Tradition als belastendes Erbe und produktives „Vorurteil“: Die Situation des Unterrichtswesens und der Pädagogik in Rumänien während der Diktatur

Abstract

Tradition – A Heavy Heritage and a Fertile Prejudice: The Conditions of Education and Pedagogy in Rumania in the Time of the Past Dictatorship: In the period of dictatorship in Rumania, the situation of pedagogy was inseparable from social politics that were subordinated to considerations of party ideology, the political task of reeducating society in the communist spirit. Education played an important role in implementing this comprehensive pedagogy ideal. In this context a single approach of pedagogy − hidden behind a political mask − was allowed to prevail, one that best served the current interests of power. As a result of this predetermination the study uses an education policy perspective in presenting the status of pedagogy in the era of the past dictatorship: it analyses education laws that determined the transformation of the system, structure and types of schools in the periods of dictatorship. The reforms changed the structure and contents of higher education, and as part of this the status of the pedagogy program. Subordinating education to the industrial and economic development of the country and the training of youth in the communist spirit, assumed a strictly centralised control of the system. In analysing the centralised governance of education, the study highlights the characteristics that were more closely related to the prevailing view in pedagogy as a result of the school system becoming a state monopoly: the reform of the subject structure, the uniform control of content ensured through prescriptive, rationing curricula, the single textbook system, and the strict selection of content. This input regulation proved to be the perfect tool for controlling the work of teachers, and also determined the interpretation of teachers roles. At the same time, for a long time it preserved knowledge-centred approaches to pedagogy, aimed at establishing scientific thinking and concepts. Understanding the conditions of education and pedagogy in the era of the past dictatorship is important because the inertia of the education system resulting from its past heritage is one of the main obstacles to the development of the education reform in Rumania, to questioning and renewing the solidified approach to pedagogy.