Faculty of Education

The Faculty of Education at UWB offers a total of 45 study programmes and 192 different combinations of double-disciplinary studies.

How do we influence the city and the region?

  • We have been educating teachers for more than three-quarters of a century.
  • We have more than 28 000 graduates.
  • Through our graduates we co-create (not only) our region.

Where are we heading?

Václav Chaloupek

The Faculty of Education in Pilsen was founded on 14 September 1948 as a branch of the already existing Faculty of Education of Charles University in Prague.

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The opening ceremony took place exactly two months later in the main hall of the Slovanská (nowadays and originally also Měšt’anská) Beseda.

Teaching was entrusted mainly to professors from Pilsen secondary schools or university professors and assistants from the faculty in Prague, and in the autumn of 1949 the faculty acquired its own building in Veleslavín Street.

The promising development of the new faculty was halted by the intervention of the communist government, which gained unlimited power over universities by a law of May 1950.

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Already in the autumn of 1950, the training of teachers of national schools (i.e. today’s first grade of primary school) was transferred to the newly established pedagogical grammar schools. In 1953, the faculty was downgraded to a Higher Pedagogical School, only in Prague a College of Pedagogy was established, preparing teachers for secondary schools, or for the 9th-11th grades of the then eleven-year-old schools.

The senseless reform was terminated in 1959 and the higher pedagogical schools (including the Prague College of Education) were replaced by pedagogical institutes administered by individual regions.

Since 1964, the Faculty of Education in Pilsen has existed essentially continuously

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The growing number of students necessitated further expansion of the teaching facilities – the faculty acquired a building on the then 1. máje Avenue (today Klatovská Street), and the construction of dormitories in Bory (Baarova, Máchova, Heyrovského) fell into the same period.

In the 1970s and 1980s, approximately 1400-1500 students were educated at the faculty each year.The building on today’s Klatovská třída underwent a number of building modifications, especially to the gymnasium, art studios and sanitary facilities.

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The dean’s office of the faculty was moved from Veleslavín Street to Sedláčkova Street, the faculty built and owned the educational and recreational centre Rybník in Český les and took over the management of the swimming pool in Lochotín.

The fall of the communist regime in 1989 marked a major turning point in the development of the Pilsen Faculty of Education. Here, too, a student strike committee was formed and various meetings and discussions took place.

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The then dean, prof. PhDr. Vladimír Brichta, CSc. resigned and in his place was elected doc. Ing. Jiří Pyšek, CSc.

The new Higher Education Act of 1990 confirmed the right to self-government for universities. It established the Academic Senate, which originally had three chambers – the teaching chamber (13 members), the staff chamber (3 members) and the student chamber (5 members).

The Senate then elected in 1991 a new dean of the faculty, Assoc. RNDr. Jaroslav Drábek, CSc. There were also a number of changes in the internal organisation of the faculty – especially in the composition of individual departments.

Meeting of the Dean doc. Pysek with representatives of the University of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering led to an agreement on the creation of a joint university in Pilsen. It was established under the name of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen by merging the two schools on 28 September 1991.

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The growing number of students necessitated further expansion of the teaching facilities – the faculty acquired a building on the then 1. máje Avenue (today Klatovská Street), and the construction of dormitories in Bory (Baarova, Máchova, Heyrovského) fell into the same period.

Anniversary of the founding of the Faculty of Education of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen.
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The Faculty of Education is historically the oldest and in terms of the number of students also the largest faculty of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen?

graduates
graduates per year
  • The faculty lives in close connection with its city and region. This has been demonstrated in everyday practice, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic and during the arrival of Ukrainian children in Pilsen at the beginning of the Russian war in Ukraine. Both activities were recognized by the city of Pilsen in the form of a ceremonial presentation of a letter of appreciation.
  • During the covid period, students led a children’s group and an improvised school for children of Pilsen hospital employees, tutored children online, helped in hospitals, etc.
Students teach children during the covid period
volunteers helping Ukraine
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Study at the Faculty of Education is in close contact with teaching practice? The Faculty of Education of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen has a network of Pilsen faculty schools, which it is continuously developing.

The original concept of the Pilsen Faculty School connects studies with practice in schools as well as with research and personnel assistance to schools. The preparation of future teachers at the faculty is thus undergoing a gradual transformation in line with this concept.

Our students work with the latest technologies in teaching, the faculty has, for example, a virtual classroom, high-quality laboratories or robots designed for educational needs. Students are guided to use modern didactic methods, while at the same time we pay attention to the quality of the disciplinary component of their preparation.

The students also participate in the implementation of the Children’s University, which has been attended by hundreds of children from our region over the many years of its existence. They can choose from dozens of courses in science, technology, humanities, languages, arts and sports.

