Bishop examines educational reform in Slovak Republic

Dakota State University assistant professor of education Joe Bishop is spending the summer in the Slovak Republic examining educational reform. Bishop was awarded a Professional Development Fellowship from the Institute of International Education in New York to perform those duties with Trnava University in Trnava, which is just north of Bratislava, the capital of Slovak Republic.

The fellowship program is for young American researchers in professional, policy and public administration-related fields. The program is funded by the U.S. Department of State through the Research and Training for Eastern Europe and the Independent States of the Former Soviet Union Act of 1983 (Title VIII).

“During a typical day, after waking up around 6am, I shower, eat, walk to TESCO, take the free TESCO bus to the city center, and walk another 2.5 km to the office I share with six other professors on the South West part of town,’ stated Bishop. “I check e-mail and talk with folks. Then I usually go back to my room to eat and in the afternoon, do some language study and/or some translations. Some days I have visited local high schools in the morning or afternoons or go to Bratislava to make contact with people involved in education, working on building support for the free associations essential to democracy.”

Bishop says the education system in Trnava is quite different than in the USA. “First, including the University, it’s free—with the exception of books and small fees. Compulsory education runs from ages 6 or 7 to 16, but free access can begin with pre-primary education at the age of 3. Second, there are three basic types of secondary schools—Gymnasia, Secondary professional or conservatory school and Vocational school.”

Gymnasia admits students on the basis of their elementary school grades as well as their entrance exam scores, provides a general secondary education of five years beginning at age 14, though there are now some 8-year gymnasia that take students at age 8. Students leave gymnasia and if they pass the Maturita—an intense essay and oral school leaving exam—as well as the non-standardized university entrance exam (each university creates and administers their own exam), they can begin university. There are three gymnasia in Trnava.

Secondary professional or conservatory schools are specialized schools that prepare students for technical careers and/or tertiary education if students take and pass the Maturita. There are six of these schools in Trnava, specializing in machinery, transportation, construction/engineering, agronomy, business, and health and hygiene.

Vocational school prepares students for direct entry into the work force. There are seven of these schools in Trnava, focusing on electrical technicians, waiters/clerks, construction trades (e.g., bricklayers, painters), machinery, trains, women’s shop, and building trades (basic labor). The main difference between these schools that address the same vocations as the middle level schools is that the middle level schools prepare students for low-level management positions, such as foreman or line-leaders, while the lower level schools prepare students for labor.

In the latter two types of schools, it is possible to attend the middle level school for 2, 4, or 5 years. The lower level school can be attended for 1, 2, 3, or 4, years, depending on the level of skill the student desires to attain as well as the type of vocation selected.

At the university level, most students go non-stop for 5-7 years after secondary school and graduate with a Masters degree. It is extremely rare for someone to leave university with only a Bachelors degree, although this can be done in about 3 years. Most secondary and elementary teachers obtain a Masters degree before entering the work force. The exception would be Pre-School teachers (literally “Mother’s teachers”) who would attend a specialized secondary school to be prepared for their career.

“Higher education is more specialized than in the US,” said Bishop. “For example, if students want to be a physician or attorney, they begin university studying for that profession and graduate as a doctor or lawyer in about 7 years, including their internships. Students will take a course for 1-3 semesters depending on the topic before they have their exam—again, a written essay and an oral defense of the essay are necessary to pass the class.”

Bishop says exams have been going on since he arrived in May. “The exams span a period of approximately six weeks during which there are no lectures, students study, and take an exam every week or two,” stated Bishop.

Bishop states that the Slovak Republic is relatively ethnically homogeneous. About 85 percent of the population is Slovak, 10 percent Hungarian, 1.5 percent Romany (“Gypsies”), one percent Czech, and less then half a percent each of various other groups.

Of the groups bishop has stated, the Roma have had the most impression on him.

“Most people don’t like the Roma,” said Bishop. “Traditionally a nomadic people, the communist governments tried to make the Roma sedentary by giving them their own flats (apartments). It seems they destroyed the interiors to create fires to keep warm.”

“In the process of forced sedentarization, the Roma have lost some of their nomadic culture, and I understand experience cognitive dissonance over the tensions between family or home culture and that which is provided in school,” added Bishop. “A very small number of people with whom I have spoken see this cultural tension as the result of the clash between nomads and a sedentary culture.”

Bishop when on to say that the transition to capitalism has not been good to everyone. Many from their mid fifties and up don’t have jobs because it’s cheaper to hirer younger people. Those older people subsist on government handouts. Basic salary for most experienced people is about 10,000 SK per month and the government subsidy is about 5,000 – 6,000 SK per month (the typical starting wage for a young worker).

“Many displaced workers drink all day, and sleep in the middle of the park or at the edge of town squares on benches,” said Bishop. “In general, most people under 30 seem to like capitalism and democracy while those older then 30 have increasing animosity towards it as they age, hence the memory of lifetime jobs guaranteed under socialism.”

Organized crime is also beginning to pop up through out the Republic. “Claims about the Slovak “Mafia” are probably true,” says Bishop. “There is some support for this in the US Department of State Consular warnings for the area which describe a moderately developing country with organized crime factions fighting for control of various sectors of the economy.”

Every day on the calendar except December 25^th and January 1^st has a name associated with it. People with those names have a party similar to a birthday party on their name day. “Recently I attended a friends’ uncles’ name-day party,” said Bishop. “There is nothing better for improving language skills then a five hour conversation with five or six people who do not speak English. In the evenings, I visit with friends to help them practice English as they help me with Slovak.”

On the radio, Bishop receives Slovak, Czech, and Austrian stations. Broadcast TV in Europe is significantly more liberal then in the United States. “After about 7pm, programs are more like US cable programs with profanity, nudity, and violence,” said Bishop.

Bishop says his accommodations are quite modest and on the North East edge of town (about 70,000 people). The building is attached to one of the local high schools (itself affiliated with an area electricity generating nuclear reactor) and used by area university & high school students from distant towns and as a hotel by local travelers. The typical room has a bed, a chair which folds out into a bed, a desk, refrigerator, wardrobe, TV, clock radio, and balcony. The entryway has a WC (toilet room) and a shower room that is shared with another sleeping room. Some cooking facilities are located in a different room on each floor. After his first two weeks, he was given a new room with more privacy. Bishop is able to shop at a nearby TESCO (a British food and department store that’s open 24 hours).

Bishop will return to the Dakota State University campus in September after spending three months in the Slovak Republic.