Teachers under the Microscope

About the Book

The book offers a detailed and systematically processed excursion into research on the teaching profession. For her comparison of research on teachers in several central European as well as Western countries, the author used a three-dimensional analysis of research into the teaching profession, based on three conceptual themes: chronology of research studies and their categorization in terms of topics and methodology. “The diachronic view enabled the author to capture the changes and trends in teacher research at two key stages. The problematic pre-democracy period is described very objectively and correctly in the cultural-historical and political context of such conditions, in which the pedeutologic research was carried out. The author has managed to capture the key historical moments and especially their political and ideological context that severely interfered with the concept and results of pedeutologic research and determined its direction and published outputs. Socio-political transformation after 1989 not only affected the educational system and education reality, but created new challenges and opportunities for research on the teaching profession.” (A. Seberová, reviewer) “The author presents the findings and analysis of how the research on teachers developed, not only its themes and methods, but particularly major changes in pedeutological thinking and independency of research.” (B. Kasáčová, reviewer)

About the Author

Dana Hanesová graduated from Comenius University in Scientific Information and Librarianship (1982). After the Velvet revolution, she completed her second Master’s Degree in Pedagogy and Teaching English at Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica (1994). She obtained a doctorate in Foreign Language Teaching in 2003. She has been teaching several teacher training programmes at Matej Bel University since 1993, teaching undergraduates, graduates and doctorants. In 2005 she became an Associate Professor of Teaching Science. She has been also actively involved in primary school teaching for a decade. She has been a speaker at 100 conferences, half of them outside of Slovakia. Her fields of research are: pedeutology (science on teaching profession), comparative education, pedagogy of teaching English as a foreign language and of Religious Education. Dana has been involved in several international projects and written 14 books and study texts and over 200 studies. In 2004 she received the European label of quality for initiatives in language teaching.