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Attracting prospective students could be difficult and expensive. Candidates, when choosing a future school for their studies, consider a great number of factors. Information from official university websites does not suffice to persuade. Word of mouth plays a significant role, among others. The aim of this paper is to present findings about important factors influencing the overall satisfaction of current students with university life as well as their willingness to share positive references. The study took place in the Czech Republic with students attending business schools at universities. Primary data was collected via an online questionnaire with students with bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees (n = 274) and in-depth interviews (n = 10). Data was processed with regression analysis and Spearman's correlation coefficient. The main findings suggest that there is a close positive correlation between students' satisfaction and the willingness to recommend the university. The quality of student life and the reputation of the school were identified as the most important factors influencing this satisfaction and willingness to recommend.

The study examines the influence of nudging on the successful studies of Higher education institutions (HEI's) students. Data from one of the typical countries of the Central European region (Czech Republic) is analyzed. The goal of the research was to find out how students accept individual forms of nudging. For this purpose, a questionnaire survey at Czech HEIs (N = 207) and structured interviews with experts (N = 19) were conducted. This study showed that information nudges and high-touch nudges enjoyed the highest level of acceptance. A strong correlation was also found between "most irritating" and group "manipulative" nudges. These forms of nudging fluctuated around the borderline value of acceptance. A strong or moderate correlation was also found between nudges with similar content and different forms. Structured interviews showed that experts supported the use of nudges. They considered it an important tool to influence the study's success. Experts explained the differences in the acceptance of nudges in connection with the different ages of students, the type of study, the students' life experiences, and partly with the type of field of study. They considered parents' education rather ambivalent.

This multi-sited ethnographic study explores how pre-service teachers (PSTs) address pupil diversity during their practicum at lower secondary schools and how this is facilitated by their participation in university courses. This investigation's focus on diversity is grounded in the concept of differentiated instruction. We found out that university teaching contributes to PSTs having a positive approach towards pupil diversity and that in their practicum PSTs succeed in taking the needs of certain groups of pupils into account in the classroom. However, PSTs take the needs of pupils into account unevenly and tend to homogenise their teaching on their practicum, to which the university curriculum also contributes by not being sufficiently experience-based and not providing a systematic framework for addressing the needs of all pupils in the classroom.

Critical thinking is considered one of the key competencies of university students and its importance increases with the effort to develop students' creativity, independence as well as scientific thinking. For this skill, it is important to have confidence in one's ability to solve problems, find relevant answers or to formulate defensible conclusions. The aim of the paper was to determine whether academic self-efficacy acted as a precondition for critical thinking in university students. A total of 451 university students were involved in this study. The data were obtained by The Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory and the Academic Self-Efficacy Scale. The results showed that academic self-efficacy predicted all the three dimensions of critical thinking, albeit with a small amount of explained variance ranging from 8.1 to 12.2%. Although the main factor moderating each dimension of critical thinking is the effect of academic self-efficacy, a gender interaction effect was also found, which was more evident for males than females.

The development of communication and information means, especially the presence of the online environment, is undoubtedly an integral part of pupils' leisure time. During the pandemic, it also inevitably became a standard part of formal education in the form of so-called distance learning. On 11 March 2020, an extraordinary measure of the Ministry of Health entered into force, resulting in the widespread closing of schools. The extraordinary measure was later replaced by the Resolution of the Government of the Czech Republic No. 74/2020 Coll. of 12 March 2020. On 12 March 2020, a state emergency was declared. The main research goal is to name selected related cyberspace risks with the transition to distance learning and their potential intensity, which threatened or may continue to threaten students in the transition to this model of education. Research sub-objectives are to analyze students' awareness of their rights and obligations in the context of cyber security in distance learning and to compare the obtained data among primary and secondary school pupils. Research and achievement of set research goals are carried out through a quantitative and qualitative approach through piloting in the form of interviews with a selected sample of students, and the use of a questionnaire survey focused on the occurrence of selected risks in cyberspace and finding out essential awareness of students' rights and obligations in cyber security.

Digital storytelling (DST) is one of the alternative teaching methods and previous research shows its positive impact on students' motivation and learning outcomes, especially in humanities subjects. In vocational subjects such as economics, the effectiveness of this method is questionable. 856 respondents aged 15 to 19 from six business academies in the Czech Republic took part in the testing, which focused on the effectiveness of digital storytelling in economics. This paper presents other possible factors that may have influenced students' performance in the post-test. A comparison of the results from the pre-tests and post-tests of the experimental and control groups showed that the students from the experimental group reached higher mean values in the post-test than the students from the control group. It was also found that in the group that used digital storytelling, the year of study and the initial knowledge of the students assessed in the pre-test influenced the mean post-test scores. On the other hand, the factor of students' gender was not demonstrated. At the end of the testing, a questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate students' views on digital storytelling and their preferences for teaching methods.

The priority goals of the development of Czech higher education include ensuring the quality of its activities, improving the availability and relevance of flexible forms of education, and increasing efficiency in teaching and research. Several professional articles evaluated educational efficiency, but the proposed models did not include unemployed graduate students. The paper assesses education efficiency at public universities in the Czech Republic in 2020-2021 using an extended Data envelopment model with undesirable outputs, non-proportional and non-radial measures of distance from the efficient frontier. The influence of selected economic, social, regional and institutional factors on education efficiency is estimated by a panel regression model using the Feasible generalized least squares method. The results document the level and development of education efficiency and find insufficient reduction of unemployed graduates as a critical problem of inefficiency. More prominent universities achieve higher education efficiency. The main statistically significant factors influencing changes in education efficiency are population density, the unemployment rate, the location of the university in larger urban centres and the number of students per university employee.

