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JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH

DEVELOPMENT OF ADULT EDUCATION IN INTERWAR SLOVAKIA (1918 – 1938)

EDUARD LUKÁČ,

KATARÍNA MAYER,

MARTINA

LENHARDTOVÁ

Department of Andragogy, Faculty of Humanities and Natural
Sciences, University of Presov, 17. Novembra 1, 081 16 Prešov,
Slovakia
email:

eduard.lukac@unipo.sk,

katarina.mayer@unipo.sk,

martina.lenhardtova@unipo.sk

The paper is a part of the research task VEGA no. 1/0303/17 “Adult Education in
Slovakia in the Conditions of the Existence of Czechoslovakia (1918–1938)”.

Abstract: New social conditions of the interwar Czechoslovakia (1918-1938) enabled
the state authorities to focus, for the first time in Slovakia, on the domain of adult
education. Several central state bodies were established and adopted the first
legislative measures that laid the foundation for the future regional institutions of
popular education and public libraries. Congresses of popular educators from Slovakia
were organized on a regular basis and increased attention was paid to education of
individual target groups of adults. The time was right for some individuals to shine in
their efforts to provide theoretical background and practical guidelines for the future
field of adult education.

Keywords: history of adult education in Slovakia, legislative measures, enlightenment
boards and committees, congresses for popular educators, education courses for
women and unemployed youth, K. Kálal, A. Zbavi

teľ.

1 Introduction

The end of WWI (1914-1918), as an important historical
milestone of the 20

century, brought a radical change in

organization of states within the European region. After a
foundation of a new independent state of Czechs and Slovaks on
28 October 1918 and its confirmation by the Declaration of the
Slovak Nation (the Martin Declaration) on 30 October 1918,
adult education was given immediate priority. Any popular
educational endeavours until then were dependent on volunteer
collaboration of many individuals, associations, and societies.
Soon the state-governed cultural – enlightenment activities and
policies started to develop, too. Some institutions, for instance,
Matica slovenská and Živena resumed their activities.
Favourable postwar conditions, however, provided a space for
creation of the new institutions.

The supreme body responsible for education was the Ministry of
Education and National Enlightenment [Ministerstvo školstva a
národnej osvety] established in 1918 with its seat in Prague. The
Department of Enlightenment [Osvetový odbor] formed an
integral part of the Ministry’s organizational structure. In 1922,
the Slovak Office of the Ministry of Education and National
Enlightenment [Referát Ministerstva školstva a národnej osvety]
was created in Bratislava with the authority over primary and
secondary school administration in Slovakia. Educational,
enlightenment, and religious branches merged in one central
Office in charge of management, control, human resources, and
administration (Pavlík, 1985, p. 163).

First, it was needed to address terminological ambiguity
accompanying both theoretical and practical aspects of educational
activities performed by professionals and teachers involving adult
population. The term osveta – enlightenment – was gradually
replaced by the term

ľudovýchova – popular education in order to

ease the authoritative pressure of the intellectual elite trying
purposefully to form the masses mostly by disseminating academic
knowledge. If we interpret

ľudovýchova as “education of the people”

then by the people, we understand broad and low-educated masses of
lower social rank, mostly manual workers whose education was
rather fragmental (Šerák, 2005).

Pedagogická encyklopédia

Slovenska

[Pedagogical

Encyclopaedia of Slovakia] defines

ľudovýchova as “an

intentional and purposeful educational endeavour of Slovak
intelligentsia in specific conditions of economic, social, and
national oppression aimed at raising national and political
awareness of people, improving their economic and social
standing and increasing their education level” (Pavlík, 1984, pp.

521-522). The Encyclopaedia links this concept to the activities

undertaken before the establishment of Czechoslovakia [ČSR],
but the term

ľudovýchova was also used after 1918 mostly for

ideological purposes as a counterweight to the term osveta,
which had a slight bourgeois connotation.

The term popular education was used in relation to activities
aimed at satisfying the needs of working class people. Czech
Pedagogical Encyclopaedia

Česká Pedagogická encyklopedie

[Czech Pedagogical Encyclopaedia] links the term lidová
výchova [a Czech equivalent of

ľudovýchova] to the following

terms “adult education, non-formal, post-school education, that
is continuous education outside of school aimed at people
beyond their school age, with the purpose of active development
of their intellectual strengths and spreading knowledge among
them” (Chlup, Kubálek, Uher, 1938, p. 251).

The entry

osvetová činnosť [enlightenment activity] in Príručný

pedagogický lexikón [Pedagogical Lexicon] compiled by J.

Čečetka in 1943 reads “it includes every extracurricular and non-
formal educational activity which is intentionally directed at
increasing cultural awareness and acquiring general and

professional knowledge in civic education” (Čečetka, 1943, p.
33). The Lexicon specifies it further: “After 1918, enlightenment
activities were placed in the service of civic re-education in the
spirit of the new Czechoslovak Republic. Enlightenment
activities, especially those governed by the state take on

educational character in relation to civic upbringing” (Čečetka,
1943, p. 34).

In general, the interwar period can be described as the period of
searching for optimal structures and laying foundations for the
state-wide public enlightenment, in terms of legislative
measures, a network of institutionalised provision, practical
educational activity and work of several prominent figures.

2 Legislative measures in the adult education sector

The first legislative measure that laid the organizational
foundation of the state-governed and institutionalised public
enlightenment was the Act No. 67 Coll. on the Organization of
Popular Courses of Civic Education adopted on 7 February
1919. Article 1 of the Act states that “in the whole territory of
Czechoslovakia free courses of civic education shall be
organized in order to provide professional, yet popularized
explanation of the system of government, all aspects of state’s
operation, and about the rights and obligations of its citizens”
(Škoda, 1960, p. 15).

These courses were to “educate the citizens and deepen their
political education and strengthen the moral fitness of
individuals” (Škoda, Paška, 1977, p. 30). In accordance with the
Act No. 67, free courses in civic education were organized with
an aim to provide the citizens with professional, but still very
clear and accessible explanation of the abovementioned issues.
The Instruction No. 28 480 3554 “on the Organization of
Popular Courses of Civic Education in Slovakia” issued by the
Ministry of Education and National Enlightenment on 14 July
1920 addressed the implementation of the Act No.67/1919 in the
Slovak part of the new republic. The Instruction specified the
main goal of the courses as follows: “educate the citizens for the
republic, deepen their political education, and strengthen the
moral fitness of individuals” (Jelínek, 1936, p. 10).

The Instruction also outlined the content of the courses:

a)

civic education (system of government, citizen’s rights and
obligations, activities of public institutions, political
parties’ programmes);

national economy (economics of state, municipalities and
organizations);

history of Czechoslovak independence, historical events of
the last century, world history;

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