Lower Secondary School Teacher Training in Technology and IT Education

The study of technical and informational education teaches students a way to understand technology and informatics in a broader sense and presents technology and informatics as a modern and society-friendly scientific discipline oriented on the latest technologies in technical and informatics fields. The basic aim of education in the field of Teaching Technical and Information Education for Primary Schools is to prepare a fully qualified teacher with solid knowledge and skills from the fields of technology, informatics and their didactics. The content of the follow-up Master's degree is the synthesis of acquired professional knowledge and the development of knowledge and skills in the field of didactics of technology and informatics. Synthetic subjects consist of specialized (eg News in Science and Technology), informative (eg Interactivity and e-learning) and technical-informational subjects (Technical Interest Activities - Building and Programming of Robots). Doctoral didactics is represented by didactic subjects. Subjects Didactics - Wood and Metals, Didactics - Electrical Engineering and Electronics, Didactics - Excursions concentrate on the problems of didactics in technical education. Integration of Didactics and Informatics is devoted to Didactics - Informatics and partly Didactics - Excursion. An integral part of the study are courses focused on practical activities and technical interest activities.

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. The effectiveness of their professional conduct is conditioned by their subject-didactic and broader pedagogical and psychological knowledge and skills.

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.

After successfully completing his/her studies the graduate is able to:

• theoretically explain and implement database and information systems, web presentations incl. use of programming languages, create and use e-learning materials and in connection with the knowledge acquired in Bc. degree lead teaching of ICT
• to work with technical materials and construction kits and to propose goals in the field of practical activities at elementary schools, to orient in the news in science and technology
• apply procedures and propose targets in the field of electrical engineering of electronic control systems and apply this knowledge to the practice of the teacher
• work with models and design CAD and 3D graphics for technical and technical activities
• to work with professional and scientific literature and professional texts, to create teaching aids and materials, to experimentally verify procedures and to elaborate basic pedagogical research
• apply didactic procedures in teaching using the expertise gained in all areas of study
• 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
• describe and individually explain specific learning processes with a specific example from their portfolio
• to 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
• to 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

By studying the master's degree the graduate will gain the necessary competencies that will allow him, according to Act No. 563/2004 Coll., On Teaching Staff, as amended, to work as a teacher. In addition, he is qualified to work in out-of-school (eg leisure-time) institutions. He is ready to base his professional conduct on well-structured knowledge and skills from his approbation fields (content knowledge).

• Teacher of the second level of primary school

A compulsory part of the program's study is a reflection of the practice accompanied by supervision in the total extent stipulated by the curriculum. The system of pedagogical practices is set up in such a way that it is oriented in the long term and systematically towards the development of the student's professional competences and prepared him first for a full mastery of the role of the teacher. The postgraduate experience in the postgraduate studies is a superstructure in practice in the preparation of an assistant in the Bachelor's degree program. At the end of the Master's degree, the student should be autonomous in the classroom and become a novice teacher who develops his / her competencies in further 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 standard scope of the thesis is 117,000 to 200,000 characters, including footnotes, cover letter, content, index, list of literature and annotations. The diploma thesis has the character of a separate empirical research (the possible exception must be approved by the supervisor). Students can work with already published texts and data accessible for secondary analysis. They should demonstrate the ability to critically work with expert texts, process the concepts and theories found in them, and find relevant answers to the given question. Instructions for the final state examinations and the preparation of the bachelor's thesis are regulated by the Dean of PedF.

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.).

Graduate Master's degree program may continue in appropriate doctoral programs.