Teacher Preferences of Literature Curricula at Higher Secondary Schools in the Czech Republic

The current revision of national curricula documents in the Czech Republic is motivated by the increasing digitalization of society as well as the need to prepare students for future challenges linked with economic restructuring. The revision includes the reduction of teaching content as well as the establishment of a new range of student learning outcomes. This paper focuses on identifying teacher preferences with regard to the literature curriculum in terms of the curricular content and scope at higher secondary schools. Based on a thorough content analysis of current school curricula documents and textbooks, a so-called model maximum curriculum of literature was established as a basis for the construction of a questionnaire for teachers to express their preferred content. 20 secondary school teachers were selected according to their gender, type of school and duration of working experience as the sample for this study. The analysis found that teachers are satisfied with the current curriculum in terms of content and scope. However, two common tendencies were observed. Firstly, the majority of respondents agreed on the reduction of the curricular content devoted to older literature. Secondly, the reduction of curricular content was consistent in rejecting foreign thematic blocks and minor national literatures. The analysis also confirmed the teachers' lack of interest in including Asian, African, and Central and South American literature in the curriculum.