Purpose: Increasing the need for education for sustainable development in universities requires an understanding of the predictors of students' environmental concern (EC). In this paper, the authors focus on the EC of business students because of their future responsibility for business operations regarding the exploitation of natural resources. The aim of the study is to examine the predictors of business students' environmental concern. Design/methodology/approach: Based on the Norm Activation Model as the theoretical framework, this study hypothesizes the model of EC with two main predictors: ascription of responsibility for the environment (AOR), driven by locus of control and self-efficacy (LC/SE), and awareness of positive consequences of consumption reduction on the environment (AOC), driven by perceived environmental knowledge. Structural equation modelling was applied to confirm the conceptual model based on the responses of business students from six countries (Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Spain) collected through an online survey. Findings: The environmental concern of business students is predicted both by the ascription of responsibility and by awareness of consequences; however, the ascription of responsibility is a stronger predictor of EC. A strong impact was found for internal locus of control and self-efficacy on AOR, as well as a weaker influence of perceived environmental knowledge on AOC. Originality/value: Sustainability education dedicated to business students should provide environmental knowledge and strengthen their internal locus of control and self-efficacy in an environmental context.

Graphomotor and handwriting disabilities (GD and HD, respectively) could significantly reduce children's quality of life. Effective remediation depends on proper diagnosis; however, current approaches to diagnosis and assessment of GD and HD have several limitations and knowledge gaps, e.g. they are subjective, they do not facilitate identification of specific manifestations, etc. The aim of this work is to introduce a new scale (GHDRS--Graphomotor and Handwriting Disabilities Rating Scale) that will enable experts to perform objective and complex computer-aided diagnosis and assessment of GD and HD. The scale supports quantification of 17 manifestations associated with the process/product of drawing/handwriting. The whole methodology of GHDRS design is made maximally transparent so that it could be adapted for other languages.

Wireless remote microphones (WRM) are used as secondary assistive listening devices for students with hearing aids or cochlear implants to limit the negative effects of noise and distance for understanding speech. WRM technology is not yet widespread in the Czech Republic. The aim of this study was to use teachers' perspectives to compare the benefit of WRM in different situations and settings for students who are DHH. A final sample consisted of 36 teachers who had experience with and without WRM with their particular student. Bayesian statistical methods were used to analyse the data. When using a WRM, teachers reported better overall student responses, greater engagement of the students in the classroom, better management of multiple instructions and a reduction of the students' need to ask questions and the confusion of similar-sounding words. The WRM technology might help to mitigate the effects of hearing loss and advance equal opportunities in education. The use of these technologies should thus be more supported among Czech students, their caregivers and teachers.

A deeper understanding of the pre-primary teacher's profession is made possible by the use of pictures in pedagogical research, i.e. the hermeneutic analysis of symbols visually representing this profession. The study seeks comprehension through quantification of the thematic motifs in the students' pictures (n = 132) as well as a detailed qualitative analysis of selected artefacts (n = 8). An interesting tension arises from the juxtaposition of the authors' descriptions and the expert team's interpretations. Thus, aspects of the profession that are at first glance absent from the research, such as spirituality, love, atmosphere, colour, airiness and horizon, emerge.

Purpose: This study aims to supplement the international knowledge on factors determining retention in the teaching profession with findings from the Czech Republic. The study aims to answer the question of what factors on the part of schools and teachers are related to teachers' decision to leave the teaching profession, either temporarily or permanently. It also examines the differences between teachers at the beginning and end of their professional careers. Design/methodology/approach: This study presents a secondary analysis of the data collected in a survey of 1,230 Czech secondary school teachers implemented in 2021 in the same schools as the TALIS survey in 2018. The longitudinal design makes it possible to observe the impact of school variables on teachers' willingness to remain in the profession. Data are analysed through logistic regression. Findings: The analysis shows the importance of sufficient financial evaluation, the composition of the student body, instructional leadership, and school innovativeness for the retention of teachers in the profession. The analysis further shows that the factors causing teachers to leave the profession differ for those at the beginning and at the end of their teaching careers. Research limitations/implications: The limitations of the study lie in the fact that this is a secondary analysis. The questionnaires were not designed in accordance with the aim of our study, and so the variables were constructed from existing data to best fit our chosen framework. Practical implications: The results of our analysis indicate that the Czech education policy should focus not only on general increases in teachers' salaries, but also on the adjustment of increases over the course of a teacher's career. The starting salary may be important for retaining young teachers in the profession, while at later stages in their careers their decision to stay may be more influenced by other factors. Our research also showed the importance of leadership. In schools where the principal supports his or her teachers and takes care of their professional development, teachers have a greater tendency to stay in the profession than in schools where the management does not perform this function. Originality/value: The study enriched international knowledge about factors affecting teachers' retention in the profession with findings from the Czech educational system characterized by high school autonomy and low teacher salaries.

This paper deals with a course of mathematics at an university in the Czech Republic. This course is for incoming students. It prepares students for math entrance exams. During the coronavirus pandemic period (2020-2021) we taught the course online. We had to solve the problem with communication with students and obtain feedback from them. For this reason, we used interactive quizzes. In this article, we compare the situation at other universities, and we introduce online quizzes. Further, we compare their success rate during the course. In addition, we present the results from the student´s course evaluation survey.

A dysfunctional educational system has been identified as one of the causes of academic dishonesty in the Eastern Europe. This paper describes a case study based on data collected at one Czech university (N = 660) and presents measures that have been taken at the institution after it. The case study combines quantitative self-reported data and qualitative data from students and teachers with hard data from the disciplinary committee. We analyse cases and types of breaches, identify characteristics of students that incline them toward cheating and investigate some of the reasons why. Our research confirms that the inconsistent approach of teachers is a contributing factor to students' propensity to violate academic integrity rules and identifies reasons for such behaviour. Teachers play a key role in prevention, it is their duty to report cases of suspected misconduct, but they need tools to improve the culture of academic integrity. This paper describes in detail the measures which have been at the given faculty as a solution to the identified problem, the authors believe that the presented measures might serve as an inspiration for policymakers on how to tackle the inconsistency of teachers' approaches to student misconduct.

