Introduction
The education of children of the German national minority is a complex topic in the Czech Republic, because there is no specific school for them and no clear conceptual support for their education. The presented study considers two possible ways: 1) a special system of minority education including a specific curriculum and concept (Hungarian model) and 2) placing children in regular schools without special support (situation in the Czech Republic).
The study is methodologically based on the so-called "desk research" and draws information from available legislative documents, statements, policy papers and conceptual documents describing the situation of the German minority in the Czech Republic and Hungary. Information was also obtained at regular meetings of the Assembly of German Associations in the Czech Republic1 (2018 and 2021) and at professional conferences (e.g. Deutsch als Unterrichts und Kultursprache, 2021), where minority representatives from various European countries regularly meet.
First, the model of special minority education in Hungary is described, where there is also a strong representation of German Hungarians, and then the situation is placed in the Czech legislative context. The final discussion reflects on both models in the context of the needs of minority children educated in the 21st century.
Hungarian minority education
In Hungary, the German national minority is the largest of all 13 registered minorities, which logically results in a number of advantages for the education of its children. The current legislative situation is based on the Charter of the Rights of Ethnic Minorities from 1981. The political representation of Hungarian Germans is governed by Act on the Rights of Nationalities No. CLXXIX/2011, which replaced the Act on the Rights of National and Ethnic Minorities No. LXXVII/1993. According to the latest data, there are 423 self-governing bodies at the municipal level, approximately 100 Hungarian-German mayors, 12 self-governing bodies at the regional level and the Hungarian-German regional self-government.
The German national minority has the right to establish nursery, elementary, secondary and grammar schools (ie a similar educational system that exists in Germany). Currently, there are, in addition to 278 kindergartens, 291 elementary schools (of which 29 are bilingual), and 19 schools with a high school diploma (of which 11 are bilingual). Teachers are also specially trained for minority education, either as part of initial education or as part of additional studies (Herczeg-Kóthy, 2021).
The basic framework of the education of the German national minority is anchored in several conceptual documents, specifically in the Basic Declaration on the Principles of Education of the German National Minority (Erb et al., 2010) and further specified in the Main Principles and medium-term development plan of the Hungarian-German school system, which is specially created for kindergarten and school education (Leitsätze und mittelfristiger Entwicklungsplan für das ungarndeutsche Schulwesen, 2010).
The stated frameworks establish the principles and basic areas and goals that minority schools must fulfill so that children receive an education based on their anthropological-historical roots and respect their cultural specifics and develop their native language. In addition to specific content, they also focus on cooperation between schools and their logical interconnection. Individual schools form networks of minority schools in the regions in order to comprehensively provide education from kindergarten to high school graduation. All basic educational options are always represented in the network of schools, in order to enable Hungarian Germans to choose a suitable educational direction (academic or professional). The Hungarian Germans thus essentially have their own integrated education system, which is constantly developing and long-term and systematically educates the children of this minority.
The situation of the German national minority in the Czech Republic
The protection of the rights of national minorities in the Czech Republic is based on two constitutional laws, namely the Constitution of the Czech Republic and the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms. The rights of members of national minorities are specified and regulated in more detail by Act No. 273/2001 Coll., on the rights of members of national minorities and on the amendment of some laws, as amended (ie the so-called minority law). In addition to these legal norms, the protection of the rights of members of national minorities is based on other conventions, bilateral agreements and charters dedicated to individual topics – languages of national minorities, cultural heritage, status of members of minorities, etc.
In the legislative environment of the Czech Republic, minorities are represented by the Government Council for Minority Nationalities, which is an advisory body of the Government of the Czech Republic and its competence is defined by the already mentioned Minority Act. However, representatives of national minorities have long pointed to insufficient fulfillment of obligations arising from concluded contracts and agreements. One of these problematic topics is the position of the German language in Czech schools. Members of the German minority have the right, on the basis of the Minority Act, "to education and training in their mother tongue in schools, pre-school facilities and school facilities under the conditions laid down by special legal regulations" (§ 11 of the Minority Act). The provisions of § 14 of the Education Act regulate the prerequisites for ensuring education in the language of the national minority. The assumption is that a committee for national minorities must be established in the village, and at the same time, the minimum number of children who apply for education in the language of the national minority is set by law.
According to the results of the 2011 census, 18,658 people claimed German nationality, and another 6,158 declared dual nationality, i.e. Czech and German. The results of the 2021 census are not yet available (Ďurčíková, 2021). In addition to people claiming German nationality, there are approximately 40,000 more people with German citizenship living in the Czech Republic. However, the German national minority is widely dispersed on the territory of the Czech Republic, and therefore practically cannot use the possibility of establishing national minority schools according to the provisions of § 14 of the Education Act. The only way members of the German national minority can educate their children is to enroll them in regular schools, where it is usually necessary to accept the situation that the children will learn their native language as a foreign language, usually only as a second foreign language, which targets a relatively low knowledge level. The German minority has been warning for a long time that its specific needs for education in the mother tongue are not reflected, legislative conditions for bilingual education are not created and there is a lack of continuity of teaching in German as a minority language (Dovalil, 2018).
Logically, significantly fewer pupils choose German as their first foreign language than English, however, since the introduction of the Framework Educational Program for Basic Education (RVP ZV) until September 2021, this was a direct consequence of the preference for English over other foreign languages in point 7.2 of this document: "pupils should be offered English language lessons first; if the pupil (his legal representative) chooses a foreign language other than English, the school must demonstrably notify the legal representative pupil to the fact that the educational system may not ensure continuity in the education of the chosen foreign language when the pupil moves to another primary or secondary school".
