Transforming the Education System: A Difficult Return to Democratic Europe

This chapter introduces the broader contexts of the transformation of the Czech education system after 1989, with an emphasis on primary schools. The political and economic development of Czechoslovakia after the fall of the communist government in 1989 is briefly introduced. The process of transition to a market economy is described, as is the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993 when two separate states were established: the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. The chapter focuses primarily on the situation in the Czech Republic by presenting the fundamental reforms to the education system. The actual reforms are explained and the specific legislative changes that formed the background for the changes in the Czech school system are introduced. Attention is then focused on expert discussions and the education system reform proposals that largely remained in the realm of theory and intention. The text describes the fundamental problems of the Czech school system, connected primarily to the complicated economic situation of a country undergoing transformation. The chapter concludes by presenting the developments and reforms of the school systems in neighbouring post-communist countries in comparison to the situation in the Czech Republic.