Roma communities are a disadvantaged minority in Europe which is particularly underrepresented in social and educational research. This study aimed to investigate the predictors of Roma mothers' educational aspirations for their children in the Czech Republic, Greece, and Portugal. Participants included 461 mothers with a Roma background (135 from the Czech Republic, 130 from Greece, and 196 from Portugal), with a child between 3 to 6 (n = 181) or 9 to 12 (n = 280) years old. Data were based on mothers' reports, obtained during a structured in-person interview. Material deprivation (microsystem level), frequency and quality of interactions with non-Roma parents, as well as the quality of parent-teacher interactions (mesosystem level), predicted Roma mothers' educational aspirations. Findings suggest that, in addition to microsystemic variables such as material deprivation, mesosystemic predictors such as those examining contact with non-Roma parents may play an important role in shaping Roma mothers' educational aspirations and need to be further examined.

The preschool age is called the golden age of drawing; drawing is a "golden" mediator of literacy development. In this article, we focus on the content the preschool children put into their drawings. The goal of study has been the comparison of preschool children's drawings with respect to the thematic categories of drawn object, and to identify differences between boys and girls. There were analyzed pictures (N=61) drawn by preschool children, from 5 years and 9 months to 6 years and 11 months. Pictures were drawn following the content-neutral (indifferent) instruction: "Draw, what is on your mind now." The obtained data were subjected to thematic and frequency analysis. Results: data shows that the average number of objects is higher in girls' drawings: girls drew 4±5 objects on average, while boys drew only 2±2. The number of drawn objects increases with age. Objects drawn could be divided onto 14 thematic categories; most popular are natural objects (sun, mammal, flowers, clouds etc.). The most popular theme in the group of boys are Vehicles, in girls group themes vary more. Practical impact: if we know what children like to draw, we have a strong motivating element for the development of communication literacy, especially writing.

The paper focuses on students' understanding of the concepts of axial and central symmetries in a plane. Attention is paid to whether students of various ages identify a non-model of an axially symmetrical figure, know that a line segment has two axes of symmetry and a circle has an infinite number of symmetry axes, and are able to construct an image of a given figure in central symmetry. The results presented here were obtained by a quantitative analysis of tests given to nearly 1,500 Czech students, including pre-service mathematics teachers. The paper presents the statistics of the students' answers, discusses the students' thought processes and presents some of the students' original solutions. The data obtained are also analysed with regard to gender differences and to the type of school that students attend. The results show that students have two principal misconceptions: that a rhomboid is an axially symmetrical figure and that a line segment has just one axis of symmetry. Moreover, many of the tested students confused axial and central symmetry. Finally, the possible causes of these errors are considered and recommendations for preventing these errors are given.

The article argues that, although digital and social media provide space and means for children's cosmopolitan citizenship, the tendency to reproduce cultural and ethnic stereotypes and prejudice prevalent in mainstream media can limit their capability and willingness to act and think as such. Drawing upon qualitative participatory research conducted with more than seventy children living in the Czech Republic, the article explores how children's media practice had a tendency to reproduce cultural hegemony. The paper ultimately argues that multicultural education and media education can together support children in reflecting on and challenging cultural hegemony, while at the same time potentially contribute to their transnational participation and cooperation with the use of digital and social media.

The main topic of the presented article is the pedagogical concept of self-reflection of students of Social Education. The authors understand the pedagogical concept as primarily educational determinants that influence and shape students' self-reflection. To identify this aim, the authors formulate the main research question: How do social education students reflect on themselves as students, and what are the determinants of study self-reflection for social pedagogy students? The authors used the qualitative research strategy, specifically The Grounded Theory, through which sixty self-reflecting essays were analysed. These written self-reflections were further complemented with six in-depth interviews in which we acquired clarifying information on self-reflection and self-assessment of social education students. It was ascertained that students' self-reflection is shaped through an awareness of internal and external study factors, which subsequently influence the overall concept of their study, motivation to perform, study style, and self-assessment.

Research shows that the concept of academic futility is promising for studying the mechanisms that cause differences in educational outcomes in general and vocational programmes. The aim of this paper is to test the hypothesis that in the Czech Republic, a country with one the largest VET sectors in Europe, the worse achievement of students in vocational programmes can also be explained by academic futility, and to explore the relationship between futility and the track attended. The conceptualisation of academic futility returns to the three-dimensional concept proposed by Brookover and Schneider in 1975. The analysis was carried out on a sample of 4871 upper secondary students. Confirmatory factor analysis showed a good fit of the model for a two-level (student and class) concept of academic futility. Two-level structural equation modelling showed a negative relationship between futility and achievement and a lower culture of futility in classes with higher socio-economic status.

The article focuses on the hitherto unresearched impact of nudging on the successful completion of HEIs studies. The aim of the study is to find out how HEIs students accept different forms of nudging and how individual forms of nudging can contribute to the successful completion of studies. The explanatory paradigm is anchored in nudge theory. Based on a systematic literature review, key behavioral factors and forms of nudge that influence the successful completion of studies are identified. A two-phase empirical research was conducted (questionnaire among university students, N = 207) and a structured interview with experts (N = 22). High-touch nudges were far more acceptable. By contrast, 40% of low-touch nudges were considered somewhat unacceptable. Students do not mostly accept reminders and defaults. Students differed in their evaluation of proposed techniques and their acceptance according to their socio-economic and socio-demographic characteristics. Support was slightly stronger among men, part-time students, and economists. Female, graduate, medical, health, and social study students, and students up to 25 years of age were more likely to be against the interventions. Students having at least one parent with higher education showed slightly less acceptance of nudges. The study's insights provide a deeper understanding of diverse needs regarding behavioral tools and enable derive of guidelines for the education policy implementation and development.

