Relationships between the family and Czech pre-school institutions during the 20th century: A historical perspective

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11410%2F25%3A10508801" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11410/25:10508801 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

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DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Relationships between the family and Czech pre-school institutions during the 20th century: A historical perspective

Original language description

This chapter offers a historical analysis of the relationship between families and public early childhood education and care (ECEC) institutions in the Czech lands from the late nineteenth century to the post-socialist transformation after 1989. Drawing on qualitative content analysis of primary legislative, curricular, and pedagogical sources, the chapter examines how changing political regimes and ideological frameworks shaped the balance of power between the family and institutional early childhood education.The analysis demonstrates that the emergence of public ECEC institutions was closely linked to industrialisation, nation-building processes, and later to state-driven social engineering under totalitarian regimes. Particular attention is paid to the period of communist rule (1948-1989), during which the state systematically subordinated family upbringing to institutional education, promoted a socio-centric and ideologically unified model of early childhood education, and restricted parental autonomy. The chapter documents how these policies transformed ECEC institutions into key instruments of political socialisation, while simultaneously marginalising family diversity and alternative value systems.The final part of the chapter analyses the post-1989 shift towards a child-centred and family-partnership model of pre-school education. It highlights both the conceptual renewal of Czech ECEC grounded in humanistic and democratic principles and the persistent historical burdens affecting trust and cooperation between families and institutions. By situating contemporary challenges within their historical context, the chapter contributes to a deeper understanding of long-term continuities and ruptures in family-ECEC relations and offers insights relevant to current debates on parental rights, institutional authority, and educational freedom in early childhood education.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

C - Chapter in a specialist book

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

50301 - Education, general; including training, pedagogy, didactics [and education systems]

Project

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Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Book/collection name

International Perspectives on the History of Early Childhood Education: Institution – Family – Profession

ISBN

978-3-8474-3153-4

Number of pages of the result

14

Pages from-to

77-90

Number of pages of the book

177

Publisher name

Barnara Budrich

Place of publication

Opladen, Berlin, Toronto

UT code for WoS chapter

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