If you are at least a little familiar with the assessment of the scientific work of the university worker, you know that we are supposed to publish our outcomes only in the specialized journals which are recognized and have so-called “impact factor”. This measure had been probably well-intentioned on the beginning, but in the Czech praxis it led us to the situation, in which the group of already established “scientists” who are responsible for the content of the impacted journals makes the decision who get the opportunity to publish.
In the period of the paradigm change, which surely technology brings to pedagogy, the role of such gang is to dig in the current position and defend the old ideas. Maybe this is the main reason why I don’t send any of my work there. The condition for the acceptation is to use the same “language” and fully accept their leading position. I hope you understand.
To survive at the position of the university teacher I am regularly asked for scientific points, but I don’t have them. (Notice that any of my very often published articles on the main Czech educational portal read by thousands of people is not recognized – see What is the value of the help for teachers?) In this situation I decided to try the only other possible solution. As the Czech Science Foundation affirms that their proposals are evaluated by the foreign experts and we have to write them in English I decided to take this opportunity. In 2012 I prepared my first proposal (for 2013) to this institution. I asked for ¼ of my salary for 2 years to write a monograph describing the necessary change in field of teacher preparation caused by the technology influence. The complete proposal is here.
It was refused with the substantiation that the scientific level of the proposal is not enough high. So, I made a change, added the formative research with the outcomes in form of several case studies and applied again in 2013 with the new proposal. The result was the same. The main objection was the lack of appropriate scientific publications and presentations on conferences, even if I promised to promote the outcomes online and publish all materials under the CC licence.
My intention was to make the third trial this year, but they changed the rules. All applicants with 2 unsuccessful attempts last 2 years are prohibited to apply. By this rule I can apply again next year, but I am not able to say if I would find the will to do it.
I don’t have the intention to question the assessment of the reviewers or complain. You can see the proposals and make your own opinion. The only what I wonder is the fact that all the reviews (which I got in anonymous form) was written in Czech. This means that the money of the Czech Science Foundation at least in field of pedagogy is under the control of the same gang as our impacted journals. It seems to me I have a zero chance to succeed here.
With EdTech to Openness 