The preparedness of students from faculties of education in the czech republic for anti-racist education

The aim of the study was to determine the extent to which educational science university students in our country were prepared for the practice of anti-racist education - with respect to their attitudes and knowledge. It is the very nature of one‘s attitude and knowledge concerning foreign races, peoples and ethnic groups which the author believes to be crucial in educating pupils effectively against racism. The cohorts undergoing the investigation were as follows: 189 final class educational science students of the Charles University, Prague, the Palacký University, Hradec Králové, and 171 opening class students of the same universities - except for those at the Ostrava University. All 960 respondents were asked to fill in a questionnaire consisting of two, attitude and knowledge assessing parts, respectively. Two evaluation scales were also included aimed at the need for training teachers in anti-racist education competencies and determining the extent to which university educational schools provide such training. An analysis of the attitude-assessing questionnaire showed significant differences in respondents‘ attitudes. In evaluating the knowledge-assessing part of the questionnaire, the author adopted the conviction that a minimum of 50 % correct answers represented sufficient knowledge of the matter. This arbitrary limit was not reached by 42 % of the final class respondents and by 51 % of the opening class respondents. Therefore, as little as 9 % of educational science students do - in the course of their university training to become a teacher - cquire a certain amount of knowledge which would be sufficient to affect their attitude towards other ethnic groups and, consequently, make sure that conditions for a high quality education against racism are secured on their part. An decisive majority of respondents consider anti-racist education to be necessary and believe that up to the present, it has not been carried out sufficiently at university educational schools.