Tomas Bata University in Zlín

Short Biography

Jan Kalenda is an associate professor of adult education and director of PhD studies at the Faculty of Humanities, Tomas Bata University in Zlín (TBU), with extensive managerial and research skills. Between 2017 and 2022, he served as vice-rector for educational activities and quality management. He was responsible for implementing new standards for higher education institutions at TBU and developing its quality assurance system, including obtaining national and European (EUA) accreditation for TBU. He was appointed to this function as one of the youngest academics in the Czech Republic. In this role, he led several large-scale projects from the EU funds with a cumulative budget of over 25 million EUR. During this period, he was twice honoured as the best employee of the Faculty of Humanities, TBU.

After the end of this administrative tenure, he spent the academic year 2022/2023 as a Fulbright fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he wrote his first book in English – Formation of Adult Learning Systems in Central Europe: 1989 to 2019 (Kalenda, 2024, under review). As a researcher, he has participated in many scientific projects focusing on lifelong learning and related policy, supported by the Czech Science Agency (GAČR), Slovakia Science Agency (VEGA), European Training Foundation (ETF), CEDEFOP, or ERASMUS plus from the European Commission. Furthemorre, for over ten years, he has been actively involved in research on lifelong learning participation, its barriers and drivers, self-regulation of learning and adult education systems and policies.

Beyond his Fulbright fellowship at UCLA, he has gained vital international experience from his research stays and collaboration with colleagues from the University of Glasgow, the German Institute of Adult Education (DIE), the University of Malaga, the University of Girona, Avignon University and the Arctic University of Trømso.

Research Profile

Associate Professor Jan Kalenda has developed a diverse interdisciplinary profile from the outset of hic career. This has allowed him to extend research interests beyond the field of adult education. Drawing on approaches and methods borrowed from sociology (Kalenda et al., 2023a), psychology (Kalenda & Kočvarová, 2022c), digital studies (Karger & Kalenda, 2023, in press), and historical institutionalism (Kalenda 2024, under review), he has tried to enrich research regarding lifelong learning participation. His primary research aim is to push the frontiers of knowledge concerning engagement in lifelong learning and the evolution of adult learning systems. In this regard, his dominant research up to this date has focused on three interrelated topics:

1. Participation in Lifelong Learning: Factors and processes affecting participation in lifelong learning, including not only social and institutional factors but also a set of psychosocial factors, like motivation, barriers and attitudes (see e.g. Kalenda, 2021, 2023; Kalenda & Kočvarová, 2022a, 2022b, 2022c; Kalenda et al., 2020, 2022a, 2022b, 2023a, 2023b);
2. Theoretical and Methodological Innovations: Applying new theoretical and methodological approaches to Czech social science, especially education, including situational analysis, historical institutionalism, the political economy of education and self-determination theory (see e.g., Kalenda, 2016a, 2016b; Kalenda & Kočvarová, 2022b; Kalenda et al., 2023b);
3. Institutional Framework of Lifelong Learning: Analysis of state formation and change of political institutions responsible for lifelong learning policy and coordination. In this regard, he has published two books in Czech, Uncertain Triumph: Development of Non-formal Adult Education in the Czech Republic between 1997–2016 (Kalenda, 2021) and European State-Formation: Authors, Models and Theoretical Synthesis (Kalenda, 2014), that provide a systematic analysis of long-term social change and policy in adult education and state administration. My last book, Formation of Adult Learning Systems in Central Europe: 1989 to 2019, is currently under review.

Publishing

Associate Professor Jan Kalenda has published or co-published four books and more than 60 research articles, chapters and papers in conference proceedings. His research has been published in distinguished peer-reviewed journals, including: Adult Education Quarterly, Journal of Further and Higher Education, European Journal of Education, International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics, Studies in Continuing Education, Czech Sociological Journal, International Journal of Lifelong Education, Human Affairs, International Journal of Educational Psychology, Journal of Education and Work, Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment and many others.

