Abstract:

The aim of my paper is to present you how the literature of Hungarian minority in Slovakia is represented in the Slovak educational system. In the first part of the paper the Slovak educational system will be presented focusing on teaching literature in primary and in secondary schools and also in Hungarian minority schools based on National Education Programmes and Curricula.

In the second part I will give an overview on the beginnings of the Hungarian Literature in Slovakia. This overview is necessary because in the life of the minorities, literature has played a prominent role between the two world wars, as it seemed to play a key role for maintaining their national identity. In the 1920´s poetry was prevalent, and in the 1930´s the prose - especially the novel - was remarkable. During this period, and later on, until the 1970´s the literary program was the expression of the minority existence and situation.

In the thrid part, I will go through some textbooks used for teaching and learning literature in primary and secondary schools. I will focus on how texts were chosen to be the part of the textbooks. Moreover I will search for how is the Hungarian Literature in Slovakia reflected in the education of the multiethnic Slovak society. In this part I will get into difficult questions such as what is the goal of teaching literature, how does the canon focused literary education preserve the best of a nation’s cultural heritage, and how this canon reflects on the changes in scholarship, attitudes and pedagogical needs.

Keywords:

Hungarian minority literature, Slovak educational system, National Education Programmes, literary canon, cultural heritage.