PhD study

The doctoral study program Mathematics Education, which has been accredited at PedF UK since 1991, is aimed at educating mathematics education researchers and educators working at universities. It aims to prepare qualified researchers with a focus on the study of problems associated with mathematics education at primary and secondary schools and the education of mathematics teachers. Graduates can work at faculties preparing teachers of mathematics, whose teaching of mathematics education and related subjects should be led by experts in this scientific field. On the other hand, it is necessary to look for ways to improve the quality of mathematics teaching, either in the form of writing teaching texts, which should be research-based, or directly through teaching in schools. There, graduates of the doctoral study in Mathematics Education can create a professional environment that will become inspiring for other mathematics teachers, lead to wider cooperation between teachers and contribute to the cultivation of mathematics education.

Profile

A graduate of the doctoral studies in Mathematics Education study program is prepared to solve theoretical and applied questions of mathematical education of the population and to carry out scientific and pedagogical activities in this area. He/she contributes to the improvement of the mathematical education of pupils and to the professionalism of teachers in the form of preparation and verification of teaching texts, the implementation of pedagogical research and further education of teachers or by teaching mathematics itself. He/she can work at universities, scientific institutes and as a highly qualified teacher-mediator between research and practice. He/she can: recognize the current main topics of the study program; design, implement and evaluate research producing original results; consistently monitor domestic and foreign professional literature and critically assess it; publish the results of his/her work in peer-reviewed journals, at research conferences, in textbooks, or in monographs.

Entry requirements for applicants

An applicant for doctoral studies in Mathematics Education is expected to:
- show interest and demonstrable activities in the field of mathematics education (e.g., presentation at seminars or conference for teachers, professional publications, etc.),
- familiarize himself/herself with research journals and monographs related to mathematics education,
- be able to read with understanding research literature on mathematics education and pedagogy and psychology,
- have an idea of ​​the issue that he/she wants to address in his/her doctoral studies,
- be able to review literature on the proposed issue and elaborate on the way he/she would like to investigate it.

The admission procedure is conducted in the form of a professional debate, which concerns:
– topics of the intended study; for this part of the debate, the applicant submits a written document in advance of up to 10 pages, and it is expected that this project will contain own ideas and a list of source literature,
– studied didactic and mathematical literature,
– the applicant´s previous teaching experience.

Applicants should contact the chair of the PhD Board (prof. Vondrová: nada.vondrova@pedf.cuni.cz) before their own entrance exam and consult their ideas about research and a possible supervisor.

More information about the PhD study at the Faculty of Education, Charles University can be found on the website of the Scientific Department.

Study obligations and individual study plan

The study plan, which forms the basis for creating an ISP (individual study plan), can be downloaded here. Some additional information follows.

