Czech Primary Schools Research Articles

Florence Bullying-Victimization Scales: Validation Study and Victimization Associations With Well-Being and Social Self-Efficacy

This study provides a thorough psychometric evaluation of construct and criterion validity and measurement invariance of the promising Florence Bullying-Victimization Scales (FBVS). A special focus was devoted to the concurrent criterion validity of the victimization scale with regard to well-being and social self-efficacy. Exploratory and confirmatory multidimensional item response theory and structural equation modeling were applied to cross-sectional data retrieved from 3rd to 6th-grade Czech primary school students ( N = 1795; 49% female; M age = 10.42, SD = 1.25). The results supported the use of unidimensional factor structure that demonstrated acceptable model fit and measurement invariance across genders and grades. Moderate to high correlations of the FBVS scores with bullying and victimization measured by the Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire and other instruments indicated very good convergent validity. Regarding criterion validity, higher victimization was associated with lower levels of well-being and social self-efficacy.

Educational field of physical education in the environment of Czech primary schools: a cross-sectional study

Educational field of physical education in the environment of Czech primary schools: a cross-sectional study

Selected aspects of perceptions of critical thinking among Polish and Czech primary school principals

The article concerns Polish-Czech research carried out as part of the project co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the state budget, We are crossing borders. 'Key competences in teaching and education' project was implemented under the Praděd Microprojects Fund. The descriptive purpose of the research was to prepare a detailed description of the level of competence of the surveyed people and the relationships between the dependent variable and independent variables.The explanatory purpose of the research was to find out why certain independent variables differentiate the respondents' answers.The study used the diagnostic survey method, the survey technique. They were attended by, among others, 49 principals from primary schools from Poland and the Czech Republic. The data analysis was carried out using the statistical program STATISTICA, in which statistical methods related to the study of the statistical significance of differences between variables were used using the Student's T-test for independent samples, to compare the means of two independent samples. Also the chi-square test was used.The results show how the management staff of educational institutions from Poland and the Czech Republic confidently perceive potential solutions to various difficult situations in their institutions and what critical thinking requirements they have for future teachers.

POZOROVACÍ A DIAGNOSTICKÝ NÁSTROJ PRO ZJIŠŤOVÁNÍ ÚROVNĚ A PODOBY FORMATIVNÍHO HODNOCENÍ V ČESKÝCH ŠKOLÁCH

OBSERVATIONAL AND DIAGNOSTIC TOOL FOR DETERMINING THE LEVEL AND FORM OF FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT IN CZECH SCHOOLS The aim of this article is to summarize existing tools for measuring formative assessment and create a new diagnostic and observational tool suitable for the educational reality of Czech primary and lower secondary schools (especially at the lower secondary schools and relevant years of multi-year general secondary schools). This tool allows capturing and analyzing the form and level of formative assessment practices among teachers in the classroom. The developed tool will be used to identify the level and form of formative assessment among teachers who seek to implement strategies of formative assessment in their practice. It also helps to identify their strengths and areas where improvement is needed. The tool can be utilized by other researchers, educational stakeholders, or schools themselves.

Success Rate of Czech Students’ Performances in Language Memory Test

Abstract This article, originating from the Faculty of Education at the University of Hradec Králové, investigates auditory linguistic memory and attitudes toward foreign language learning among Czech primary and lower-secondary school students. Utilizing a quasi-experimental design featuring recordings of 10 different languages, the study aimed to measure the efficacy of auditory memory in language recognition and gauge student attitudes. While a generally positive disposition toward learning foreign languages was observed, the data did not support the hypothesis that prior music education enhances language recognition abilities. The findings suggest a nuanced relationship between musical training and language learning, opening up new considerations for educational strategies in foreign language instruction.

Czech primary school teachers’ experience with the Philosophy for Children (P4C) approach

ABSTRACT The study presents the basic features of the Philosophy for Children (P4C) pedagogical approach and asks about the experiences of Czech primary school teachers in using it. The empirical investigation of qualitative design is based on interviews (n = 4) and their analysis using the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) method. The results point to the benefits of incorporating P4C into the primary school curriculum, especially in the development of children’s thinking, communication and social skills, in the transformation of the teacher’s role into a facilitator and in the deepening of teacher–student relationships into a partnership.

