Changing Horizons in Geography Education - HERODOT Network ...

• optional subject (30 hours) useful in school practice, e.g. ethics, knowledge aboutthe region, safety rules at schoolSince 2004, the professional development of teachers has also included learninga foreign language to an extent that allows its fluent use. Similar requirements havebeen set for ICT. It is obligatory to organise classes on computer, operating and usingIT as a didactic means, however the hour limits for this has not been specified. Moreover,it is possible to organise additional classes of a methodological character.The process of educating geography teachers at a higher education level is graduallybeing adapted to the requirements of the Bologna Declaration. During two-cyclestudies, the principle of double specialisation is in force. Students acquire qualificationsto teach another subject besides geography. Moreover, individual academic centresoffer postgraduate studies to teachers who want to improve their qualifications.The block of pedagogic subjects, which qualifies for the job as a teacher, is treatedas optional, only for those who are interested in working in education. Therefore, itis not assigned to a particular year of study. Such a solution promotes the mobility ofstudents between various academic centres. Unfortunately, it is only some universitiesthat credit the pedagogy block according to the ECTS system.The formal requirements for teacher training have not changed much since 1992.Since then, the general scope of compulsory subjects has increased only by sixtyhours, with the obligatory foreign language and ICT training being a novelty. Moresubstantial changes have occurred in the goals and content of the subjects in thepedagogic block. A survey conducted in the geography centres in 2004 and theanalysis of guidebooks containing university curricula, showed that new contentsand approaches have been taken into account in geography teachers training.The changes have occurred chiefly in the following aspects:1. Students are instilled in independent opinion/judgement formulation. They evaluatethe methods of work, various didactic materials, including school syllabusesand textbooks. It is a stage preparing them for making similar decisions in theirfuture professional work. At the same time, an attitude of being critical towardsopinions and suggestions of others is developed.2. It is also emphasised that the students should be convinced of their individualityand resulting from it the possibility of choosing various ways of action. In the oldsystem, teachers were treated as a group of uniform attitudes, opinions, and nopossibility of having individual preferences.3. Taken into account is the problem of teachers being innovative, that is their ability toinitiate and introduce new didactic materials and new approaches into school practice.4. The curricula raises the problem of the need for reflection over oneself, one’s ownattitude, and the adopted strategy of teaching. They show the need for continuousevaluation by means of analysing one’s own actions and comparing the resultsobtained with the plans made earlier.5. There is a clearly marked orientation of students-prospective teachers towards thepupil/student. His/her capacities, needs, and interests are taken into consideration.Those qualities are treated as reference points in organising any didactic work.69