History Teaching; Professional Didactic; Empirical Research; Historical consciousness; Czech history

Professional didactic research in the area of history has been developing in the Czech Republic since the mid-1990s, mainly at the Department of History of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ostrava. This study examines the concept of empirical research on historical consciousness and the current state of teaching history in the Czech Republic implemented in 2011. Mixed qualitative and quantitative research were performed (focus groups, questionnaire surveys, in-depth interviews) in a group of 2,524 respondents (students of primary schools, secondary vocational schools, gymnasiums [secondary schools], history education students and history teachers themselves) from nine regions in the Czech Republic. The paper describes theoretical and methodological bases, and presents partial results of the research concerning selected aspects of the relationship of students and teachers towards history and specifically towards the history of the Czech lands.