Schools: Everyday Life in the Period of Post-Socialist Transformation

In this chapter, we look in more detail at the everyday life of primary schools and their changes in the post-socialist transformation. The first years after the Velvet Revolution were characterized by vigorous changes, experimentation, and the search for possible ways to reform school management and administration. Our research shows that the resistance to rules and excessive bureaucracy and the desire for freedom form the dominant images of school in the early 1990s that is present in the memory of teachers. The neoliberal turn brought a high appreciation of responsibility, which was reflected in the self-governance (autonomy) of schools. However, this also brought entirely new responsibilities and rules. Sensitive topics included changes in school management and the first competitive selections for new school heads; these competitions were initially conducted without clear rules. The chapter concludes with a focus on the relationship between schools and the educational offices that were supposed to manage the schools and that were a part of the school management reforms. Cooperation with municipalities, which became the founders of schools, became a new challenge for schools. The quality of the relationship between the municipality and the school could influence the atmosphere in the school and the conditions for education quite significantly.