Department of Ethics and Civic Education
The Department of Ethics and Civic Education
The main focus of Department of Ethics and Civic Education lies in multidisciplinary research of various aspects of an individual's value orientation and citizenship. Its scientific research targets political science, philosophical, ethical and cultural studies, religions as well as aesthetic way to capture various aspects of human life in society. In all participating disciplines, it particularly targets civic value compositions, explores communication aspects and looks into pedagogical and didactic features of individual’s education.
The department's particular profile lies in long-term focus on teachers’ professional competence research in line with the needs of the teaching profession. The results of these studies and plans (often carried out in close cooperation with other departments or non-governmental organisations) are immediately transferred into students’ curriculums.
The department systematically builds its long-term cooperation with several foreign institutions, including the University of Oulu in Finland; Daugavpils University in Latvia; Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic; Palacky University in Olomouc, Czech Republic; The College of Political Sciences in Kolín, Czech Republic. This cooperation is carried out in the form of joint projects and students’ scientific research, as well as students and staff exchange. The department has organised several research visits for students and lecturers from abroad: Finland, Scotland, Latvia, Russia, Czech Republic and USA. Three Fulbright scholarship recipients from the USA worked on the Department in the past.
Since 1998 the Department has regularly organised international scientific conferences aimed at the general topic of Education for Civil Society. Since 2006 it has extended the scope and added new themes such as Education for Democratic Citizenship - The Investment in the Future of Europe (2006), Learn and Live together (2007), Cultural Diversity – the Diversity of Cultures (2008), Dimensions of Citizenship and Education (2010), Globalization and Teachers’ Education (2011).
The Department has built its long-term cooperation with number of NGOs (Milan Šimeček Foundation, Information and Documentation Centre of the Council of Europe, the Open Society Foundation, Children of Slovakia Foundation, and People in Peril, UNICEF, and UNDP-Slovak Aid etc.). Lecturers of the Department participated in several exchanges and scientific research programmes abroad, including visits to universities in the USA, Canada, Austria, Finland, Latvia, Scotland, England, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Croatia and others.
The Department has been a member of international network of UNESCO-TEI (Teachers Educational Institutions), BBCC (Baltic Sea Black Circle Consortium), ENERCE (European Network for Excellence in Research on Citizenship Education) that seek to promote the re-orientation of education towards sustainable development and the development of civil competence. The undergraduate preparations of future teachers are represented by the courses and topics that focus attention on this important role, which in turn will impact the future of civilization. The Department cooperates on long term basis with a number of governmental and non-governmental organisations that deal with this issue. Department‘s staff have been involved and continue to participate in several national and international projects devoted to education and education for sustainable development as a whole or certain aspects of it. The members of the department initiated new programmes such as: Multicultural education, Environmental education, European dimension in schools, Global and developmental education, Gender studies, Anti-corruption education, Human rights education in school and others.
The Graduate Profile:
The graduate acquires qualification to work as a teacher of Civic Education subject at lower and upper secondary level.
Theoretical knowledge of the graduate
The graduate knows the basics of social sciences, psychology, pedagogy and is familiar with the organisation and objectives of the Slovak educational system. The graduate reflects current problems of the society, is flexible and is capable to adapt to new conditions lying ahead. He is also able to work with teaching aids and documents. A part of these skills are acquired in bachelor’s curriculum which acts as a pre-requisite for the admission to a master's degree, and some new skills are gained during the master's degree studies.
Practical skills and abilities of the graduate
The graduate is capable of working with a group and plan and manage group dynamics. They are capable of transforming their socio-psychological knowledge into practical activities. The graduate knows how to plan and manage a variety of didactic methods, knows children needs in adolescence and is able to build comprehensive educational programmes. They can actively manage extracurricular children activities.