Vocational and professional training tracks can be a good option for many adolescents, many of whom enter these programs with a sometimes hidden burden of negative experiences and attitudes to school. This paper explores the sense of academic futility in future VET students at the end of lower secondary education. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 25 Czech students in which they described their experiences from lower secondary school, we found that despite the students' beliefs that their achievement is the product of their own effort, they describe situations from which it is evident that they noticed (i.e., perceived) that they actually did lose control over their results. At the same time, they explicitly claim that they have full control over their own achievement. This implicit sense of academic futility is created by several mechanisms at the school level: the curriculum, ineffective teaching, grading leniency, and teachers' distrust of students' capabilities.

Graphs are often used to represent mathematical functions, to illustrate data from social and natural sciences, or to specify scientific theories. With increasing emphasis on the development of scientific research skills, the work with graphs and data interpretation are gaining in importance. The research involved an eye-tracking experiment conducted to evaluate student work with graphs in physics. Eye-movement data were recorded using the GazePoint eye-tracker. A total of 40 third-year grammar school students participated in the research. These students were allocated into three groups by a physics teacher. These groups were called PLUS, AVERAGE and MINUS. The PLUS group showed excellent results in education and included gifted physics students. The MINUS group was composed of the opposite end of this cognitive spectrum, whose members made the most mistakes in graph reading. The aim of the experiment was to find the differences between students allocated to these three groups and to evaluate whether the allocation based on the teacher's experience, long-term observations and the students' previous achievements was sufficient. The results showed that students from all three groups had problems with reading graphs in physics. According to the eye-movement data, several students who had been incorrectly assigned to groups were identified.

Knowledge of the appropriate learning styles in which students approach the study supports the effectiveness of the teaching process. There is international research that explores the factors that influence student learning styles or students' preferences. The results of some research based on the similar methodologies are inconsistent. The aim of this research under the conditions of Czech tertiary education was to verify what factors students' learning style preferences in the subject Marketing depend on. The method of questioning based on quantitative research was used. 132 students of University of Economics, Prague and of College of Polytechnics Jihlava were involved in the research. The questions were formulated in a way to be able to define the learning style and whether students were aware of their sensory preferences. The model was based on the VARK model and the learning style according to motivation and intent. A chi-square test of independence was used for verification. The preferences of a deep problem-based learning style prevail. Learning styles preferences depend on factors related to the practical preparation of the students and the difficulty of the subject.

This theoretical study deals with interconnecting learning tasks of art education with the parent discipline of art education (that is, with the artistic field as defined by Pierre Bourdieu, 1996), while reflecting on the quality of art lessons in the Czech Republic. The authors draw on current theoretical and empirical research of quality that identifies individual quality factors. The most salient factors are the connection with the artistic field and the resulting ability of conceptual integration, together with curricular normativity, the intentional work of the teacher with educational content, characteristics of teaching such as the support of divergence, creative approaches, associativity, imagination, reflection, searching for intersections between pupils' experience and the content of the subject, etc. The text also emphasises the fact that judgement on the quality of learning tasks should be based only on ontological-didactic and psychological-didactic aspects. The former relate to the cultural and artistic context of learning tasks, that is, the current values in the field of visual culture and the artistic field, while the latter consider the personal characteristics of each and every pupil.

The paper focuses on representations of Shoah and Holocaust terms in selected curriculum documents ("Framework educational program for basic education" and Israeli curricular documents for primary and secondary school education). Emphasis is placed on the Israeli curriculum, which can be considered exemplary in its structure due to the defined terms. The Israeli curriculum is compared with selected Czech curriculum document in the context of the first phase of the research survey focused on the views of teachers of Czech language and literature at the second grade of primary school. We try to explain the identified differences in connection with the need of strategies regarding historical, social and geographical aspects. The theoretical basis for the interpretation of concepts in world curriculum documents is formed by the ideas of selected world experts in the field. Based on their ideas, we try to expose the topicality of the defined issues, and the associated great need for its implementation into Czech curriculum document. We compare the application of the given terms in the Czech curriculum document with the results of the first phase of the research conducted among teachers of Czech language and literature in one region of the Czech Republic. Based on the response of a randomly selected sample of respondents, we find that the extent of application of the defined terms is to a large extent reflected in the presented knowledge.

This article deals with the problem of increasing the efficiency in motor learning with the help of video analysis. The text approaches the system providing a feedback in the process of downhill skiing skills acquisition. The platform influencing the movement notion introduces innovative means of the acquisition of essential downhill skiing skills in ski courses organised by the University of Hradec Kralove, the Department of Physical Education (PE) and Sport. This article is focused on the selected results of the survey realised by an enquiring method, which was aimed to find out opinions on a monitored platform among 131 students specialising in PE and sport in 2010-2015. The research results indicate that the use of video analysis in providing feedback has a positive effect on the process of downhill skiing skills acquisition. Positive opinions of the majority of respondents showed that the use of video analysis combined with verbal correction is an effective support within the downhill skiing practice. It is an efficient platform accelerating results in learning downhill skiing technique. However, conclusions also point to some negative aspects that can accompany the use of video analysis in the field of psychology of learning, e.g., feeling of demotivation after the video analysis.

This study focused on the concept of pupil diversity in the planned curriculum of teacher preparation programmes. The professional training of teachers influences the knowledge, skills and attitudes student teachers regarding diversity (Akiba, 2011); however, most research studies have utilised quantitative research focused on planned curriculum or learning outcomes. We chose a qualitative approach to uncover how pupil diversity is implemented within the planned curriculums of selected teacher education programmes. Based on a content analysis of syllabi and conceptual documents from teacher preparation programmes at a selected faculty of education, two conceptual approaches towards diversity within curriculums, one explicit and one implicit, are described. These concepts can be further interpreted in relation to the ideological, content and methodological dimensions of the curriculum.

