Current trends in education and their application in lifelong education of English teachers

This dissertation thesis deals with lifelong education, specifically a programme provided by the Department of English Language and Literature at Charles University, Prague. The thesis is divided into two parts: theoretical and research. In the theoretical part, the theoretical basis of lifelong education is analysed, as well as trends in selected aspects of it. In the research part, data about appropriate programmes from other European countries as well as curricula from other universities and colleges in the Czech Republic and from abroad are analysed. The results of the pilot stage, the questionnaire distributed among the successful participants of the lifelong education programme, which are followed by semi-structured interviews, are presented and compared. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the teachers teaching in this programme. Content analysis is used to process, compare and interpret the collected data with regard to the programme in question and to the aims of the thesis. The main aims of the dissertation thesis are to find out how similar programmes are structured in the Czech Republic and abroad, what expectations the participants had before starting the programme at Charles University and the extent to which they were met, and whether or not they regard the..