History

The Department of Civic Education was established at the Faculty of Education of Charles University after 1989. It provided undergraduate training for teachers of civic education at elementary schools and social sciences at secondary schools. In the early 1990s, it played a significant role in developing a new concept for the university training of teachers of civic education and social sciences. At the same time, its members collaborated on new pedagogical documentation for relevant subjects taught at primary and secondary schools. In this way, they significantly influenced their overall focus, content, and structure.

During the 1990s, the department and its members participated in a number of research projects focused primarily on the didactics of the field, university teacher training, and the socio-economic status of teachers. In an international context, they worked on the EU Socrates – Comenius project: Education for Citizenship in Europe, together with colleagues from the United Kingdom, Spain, and the Netherlands.

In 2001, the Department of Civic Education merged with the Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy of Education, which until then had been responsible for teaching university foundation courses at the faculty.

Over the years, the department has been home to Otakar A. Funda, Petr Piťha, Radim Palouš, Václav Peřich, Jaroslava Pešková, Jiří Přibáň, Oldřich Selucký, Jan Sokol, Cyril Svoboda, Štěpán Špinka, Ivan Odilo Štampach, Zdeněk Pinc, and many others.