Geographers and geography teachers of primary and secondary schools, and universities of the Czech Republic responded in their professional and general geographical preparation to processes of political, economic, social and societal changes that took place in the world, on the European continent and in the Czech Republic.

1. Geographers with the New Aims of Geographical Education Realization

• Geographers became acquainted with the new aims of the geographical education, they have accepted them and placed them into the educational programmes and into the educational process. These aims were formulated by international organizations.
• Geographers accepted all changes in the world political map that happened after 1990 /Germany, USSR, Czechoslovakia, Jugoslavia/ and they began a completely new conceptual teaching of the Regional Geography. The main chances appeared in the European regional geography teaching, where not only traditional teaching of the geography of the continents was included. The new structures that have appeared here are: European Union Geography, Geography of the European countries that stream to be members of the European Union, Geography of Euroregions.
• The production of textbooks and atlases was very progressive, too. Over 80 geographical textbooks for primary and secondary schools were published / not only in the framework of today educational programmes but for all continents too /. Maps of the European Union have been placed to some of the school geographical atlases.

• Geographers started using of a new cathegory of sources of geographical information, for example the informational sources of the Internet. New educational subjects, for example European Integration, European Economic Integration, Geography of the European Union, have been placed into the university educational programmes for the professional education of geographers and geography teachers. Geographical centre of the West Bohemian University has placed Geography of Bavaria and Saxony to its educational programme.

1. Geographers´Activities for the Integrating Europe

• University geographers of the Czech Republic acquainted with the European Union textbook by J. COLE and F. COLE and by A. H. DAWSON. Only one teaching material / “ Economic Geography of the European Union “ by I. JÁÈ from the Technical University of Liberec / has been published by the Czech authors yet. Much higher geographers´activity can be seen in new geographical textbooks of Europe for primary and secondary schools publishing.
• University geographical work-places owing to their technical possibilities regularly use the European Union and EUROSTAT / the European Union Statistical Service / data base. Government and ministry informational sources are used on the national level / eg. EUROSKOP and Web Pages of the Local Development Ministry /. Many Czech publications about the European integration and ihe European Union are known and used. The acquaintance with the treaties / Maastricht, Amsterodam / is intensified, the same as the acquiantance with other specialized documents that have a direct link-up to geography.

Information about the regional units nomenclature /statisticaly called NUTS/ became one part of the professional preparation. The undrstanding of regional and over-frontier cooperation in the framework of euroregions, associations and labour partnership is increasing. The information about the European Union countries, residences, resident aglomerations, economical potential and national economy sector structure are at disposal. Economic parameters of the European Union countries are regularly compared to the equivalent ones in the U. S. A. and Japan.

• The university professional preparation of the geography teachers has been modified according to the new European reality. The didactic preparation has been realized by the Didactics of Geography: since the academic year 1992/93 to the geography teachers preparation have been placed:
• European dimension in geographical teaching
• education to the europeansism in geographical teaching

• creation competences for Europe
• euroregions of the Czech Republic with the European Union countries,

New and actual information for just teaching geography teachers was disseminated owing to “Geographical Outline” magazine and many other opportunities organized mostly by the university geographical departments. The direct knowledge of the European countries and countries of the European Union in the framework of teachrs´ official and private journeys is a positive fact, too. In 1999 “The European Union in Geographical Education” handbook / by P. ŠINDLER and A. WAHLA / was published for geography teachers.

3. Actual Tasks of the Geographical Eduction for the Integrating Europe
1. Geographers´University Professional Preparation

To evaluate the current contribution and level of the “European” geographical preparation / from the point of view of the study subjects, content and extent /. To compare this state to geographers´ preparation in some countries of the European Union and to the situation in Poland, Slovakia, Hungar yand Slovenija.

3.2 Geography Teachers´University Professional Preparation

To evaluate the current contribution and level of the geographical and didactic preparation considering the needs of the European dimension realization and education to the Europeanism at primary and secondary schools. From the geographical point of view it is Geography of Europe and of the European Union Geography. From the didactic point of view they are realization of aims and needs formed by official educational programmes, didactic usage of the Geography of Europe and school geographical atlases, usage of verbal and non-verbal informational sources, usage of the Internet informational sources, usage of other organizational teaching forms /Day for Europe, etc./.

To use initiations collected on international geographical conferences of the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia/ Ostrava 1997, 1998, Sosnowiec 1999, Banská Bystrica 2000/, that were dedicated European dimension realization in geographical education. To compare the professional preparation to chosen European countries.

3. Teaching Geography Teachers´Professional Preparation

To provide recent information for these teachers in magazines and to organize regional workshops about the European dimension in geographical education for them.

4. Textbook Production

To arrange publishing of new geographical textbooks of Europe with ballanced contribution of the European Union Geography in the harmony with the International Charter of the geographic education in the part of thematical and regional geographical education. To consider the usage of approaches and processes applied in some European Union countries in the textbooks publishing.

/1/ COLE, J. – COLE, F. /1993/: The Geography of the European Community. London,

Routledge

/2/ COLE, J. – COLE, F. /1997/: The Geography of the European Union. London,

Routledge

/3/ DAWSON, A.H. /1993/: A Geography of European Inegration. London, Belhoven Press

/4/ ŠINDLER, P. – WAHLA, A. /1999/: Evropská unie v geografickém vzdìlávání. Ostrava,

Ostravian University

Brief resume of geographers´and geography teachers´activities in the Czech Republic in the realization of European dimension in geographical education in 1999 – 2000. Geographers and geography teachers at primary and secondary schools, and at universities in the Czech Republic have responded in their professional and general geographical preparation to processes of political, economic, social and societal changes, that proceed in the world, on the European continent, and in the Czech Republic.

Geographers responded to new geographical education goals. They prepared new geographical textbooks, started to realize european dimension in geographical education and education to the Europeanism. Contentual and didactic part of European dimension realization have become a permanent component of geographical teachers´education.