Skills and Leadership

Associate Professor Jan Kalenda possesses a broad range of methodological skills, which includes both qualitative (Kalenda, 2016a, 2016b; Kalenda & Vávrová, 2016; Karger et al., 2022) and advanced quantitative research methods (Kalenda, 2021, 2023; Kalenda et al. 2020, 2023a, 2023b). In terms of international comparative research, he has led multiple international projects involving data collection across four or more European countries. In 2018, the research je led colleczed data from respondents in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic (Gavora et al., 2020). In 2020, another project je led collected data among adult learners from Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Sweden (Vaculíková et al., 2022). Subsequently, in 2022, he directed a survey that collected data about lifelong learning among respondents from the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, and the Czech Republic (Vaculíková et al., 2023a, 2023b under review; Karger et al., 2024, under review). Currently, together with Professor Richard Desjardins (UCLA) and Professor Ellen Boeren (University of Glasgow), he is preparing a new survey for 2024 with five involved countries (Italy, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Germany, Sweden), which should change how we measure adult learning systems.

Among other skills, throughout his career, he has been responsible for the preparation and management of five significant development and investment projects funded by the EU, with a combined budget exceeding 25 million EUR (Strategic Project of TBU I., Strategic Investment Project of TBU I., IKAROS, DUO – Strategic Project of TBU II., Strategic Investment Project II. and ADAPT TBU). In those projects, he had the role of PI or was part of project management team.

Additionally, he has served as the principal investigator or a team member in eight medium-scale research projects, with a cumulative budget surpassing 1 million EUR from: (1) Czech Science Agency (Projects: “Blind Spots of Non-Formal Adult Education in the Czech Republic”; “Roads towards 21^st Century Inclusive School: An ethnographic approach“), (2) Slovakia Science Agency (Project: “Concept of Docility in Theory of Adult Education“), (3) Visegrad Fund (Project: “Measuring university excellence in the V4 region“), (4) European Training Foundation (Project: “New Learning Environment of Adults”), (6) CEDEFOF (Project: “Apprenticeships for Adults in Europe“), (7) ERASMUS plus (Project: “Development of diagnostic and intervention apparatus of adult docility phenomenon“), (8) Fulbright Commission (Project: “Political Economy of Adult Learning Systems in Central Europe: From their Emergence to Liberalization“)

Furthermore, he has contributed to over a dozen more minor research and development projects at the national level from the field of education, lifelong learning, sociology or higher education.

Current Research

Currently, his focus is on consolidating a team capable of advancing our understanding of participation in lifelong learning and related factors in the European educational area. He is also working on redefining how we conceptualise adult learning systems in advanced industrial and post-industrial countries. For this purpose, he has established an international research network with colleagues from UCLA, the University of Glasgow and the German Institute of Adult Education (DIE – Deutsche Institut fur Erwaschenenbildung). In addition to the currently organised small-scale survey for 2024, he is also editing an upcoming book about lifelong learning systems around Europe with Professor Richard Desjardins.

References

Gavora, P., Vaculíková, J., Kalenda, J., Kálmán, O., Gombos, P., Świgost, M., & Bontová, A. (2020). Comparing metacognitive reading strategies among university students from Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Journal of Further and Higher Education 44(7), 896–910. http://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2019.1614545

Kalenda, J. (2014). Formování evropských států: Autoři, modely a teoretická syntéza. Olomouc: UP Olomouc, 450 pp. [European State-formation: Authors, Models and Theoretical Synthesis].

Kalenda, J. (2016a). Situational analysis as a framework for interdisciplinary research in the social science. Human Affairs, 26(3), 340–355.

Kalenda, J. (2016b). Prozatím nevyužitá šance: situační analýza v pedagogickém výzkumu. Pedagogická orientace, 26(3), 457–481. [Untapped Opportunity so Far: Situation Analysis in Educational Research].

Kalenda, J. (2021). Vratký triumf: Vývoj neformálního vzdělávání dospělých v České republice mezi lety 1997 až 2016. Zlín: UTB ve Zlíně, 248 pp. [Uncertain Triumph: Development of Non-formal Adult Education in the Czech Republic between 1997 and 2016].

Kalenda, J. (2020). Learning Environment for Adult Learning and Education. Report. Torino: European Training Foundation.

Kalenda, J. (2023). Participation in Non-formal Adult Education in
the Czech Republic from 1997 to 2020. In: Schemman, M (Ed.). Internationales Jahrbuch der Erwachsenenbildung/International Yearbook of Adult Education 2023 (pp. 115–138). Bielefeld: wbv Publikation. https://doi.org/10.3278/I73910W007

Kalenda, J. (2024, under review). Formation of Adult Learning Systems in Central Europe: 1989 to 2019. Cham: Springer.

