The Teacher Called to Reform the “New” Society: The Professionalisation and Deprofessionalisation of the Teaching Profession in Socialist Czechoslovakia: El docente llamado a reformar la «nueva» sociedad:la profesionalización y la desprofesionalización de ladocencia en la Checoslovaquia socialista

Tomáš Kasper; Dana Kasperova; Veronika  Bosáková

doi:10.14516/ete.13208

Authors

Tomáš Kasper Department of Education and Psychology, Technical University of Liberec, Czech Republic Author https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0379-2707
Dana Kasperova Department of Primary and Pre-primary Education, Technical University of Liberec, Czech Republic Author https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0769-8806
Veronika Bosáková Department of Primary and Pre-primary Education, Technical University of Liberec, Czech Republic Author https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0272-1640

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14516/ete.13208

Keywords:

Teaching Profession, Totalitarianism, Communism in Central Europe, Ideologicalisation

Abstract

This study analyses the transformation of the roles and functions of the teacher in the socialist school system in Czechoslovakia following the seizure of power by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. The analysis traces the construction of the ideal image of the “new” teacher based on the most widely circulated periodical aimed at teachers in the socialist school system – Učitelské noviny (Teachers’ Gazette). The analysis focuses on the years 1950–1962, that is, the period in which communist rule and Stalinism were established and consolidated. It asks whether the definition of the “new” role of the socialist teacher, together with the practices of power that enforced this new role, support the thesis of the ideologicalisation, political instrumentalisation and overall deprofessionalisation of the teaching profession during the socialist period in Czechoslovakia. It examines how teachers’ everyday activities – in classroom instruction, in out-of-school activities, and in their broader involvement in public enlightenment, cultural and political work within the community – can be seen as evidence of deprofessionalising tendencies.

Author Biographies

Tomáš Kasper, Department of Education and Psychology, Technical University of Liberec, Czech Republic

Since 2007, Prof. Dr. Tomáš Kasper serves as Head of the Department of Education at the Technical University of Liberec. Since 2023, Prof. Dr. Tomáš Kasper is Professor of Education at both the Technical University of Liberec and Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Arts. Throughout his career, he has completed several international research stays, including at Humboldt University in Berlin, as well as universities in Marburg, Zurich, and Heidelberg, and he has participated in projects focused on migration and modern European history (University Bochum). His research project involves nationalism and education, education and modernity, totalitarianism and education, and educational reform movements.
Prof. Dr. Tomáš Kasper is actively involved in international academic organizations. He is a member of evaluation panels for EERA and ISCHE, a member of the Scientific Board at Charles University,Palacky University Olomouc and Technical University Liberec and a member of the advisory board at the Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education – BBF Library.
Dana Kasperova, Department of Primary and Pre-primary Education, Technical University of Liberec, Czech Republic

Ass. prof. PhDr. Dana Kasperová, Ph.D. earned her Ph.D. in Pedagogy at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague (2005). She habilitated at Palacký University Olomouc (2018) and in 2018 was appointed Associate Professor in Educational Science at Techncial University Liberec.

Her international research stays include a study period at Humboldt University in Berlin (1998), a research visit at TU Dresden (2020–2021), a DAAD Excellence Fellowship at the University of Augsburg (2018), a visiting professorship at the University of Marburg (2016), and participation in a research project at Ruhr University Bochum (2005–2006) focused on migration and ideas in modern Europe.

Ass. Prof. Kasperová is actively involved in research and academic evaluation. Since 2022–2024, she serves as Chair of the Czech Research Grant Agency panel for Pedagogy, Psychology, and Kinanthropology and has been a member of the same panel since 2020. She is also a member of the Scientific Board of the Faculty of Education at the Technical University of Liberec (since 2024) and a member of the Board for PhD Study in Humanities at FP TUL (since 2023).

Since 2023, she is a member of the international evaluation panel EERA (Network 17: Histories of Education). She is also engaged in editorial and review work, serving on the editorial boards of Pedagogická orientace, Myśl Pedagogiczna, and Historia scholastica, as well as acting as an evaluator for the Czech Association of Educational Research.
Veronika Bosáková, Department of Primary and Pre-primary Education, Technical University of Liberec, Czech Republic

Veronika Bosáková, Ph.D. (2022), completed her doctoral studies in Educational Sciences at Charles University in Prague. She currently works as a Senior Assistant at the Technical University of Liberec, Department of Pre-primary and Primary Education. Her research focuses on inclusion in education and the professionalisation of the teaching profession.