Research Projects

2004-2006

The Czech Science Foundation, registr. number 406/04/0609

Democracy in Czech Schools

(project carrier: Milan Pol, researchers: Milada Rabušicová, Petr Novotný)

The project “Democracy in Czech Schools” addresses the question of the extent of democracy in Czech elementary schools (ages 6 – 15). Democratic environment is seen as a necessary condition for achieving the central objective of schools in general – i.e. to prepare young people for a valuable life as a part of the democratic society. The topic is to be examined on the following three levels: a) relations, values and beliefs, b) existing formal mechanisms and rules, c) existing level of successful use of opportunities in the main areas of school operation: in class (educational processes), in personal management, in administration, in the organization of material means, in school external relations and in the way a school operates with a vision. The research is going to be related to the main actors of school operation, namely students, teachers, school management, other school employees, and parents.

2003 – 2005

The Czech Science Foundation, regist. Number 406/03/P119

Information and Communication Technologies and School Culture: On role of  information and Communication Technologies in Development of Czech School Culture

(researcher: Jiří Zounek)

The project deals with the relationship between the IT and CT technologies and school culture, particularly in its main areas and features. Its aim is to learn about the role of IT in Czech schools today, about the development of the Czech school culture, about the potential of IT in the development of the school culture and about the chance of identifying some possible negative impacts of IT on this development.

2007 Dean's Grant Fund, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University

Pedagogical and Didactic Questions of E-learning at the Faculty of Arts, Masaryk

University

(researchers: Jiří Zounek, Roman Švaříček)

The aim of the proposed research project is to examine and describe the way in which teachers think about using ICT in their subjects, and the educational and didactic criteria which are important for them when they decide about developing an “e-course“. Consequently, we will analyze the faculty representatives' views on the implementation of ICT in various study programmes and the views of the CIT operators who work at e-learning support. An additional aim of the proposed project is to analyze sample “e-courses” created in the systems Moodle (ELF) and IS (the Masaryk University information system) to find out which devices are used and if these point to particular educational-didactic strategies incorporated into the given electronic support (e-course).

2006 – 2007

MU Rector's Programme of Support of Students' Creative Activity n. 20061421F0020

Small Schools in Existing Educational System

(researcher: Kateřina Trnková)

The aim of the project is an in-depth analysis of the Czech educational policy concerning small schools with composite classes. The analysis is going to focus on the three management levels of our school system: state, regional and local levels. The mapping of the educational policy concerning small schools and its practical demonstrations on particular levels of our educational system may highlight the possible differences between principles, priorities, and/or norms of the national educational policy, which are often somewhat declaratory, and the practical impacts of legal norms on the lower level, which influence the everyday life of small schools with composite classes.

2001 – 2003

Czech Science Foundation, Reg. No. 406/01/1077
The Position of Parents as Educational and Social Partners of School (grant manager Milada Rabušicová, project team members Vlastimil ?ihá?ek, Kate?ina Emmerová)

The project focuses on parents, namely parents of children at the pre-primary, primary and lower secondary stages of education, i.e. parents of children either preparing to enrol compulsory school or currently undergoing compulsory education. We are interested in parents as persons inevitably involved in the process of upbringing and education of their children, no matter that they may partly delegate their role more or less obligatorily to school. We are interested in parents, who – besides the child and the teacher – represent another necessary vertex of the hypothetical triangle symbolizing the relations in the process of upbringing and education. We are interested in parents, who, by their opinions and attitudes including the unspoken and covert ones, have a significant impact on the operation of schools and on changes in the educational system in general, and who represent a potentially very strong political group.

Our wish is to use the project to identify answers to questions about the role of parents as educational and social partners of school. The arguments for involving parents in the process of formal upbringing and education are generally known. We want to establish to which extent the real situation regarding the position of parents with respect to school in the Czech Republic correlates with the existing theoretical starting-points. The methodological framework of the research will build on the existing theoretical knowledge on the role of parents in the system of education as represented in the literature published both in the Czech republic and abroad. This stage will be followed by the research proper and an analysis of the current situation of the role of parents in the process of upbringing and education in nursery schools and at the second stage of primary education. A set of quantitative and qualitative research methods will be employed.

Some outputs of the project

2001 - 2003

Czech Science Foundation, Reg. No. 406/01/1078
Czech school culture and a strategy for its development
(grant manager Milan Pol, project team members Lenka Hloušková, Petr Novotný, Ji?í Zounek)

The project focuses on school culture – as a concept with a radical effect on the operation of the main domains of school functioning – and the internal and external conditions and possibilities of school culture cultivation.

We are especially interested in understanding the culture of Czech school, i.e. its main characteristics and effects, in exploring the relations between the contemporary state in the culture of Czech school on the one hand and its historical development and the current situation in the Czech society and education on the other. Besides that, we want to identify internal and external possibilities of influencing school culture and providing support to formal education as such and formulate effective strategies of development of Czech school culture – with a view to development of formal education as a relatively autonomous and democratic institution. We intend to compare our findings with the findings of research on an international scale.