In the newly issued RVP ZV (2021), the discriminatory provision was removed and schools can now offer any language as the first language, provided that they must then offer English as a second foreign language. Of course, it cannot be expected that this change will lead to a significant strengthening of German as the first foreign language in practice. Years of setting up, already created school education programs (ŠVP) and assembled teaching staff will probably lead to the maintenance of the status quo.
Another problematic area from a legislative point of view is admission to secondary schools. The Council for National Minorities in its Report on the Situation of National Minorities in the Czech Republic for 2019 (2020) states that private multi-year gymnasiums can be used for education. However, for admission to this multi-year grammar school, it is necessary to pass the state entrance exams in Czech language and mathematics. National minorities do not have any declared modifications in the admission procedure and must complete it like other applicants. The only adjustment that could be used when accepting members of the German national minority is the provision of para. 5 § 60b: "Foreigners to whom § 20, paragraph 4 applies, do not, upon request, take a unified exam in the educational field of Czech language and literature. The school's obligation to verify through an interview the knowledge of the Czech language, which is necessary for education in the given field of education, is not affected. Within the criteria according to § 60, paragraph 2, letter a), the school director determines the method of evaluating the unified exam for foreigners according to the first sentence". § 20 par. 4 states: Persons who received their previous education at a school outside the territory of the Czech Republic are exempted, upon request, from the Czech language entrance exam during the admission procedure for education in secondary and higher vocational schools, if it is part of the entrance exam. The school will verify the knowledge of the Czech language, which is necessary for education in the given field of education, in these persons through an interview."
The aforementioned provision explicitly determines which applicants can adjust the admission procedure and the Czech language test. It is obvious that it cannot apply to all children of members of the German national minority. It also focuses only on the entrance exam in the Czech language, but for a child whose mother tongue is different, even mathematics given in the Czech language can be a big obstacle. The verification of knowledge of the Czech language when admitting pupils to higher years of secondary schools is also problematic.
The schools that the Council for National Minorities recommends for the German minority are multi-year grammar schools that still fall under the period of compulsory school attendance. These schools can educate German students even without knowledge of the Czech language, but they cannot accept them, because during admission to secondary schools it is necessary to verify the knowledge of the Czech language, which the children often do not have at a sufficient level. A paradoxical situation arises when children must be enrolled in the second grade of a primary school, which does not have to verify knowledge of the Czech language and may accept them, but may not be prepared to provide them with adequate education in their minority language.
Children of the German national minority in the Czech Republic do not have sufficient support for education in their native language, they do not have a guaranteed continuity of schooling with the German language, and they encounter a barrier during the admissions process to secondary schools. Overall, there is a lack of conceptual anchoring and clearly defined educational directions that would enable the inclusive education of members of the German national minority in regular education and provide them with the necessary support and development of their mother tongue and native culture.
Final discussion
The study presented two different models of education for children of the German national minority – a comprehensively elaborated minority education system in Hungary and a non-conceptual approach in the Czech Republic. It is of course obvious that the Hungarian situation is completely different from the Czech one - the German minority has a strong representation and includes many members who associate themselves and consider themselves Hungarian Germans. In contrast, in the Czech Republic, the German minority is spread throughout the country without a specific concentration, which essentially does not allow the establishment of any minority school, because there would not be enough pupils for it. There are therefore two completely different paths, and the task of the final discussion is to think about them in the context of education in the 21st century. Is it really better to separate the children of the German national minority and create a specific educational system for them? Is this method in line with current educational trends?
Currently, education emphasizes the development of (key) competencies, which represent knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that are important for the personal development of an individual, his active involvement in society and employment (Veteška and Tureckiová, 2020, p. 56-57). It is therefore necessary that the education of children of national minorities develops such competences in children and supports personal development for appropriate future involvement in society. The question is whether separate schools and the pursuit of homogeneous groups of pupils will lead to desirable personal development and the acquisition of important competences.
Furthermore, in the current strategic documents of educational policy, an inclusive approach and consideration of the individual educational needs of the individual is strongly emphasized (for example, Strategy 2030+2, 2020). It is therefore necessary to ask another question whether the minority as such is homogeneous and has a uniform special educational need or is a heterogeneous group with many individual educational needs, different degrees of bilingualism, different socio-cultural background and other specifics.
During the discussion at the minority meeting at the Deutsch als Unterrichts- und Kultursprache conference (October 20 to October 22, 2021) with Czech members of the German national minority, opinions were expressed that they feel the Hungarian model is more segregating and are grateful for the need to enroll children in regular Czech schools. The discussants perceived as positive that they are not explicitly labeled and stated that if one is lucky enough to go to elementary school, then it is much better to be with ordinary children than separately in a minority school. From the above, it is necessary to highlight the message aimed at the general quality of the school, in which perhaps lies the key to the correct approach to children from any national minority. If Czech schools were prepared materially and in terms of personnel for the specific needs of minority pupils and knew how to work with them appropriately, it is then possible to successfully integrate them into the regular education stream without the need to establish special minority schools.
The Czech Republic has taken at least the first step towards improving the overall situation by removing the discriminatory provision in the RVP ZV, thereby enabling schools to respond more flexibly to the language needs of their pupils. There are also specific programs aimed at the integration of minority children into regular schools, which enable schools to obtain financial resources and personnel reinforcement.
The final discussion opened up space and topics for further research in the field of education of children of German minority nationality and uncovered some other complex topics and essentially asked the basic question - separately or together? In accordance with these ideas, it seems appropriate to focus on the research of the younger generation of the minority, who are currently dealing with the issue of their children's education and to describe their opinions and needs, and only then to devote themselves to the creation of a suitable concept for their initial education.
Author: Mgr. Zuzana Svobodová, Ph.D., DBA Department of andragogy and educational management Faculty of Pedagogy, Charles University
Resources
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