Czech Republic

Abstract

Doležalová addresses the question of how the concept of history education has developed in the Czech Republic and what form the struggles surrounding the shaping of this concept have taken. The greatest controversies connected to history education were related to the newly defined interpretative frameworks and understanding of events which had previously been subject to Marxist-Leninist clichés. The national debate has centred on three main issues: conflicts over the place history should have within the education system, conflicts over textbooks and conflicts over the content of history education. Doležalová demonstrates that, while neither teaching methods nor the contents of classes have changed and that the events of 1989 did not bring about a paradigm shift, history education is still being contested.