• The student continuously works on his/her dissertation, that is, he/she conceives, implements and evaluates his/her own research. He/she continuously consults with his/her supervisor. The formal requirements for the dissertation can be found on the website of the Scientific Department, as well as the relevant defence application forms.
• Before submitting the dissertation, it is necessary to send N. Vondrová a list of the doctoral student´s publication activities (formatted according to the model here) and a list of his/her presentations at conferences and other professional events. After submitting the dissertation, the doctoral student will also send its pdf version to N. Vondrová (nada.vondrova@pedf.cuni.cz). The work will then be sent to the members of the commission, whose composition is approved by the PhD Board.
• The PhD Board recommends that every doctoral student, if possible, implements part of his/her studies abroad. The Department of Mathematics and Mathematical Education has relatively rich cooperation with many foreign workplaces. This means that PhD students can apply to stay abroad under the Erasmus programme for students. The minimum stay is 3 months and the stay can be extended for one year. You can find the current list of workplaces to which a trip is possible on the faculty website of the foreign department, Erasmus section. It is always a workplace assigned to KMDM. More information will be provided by the Erasmus cathedral coordinator, doc. Jirotková (darina.jirotkova@pedf.cuni.cz), who can also recommend a suitable foreign workplace. Every year (mostly in the spring), KMDM announces an audition for a stay abroad in the following school year.
• The doctoral student records active activities with pupils (e.g. when organizing mathematical competitions, clubs, etc.), authorship of tasks for official bodies, cooperation in writing textbooks or other didactic texts, participation in further teacher education, etc. These activities are reported in as part of the annual assessments in September.
• The specific focus and study literature for the doctoral state examination is determined by the relevant examiner in relation to the focus of the student´s dissertation. The application form can be downloaded from the website of the Scientific Department. The application form is filled out by the doctoral student in cooperation with his/her supervisor and submitted to the Chair of the PhD Board (at least three months before the planned event). She will organize the date of the exam. At least 14 days before the exam, it is necessary to send to N. Vondrová: (a) final papers from the subject Mathematics Education 1 - specifically a description of your research in terms of methodology (max. 5 pages) and research, (b) a list of five to ten titles in the field didactics of mathematics, mathematics, pedagogy and psychology, which the doctoral student studied and which are not directly related to the topic of the thesis (see also the list of literature below). These materials will be provided to committee members.

Answers to frequently asked questions

• The study is not an online study, it is not possibly to study entirely from another country. It is necessary to be present in Prague regularly.
• Course Mathematics Education 1 does not have to precede course Mathematics Education 2.
• Course Mathematics Education 2 is announced ad hoc, according to the possibilities of the department. Consult with the Chair of the PhD Board.
• The psychology and pedagogy courses can be agreed upon individually with the lecturers (after consultation with the supervisor and the Chair of the PhD Board), the student can also choose from the faculty´s official offer - see the website of the Scientific Department, Courses and Seminars, field of Educational Psychology, Pedagogy, Special pedagogy).
• The topic of the course on Mathematics should be discussed with prof. Kvasz (ladislav.kvasz@pedf.cuni.cz).
• The foreign language exam is provided by the Foreign Languages ​​Office. See the website of the Scientific Department.
• All printed materials for to the Scientific Department (e.g. test reports, ISP, etc.) should be handed in to the departmental secretary, who will take them to the Scientific Department.

Useful information

• The PhD Board has prepared a list of literature that they consider essential for doctoral studies in Mathematics Education. The document also contains information on sources that can be used in the preparation of a dissertation, including an overview of databases of world journals.
• Where to find electronic resources for the dissertation: We recommend checking the website of the Faculty of Education library, which shows up-to-date information on access to professional literature. You can access Electronic Information Resources via the library website (it is not necessary to log in from the faculty computer, you can log in from your home computer using the E-Proxy Portal with your doctoral student or employee card number and the password you received when obtaining this card). When you get to the e-resources portal, you will see various databases. For the field of mathematics didactics, we recommend Kluwer (i.e. Springer), Current Content, Proquest, Science Direct, Web of Knowledge. In most cases, you will be able to download pdf versions of entire articles or even books. The university subscribes to the electronic version of a number of journals. Their composition is constantly changing, so it is a good idea to check the mentioned pages from time to time. You can start your search via the universal search engine www.ukaz.cuni.cz.
• List of copied articles, books and proceedings available in the so-called Golden Fund of the Department. Here is a list of the most important journals in our field.
• A useful way of making systematic review is so called PRISMA (see also http://www.prisma-statement.org/PRISMAStatement/Checklist, http://www.prisma-statement.org/PRISMAStatement/FlowDiagram - Flow diagram). A more detailed description of how it works can be found here.
• There is a very important book Compendium for early career researchers in mathematics education.
• Here is a presentation from the PhD school in May 2024, which points out important information about writing journal articles (and also the thesis or a proceedings paper) from the Compendium. You can watch a video of the presentation in which the presenter comments on the presentation and points out possible problems when writing a journal article:

For other useful information, please continue to this link.