Problems of reforming educational systems in post-communist countries

Abstract

The main problems of educational reform in post-communist countries are identified, by use of an interactive model of education and developmental dimensions of society. The relation of implicit and explicit educational goals and characteristics of a society is reviewed, and a typology of the relations between political and economic state regulation on the one side, and the structure of educational goals on the other is suggested. It is established that the so-called“socialist pedagogy” decreases the transparency of educational goals and obstructs a systematic analysis of education. The role of education in the transition policy of post-communist countries in discussed, with a special emphasis on economic and political reforms, and ideological changes. It is concluded that the Europeanization of education in Eastern European countries will be impeded because of the stalemate in the transformation of ownership and political modernization, as well as ideological conservatism. The educational effects of European cooperation in the economic recovery of the East are to be expected in the areas of standardization and unification of education, while the effects in the internalization of modern values and attitudes are expected to be much less prominent.