Assessing the attitudes of students toward school subjects with the semantic differential and interactive visual

This study aims to provide preliminary evidence of the concurrent and structural validity of a novel instrument to measure students’ attitudes toward school subjects. This new tool uses interactive software and measures attitudes less directly by asking students to change different visual features of objects displayed in a virtual three­ ­dimensional space, thereby expressing their attitudes metaphorically (popularity/liking through size, importance through size, difficulty through weight, and relationship with a teacher through temperature). The results of this novel method were compared and related to the semantic differential, an already established instrument that is frequently used in the context of school evaluation and focuses on connotative meanings. The study was carried out on a sample of 147 Czech primary school students who rated three school subjects: Czech, English, and mathematics. We used structural equation modeling to analyze the measurement structure of both instruments and the relationship between them. The results showed that a single dominant factor (popularity/liking) can explain the majority of the variance shared between items. However, residual correlations suggested that two other factors are at play, namely importance (measured by the visual metaphor of size) and difficulty (measured by the visual metaphor of weight). The results did not support a three­‑factor structure of the semantic differential, which is proposed by the theory of the instrument, since only two semantic differential items appeared to measure something different from popularity/liking. Furthermore, the visual metaphor of distance was the best indicator of popularity/liking, and although other metaphors related to popularity/liking as well, they showed discriminant validity in relation to other metaphors, as evidenced by their pattern of residual correlations with the semantic differential items. In summary, the results support the concurrent validity of the novel instrument utilizing interactive metaphors and also the discriminant validity of individual metaphors but question the proposed factorial structure of the semantic differential.

The good practices for implementation of cyber security education for school children

The increasing use of the Internet calls upon the need for adequate cyber security awareness to better face the risk and dangers connected with the online environment. This research presents an experiment that revealed the cyber security awareness of children at Czech primary schools. They were tested for their skills to distinguish different online risks. After the pre-testing children received training and with the time delay they filled in very similar questionnaires. The re-testing measured how well the children retained the training and their ability to use the skills in the virtual environment. The results show only a moderate level of cyber security awareness at the initial testing. The one-off training had only an insignificant impact on their online behavior. The research reveals an important finding. One-off training does not affect their responsive online behavior and is not a suitable solution for effectively improving online safety skills. The task is to involve cyber security awareness education in the whole educational process. Based on the literature and conducted research this paper provides a set of recommendations for the designers of the cyber security school curriculum.

The Role of the School Principal in the Context of Possible Transformation of the Educational Curriculum

In the paper, we present the current Czech educational legal norms that set certain boundaries in the operation of Czech primary and secondary schools. In the first part of the article, we present the role of the current school principal in relation to his/her competencies in the context of basic Czech educational norms and present a competence model of school principals, the fulfilment of which by school principals can lead to stabilization and a greater degree of effective education in the context of the educational challenges of the 21st century. In the second part of the paper, we propose the possibilities of optimization of legal norms in education and its possible effective integration into the real educational process. In summary, we can conclude that it should be a matter of greater transparency in the training of teaching staff and school principals, the introduction of an optional direct teaching obligation for school principals, the introduction of mechanisms that would lead to a greater degree of familiarity of teachers and principals with the current legal educational norms and their changes, or the development of a unified and comprehensive concept of teaching within one school. We are aware that the proposed solutions have their limits. The most significant is the increase in the administrative burden on school principals: however, we believe that without the introduction of transparent and verifiable mechanisms to check the fulfilment of certain obligations, it will not be possible to check the obligations in question.

Preconceptions of Happiness and Satisfaction: The Perspective of Children from Czech Primary Schools

The aim of this research was to determine what children aged 10–15 associate with happiness/satisfaction as well as to analyse which factors are related to their feelings of happiness and their evaluation of life satisfaction. A total of 954 children attending Czech primary schools from various socio-cultural backgrounds were surveyed using the incomplete sentence method. The levels of both their happiness and satisfaction were measured using the Subjective Happiness Scale and Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale. The results indicate that the children considered themselves relatively happy and satisfied, and they understood happiness/satisfaction in terms of the concept of eudaimonia (personal growth, achievement of school goals, etc.). Happiness/satisfaction were indicated at a significantly lower level if the children did not feel accepted by their caregivers, described themselves as ‘melancholic’, were raised in a single-parent family, or spent their childhood in institutional care. Further, as the children grew older, their happiness/satisfaction levels declined. Neither gender nor spirituality were found to predict happiness/satisfaction.

