Abstract:

Undergraduate teacher education in the Czech Republic is implemented in the form of a concurrent or consecutive model. The concurrent model is implemented predominantly at pedagogical faculties within five years of structured study (except for the teacher unstructured training program for primary schools). The student obtains a bachelor's academic degree after the first three years and a master's degree after a further two years of study. Future teachers study field-related compulsory and optional subjects and didactics and psychological disciplines parallelly. It also includes continuous teaching practice at schools. This model is implemented in most EU countries. Students trained through the consecutive model are initially educated in a specific field (e.g., chemistry, foreign or mother tongue, mathematics, etc.). After completing the study, they acquire the necessary qualifications for the teaching profession through didactics and psychological disciplines and independent practice. The undergraduate training of student teachers is currently undergoing several innovations. It turns out that a mere academic level of education does not guarantee the quality of teacher training. It is criticised to separate the training of future teachers from actual practice. It is required to increase the credit share of the pedagogical-psychological component of training and specialised didactic training of teacher training students in particular, including increased hours of direct practice in schools. Future teachers should acquire communicative, presentation, motivational, diagnostic, and organisational competencies. They should be able to use modern technologies, be creative, use critical thinking methods, facilitate pupils' learning, reduce social inequalities among children. The importance of subject didactics is strengthened. In this context, we asked ourselves the question, "How do teacher students reflect the ongoing undergraduate preparation at the beginning of the study program?".

A qualitative methodological design was selected due to the nature of the research (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2018). If we want to find out how student teachers view the concept of their professional education, it is essential to ask:
a) what are their current professional needs in this context,
b) what are their educational ideas about their own concept of teaching,
c) and what is their personal experience with school and teaching in the past.

The research was conducted over two years on a sample of 160 students in teacher-training programmes. The aim was to identify students' beliefs about the teaching profession and required qualifications and describe how students reflect their undergraduate professional training in this context. Semi-structured interviews with respondents within 5–6-member focus groups and analysis of reflective diaries students kept throughout lesson observation at schools were used.

The results show that students welcome the increase in the number of hours of all types of internships (assistantships, observation, and continuous teaching). However, they feel shortcomings in communicative competence (with pupils, parents, and the teaching staff at school), resulting from their new role. They also feel the need to develop motivational and diagnostic competencies. They consider the subject-specific competency their strong side, i.e., they possess knowledge of the field.

Keywords:

Undergraduate teacher education, quality of teacher training, reflective approach.