Transfer as a basic characteristic of Czech school reform – the interwar Czechoslovak education reform movement and its resistance to «best practices» from abroad

Abstract

The article focuses on the processes of transfer in the educational reform discussion in Czechoslovakia in the interwar period. It reconstructs the educational reform movements that were central to the Czech educational reform discourse. It is analysed how open the Czech reform educational debate was to the influence of abroad educational trends. At the same time, it is analysed how the Czech reform educational discussion was based on the domestic tradition. The dynamics of the Czech reform educational discussion is presented. In the perspective of policy lending and policy borrowing it is analysed what role abroad inspirations played in the Czech reform educational discussion. The study asks whether the Czech reform educational discussion was enriched or ‘colonized’ by ‘best practices’ in the context of transfer.