Young people's lives will be influenced by climate change and, in turn, climate change may itself be influenced by their future behaviour. Environmental education has thus to rise to the challenge of providing students with knowledge that will go beyond the simply factual and enable an understanding of the complexity of climate change. This paper follows on from our previous study of Czech students' beliefs concerning the usefulness of mitigation measures and their willingness to act, and investigates students' knowledge of climate change and the role that this plays in their beliefs. The results suggest that, when compared with their upper-primary and female counterparts, secondary-school and male students possess a higher degree of understanding of the complex issues of the causes and consequences of climate change and the underlying principles of the greenhouse effect. The positive influence of school education is manifested in the differences in the believed efficacy of mitigation actions which are less pronounced, and the beliefs higher in general, among secondary-school students. Students who exhibit a higher level of climate change knowledge, namely those with the ability to apply a more complex perception of climate change, more frequently believe in the efficacy of climate change mitigation.

Introduction: This empirical study discusses the issue of compulsory pre-school education in the Slovak Republic from the viewpoint of the parents of children attending nursery school. The goal of the research is to establish the attitudes of presents to compulsory education a year before the child begins school. The research therefore works with two key concepts, this being the obligation of educating children before they begin primary school and "attitude" as a relatively stable assessment of the object to which it applies. Methods: A rating scale questionnaire of our own design was used to collect data. It was administered through a web interface. A five-level scale was used to apply a Likert scale and statements were classified into five dimensions. The research tool had 36 items following validation. The available sample was used to create the research sample. Data was collected in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia; the sample of parents from Slovakia consisted of 162 respondents. Each of the respondents had to have at least one child of pre-school age. When processing the research data the basic statistical characteristics were used, along with a non-parametric Friedman test. Calculations were executed in STATISTICA and SPSS software. Results: The surveyed parents attributed the appropriate importance to compulsory education a year before children begin primary school, they did not believe that implementation of this obligation would have any significant impact on the family's life and appreciated its importance for their child's subsequent education. They rated potential interference in the organisation and assurance of pre-school education, related to the newly originating obligation, as suitable and appropriate. They disagreed slightly with the academic focus of pre-school education. Discussion: The consensual opinion of the surveyed parents in regard to implementation of the obligation to educate children a year before they start primary school seems a good basis for realisation of this legislative amendment. In their attitudes, the parents incline towards the fact that compulsory education before starting primary school could help their children start their subsequent educational career, or could enable a smoother transition between the two levels of education. The structure of the research sample focused more on middle-class parents. Parents, due to whom this obligation was chiefly implemented, were not surveyed. It can be assumed that the situation will be similar in relation to attendance of nursery school. Limitations: The main limiting element in the presented research is the available sample of respondents for the research sample. Likewise, validation of the questionnaire, which passed through all the necessary phases, but ran up against the obstacle of the available time and personal availability of researchers and respondents during one phase. Conclusion: The results can be considered positive and no strongly disagreeing standpoints by middle class parents towards compulsory education at nursery school were registered. It would be very useful for further research to survey parents who are not mainstream and children who appear disadvantaged when starting nursery school, chiefly due to the attitude of these parents.

The aim of the research was to find out what factors influence the development of cognitive dimensions in college students. The following factors were considered: field of study, academic achievement in a selected economic subject and abstract visual intellectual level. The reason for doing this research was to increase the quality of teaching economic subjects across bachelor study fields in the conditions of a practically oriented College of Polytechnics, Jihlava in the Czech Republic. Two fields of study were selected - the economic field - Finance and Management (N = 52 students) and the technical field - Applied Computer Science (N = 30 students). Study plans of both fields included the subject Corporate Economy in the first term of studies. Methodological research was based on the theory of problem-based learning. It was built on a test method that was used to gain data to identify the context of variables with the development of cognitive dimensions in the context of an internationally recognized framework for evaluating the success - the Bloom's Taxonomy. Two tests were used to collect the data: (a) a test measuring the abstract visual intellectual level; (b) a non-standardized test to measure students' achievement in the six cognitive dimensions of the Bloom's Taxonomy. The initial knowledge of students was comparable. The data were analyzed by factor analysis, followed by the Spearman and Pearson correlation coefficients. Cognitive dimensions could be grouped into two factors. Factor 1 - Application-Evaluation Dimension that was explained by the dimensions of Knowledge, Application, Evaluation; Factor 2 - Analytical Dimension that was explained by the dimensions of Comprehension, Analysis, Synthesis. The results showed that an individual did not have to be competent in the whole complexity of the Bloom's Taxonomy. The development of cognitive dimensions correlated with the field of study, the economic field was correlated with factor 2 and the technical field with factor 1. The development of cognitive dimensions did not correlate with the abstract-visual intellectual level. Factor 2 weakly negatively correlated with academic achievement in the subject Corporate Economy. This means that students who were successful in developing lower-order cognitive dimensions had a weak analytical orientation in the economic area, and vice versa. The results brought by the research will help improve teaching of economic subjects across the two disciplines, especially with regard to the innovation of learning and teaching strategies with a positive impact on the desired cognitive development of students.

The article presents an analysis of factors influencing the students´ motivation to study economic subjects in economic and technical study programmes in the conditions of a practically oriented college. The research is focused on quality management systems of universities and the competitiveness in the tertiary education market. Specifically, the area of quality of higher education is addressed, through students' assessment of the subject of Business Administration. Motivation factors related to teaching techniques were classified and the intensity of motivation of the respondents was investigated in the questionnaire survey. The statistical analysis of data suggests that there are differences in the motivation of students of economic and technical study programmes. Students of technical study programmes Applied Computer Science are more demanding and have higher expectations from study programmes compared to students in the study programmes of Finance and Management, whose expectations are lower. The results are discussed and compared with a similar foreign research. A pedagogical constructivism should be introduced into the Czech education, resulting in enhancement of attractiveness of the study programmes, thus increasing the level of competitiveness of the college.

