(CZ) Charakteristické znaky středoškolské třídy a jejich vzájemný vztah
(EN) Characteristic Features of a Secondary School Class and Their Interrelationship

The authors of this article report on the results of the research work carried out by the educational and psychological laboratory of the Vocational Schooling Research Institute set up in the secondary economic school in Prague 10, in which a team of scientific methodological workers in sociology, social and personality psychology co-operates with some selected members of the teaching staff of the school. In the first stage the research subject was a class as a formative factor and simultaneously a resultant of nearly all the forces existing in the school which mould the character of the class. The characteristic features that were picked out in the first place was the efficiency of the class as shown in the average results attained by all the pupils of the class in all the subjects. The abilities of the class were expressed by the average IQ of all the pupils on the basis of the I-S-T / Amthauer test. The conduct of the class was expressed by two characteristics. The socially emotive climate of the class was ascertained by the index of mutual sympathies worked out on the basis of sociometric choices of pupils. The study morale was evaluated by the teachers. The average absenteeism was used as an auxiliary indicator of the study morale. The pedagogical and social level of the teaching staff and the form master were described by the headmaster's evaluation. The characteristics of the inner dynamic of the class and its structure were expressed by the index of mutual influence on the basis of sociometric choices. The following definite inter-dependences between characteristic features were discovered by the correlation technique: The average results attained by the class showed a high degree of dependence on the study morale of the class, their relation to the intellectual level was definitely weak, especially in the senior classes. But the experiment in predicting results on the basis of the two data proved successful. The level of social relationships in the class, especially mutual sympathies, is definitely dependent on the social aspect of the personally of the form master. A positive dependence appeared between the level of socially emotive relationships and the average level of intelligence. In the senior classes there was an intensive, negative relation between the intellectual level of the class and absenteeism. In conclusion the authors give a critical review of the methods used and put forward hypotheses about the relationship of the characteristics of the form master and the class, about the relationship of the class structure to its pedagogical and social characteristics. They inform readers about further researches to be carried out, particularly making a factor analysis of the data obtained and carrying out a more detailed longitudinal research into the structure of the class and the pedagogical factors influencing it.