The methodological basis of the research will be provided by a survey of the existing general knowledge of school culture and its elements, of internal and external factors conditioning change of school culture. This mapping will be followed by research of the state of school culture at the second level of primary education using a battery of quantitative and qualitative methods. The obtained information will provide a basis for formulation of strategies of transformation of the culture of Czech school as described above.

Some outputs of the project

2001 - 2002

Sponsor: National Training Fund, Prague
Czech and Foreign Grant Opportunities and Their Exploitation by Schools at the Secondary and Tertiary Level of Education: identifying opportunities, their demand factor and requirements concerning the project team
(Project team: Department of Educational Sciences)

1997 - 1998

Research Support Scheme of the Open Society Institute/Higher Education Support Programme (OSI/HESP): Grant No. 293/1997
Diversification of the Czech Educational System at the University Level: establishment and development of post-secondary education
(project manager: Milada Rabušicová)

Research and development projects

2005 – 2007

European Social Fund

Qualitative Research in Educational Science: Strengthening Graduates' Professional Comptences

Registration number:  CZ.04.1.03/3.2.15.1./0153

Researchers: Roman Švaříček, Klára Šeďová, Petr Novotný, Jitka Vidláková, Martin Sedláček

The objective of the project “Qualitative Research in Educational Science: Strengthening Graduates' Professional Competences” is to improve professional qualifications of university graduates at departments of education and thereby support their employability. In accordance with local situation, the project concentrates on young graduates, who represent a disadvantaged group at the labour market and are more often subject to social exclusion. The central concern of the project is to give the graduates opportunities to acquire the skills and  competences required by the labour market. Namely, the competences needed for carrying out research in education and social sciences in the institutions and organizations which the graduates generally seek employment in.

Visit the the project web page for more information

2005 – 2007

European Social Fund, Operational Programme Human Resource Development, grant project

Improving Education and Professional Training of Students of Psychology and Social Science. Academical Centre of Counselling and Supervision

Researchers at the Department of Educational Sciences: Dana Knotová, Lenka Hloušková, Lucie Chalupková, Jan Kolář

Coordinator: Pavel Humpolíček

“Improving Education and Professional Training of Students of Psychology and Social Science” is a joint project of the Departments of Psychology and Educational Sciences at the Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Brno. The concept of the project represents a reaction to an often neglected part of tertiary education, the cooperation between educators and employers and the connection between the theory and the reality. The project focuses on improving the quality and enriching the pre-graduate training of students. It attempts to offer activities, which correspond with the real needs of the current labour market.

2006

Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports

Creating Proposal for Operational Programmes Strategy in Sponsorship of Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports in 2007 - 2013

Research team at Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University: Milan Pol, Milada Rabušicová, Petr Novotný, Jan Kolář, Zuzana Šimberová

The project “Creating Proposal for Operational Programmes Strategy in the Sponsorship of Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports in 2007 – 2013” was commissioned by the sponsor, the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, and the contractor, the Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Brno. In accordance with the commission, the aim of the project was to “create a strategy based on the available background material, which would be a simple, adequate, exhausting and objective report of the state and opportunities of the future development of education in the Czech school system in relation to the area of research and development.” The work consisted in determining “ the key moves of the strategy”, choosing “a restricted number of key and mutually conditioned measures” which should lead to a better quality of education and achieving the aims of strategic documents.

2005 - 2007
Socrates Programme, Comenius 2.1:
ECOLAB – Economy and Labour Market
(coordinator for the Czech Republic Milan Pol)
Project web pages

2004-2005
Socrates, Accompanying Measures Project:
BRIDGES ACROSS BOUNDARIES: Crossdisseminating Quality Development Practices for Schools in Southern & Eastern Europe
(coordinator for the Czech Republic Milan Pol)
Project web pages

21.4. - 25.4. 2003

ARION Study Visit 16.11:
Quality, School Leadership and School Autonomy
(hosted by: Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University; coordinated by: Milan Pol)

1998 - 1999

Jan Hus Educational Foundation, program Cursus Innovati:
Project Application of Methods of Critical Thinking in Contemporary Formal Education
(member of Palacký University project team: Petr Novotný)
Vzd?lávací nadace Jana Husa, program Cursus Innovati

1997-1998

Phare, Grant CZ 9405-01-03-01
Czech Education and Europe
(member of the project team: Milan Pol)

1997

Tempus Phare: project CME 2031-96
Design of the Teacher Retraining Structure in the Czech Republic
(contributor to project work by Palacký University project team: Petr Novotný)

Development projects

2007

University Development Fund

Educational Learning as a Teaching Approach at University

(Researchers: Karla Brücknerová, Petr Novotný, Zuzana Šimberová)

The project deals with an effective potential of applying experiential education in teaching courses at the Faculty of Arts, MU. We are going to propose a transformation of several courses offered at the Department of Educational Studies on the basis of some well-functioning examples taken from foreign universities. Furthermore, we would like to initiate a professional discussion about the potential of experiential learning as an approach in  university teaching, and publish the conclusions in professional journals.

