Elementary school teachers in the national movement. Polish-Ukrainian educational context in Galicia in the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century

Abstract

The profession of a national teacher is considered in the context of the demands of the national movement against the background of aggravation of Polish-Ukrainian controversies in Galicia in the second half of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries. Paragraph 19 of the Basic Law on Citizens' Responsibilities and Rights provided for equal opportunities for the development of their own education and language for representatives of all nationalities of the Habsburg Monarchy. Due to the fact that the policy of decentralization of Franz Joseph I was implemented, first of all, under pressure from the Polish and Hungarian elites, the Poles in Galicia considered their own right to fill the intellectual and cultural space freed from Germanization. However, they were opposed by a numerical Russian element, calling for equality proclaimed at the state level. In this context, the issue of public schooling has become extremely acute, because primary school was the instrument that allowed spreading national consciousness among the general public. Particularly contradictions emerged after 1869, when the general school obligation was introduced. Changes in the perception of the role of the teacher are also associated with these transformations. As the lowest level of the intelligentsia, according to national discourse, the national teachers obliged the figures of the national movement to act as mediators between the wider social groups and the intellectual elite. These responsibilities were often at odds with the teacher's educational function and forced him to seek a compromise between national and professional requirements. The choice of a teacher in favor of national responsibilities has often caused conflicts with the school administration and the provincial authorities. The practice of community-based translation also made it difficult for teachers to engage with local communities. The local school board used the transfer of especially active teachers in the national movement to ethnically other communities as a form of punishment for political activity within the school. This meant that the Ruthenian teachers often found themselves in an almost completely Polish environment, and the Poles - in Russian. Such translations adversely affected the quality of work, both because of linguistic problems and moral and psychological pressure. On the other hand, the moment of the teacher's personal values ​​was important. A large number of teachers viewed their profession through the lens of humanism, that is, service without exception to everyone, regardless of nationality. These teachers abandoned the demands of the national movement, provoking condemnation and accusations in the absence of national consciousness. Keywords Galicia, teacher, national movement, intellectuals.