School and Educational Objectives of the Interwar Period in the 1st Czechoslovak Republic

Abstract

The paper has the ambition to map the social and political situation in Slovakia in the period between the two world wars which had impact on the situation of families and education. After the establishment of a common state of Czechs and Slovaks – the 1st Czechoslovak Republic (1918), there were new conditions for reform movements and ideas of pedagogical thinking. The study is focusing on social events and transformations that guide the school system and education. The paper analyses specifically, what inspired the education and practical functioning of schools in Slovakia in this new state formation of the multinational Republic. The obtained picture tells about the state of reforms in education with its penetration into also into the family education pattern in Slovakia is partially compared with the conditions in the Czech Republic. The educational and upbringing objectives of this period are presented through the statements of historical documents, from a review of available educational literature and the press. We also deal with the question, what ideological ideas of the interwar years had an impact on the setting of goals and in family education. What did parents follow in their daily upbringing at the beginning of the 20th century and in the era between the two world wars? The paper, therefore, gives also the insight into the history of everyday life of Slovak families and into the family education in the interwar period.