Kalenda, J., & Kočvarová, I. (2022a). Enduring inequality: long-term trends and factors in participation in adult education and learning among older adults. Gerontology & Geriatrics Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701960.2022.2156866

Kalenda, J., & Kočvarová, I. (2022b). Why do they not participate? Reasons for non-participation in adult learning and education from the viewpoint of self-determination theory. (RELA) Journal of European Research of Learning and Education of Adults. Pre-published, 1-16. http://doi.org/10.3384/rela.2000-7426.3535

Kalenda, J., & Kočvarová, I. (2022c). Participation in non-formal education in risk society. International Journal of Lifelong Education. 41 (2), 146-167. https://doi.org/10.1080/02601370.2020.1808102

Kalenda, J., & Vávrová, S. (2016). Self-regulated Learning in Students of Helping Professions. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences 217, 282–292.

Kalenda, J., Kočvarová, I., & Vaculíková, J. (2020). Determinants of Participation in Non-formal Education in the Czech Republic. Adult Education Quarterly, 70(2), 99–118. http://doi.org/10.1177/0741713619878391

Kalenda, J., Gojová, A. & Kalenda, S. (2022a). Deindustrialization, Liberalization and Welfare State in the Czech Republic: Unequal Contest. In Baikady R., Sajid S., Przeperski J., Nadesan V., Islam M.R., Gao J. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Global Social Problems. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68127-2_201-1

Kalenda, J., Kočvarová, I., & Vaculíková, J. (2022b). Barriers to Participation of Low-educated Workers in Non-formal Education. Journal of Education and Work.  Pre-published, 1-16.

Kalenda, J., Boeren E. & Kočvarová, I. (2023a). Exploring attitudes towards adult learning and education: group patterns among participants and non-participants, Studies in Continuing Education,  http://doi.org/10.1080/0158037X.2023.2199201

Kalenda, J., Kočvarová, I., & Boeren, E. (2023b). Impact of COVID-19 on participation and barriers in nonformal adult education in the Czech Republic. European Journal of Education, 58, 681–698. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12580

Karger, T., Kalenda, J., Kalenda, S. & Kroutilová Nováková, r. (2022). How Disadvantaged Groups Legitimize Non-participation in Adult Education and Training: The Situational Logic of Decision-Making. International Journal of Lifelong Education.  https://doi.org/10.1080/02601370.2022.2057606

Karger, T., & Kalenda, J. (2023a, in press). Towards a Digital Era Governance in Adult Learning and Education: Platformization of Learning Environments and Policy Technologies. In P. Rasmussent & M. Bussi (Eds.), Research Handbook on Adult Education Policy. Edward Elgar.

Kočvarová, I., Vaculíková, J. & Kalenda, J. (2021). Development and Initial Validation of the Cognitive and Non-cognitive Factors of Non-participation in Non-formal Adult Education Questionnaire. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment. Pre-published, 1–16. http://doi.org/10.1177/07342829211060571

Vaculíková, J.; Kočvarová, I.; Kalenda, J.; Neupauer Z.; Cvijetić Vukčević M.; Włoch A. (2022). Factor Structure of the Self-Regulation Questionnaire among adult learners from Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica, 35 (1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41155-022-00241-z

Vaculíková, J., Kočvarová, I. & Kalenda, J. (2023a). Cross-national Validation of the Nonparticipation in Nonformal Education Questionnaire: Findings from Adults from Sweden, Germany, United Kingdom, and the Czech Republic. Cogent Education, 10:1, https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2023.2214672

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Teaching

Consulting hours

Friday: 13:30pm - 15:30pm

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Curriculum vitae

Education

• 2010–2013: Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc, doctoral degree in Sociology
• 2008–2010: Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc, master’s degree in Sociology – Andragogy
• 2005–2008: Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc, bachelor’s degree in Sociology – Andragogy

Process of employment

• 2019-2022: Tomas Bata University in Zlín, Vice-rector for Quality Management
• 2017-2019: Tomas Bata University in Zlín, Vice-rector for Pedagogical Activities
• 2013–2017: Tomas Bata University in Zlín, head of the Research Centre of the Faculty of Humanities
• 2014–2016: Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc, Department of Sociology, Andragogy, and Cultural Anthropology
• 2012–2013: Tomas Bata University in Zlín, assistant professor at the Department of Pedagogical Sciences, Faculty of Humanities.

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Creative activities

Publications

Project outputs