The seeing and the seen: contrasting perspectives of post‐communist Czech schooling

Conceptualizing Education Policy in Democratic Societies

“…Another example of blurry conceptualizations of democratic schooling can be seen in discussions of postcommunist schooling. Studies of Englishlanguage scholars' perceptions of postcommunist European schooling reveal a significant negative bias (Perry, 2003(Perry, , 2005b, similar to that found by Wedel (1998) in other policy sectors. Perry's studies found that the main theme underlying these negative perceptions is that postcommunist schooling is undemocratic.…”

A reflection on adaptability, achievement motivation and success of Central and Eastern European students in one English university

“…Although some literature available supports the idea that educational ethos and unique socio-historical circumstances might have shaped students attitudes (Hufton, Elliott, and Illushin 2002a;2002b;Perry 2005;Roberts 2001;Allison 2000), there is a scarcity of research in this field, especially comprehensive comparative studies of educational attitudes, values and beliefs as well as achievement among CEE and other students. Most of the published work concentrates on the Bologna Process (Kozma 2007;Kwiek 2001;Cerych 1995;, the structure of schooling (especially secondary: tripartite versus comprehensive, e.g.…”

“…The emphasis upon being an educated or 'cultured' person (Williams 1997) has been maintained as 'being educated and "intellectual" is very much tied up with national identity in some of these countries' (Perry 2011, personal communication). Hufton, Elliott and Illushin (2002a;2002b) and Perry (2005) accentuate education (in Russia and the Czech Republic) as highly valued in itself. Holy ( , quoted in Perry 2005 suggests that Czech national self-identity is built on the notion of being educated and cultured (with examples of heroes and leaders seen as intellectuals throughout history), and this image is in line with the intelligentsia's tradition across CEE countries, as discussed earlier.…”

Common legacy, different paths: the transformation of educational systems in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland

“…Although the initial formation of public schooling back in the nineteenth century took different forms and occurred at different times in each of the countries considered, the experience of belonging to the eastern block between 1945 and 1989 yielded a mutual assimilation of national educational systems with respect to political motivation, management styles and general organisation. At the end of communist rule, all three educational systems -Czechoslovakian, Hungarian and Polish -faced similar criticisms: excessive unification (i.e., a centrally-imposed curriculum, unified textbooks), rigid bureaucratic control, the dehumanisation of pedagogical practice and the blocking of local initiatives (Halász 1993;Perry 2005). In fact, the systems were very similar.…”