Twenty-five years of continuing professional development of teachers in the post-communist era in Slovakia: the story of paths not taken

Abstract

This article analyzes the present status of continuing professional development of teachers (CPD) in Slovakia in the post-communist era. During 25 years of democracy in Slovak society, the system of education has undergone several formal reforms, mainly in the area of legislation. As the analysis demonstrates, CPD in Slovakia still follows the transmission paradigm and is based on pedagogy instead of andragogy or heutagogy. The present system does not support community learning and lacks quality measurement. With the legislative framework at hand, we are convinced that only teachers themselves are capable of fulfilling this CPD legislative framework with meaningful activities and of changing CPD in Slovakia from formal duty into effective community learning. This process has to be a part of wider reform in Slovak education, including initial teacher education, especially bringing future teachers closer to the real school environment.