what a teacher’s day-to-day work entails. The teaching practice forms a comprehensive system of interlinked modules. In the subsequent Master’s programmes, these are the modules Teaching Practice 1 (1st semester), Teaching Practice 2 (2nd semester) and Teaching Practice 3 (3rd semester), followed by the module Seminar on Teaching Practice. Students enrol on the ‘Teaching Practice Seminar’ twice during their studies (in the first and second semesters). Students enrol on the teaching practice seminar twice during their studies (in the first and second semesters). The aim of this reflection is to provide students with a space to share and reflect on their own teaching experiences and to help them develop their reflective and self-reflective skills. The teaching practice system is regularly evaluated, using both closed and open-ended questions, by both students and supervising teachers. The reflective seminars are also evaluated.

Reflective teaching practice forms an integral part of the programme. The system of teaching placements is designed to work towards the long-term and systematic development of students’ professional competences and to prepare them, first and foremost, to fully master the role of a teacher. Placements in the subsequent Master’s programme build upon those undertaken in preparation for the role of teaching assistant during the Bachelor’s programme. By the end of the teaching placements in the Master’s programme, students should be able to work autonomously in the classroom and become a novice teacher who continues to develop their competences through further professional development.It is important to bear in mind that teaching placements in the Master’s programme are time-consuming. In total, this amounts to 360 hours of teaching practice (for students on a dual-subject programme, this is 180 hours per subject) spread over three semesters – in each of these semesters, students must spend 80 hours directly at the school (2x40 hours for students on a dual-subject programme) where they are undertaking their teaching practice.

Graduates from the Master’s degree of Health Education may (subject to accession criteria) continue in the doctoral study programme School and Social Pedagogy.