Conference Agenda

After 1945, not only Czechoslovakia but also Europe found itself in a socio-political "new world". Interwar ideas of social and school reform were in many ways undermined by the catastrophe of war and could no longer help to support the formation of a "new" post-war modernising and more socially sensitive Europe. The political and economic division of Europe by the "Iron Curtain" after 1945/48, the socio-geographical and cultural transformation of Europe due to the "transfers" of population after the Second World War dissolved" the cultural and economic symbiosis of interwar Europe. Its central and south-eastern part was geopolitically in the totalitarian grip of the Soviet Union and in the "experiment" of the communist world order, with all its consequences for political, cultural and social life, not excluding the fields of science and education. In general, Europe has "fallen" into the competition between "East" and "West", with all the tactics of "victory".

For this struggle and rivalry it was necessary to offer an ideologically and emotionally charged concept in Czechoslovakia after 1948, transforming or negating the "old" world of education and promising a "new" model of education based on pedagogical science (Kasper 2020). To make the victory "lasting and solid", tasks were defined in the scientific research plans of Czechoslovak educational research institutions and universities. The answer was the concept of polytechnic education, which linked school with life and offered an educational model leading to the "victorious" and successful implementation of the communist economic-social experiment (Mincu 2016). This was similar in other "Soviet satellites" (Tietze 2012).

The paper reconstructs the discourses, practices of "discrediting" the interwar view of the concept of generally education in Czechoslovakia in the 1950s from the position of polytechnic education as a model of "new" generally education. In the second part, the paper traces the successes and failures of the promotion of this concept in Czechoslovak educational and scientific policy (the concept of the scientific revolution), in educational theory and in the reform of educational practice in the 1960s in the socio-political 'revival' process of the so-called Prague Spring (Sommer 2017). The third part reconstructs the processes of 'rehabilitation' and practices of the new legitimation of polytechnic educational concepts in overcoming the economic 'weaknesses' and failures of the so-called 'perestroika' in 1980s Czechoslovakia. The theoretical foundations (with reference to Marx's theory of the alienation of man), goals and practical implementation proposals of the "new" educational model and its transformations in different periods will be analysed. The strengths and weaknesses of its implementation in the practice of school and out-of-school education in the different "stages" of time will be reconstructed.

The transformations of the concept of general polytechnic education will be contextualized and discussed within the socio-technocratic and rationalizing control efforts of the "new" society (Sommer 2019). The issues of the theoretical definition, practical promotion and implementation of the "new" general education model are viewed within the dynamics of cultural transfer and circulation from the "model" Soviet Union (Behm/Drope/Glaser/Reh 2017).

We ask what were the background and specifics of the polytechnic educational concept in Czechoslovakia in the second half of the 20th century? What methods and emotional practices were used in the Czechoslovak debate to justify and advocate the concept of polytechnic education supported by the arguments of the scientific and technological revolution? Why did the concept of polytechnic education in Czechoslovakia not weaken or be completely destabilized after 1868, when in other countries of the socialist bloc its legitimacy was shaken seriously?

European Historical research, and also European Educational research, has regions that it sheds more spotlight on, and it has regions that are definitely out of focus. One of the former is for example the „DDR“, one of the latter is the now called country North Macedonia (MK in this abstract). While the one vanished into the BRD after 1989, the other one emerged as a nation state on ist own after the fall of the socialis eastern states.

In education, there is only little research emerging from MK, and even less dealing with educational topics in MK. Therefore, in this presentation I want to close this research gap with answering one specific research question at the ECER 2024:

1. What role did socialism/communism play in education in Yugoslavian times in the geographical region of MK, how did this change after 1989 and what role did democracy play thereafter, in the newly established national state?

Before the establishment of the University in Skopje in 1946, in the beginning of Yugoslavian times, students from the Macedonian part of Yugoslavia could only pursue teacher education outside of Macedonia, for example in Belgrade or Sarajevo. Up to this day it is only in Skopje that all subjects and school levels are offered for prospective teachers. Until 1991, there were additional teacher education programs for primary education. However, in the last 20 years, these programs were either integrated into universities.

While the „Wende“ took place in Germany in 1989, the „Wende“ happend in MK a little bit later, in 1991, when MK stepped out of the remaining part of Yugoslavia (which was mostly Serbia then). As many other countries after the „Wende“, there was the wish for a fast change of the nation to democracy, including the institutions for schooling. Instructions for changing the education system were communicated to schools and teachers through laws, curricula, regulations, etc. (cf. Janík & Porubsky 2020), as today too. However, these legislative changes normally reach schools later than intended. Furthermore, schools do not „simply“ implement the changes, they transform these into their instution. Mensching calls this process (and product) „living practices“ („gelebte Praxis“, Mensching 2018). Those become visible in the local mesosystem of the individual school (for macro-, meso-, micro-system, see Altrichter & Maag Merki 2016). Because of the fast tempo in changes, also changes in government, schools didn’t have sufficient time to implement all the changes before new ones were introduced (cf. Rizova, Bekar & Velkovski 2020, p. 1502).

Before 1991, teacher education in Yugoslavia was shaped by socialist state ideology, emphasizing the concept of "socialist unity." This ideology permeated the entire education system, from elementary to higher education. Teachers spoke positively of this socialist unity, referring to it as "brotherhood" and "friendship." Teachers are always part of a school culture and professional community (Helsper 2008), and this is crucial for their professional satisfaction (Rothland 2013). The societal contract in with teachers in Jugoslavia implied trust in their autonomous, professional actions (Hargreaves & Fullan 2012). The absence of trust, the „erosion of trust“ (Bellman & Weiß 2009) particularly after 1991 in MK, resulted not only in the loss of autonomy but also in demoralization among teachers (Peck, Gallucci & Sloane 2010, S. 452).