Pupils with Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools from the Point of View of Their Peers: A Comparison of Experiences with Inclusive Education in Czech and Russian Primary Schools

ABSTRACT The paper presents the international research study conducted in selected Czech and Russian primary schools in 2020. This research was mainly focused on the issue of pupils’ relationships with their classmates with special educational needs, who are inclusively educated in regular school classrooms. According to the research results, the attitudes of pupils towards their classmates with special educational needs are rather neutral or even slightly negative in primary schools in both countries. However, most teachers do not consider this a problem affecting the classroom climate at all, and it seems that they do not work effectively with this issue as they are not skilled in this area and do not master the appropriate techniques used in support of pupils’ relationships and a quality classroom climate. Although there are some differences between the results in Czech and Russian primary schools, we can suggest the improvement in working with diversity, as well as the development of teachers’ skills for teaching heterogeneous peer group in a school classroom.

Teachers’ experience with digital games in Czech primary schools

The article deals with the issue of using computer games in education in primary schools. Our quantitative survey of 586 primary school teachers from the Czech Republic focuses on the teachers’ experience with the use of computer games in teaching. Our goal was to determine the teachers’ attitudes to the use of these games in their practice, the degree of involvement of the games in the educational process, and the analysis of the relationships between the games, the educational curriculum, and pupils. Our research also examines issues preventing a greater use of digital games in education. Quantitative research was conducted by a questionnaire survey, was disseminated online and the subsequent analysis was performed using the software SPSS version 24. The results say that half of the respondents use digital games in their teaching. Most respondents use games created for the educational environment and as a means to introduce a new teaching material, or to verify students' knowledge. The biggest problem that respondents identify is the lack of information and methodological and didactic materials, or insufficient technical equipment. This study presents the first larger data sample regarding the use of digital games by teachers in the Czech Republic.

Practitioners’ perceptions of pedagogical leadership in primary schools in the Czech Republic

ABSTRACT The role and importance of pedagogical leadership have been recognized in a number of research findings. In order to understand how practitioners in primary schools perceive the main features of pedagogical leadership in practice, a questionnaire survey was applied in five Czech primary schools. This questionnaire addressed eight dimensions of pedagogical leadership on a 9-point Likert scale from two different aspects: the importance and the evidence. Importance refers to the value given to the dimensions, and evidence refers to achievement and existence. Fifty partitioners participated in this research. The statistical analysis of research data revealed that, in most cases, the participative dimension of pedagogical leadership is considered the most important dimension. The research confirmed that pedagogical leadership should be a process of participation, learning and supporting that enhances the satisfaction of all stakeholders.

Pupils' Digital Literacy Reflected in Teachers' Attitudes Towards ICT: Case Study of the Czech Republic.

The article deals with the development of digital literacy in primary school learners. Particularly, it focuses on reflection of teacher’s type in reaching digital literacy of the primary school pupils. The contribution is considered from the view how (fast) teachers’ adopt innovations in this field. Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation Theory is applied on an intentionally selected sample of Czech primary school teachers (N = 167). Applying the tool designed by Kankaanrinta and based on the Rogers’ theory, teachers were structured into five groups (Innovators, Early adopters, Early majority, Late majority, Laggards) and the null hypothesis was tested stating that the level of digital literacy with the primary school learners does not depend on the teacher’s type (according to the Rogers’ typology of diffusion of innovation). Consequently, the increase in knowledge of learners (N = 173) was considered for each type of teachers through didactic pretest and posttest, each consisting of 18 tasks. For the purpose of testing, a special environment was designed to avoid any impact of learners’ previous knowledge on the results, and a Dell Latitude notebook was set as a hardware platform. The software part was based on the open-source software exploiting Xubuntu 15.10 operational system developed on Ubuntu/Linux basis. The findings proved learners’ results depended on the type of adopter of innovations in their teachers.

Support for teachers in the inclusive education of pupils with special educational needs: experience from primary schools in the Czech Republic

ABSTRACT The paper presents possibilities of effective use of some support instruments for teachers of mainstream schools in the education of pupils with special educational needs in the Czech primary schools. The research data collected during the project implemented in the Pilsen region in period of 2016–2019 were processed with the goal to evaluate the various kinds of support that are not yet systemically anchored in the Czech educational system and commonly available for teachers in primary schools, although these instruments seem to be very effective or even necessary for quality inclusive education. During the project, the educational activities like special workshops, seminars, or lifelong learning courses were offered to teachers, as well as on-site counselling services, supervision, methodological consultations or sharing the good practice of teachers and schools. A new position of inclusion coordinators as a kind of support for inclusive education was pilot-tested in partner schools within the project. However, the exploitation of the results of this research and assessment will depend largely on political decisions at both local and governmental levels.

