Innovative Practice in Initial Professional Studies for Czech Pre-School Teachers

Abstract

Over the last three decades, there has been an increase in university level education for pre-school teachers in the Czech Republic. The aim of the paper is to present part of the results of a research study comparing the Bachelor's degree programmes in pre-school pedagogy at ten of the country's universities. Conducted between 2020-2022, the research found that although the national minimum qualification for pre-school teachers remains at secondary vocational level, tertiary level qualifications are much more common among more recently qualified pre-teachers. The democratic transformation of the Czech education system during the last 30 years introduced many improvements such as innovation in the conception, structure, content and organisation of Bachelor's degree programmes. Especially in the last decade, these mainly relate to greater integration of teaching theory, didactics and practical training of students. In some universities these initiatives have also resulted in modularisation of courses and cooperation between lecturers from different subject disciplines and departments. This article presents examples from two Czech universities to illustrate how these new approaches were successfully implemented and resulted in positive feedback from students.