Abstract:

Teachers play a large number of different roles in the conditions of the modern information society. New requirements and ever-changing conditions are also leading to changes in the functions and roles of the teacher. This is associated with the search for the identity of a teacher as a highly educated professional in teaching and education. Among the most frequently highlighted key competencies of teachers in the geographical area of the European Union are those of language and information and communication technologies competence (ICT). These competences are key to streamlining existing processes and tasks of the teacher's work, as well as a ticket to qualitatively new ways of managing the learning process of pupils and students.

It follows from the above that the issue of ICT competence needs to be addressed when preparing teachers in pre-school education. Their readiness will then have a direct impact on the development of their pupils and students. In higher education teacher training, attention must be paid to the many competences that teaching graduates must acquire.

In defining teachers' ICT competences, it is necessary to build on an approach that takes into account the whole spectrum of a teacher's activities. The role of the teaching profession is to facilitate the learning of pupils by guiding them in applying knowledge and skills to new situations so that they become capable individuals on their own. But do Czech students of teaching also consider ICT competence important?

The aim of the contribution is to acquaint with the results of a survey aimed at identifying ICT competences by students of a study programme aimed at preparing teachers for secondary vocational schools. The survey was conducted through a questionnaire survey and included items focusing on ways to acquire or continuously acquire computer knowledge, skills and capabilities. At the same time, its entries focused on how students themselves assess their level of competence in selected areas of ICT use (e.g. text editor, video and audio processing, website creation, etc.).

More than two hundred respondents took part in the survey. For example, the results showed that students are most likely to learn ICT competencies by trial-error or with the help of friends and family or Youtube videos. At the same time, they declare the greatest degree of competence e.g. when working with files, installing programs, or working with a text editor, social networks, etc. They feel low in terms of web creation, programming, graphics, database systems.

The contribution therefore seeks, among other things, to identify important aspects and appropriate measures, the implementation of which should lead to an increase in the ICT skills of future teachers for secondary schools studying at a specific university in the Czech Republic.

Keywords:

Information and communication competencies, students of teaching, teachers for secondary vocational schools.