Professional characteristics

Mgr. Zuzana Kováčová Švecová, PhD. (formerly Zuzana Kováčová, publishing under the pseudonym Zuzana Kováčová-Švecová) has worked as an assistant professor at the Department of Elementary and Preschool Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, since 2012. Professionally, she focuses on literature for preschool and younger school-age children, the teaching of Slovak language and literature at the primary level of education, media education, and creative drama. Since the 2018/2019 academic year, she has also led the student theatre at the Faculty of Education, Divadlo z kotolne. She participates in the practical preparation of students for the profession of primary education teacher. In recent years, in addition to topics related to her key professional disciplines, her publication activity has focused on strengthening and supporting the national identity of Slovaks and their children living in Slovak communities abroad, including through projects involving the Faculty of Education, Matej Bel University, and under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic.

Since 2022, she has been involved in the development of the curricular reform in the educational area Language and Communication – Slovak Language and Literature. She is a member of the group of external experts who participated in the development of the State Educational Programme for Primary Education, approved by the Minister of Education on 31 March 2023 under No. 2023/831:7‐A2140. She also contributes to subsequent accompanying documents focused on the implementation of the new State Educational Programme under the auspices of the National Institute of Education and Youth. She is a co-author of publications related to the curricular reform: Guide to Changes in Educational Areas – Language and Communication; Cross-Curricular Literacies – Guide: Reading and Visual Literacy; Slovak Language and Literature – Methodological Guide; and Reading Literacy – Methodological Guide.

Since 2016, she has been part of a team of educators from the Faculty of Education, Matej Bel University, who are involved in projects and educational activities for children of Slovaks living abroad. As part of educational activities and outreach courses for Slovak centres abroad, she has served as a trainer at educational seminars for teachers abroad, including in Nová Biala, Munich, Birmingham, Dublin, Manchester, Opatija, Selenča, Békéscsaba, Adelaide in Australia, and Brisbane in Australia. She has also delivered online educational events, including Children’s Literature as a Potential for Developing Language Competence – Teaching Slovak in Heterogeneous Groups (2020), Methodological Training for the Game Hláskovo (2020), An Hour in Hláskovo – Spring Cycle (2024), An Hour in Hláskovo – Autumn Cycle (2024), and Online Hour (2025).

In her free time, she devotes herself to children’s literature, as well as to consulting on and editing newly emerging books for children. 

She has edited the books O malinkom semienku by Viera Múdra, Ďakujem ti za čas, mama and Si moje všetko, mama by Diana Kleštincová, Ako sa Hanka naučila sporiť and Ako sa Hanka naučila NEnakupovať by Lucia Risková, and Jar mojej jesene, a poetry collection for adults by Ružena Lukáčová.

She is the author of the children’s book Trampoty malej Doroty.

Scientific/artistic-pedagogical characteristics of a person