The Accreditation Committee

1. Acknowledged the faculty’s sound starting position in 1995, and further improvement in the course of the last two years.
2. Appreciated the purposeful work of the faculty administration.
3. Appreciated the exemplary personnel policy.
4. Rated highly the research work carried out at the faculty.
5. Appreciated the efforts at co–operation between the faculties of the Masaryk University.

The Faculty has been proceeding with both research and creative activities, in accordance with its obligation to prepare and educate a new generation of teachers: erudite in their field, morally mature and methodologically well prepared. Therefore, most of the creative efforts concentrate upon the pedagogical process.

Out of 24 monographs published, ten come from the departments of pedagogy and special pedagogy. The authorship of monographs and book popularisations has increased by 120 % . The amount of original works, as well as popularisations in books, magazines, TV and radio programmes has increased by almost 100 % ; the volume of TV and radio recordings, exhibitions and participation in collective exhibitions grew by the same proportion.

There are 21 teachers working in expert committees of grant agencies. The number of invitations to lecture at universities abroad has increased, along with the number of publications abroad. The faculty has five programmes of postgraduate studies.

In 1998, the faculty succeeded in obtaining six grants from the University Development Fund, five grants from the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic, one grant from the Presentation Fund, three grants from the Ministry of Education, one grant from the EU, one grant from CEEPUS and five grants from HESP. The faculty also proceeded in the co–operation on the TEMPUS project.

In 1998, numerous events were held contributing to the prestige of the faculty. The Department of Czech Literature earned a certificate from the foundation the Golden Fund of Czech Literature for Children and Youth; the Department of Czech Language organised the international conference ”Onomastics and School” and ”Forum bohemicum VIII”; the Department of Musical Education organised the 18^th conference ”Musica viva in schola”. The Faculty received the noted American poet Gary Snyder. An agreement was signed with McLennan Community College, Waco, Texas, USA on reciprocal visits of students and lecturers. The Department of French Language and Literature organized an international symposium on ”New Trends in the Teaching of French”.

The Department of History held the 13^th season of archaeological research of the Great-Moravian highlands settlement of St. Hypolitus in Znojmo, making several important discoveries: Great-Moravian burial grounds with weapons and jewellery, and the foundations of a church from the middle of the 9^th century, a unique example of ecclesiastical architecture.

The Department of Musical Education along with the Department of Art Education took part in numerous activities unique to the Faculty of Education. The lecturers and students of the Department of Art Education participated in 21 exhibitions, of which two were international and five were held abroad. The teachers of the Department of Musical Education participated in numerous piano, organ and singing concerts. The faculty choirs were successful in several competitions. The lecturers and students of the Department of Art Education organised an art instruction studio in the refugee camp in Zastávka u Brna. The Department of Musical Education founded a new choir GAUDEAMUS, with Alexander Vacek as the choirmaster.

The Institute of Physical Education held the Academic Championship of Men and Women in Volleyball. (The women’s team of the Faculty of Education of Masaryk University won the title of academic champions of the Czech Republic, the men’s team won third place.)

The central library of the faculty acquired 5,891 documents in 1998, received subscriptions to 280 periodicals, and offered over 3,100 users a wide range of services: working with CD-ROM, background research work, following a quotation index, an electronic inter–library lending service, and other information services. More than 41,000 volumes were borrowed in the course of the year. In the study room of the library, 5,500 volumes were readily available to the public. In 1998, 28,000 people made use of the study. Accepted grant projects (FRVŠ and HESP) contributed to the success of the library’s work.

The programmes leading to the magistr (Master’s) degree have traditionally been focused upon subjects of general education, qualifying the students to become teachers at primary schools and lower secondary schools, and upon the teaching at first level of primary schools, where all the students in their first year are obliged to choose a specialisation out of twelve options. In subjects which have been accredited for the third level of schools, students earn qualifications to teach at secondary schools and art schools. With all these programmes, students are required to study a combination of two subjects.

