Lower Secondary School Teacher Training in French Language

The main objective of the study of Lower Secondary School Teacher Training in French Language is to produce fully qualified teachers who have acquired solid knowledge and skills in the spheres of French language and the ways of teaching it, who can research and deal with professional issues and who are capable of further self-education based on their own self-reflection. The focus of this Master's degree is to synthesise and expand on existing professional linguistic, literary and historical knowledge as well as to develop further didactic methods of teaching French. The individual specialisations of each student play an important role. Emphasis is placed on acquiring active knowledge of contemporary language and culture of the French and francophone world, based on a solid methodological approach, and the ways in which these can be applied to teaching practice.

Unlike the courses which concentrate on philology and translation studies as well as the courses preparing secondary school teachers which are based at Philosophical Faculties, Teaching French at Primary and Lower Secondary School Level is only available at the Faculty of Education, Masaryk University (MU).

The well-structured common core basis of the Faculty's teaching courses which concentrate on the pedagogical and psychological aspects, a combination of theoretical studies with practical work experience in schools and other cultural institutions, and a focused concentration on the appropriate didactic methods contribute to the undisputed high quality of graduates.

Aims - Department of Education:

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 French at the C2 level in receptive activities (listening and reading) and C1 level in production activities (spoken and written) according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (communication competency)
• explain professional terminology; interpret linguistic and linguo-didactic professional literature and make use of it in their teaching practice (linguistic competency)
• critically evaluate their own culture, compare it with the Francophone cultures and intermediate direct as well as indirect contacts with Francophone countries for their pupils (socio-cultural competency)
• interpret literary styles of French and Francophone literature, especially for children and teenagers. Select suitable texts for their lessons in order to stimulate their pupils' interest and develop their personalities (literary sciences competency)
• organise their lessons by combining the various methods from the field of French language didactics, using modern technologies and creating creative teaching materials (didactic competency)
• build upon the above mentioned competencies and further their education, for example in the form of postgraduate studies of foreign language didactics or special teaching practices; or in the form of lifelong learning
• reflect the development of the field, apply the key competences of a 21st century citizen and respond to new recommendations for language learning..
• 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 where
• 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
• 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: to critically evaluate their own attitudes towards education and assess how they
• explain and to reflect on the principles of inclusive education (culture, politics and practice of school), create an inclusive environment in the classroom, to apply at least some strategies of individualization and differentiation in teaching

The graduates of this study programme are ready to actively and independently apply their well structured professional knowledge and skills within the framework of an educational curriculum at primary and lower level secondary schools and also in the sphere of after-school and leisure time activities. They are fully qualified teachers of French language for primary and lower level secondary schools. They are also qualified to work in institutions which require a pedagogical qualification, e.g. instructors or tutors at language schools authorised for state language examinations.

• Teacher of the second level of primary school
• Teacher of language school authorised for state language examinations

Teaching practice is an obligatory part of the curriculum for this field. These courses are compulsory and are carried out in accordance with the Guidelines for Educating Future Teachers. The mandatory work experience is organised between the specialist subject departments and the Department of Education. After the final teaching practice on the Master's course, the student should be able to work autonomously in a classroom and become a teacher who is ready to strengthen their competency in further education.

Practical Trainig - department of Education:

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 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.).

Students can decide whether to write their theses at the Department of French Language and Literature (usually in French), or at departments providing a common teaching (in Czech). The field work can be written with a focus on linguistics, literature, cultural studies or field didactics. The works linking sub-disciplines with the didactics, which accentuate the application outcome, are welcome.

Students in the final theses demonstrate that they have an academic written language, are able to work independently, critically read reference literature, classify and link information, logically argue, place the subject of work in the wider context of the field, and correctly use the chosen citation standard. Their work consists of theoretical, research and practical part. Appropriate methodology for the research part is e. g. questionnaire, observation, testing, analysis of teaching material, case study, literary, linguistic or general cultural analysis. In the practical part the students apply their knowledge in methodological documents with description of didactic-methodical procedures. The final thesis is defended during State final examinations in front of the appointed committee in the presence of the supervisor and the opponent.

After passing the degree, it is possible to continue further with the postgraduate course Teaching a Foreign Language (after satisfying the admission requirements). There is also an option to undertake the State 'Examen Rigorosum' which tests whether the graduate has expanded their theoretical knowledge in the studied field, increased their ability to work unsupervised with new theoretical and practical developments, and commands academic methodology and research methods.