Lower Secondary School Teacher Training in Chemistry

This study programme is intended for graduates of bachelor's degree programmes of the same specialisation (or the same combination of programmes).

The aim of the study programme Lower Secondary School Teacher Training in Chemistry is to prepare graduates to teach chemistry at the lower secondary level in basic schools and at secondary schools. The mission of the programme Teaching of Chemistry for Lower Secondary Schools is to provide high-quality education to future chemistry teachers for basic and secondary schools in an inspiring, demanding, and creative environment. Equal emphasis is placed on the development of professional skills and the acquisition of knowledge in the relevant scientific disciplines, which graduates will apply in their teaching practice. The programme shapes and develops graduates' fundamental attitudes and values, enabling them to become active, responsible, and independent members of their professional community and society.

By completing the follow-up Master's degree, graduates acquire the necessary competences to critically reflect on the application of pedagogical and psychological knowledge in teaching practice at lower secondary and, where applicable, upper secondary schools. Graduates are fully qualified to practise the teaching profession. They are prepared to base their professional practice on well-structured knowledge and skills within their teaching subjects (content knowledge). The effectiveness of their professional practice depends on their subject didactics (pedagogical content knowledge) as well as on broader general pedagogical and psychological knowledge and skills (knowledge of the wider foundations of education, instructional and educational methods, knowledge of participants in education, etc.).

The programme develops analytical and comparative skills that enable graduates to understand the diversity of educational reality and to use subject-specific, pedagogical, and psychological literature in planning, implementing, and reflecting on educational activities. It also develops communication skills essential for interaction and cooperation with pupils/clients, colleagues in the workplace, parents, and practitioners. An important benefit of the programme is the development of self-reflective skills, which foster attitudes towards oneself, learners, and the profession, including an awareness of the responsibility of the teaching profession and the acceptance of the moral commitments and ethics of a helping profession.

The programme emphasises the principles of interdisciplinarity (integration of selected pedagogical and psychological subjects) and progression and gradation of topics and courses, from general to more specific. A close interconnection between theory and practice further characterises the concept. A key component of the programme is supervised and reflective teaching practice. The principles of reflection and self-reflection are applied in both teaching practice and other experiential courses. An important element of the programme concept is also support for inclusion, understood as a cross-cutting theme (supported additionally by a dedicated course).

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

• use and apply his/her broad special knowledge of chemistry and chemical skills for his/her teaching practice;
• use the basic methods of teaching chemistry in lower secondary school;
• work with chemicals; he/she knows the safety principles and principles of health protection related to work in a chemical laboratory;
• apply the principles of good laboratory practice;
• evaluate the suitability of chemical experiments and chemical substances in the classroom;
• select (from a broad spectrum of new chemical knowledge) and use for teaching suitable current chemical issues and to present them appropriately in the classroom;
• use basic methods and tools of pedagogical diagnostics in practice and obtain data available for individual support of the student / client and data for working with a group or class;
• 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:
• critically evaluate their own attitudes towards education and assess how they behave in the role of the teacher with regard to the stated educational objectives;
• recognise the strengths and weaknesses of their professional performance, and propose personal development goals and how to achieve them.

The graduate obtains a full qualification in accordance with Act No. 563/2004 Coll., on Pedagogical Staff, as amended.

The programme is aimed at preparing teachers for lower secondary and upper secondary schools in the general education subject of Chemistry (in a combination of two teaching subjects), as part of the educational area “Human and Nature,” with overlaps into the educational area “Human and Society,” as defined in the Framework Educational Programme for Basic Education.

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

The standard duration of the studies is 4 semesters. For admittance to the final state examination students must obtain a total of 120 ECTS credits in required, selective and elective courses.

During the course of their studies students should follow the "Study catalogue" for their year of matriculation. They can access the "Study catalogues" through the faculty website.

The principles of checking and evaluating the study are set out in the Study and Examination Regulations of Masaryk University.

Within the Master's degree the student takes Teaching practice I, II and III

Teaching practice I (1st semester) is chosen for only one of his/her study fields.

Teaching practice II (2nd semester) must be enrolled in for both study fields.

Teaching practice III (3rd semester) must be enrolled in for both study fields.

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.

A graduate of the follow-up Master's degree program may (subject to meeting admission requirements) continue to doctoral studies.