Review article
Teachers, Priests and Politicians in the Period Between the two Education Acts (1874 −1888)
Željko Martan
Abstract
In this paper the author refl ects on the history of the Croatian educational system which can be divided into two general time periods - before and after 1874. With the public education reform implemented during the rule of Ban Ivan Mažuranić and the founding of the University of Zagreb a discontinuity occurred in the then educational system announcing a new era of a more liberal and modern education system as opposed to pre-existing “clerical education”. The 1874 School Act, also known as the Mažuranić’s School Act, had a major impact on the lives of teachers and students and everyone involved in education. It helped raise teacher status and improve their working conditions and at the same time reduced the rights of Church. Also, basic education became universally available and compulsory. The paper offers a wider context in order to ensure a fuller understanding of the subject. The author reflects on the period that preceded the enactment of the 1874 School Act and cites diverse sources containing zealous comments and discussions between various participants in the process. Furthermore, this paper also features biographical notes of public school teachers whose lives were directly influenced by the Act. It starts from the basic premise that education is important and continues as an essay dealing with the relationship between State, teachers and students and how they influence one another creating history in the process.
Keywords
Mažuranić’s School Act; education modernization; secularization of education; school acts; history of state education system; 1874 -1888.
Hrčak ID:
334464
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2012.
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