Abstract
This paper presents a development project in the Czech Republic which aims to improve the quality of pre-school education, including facilitating the transition of children from kindergartens to elementary schools. It focuses on the development of the professional competencies of teachers and future teachers of ISCED 0 in the area of reading, mathematical pre-school education and didactics of preschool education with the emphasis on exchange of experience, interconnection of theory and practice in terms of the specifics of pre-school education (play, experiential learning, in line with the objectives of the curriculum) through the community of all actors both theory and practice.
The team of pedagogical staff of partner universities (Charles University in Prague, University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice, Masaryk University in Brno, Technical University in Liberec, Palacky University in Olomouc) and META, non-profit organization specializing in psychology, general didactics, psychodidactics and special pedagogy of the thematic modules of the Pre-reading Literacy and jointly designed suggestions for teachers to improve the quality of pre-school education. The themes reflect both the theoretical and the specific needs of the teachers, which were discussed at the joint first community practice meeting.
Teachers of pre-schools expressed their goals for pedagogical direction within the module, took into account the acquired information from the academic staff, studied the theoretical starting points, elaborated the curriculum analysis and expressed their own suggestions, which are taken into account in this list. There has been a link between the activities of the departments and the partners in their co-operation with the community practice practitioners.
The Department of Primary Pedagogy, Department of Czech Language and Literature, Pre-school education didactics, representatives of the Department of Psychology, special pedagogy, and representatives of the Institute for Research Development and the Institute of Czech Language and Communication Theory of the Charles University were involved at the level of the beneficiary. List of thematic areas aimed at supporting the development of pre-school education: developing pre-reading skills, pedagogical diagnostics and early detection of risks, development of reading literacy of children with different mother tongue, promoting reader strategies with specific attention to understanding, motivation for readership, collaboration with family and preschool facilities to develop pre-reading and early reader skills.