Experiments in different forms can certainly be suitable tools for increasing student interest in physics. However, educators continuously discuss which forms of experimenting (if any) are the most beneficial for these purposes. At the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, Prague, two different forms of physics experiments are offered to upper secondary students: hands-on experimental work in the Interactive Physics Laboratory, and physics demonstration shows where the students watch experiments conducted by a lecturer. Our research focuses primarily on student feedback about their immediate attitudes towards these two projects. Data collection was undertaken using questionnaire research based on the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory. This research was subsequently supplemented with a qualitative study examining the influence of students' experimental work in the Interactive Physics Laboratory on their understanding of selected physics concepts. The results of the main research show that the two projects do not exhibit significant differences in terms of student interest and perceived usefulness; nevertheless, students felt the need for significantly more effort and experienced pressure during their work in the Interactive Physics Laboratory. One interesting finding, which goes against our original hypothesis, is that grades in physics are quite a strong predictor of students' assessment of the projects: better grades indicate more positive assessment of both projects as well as less pressure felt during hands-on activities in the laboratory.

This paper addresses the professional preparation of future teachers of social pedagogy (social educators) in the context of current tasks which the social pedagogy in the Czech Republic still has. Based on the results of the research which aims to present the professional characteristics of students of social pedagogy, we propose an innovation of the current curricula in social pedagogy study program and thus strengthen the independence of the profession which has undergone a specific development in our country. BIP questionnaire was used to obtain data. The main aim of the research was to analyze the professional orientation of social pedagogy students with the use of the standardized BIP questionnaire. The research has involved 154 social pedagogy students in a chosen Faculty of Humanities in the Czech Republic. Besides the research of the students' professional characteristics, an analysis of the study program Social Pedagogy has been done in order to create a constructive proposal of innovation of the study program subjects. So the authors call the attention to the fact that the study program must necessarily not only respond to the present demands of the tertiary sector (services marketing) but also be adapted to the professional identity of future social pedagogues and the development of students' competences.

Adolescence represents a sensitive period for embarking on trust-based friendships, which lay the foundation for successful close relationships later in life. The recent trust sequence model assumes that the trust process is universal regardless of the developmental stage. However, how the trust process may vary has been under-researched, especially during the critical period of adolescence and in the context of friendships. Therefore, this study qualitatively explored how people experience the process of forming trust in friends from early adolescence to adulthood. We conducted eight focus groups (N = 39 participants) with early (11-12 years), middle (14-15 years), and late (18-19 years) Czech adolescents and a comparative sample of adults. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, employing an inductive, semantic, and experiential approach. We identified four overarching themes: (1) Experiential Trust Building, (2) Absence of Reasons to Not Trust, (3) Relying on Intuitive Connection, and (4) Trusting the Right/Wrong Person (the third and fourth themes being exclusive to adolescents). Participants thus described multiple variations of the trust process, with much of the variation residing in the perceived importance of diminishing the leap of faith, i.e., the risks and uncertainties inherent in trusting. Immediate affect and stronger moral essentialism were relevant to trust formation among adolescents but not adults. These findings provide unique insights into experiences with forming trusting friendships from early adolescence to adulthood and extend the trust sequence model. Further research should explore the trust process in low- and high trust societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the influence of EU legal instruments on the criminal law of the Czech Republic in the field of environmental protection. The aim of the article is to analyse this influence and examine individual legal definitions of environmental crimes in the Czech legal system. For this purpose, descriptive, comparative, analytical, and logical methods are employed. The author first assesses the state of environmental protection in the Czech Republic, not only through criminal law. This is followed by a list of legal definitions of individual criminal offences, with an explanation of their basic features and specific differences. Each is referenced with the specific EU or public international law regulation on which the offence was based when introduced into the Czech legal system. The article also presents recent case law from the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic concerning this issue. In conclusion, the author evaluates the level of environmental protection provided by criminal law and concludes that the Czech Republic is active in this area, fulfilling its obligations arising from European regulations governing environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data on the occurrence of non-biting moth flies (Diptera, Psychodidae) from the area of Králický Sněžník Mts and neighbouring environs is presented. A total of 56 species are recorded. Seven species are critically endangered: Philosepedon (Trichosepedon) balkanicum Krek, 1971; Clytocerus (Boreoclytocerus) rivosus (Tonnoir, 1919); Saraiella parva (Vaillant, 1963); S. rotunda (Krek, 1970); Szaboiella hibernica (Tonnoir, 1940); Tonnoiriella nigricauda (Tonnoir, 1919) and Ulomyia plumata (Tonnoir, 1919). Four species are endangered: Threticus incurvus Krek, 1972; Pneumia stammeri (Jung, 1956); P. vittata (Tonnoir, 1919) and Ulomyia vaseki Ježek, 2002. Two species are vulnerable: Threticus arvernicus Vaillant, 1972 and T. silvaticus Ježek, 1985. Moreover, one species which has unfortunately so far not assessed useful conservation status (NS, nationally scarce, used newly in the past): Berdeniella vimmeri Ježek, 1995 is also recorded. A basic prerequisite for the understanding and protection of biodiversity is the building of a high-quality faunal and taxonomic base. This knowledge can be applied to the protection of endangered species (14 in this account), as well as in the management of their habitats, often destroyed by developers of large mountain touristic bases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The article explores the current as well as the future concepts of university teaching by the academics/the "leaders of educational sciences" in the context of the changes of the academia that have affected the academic professionalization. Design/methodology/approach: The Delphi method was implemented to answer a research question dealing with the possible change in academics' concept of teaching as part of their current and future work. In this study, the experienced academics in the area of educational science are seen as the "leaders" since through their intensive teaching activities on all three levels (bachelor, master and doctoral) as well as through the high-quality research, they "lead" the concept of a particular science as well as the educational policy. Four rounds were used for consensus building among "leaders" based on a multiple interaction in an anonymous setting. Findings: The research points out that academic professionalization in research is at its maximum. The currently perceived concept of teaching is content-oriented. However, the results also indicate the need for a gradual change in training Czech academics, should they accept their role also as university teachers in the future and be able to highlight the predicted change of teaching to support learning. Whether the strategy of a particular university will or will not accept all the academics' diverse roles seems to become the crucial factor. Research limitations/implications: Several rounds with the same group of experts, which is the principle of Delphi method, is at the same time a limitation of the study, as in most of the research based on this method. The participation in the expert panel dropped throughout the rounds; however, geographic (in terms of university) dispersion of participating experts remained. The final fourth round confirmed the collective judgments of academics. Practical implications: The article broadens the understanding of changes in the content of academics' professionalization with respect to changes in the academia. It emphasizes the role of an academic as an educator and concludes with the need of institutional reform in the context of a single university in a decentralized system. Social implication: The article questions the trends of (national) educational policy in the sense that academics at universities are not only scientists but also teachers. However, the study also shows that the acceptance of their teaching abilities remains mainly on the organizational level. Originality/value: A less common method of data collection among rather rarely involved group of experts in educational sciences brings a different view of the profession of academics, who (not only in the Czech context) are seen mainly as researchers and not as teachers. Humboldt's ideal regarding the unity of diverse roles is, thus, threatened due to narrower focus on academics' professionalization.