2007

Development Project of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, number 72

Educational and Didactic Aspects of Innnovating Teacher Training

(researcher: Jiří Zounek, co-researchers Klára Šeďová, Dana Knotová, Lenka Hloušková)

The objective of the project is to create a new form of educational and didactic studies, which form a part of accredited study programme Teacher Training for Secondary Schools in both, the full-time and the combined form (programme code N7504) and Complementary Educational Studies (in a combined form as a part of life-long learning programme) sponsored by the Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Arts, MU, Brno. The output is going to be a modern study programme, which fully respects the current trends in education, makes use of modern information and communication technologies and is fully open to all participants.

2006

University Development Fund

Innovating Methodological Training as a Part of Post-bacherol Master's Degree Programme Pedagogy

(researcher: Petr Novotný)

The aim of the project is to create two new courses on methodological training, “Qualitative Research” and “Quantitative Research”, and implement them into the curriculum of post-bachelor Master's Degree programme Pedagogy. The content of the two proposed courses corresponds with the current trends in social and educational sciences and therefore they represent a significant innovation of the curriculum. The courses will help to improve the methodological training of the Pedagogy study programme for the students to be able to use their knowledge of methodology in the context of various educational institutions.

2006

University Development Fund

Innovating Course “Social and Pedagogical Communication” at the Faculty of Arts, MU

(researcher Klára Šeďová)

The aim of the project number 1707/2006 Innovating Course “Social and Pedagogical Communication” at the Faculty of Arts, MU was to innovate and extend the content of the course “Social and Pedagogical Communication”, which is open at the Department of Educational Studies, Faculty of Arts, MU, for the study programmes of Educational Sciences and Social Education and Counselling. The course is for this purpose divided into two consequential courses (“Social and Pedagogical Communication I”, “Social and Pedagogical Communication II – exploratory seminar”)

2006

University Development Fund

Creating and Implementing Course “Multicultural Educational Science”

(researcher Dana Knotová)

The project aims at extending the scope of the study programmes Educational Sciences and Social Education and Counselling. The object of the project is to help to positively influence the overcoming of the stereotypical and xenophobic attitudes towards and views of the ethnic minorities living in the Czech Republic.

2007

Democracy in School

(researcher: Jitka Vidláková, co-researcher: Kateřina Korcová)

The project objective is to help to extend and systematize the missing data in the field of student participation, which falls within the concept of democracy at school. The findings will be used namely for creating a new course “Democracy at School”, which will be realized in the spring semester 2007. The content of the course should consist in presentation of theoretical knowledge and of the reality of the Czech education from the point of view of fulfilling the democratic principles of the Czech educational policy.

2006

University Development Fund

Importance of Imagination in Process of Learning in Selected Primary School Subjects

(researcher: Kateřina Korcová)

The projects focuses on the role of imagination in the process of learning of primary school students. Particularly on studying the conditions when and the subjects where imagination is applied the most, and the possibilities of employing students' imagination in facilitating the cognitive process.

2005

Transformation and Development Project 2005 Funded by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports

Innovation and Development of Educational Studies. E-learning Support of Educational Studies at the Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University

Head researcher: Jiří Zounek

Co-researchers: Petr Novotný, Klára Šeďová, Vlastimil Čiháček

The project objective is to innovate the programmes of educational studies, particularly in the combined form, in favour of the current trend of employing modern digital technologies in teaching and learning processes at universities.

2005

Transformation and Development Project 2005 funded by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports

E-learning Support of Specialisation Programme “School Management”

Head researcher: Jiří Zounek

Co-researchers: Milan Pol, Roman Švaříček, Martin Sedláček, Petr Novotný

The main object of the project is to advance the e-learning part of the studies, which should particularly improve its effectiveness and its pedagogical and didactic level. From the practical point of view, it should demonstrate the possibilities of employing the electronic on-line education environment.

2005

Modelling and Testing the Integrated system of Lifelong Learning of Primary and Secondary School Teachers at the Masaryk University, Brno (creating university integrated system of further education of teachers)

Project I:

Preparing Extension Study Programme of Teaching in Lifelong Learning

Project II:

Development, Innovation and Integration of Occupational Study Programmes of Natural Sciences and their Combination with Other Subjects

Head Researcher (of both projects): Jiří Gazda

Researcher on the part of the Department of Educational Sciences: Jiří Zounek

Co-researchers on the part of the Department of Educational Sciences: Klára Šeďová, Petr Novotný

The main aim of the Project I is to prepare an off-site teaching support for combined forms of the extension study programmes of teaching. The Project II aims at creating plans for combined form of the study programmes of teaching.

2005
University Development Fund
Research project – Teachers and Decision Making Processes at School
(researcher Martin Sedláček)

2003

University Development Fund, reg. No. 2146:
Education in Media in the Family
(project manager Klára Šedová; Martin Skutil since October 2003)

2000 - 2001

Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, grant L/88
Advancing Material Equipment of J. A. Comenius Laboratory, Department of Pedagogical Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Brno
(project manager: Jirí Zounek; team members: Petr Novotný, Milada Rabušicová)
Ministry of Education, Youth and Science of the Czech Republic, grant No. L/88