Power in student teacher classrooms

The project "Power in the classrooms of teaching students" (GA13-24456S) is financed by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic.

Project manager: Kateřina Vlčková

Implementation team: Jan Mareš, Zuzana Šalamounová, Kateřina Lojdová, Jarmila Bradová, Josef Lukas, Tomáš Kohoutek, Radek Pospíšil

The aim of the research project "Power in the classrooms of teaching students" is to describe how power is perceived, negotiated and exercised between teacher students and their pupils in teaching at the 2nd grade of a Czech primary school during long-term practice. At the same time, the concept of power is understood in the sense of a mutual relationship, which is constantly developed in the classroom.

We assume that the results of the research investigation will contribute to the understanding of power establishment and negotiation as an important process of educational reality, and moreover in the important period of preparation for the teaching profession. The focus on student teachers, and therefore future teachers, is intentional in relation to the topic, as it is student teachers (and subsequently beginning teachers) who are most concerned with, and most concerned about, issues of the establishment and exercise of power in classrooms in the context of their teaching practice.

The results of the research can also contribute to the current discussion about teacher quality standards, where the topic of the new trend in the setting of power relations in school classrooms is discussed, and the related requirements for undergraduate teacher training.

The proposed project is also important at the methodological level, as it is built in such a way that it is based on the principles of qualitative and quantitative research, not as two separate research procedures, but in an interconnected way - that is, as required by mixed research. We anticipate that the research inquiry will thus contribute to a deeper understanding of the possibilities of a quality mixed research design.

The results of the research can also be considered significant at the level of application, as the description of the phenomenon of power in the real environment of a school classroom taught by teacher students can be used in undergraduate teacher training. At the same time, this is a topic that can be applied in the preparation of teacher students, regardless of the disciplinary difference.

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