Along with the Mgr. programmes, the faculty conducted a programme leading to the degree of Bc. (Bachelor) in social pedagogy focusing on leisure time, a Bc. programme for extramural students in special pedagogy, and several programmes of supplementary and augmenting studies within the framework of life–long education.

In spite of the stretched finances, the faculty managed to keep up the increasing trend in international contacts, by means of direct invitations from abroad, funding through various grants or international programmes, and to a smaller extent also through partnership agreements with universities abroad, from the quotas of the Ministry of Education or AIA, and through individual contacts. Altogether, 135 trips were made into 25 countries, and 184 teachers and lecturers took part. The destination countries were: Slovakia (37 trips / 60 teachers), Germany (25 / 31), Austria (21 / 28), Poland (9 / 10), Denmark, France, Switzerland, USA, Italy, Hungary, Sweden and others. The most frequent reasons of the trips were study stays (55) and conferences and symposia (57). A number of the trips provided an opportunity to deliver a lecture. Five teachers took part in sessions of expert committees or scientific councils.

In 1998, altogether 101 students took part in long–term study or research stays abroad, mostly in Germany, and also France, Poland, Finland, Denmark, the USA and elsewhere. In addition to that, 254 students made field trips to and took skiing training in Slovakia, Germany or Italy.

There were also numerous visits of significant scholars to the Faculty of Education (47 occasions / 93 guests). They came to take part in academic meetings, carry out shared programmes, deliver lectures, participate in scholarly discussions, or for short–term research work. The visiting scholars came mostly from Germany, Austria and Poland. International visitors came in particular for the international conference on ”Educational Needs for the Future”, ”Musica viva in schola”, the 36^th International Symposium on Functional Equations, and the international colloquium Orff Schulwerk.

Compared to 1997, the number of publications of the faculty decreased slightly: there were 49 titles published (4,450 pages). More monographs were published than in the previous year and there were seven reviewed almanacs. The faculty also published internal textbooks and lecture notes, intended primarily for faculty students, although some of them are also used at other faculties in the Czech Republic.

The co–operation between the academic senate and the faculty administration in 1998 was efficient and well co–ordinated. The chairman of the senate was regularly informed on the activities and intents of the administration at the meetings of the dean’s advisory board. The chairman and the vice–chairman of the students’ chamber of the senate also have regular meetings, at least once a fortnight. These arrangements were kept unchanged after the recent election to the students’ chamber of the academic senate.

Following the suggestions of the faculty, Masaryk University awarded, on March 3, 1998, honorary doctoral degrees in philology to Prof. Dr. Jan Svartvik, honorary professor at the University of Lund, Sweden, and Prof. Dr. Alois Jedlička, honorary professor at Charles University in Prague.

Jan Svartvik is the pre–eminent contemporary English scholar from the non–English speaking countries. He is co–author of a major compendium of English grammar, A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. At Lund University, he assembled a major body of spoken English, published as a book in 1980. He is the author of numerous grammar books and exercises and has also concentrated on applied linguistics. Since the 1960s he has kept close contacts with Brno English scholars.

Alois Jedlička is one of the foremost scholars in Czech and Slavonic language studies. He worked on two of the most important dictionaries of the Czech language: Příruční slovník and Slovník spisovného jazyka českého. His and Havránek’s grammar book Česká mluvnice, the abridged version of which, Stručná mluvnice česká, has already been published in 25 editions and remains an unsurpassed source of scholarly knowledge. Another facet of his research work is stylistics (Základy stylistiky). Alois Jedlička is the author of dozens of other textbooks for all types of schools.

• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bohuslav Klíma – Rector’s Award
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Michal Košut – Award for the best Czech participant in the international composer competition Musica Nova 98
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. František Čapka – Golden Ribbon of the Youth Literature Club and Czech section of IBBY
• Dr. Petr Jemelka – 1^st place in the postgraduate category of the Josef Vavroušek Award
• Prof. Dr. Přemysl Hauser – Testimonial Medal at the 650^th anniversary of Charles University
• Prof. Dr. Miloslav Buček – Masaryk University Choir, choirmaster – 5^th place at the Festival Internacional de Música de Cantonigrós in Spain