Classrooms in Czechia are changing. What used to be a relatively ethnically homogeneous environment changed after 1989 and became much more diverse. How are children, both of Czech, as well as migrant origin, coping? What strategies do they use to negotiate their everyday lives in the classroom? We conducted an ethnographic study in two classes of one multicultural Czech elementary school and used an inductive analytical strategy. While the fifth grade was peaceful, the ninth graders were at war regarding language issues. We analysed ninth graders' narratives of how this situation came into being and their explanations of whose attitudes needed to change. We identified strong pressure to fit in, exerted not only by majority classmates but also by some pupils with migrant backgrounds. In contrast, the fifth grade class revealed migrant children's successful strategies of fitting in, which included helpfulness towards classmates, the development of strong social capital and compliance with authority. In ethnically heterogeneous classrooms, we identified a homogenising push to fit in and negative sanctions for standing out.

The revelation of misconceptions contributes to better education, especially when that information is described in a specific field of science. Additionally, genetics is one of very problematic topics, and misconceptions appear there frequently as there are difficult interconnections among them. The main aim of the study was to explore high school students' misconceptions about basic genetics concepts. Moreover the influence of gender was also examined. Respondents were 102 Czech high school students of two high schools. Research tool was test containing 15 two tier questions concerning about basic genetics concepts like chromosome, DNA, allele and gene. Reliability was determined with the use of Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The result of Kolmogor-Smirnov test allowed to use parametric statistical methods. The data were analysed by the using of descriptive statistical methods (mean score) and inferential statistical methods (ANOVA). Concept 'DNA' was determined as the most problematic one for students, contrarily concept 'allele' was the simplest one. It was found that high school students do not understand selected basic genetic concepts. In addition, students do not interconnect genetic concepts within one complex system of knowledge, they also do not realise structure and hierarchy of these concepts.

The paper describes an e-learning system called Advanced Learning Space that was developed at the Technical University of Liberec. The system provides a personalized virtual work space and promotes communication among students and their teachers. The core of the system is a module that can be used to automatically record, store and playback lectures. Recently, we extended the system by new features such as sound websites and lecture recordings with a sign language interpreter. This further enables students with disabilities to study the same courses as other students.

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is a leading cause of cardiovascular disease. This review examines the literature on hypertension control in the Czech Republic from 1972 to 2022 addressing limited data on its effectiveness. METHODS: A literature review was conducted covering the period from 1972 to 2022, utilizing MEDLINE (PubMed), Web of Science, and Scopus databases. Articles were selected based on title and abstract evaluations, with full-text reviews performed as needed. Thirteen studies involving 44,990 participants were included in this review. RESULTS: Control rates increased from 2.8% (men) and 5.2% (women) in 1985 to 32.3% (men) and 37.4% (women) from 2015 to 2018. Women showed better blood pressure control. Specialised centres achieved higher success (48%) than general practitioners (18.4%). Diabetic patients had a lower percentage (29.1%) of patients meeting their target values (<130/80 mmHg) compared to non-diabetic patients, who had a higher percentage (60.6%) meeting their target values (<140/90 mmHg). CONCLUSION: Hypertension treatment success rate in the Czech Republic improved significantly over the last 50 years and is currently comparable to that of other European countries with similar healthcare resources. However, it still remains suboptimal and lags behind the countries with the most successful treatment outcomes [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite years of debate over the usefulness of tacit knowledge, limited empirical research has quantitatively studied the contribution that tacit knowledge makes to university students' performance. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which tacit knowledge correlates with other predictors and indicators of academic performance. Two studies were conducted in which a total of 448 university students participated. The results suggest that tacit knowledge has a small correlation with cumulative GPA, the percentage of academic requirements passed on the first attempt, achievement motivation, conscientiousness, extraversion, and gender. No statistically significant correlations were found with intellectual abilities, attention, openness to experience, agreeableness, field of study, or study programme/degree. The findings support claims about the importance of tacit knowledge in academic settings and its difference from cognitive abilities.

Background: This study is concerned with the ways that patterns of student participation in classroom talk are constructed, focusing on silent students who participate in whole-class conversation to a limited extent. Methods: We conducted an ethnographic survey in two ninth-grade classes. We made video recordings of the lessons and interviewed the students and teachers. We observed eight focal silent students--four high-achieving and four low-achieving. Findings: Participation patterns of high-achieving and low-achieving silent students diverge. High-achieving silent students are often called on by the teacher, and they give extended answers to difficult questions. Low-achieving silent students are called on rarely. High-achieving silent students use silence to consolidate their position as exceptionally capable students; low-achieving silent students use it to consolidate their position as less capable. However, it is possible to engage low-achieving silent students if the teacher notices their momentary spontaneous urge to participate and creates space for their voice in the classroom. Contribution: The paper focuses on the silent students who are often overlooked in studies on classroom talk. It calls for specific attention paid to low-achieving silent students who are limited in their learning opportunities and thus facing educational disadvantage.