Despite many difficulties, the faculty has managed to maintain a complete spectrum of disciplines that naturally mirrors the needs of the region’s schools. Students can thus educate themselves in humanities, natural sciences, languages, arts or sports-oriented educational programmes, while simultaneously studying a pedagogical-psychological foundation.

At the faculty, we closely monitor the current development of the individual disciplines in which we educate our students. In addition, we also contribute to their development through our project, research and publication activities.

Lucie Kantorová

Inspiration and innovation in education

  • INSPIRE 2 – preparing teachers for the 21st century: The INSPIRE 2 project advances the education of future teachers at the University of West Bohemia and creates synergy between university teaching, practical experience, and international inspiration. It creates an environment where students, university lecturers, and school teachers can connect. It introduces new teaching methods into practice, such as paired teaching or accompanying teachers, and the community of practice is also worth mentioning. The result is graduates who are better prepared to handle the challenging situations of today’s schools.
  • In addition to major initiatives such as INSPIRE 2, the faculty is also involved in other projects, for example through the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TAČR). These projects respond to the current needs of schools and parents: how to help teachers work with students with epilepsy, how to make field teaching accessible through virtual reality, or how to teach future educators to handle challenging situations with children and their parents.
  • Art close to people: The faculty has long supported artistic activities that enrich cultural life in Pilsen and the surrounding area. It cooperates with a number of institutions, such as the West Bohemian Gallery, the European House Gallery, and the Korand Choir. This has resulted in concerts, exhibitions, and educational programs involving both teachers and students. These events connect the academic environment with the general public and show that the faculty is not only a place of education but also an active creator of the region’s cultural scene.
  • Center for Pedagogical Research (CPV): The Center for Pedagogical Research is a hub for innovation in education at the Faculty of Education, University of West Bohemia. It supports educators, doctoral students, and undergraduates in research methodology, collaborates with schools, and brings new knowledge and approaches to teaching at the faculty and regional schools.
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The Faculty of Education has long collaborated with a number of organizations. For example, it regularly organizes exercises for children with autism (PAS) in cooperation with the ProCit civic association.

Faculty of Education at ZČU dispels myths about teacher training

Myth 1: Young teachers don’t go into teaching. They leave the education system after graduating from college.

Percentage of FPE ZČU graduates who go on to teach.

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“The results of our surveys show that over 85% of graduates from teacher training programmes have entered schools in the last three years. There is a significant change between 2019 and 2020, with a 16 percentage point increase in the proportion of graduates remaining in education. Since then, this proportion has remained at about the same level,” notes Dean Pavel Mentlík. “For graduates of the Kindergarten Teaching and Elementary Teaching programs this year, we found that one hundred percent will teach at the grade level for which they studied at the faculty,” he notes. “That percentage is decreasing for Teaching for Upper Grades graduates. For teachers for the second level of primary school this year it was 93%, and for graduates of teaching for secondary schools 59% of them started at the corresponding level of school. Interestingly, according to our surveys, 90% of these graduates of teaching for the second level of primary and secondary schools stay with teaching their fields, they just start at a different level of school than the one they studied for,” adds the Dean of the Faculty of Education in Plzeň.

Myth 2: Young teachers are prepared without any connection to practice.

Percentage of FE UWB graduates who teach while studying.

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“School placements are an inseparable part of teacher training and we place great emphasis on their quality and their interconnection with teaching,” says Pavel Mentlík: “In addition, our research over several years shows that over 75% of teacher graduates are already teaching in schools during their studies.” According to Mentlik, the faculty is trying to accommodate them, although this problem has not yet been systematically solved. Sometimes, he says, teaching in schools clashes with teaching at the faculty. “Of course, a graduate of a faculty is not the same as an experienced teacher with experience. But the readiness of our graduates to teach in schools is improving. It is perhaps a question of whether all schools are ready for them,” reflects Pavel Mentlik.

Myth 3: Faculties of Education are unattractive and there is no interest in studying there.

Development of interest in studying at FE UWB: The blue curve shows the total number of applications to FE UWB. The red curve shows the number of applicants admitted to FE UWB.

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“Interest in studying at our faculty has been growing significantly since 2019. Over the last four years, the number of applications has increased by 1600. However, we can still accept approximately the same number of applicants – over that period, the number of admissions has increased by 275. There is more than a tenfold surplus of applicants for some fields of study,” says Pavel Mentlík.

How does our faculty further contribute?

  • Employees of the Faculty of Education of the UWB in Pilsen co-create new trends in the Czech education system through their participation in expert working groups or committees.
  • Whether it is a revision of the curricula in primary schools or, for example. reform of undergraduate teacher education.
  • The faculty is open to the general public, and interested parties can try out studying through special studies or expand their qualifications through the faculty’s lifelong learning program.
  • Od LS 2026 bude fakulta otevírat také studentskou univerzitu UniTEEN (pro středoškoláky), detailní informace a přihlášky budou k dispozici až v průběhu podzimu.