Národopisná revue 4/2025

This study analyses the role of commercial schools in the lives of various communities in Bohemia between 1848 and 1918. It addresses three parallel processes: (1) the activation and participation of communities in establishing and supporting commercial schools and their pupils; (2) the polarisation and rivalry between communities concerning support for schools with different languages of instruction; and (3) the formation of new communities composed of commercial school graduates. This text evaluates the significance of communities in shaping the commercial education system in Bohemia and the importance of commercial education for community life. Drawing on diverse sources, the author confirms or refutes premises concerning the mutual, partially ambivalent relationship between communities and commercial schools.

The study focuses on the analysis of Czech-German national conflicts in the field of education in the judicial district of Olomouc during the First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–1938). The aim of the study is to explore, describe, and interpret the key areas of conflict, their causes, manifestations, and impacts on the everyday lives of the region’s inhabitants. The study is based on an analysis of archival materials stored in the State District Archive in Olomouc. The collected materials were analysed using traditional historical research methods. The study offers a new perspective on the dynamics of national conflicts outside the traditional borderland areas and highlights the specific features of a region located in the predominantly Czech heart of Moravia.

The expatriate community in Croatia, although only numbering 8,000 today, has a history stretching back ten generations in south-eastern Europe. For more than a century, the community has also had its own education system, as well as cultural and social organizations, and has proven its viability in often difficult circumstances, including war. This study deals with the establishment and development of Czech-language schools in the territory of present-day Croatia, with a special focus on so-called Czech schools teaching in the Czech language. Czech schools in Croatia are a prerequisite for the resistance of the Czech minority to assimilation processes. The aim of the study is to evaluate the role of these schools in the integration process and their contribution to the cultural life of the entire minority, using a combination of historical methods involving the study of existing source material, and ethnological methods based on narrative interviews with compatriots, as this is still a lively field of research.

The postsocialist transformation period in the Czech lands is associated with not only the shift to a market economy, but also the rejection of an inefficient, overly bureaucratic public administration system. This process was reflected in the re-establishing of local municipalities and in changes in the field of the education system. Municipalities became the founders of primary schools, and educational institutions gradually gained autonomy in the form of legal entities. Schools represent an environment in which the (neoliberal) rejection of collectivism and the satisfaction of individual needs could coexist with the activation of local communities. This study illustrates this process using two examples: the restoration of rural schools and the establishment of (multi-year) grammar schools.

The study focuses on analysing the school well-being of students in the second stage of primary schools in the Banská Bystrica Region using Erik Allardt’s conceptual framework (having, loving, being). The aim is to identify and analyse the factors that influence children’s well-being in the school environment. The research data were obtained through questionnaires and interviews with students. The findings confirm that school well-being is a multidimensional phenomenon and cannot be reduced to the performance at school alone. It is influenced by cultural and material resources, the quality of relationships, and opportunities for personal development. Students perceive school not only as an educational institution but also as a community environment where friendships are built and a sense of belonging is formed. At the same time, several risk factors were identified, including the occurrence of verbal bullying.