LEARNING TO TEACH: AN EVALUATION OF THE PREPARATION OF DOCTORAL STUDENTS TO LEAD THEIR OWN TEACHING

Abstract

Studying in doctoral study programmes of universities is quite often based on individual study plans of PhD students, under the guidance of a supervisor, or with the participation of a consultant. The main content of such studies is systematic creative scientific work with an emphasis on the topic of the dissertation. However, among other things, students usually participate in the management and preparation of teaching in bachelor or master study programmes to the required extent as a part of the study plan. Therefore, it is quite common for the students to teach on top of undertaking their research, and for this teaching practice, they should be provided with quality training on how to teach. In this context, the paper focuses on the multidisciplinary course “Didactic and Presentation Skills” for students of doctoral study programmes of one of the public universities in the Czech Republic. The course mainly covers the basics of university teaching, psychology and other areas that develop didactic and presentation skills of university members as often some will remain at the university in the positions of junior academics and scientists. In addition to the theoretical fundamentals, considerable space is devoted to seminars with video training of skills with their analysis and self-reflection. The aim of the paper is to introduce the current experience of the university institute of a Czech university with the development of doctoral students' competences needed for teaching. Furthermore, the results of the course evaluation in the academic year 2021/2022 from the perspective of doctoral students are presented. Among the topics provided, the respondents themselves attach the greatest weight to practical seminars on didactic and presentation skills, which they put in first place. Theory of communication and presentation skills and educational evaluation and educometrics are also considered essential by respondents, closely followed by the use of digital technologies in education, university pedagogy, psychological aspects of teaching, and activation methods. The study confirms the importance of preparing novice PhD students to adapt in teaching, to feel comfortable in a large auditorium, and to be confident in various situations that may happen at any time.