Comprehensive support for pupils at risk of school failure in inclusive education: theory and school practice in the Czech Republic

ABSTRACT The paper presents possibilities of comprehensive use of support tools for pupils at risk of school failure in the Czech primary schools practice in order to support the implementation of inclusive education. The research data obtained during the project implemented in the Pilsen region in period of 2016–2019 brought the results of assessment of new support tools that are not yet systemically introduced in the Czech educational system and commonly available for all schools, although these instruments seem to be very effective or even necessary for quality inclusive education. The most important new tools include the position of inclusion coordinator in schools, strengthening the counselling services available directly in schools, as well as new strategies for promotion of cooperation between the schools, families, and social services – including some specific techniques, such as parenting workshops on child support in education, case conferences with child’s participation or seminars for parents and teachers on collaboration with social services. However, the exploitation of the results of this research and assessment will depend largely on political decisions at both local and governmental levels.

Cognitive Operations in Teachers’ Development of Reflective Skills: WANDA Group reflection in a Czech primary school

In the current rapidly changing world, demands on teacher quality and teacher change are ever- increasing. One important and powerful way to transform schools is through teacher professional development focusing on teachers’ reflective skills. But the development of reflective skills is challenging not only from a practical standpoint but also in terms of the demands it places on teachers’ cognitive operations. In our study we examined how a specific highly-structured method called WANDA facilitates the development of teachers’ reflective skills. WANDA is a form of professional development through group reflection embedded in a five-stage reflective cycle. We connected the stages with cognitive operations employed in the development of reflective skills, and assessed how teachers respond to each stage. Our case study draws on a qualitative research inquiry including semi-structured interviews with nine WANDA participants who teach in a Czech primary school. Our results show that a crucial phase of WANDA that comes early in the process imposes very high demands on teachers’ cognitive operations. Teachers might be better prepared to engage in this phase if it comes later in the process and is swapped with another stage that the teachers found highly engaging and fun thanks to its playful form. Overall, WANDA appears to be a meaningful tool in developing teachers’ reflective skills, leading them to metacognition, the ultimate peak of self-reflection. Keywords: professional development, WANDA method, group reflection, professional learning communities

Global Storylines as a Way of Tackling Diversity in Classrooms and Around the World: Experiences from the Czech Pilot Project

This paper describes the process of implementing the Global Storylines (GSL) approach in Czech primary schools by looking at the data (interviews, participatory observations, written teachers’ reflections) collected from 12 primary schools. It attempts to analyze the main effects of GSL on pupils, teachers, and the class as a whole and demonstrates how the GSL approach contributes significantly to the understanding of diversity, development of self-confidence, mutual respect, empathy, and the ability to cooperate.

Attitudes of Czech primary school pupils towards people with intellectual disabilities: the role of experience and participant demographics

ABSTRACT This research study aimed to identify and analyse attitudes of Czech primary school pupils towards people with intellectual disabilities (ID). In total 2295 pupils aged 10 to 15 years participated in the study. The questionnaire based on the Likert scale design was utilised as the research tool. Its items were divided into four dimensions (interpersonal liking; social status and rights of people with ID; social integration; fear) using explorative factor analysis. The effect of pupils’ socio-demographic characteristics (gender, school year attended and their declared experience with ID person) was modelled using multiple regression analysis. Pupils’ attitudes towards ID were rather positive overall. Neutral/negative attitudes were found in the dimension called “social integration of people with ID”, or rather their integration into regular primary schools to join peers without disabilities. The “personal experience with person with ID” proved to be the most significant predictor of all outcomes and it affected pupils’ attitudes towards ID in the most positive way. Differences in pupils’ attitudes were determined in relation to the effect of gender and the school year attended. In relation to the research findings, the study limitations and recommendations for further research are discussed.

Using Learning Objectives when Teaching in Czech Primary Schools

The paper presents the findings of a multiple case study exploring the way primary school teachers work with learning objectives in social studies teaching. The study has shown that learning objectives do not occur in an explicit form in the Czech primary school teaching. While observing teaching and learning, implicit objectives did emerge – in the beginnings of lessons, during the lesson in the process of solving learning tasks, and most of all, in the evaluatiion processes including the final reflection. In many lessons, there were differences between the learning objectives, teaching methods and evaluation of pupils’ learning.