Just published – a new study based on our historical research: full text.

Authors: Jiří Zounek, Dana Knotová, Michal Šimáně

Abstract:

This study is a reconstruction of the life history of a teacher who lived most of his life in the communist era, teaching at several schools, and lived to witness the fall of the communist regime in 1989. The research is based on the biographic method but we have also drawn on interviews with colleagues and pupils of the teacher, studied relevant archive documents, school yearbooks and other secondary sources. The life history of the teacher presents information not only on everyday life of schools and the teaching profession but also on education during the rise of the communist dictatorship. Our research also revealed that (sudden) deaths of witnesses of certain events may have a significant effect of the applicability of the biographic method. The research leads us to believe that studying life stories of teachers holds a great potential for uncovering new information on lives and teachers in totalitarian society but also the everyday reality of the communist regime and the education of the period.