Planning Educational Content in School Curriculum Documents: Examples of current practice from pre-schools in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
Abstract
The aim of the research was to analyse the ways in which educational content is planned and taught in selected pre-school educational programmes in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with a focus on the topics, educational objectives, and different approaches to school curriculum design. Methods.
The first part of the research consisted of a qualitative content analysis of the school educational programmes of 40 pre-schools in the Czech Republic and 40 reflective reports from the teachers of these pre-schools. The research focused on approaches to designing integrated educational blocks in these school educational programmes and on teachers' preferences when implementing them in their teaching.
The second part was undertaken in cooperation with the Faculty of Education of Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia. Research data was obtained by a questionnaire survey among students of distance studies in study programmes preparing preschool teachers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The results from the research sample indicated that the chronological approach of integrated educational blocks was the most popular type within pre-schools in both countries. The pre-schools designed the educational content according to the season and structured it into weekly themes.
This approach might not necessarily fulfil the requirements of the Czech and Slovak national educational programmes in relation to the specified educational content according to the current needs and interests of children. Even though some teachers were often allowed to choose their own topics, the majority of teachers were still required to implement topics specified in the school educational programme.
In conclusion, the paper provides a possible outline of the causes of this situation and suggests opportunities for further research.