Upper Secondary School Teacher Training in Estetic Education

Deadline for submitting applications: January 1 - April 30

Who the programme is intended for: The programme is intended for graduates of Bachelor’s degree programmes focused on art and culture. In the case of fields which are only marginally related, the topic of the Bachelor’s thesis is decisive. The guarantor of the field decides on the admissibility of the application on the basis of an application addressed to the Office for Studies - Admission Procedure, FA MU (email: prijimaci.rizeni@phil.muni.cz).

Subject matter of the entrance examination: The entrance examination takes the form of a checking test on the history and present day of culture and art in the scope of the Bachelor’s single-subject studies state exams of the programme Combined Art Studies. The test will consist of 20 questions, each with five options (a) to (e).

Waiver of the entrance examination: The admission procedure is waived for graduates of Bachelor’s and Master’s fields and programmes of Combined Art Studies, Musicology, Theory of Interactive Media, the Academy of Early Music, and related fields and programmes at FA MU who obtained an excellent (A) or very good (B) result in the final state examination. The entrance examination may also be waived for applicants whose overall result of the state final examination was assessed as "passed with excellent results" in the above-mentioned programmes. Applicants can ask for a waiver for the entrance examination via the e-application form, section "Application for waiver of the entrance examination".

Website Department of Musicology.

General information on the course of the admission procedure to the follow-up Master’s degree programmes at FA MU can be found here. Documents for the current admission procedure are kept in Materials for Applicants.

Pass/fail line of the entrance examination: 40 points (out of 100).

The programme focuses on subjects from the fields of pedagogy, psychology, aesthetics and other arts sciences. Teaching is provided by leading experts from the corresponding institutes and departments of the Faculty of Arts of Masaryk University and specialists from practice, often pioneers of the latest didactic methods and trends. The modern concept of the programme consists of enriching and expanding the outdated ineffective model, where aesthetic education = art and/or music. In many secondary schools, this model could rightfully be called simply "drawing" and "singing", while the education of pupils as active consumers of culture and art gets lost. The real impact of this situation is obvious from the current marginal position of culture in public discourse and state administration. The concept of aesthetic education in the field includes both familiarization with individual chapters of culture and art, as well as their active "consumption" and critical discourse about them, all with significant overlaps primarily with sociology, philosophy, and to a lesser extent also psychology. In an overall broad concept, aesthetic education is conceived as an equal cultural counterpart to civic education. The field can be described as pioneering and the goal should be the definitive inclusion of aesthetic education in the framework educational programs for secondary schools, which would significantly increase the cultural literacy of an important segment of the population.

The study of the programme also includes general pedagogy and psychology, as well as extensive pedagogical practice.

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

• classify, describe, characterize, integrate any work of art into a historical, art history and social context and popularize it within the framework of awareness of the logic and realities of the development of art and culture;
• reflect theoretically, compare historically, prepare eruditely and practically implement the entire teaching process based on knowledge from pedagogy and general and subject-specific didactics;
• orientate in the issues of contemporary pedagogy, state educational policy, main medium-term priorities, the concept of framework educational programs and the creation of school educational programs;
• theoretically summarize, apply in teaching and accordingly further promote the latest methods and trends in general and subject-specific didactics;
• master and use partial didactic skills related to individual types of art, its reflection and, within the limits of possibilities, also with specific artistic creation and interpretation.

A graduate of the follow-up master's degree program in Aesthetic Education for Secondary Schools will be qualified to master and creatively develop the requirements set by contemporary pedagogy in the field of aesthetic education, culture and art. He/she will be qualified to teach subjects in this area and will be able to participate in the creation and development of school educational programs, or other conceptual documents of the school. In general, he/she will demonstrate knowledge of various aspects of the phenomenon of art, culture and their theoretical reflection, and the ability to conduct individual research and publication practice in the areas of aesthetic education, art sciences and school pedagogy is also expected. A suitable place for a graduate of the program will be schools whose goal is to reform and increase the quality of teaching in a given area. Detailed knowledge of contemporary cultural and educational practice, as well as managerial and institutional aspects of education, will enable graduates to perform quality work in leadership positions soon after graduation, fully in accordance with the current requirements of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. A graduate of the program will gain professional qualifications to perform regulated professions of teaching staff.

• Secondary school teacher

A mandatory part of the program is teaching practice in the second, third, and fourth semesters of study. Its total extent is 24 credits.

The standard extent of the diploma thesis and the formal requirements are in accordance with the rules of the Faculty of Arts of MU. The topics of the final theses cover a wide range of issues in art history, culture, history, education, didactics, and psychology, in various combinations. Thanks to the wide range of specialists and the high diversity of qualifications of students from the bachelor's degree, it is possible to process diploma theses in a wide range of methods. Students should demonstrate the ability to work critically with professional texts and available data, formulate their own reasoned opinion on controversial issues, and find answers to problematic questions or confirm or refute established hypotheses.

A graduate of this consecutive master's degree can continue in doctoral programs at the pedagogical and humanities faculties of Czech universities, in the doctoral program Digital Culture and Creative Industries, and after meeting the admission conditions, can also continue in any doctoral study.