German Language for Education

Along with the knowledge in general disciplines of pedagogy and psychology, students build up a foundation of skills and knowledge during the Bachelor's degree for performing the profession of assistant teacher of German at primary and lower secondary schools and in further occupations in the area of education.

Through studying for the Bachelor’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 teaching assistant or other educational worker (e.g. free-time instructor in youth centres or after-school clubs, in various civic associations engaged in pedagogical activities) in an appropriate manner.

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).

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

• acquire language skills in German at level B2/C1 and can use them efficiently in everyday communication;
• describe and explain the system of language in contrastive perspective;
• describe and explain the literary and cultural heritage of the German speaking countries, they have achieved text interpretation skills and understand fiction and non-fiction in appropriate contextual frame;
• use subject-specific teaching skills related to the work of a teaching assistant and German language lecturer;
• work as a teaching assistant for German language teachers at elementary schools in educational and support work;
• 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;
• 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;
• 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;
• explain the basic concepts of developmental and social psychology and identify possible difficulties in pupils’ social competences or school adaptation, based on knowledge of developmental and socio-psychological aspects of classroom life.

The competencies acquired in the fields of the bachelor’s degree programme provide full qualification for the profession of a teaching assistant for German language instruction at the lower secondary and upper secondary levels, or in a language school, in educational and supportive teaching activities. They also qualify graduates for work as language instructors in leisure centres or after-school care programmes within language-oriented activities, as well as for employment in public administration, particularly as a foreign-language officer.

• Teacher´s assistant

The system of compulsory teaching practice is aimed at developing the students’ professional competences and preparing them for the full-fledged role of a teaching assistant. The aim of the teaching assistant practice is to acquire the necessary skills for individual work with a pupil outside the process of teaching (tutoring at school in the pupils’ homes) and also when working with a teacher during lessons.

The teaching practice consists of a coherent system of consecutive subjects, which are taken from the third to the fifth semester of the degree. These are the subjects teaching assistant practice - tutoring 1, teaching assistant practice - tutoring 2, consisting of individual tutoring (60 hours), teaching assistant practice - teaching assistant 1 (60 hours) and teaching assistant practice - teaching assistant 2 (60 hours) and teaching assistant practice – teaching assistant 3. Overall, there 180 hours of teaching practice.

In the third and fourth semesters, the teaching practice is followed by the subjects self-experiential preparation for the profession 1 and self- experiential preparation for the profession 2, in which the students of the teaching assistant practice reflect (24 hours). Their aim is to enable students to have real experience with selected themes (see seminar topics) regarding 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, if necessary, to revise their attitudes towards their future profession.

The system of teaching practice is regularly evaluated both through closed and open questions, both by students and the mentor teachers. The reflective seminars are also evaluated.

After completing the Bachelor's degree, students are invited to continue in the two-year Master's degree (Teacher of German as a foreign language at primary and lower secondary schools) at our department, or in other Master's degree programmes in education, philology or translation science at other faculties (see their requirements for entrance examinations).