Large-scale international assessments, such as PIAAC (Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies) or PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment), have heightened interest in the comparative analysis of factors influencing the formation of skills and their change over time. However, such comparison has been hindered by substantial differences in contexts that can only be partially controlled in statistical analysis (e.g., cultural, social, or geographical factors particular to jurisdictions). In this article, we analyze a "natural experiment," trends in the development of learning outcomes in the Czech and Slovak Republics following the dissolution of the joint state in 1993. The analysis is theoretically based on an age cohort-period framework. We find that in both countries, PISA results are closely related to the future abilities of the particular age cohort (as measured in PIAAC), which supports the thesis that education has a longlasting effect. Although both countries followed similar trajectories, we find that some noticeable trends can be explained by different policies following dissolution of the joint state.

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Purpose: This study aims to supplement the international knowledge on factors determining retention in the teaching profession with findings from the Czech Republic. The study aims to answer the question of what factors on the part of schools and teachers are related to teachers' decision to leave the teaching profession, either temporarily or permanently. It also examines the differences between teachers at the beginning and end of their professional careers. Design/methodology/approach: This study presents a secondary analysis of the data collected in a survey of 1,230 Czech secondary school teachers implemented in 2021 in the same schools as the TALIS survey in 2018. The longitudinal design makes it possible to observe the impact of school variables on teachers' willingness to remain in the profession. Data are analysed through logistic regression. Findings: The analysis shows the importance of sufficient financial evaluation, the composition of the student body, instructional leadership, and school innovativeness for the retention of teachers in the profession. The analysis further shows that the factors causing teachers to leave the profession differ for those at the beginning and at the end of their teaching careers. Research limitations/implications: The limitations of the study lie in the fact that this is a secondary analysis. The questionnaires were not designed in accordance with the aim of our study, and so the variables were constructed from existing data to best fit our chosen framework. Practical implications: The results of our analysis indicate that the Czech education policy should focus not only on general increases in teachers' salaries, but also on the adjustment of increases over the course of a teacher's career. The starting salary may be important for retaining young teachers in the profession, while at later stages in their careers their decision to stay may be more influenced by other factors. Our research also showed the importance of leadership. In schools where the principal supports his or her teachers and takes care of their professional development, teachers have a greater tendency to stay in the profession than in schools where the management does not perform this function. Originality/value: The study enriched international knowledge about factors affecting teachers' retention in the profession with findings from the Czech educational system characterized by high school autonomy and low teacher salaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The distribution of within‐species lineages has been affected by Quaternary climate changes, and population differentiation has been influenced by species life history traits. We investigated whether the distribution of individual mitochondrial genetic lineages reflects the constituent species' traits. Using the functionally diverse group of butterflies, we examined which lineages are present in Central Europe, an important suture zone. Location: Czech Republic and Western Palearctic. Taxon: A total of 140 butterfly species. Methods: We sequenced DNA barcodes (cytochrome c oxidase 1) (959 sequences) of the entire Czech Republic butterfly fauna and used Barcoding of Life Data System to visualise the species' biogeographic patterns across Europe. We categorised the distribution patterns of lineages inhabiting the Czech Republic, and used multivariate statistics to interpret these categories by the butterflies' habitats, life history traits and threat levels. Results: Open habitat dwellers with specialist traits belonged to Eastern, Southern and temperate lineages. Habitat generalists and woodland dwellers belonged to the Western lineage, formed several lineages or displayed low genetic diversity; they often developed on woody plants, were large‐winged and had long flight periods. The most threatened species were the specialists of Southern, Eastern and temperate lineages. Main Conclusions: The distribution of lineages in Central Europe reflects the history of Quaternary ecosystems: during cold periods of the Pleistocene, the diverse open habitats prevailed and species could expand westwards. Such species also suffer the most under the current anthropogenic habitat alteration. On the other hand, the mobile generalists and woodland dwellers expanded to Central Europe during the Holocene. Our approach of linking the distribution of lineages with species traits can be transferred to other study systems, and we show that DNA barcoding of under‐sampled areas represents a powerful tool for discovering the driving forces of biogeography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite accessible diagnostics and treatment of hypertension, a high proportion of patients worldwide remain unaware of their diagnosis, and even more remain untreated. Several studies suggest that absence of comorbidities is a predictive factor for unawareness and consequently non-treatment of hypertension. There are only a few studies that have assessed the hypertension prevalence and management among apparently healthy individuals. Objective: The aim of the study was to assess and compare hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment and control among apparently healthy individuals, patients with internal diseases, and patients with non-internal diseases. Methods: Data from standardised blood pressure measurements conducted during the Czech European Health Examination Survey 2014 and information on health status and health care use collected during the Czech European Health Interview Survey 2014 were analyzed. We focused on participants aged 25–64. Data were weighted on sex and age to ensure an appropriate sex and age structure of the population. The χ2-test and binary logistic regression analyses were used to compare distribution of cascade of care for hypertension between the health-status groups of respondents. Results: The final eligible sample consisted of 1121 participants. The prevalence of hypertension was 32.8% in the healthy group, 29.8% in the non-internal disease group and 52.4% in the internal disease group, (p < 0.001). Awareness was 54.1%, 59.1% and 85.2% respectively, (p < 0.001). Treatment was 44.2%, 52.6% and 86.4%, respectively, (p < 0.001). Among apparently healthy respondents 62.6% had their blood pressure measured by a medical professional in the last year, compared to 71.1% in the non-internal disease group and 91.7% in the internal disease group, (p < 0.001). Differences in hypertension control were not statistically significant. Conclusions: Generally, our data show a discordance in hypertension management within the Czech population. Apparently healthy individuals are the least aware of their diagnosis and the highest proportion of them remain untreated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]