The presented study shows the possibilities of increasing the teacher's professional competencies using focused self-reflection on the basis of confrontation of his or her own ideas, expectations and observations with data obtained mostly from the statements of pupils. The basis of this study are the results of research carried out in the Czech Republic (Sample: 3108 pupils from 25 elementary schools and 179 of their teachers), which analyzed the attitudes towards mathematics The study also provides examples of the trend of German pedagogical-psychological research and shows the parallels and possible directions of comparative research in the given area.